The Hunt: War Continues

Chapter 17

"How long were you planning on your speech being?" Amara asked me as she scribbled down on her piece of paper, her words tumbling out of her mouth a mile a minute.

I shrugged, sighing. "I was going to keep it short. I gathered that the wolves wouldn't be interested in hearing me blab on about how I'm grateful that the warriors put their lives before my own."

Amara hummed in response. "Okay, well that leaves enough time for Rowan to speak also, so I'll double check with him on what he wants to say. Although I'm unsure if that man is capable of showing any emotion."

We were planning the mass funeral for everyone who had lost their lives in the fight. We never held funerals back at my colony, so I was unsure what they consisted of, but they appeared to be a big thing here for the wolves. Amara wanted to ensure that every detail was jotted down and checked three times over. She wanted the ceremony to be perfect.

I wanted to do a separate little speech for Cassia, because without her, Cole would be dead. She gave her life up to save us and I was eternally grateful for her. She deserved her own segment.

"Okay," Amara spoke, running her hands through her auburn hair, puffing out a gust of air from her mouth as she shook her head. "I believe we have it all sorted. I'll take the list of flowers we need to Grace's florist and see what she can do. I'm sure they'll be ready by tonight."

I smiled, peeking over at the list, my eyes widening at the amount that she was going to order.

"A flower for every single person we lost," Amara said, pointing at the paper. The number was more than I had anticipated, the flashbacks of seeing the bodies in their sacks back at the camp filling my mind. I felt sick.

"Okay, thank you for doing this Amara." I sighed. "I need to head over to the hospital. I have an appointment."

Cole had booked me in with Doctor Rygard after mine and Claude's altercation. He had demanded I went straight away, but I felt fine, and to give him peace of mind, I allowed him to book me in. I didn't want to take away an appointment from anyone else just by showing up unannounced when I knew that Claude hadn't actually harmed me.

"For the baby?" Amara questioned, keeping her voice low. We were alone in my house though, Cole and Rowan both out overseeing the guidance councillors for their first real sessions with the humans. Cole had wanted to join me at the hospital, but I had convinced him that this was far more important. The humans needed to see him putting in effort to make sure they had a good plan ahead of them. He had to be the face of it.

I nodded, placing my hand over my belly, it feeling a little harder than it used to be, but it could have been a placebo- or gas.

"Rumours are going around about Claude's disappearance," Amara spoke, seeming to test the waters. "I asked Tirus about it, but he hasn't said a word which is very unlike him. Did Cole banish him?"

I sighed. The wolves wouldn't like hearing that Cole had killed one of their own, even if it was to save me. It was clear that Amara didn't know though. Was it meant to be kept a secret? Cole hadn't said anything to me about not telling anyone. "He's dead," I blurted out.

Amara's eyes widened before she cleared her throat. "Oh."

"He attacked me," I said, dropping my chin. "Cole had no choice."

It wasn't entirely the truth, but Claude had been overstepping the boundaries for a hell of a while now. To Cole, he was a lose end and was never going to show him or me the respect that he wanted. Attacking me was unacceptable. I wasn't the enemy here. Claude was dangerous.

"Shall I add another flower onto the list?" Amara asked, cocking her head and grabbing her pen, looking perplexed.

I shook my head. "No. We're only mourning the people lost in battle. Please keep that Claude business to yourself, Amara. I don't know if Cole wants people to know."