Maybelle's POV
I never thought myself to be a hero. I never wanted to hurt anyone. I just want to be with Wilfred. Why can't I do that?
My back hurts, and the ground is cold beneath my skin. All I can do is stare up at the ceiling contemplating everything I've done. The more I think, the more I feel like I'm in a dream, a horrible, sick dream. Markus fills my thoughts more than anyone, but by this point I think my grieving has just turned to self-harm.
Geffrey hasn't returned, and I can only hope my pack believed him. Then again if they did, that also means I may have commanded them to walk to their deaths. I heave a great sigh, my tired eyes closing for a brief moment.
I don't want to think anymore, I just end up going in circles. Luckily, my thoughts are interrupted as the door to my cell opens. Filled with a sense of dread, I force myself to sit up and squint at the intruder.
A shaggy pokes its way in, and for the first time in a while, I smile. "Puck." I breathe, my own voice sounding foreign in my ears. Puck returns my greeting with a small smile of his own, moving to fill the doorway.
He motions with his head to get up. "I think you'll want to see this." He says, ushering a feeling of curiosity as I get to my feet.
"What do you mean?" I ask, my feet wobbling slightly as I take uneven steps towards Puck.
He reaches out to steady me, his hands holding my gently enough to show his want to help rather than hurt. Once balanced once more, Puck crosses his arms and look over his shoulder as if at a person or thing in the distance. "The pack wolves are moving, I think you 'plan' worked." Puck looks back at me with an unreadable expression. "Connor ordered me to stay back and kill you if the pack wolves made it this far." He says nonchalantly.
I can't help but flinch at his words, though, I don't know what else I could've expected. Lowering my head slightly, I pick at my fingernails distractedly. "Um, you're not going to kill me, right?" I mutter, glancing up at Puck through my messy hair.
To my surprise, Puck actually chuckles before turning his back to me and walking away. "Come on already, Rose. We're late to the fight." He mumbles, not bothering to look back as he makes his way down the decrepit hallway.
For a moment I'm too shocked to move, but I snap out of it quickly enough and scurry after Puck as he leads me out of the old pack house. Puck quietly shifts, throwing me a look to tell me to follow lead, which I hastily do. Once fully shifted, Puck takes off in a run, me hot on his heels. Part of me is still reeling at the thought of my plan actually playing out the way that I thought, but another part is just scared. What it this doesn't work? How many lives will be lost because of me? Will Wilfred be one of them? Will Matthew? Will Beck?
Thought makes my blood run cold and I'm suddenly very apprehensive about confronting Connor. Then again, I'm past the point of no return. If I don't try, there's no way that war will be avoided and everything I've gone through will have been in vain.
On that alone, I pick up my pace. After all, my pack needs me.
Puck and I move quickly, and soon enough, the rough scent of rogues and warriors fills my nose. They swirl and meld, creating a thick blanket of stench that I'm sure would drive off any sane wolf.
Fortunately, I'm past sane, and all the scent does is drive me forward until the thick brush of the forest can no longer conceal the two pack that face each other. I feel relief swell in my chest at the sight of my pack, but it's short lived as I know that now isn't the time for a heartfelt reunion.
"Wait!" I scream, hurling myself in front of Connor's muscular wolf. Connor looks startled for a moment, but quickly regains composure, growling at me in a dangerously low register.
"You." Connor sneers, his eyes darting about until they fall on Puck's wolf, who stalks over to stand by my side. Connor straightens out, but before he can say anything, a barrage of voices overpower him as my pack calls out to me in concern and excitement.
"Maybelle!" A single voice sounds out above the rest, and this voice makes my head turn slightly to find the shaggy onyx wolf standing behind me, looking like he's just seen a ghost.
Wilfred. I don't respond to him, nor do I move to go to him, I just turn my head back to meet Connor's deadly stare. "Connor, stop this." I almost beg, my wolf looking up at his in a pleading way. "Please, it doesn't have to be this way!" I cry out, earning an unamused laugh.
"So I have more traitors among my ranks! First that pack scum Markus, than that useless cub, and now even my own beta." Connor snickers, his eyes holding a hatred I've never seen before. "So many more lives to take." He purrs, he body relaxing onto his haunches, prepared to attack.
I start to panic as I see Connor's readiness to fight, and I practically scream to draw his attention back. "We're not your enemy!" This makes him freeze, and when he looks at me again, it's a look filled with disdain and disgust.
"Not our enemy? Not out enemy! The packs have done nothing but hurt us all since the beginning, and you dare claim that you aren't out enemies?!" Connor shouts, his wolf taking menacing steps towards me in an effort to scare me.
However, I don't budge, rather, I also advance, meeting Connor's glare with my own desperate, glassy look. "We're not. Your mate knew that. How would she feel knowing that you're trying to kill the same person she gave her life to save?" I challenge, getting a little too cocky for my own good as Connor rears his body with a vicious snarl.
"Don't speak of her!" He roars. Looking at him, it's not hard to see that he's at the end of his rope, meaning I'm running out of time.
"Not all pack wolves are bad, just as not all rogues are feral." I say, turning my eyes to the rogues behind Connor, who all eye me cautiously. "Come with us, be judged as who you are, not what you've done. Let us help heal the wounds that others left." A few wolves stir in surprise or discomfort at my words, but I continue nonetheless. "I can't promise that it'll be easy, but I can promise that under my order there will be atonement, both for what you've done and for what has been done to you." I say, and to my surprise, Wilfred's the one to speak first.
"Them? Part of our pack? Maybelle they're—"
I cut him off, turning to his large wolf with a gentle whine. "Them? Wilfred, look at them. What differences do you see? There isn't a them, there's just an us." I tell him, gazing back at the rogues I've grown to know, granted under bad circumstances. They all watch me with wide eyes, but then one of them moves.
My eyes quickly find Jess's war torn wolf as it makes its way over to stand with me. I look up at her with gratitude in my eyes, and she winks at me. "I like sound of belonging somewhere again." She says, making the other rouges stir.
Soon, others begin making their way over to stand with my wolves, only a few more conservative rogues steadfastly sticking with Connor, who watches in anger as his army melts away. "Traitors!" He screams. "You'll all die! All of you!" He sounds deranged, and this time Puck is the one who speaks, his deep voice resonating throughout the clearing.
"Connor, she's right, this has been enough." He murmurs, sounding almost exhausted.
Connor doesn't listen. "It won't be enough until they're all dead!" He shrieks, throwing himself directly at me. I tense up in anticipation for pain, but before I can even breathe, Puck dashes in front of me to meet Connor head on. Puck's teeth dig firmly into Connor's side, and quickly make their way up to his neck in Connor's stupefied state.
The fight is over quickly, Pucks wolf superior in both size and strength. It's no surprise when Connor's body stops moving, the great rouge alpha lying dead in his beta's jaw.
Puck drops Connor's body, the copper coated wolf hitting the ground with a sickening thud as we all process what just happened.
When it sinks in, I realize, Connor's dead, his army's gone, it's over...
***
There's only one chapter left!
I'll try to have it up in a few days as an apology for skipping last week...