You Fight For All The Wrong Reasons

He won’t tell Trey. I promise.

Mitch had told me these words in his most reassuring voice countless times. They still hadn’t extinguished the fear that was lurking within the corners of my mind. That Ray was going rat about me to Trey. And reveal everything that I had been hiding for the past four months.

So I didn’t know whether I should be relieved or concerned that Ray didn’t meet up with everyone else at our little gathering in the woods.

All 21 of us. Minus one.

Has anyone seen Ray? Trey growled.

No one answered.

Well then. Trey said. He didn’t need to say anything more. We all knew what that meant.

Eye gouging and slow, painful amputation of all four limbs.

We split up into three groups to hunt. I kept in stride with Julia, wind rippling our coats. Mitch’s white coat blazed in front of us.

Good thing we didn’t hunt in daylight. Otherwise, he would blind passerbies with his brilliant white fur.

The sound of our heavy breathing was shattered as the last sound we wanted to hear burst through the cool night air.

Howls. Loud, shrill shrieks and howls.

Emergency. Come quickly.

Julia looked at me, her big black eyes wide. Even Mitch froze, tense.

Our custom fire alarm got even louder. All six werewolves bolted in the direction of the howls. A whirlwind of panic circled us.

Trey came into view. He looked genuinely frightened and sad at the same time, howling insanely. He jumped around a figure lying limply on the ground.

Six pairs of eyes grew wide in shock as we all realized something at the same time.

Ray.

Oh no.
Not Ray, not Ray, not Ray…
Seconds stretched long beyond their time as I sprinted towards the wolf sprawled on the ground. It was Ray alright.

I sniffed his fur, brushing my nose against his chest.

He wasn’t warm anymore.

Ray, Ray, Ray. Who had once loved me, and then hated me, but never betrayed me. Ever.

He looked absolutely ghastly. Blood was seeping out of his mouth and from several deep gashes in his back. One eye was open and the other was closed. The open eye was boring a hole through my skull.

Two deep punctures in his neck were laughing in my face.

Damn vampires.

Thoughts exploded in my head. Was it Eli? Or was it Cam? Or another vampire? Was this what Cam was talking about?

Yes. Yes it was.

It had come so quickly.

Of course it Eli had chosen Ray. No one was expecting it this soon.

I growled. Eli was going to pay for this one.

Nineteen other pulsing hearts came closer. I felt Alicia’s warm body brush against me. A single tear glistened against her coffee colored fur. I bent my head down onto hers and brushed my nose against her cheekbone.

I know.

A ferocious growl rumbled in Trey’s throat, but it morphed into a long, haunting howl that echoed into the night.

It was joined by nineteen other cries. The long, wavering, mournful sound drifted up past the top bows of the trees and off to where smoky wisps of cloud hung in the sky.

When one’s gone, it tears up the spirit of the rest of the pack.

Eli had chosen well in that regard.

If anyone could kill Eli, Ray would be the one.

I felt utterly hopeless as this thought washed over me. I stared into Ray’s open eye, and at everything we had already lost.