Chapter 67

ELI.

Blaire did not directly answer my question. Instead, she gave me a worried look.

"Why are you not answering, Blaire? It must be true then. You did see Ariella's death," I said, concerned. Not only did this mean that victory was bleak for us but it also scared me to the core. I just can't imagine a world where Ariella isn't there. I just can't.

"Barely any of you survives," she finally said. "That's why you have to think wisely. But like I said, it's up to you, werewolves of Kingsville. Divination isn't accurate after all. The future changes like the tides in the ocean. What I see depends on what is happening right now."

"Come on, we have to go back now." That was Ariella's response. She seemed to be cool about what her witch friend said, but I know deep inside it must have bothered her. We finally left the park and went back to our campsite and Ariella seemed to be calm. She must be faking it so I never left her side to assure her that she wasn’t alone in this fight.

I was still worried about Blaire's prediction though, so I told Emma about it. "Can't you peek at the future too?" I asked her worriedly. "Maybe you can see what happens later in a better light? I just want to make sure that Ariella stays alive after the fight."

But Emma only gave me a sad smile. She was busy making her potion and couldn’t really answer me, but something in her expression told me that she must have seen the same future that Blaire saw.

But I didn’t want to accept it. I watched as Ariella and her father bonded while they talked about the start of the war in just two hours. I wanted to be mad that no one seemed to be bothered by what Blaire said but I guess the prediction didn't matter anymore at this point. When I think about it, going to war, we don't always assume that we go back home alive. But if one has to die, then I'd rather that be me than Ariella who already suffered enough.

***

"Take care, son. Don't overexert yourself, okay? And promise me that you'll return to Kingsville safely. You, your father, Ariella, and the rest of the pack." Mother was crying as we said our goodbyes to each other. All of the werewolves that were not going to fight were now leaving the campsite. They were heading back to Kingsville to avoid getting hurt too.

"I will. Please be careful too, Mother. I'm sorry we didn't have more time to spend together. But don't worry, Father and I will return home safely. I promise you that." I wiped my mother's tears and to be honest, I was crying inside too. Not only did she have to go back home without us but it just occurred to me that this might be the last time that we will see each other if we don't win the war against David and his damned vampires.

Father also hugged my mother and they almost broke down in front of me, but I guess they didn't want me to see that. Earlier, I had told Father that he could leave with Mother but he insisted on joining the battle. Even his brother, Uncle Ross, told him to just go back home with Mother but Father had already made up his mind.

"I can't just leave my brother and my son alone in a war." That's what he told me earlier. And even if Mother was kind of disappointed about it, she never forced her husband to just go back home with her. She too understood what this meant for my father. That it would break him if we lost and he just stayed out of the battle like a coward.

When the non-participants already left, the rest of us started marching back to New Forks where the battle would commence. There were still a hundred of us, mostly youngsters who joined the battle when they heard about it from Uncle Ross when he went back home to fetch my parents. Each and every one of us had been told how important this fight is since this will dictate our future.

A win would mean that peace would come for our packs that just rejoined and combined into one again, while a loss would mean that the vampires would wipe all of us out and Kingsville would be no more. I'm pretty sure that if we lose, David will kill every werewolf civilian in Kingsville just to make sure that no one will rise up to him again and that was everyone's motivation to stop that kind of future.

Ariella and I were holding hands as we walked. Some of us had already drunk the potion that Emma made for us. Just as planned, we will transform into our wolf forms again. One by one, we will drink the potion so we can fight the vampires on an equal footing. I sighed in relief when Emma gave us the flasks with potions in them because the vampires were kind of overpowered with their abilities. There was no way that we could have defeated them without it so we were all grateful to Emma who stayed with us until the end.

"Remember what I told you, Eli. You'll only drink your potion when you need it the most. Once you think that Ariella has no chance to win against David, drink it and take Ariella away as far as possible. We have to make sure she survives no matter what." That was part of our plan. My sole role in this war was to ensure that Ariella could escape if the vampires overpowered her.

At first, I didn't want to take the role because I wanted to fight on the battlefield. But everyone didn't want me to fight given my injuries so they would have sent me back to Kingsville too if not for this role. I may be just on the sidelines but this was better than not fighting at all.

"This is it, people," said Uncle Ross when we finally arrived at the fork in the road. He addressed all of us before resuming our walk back to New Forks. Jonathan was beside him, looking nervous but prepared to die too. He was heavily injured too but he insisted on fighting as well. The two Alphas were in charge and I was already hyped. "The time has come for us to defeat the vampires..."

Everybody yelled in response. We were hyping each other up but Ariella and I were just looking at each other, saying those unsaid words with our eyes. Ariella was no longer nervous or scared. She was so brave and I was so proud of her. Both Uncle Ross and Jonathan were still giving their speech to everyone but I couldn't even hear them over my loud heartbeat as I looked into Ariella's eyes.

"I love you, Ariella," I whispered to her. "You know that, right? No matter what happens, I will always be your mate."

"I love you too, Eli. But we will win this war and we will go home just as we planned."

I kissed her on her forehead before resuming our walk back to the empty town. It was cold and foggy there and the sun was blocked by thick clouds, so we could barely see anything. All I saw were the dark silhouettes of the vampires waiting for us at the entrance to the town.

And then there he was. We saw David standing in front of his people. He was the only one I could clearly see. Seeing him ready to fight gave me goosebumps especially when I saw him give us a wicked smile. He looked at us like we were all his prey. And at the count of three, the war began.