19
Oh my god. Romeo, answer me!
She all but runs into the bloody battlefield, ducking under wolves. Tanner shouts something at her but it’s blurry. All she’s focused on is Romeo. Juliette crouches over his wolf body, looking at his eyes. They’re closed. “Romeo! Romeo? Can you hear me? Romeo!”
Tears start leaking from her eyes. No, no, no, no. This wasn’t suppose to happen. She shakes him, trying to wake him. His body stays stiff in the warm blood. Bites of wolves are left on his stomach and legs, where the blood is pooling out from. His chest is still rising, ever so slowly.
“Romeo, can you-” She’s cut off.
By the extreme pain on her leg.
A shriek of pain leaves her lips. Her eyes dart over to her leg, where a bite mark is left. Blood starts trickling out. Her gaze is hazy as she looks over to see a big wolf snarling at her. More shrieks and gasps leave her lips at the blinding pain. It sends throughout her whole body and back.
Being bitten is horrible.
Romeo was right, this is more painful than any shot.
She starts to loose focus on everything, the world spinning round and round. It reminds her of the carnival her dad once took her to. The spinning tea cups was the first ride they went on, and all she remembers is the blurriness of the world around her. Jules crashes into the hard ground, clutching her leg.
Someone starts shouting something to her, but she can’t hear. Its all blocked out as more blood leaks out of her leg. From the loss of too much blood, her eyelids grow heavy.
The last thing she remembers is Tanner running towards her as her mind goes black.
_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_
A beeping noise wakes her up.
She blinks a few times before realizing she’s in what seems to be a hospital. It’s a tiny, cold room with no sunlight at all. Just a window with curtains and a couple of lights. Juliette sits up and casts a look down at her leg as the memories flood her. On her right leg, a bite mark is showing. It’s not bleeding anymore, but it’s a reddish bluish color.
Romeo. Can you hear me?
She wait’s a couple of minutes for a response, but she gets nothing.
Sighing, she carefully maneuvers her way out of the bed. Instead of the clothing she was dressed in, a white sheet-like cloth drapes over her frame. Juliette reaches the door and pulls on the handle. It reaches to a long, teal hallway with more doors. Definitely a hospital-for wolves of some sort. Taking tiny steps down the narrow hallway, she finds the check in room.
“Excuse me,” Her timid voice echoes through the glassy-like room, “but where am I?”
One of the nurses smile. “You’re awake, finally. You’re in back in the Center. We took you here because you were losing blood quickly from your wolf bite.”
The memories fall into her head again. “Yeah, I remember. Where’s Romeo? Is he okay?”
The nurse changes her face to sadness. “I’m sorry-”
“You’re awake!”
Juliette’s eyes flicker over to her brother, whose running towards her. He clasps her into a hug. “How long have I been out?”
“Two days.”
Her eyes bug out of her head as they retreat from the hug. “Really?”
“Yeah.”
“How is everybody?”
Max starts listing everybody off. “I’m fine, dad has a scratch, Astrid has a broken arm, and Noah is perfectly fine.”
“What about Romeo?”
His face winces. “Uh…”
Astrid, Noah, and Eddie decide to come into the room at that time. Astrid grins and gives her friend a side hug with the arm that’s not broken. “Guess what, girly?”
Juliette’s eyes linger on her brother’s before going to Astrid. “What?”
She waves the neon pink cast in front of Julie. “I’m letting you sign first!”
A smile zips onto her face. “Thanks, Astrid. How is Romeo?” She repeats her question out loud, trying to get an answer from anybody. She needs to know.
Everybody looks away from her. Everybody. That’s how she knows something’s wrong with him. Her heart starts thundering as the room starts to spin a bit. She turns around to talk to the nurse. “What room is Romeo Ross in?”
“Are you related-”
“What room is he in, dammit!” She snaps, dropping the barely nice tone.
“Room 308,” The girl murmurs depressingly.
Juliette takes off, in search for the room. “Juliette, wait-”
She’s rounding the corner, cutting off her brother’s voice. Her eyes trail after every room. 305...306...307...308. It’s a wooden door with a silver rectangle in the middle. In fancy lettering, it reads the number 308. Gulping in air, she slides open the door.
Romeo is on the bed she was on earlier in the same ghost color sheet. An IV is pressed into his arm with a heart monitor going off. His chest is rising slowly and peacefully. Tears slipping down her cheeks, she comes closer to reveal even more pain. Scars and scratches cover his arms and legs. There’s even some scratches on his face.
“Romeo…”
“I’m sorry,” Astrid murmurs, hooking an arm around her best friend. “He was attacked by your mom and one other wolf. They pinned him down and started ripping flesh off his stomach. He was losing so much blood, god…”
Her heart clenches at the words of her mother. “My mother…put him in the hospital?”
“Yes.”
Anger courses through her veins. “Did we win?”
Astrid sighs. “They ran off and retreated. We don’t know where they are now.”
“Is he going to wake up?”
“He’s been in a coma for two days, Julie. He lost too much blood.”
A gasp of breath escapes her lips. “Oh my god.”
Astrid lets Julie cry into her shoulder. She sniffs in, tears shining her eyes. “He’ll wake up…soon…”
Julie offers a smile at the attempt to comfort her. “I’m fine. I really hope he wakes up soon.” The tears stop leaking from her eyes and she tries to stand up a bit more straighter.
Astrid smiles, but it doesn’t seem bright. Nobody seems bright around here. “Um, Juliette…we have a problem…”
“What’s wrong now?”
“We don’t have an alpha…”
_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_
“I WHAT?”
Everybody in the room winces as Juliette goes into full out panic mode. “I CAN’T DO THAT! I’M NOT A LEADER! THERE’S TOO MANY WOLVES! I’LL ACCIDENTALLY KILL EVERYBODY-”
“No, you won’t,” Romeo’s father hushes her. “We’ll be there to guide you.”
When Juliette was released from the Center, she went straight home and went to bed. Today, she was planning on staying by Romeo’s side all day. Everybody else had other plans for her. They’re all sitting in the kitchen of Romeo’s house, deciding on how to find Terra and her new pack.
“Why can’t someone else just do it? You are the alpha, right?” She pointedly looks over at Romeo’s dad, whose shaking his head miserably.
“I’m afraid I’m not anymore, my dear. The day your mother attacked was when we were suppose to have the ceremony to have him become the alpha. Just because there wasn’t a ceremony doesn’t mean he cannot be the alpha.”
Juliette groans and clunks her head to the table. “We’re all going to die.”
Astrid immediately cracks up into laughter, finding the dramatic statement hilarious. “You’re so right, Ju-I mean, uh, we’re all not going to…die…I mean…we’re all going to…live…”
All the people at the table glare at her and then back to looking at Juliette. Max pipes up with a smile, “I believe in you, Julie!”
“I don’t,” She replies in a depressing tone.
“Alright,” Romeo’s father claps his hands, “moving on. We need to decide on how to find Terra. She was moving eastward when she retreated, and she can’t be far. She said she wasn’t leaving without you, so she’s probably got a secret hideout somewhere in the woods. Alpha Reed, do you want to send out search parties?”
Astrid mouths over to her to say ‘yes’. Only Juliette grimaces and ignores her friend. “Why do I have to be called Alpha Reed?” Everybody groans at her question, all shouting at her to say yes. “Okay, fine, yes! Send out the search parties!”
“Okay. We’ll get the search parties going.”
“What if we do this too,” Juliette suggests, slowly coming over her fear, “Me and whoever else wants to come, we can go out too. I know the area pretty well, thanks to…Romeo…” Because of the training, Romeo has shown her every nook and cranny of the forest. All of a sudden, Juliette bursts into tears over the said guy. “Oh my god…Romeo!”
Astrid shoots up from her chair, clutching onto the weeping girl. “It’s alright. You’re alright. He’s alright. Calm down. We’re going to find your mom, okay? Then everything will be okay.”
She sniffs away the tears, a hiccup escaping her mouth. “I just…”
“No, now stop, girly. Let’s go searching for your mom, okay?” Astrid asks, and Juliette agrees, wiping away some stray tears. Max, Eddie, Noah, and Romeo’s dad goes with them.
They start trekking through the woods in wolf style. It’s quiet and peaceful, all except for the occasional sounds off the wolves stepping on the branches and leaves. Max and Eddie don’t make any noise at all though, their shiny, sleek black coats swinging with them. Everybody’s eyes are scanning around the forest as they breeze by.
After about an hour of searching, Juliette plops herself down on the ground. “This is hopeless,” Juliette barks out, “there’s no use.”
Astrid nudges her with her wet snout. “Come on. We still have more places to search around.”
Juliette looks up with big eyes and a pout, reminding Astrid of a puppy. “Can I go see Romeo now?”
“No,” She yips flatly, “now lets-”
A rustling noise stops her from finishing.
All the wolves have their ears perked upwards, indicating the location of the noise. More rustling, not too far from here. A scent of burning fire tumbles over their noses. “I think we’ve found them,” Max yips quietly.
The gang quickly and quietly hunt down the fire. There’s about four wolves guarding a camouflage tent. A fire sits six feet ahead of them, burning slowly out. The location is hidden pretty well. Nobody would have thought to come to the back corner of the woods because at night, it’s way too dark to see anything.
“You think she’s in there?” Noah asks through a hiss.
Eddie nods. “Wait here. Max and I will get closer.” The two disappear into the woods, then reappear right behind the tent. Juliette’s heartbeat quickens a tiny drop, hoping they won’t get caught. Max sends a confirmed nod that his mother is inside.
Juliette nods back and glances at her team. “What do we do?”
Astrid looks like she wants to groan out loud. “You’re the alpha. You tell us.”
Gulping, her eyes revolve around the tent. “Uh…attack?”
“Good enough for me,” Romeo’s dad grumbles, then leaps out of the shadows to attack the nearest wolf. Everybody follows him into the light, where they can be seen. The wolves seem semi shocked, but they get over it and attack back.
Juliette snarls at one of the four wolfs. Max and Astrid have one wolf already down. Noah is fighting off another one while Eddie and Romeo’s dad are killing a different one. Confusion passes through her eyes before chomping at the wolf in front of her. It looks like a Terrier, but it makes too much noise to be one.
The wolf has saliva dribbling down his chin when he reveals the jagged teeth. Julie uses her smallness and attacks him, biting at his neck. He easily pushes her off him, doing the opposite. He sends her a wicked grin before leaning down to snap her neck. Noah comes just in time though, sailing through the air and taking the wolf with him. They struggle on the ground for a few moments before you hear a sickening crack. Julie glances around for a moment. These wolves were down in about eight minutes. Juliette’s eyes narrow over at the tent. Wait a minute…
Terra comes leaping gracefully out of the tent, sending a vicious snarl in her daughter’s face. She takes off, running the opposite way they came. Out of anger, Juliette darts right after her. Astrid starts to call her name but she can barely hear it. Terra is an extremely fast runner. Romeo has trained Juliette good enough where she can up. They run over trees in their ways, dodge branches, and leap over large rocks in the process.
Finally, after what seems like forever, Juliette sees her mother slow down. She takes that time to pounce on her. The two dogs go tumbling down a hill, wrestling at each other. When they land back on straight turf again, Juliette manages to pin Terra down. “You are such a bitch,” She snarls.
Terra curls a grin around her wolf face. “Literally, darling.” She pushes her daughter off her and turns back into human form. The blonde hair that frames her face goes to her neck. A jeans and normal t-shirt cover her body.
Juliette turns herself back, too. “What the fuck is wrong with you?” She hisses out when they’re a safe distance away from each other. “Becoming a wolf? Taking my ex-boyfriend? Taking my mate’s ex-girlfriend? Are you insane?”
“Honey,” She starts in this horrible New York sounding accent. It reminds her of Cruella de Vil. “Eddie agreed to this. You’re mine now.”
“No, he agreed to this when you left. You never came back,” She retorts, itching to slap her in the face.
“I’m here now, aren’t I?”
“You caused a war. You put my mate in the hospital,” Juliette grounds through her gritted teeth. “I want you dead.”
Fake hurt flashes through her eyes. “You want your own mother…dead?”
Juliette ignores her sarcastic question. “Why did you do what you do?”
“Because, darling,” She laughs hysterically, “I need you to join my pack. I already have the Terriers on my side.” She scoffs, as if the Terriers were pathetic. “They were easy. They think I caused that war to get Romeo in jail. It’s a win-win for me.”
Anger boils through her head. That’s why the Terriers were on her side. She faked evidence. “But why do you need me in your pack?”
“Because. Romeo Ross’s pack is mine. The only way to get it is kidnapping you. Taking you away from that worthless piece of shit mate will make him go insane. He’ll do anything to get you back…” She raises an eyebrow, “even if it means giving up his pack.”
Her whole heart sinks into her gut. “That’s low.”
“Or, I could always kill the both of you and claim it as mine.”
“You can’t do that!” Juliette shrieks. It’s not possible. Someone else would take over. Anybody but her.
“I could, if I wanted to,” She shoots her a grin as they begin walking around, circling each other. “But I won’t. I just want that pack. It’s the most strongest and powerful pack in the whole U.S.”
“I don’t see why Dustin and Kassidy fit into this.”
“They were my spies,” She explains. “When you two found each other and knew that you were mates, surely both of you were going to break it off with the other two. Romeo broke up with Kassidy, she came to me and reported that Romeo found his mate. You broke it off with Dustin, he came to me and so on, darling.”
That means Kassidy has been working for her for a very long time. They’ve been practicing and planning to take over Romeo’s pack. “You’re a bitch! I hate you!” Juliette hollers. It echoes across the trees, sending the voice everywhere.
A wry smile spreads across her mother’s face. “Nice to know, darling. Come on. We have things to do.”
“I’m not going anywhere with you,” She spits, glaring murderously at Terra. “You can’t make me.”
“Au contraire.” The mother swiftly pulls something out from her back pocket. It makes Juliette go rigid and stiff. “Now, let’s try this again. Let’s go, Juliette.”
Terra waves the pistol in a ‘move or else’ position. Juliette has no other choice but to slowly do what she says. I can turn wolf and run… What kind of mother does this? To her own daughter?
As soon as she sets her mind on doing so, a huge wolf leaps into the air and tumbles Terra to the ground. The gun drops from her hands, sliding into the middle between Juliette and her. Julie watches in horror as Romeo’s father attacks the woman. Eyes big and pleading, Terra looks over to her only hope.
Sadness hits her like a brick. Juliette wants to go and help her, but the things she has done stop her. Terra deserves this for what she did. Romeo’s dad snaps her neck, ending the evil. Juliette can’t tear her eyes away from her mothers. The light dies out of them and they flutter closed. The wolf switches back into human form, stepping back from the dead Terra.
“Thank you,” Juliette whispers hoarsely.
“I was chasing after you, but lost you when you guys went down that hill. Found you just in time, huh?” He grins, trying to lighten the mood.
Juliette just stares at him for a second. “I guess so.”
Sighing and dropping the grin, he swings his arm around her. He guides her back to the tent area, where everybody is waiting patiently. Half of the people break out into smiles when the father breaks the news. The other half, (Max, Eddie, and Juliette) stare stonily at him. That was their family they killed. It’s going to be tough to get over.
Astrid rubs her friend’s shoulders, knowing how hard it is. “It’s fine now. Everything is okay. Isn’t that great?”
“No. Romeo is still in the hospital.”
“I know, I know. He’s going to get better,” Astrid kisses Julie’s cheek. “How about we go get some ice cream?”
Ice cream. Only Astrid would think about ice cream at a time like this. “I don’t care. As long as we go see Romeo afterwards.”
“It’s a deal.”
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Good god. this chapter is horrible. i don't know why, but i'm writers block with this story. these last two chapters have been HORRIBLE. but that's just my opinion. maybe you think this is the best chapter in the whole wide world (highly doubt it). this and You're Not My Flavor are in the special awards. i hope at least one of them gets in, and then i'll be happy. :D i'm not sure if You're Not My Flavor will be done in time. i keep saying that. DX oh well. i hope you like it. just don't lash out on me cuz this chappy sucks. one more chapter and this story is over!!!
NO!!!
oh, well. thanks to you guys who stayed with this story since chapter one. you guys really are awesome. and those guys who are actually reading this right now because, come on, let's face it, NOBODY READS THESE THINGS. like, ever. ;D