"I'm so sorry, Josh," Mama muttered as her eyes continued dripping in tears. She wanted to come closer but Marcos forbid her to. The only thing she did was carry Justine's body, who was also in shock at what was going on. "Save your statement during the trial period, Josh. Because you will hang in the next full moon." Marcos said back. "Get him to the cage." "What? No! I didn't do anything. Marcos, please! Don't do this to me. I did what you wanted me to do to the mission." My words were in a hurry when the werewolf guardians dragged me away from the seashore by force. Fife minutes later, my wolf ended up being locked inside a cage, alone. It was completely dark inside. Cold and arid. My human eyes could see was the cage they put me into. Actually, I'm not alone when my werewolf eyes see that I was entirely surrounded by a lot of skulls and bones. I could feel everyone's screaming, extreme pain, and regrets before they died. Perhaps they were our captives or wolves
"Justine was the one who asked this, Josh. Marcos allowed us to see you before you get...," mama could not finish her sentence when her tears immediately fall to her cheeks like a flowing river. "Don't worry, brother Josh. We still have two days left to encourage Marcos to forgive you. I don't want to see you die...," even Justine could barely finish his sentence as well. He joined mama's letting out tears. And it squeezes my heart so badly seeing two of the most important wolf in my life racing with dropping their tears. Helplessness lingered in their hearts. They wanted to be as tough as they could be but they already know my fate. "Guys... Please, don't cry. I'm still alive, can't you see? The wolf you guys are trying to mourn is still standing in front of you, talking." I intentionally laughed at mama and Justine even if my heart was already hurting like theirs. Don't want mama and Justine to see me sad or in my mourning state for the remaining days of my life.
"What are you looking at?" I asked them while reading what was running through their minds and scanned their bodies from head to toe. The only thing I could see on their hands were those spike maces. No other deadly weapons like a knife, riffle, or sword. And if they were planning to beat the hell out of me as what their eyes were telling me, I'm not let him do that. "We were supposed to beat the hell out of you, Josh. But we realized you'll be hung in three days. And there's nothing you can do about it. Everyone is now feeling excited for that day to come." One of them said that. But my werewolf instinct already expected that. "Do you know why Marcos choose to hang you on the third day, not today or tomorrow?" The second werewolf guardian asked. "Does it matter?" I asked back. Marcos once told me that hanging me in three days is the only thing he could do so I could have enough time to spend with mama and Justine. The werewolf guardians suddenly exchanged glan
Later that evening, neither mama nor Justine visited me in the cage. Several thoughts kept popping out of my brain about the reason none of them make it. It's either they don't want to see me on my execution eve. I can't blame them for that, the eve is the most hurtful night when it comes to incidents like this. Or worse, Marcos prohibited them to do so. If he ordered that, neither mama nor Justine could do something about it. The worst part is that I could not inquire about anyone in the cage. My wolf could barely sense any wolf's presence in the cage compared to my first and second days. Perhaps it has something to do with what they saw of me yesterday. They were both terrified at that time after seeing the colour of my eyes. "Are you ready for tomorrow's execution, Josh?" Marcos suddenly appeared in the cage, accompanied by three of our werewolf guardians. However, the three of them were new to my eyes. Or maybe Marcos assigned new werewolf guardians to guard me
"You're sorry can't save me from getting killed, Marcos. So, better save that to yourself when this rotten system gets changed. That no more innocent lives will be judged and hung in this tree based on what the majority wants you to." I muttered back in a disappointing tone. One of the werewolf guardians suddenly slid closer and muttered, "Alpha Marco, the total lunar eclipse will begin in an hour. I highly suggest we should start the execution since there are ten of the rogues." Marcos, indeed, intentionally set the date of the execution during the total lunar eclipse to make sure all of us will have no strength and power to fight back. And for them to hear all our human screams being his gesture that we should be terrified of him as the alpha of the pack. "Execute them, one by one. Joshua will be the last." Marcos muttered back before he hopped out of the execution podium. "Let the execution begin!" the wolf who muttered to Marcos earlier announced it louder, whi
Who remained on the podium were Marcos and most of his werewolf guardians who surrounded him. They were forming in circles with Marcos in the middle. Then I deliberately dragged my gaze to mama and Justine behind me. When we got the chance to have eye-to-eye contact, mama also felt terrified. So, I shifted the colour of my eyes back to their normal ones. "Ma, are you okay?" I stretched out my right hand to help her up. At first, mama was still in doubt when she simply stared at my hands hanging in the air. But when she sensed the sincerity in my eyes, she deliberately reached my hand. "I'm gonna be fine, Josh. But, is this what you said about the plan you're not telling me?" Mum asked back before she straightened her crumpled clothes after the fall. She then checked her entire body if she got wounded since everyone was already in their human forms. I was about to tell mama my plan but Justine moved out from the ground and quickly wrapped his arms around me, begging
The werewolf guardians behind him also followed Marcos in shifting into wolves since the total lunar eclipse got ended a few seconds ago. Mama also shifted and stood still beside me. "You better kill me first before you all could lean a hand on my son," Mama growled even in front of Marcos. The ten werewolf guardians also growled back. Then they howled back, this time, it was a bit louder to seek audiences and backups. Considering mama and I were already outnumbered, Marcos wants to make sure most, if not all, werewolves on the island know about what I did to one of us. So, he could always have their sides. "Melissa, go home with Justine. This is not your battle. Don't make this even hard for me. I don't want to see you too getting killed. You still have Justine." Marcos said back before he laid his eyes on my little brother behind us. "You're the bad guy, Marcos. You kept seeing you treated us your sons but it was only a pretense. Because if you do, you should
"Unless I could erase you first." Marcos enlarged his mouth and grabbed a bite on my neck. The blood immediately ejected from my next as soon as his elongated claws penetrate. Since my feet were freed, I forced my body to move sideways and slashed my claws on his shoulders. Because of the slash, Marcos' let go of his bite and checked how deep his wounds were compared to mine. But those wounds did not stop us from attacking each other until our first wounds increased in numbers. Because the wounds come from our alpha claws, we eased off for a few minutes, allowing our wounds to heal. At first, I thought Marcos already granted my challenge but he ordered the rest of the werewolf guardians to cut off my head. My wounds did not heal yet, so I left no choice but to run to the nearby forest. Not to mention I just realized my wolf has something more to worry about. I got slashed on my abdomen. This time, the cut was deeper compared to my neck. Our current state after
"Do you believe in what the news is saying? That's completely ridiculous, right?" The cab driver broke the bridge of silence between us in the car. "I mean... There were a lot of problems Chicago was facing these days - heavy traffic, death rates, and poverty. It's not that I am against their plan of eliminating those monsters, but, I've heard no such thing as werewolves." I dont know if I should be pleased or not with what the cab driver told me. He sounded like monsters such as werewolves are not the main problem to society but the government itself. However, the government was right. We are monsters. "... Now, we have on the other line of the phone, the man behind the list. And he wants the public to address him as the Benefactor of this werewolf hunting trip. However, his safety is our main concern. So, we secure his basic information such as name, address, and contact number." added the reporter on the news. "People of the United States. Recently, we, the people o
"Josh, wait up!" Nathaniel whispered as he removed his clothes and shifted into a big bad wolf before he jumped over the fence and followed me. As soon as we heard the sounds of the gunshots, I bumped my body into the door by force, especially when it was locked. When we got the chance to see the image of the house, a flood of fresh drops of blood greeted us. The worst part is that I could barely sense anyone's presence in the house anymore aside from the body lying on the floor with an axe dug in straight to the woman's heart. "We're late," I muttered to myself with much regret that pinched the deepest part of my conscience. I could barely sense the woman's breathing anymore. Neither was her heartbeat. "She's dead." Nathaniel roamed around shortly, checking every corner of the house. We sensed the murderer's scent ten seconds ago but it disappeared like thin air all of a sudden before we could get in. But the house was already deserted. So, he went back to the
{Joshua's POV} "Baby, always remember what I told you, okay?" I muttered to Justine as soon as we stepped foot in front of his classroom. Undeniably, an entire part of me was feeling skeptical of the idea that he will go to class despite the situation he was in. Justine doesn't know yet that someone has put a price on his head amounting to four million dollars. I mean, my little brother was just a grade-schooler. He hurts no one and barely knows about Chicago werewolves. He doesn't deserve to be part of this nonsense and unreasonable dilemma. I don't want him to worry about his life either. All I want for him is to continue his study to have a better future similar to most humans. "That I should reach out to you or Lady Nathalie in case of emergency? Are we in danger, brother Josh? I heard you guys back in Lady Nathalie's place talking about werewolves who are in danger. Are we included in the list?" Justine asked back. And he's started to worry. "No, we're not
And I know he somehow noticed our surprised expressions, especially his brother, Justine. He cared for his brother very much. His little decision, whatever it is, also matters to Joshua. "My entire week is available. But once the clinic gets back its operation, I'm gonna focus my undivided attention so Justine and I could save enough to get back to the island." Joshua said back, trying to ease off Justine's awful expression. "But I thought we are going to stay with Lady Nathalie, brother Josh. Does that mean you're lying to me?" Justine said back in an unhappy tone. My brain was frozen for a few seconds. They only have each other's back if Joshua will insist on ignoring my help. Breaking them apart would be the last thing I would do. So, I tried digging into my brain about how to convince Joshua to stay in Chicago instead of going back to the island knowing they are no longer welcome to live there as her mama told us. That's why she willingly entrusted her two sons
Every one of us, including Justine, exchanged glances, trying to read each other's minds to know which side of the choice we are on. But no matter which side Joshua chooses, I will forever be supporting him. "Then, we'll help them. But, for the record, this is not an assurance that we could protect all of them," had to point that out. I don't Joshua would blame not just me when things go south. My family may be that wealthy enough to have billions of dollars in my bank accounts but I'm not desperate enough to kill the wolves, including our pack members. What good could I get about that? Let alone paying millions of dollars to eliminate thousands of them. "Besides, we still don't know who's madman is behind all these. Putting millions of dollars in our heads requires a massive amount of money in their bank accounts." "So, does this mean my head was priced at a hundred million dollars? 'Cause that was the figure written parallel to my name." Joshua's confrontation ma
Despite Joshua's weakened wolf, he still has the strength to punch Nathaniel in the face. His rage exploded like a volcanic eruption. Aside from that his explosion was extremely hot, no one would dare block his way unless you were ready to get a punch from him too. "Wait... You told him?" Could not help but lush out my frustration to Nathaniel instead of taking his side. I pushed him by force when I could not believe he preceded me even if he knows there was no slight chance between us. And I thought of our sex as a huge mistake driven by the call of alcohol in our systems. "No. I didn't. But I thought you already told him since you heard it yourself, he was referring to our..." Nathaniel cut off his words before making things worse. "No. I haven't told him yet, you idiot. That was already part of my plan, but not now when all our lives are in great danger including the kid. I'm afraid my name was already included on the list." "What list are you talking about?" Jo
"Rescue was on their way, Nathalie. Please hold until we reached the road you're in, okay?" Those were the last words coming from Nathaniel from the other line of the phone before the call got ended. "Okay. Thank you so much, Mr Nathaniel. But, please, come quick. Brother Josh started not to look good." Justine's words made me stealth a glimpse at the rearview mirror and found out indeed, his brother doesn't look good. The colour of his skin started losing its normal glow and was soaked in profuse sweat. I could barely hear his heartbeat either. Neither was his breathing. "Joshua, can you talk? How are you feeling?" I asked and stayed focused on driving the car to avoid getting hit by those arrows and axes as much as possible. "Lady Nathalie, please, help Brother Josh. He's not breathing anymore." Justine's voice even increased my worries and fears, especially when Joshua is not responding to my inquiries. Justine suddenly screamed when Joshua's half of his bod
"Young man, is she your girlfriend?" the cab driver asked. "Are you dumping that kind of woman? Are you kidding me?" "First of all, she's someone's girlfriend. Next to that, I'm not talking to her. So, please, tell her that she needs to move away if she doesn't want to get hit by the car." Joshua said back. "You heard the man, Miss gorgeous. So, please, I'm not gonna say it again. There are a few cab drivers and passengers at the back who are more furious than you are. If I'm not gonna move away, they will put the blame me." Indeed there were a few cab drivers who just hopped out of their respective cars and some continued beeping their horns, making the entire waiting area into chaos. "I'm so sorry, Josh. What you see back there is not what you think it is. I tried to explain to you the reason but you were gone already. But, please, give me a chance to hear my reason. If you don't want to believe me afterwards, then I'm letting you go." "Hey, you? Will you mov
Nevertheless, the only face I see was Nathaniel who was heading in my direction, somewhat bothered. "Nathalie, you need to get back to the unit. Now. The guests are staring at you." "It's all your fucking fault he left." I made sure most guests on the ground floor heard it to make sure their sharp eyes were pointed at him. Then, I rushed back to the elevator and ascended to my unit alone. In a few minutes, Nathaniel followed with a blushing face and sharp eyes. He slid to the fridge and gulped a bottle of water in one go but I could sense the anger that was bothering him. "You know what, Nathalie? If you fucking want to blame it on me. Better say it in front of my face, not in front of the other people. And don't forget, it's also your fault since you've done nothing to make things right. Grow up." Nathaniel let go of the empty bottle of water and threw it into the trash bin. Then, he slid to the couch and switched on the television. And I just stood in front of