Hunted「Book One」

「Seventeen」

"I'll never forgive him for this," he managed to choke out, his voice cracking.

"Look," I said with a sigh, "I don't know Charlie's side of things and even though what he did was just plain cruel, I doubt he did it just for the hell of it. He doesn't strike me as the kind of guy to make reckless decisions."

"He gave up my sister's life to protect the town instead of just fighting back. He's nothing more than a coward."

"That's pretty shitty, but I wouldn't call it cowardly."

"What?"

His head whipped forward and his black eyes bore into mine. I gulped nervously, still not adjusted to how terrifying werewolves' eyes were.

"I-I just mean that making a decision like that isn't easy. Charlie made the choice that no one else was willing to make. I may not know him, but I think he took it upon himself so he would be the person to carry such a heavy burden."

"Yeah, you're right," he said bitterly. "You don't know him."

I knew there was no way I was going to win this argument when he was still so upset about it so I kept my mouth shut. I couldn't blame him for being as pissed as he was, but he was letting it blind him. That's something I never wanted to do.

"I'll drop the subject for now, but I have one last thing to say," I told him and he grunted in acknowledgment. "Liam gave his life to save yours and although I don't blame you for that, you better not make it all for nothing by pulling more stupid shit like last night."

Right then was one of the few times in my life where I was dead serious and even Chris could tell. He didn't like showing it, but I think deep down he was guilty that Liam gave his life for him and I was more than prepared to make it so that my brother's final efforts were worth it, even if it meant using Chris' pent-up guilt against him.

Chris never got the chance to respond. At that moment, Izzy came barging inside the infirmary completely breathless. She didn't even take a second to stop and catch her breath.

"Austin, I need you!" she said urgently.

"Damn, Iz, kind of a weird place to confess your love to me," I teased, not realizing how important it really was.

"Austin!" she snapped. "This is serious! The guys are about to head into the woods to try and spy on the Hunters."

That sentence alone was the epitome of stupidity, and that's coming from me. I scrambled out of my seat, nearly tripping over my own two feet in the process, and ran out of the infirmary right behind Izzy, leaving Chris lying there dazed and most likely confused.

A minute longer and we would've been too late. The guys were nearly about to leave the Grove when we reached them, Izzy being a little too aggressive for my liking.

"Wait!" she ordered, seeming furious at them. "I told you before not to leave until I came back."

Bryan wadded his way through the small crowd of males, voluntarily being the one to attempt to make peace with her.

"I know, I'm sorry, but you do realize that the Hunters won't be in the forest much longer, right? If we can go now and spy on them before they leave, we might be able to find out if they intend on coming after us," he reasoned.

"We don't need to spy on them to know that answer," she countered which was true enough.

They definitely weren't planning on just stopping after Liam and if we returned home, we would become nothing more than sitting ducks to them.

"I don't know about you two, but I don't want to just sit here in this town where we obviously don't belong waiting for the day the Hunters forget about us. If we can just get some shred of information on what their next moves might be, no matter how dangerous it is, don't you think it's worth it?"