“Until you.” Toya finished, and I nodded. “Then two goddesses showed up to bless you. Why?”
“They need something.” Wendy grabbed my hand. “They need something from you and it’s dangerous.” I looked away. “What do they need you for, Amy?” I looked away from her. But she could see it. “They want you to risk something, do somethingthat is dangerous.” I looked down at my nails, not knowing how to answer.
“Amy.” Toya grabbed me by my shoulders. “Tell me she’s wrong.” I stayed silent and looked into her eyes, begging for her to understand. “Tell me she is wrong, Amy. Tell me that the goddesses were just blessing you because you are descended from them. Tell us you’re going to be smart and safe, and not jump in feet first into something stupid and dangerous.” She waited for a minute, but stayed silent. “Tell us, Amy.” she shook me. “TELL US,” she yelled and I could see something akin to panic enter her eyes.
I reached out and cupped her wrists. Everyone seemed to come closer, staring at me with worry in their eyes. “They didn’t actually say that, not really.”
“What did they say, then?” Hanna raised a brow, and I felt a ghost of a smile lift my lips.
I stepped back, pulling Toya’s hands from my shoulder and turning to the fire. “You know our world has shifted. With these attacks, losing the Lycans, everything has been changing for years. And there is something, someone behind it all.”
“Stop trying to explain.” Micca cut in, her voice a little angry. “If you explain, it will sound reasonable to us and we’ll just agree with you.” She waved her hands. “Just give us the facts. Keep the emotion at the door and tell us what they said. Then, when I’ve had more sleep and can form an argument, you can make your explanation.” I snorted and then nodded.
“They said that they needed a champion. To stop the end of the world…our world. They both need a champion to stop the evil hiding in the darkness.”
“Absolutely not.” Toya shook her head and crossed her arms.
“Toya-”
“No, Amy. I’m with Toya. You politely, graciously turn them down.” Wendy sidled up next to Toya. And then so did Micca and Hanna. I felt burning behind my eyes as I shook my head.
“We don’t agree.” Hanna pulled her shoulders back and had this defiant look on her face.
“You guys.” I started turning to them. But Micca stomped her foot.
“No.” Her brows furrowed, and she glared at me. “You are our friend, our Alpha, and we refuse, dammit. I love the Moon Goddess in all her glory, but she can’t take you from us.”
I sighed. “I love you. All of you. And I will be your friend and Alpha until the end. But when the Goddess,goddesses.” I corrected. “When the two goddesses you descend from come knocking, you answer.” I watched their faces fall. “They haven’t asked for anything I wasn’t already planning to give. We have discussed this many times over.”
“But you have a kid now.” Hanna murmured, and I nodded.
“Just another reason to do what we have to do.” I turned back to the fire and felt them move closer. “The people behind these attacks need to be stopped. The world, our world, needs to be able to thrive and to do that, we have to stay hidden. These attacks, the moves that certain people are making, will expose us soon or later. The humans will eradicate us if they find us.”
“You can’t know that for certain.” Micca offered.
“Yes, we do.” I shook my head. “We have all seen their movies, their shows. They are showing us exactly how they would act if the world found out about us. One or two close to us might accept us, but they would either abuse us, study and dissect us, or try their very best to kill us off. Humans don’t accept the unknown or things they don’t understand.” I waved them off. “It doesn’t matter. Humans aren’t really a threat right now. What matters is that we need to find out who is behind these attacks. Is it one individual, or more than one person pulling the strings?And more importantly, we need to know who the next targets are. My father was one, obviously. I haven’t figured out if your father was a target or more collateral damage.” I looked at Toya.
“Why do you say that?”
“Rowan sent me the reports about the most recent attacks on all of the packs and it got me thinking. Your pack was on the smaller side, one giant attack could have wiped it off the earth, if it was planned properly.” Toya’s face furrowed and I held up my hand. “Just let me explain my thinking. Then you can get mad about what I said. Okay?” She smirked and nodded. “So if the goal was to just kill, it would have been planned better. Like when they wiped out other packs. But the attacks on your pack and others were different. They did small scale attacks, aimed at specific areas. Almost like they were searching for something specific, or…” I trailed off.
Toya pointed at me. “You think they're attacking for supplies?” She understood exactly what I was saying.
I nodded. “They live in caves, so supplies would be limited. I’ll show you the reports, but from what I've been piecing together, they attack the smaller packs for supplies to survive.
“So you are thinking they are targeting big packs?” Wendy gripped her hands.
I nodded. “Since the king died, the largest packs have been disappearing and their survivors have been reabsorbed into other packs. Vince’s pack is one pack that has exploded with wolves for the last twenty years. It went from being in the bottom of rank and size to one of the biggest. I think the year before I was born it was ranked ninety six. Now it's in the top ten.”
Wendy pulled out her phone and clicked a few times. “Actually, they went from one hundred and thirty-sixth to eighth. In less than twenty years.” She clicked a few more times.“We used to have almost a hundred and fifty packs around North America. Now, it’s dwindled to just under a hundred.”
“Fuck.” Hanna grabbed the phone. She clicked a few more times and turned the phone. “You know I told you we moved here from Japan. But I didn’t tell you why. My father’s clan, our pack, was the last pack of Japan. Our wolves are a mimic of the Honshu wolf, native to the area, but it was hunted down. We assumed the packs were being inadvertently hunted by the humans. But what if it wasn’t?” I took Wendy’s phone and looked at the information on the screen. It was the census information, and it showed a steady decline since the 1900s.
“What do you mean?” Toya grabbed the phone.
“We are all pledged to the Lycan King. All packs used to send wolves to train and integrate into the Royal pack.” Hanna started to pace. “If Amy is right and there is a person, or people, actively trying to get rid of the Lycans, and the king, what would be the first thing they would do?”
Chapter Ten
