~Layla~
I walked out of the house. The girls were all lining up, the warriors took their bags, the pups were, for some reason, getting into formation as well, and the adults were walking to the border with bags in hand.
“Hey,” I said and tapped one of the warriors on his shoulder.
He turned a stale head and glared at me. He didn’t say anything, so I took it as a cue to continue.
“Why are the pups still here?” I asked.
The little ones were getting in line, listening to the warriors give a speech. Their teacher, an older woman, was reminding them about their lessons and how everything they’d learned was for this moment.
“There’s a war. They’re preparing to fight in it,” the warriors said coldly.
No, there’s no way… My mind immediately railed off track, and my daughter’s face popped up in my vision.
That innocent, small little girl who had her whole life in front of her. Then, I saw the pups standing straight, their little heads held up with their chins pointing out. Their eyes looked around in fear and discomfort, their little legs trembling and their hands shaking as they held them tight so nobody would see.
I ran up to the warrior who was standing with the pups. “Hi,” I said and smiled. “If you don’t mind, I’d love to take them. I’ll escort them to the war fields.”
“There’s no need. They’ll come with us,” he grunted.
“Actually,” I said and placed my hand on his shoulder. I looked deep into his eyes.
I mustered everything I had learned. This is it, Layla, do it and do it right. Remember what you know and who you are.
I got into his head. His eyes were soft, his lips parted, and as I pressed past his blockage, which wasn’t very strong and got through to his memories, I planted my own vision there. He saw me walking the pups out of the pack without anybody else following us. I was in charge. Nobody else, just me and the pups.
I removed my hand. “As I said, I would love to take them,” I said and smiled.
He furrowed his brows and bowed his head. “As you wish, they’re all yours.”
Another warrior came up to us after having listened to our conversation.
“Walter, what are you doing?” he asked.
Walter looked at the warrior and went into another formation.
“It’s better she takes them alone.”
Yes, it is. I turned around and looked at the pups. It seemed that anyone over five years was here, and where were their parents? They left them, probably to take their things away and then join their children in the war fields.
One by one, they started to leave in their formations. The warriors walked with straight backs, and everyone else followed suit until it was just me and the pups left standing in the middle of flames and destruction. If they could do this to their own homes, what would they do to others?
~Kade~
Mason stood before the warriors, watching them practice with a look of shame. They were terrible. This pack’s warriors couldn’t possibly have trained a single day in their lives. When we took over, we were going to whip them into shape. However, time had been little, and it hadn’t been a priority, which was coming back to bite us in the ass now.
“Can we just leave them?” Mason groaned when I walked down to him. He got a nasty look from some of the guys and a hopeful one from others who probably wouldn’t mind being left behind.
“No, we need all the warriors we got, and time is up,” I said.
Mason turned his head with a shocked expression.
“Kade, they’re not ready. We can’t send them into this war,” he said.
I crossed my arms over my chest. One of the lead warriors of my pack was taking care of Missy’s body. I saw Mason’s brows furrowing as his eyes followed the scent of blood.
I sighed, hoping the warrior would’ve been more discreet, but no, he just wrapped the dead girl in a blanket and carried her out the front door. Fucker.
“What’s that?” Mason said and nodded toward where the warrior walked around the house.
I shrugged a shoulder. “A problem I took care of,” I said and walked down the field so everyone would hear me. “Speaking of which,” I said and whistled to get their attention.
Everyone turned and walked closer. The Red Moon Packs warriors and my own all stood together, but you could see the deviation. We weren’t a team; we weren’t one people, and I would change that, but I wish it’d already been done.
Sending them out into war, knowing they were not ready, was not something I took lightly. However, we needed everyone we could find, and they were my pack members.
“Before we leave, I have something I want to say to all of you, something I hope will stay with you. To function as a pack, loyalty is the foremost quality necessary to be united. I cannot lead people who don’t want to follow, nor can I impose my practice on you if you’re still caught up in the leadership that was, and I can surely not trust you in war if you’re not fighting for your people. I will ask you now for the final time, and I expect nothing but honesty so that we can move forward. Does anyone here have a problem with my position as Alpha of this pack?” I looked around, hoping they would step forward on their own.
However, nobody else spoke. They all looked at me, some of their eyes flickering as they wanted to look at their friends.
“Nobody?” I asked.
I looked at the five young men standing in a group in front of my warriors. I took a deep breath, my chest pushed out, and I bore my eyes into each one of the guys. They knew I saw the fear that they tried to hide—the fear and cocky belief that they would be fine.
“Greyson, Adam, Stuart, Carlos, and Mitchell.”
They raised their heads, and all eyes turned to them. Greyson was cocky. He had a grin on his face and crossed his arms over his chest as he puffed it out.
“Yes, Alpha,” he said and mockingly bowed his head.
The others weren’t as impressed. Their fear was rising rapidly to the surface. Stuart was chewing on his lip so hard that he drew blood.
“Are you loyal?” I asked calmly.
Gresyon, speaking for the group, scoffed, “Yeah, of course.”
“So you didn’t make a deal with Nathaniel to pass on a message and have us meet him somewhere else?”
His eyes sunk back into his skull. The blood rushed from his face, turning his skin pale and his eyes dark.
“We-well… We—”
I raised my hand to silence him. “As I said, loyalty is everything. Where was it that he asked us to meet him?”
Greyson looked around. His friends, the people he’d grown up with, were covering their mouths in shock, and I heard their heartbeats. They were terrified of the fates their friends could meet.
“The field, the open field in the nightingale forest. Outside of the Emberclaw pack,” he said, stammering to get the words out. His arms reached out, and a nervous laugh escaped his lips.
“That’s good, right? I told you. Now you know we’re loyal.” He gulped, looking into my eyes. He couldn’t have seen anything there. The emotionless state I had trained myself to master brought terror to him and his friends.
“No. Now, I know you answer to fear, whoever may ask.” I bowed my head.
My warriors saw, and one by one, they snapped the necks of the guys. They fell to the ground, lifeless corps feeding the earth that they used to play on. Had this been another day or another fight, maybe I would’ve let them go. However, they knew the dangers that they were siding with, and they knew who they were siding against. Therefore, a price had to be paid and a warning sent. Now everybody knew where I stood, what leader I was, and the importance of disloyalty.
“Let’s move,” I said, leading my people into war.
