Runner

Chapter 5

"The Resistance is the pack you all failed to be. They are my family. You best watch your tone," I barked. My words pierced through the Beta, causing him to flinch violently. Jonah nodded and stared at the ground as if the smooth wooden floors could save him from my wrath.

"I'm sorry," Jonah apologized solemnly. A twinge of sympathy arose within me, but I quickly pushed it away. I had no sympathy for him. I had no reason to. He spoke ill of The Resistance. He made it sound like I traveled with a carnival of freaks, and not a noble pack of warriors! I swallowed my fury down my throat.

"After Zane banished me cruelly and unrightfully, I was homeless. I was alone." Jonah looked up at my brisk tone. I could sense his regret and awe as if it were my own. I hastily brushed away the feeling, scolding myself once more. Why did I feel such emotions from him?

"Two months after I left, I encountered The Resistance," my eyes shone as I spoke. "I saw them as the most noble, influential, down to earth warriors I had ever met. They took me in after seeing my potential for greatness." A smile crept onto my lips as I recalled that fateful day.

"They are a family to me. We have a bond that most people never experience. It is a bond that runs deeper than blood, and lies in the soul. We are not just a family, but a united force. The Resistance mentored me, taught me how to fight. They told me I had amazing potential, and that I was wasted in this pack. They told me that I was taken for granted in Blue Moon. I realize now that they were right." Lifting my chin, I gazed at him my blank face never wavering.

"While we all are exceptional warriors, I am the most skilled killer in The Resistance. In other words, I am the best. It is undeniable that I have taken countless lives, but they are all lives of those damned Hunters." I sensed the fear and awe emanate from the Beta. It must have been a strange thing for Jonah, to say goodbye to an innocent, broken little girl only to come back and face the same girl as an unapologetic murderer.

"Yes, I am a killer," I continued, "but I kill for you. All of you. Wolves and vampires, The Resistance protects all of you from those wretched Hunters, in hopes that you will always have the right to prosper. The right to raise your pups freely, without always having to calculate each step you take with the fear that a shuriken will slice your back." I spat my words out venomously. My words cut through him like glass, slicing deeper and deeper into his soul.

I barked out a laugh. "I fight for the very wolves that banished me, left me to die in the human world. You have no idea how cruel humans can be. How unsympathetic and selfish they are. The best they do for a homeless person is a few spare change in a hat, then what? That's right, they forget about you and go on with their happy lives. They go home to the families they take for granted, they waste precious food that I needed when I starved in the cold, and they don't spare your ragged ass a second glance."

"You don't know how fortunate you are until you have nothing," my voice dropped to a whisper. Jonah stared at me in horror, regret, and disbelief. He raised a hand to comfort me, but drew in away in hesitation. I turned away and gazed at the Blue Moon pack lounging in the back yard. The mates sat lovingly on the porch while the merry pups played in the snow. I smiled wistfully to myself.

"You really don't know how fortunate you are until you have absolutely nothing. Until you have no one. I suppose this pack could use a little nothing. Sometimes I would love to see what happens if The Resistance just  let all the Hunters attack. If The Resistance just lounged around all the time, let packs and clans be mercilessly wiped out every single hour of every day. I mean, we are fully capable of defending ourselves from the Hunters, we've done it countless times before." I traced a small hairline of a crack at the corner of the window. "You would all  die," I said softly. I turned as a presence approached the door.