“You are going to take a life. Someone will cease to exist because of you. You’re ending someone, and if that doesn’t affect you, then you haven’t really felt life.”
The Warrior gulped and looked down. I turned my head and looked at the rest of the Warriors, staring at the two of us.
“Sure, it might feel satisfying to kill the ones pointing guns at us, but will you feel that way when you kill someone innocent? You think every person in their army wants to be there? No. But this is their family. This is their pack. Before you do this, understand that every other Alpha and Luna are standing exactly where we are tonight, and I’m guessing they’re getting the same responses. They’ve made it clear that there is no possibility of surrender, they don’t want to live in peace, so it’s either them or us.
“We’re committing genocide. And despite our best and tireless efforts to remain peaceful and trusting, they’ve turned down every olive branch we offer. But that doesn’t mean they aren’t people. That doesn’t mean they don’t have hopes, dreams, families, passions, thoughts, and lives of their own. But our job is to protect this pack, this family, not theirs. So, if this is what it takes to secure our safety, then this is what we will do.
“It can wait one more night. It can wait for one more sleep, one more meal, one more bedtime story. One more time they make love to their mates, one more time they dream. Once more. And that’s it.”
Comatose
“Harder!” Casey bellowed in the ear of a Warrior. “You think one hit will bring a human down? They’re stronger than you think, fight harder!”
I strolled around the training grounds with a glass of iced tea in my hand, observing the tired Warriors practicing hand to hand combat. A smaller girl stood victoriously over her larger opponent until he grabbed her leg and pulled her down next to him.
“Never believe you’ve actually won,” I mused softly, filing it into memory.
“Sloane,” Casey greeted. “Any chance you’d like a friendly spar?”
“Against you? I’d have a better chance taking down a brick wall.” I snorted.
“Oh, come on, even if you aren’t fighting it will be good to have some tricks in your pocket.”
I unwillingly agreed, setting my glass on the ground a few feet away from us. Most of the other spars stopped and watched. My feet took a wide stance against Casey’s lunging frame. He smirked and whispered, “I won’t embarrass you.”
As he stepped forward, I sidestepped him with a quick turn. He turned to the right, hoping to catch me off guard, but I was prepared for him. My hand shot out, and I quickly and thumped the back of his head.
His eyes widened, and his mouth slightly parted, standing up straighter. His blonde hair was starting to fall out of the small ponytail that he had fashioned at the nape of his neck.
“You’re going to have to be quicker than that,” I teased.
He growled slightly, prepping to perform a larger, flashier move to impress the other wolves. Casey’s arms wrapped around my stomach and arms, holding my still and demonstrating to the other wolves how to keep me contained. With my detained hand, I reached to Casey’s exposed stomach and dug my finger into his side.
With one grunted laugh, his arms released me, and his body tensed. I stepped away long enough to see his frustrated face.
“What are you doing?” he ground out.
“Trying to prepare you.” I smiled innocently. “What if someone tickled you in the middle of hand to hand combat? I want you to be prepared!”
“You are not taking this seriously.” He shook his head, a dumb smile gracing his lips. He pushed my back. “Get out of here.”
“If I must,” I sighed dramatically, grabbing my glass of iced tea and continuing my walk towards the medical building. The receptionist smiled at me as I passed her on my voyage to Beckett’s room.
He was on the second floor, the ninth door to the left. I took my usual place in the chair to his left side and took his hand in both of mine.
“Hey Beck,” I said softly, running my thumbs over his skin. I closed my eyes and tried to force his healing like I had done the last four times I visited. Cherry had told me of the power Lunas held within themselves, but I hadn’t seen any changes despite my efforts.
I didn’t know if anything I did was helping him, but it didn’t seem to be hurting him all the same. I attempted to visualize his healing, but without knowing exactly where the virus affected him, it was nearly impossible to concentrate on one area of his body.
I sighed and leaned back in the chair. When I opened my eyes, I jumped a little at the silhouette of another person in the doorway.
“Sorry,” Kenna apologized half-heartedly. “I didn’t mean to scare you. I’ll come back later.”
“No,” I shouted desperately. She paused and turned a little towards me. “I mean, you don’t have to leave.”
She nodded cautiously and slowly walked into the room, taking the chair at the right side of Beckett’s bed. She glanced up at me through the corners of her eyes, barely making eye contact as she set her bag on the ground near her feet.
“Do you come here a lot?” I asked.
She pursed her lips, biting the bottom of one before she answered me. “Yeah,” she breathed. “Beckett was always a good friend to me even though he was closer to my brother.”
“Is,” I reminded her softly, smiling a little to try and prove I wasn’t being patronizing. “He’s not gone.”
“Yeah, I know,” she said bitterly. “Just feels that way.”
We sat in uncomfortable silence for the next ten minutes, looking at Beckett, but our eyes slowly drifted toward each other every
