~Layla~
Watching Elisabeth leave with my daughter felt like a part of me was being ripped away. The biggest part of me, my whole heart, walked away in her arms.
I knew it was the right thing to do, and now I needed to focus on what was to come. Tarisa promised that she would ensure Elisabeth and my child got away safely and that they made it to the pack. She and Analise would stay with them, and Anna would get to meet my daughter. I wiped away the stray tear and got into the bed.
There was a debacle going on outside. I heard raised voices, singing and clapping. It sounded like a party but an angry one.
Analise explained that Nathaniel and his men had left a message to Kade and that the fight had started on all ends, and soon, they would merge, and the war would be at our feet. It felt like a chess game, only with more players knocking each other down and seeing which strategy was the best. Everyone was plotting, but I knew only I could knock down the king and call the game.
Someone knocked on the door, and I jumped but stayed in bed and waited for them to come in.
“Layla, you must get up. It’s almost time to go.”
I rolled over and pretended to be half asleep even though it was daytime. They knew I slept a lot or at least stayed in bed most days.
“Go where?” I groaned, sounding unimpressed by the intrusion.
It was the same young girl I thought I befriended before Nathaniel put everyone on Layla-lockdown.
She looked jittery when she stepped into the room. She looked around and started opening the closet doors. Two duffel bags were taken out and tossed on the floor. She opened another closet and took out three more bags. This girl was taking everything out and putting it into the bags, every single piece of clothing, accessories, and shoes. She then proceeded to go into the bathroom and clean the place out.
“What is happening?” I asked and got out of bed.
“We’re leaving,” she said in a huff. Her long braid flung around her head as she made fast motions to gather all the things she brought out of the bathroom.
“Yes, but to where?” I asked as eyes followed her fast-working hands. Why was she rushing so? Eventually, grabbed her shoulders and forced her to stop and look at me.
“Where are we going? Why are you packing everything up?”
She sighed, grabbed my hand, and led me to the window. She pushed aside the drapes and pointed outside.
“Because we’re leaving, and we’re not coming back. It’s time, Layla. The war has started, and we’re going to join our king.”
I drew a double breath and stared at the pack members dragging the luggage outside. They jumped on the tables, burnt down their houses, raised knives into the air, and chanted for war and death.
The pups were running around, trying to hide from the noise and the anger. I saw a little boy running around the house, the one that had just caught fire, and he hid around the corner. His mother ran around the house and lifted him in her arms. She took him away just as the house began to crack and crumble to the ground.
She held his head to her chest and grabbed a bag. They walked away from the noise, and she shielded him from what was scary. The other pups ran up in their parents’ arms, and slowly, they all began to move toward the border. They were really leaving, burning this place down to the ground, and not planning to return. This meant that they planned on rebuilding somewhere else, closer to civilization.
My palms were sweaty. I looked at the destruction of the pack houses and everything they’d built. They were safe here, but even more so, every other werewolf was safer with the Emberclaws. Now, they were leaving and bringing their powers into the world.
I turned around and looked out my bags being cast out into the hallway. It felt like time slowed and that this moment lasted for an eternity.
She looked at me with petty dripping from her gaze, and I could tell that there were things she wanted to say. She was so young, and I could see that they hadn’t yet shaped her into what she would soon become. This girl still had her innocence and her vitality left. She wanted to live, to make friends, and to do things other than serve her king. I wondered how long it would last and at around which age they began losing that spark in their eyes, and it’s replaced by an undying wish to serve their master.
She lifted out everything from the drawer in Nathaniel’s closet. A box fell on the floor and rolled over to my feet. I looked down and saw a crown sigil on the lid.
As I bent down to grab it, her eyes widened in fear, and she shook her head.
“Oh no, what have I done? Give that to me. You should not see it; it’s bad luck, and he said it’s a secret,” she said, mostly to herself in a low hum.
“What is it?” I asked carefully.
She seemed frightened enough that I saw the box. I didn’t want to scare her even more by prying on what was inside. However, she turned around, her face beamed with joy, and her shoulder raised to her ears.
“It’s a secret, but you’ll know after the war,” she said giddily.
“I want to know now,” I said calmly and stepped over to her. “I promise I won’t tell him.” I smiled.
She looked down at the box in her hands and contemplated whether or not she should show me.
“Come on. We’re on the same side, aren’t we?”
She gleamed and opened the box. I gasped and tensed my body so I wouldn’t fall back. In the middle of the box was a big diamond ring with a gold band and crystals like a crown above the diamond.
“Wh-what is that?” I stuttered.
“It’s a ring, silly.” She giggled before closing the lid.
She put the box away and then turned to me. However, when she didn’t see a smile or the reaction she thought I would have, her face shifted into confusion.
“Why does Nathaniel have a ring?” I asked, my eyes still fixed on the box even though I couldn’t see it anymore.
I was looking down at the bag. I knew it was in there now, and everything else slipped my mind.
“Well, it is a secret, so I guess it makes sense that he hasn’t told you. Nathaniel’s going to propose after the war, Layla. He said it’s what both of you want and that you will be together forever. He said you’re his Sabrina,” she spoke with a smile, and her words sounded happy and loving.
Little did she know that her words felt like lava in my ears and that her smile was sickening to watch.
“Right,” I breathed. “Sabrina.”
She nodded and then continued clearing the bags out of the room.
“Sabrina,” I said again.
“He wants me to be Sabrina.”
Nobody was there; it was just me sitting on the bed, but I suddenly felt less alone, like someone else was with me.
I looked around. The corners were empty, and the closet doors stood wide open. The door was closed.
“It’s almost time,” Clara said with her head lowered and her tail slowly swinging back and forth.
She was ready, and so was I. This was it.
