Invade My Heart

Chapter 21

They stiffened, shuffling closer to each other involuntarily. I could practically hear everyone gulp nervously. I could feel the panic rolling off them in waves.

No doubt was I frightened as well.

‘We’re near,’ Weston warned. ‘We’ll be out in the clearing in less than ten seconds.’

My breath hitched and my blood ran cold when a string of thirty hunters followed behind Weston out onto the open field. I could smell werewolves lingering amongst the group. I could even pick them out. I watched every one of them with calculated eyes, prepared for the first shot. They stood in a cluttered group, holding their weapons in their dirty hands.

They were obviously surprised. They weren’t expecting us to show up here. In fact, Weston had told them that they were just crossing this land and they weren’t going to encounter us for another mile.

They cocked their guns and aimed their rifles at us. We crouched, growling at them as a warning. The rogues growled too, snatching the weapons out of each hunter’s hand with inhuman speed. Hunters groaned and screamed when they realized that their fellow “hunting pals” were really wolves.  The shot of a gun echoed in the empty field.

My eyes widened, observing the scene in front of me. A human hunter groaned in pain, hopping on one foot. I let out a relief breath to see that he accidently shot himself on the foot whilst grabbing his weapon back from a fiery red head. Once the rogues grabbed every weapon from their hands, the hunters shrunk back and were prepared to run.

However, Henry held up his hand and ordered, “Stay. We did not come here to run. If you run, they will chase you like dogs do.” We growled at him, but he glared at us with hate.

“What the hell is going on?”  Another hunter asked, retreating from a growling blonde-haired woman.

Weston walked out onto the open field. He stood beside Jarred who positioned himself in front of us.

“Weston?” Henry’s eyes widened. “Son, what are you doing?”

“I’m Alpha Weston of the Crescent Pack,” Weston growled, crossing his arms across his chest. “Looks like you guys weren’t so smart after all.”

“Kids?” Ron gasped, pointing a finger at Beau and me. I rolled my eyes.

“Looks like you can’t trust anybody,” Henry sneered.

“We’re not looking for danger,” Jarred said calmly.

One hunter scoffed, glaring at all of us. “Yeah right,” He spat. “You’re animals.”

“We’re humans,” Weston stated. “We’re just supernatural.”

The rogues had moved to go join us. In the middle of our groups was a big space. It was quiet as we stared each other down. Finally, Weston spoke again.

“We won’t harm you,” He said, ignoring the angry shouts from the hunters. “We just want to make an agreement.”

“An agreement?” Henry laughed. “Ha! That’s hilarious, boy! Why would we want to make an agreement with dogs?”

“What have we done to you?” Jarred snarled. The wolves agreed with him, growling at the hunters.

“You’ve killed and injured our citizens,” A hunter cried.

“We’ve killed or harmed them because they harmed us first,” Eli yelled. “We were using self defense.”

“By using your vicious animal side?” Another hunter scoffed.

“You were using weapons that could kill us,” Charles replied. “We’ve done nothing. We didn’t even start whatever war we are fighting. You humans have started this and I have to say, you people are more ruthless than us ‘dogs’ are.”

The hunters shouted nasty replies to that one. At every comment, we’d shout back at them. It was more of a debate than actual fighting.

“Enough,” Weston growled at all of us. It was so loud and intimidating that the hunters stopped too. Soon, they started their banter again.

“Stop,” Henry ordered calmly. He smiled menacingly at Weston. “Now, what agreement would you like to have?”

“Get rid of the weapons. We will not harm humans. It’s as easy as that. The weapons are the real problem here,” Weston stated.

“How do we know you will keep your end of the deal?” Henry barked. The hunters agreed. He didn’t give Weston a chance to reply. “That’s right, you won’t. You’ve lied to us once and we were fools to have trusted you. So why should we trust you again?”

“It –“ Weston was cut off when Henry took a gun out of his coat pocket. Soon after, the other hunters followed suit.

My eyes widened. Well, we didn’t expect that. We crouched down, growling at the brutal weapons in their hands.

“You didn’t expect that, huh?” Henry smirked. “We knew there was something fishy about these new hunters. We had to be careful just in case.”

‘How the fuck did I miss that?’ Weston linked us, walking backwards a bit. ‘I’m sorry I failed you guys.’

There were a thousand thoughts swarming in my head. I was too young to die. I promised my family that I would come back alive. My friends had families they were waiting for too. My life was over –

“Daddy,” A female yelled.

At the sound of the familiar voice, a growl rippled in my chest. Her presence angered my wolf more. I wasn’t the only one angry. The other wolves growled.

“Hayley,” Henry said, lowering his gun when Hayley stood in front of us. “What are you doing here?”

“Daddy, do not hurt them,” Hayley pleaded, placing her small hand on Weston’s bicep. Weston flinched away. My growl was low and menacing. Hayley watched him with wide eyes, but waved it off. “They’ve done nothing wrong.”

She wasn’t such a psycho freak after all. However, I still did not trust her. Although our new found dislike for this lady, we kept our mouths shut.

Hayley’s statement caused her father to laugh. He lowered his gun and so did the other hunters. “Hayley, honey, I know you’re in love with Weston,” Henry informed. “But they’re nothing but vicious wolves.”

“I know,” she muttered, scuffling her feet.

“You know?” Henry asked with anger. “You chose them over your own father? Hayley, move, this is going to get a little bit messy.”

“No, dad,” Hayley said sternly, looking at her father with her big brown eyes. “You promised to stop killing werewolves even if you didn’t find what you were looking for. Whatever happened to that? You only want one thing. I know they’ve betrayed you, but maybe they could help.”

“You’re right, Hay. Hunters lower down your weapons,” Henry gave in at his daughter’s words after a ten tense minutes of silence. His eyes were hard to read. “Weston, I know you know what I’m looking for –“

“No,” Weston snapped harshly, eyes blazing with anger. “Absolutely not. There is no way in hell that’s going to happen.”

The question that has been killing me was finally brought to the table. What was so important and so valuable that Weston did not want to hand over to the hunters? If he gave it now, this could end peacefully. I knew Weston had it in his possession because he didn’t say, “I don’t have it.” Instead, he refused to give it up.

“Weston, please,” Henry’s voice pleaded with hurt. He ran his hand through his hair. “Do you have a Healer amongst you?” He then looked at all of us. “If any of you are Healers or know of any, please help my wife. She’s a werewolf and she’s been suffering an illness for over two years now. She will die soon.”

What the hell was going on?