Samuel didn't stop. Even when it was clear Riley's body would never move again, he continued to force it to try. His movements became harsh, limbs locking with the strain he forced upon them. The longer this went on, the more brutal his actions became, and it was clear to me he wasn't going to slow down. There should have been some ounce of exhaustion in his body, some inkling of tiredness, but the only evidence Samuel had been overworking himself was the sweat pooling around his hair. He paid no mind to it, just as he ignored the blood leaking out of his back. Pieces of his skin were missing, and bullets stuck out from the fresh wounds. The blood from these injuries seemed to paint a picture of death on his back, and that only added to his crazed demeanor as he continuously beat against Riley's chest.
Samuel's body refused to fail him, but his face was another story. It was slowly crumbling. His cold and determined eyes slowly melted away, revealing a frenzied glint permanently etched into his irises. His mouth was hanging open, and short, ragged breaths forced their way out of it. The wrinkles and lines of his face grew deeper, as if every moment passed was another year taken from Samuel's life.
"Samuel," I softly whispered, watching, horrified, as he began ferociously shaking Riley's limp body. However, Samuel didn't respond to me. He didn't even flinch. He only continued shaking Riley, cursing with every passing breath.
My own breathing was ragged, and before I knew it, I was shaking, too. It was only a slight tremor, but it was enough to take over my senses. I helplessly watched Samuel, completely oblivious to the world, and I suddenly wanted nothing more than to curl into a ball and disappear into the trees. I ached to crawl away from this clearing, and never look back. I wanted to ignore Riley's lifeless body. To pretend my brother wasn't a monster, curled into a bloody ball across the clearing. I wanted to ignore everything that just happened, and run as far away as my legs could take me.
But, I couldn't. I knew I couldn't, and that was perhaps the thing that terrified me the most.
"Raven." I spoke before my mind caught up with my mouth. Slowly, I turned to face her, wincing with the movement. I immediately pushed the pain away, knowing that if I didn't act now, I would give into the large part of me that wanted nothing more than to disappear.
Raven hesitantly stepped forward and crouched down next to me, her gaze avoiding Samuel and Riley. I watched her for a moment, trying to keep my voice even. "We need to get out of here. Can you tell if anyone is still here?"
Her face paled. But, despite her wide eyes and clear horror, she slowly nodded. "I'll check the perimeter." She stood, quickly turning away from me and heading back into the trees. I watched her body slowly disappear, acutely aware that whoever had attacked us could still be just beyond our vision, lying in wait to fire another round.
My gaze fell from the trees and landed on the grass where Raven had walked away. I noticed the gun I'd clung to earlier, the one that had provided me a small ounce of protection. Now, it mocked me. Despite this, I leaned forward and took it in my hands once more, ignoring the shaking of my limbs. Once in my hands, I was tempted to throw it as far away from me as possible. But, I resisted the urge and took a deep breath. If we were going to be attacked again, I wasn't going down without a fight.
A mangled cry resembling what used to be my brother's voice broke through my ears. I whipped my gaze to him, just in time to notice Will's body, or what was once Will's body, go still. It stopped trembling, stopped convulsing, and almost seemed to stop breathing. A shot of panic pierced my chest, and without thinking, I tried to stand and run to him.
I immediately fell back to the ground, crying out in pain. It began in my ankle, traveling up my body until it stopped at my side. The burning of my old wound intensified, and I felt as if the skin was being ripped apart. My ankle felt a similar pain, but when I pulled my weight off, it dulled.
I fought to keep my breathing even as spots danced in my vision. My gaze stayed trained on Will, and after a moment, I saw a slight rise and fall of his chest. This eased the panic I felt only slightly. He was still motionless, and still covered in blood. Whether it was his own, or someone else's, I had no idea.
Samuel suddenly let out an especially loud curse, pulling my attention back to him. When I looked up, my heart broke. Tears were pooling around his eyes, and he still hadn't stopped assaulting Riley's body. He was panicking now, though, as if it was only just dawning on him that Riley was gone.
I took a deep and shaky breath, closing my eyes for a moment. My attention was being pulled every single direction, and there was still the large urge to shut everything out. But, I had to focus. If I had any hope of saving Will, or living through the rest of the night, I couldn't shut down. But, I also knew that I couldn't do this alone. Unfortunately, Samuel wasn't anywhere near functioning. He was still maniacally forcing Riley back to life, cursing things I didn't even know existed. Of course it had to be in this moment that I realized how much we needed him. How much I needed him.
I opened my eyes and began moving, not thinking about my actions. My body inched towards Samuel, and almost out of instinct, my hand reached out to his shoulder. It hesitated in the air just above his skin, shaking in time with my breath.
"Samuel," I called out, closing the distance between his shoulder and my hand. I placed my palm lightly across his skin, ignoring the blood staining my fingers.
At my touch, Samuel stilled. His shoulders rose and fell rapidly, but any other movement ceased. His hands were still on Riley's chest, and he was kneeling practically on top of his body. I tried to catch his eye, but Samuel kept his head bent as low as possible.
The night turned to glass and silence was heavy upon the surface. It seemed if either of us spoke, it would shatter in an instant, and Samuel would break with it. I bit my lip and took a deep breath, moving to close any distance between our bodies. My hand gently squeezed his shoulder as I used it to pull me closer, and I was sharply aware of the blood that would soon be staining my body.
Samuel stiffened with my movements, but he remained mute, seated permanently next to Riley. His gaze was forever on his best friends face, and though I couldn't see his eyes, I knew tears would be lying in wait. Samuel was broken. I didn't have to look at him to know it.
Ignoring the growing pain in my side, I sat up on my knees and placed my other hand on Samuel's other shoulder. Gently, I pulled him back. Again, he stiffened, refusing to budge from his position. If anything, he turned away the smallest amount, showing me nothing but the skin of his back.
I leaned forward, trying to twist Samuel's shoulders as I did so. My lips met his ear, and I again spoke quietly. "Samuel. Look at me."
He remained still for a moment longer, before finally giving way under my pull. He reluctantly turned his upper body to face me, keeping his gaze low on the ground. It was shielded by the moons shadows and his dark hair hanging limply across his eyes.
Now that he was facing me, I dropped my feeble grip from his shoulders and found his hands in my own. I gripped them tightly, willing words into my touch. I could feel him looking at our hands, so I gave them a gentle squeeze and intertwined our fingers. Almost out of instinct, he curled his fingers into mine, pulling them lightly to his lap.
"Samuel," I softly tried again. When he raised his face a fraction of an inch, I forced the unpleasant words from my mouth. "We have to leave."
He abruptly shook his head, eyes darting back to Riley's body. I caught a glimpse of his features, and couldn't help but notice how utterly lost they were. It suddenly felt as if a massive weight had fallen on my chest, and for some reason, I felt lost, too. The feeling was painful and instantly took the breath from my lungs. It wasn't like the pain of my side, though. It was an empty and never ending abyss.
I gasped involuntarily, and at that, Samuel finally raised his gaze to meet mine. His mouth hung half open, and water pooled inside his eyes. He let out a harsh breath, and I soon knew the pain I felt was only a fraction of what lied in him. I stared into his dark eyes as tears made their way into my own. I wanted to comfort him somehow, but I couldn't find the words. There was nothing that could be spoke to alleviate the reality he was living.
Our attention was abruptly taken away when something moved in the trees. Samuel tensed, leaning towards me to cover my body with his own. I reached for the gun I'd deposited at my side, gripping it tightly as some sort of sick comfort. Before either of us could act though, a familiar voice met our ears.
"Alpha? Samuel?" Payton Bray's hardened tone broke the tense silence.
Samuel relaxed slightly but didn't move from in front of me. He didn't have time to respond before Payton came into view, towing several others behind him. In their midst was Raven, cowering several paces away from the nearest person.
One by one, the group filed into the clearing. Each time they did, their reaction was the same. They'd scan their surroundings until they noticed the body next to Samuel and I. When they realized who it was, they stilled. Silence filled the air as each of their gazes fell on their Alpha's dead body. I felt the need to avert my eyes, to avoid their horrified stares, but I refrained. I took them all in, feeling a piece of my heart break for each of their disbelieving expressions. Payton was at the head of them all, but unlike everyone else, he had his gaze trained on Samuel.
"We were ambushed," Samuel eventually spoke. His voice wasn't cracked or broken, but came out strong and full. I darted my gaze back to him, only to find that his face was completely devoid of emotion. Tears were no longer brimming in his eyes, and his mouth was set in a firm line. He growled. "Where the hell were you, Bray?"
For a moment, Payton's eyes darted wildly between Riley and the two of us. He slowly sank to his knees, gripping the grass beneath him and bowing his head. "We were following their trail. It led back to town. When we heard the gunshots, we came as quickly as possible."
"You weren't quick enough," Samuel practically spat. The entire forest seemed to tense. After a long moment though, Samuel sighed, and everyone breathed again. He nodded once, turning his attention to the men and women behind Payton. "Take the body to the house."
A few of them immediately stepped forward, obeying Samuel without a second thought. Payton narrowed his eyes, his gaze darting between Riley's body and me. A look had fallen into his eyes and I couldn't tell what it was, apart from hard, and cold.
Samuel abruptly stood, pulling me up with him. I tried to ignore the pain that shot up my leg, and to do so rested heavily on Samuel's arm. He noticed, but didn't say anything, only wrapping an arm around my waist to steady me.
"What happened?" Payton spoke, his voice low. He followed Samuel and slowly rose from his knees.
I watched two men bend down to Riley's body, picking it up with ease. Samuel watched them as well, temporarily ignoring Payton. After a while though, he sighed heavily. "We were helping the new shifter. We were ambushed. Shot at from behind the trees." He gestured stiffly to where Will was lying, limply.
I forced my gaze up to watch Payton take in the news. His face was unreadable, something deep stirring in his eyes. When I looked into them, he broke his gaze away and followed Samuel's gesture.
"Did the boy survive?"
Samuel shifted. "So far."
Payton slowly turned back to face us. The men and women with Riley's body had disappeared, but the other's remained. There were more of them than I initially thought, and I realized that these people must have been the entire group Payton had taken to hunt the humans. Every last one of them was now here with us, in the forest. In reality, there wasn't many, but the ten or fifteen crowding the clearing suddenly made it seem much smaller. Raven still stood a few feet away with her head bowed and hands folded in front of her.
"Who shot at you?" Payton's voice was low.
Samuel growled lowly. "Who do you think?"
It was then I felt Payton's gaze rest on me again. But, it wasn't my face he was staring at. It was the gun I still gripped tightly in my hand. I felt a sudden urge to cower away from him, to hide the one piece of protection I had hanging at my side.
Payton growled softly, his voice darkening. "That's one of theirs."
I stiffened, unconsciously pulling myself closer to Samuel. Payton noticed this and continued on in a toxic voice.
"Where did you get that, Samantha?"
Samuel immediately tensed, quickly answering for me. "Don't speak to her."
Payton narrowed his eyes, turning to face the people still in the clearing with us. He raised his voice slightly. "That's one of the human's guns she has. The ones that killed our Alpha."
The group collectively tensed, shifting their positions so they could more clearly get a look at me. I was tempted to cower behind Samuel, but there was no need. He quickly pushed me behind him. He was processing Bray's words before they'd even sunk into me.
"Stand down, Bray. We were just attacked. All of us."
Payton's eyes flashed brightly. "Yet it's our Alpha who is dead, and it's you who is harmed."
"He protected her." Raven interrupted, slowly stepping forward. Her face was still trained on the ground, and her voice wavered. "The Beta threw himself on top of her. That is why she is unharmed."
All eyes turned back to Payton, who smiled. "Of course. I would expect nothing less. But, that still leaves us with the question as to why the Beta's mate has one of the human's guns. And why you are both here in the first place." He shot an angry look at Raven, who immediately stepped back. "This was the duty of our Alpha and Samuel, alone. If I remember correctly, you two were ordered to stay behind."
"Now is not the time, Bray," Samuel practically spit. "We can answer questions later. Right now, we need to get back to town and find whoever did this."
"Of course, Beta. I'm just trying to guard the rest of us from the human."
I didn't miss how Payton said 'human' and not 'humans.' It suddenly struck me what he was implying, and I immediately gripped Samuel's arm to bring myself back into view and protest the accusation. He seemed to be anticipating this though, and blocked my way to the others even further.
Samuel stood up straighter. He responded to Payton in what could have been the iciest voice possible. "Guarding us was something that should have been done before our Alpha was killed." Before Payton could respond, he pushed on, biting his words. "Go and scout the area. I want cars waiting for us at the end of the forest." He paused then, lowering his voice considerably. "And if we're shot at again, it won't be the humans who need hiding, Bray."
Payton Bray stiffened, his eyes flashing with fury. The men and women behind him cowered at Samuel's tone, and quickly dispersed into the trees. Payton hesitated for a second more before a smile spread across his face. It didn't reach his eyes, or any part of his expression, and I suddenly felt as if I was looking into the face of a murderer.
"Of course, Beta."
****
Hello again, wonderfuls!
Sorry for the long wait. It's been a week - let me tell you. I'm probably not going to update again for another week or so because life is a liiiiiiitle crazy this week.
Sooo....what did you think of the chapter?! What the heck does Payton Bray have stuck up his butt? What's going to happen next?? I love to hear y'alls theories :D
Y'all are the absolute greatest. Wanna know why? Last chapter we had SO MANY FREAKING COMMENTS IT WAS AMAZING. It was an all time high. I'm truly thankful and won't ever get tired of saying it :)
Mquistey