The previous fight had been bloody and ruthless, but these young humans were scared and doe-eyed. They expected us to hesitate, to be gentle towards them. The older humans stood behind the teenagers, using them as a blockade.
“They look terrified,” Emily whimpered.
“Rush gave them a choice,” Casey said stiffly.
“They gunned down the one girl who tried to surrender,” Emily whispered back.
“Enough,” I warned softly, holding my hand up to stop their conversation.
Jonah let out a howl, and our wolves charged forward. Instead of attacking the front lines, the wolves diverged in two lines that wrapped around the human group. Our pack began to attack the back lines if the group, the older humans that were quietly waiting for us to kill the younger ones.
The younger humans were forced forward into the ample open space that existed before the packhouse. A few of the teenagers, boys, and girls, started attacking our pack. The othersturned and looked around, wildly searching for an order or someone in power.
“Put your weapons down!” I screamed, raising my own gun to protect myself.
Many of them were crying, shaking, and stepped towards us.
“Casey, go help them,” I ordered.
“Help them?” he spat.
“They’re not even old enough to know what war is. They’re children, they don’t deserve to die for someone else’s mistake.”
Casey leaped over the divide angrily and approached the young ones. He held his hands up in the air while ordering the humans to set their weapons on the ground. Most of them listened and huddled into a smaller group.
“Bring them inside,” I mind-linked him. Casey followed my orders and led the small group of children inside the packhouse.
The teenagers that decided to keep fighting were dealt with swiftly, with mercy in their deaths. More of our wolves were becoming injured against the advanced fighters. My hands shook as I watched our family struggle.
Suddenly, the ground shook with the sound of an explosion.
My gun lowered, and I grabbed onto Emily’s hand.
“Where did that come from?” I asked frantically.
“From the west,” she answered.
“That’s where Rush is.”
Both the humans and wolves paused at the sound; no one knew what the explosion meant or who was injured.
“You were right,” Rush yipped in my mind. I let go of the breath I was holding. “A big hole in the ground is very effective. The tank is gone.”
“You’re okay?”
“Perfect, sweetheart.”
The group of wolves running with Rush bounded in from the west side of our land, aiding the wolves that were fighting on the grounds in front of us. The humans didn’t last long without the help of their tank, and many surrendered to our wolves.
Rush’s large wolf stalked towards Harrison's group. A few Warriors flanked him, walking directly towards the small group of humans guarding Harrison. Casey appeared beside Emily again and pulled her away from the closing battle.
The last group of humans was being rounded up and led into the woods where our wolves would give them the ultimatum of surrendering or dying.
Harrison and his men walked forward to meet Rush and the two Warriors. I began walking toward them as well, Casey and Emily walked behind me. We met in the middle of the battlefield, riddled with dead bodies and blood.
The guards were ripped away from Harrison, leaving him vulnerable and open. He continued to stare at us with little fear.
“You don’t look scared,” I pointed out.
“I’m not.” He looked over at me lazily.
“You should be,” Rush barked. “Your army is gone.”
“Doesn’t matter.” Harrison smiled.
He lifted his hand, and before we could move, his fingers moved back and revealed a small silver gun. The tip of the gun pressed against my pregnant belly.
I chocked on the air in my lungs as I struggled to stand.
“You make one move, and your future dies,” he chuckled to Rush. “Pick up the gun.”
Rush’s face paled, eyes glued to the gun on my stomach.
“I said, pick up the gun!”
Rush mechanically reached down and grabbed a gun from one of the Warriors at his feet. He stared forward.
“Now,” Harrison drawled. “You have an option. You can either kill yourself with that gun, or I kill your woman and your child with this one.”
My legs shook, and I nearly collapsed until Casey grabbed my arm. No one wanted to fight Harrison.
“You’ll kill them after I shoot myself,” Rush pointed out. “That isn’t an option.”
“That’s your only choice, boy!”
“You’ll have to kill me yourself with that gun if you want me dead.”
“I don’t think you’re listening to me!” The trigger on the gun clicked back. “You do it now, or I pull this trigger.”
Rush raised the gun, eyes flashing between Harrison, the gun, and my face. Tears leaked down my face.
“Don’t do it,” I pleaded. “Don’t do it, please, Rush.”
The gun pressed against Rush’s temple, gently brushing the skin like the other gun was brushing against my clothed stomach. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.
Before I opened my eyes, a shot was fired.
For a moment, I thought I had died. I felt no pain, but when I opened my eyes, I realized it was because I wasn’t the one who was shot.
Rush stood in front of me, the gun now at his feet. I slowly turned my head and saw Harrison on the ground with a bullet hole through his forehead.
Hysterically, I started shaking and holding onto my belly. Rush moved forward and wrapped his arms around me. As I tilted my head, I noticed the boy who shot Harrison.
It was the human that I saw in the woods months ago. He didn’t fire then, he ran, but now he stood heaving in the middle of the battlegrounds, two bullet holes in his abdomen.
I broke away from Rush and hurried to the boy’s side. His knees buckled first, and then he fell on his side. His adrenaline smelled a lot like fear, unlike Harrison's prideful stench. Rush knelt on the other
