Rodwood Academy

Chapter 17: Too Far

After doing a brief rundown on her findings, the village doctor was left standing on the sideline as Lauren began to shout her dismay.

"I was right!" Lauren balled up her fist as she gave Nina's stone wall a solid punch. Even after the pain of broken skin on her knuckles again, Lauren continued to bash Nina's wall open.

Not that the woman minded. She was too busy dealing with her own way to process such information. While Lauren took out her anger with her fists, the woman who had been shutting all of her closest and most trusted officials out, took the information in a much different matter.

Rather than bursting out into flames as the doctor or Alex would have predicted, instead she fell down upon her bed with her face dropped into her hands. Behind her fingers Alex could hear the woman bawling.

"We've got to do something now!" Lauren shouted with steam coming out of her ears as she dropped her shaking hands down to her sides blatantly ignoring the blood seeping out of her fresh wounds.

"You're hands-" the doctor was easing her way close to Lauren who had a face the same shade as a rose. If the doctor didn't know better, she would've thought Lauren embodied the devil by her current look.

But as she reached over to aid her bruised and bleeding hands, Lauren pulled them away as she shouted. "No!" Even though she felt the stinging sensation pulsing in her hands every time she wiggled a finger, she refused to let the doctor treat her.

And so the doctor backed away afraid of what might happen if she stayed as close as she was to the grieving sister.

The pain in Lauren's hands only fueled her anger more. It gave her the strength she needed to be able to do something about her brothers death.

"We've got to do something about this! We've got to do something NOW!" She said as the blood began to puddle beneath her. "I'm going back to the city! If there's anybody who'll know who killed Luke it'll be that bitch in their run down looking apartment building!"

As Lauren turned to leave the room Nina shot her head from out of her hands. "Lauren stop." She pleaded with a broken look on her face. "You're not going to the city."

"You're not stopping me Nina!" The young woman shouted undeterred by her alpha. But before she could make it out the door, Alex had placed his body in front of hers.

"I'm sorry Lauren. You're not leaving. Not until we think what we're going to do now." He said unfazed by the slap the woman proceeded to give him across the face.

"Lauren!" Nina scolded as she stood from the bed. "That's enough! We're all angry right now but slapping Alex isn't going to solve our problems! I mean, what do you think you're going to do when you get there?! Just waltz into the city and kill every Fanger you see! You'll get yourself killed!"

"Do you even hear yourself Nina?!" Lauren fired back. "You were the one who said that if the results came back positive about a Fanger being Luke's killer than you were going to need your best fighter ready! That's me! And I'm ready to get my brother justice finally!"

"Not at the price of getting yourself killed!" The woman with mocha skin got into Lauren's face as she hovered at least a foot above her. "I already lost Luke. I'm not about to lose you too."

"This is what you told me would happen though! You said if it was a Fanger we were going to go and attack back!" Lauren's stern tone started to melt into more of a whine as tears of stress began to fall down her face.

"We are still going to fight back. But I'm not putting you in the front line. I've been doing some thinking while I've been here, and you're just too valuable to lose Lauren. We need to come up with another plan."