King of My Heart

FIFTY-FIVE

April

We sit and wait for any movement beyond the woods. The river is not far from here and any chance of someone attacking from this side went up in flames along with the camp we set fire to. But that didn't make the waiting any less daunting.

"It was you, wasn't it?" Jason's voice cuts through the silence.

I stop pulling the weeds from the ground. Something I was doing to give my hands something to do besides fidget. I give him a look of puzzlement.

"You asked Liam to make me stay behind," he states. He doesn't seem to be looking to me for confirmation. He is already sure.

"Yes."

"I understand what you were trying to do. But you can't expect me to sit and wait while people of my pack die. It isn't in my blood." I thought he might be angry but his voice seems calm.

"I was just trying to help Amy."

"I know. But you must understand. The baby is all the more reason I need to fight and protect everyone."

"Fair enough."

The final rays of the sun have disappeared to give way to the starry night sky and it makes me realise that we've been waiting here for longer than we expected.

"Shouldn't they have been here by now?" I look up and ask Jason.

Before he can reply, we are interrupted by a loud thud. It seems it came from far off.

"Looks like they are," Jason mutters, standing up.

There are ten other men with us. Some with guns and some in their wolf states. All of whom stand alert at the sound. Two more similar sounds go off. Bombs.

I can feel the blood rush through my body under the action of adrenaline and it takes everything in me to not link Liam to check if he is okay. Talking to him right now would just distract him and increase the likelihood of him getting hurt.

Another gunshot startles us, making both Jason and I spin around to face the forest. This one came from here. Within a second, one of the warriors hiding in a tree falls to the ground. Dead.

This makes Jason come into action.

"Everyone take cover," he shouts as both him and I jump behind a large makeshift wall, formed by sacks of cement.

"Do you see anything?" Jason links the warriors in the trees.

"No."

A few moments of quiet exist, followed by the thunderous boom of a grenade going off a few feet away from us.

After that, it sounds like it's raining fire. Gunshots go off from every direction. The clearing around us is not large enough for them to enter from everywhere, with a steep climb on either side. So the men and wolves mostly arrive from the front. The slow inflow allows the gunmen in the trees to take them down but after a while, we are simply outnumbered.

I stare in horror as men fall around us. Both ours and theirs. But unfortunately, we don't have a lot to spare. At that moment, it dawns on me that they tricked us by letting us think we had destroyed their camp. No one was going to attack Liam and the other packs. Because they were all here.

"They're here, Liam," I link him. "They're all here."

Jason and I look at each other trying to figure out what to do.

"You take the wolves, I'll take the men," I finally decide. He nods in approval.

Jason loads his gun and begins firing. I look over from behind the cement sacks and watch as a small bunch of men fight their way towards us, guns at the ready, while the wolves give them cover. I raise my hand, finding the strength to course through me and push back.