Three Alphas, Three Mates

Chapter 50 - Refugees and Rogues

I feel like I'm suffocating. It's too silent. It's too much. I stare into their multi-colored orbs. Some golden. Some blue. Some blood red. They watch me in the same way.

Is that the luna?

I feel like the answer is no. I feel like it always will be.

"Listen up," Carson's voice echoes across the highway.

My heart stops. Not because he scares me, but because I realize that whatever's about to happen is about to happen.

"For the last time," Carson says.

Some of the refugees yell over him, furrowing their brows and glaring indignantly.

He doesn't seem affected. "You need to leave." That shuts everyone up, and I know why. His eyes challenge anyone to keep talking, and no one's willing to risk it.

The only person willing to speak is a mother at the front who's way too close to begin with. I can't say I don't see why. If we let anyone in, she obviously wants her kids to be a part of that. But at the same time, she doesn't want them to be attacked. She keeps them behind her at all times, staring at our werewolves cautiously.

How does someone make a decision like that? How can something as simple as deciding where to stand become so complicated?

"The children," she says. "Let the children in."

I look away, but she won't let me.

"Luna." She looks into my eyes. "Let my children in. Please." Her golden eyes shimmer against the light, or is it just the moisture welling up in them? "They're good kids. They won't cause your pack any trouble—"

The three kids cry, holding onto her for dear life. "No, Mommy, I don't wanna go!"

I don't know what she expects me to do, rip them away? I can't. I stare at my feet.

Carson speaks for me. "We're not letting anyone in."

"Just ignore her, Mia." Bri whispers to me, putting a hand on my shoulder.

"Please," the woman tries again. "Luna."

Silence.

"Please."

Bri pulls me closer, wiping my face for me. "It's on all of us. Stop it."

I'm not really crying. My eyes are just getting watery, but I feel like if I blink, I'll lose it.

"They'll die," the woman screams.

I'm losing it.

"They'll kill them when they find us."

Silence.

"Oh come on," an elderly man says. "They're just kids. Let them in."

Now the mother looks pissed off, staring at me in disgust. "Don't you know how to speak?" she spits out.

I feel like shaking my head. No. I don't feel like I do. What is there to say? In front of all of these people, how should I tell them we're leaving them to die? Leaving their kids to die?

The tears in the mother's eyes dry up quickly. "It'll be your kids one day," she growls at me. "It'll be you and your kids. Have fun watching them die with you—"

"Get her out of here," Aiden says.

The woman flinches.

Carson looks at him from the corner of his eyes. "Are you sure?"

I freeze. "Aiden?" What is he planning on doing?

He doesn't say anything. Bri steps away from me. I reach for her, but she just gives me a reassuring look.