"He's dead!" Liam declared as he stormed into the living room. Zach and I were curled up on the sofa, wrapped up in each other as he collapsed into the chair opposite.
"Already?" I asked incredulously. Warren (the killer) had only been strung up in the square for just under a week. Stronger wolves can last over two weeks with no food and water, proving his weakness.
"Yep! Stopped breathing this morning." He grinned and I nodded, sinking a little further into Zach's hold.
"The day after the funeral as well," Zach commented solemnly.
"Nobody has been questioning your leadership since then you know." Liam turned to me, grinning wickedly.
"Good." I huffed.
"You know, I moved around a lot, looking for my family in every corner of the world. I have met thousands of Alphas and none were like you," he commented, eyebrows raised.
"What do you mean?" I furrowed my brows.
"Another Alpha would've separated them self from the situation and killed them both, you didn't because you knew he didn't deserve to die for defending his daughter." He shrugged. "You can be scary but you're fair and I haven't met anyone else like that."
"Dude, stop hitting on my girlfriend," Zach snarled next to me, tightening his grip and making me laugh.
"Ew gross." Liam scoffed and I let out a deep growl. "I meant because you are like my sister, not because you aren't hot," he defended.
"Digging yourself a deeper hole there brother." Zach's eyes flashed with flames before simmering back to a cold icy blue.
"Oh for god sake," Liam grumbled, swinging his legs up onto the sofa and lying on his back. "I was just trying to say that maybe your parents were right to believe a girl could lead just as well as anyone."
A wide smile crossed my face but before any of us could speak another word, my phone rang. The high pitched blaring bounced off the walls before I answered. "Hello?"
"El, I need your help," Jordan whimpered from the other end.
"Jord? Whats-." I began but was cut off by a familiar snarl that sent shivers down my spine. Jordan was a wolf and was out somewhere, prowling around.
As a wolf.
My heart raced in my chest and panic fluttered within. I turned instantly to Zach and pulled out of his hold. "I have a Jordan situation," I told him, grabbing my coat.
"What's going on?" He asked. I could hear the worry lacing his tone.
"I don't know, she turned before I could ask. All I got was 'help'," I explained, approaching him once again. "I need you to make sure everyone stays inside while I find her." I cupped his face in my palms and planted a kiss on his lips.
"Ok." He nodded.
"If you see her, run. She will attack anyone or anything in her way ok? Please run," I begged, knowing Zach would try to help her out and get hurt in the process.
"I will. Be careful ok, please?" He pressed his lips firmly to mine and held me against him for a while before eventually pulling away.
"See you in a bit." I nodded and with that, I was gone.
I charged through the village, following the scent of Jordans wolf and the sound of her growls and whimpers. As I neared the origin of her scent, the stench of blood rushed to my nose, making me race that much faster.
I was soon approaching an open space amongst the trees and in the centre stood Jordans wolf. Littering the floor around her, unrecognisable bodies drowned in their own blood. I froze at the scene, deep red pooled around the floor with shards of flesh torn from the skeletons and tossed across the ground. Snapped and damaged bones were strewn at Jordan's feet and what looked to be an arm hung from her mouth.
I let out a deep growl instinctively, releasing strong blasts of dominance that snapped her to her knees. Another growl forced the shift to start and after a final roar Jordans small frame curled up on the floor at my feet.
Cries and sobs echoed through the trees and salty tears slipped from her cheeks and mixed with the crimson on the floor.
"Jordan?" I managed to force the gasp out of my parted lips.
Slowly, she raised her head to look at the shock sprawled across my face. Pain, guilt and fear drenched her features and my heart broke for her.
Ignoring the blood-stained grass, I crouched beside her and pulled her into me, cradling her body against my own. "What happened?" I whispered.
"They... they tried to-." She cut herself off with a loud cry and her breathing quickened instantly.
"Shh..." I hushed her, running my fingers through her long hair. "It's ok. They tried to what?" I asked her.
"They were going to... to... r-rape me." She bawled, burying her head in my shirt as my heart stopped dead.
My grip instantly tightened around her and instinctively I pulled my phone out and dialled Zach. He was the only one I trusted right now to help take care of my friend. "Where are you?" I asked him.
"In the square, you?"
"In the woods. I need you to come and find me," I told him and he must've sensed my urgency because he responded with a yes and cut the call. "Jordan, can you get up?" I asked her softly.
"No. Ella I can't," she wailed but I had a feeling she wasn't referring to standing.
"It's ok, I've got you," I promised her, pulling her gently to her feet and making sure she was leaning against me for support.
I managed to somehow drag her away from the scene and into the woods towards the village when after a few minutes, Zach found us. "Jordan?" He called as he ran towards us.
As per usual, he knew exactly what I needed and after a quick shoulder squeeze, he effortlessly pulled Jordan off of me and against him.
Now, without Jordan's weight on me, I could find my breath and sort the situation. "Take her home, don't ask questions. I got it from there, just calm her down please." I kissed him swiftly on the temple before he nodded and carried Jordan away.
Next, I dialled Tyler's number. "El?" He answered after a while.
"Ty, I really need your help," I admitted. I couldn't stomach all those bodies on my own.
"Can you call someone else? Everyone in the pack has gone into a frenzy after Zach told them all to stay inside. What's going on?"
"Urgh, ok tell everyone I have sorted the problem and they are perfectly safe. Then send some wolves to the borders to make sure nobody enters the woods except someone who I need to help me out," I instructed, pondering over who could help, I needed someone trustworthy to keep their mouth shut and who had a stomach for this kind of stuff.
"Want me to send someone?" Ty asked.
"Yes please, can you send them to find me in the woods?" I asked.
"Yeah sure. Are you ok?"
"I'm fine, thanks Ty," I said goodbye and then ended the call.
I turned back to the scene behind me and let out a long sigh. "Holy shit, what happened?" Ryder's voice gasped after a while of tedious digging.
"You're who Ty sent?" I laughed slightly, rolling my eyes.
"He said you needed my help, what happened?" He repeated, staring wide-eyed at the chaos before him.
"Um... I can't tell you. I need you to trust me and I also need you to start digging." I threw him a shovel and turned back to the body shaped hole I was standing in.
"Can't tell me?" He asked incredulously.
"It's confidential," I told him, respecting Jordan's privacy as best as possible.
"You asked for my help," he argued and I turned to give him a look.
"I asked for someone to help me dig and bury bodies, not ask questions," I snapped.
"These smell human."
"Because they are. Now dig," I ordered and he soon shut up and started digging.
****
"Hey," I greeted as I burst into the house a little later.
Zach sat across the sofa with Jordan curled up in his arms with her head buried in his shirt. His arms were wrapped tightly around her and he ran his fingers gently through her hair. Her snivels and cries had died down dramatically since Zach took her away from the woods earlier but they could still be heard, yet muffled by the material of Zach's shirt.
If I wasn't completely amazed by how incredible my boyfriend was, I might've been jealous of the two of them curled up on the sofa with his head buried in her hair.
"Hey." Zach smiled lovingly at me before his gaze shifted to my blood-stained hands. Other peoples blood clothed my arms, hands and somehow, my face.
"It's not mine," I assured him before going to the sink to swill the majority off my hands. Behind me, footsteps approached and I turned to see Liam in the doorway, staring at the dried crimson liquid staining my clothes.
"I told you to wait upstairs," Zach hissed as Liam snapped his gaze to him and Jordan looking cosy on the sofa. He flitted his eyes between the two of us for a while until they landed on me.
"What the hell is going on? You freak out earlier and leave, Zach comes back with Jordan in tears, you are coated in a layer of blood which can't be your own otherwise Zach would be out murdering right now and those two are snuggling on the sofa!" He hissed at me, making me chuckle lightly.
"It's classified." I used the same phrase on him as I did on Ryder. He simply raised his eyebrows at me incredulously.
"I'm going to take Jordan to bed," Zach told us, lifting my best friend into his arms and carefully taking her to a bedroom.
"Oh, now your boyfriend is taking another girl to bed." Liam scoffed.
"It's complicated ok? And even if I wanted to tell you, I can't," I snapped and he eventually nodded.
****
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