Chapter 17: The war

Conall's POV

What was I thinking? Did I really think the weak little Omega would be on the battlefield now? I mean, I badly wanted to see her, but I had to remind myself that she was a weak werewolf and I should not be doing so much for her. By so much, I mean that I had started doing some things I never thought I would do just for her. For example, I had to bribe Emily not to say a word about Carina by letting her rub my feet every night. It was an extremely weird and irritating thing to do, but it seemed Emily liked it, and it was the one way to keep her mouth shut from telling Baldar, King Darius, or any werewolf at all since hurting her was not an option. Then I also had to bribe her to let me be alone at night so I could check on Dolores for Carina by letting her talk to me for thirty minutes straight almost everyday. The bribes were a lot coming from me because I did not like Emily one bit; sometimes I found her irritating, so letting her rub my feet every night and talk to me for thirty minutes was a huge sacrifice coming from me.

Also, I told her that on the next full moon that I would love to be making, she just smiled and told me she would let me be. That was weird coming from her, but she later told me it was because my feet were so soft. She did not want to get me angry, so that I would let hercontinue rubbing, and then she agreed that I would be alone as I wished on the next full moon. I do not know why she was so attached to my feet, but it made me realize that I had leverage and Emily was not going to be so tough to handle anymore. At least, that was what I thought.

I had to focus! I was in the middle of a war, and all I could think of was the next full moon. I badly wanted to see Carina. Normally, my plans for the full moon were to feast on the weak, but all of a sudden, my plans changed because of a weak Omega.

I and Christos avoided ourselves throughout the war for reasons best known to us; we just fought others, and as usual, werewolves lost their lives for nothing. I knew that the wars were held for no meaningful reason. It would have been better if both sides of the packs lived together, and whoever was powerful would just kill whoever was weak rather than not be a united but hosting stupid wars. The wars were pointless and a total waste of time. The real packs were never going to surrender to the free packs, who were basically cults, and the free packs, as stubborn as they were, believed that they were the right ones and wanted the real packs to surrender, but that was not going to happen. The free packs sometimes looked like they were right, but they were wrong in so many ways, and on the night I met that weak Omega, I wanted to tell her but I did not want to sound crazy, plus I loved to mind my business all the time, but maybe one day, if I feel the Omega is worth it, I will let her know how wrong the free packs are.

The war ended with a retreat from the free packs. I heard them yelling that an important person was wounded, and that was what I was expecting anyway. There was always a retreat from either the free or real packs for some reason. Another reason I saw the wars we held as a pointless thing to do was because we were not fighting to our last breath; one pack was always retreating and the other pack would let them. But then the purpose of the wars, as stated, was not to kill all members of the opposing team but to make them surrender, and that did not seem like it was going to happen anytime soon.

"Hey Conall, dear, How was the fight? Do you need cold or warm water to have your bath?"

She was always all over me, and it was sickening.

'No, I need you to get out of my room', I said in my head, but in reality, I said nothing. We had just come back from the battlefield, and instead of Emily letting me rest, she was in my room trying to irritate me. What exactly did she want this time?

"You aren't talking to me. What did I do?", Emily asked, sounding hurt. I did not care if she was truly hurt or if she was feigning it; I just needed her out of my room. I was in no mood for her disturbance.

"You should go and take care of yourself; don't worry about me", I said in between my teeth. I was not the best at preparing and was trying as much as possible not to snap.

"So you care about me", she said, sounding very happy, but I honestly did not care; I just needed her out of my room.

She took my silence as a cue to leave, but when she opened the door, she halted, and I nearly lost my mind. "Could you—"

"The full moon is today though", she said, beating me to speak. She knew that I was ready to shout.

"What?", I asked, surprised. The full moon was today!

"Yes, there was a miscalculation from the Chief, I think. The full moon is a bit tomorrow, but today. It was delayed, which is why it's not out now, but it will be out in about an hour,", she said.

There were about three seconds of silence, which I did not like. "So are we still on the deal that you don't disturb me on this full moon or even try following me around?", I asked, and she eyed me.

"Considering the fact that you wanted to scream your whole lungs out now and the fact that I haven't had a chance to rub your feet today, I'm not supposed to say yes. I am supposed to watch your every move because I know you are up to no good, but I would let you do whatever you want this night, but tomorrow you would have to let me talk to you for an hour while rubbing your feet. Do we have a deal or not?", she asked, smiling.

This was all Carina's fault. 'You are going to pay for all these sacrifices, you little Omega', I said in my head, and to Emily, I said, "Deal."

Once she was gone, I rushed to wash up. I was going to do another thing I never did for anyone, but somehow the weak little Omega was making me do it, and that was trying to impress her. Darn it! What was she doing to me for crying out loud?

Carina's POV

"Hey, how are you?", I asked Charlotte as I came into her room. She did not look so happy; in fact, she did not look happy at all.

"What is wrong, Charlotte? Did we lose the fight?", I asked.

"Something much worse happened, Carina", she replied quietly, refusing to look at me.

This was getting a bit too scary. "What happened, Charlotte?", I asked again. I am beside her on the bed.

"It's Linda. She was ganged up on during the war, and she got pretty hurt; it was because of her that we retreated", Charlotte said. She sounded like she was very close to tears. Surely the injuries Linda sustained from the war would not be bad enough to kill her, right?

"She will be fine. Linda is a strong, Luna", I said, trying to sound as comforting as possible.

"I really hope so. The injuries she sustained were not so bad. I really hope she survives this", Charlotte said. I did not know why Charlotte was emotionally attached to Linda the way she was. I did not notice them as we were close, or maybe I was not watching them carefully. This was not the first time Charlotte went to war; she told me this herself, so surely it was not the first time she saw someone getting injured or dying, but this was the first time I saw Charlotte this way. There was something wrong somewhere, but I could not place my hand on what it was.

"Maybe we could both go to see her", I suggested.

"No one except Christos, Cora, and the doctor is to see her tonight", Charlotte said. Her voice was shaky now, and since I was sensitive, I felt emotional about the whole thing as well.

"Maybe we could go tomorrow?", I asked.

"Maybe."

After a few seconds of an uncomfortable silence, she said, "As though all this isn't enough, there's a full moon today, and I get triggered—"

But I was not listening to her anymore. I was supposed to be considering the fact that this was Charlotte's vulnerable moment and I could get some information from her while comforting her as well, but I could not listen. Today was the full moon! I was supposed to meet with Conall and see my mother too.

"I'm so sorry, Charlotte; I feel light-headed. Maybe I'm still tired from Cora's training, and you should get some rest as well. I will talk to you tomorrow", I interrupted whatever she was saying, pulling her into a hug before rushing out.