Capture My Heart

With the addition of Poppy’s friends there were two more wolves to add to our rebellion. Although they were no older than the rest of us, they were already bonded together as a mated pair.

This wasn’t news to Poppy, who had this figured out in her head already as she pelted them with questions about what happened after she left.

I expected some of the things they told her to spark her short temper, but she was calm and collected while listening to them fill in each others sentences, never missing a beat.

The worst reaction she showed was narrowing her eyes, which I don’t understand how she was able to do. How could she sit their calm and collected while her friends described how horrible things were getting back home?

I guessed that she didn’t have much of a choice but to listen coolly. What was the point in overreacting? What was done was done.

Joana and Jerome we very similar to each other, both were serious and collected people with quiet thoughts and not very harsh opinions. They saw both sides to everything, and judged after they got all the facts, which was rare for people nowadays, including me, I admit it.

Violet seemed really intrigued by them, and was often talking to them in our minds, even more than Poppy did, since Poppy was always talking to the guys and comparing what information they had collected about the guard schedules and shifts.

Another week flew by without our routine changing.

Poppy, Jay, De’Andre and now Jerome instead of me, all kept careful metal calculations about everything the vampires were up to. I didn’t know how long it’d take to find a breach or a weakness but so far we were getting more than we’d expected.

Once you started paying attention it was very easy to learn the names and other things about the vamps that came and went on the outside and inside of the new camp.

I had plenty of experience recording this info anyways with what had happened when Canto’s crew showed up.

At the thought of them, my teeth clenched.

I wondered what had happened to the last remaining member of their pack, their leader. I hoped fervently that he got what he deserved.

“Time for grub,” Beck said out loud, not bothering to think it to us. There was a symphony of groans in the group before Violet shushed them.

The rest of the day was the same as the routine had been going for a while. We would talk in our minds, stay inside our tents due to the rain that had become more frequent, and go to bed early due to the stress that was packed onto us.

Poppy.

I was unconscious, dreaming of steak.

It might’ve seemed weird, but I was starving. The food here was disgusting, but there was still never enough of it.

My stomach pains had finally allowed me to drift into slumber, and the night was silent…for a while.

I had very sensitive ears, and in turn was a light sleeper, so when over the pouring rain that didn’t get into the tent due to the plastic fabric it was made of, the sound of a few dozen feet passing over the earth reached my ears, I started stirring. I didn’t wake up completely, but just enough.

Just enough to see De’Andre, who was keeping watch for the night and sitting near the door of the tent, leave, so it was just Violet, Jacob, Briana, Jerome, Joana and me in the tent.
I was confused, and forced myself to wake up so I could follow him.

He made a gesture for me to be quiet when I came out, the night dark due to rain clouds that had been a constant thing lately. They blocked the moon and kept my wolf side agitated. It would be full in a few days, and I wonder what would happen.

I was soaked and hurried over to De’Andre’s side so that I could ask him why he was here. He beat me to it though.

“Can you hear that?” he said, cocking his head as I knew he would. He was straining to hear over the rain but I didn’t have to.

“Yes, someone’s walking,” I whispered, terrified of breaking the silence. He nodded, his eyes narrowing in the dark and nearly turning black. My hair was sticking to my forehead and neck and the rain felt like shards of glass.

“A lot of someone’s,” he stated, and then growled lowly. “I can’t hear anymore.”

I shrugged my shoulders, “Me either, it was probably just a mind trick, let’s go back to bed,” I stated, shrugging again.

He nodded, but scooted closer to the tent so he was under a bit more cover “Okay, you can, but I wanna stay out here, just in case,” he said and I rolled my eyes, “Are you kidding me? It’s pouring,”

He smirked at me and I sighed, “Well then I guess if you wanna die of hypothermia I will too,” I stated. He shook his head “You don’t have to do that,” but I ignored him.

I curled up on the ground and threw De’Andre’s arm over my head, as a joke, to show that I wasn’t leaving.

He sighed and pulled me a bit closer to him so that when he hunched his shoulders more the rain was off of me.

I fell asleep quicker than I thought.

XxX

Awake again, I groaned and scooted closer to De’Andre if that was possible. The trampling was again, only this time it didn’t go as far away and I could hear it clearer.

“Hear something?” De’Andre asked, not having the same privilege himself. I nodded, trying to tune it out but knowing that it wouldn’t happen, especially when I heard talking.

It was only slightly muffled, but I could make out every word, which I replayed for De’Andre in short whispers.

“You’re probably wondering why we’ve awoken you, and luckily for you, you don’t have to wonder long. Unfortunately, you also can’t do anything else for much longer either. See, the truth of the matter is, we can’t afford to keep you Were’s. The full moon is coming soon and there are already too many of you for us…but don’t worry the others will join you soon.”

Something like a chill crawled up my spine and De’Andre kept his hold on me, so I felt his tense, his eyes widening as everything that was happening suddenly clicked into place.

And then I heard the screams. And then I heard the gunshots.

Jacob.

I woke up to the sound of muffled sobbing.

It took a second to realize that it was outside, and that the rain had stopped, for the first time in a while. It was probably early in the morning now.

It was strange to hear that sound, seeing as things had been relatively better in this camp than the last one. Not many people had gotten hurt and especially not anyone in our little group.

Groggily, I whipped at my eyes and sat up, shifting Violet who was close beside me in the tent. She got up too, blinking in surprise.

After that, the whole tent was awake, and we all made our way outside, where Jay, Kyle, Beck and Jeremy all exited their own tent, all of us surprised at the sight we saw.

Poppy was the one crying, De’Andre holding her and trying to keep her from drawing unnecessary attention to herself. He looked up as everyone came out with a pained expression on his face, not made better by the whispered questions and demands for an explanation.

“Poppy, tell them what you heard,” De’Andre said, stroking her back while he held her in his arms, comforting her.

It was disturbing to see Poppy reduced to this.

Violet reached out, connecting all of our minds so Poppy didn’t need to speak, and we watched in horror at Poppy’s memories.

We can’t afford to keep you Were’s. The full moon is coming soon and there are already too many of you for us…but don’t worry the others will join you soon…

They were killing the werewolves affected by the full moon.

Everyone was shocked, the chaos in all of our heads churning as everyone panicked. 90% of our group would be dead if these killings continued, and Poppy was certain that they wouldn’t stop.

What do we do?

How could this have happened?

We won't make it to the full moon...

What if they come for us next? What can we do to resist?

Why now? We’ve been here for so long…

I struggled to pick out individual voices, but it proved to be pointless as everyone was mentally drowning in each other’s words.

It took a while, but eventually I got my voice to stand out above the others, interrupting when everyone had quieted down a bit. I could only see one option to what had to be done. There was only one thing we could do to save ourselves. Something that should’ve been done a long time ago.

We’re have to leave, soon, we can’t stay another night. We can’t risk it. I thought, as everyone came to realize we had no other option.

For the wolves that were affected by the full moon, for Violet and Poppy and everyone but me, Kyle, Beck, and Jay, we had to go.