Chapter Seven

Vekra

The inhabitants of the room exchange a glance of dread and apprehension but I don't take my eyes off Ma.

She still has not moved. I emptied the contents of the vial into her mouth and she still looks dead as a vampire.

I look up at Inan helplessly.

"She is not waking up." I say, my voice shaking.

"Inan, see what you can do." Rollen says. "In the meantime, I'll go with the rest to check what the ruckus is all about."

I nod and the rest of them file out while Inan hurries forward and takes my mother's hand, immediately feeding her her healing energy once again.

The cries are increasing outside, and I hear a few howls of distress. I can feel the general unrest in the pack and I should probably go and confirm what is going on outside but I refuse to leave my mother's side. I hold onto her hand tighter, fearing that if I step out she will sleep away.

I have a terrible sinking feeling that we cannot escape what is coming for us from outside, but even my wildest guesses would not have been accurate.

The cries are getting louder, and they are getting closer.

I exchange a glance with Inan. Her lips are closed tightly.

"Is there anything you cannot let go of in this house?" She asks tightly.

"Why?" I ask her.

"Trust me. If there is, go and get it." She says.

Inan is about my age and she is the pack omega. While many would claim her the weak link in the pack, she is also the most emotionally sensitive person of us all, the person that is literally responsible for keeping the pack emotions steady. It is why she is always so calm, it is a part of her nature.

Whatever is going on outside, she can pick up on it much more than I can.

I don't have anything in this house that I cannot let go of but Mama does.

I spring up and run to her wardrobe, shoving aside the rows of shoes until I get to the secret section at the bottom of the wardrobe. I pull it open and inside is a box, one I have seen her handle only a few times before, each time with love and extreme care.

I grab my cloak and shove the box into one of the deep pockets, uncaring that it is heavy. As I run back to my mother's bed, my eyes fall on Papa's amulet. He is never without it, at least not before today. It was my mother's mating gift to him. On reflex, I grab it and shove it into my pocket.

"How is she?" I ask, standing over Inan and my mother.

"Her energy has shifted, I think whatever was in that vial is working but it is precarious. She must not be moved, at least not yet." She says.

I rush to the window and shove the curtains open.

My gasp echoes through the room. 

Our men and women are being dragged out of their homes by the Sentinels.

The Sentinels are one of the most feared group of wolves. Each of them are hundreds of years old and they are able to hold the precarious shift between human and wolf, combining the extreme advantages of both. Because of the power they command, they always have what looks like black fumes trailing out from their skin. They are the fast, powerful, deadly and feared and they are released only when the law needs to be implemented and it needs to be done efficiently.

"Sentinels." I whisper.

What has my pack done to have the Sentinels released on us? My stomach feels like someone poured hot acid into it.

Men, women and children of my pack are being dragged out. They are crying out, trying to protect their young ones. They are shown no mercy. The Sentinels are everywhere, going from house to house methodically.

"We are done for." I whisper. "They will soon be here."

I hurry back to the bed again and take my mother's hand.

"Ma, wake up." I plead. "Ma, please wake up."

She does not move.

But...

"Her hand is warmer." I say, hope a precious precarious thing in my voice.

It is still nowhere near werewolf temperature but it is no longer cold as death anymore.

"She is getting better." I say, my voice holding tentative happiness despite what is happening outside.

No matter what it is, I know I can handle it, but I cannot lose my mother. Not like this.

"Ma, it's me, Vekra." I say. "I need you to wake up, we need to get out of here."

The door bangs open and I spin around. I run to the end of the bed and throw out my arms to form a barricade between the Sentinel and my mother.

"Don't come any further!" I threaten, my voice deadly even though I am one of the most powerless people in the pack at the moment.

Damn my mortality.

But it probably wouldn't make a difference. No one can stand against a Sentinel, no one except the alphas stand a chance and the alpha of our pack is not home.

The Sentinel shoves the door open fully and two more step inside.

From behind them, I catch a glimpse of Rollen on his knees, one side of his face bloody.

There is no hope.

And yet I stand my ground.

"If you take even one step closer, I will rip out your throats and feed them to the dogs." I threaten. 

Can they feel that I am bluffing? I couldn't even score them with my mortal fingers if I wanted to.

The lead Sentinel snarls.

"Get out or you will be dragged out." He orders.

I throw a glance behind me at my mother who still has not moved. Inan is standing now but she does not try to fight because she is physically the weakest wolf in the pack so she knows her place. I should too.

The first Sentinel takes a step forward and I grab the first thing I see, a ceramic vase at the base of the bed and I hurl it at him. He dodges it and it crashes against the wall and shatter.

I am looking for the next thing to throw at him when he snarls and with more speed than I can trace, clears the room and stops in front of me.

I stagger back and his hand snaps out to grip my throat, crushing it.

I am choking, gasping. My fingers are scrabbling at his thick, iron-band fingers, trying to pry them off and my vision swims instantly.

"Let go of her!" Inan screams. 

She takes a step forward and another Sentinel crosses the room towards her. 

The Sentinel choking me throws me and I am suddenly hurtling through the air. I hit the wall hard, crashing to the floor, winded.

My back hurts, my throat is shredded and I cannot draw in air fast enough.

I am coughing and trying to stand up, trying to get between the Sentinels and my mother when from the corner of my eye, I see her move.

With a huge gasping breath, she starts to cough and turns over to the side of the bed.

She moved!

I collapse back to the ground , weak with relief.

The Sentinel is dragging me out again but my eyes are on my mother. She opens her eyes and she sees me, right before the third Sentinel grabs her and drags her out of the bed.

The one holding me throws me to the ground in front of my entire pack.

Everyone is out here on the ground, every single person that was present in the pack territory. The wailing and crying has stopped and we all watch as the sentinels line up in front of us, each of them as intimidating as the last.

"Listen carefully." One of them says, looking down at our numbers with such sheer hatred that I blank.

He continues, stressing each word.

"The alpha of the Olive pack and thus, the entire pack has henceforth been outlawed." He decrees in a thunderous voice.

I hear several sharp intakes of breath.

I am staring at the man delivering the news and my mind is repeating his sentence on a loop.

This cannot be happening.

"Your sentence begins immediately." He announces.

Almost immediately, I feel it, a souring of something inside of me. Every member of the Olive pack feels it, this spreading feeling of isolation and desolation and hopelessness. It is like being driven to and abandoned in the middle of the desert. Or having an umbrella shielding you from the rain suddenly ripped away. It is worse than feeling exposed, or abandoned.

It is like suddenly losing your sustenance.

While we are reeling from the pain of suddenly being ripped from the werewolf community, the Sentinels turn around and begin torching our houses.

"Wait!" I yell, staggering to my feet.

The leader stops and the look he throws back at me is enough to scald my skin right off. 

"On what grounds?" I gasp out through shredded throat. "Why have we been outlawed?" I ask.

"You have no right to demand anything, not answers, not even your life!" He snarls.

For a second, I think he is going to spring on me right then and there and tear me into pieces and no one would be able to do anything about it.

As an outlaw, I have less rights than the dirt we step on.

"But you should know that you and your pack and your children will remain outlaws for the rest of your lives. Alpha Din murdered the Ultimate Alpha." He spits the words down on the floor between us and then the first house goes up in flames.

The fire is all I can see.

The clearing is silent as a grave as the entire pack processes this devastating news.

Pa wouldn't. There must be a misunderstanding.

But then I remember Pa's terrible, foreboding face when he stepped out today and my heart sinks. 

My life as I know it is shattering around my ears.

As our houses go up in flames, one after the other and my pack huddles together in shock and pain, I have a sudden understanding of my new reality.

Each member of my pack, each father, each mother and each little wolf are all looking up at me.

They are all looking up at me to make this right. Somehow, I must.