Chapter 24 #3
“I hope so, Anna. I hope so,” was his reply.
My lungs screamed for air as I raced behind Dad.
My feet pounded against the freezing snow, and I pushed my body forward while grunts of agony echoed around us.
The stillness of the mountain unsettled me, as if the forest itself held its breath.
I squinted as I watched the darkening skies fall over the horizon, shadows growing deeper.
Struggling to put one booted foot in front of the other, I dodged gnarled bare branches reaching out like accusing fingers. After a while, the snow-capped cottages loomed in the distance. We were close.
Something caught my eye, and I looked down. The footsteps in front of me were covered in a deep-red hue, seeping into every flake of snow and leaving a trail of blood.
The warrior’s life force never stopped spilling.
As we neared, the pack doctor appeared at the steps and waved at us. I raised both hands and waved back. Dad must have had someone call the doctor to alert him. I held on to the sliver of hope that we’d make it there in time.
We had to. I couldn’t take another heartbreak if Isaac died because of me. I would never heal after Uncle Derek’s unresolved death in the forest. Another person dying would only add to my consuming guilt.
A sickening gurgling emanated from the stretcher. My heart did an odd hiccup in my chest.
Dad abruptly stopped, and I barely avoided colliding with his back. The men rested the stretcher on the ground.
An urge to close my eyes overtook me. Instead, I sidestepped Dad and faced the unmoving body. I gasped so hard for breath that my body jerked.
The warrior’s head rested to the side, blood dripping at the corner of his mouth. The scarlet stream soaked the fabric on his chest.
Dad put his fingers on the man’s neck and closed his eyes. After a moment, he shook his head, and tears welled in my eyes.
My human heart couldn’t take on more grief. I brought my gloved hands to my face and let the tears out. After a moment, the snow crunched next to me, and I uncovered my eyes, dropping my hands to my sides.
Next to me, wide-eyed Layla stared at the unmoving body. She paled at the sight. Her breaths came in small pants, turning shallow and short.
I could only imagine that memories of Uncle Derek’s limp body surfaced in her mind. She must have been triggered by the warrior's death, causing her to relive the horrific moment when we were nine and followed my parents to the forest, only to find out that Layla’s father had been brutally killed.
“This isn’t happening. He’s all right,” she muttered.
She squeezed her head as if trying to take memories out of her mind. Layla pulled her hair out and screamed. The only other time I remembered seeing Layla so hysterical was when she pulled a tarp that hid Uncle Derek’s dead body, revealing a missing part of his throat.
My cousin twisted to the side and fell to her knees. Her body shook while she emptied her stomach. She dropped her bare hands on the cold ground and tried to regain her breathing.
Behind me, Dad was busy finding someone to help Layla, and I heard him ask for help to carry her to her cottage.
Suddenly, Layla jumped to her feet, and she stood before me instantly. I almost stopped breathing, startled. Her eyes flashed her wolf’s eyes.
“You.” She spit out her next words with such venom that I felt them burning through my veins. “If we hadn’t walked so slow, we wouldn’t have been open to the hunter’s attack. If we all had shifted, we could have been faster and avoided the hunters…”
My ears rang, and despite the frigid wind, sweat drops formed on my forehead and temples. Blood rushed to my head, and although she stood before me, her face faded in and out in a blur. Her words jumbled. With every inhale, rough, freezing air filled my lungs to the point it was painful to breathe.
Black spots appeared. Waves of nausea took over. Was I going to faint?
I detected someone pulling Layla away as she kept screaming. My body swayed, and Dad stood at my side, steadying me.
“Are you okay?” he asked, worry lacing his tone.
I only nodded.
“Anna, as the next Queen, you’ll have to make hard decisions in a moment. Sometimes you won’t like the result. Regardless of what happens, you have to believe you’ve done your best,” Dad said in a soothing voice.
His soft words did nothing to calm me down. What had I been thinking when I joined Dad for the annual winter hunt? I was foolish to believe I could prove I was worthy of being a leader in the kingdom. I’d always been a human and would stay one for the rest of my life. Because of me, people died.
Not only once.
I was too slow to keep up with the supernaturals on the hike, slowing down the entire group. And if that wasn’t bad enough, I’d made the decision to pull out the arrow, leaving Isaac to bleed out to death.
Hayden appeared in front of me, his blue eyes filled with worry. I was grateful for his protection, but his constant presence signaled to others how weak I was.
Dad embraced me, and I let him, sinking into his arms. He loved me so much, but he also tried to accommodate me as a human at the expense of others.
My place was not in the supernatural world.
Although I had denied it for a long time, the werewolf kingdom was no longer my home.