“No,” I gasp. “No, she can’t be.”
“She is!” one of the others yells. “And you did it! We should execute you right here.”
“Wait,” Jean says. She’s down on her knees, examining Rachel. “This is the disease. Sadie didn’t do this.”
“Why are you defending her?” Helen asks in disgust. “The evidence is clear.”
“No, it’s not,” Jean says firmly. She stands up and takes a step towards us, her presence calm and imposing.
She’s trusted and respected by everyone. I couldn’t have asked for a better defender.
“This is the disease,” she says again. “I recognize the signs, and Rachel did complain of feeling weak and dizzy this week. We can’t just execute Sadie because we’re suspicious.”
Helen’s hand tightens on my arm, and I know she doesn’t care. She’d rip my throat out right now, regardless of the evidence, and plenty of the others feel the same.
“No,” Rhys says. “I can’t let you execute her, either, and this isn’t just my bias. The prophecy spoke of darkness before light, and I felt truth in it. This might be the event that brings light to us all.”
The other women don’t look convinced, but not a single one of them will speak against the alpha. He takes a step towards us, and the other women let go of me in a hurry.
“We still have more to learn before we condemn Sadie,” he says. “Not even the council would kill her here and now without a trial. I, for one, know that Sadie would never kill her friend, and she considers each and every one of you to be her friend.”
I take a big, shaky breath, deeply moved by Rhys’s words. His support of me touches me deeply, but I still don’t know if it’s me he’s trying to save or his pack.
And if I don’t keep trying, I’ll never know how important I am to him, or what we could be…
But how can I move forward from this? How could anyone?
I look down at Rachel’s body again, and this time, I let the tears come.
Chapter 23 - Rhys
Every day since Rachel died, it’s been nothing but death.
We held Rachel’s funeral at the manor the day after she died. At that time, most of the pack was beginning to sicken. It swept through the pack so swiftly that we could barely keep up with the news. And now, a week later, I am beyond fear, beyond exhaustion, and almost beyond hope.
I walk between the beds, listlessly looking over the barely alive bodies of the people I’m supposed to protect. We had to convert our sports hall into a hospital because we couldn’t send shifters to a human facility, and the manor isn’t equipped to handle this kind of emergency.
To my disgust, the council has stayed at the manor. According to reports, they are sick as well, but not as badly as the rest of the pack. Their reason for staying away is that we still need a governing body, no matter what happens, and they should stay away from the really sick people.
I’d like to argue with that, but there is a chance I won’t make it out of this, and I do need to know that someone survives beyond me to rule the pack… that is, if we have a pack at all.
As I pass by one of the beds, I hear soft crying and immediately go to the person nearest me. To my dismay, it’s a very young girl. Her pale blond hair reminds me so much of my daughter; it causes pangs of pain in my chest.
“Hey,” I say, taking her hand. “It’s okay. You’re not alone.”
“Alpha Rhys,” she gasps. “Don’t worry about me… You have so many people to take care of…”
“Every single one of you is precious to me,” I say, holding her hand gently. “Just hang on. I promise you, we will find a solution.”
“So much pain,” she mumbles. “It hurts.”
“I know, sweetheart,” I say, stroking her hair. “Try to rest.”
She nods, and I let go of her hand and tuck her in. I can tell by the tense look on her face that she can’t sleep, but aside from rest, I don’t know what else to do for her.
I walk through the aisle, looking out across the hall with a heavy heart. We have fifty people here in intensive care, bedridden and worsening by the day. Besides myself, we have three others attending as nurses. There are reports coming in of wolves sickening in their own homes.
Will we even be able to care for the sick? What if all of us fall ill?
