An Eye For An Eye

Soixante-Treize

Deuc held the pack meeting in the evening. It was dark quickly, which he said would be for the best.

Timothy was there. He was short but well built, with strong arms and black hair. I hadn’t seen him before but it was nice to be able to properly meet him. Strangely, Charles was the one missing from the group.

“Charles is by the tree, I’m assuming?” Deuc asked.
Tamika nodded. “Yeah, he took flowers. Want me to go get him back?” Deuc didn’t reply and it was hard to see his expression in the dark light, not even the moon lit up the night.
“Yes, I think that’d be for the best.”

Tamika started walking off through the trees. I watched her for a moment.
“Mind if I come with you?” I asked. I glanced at Deuc who didn’t seem bothered at my decision.
“No, not at all,” said Tamika. It didn’t take long to catch up with her.

We walked for five or ten minutes, maybe more. I wasn’t sure of the time, I didn’t have my phone on me. The rest of the pack weren’t visible but I could see bright flowers in the dim light shining through from the road.

“Charles, you alright?” she asked as she walked over to him. Charles held a bouquet of bright yellow and white flowers and he just nodded. The ground was rather bare as winter approached and then I realised. He had been in a car crash, this was probably where it had happened since there was a road behind us now.

“You know, I was found not too far from here as well,” Tamika said quietly. I turned to her, my eyebrows raised. She kicked at the floor and out of the corner of my eye, I could see Charles set the flowers down on the floor. “Some people attacked me when I was walking home one night. I’d missed the bus and I figured it’d be quicker if I walked.”
“Why would they attack you?”
She shrugged. “The Sheriff said it was because of my skin colour.” I frowned, it was horrible that things like that still happened. “Deuc found me, he said he could smell my blood.”
“I’m so sorry that happened to you,” I said. It sounded painful and I wasn’t sure what else I could say.

Tamika furrowed her brow for a moment as she turned and stared off into the trees, in the direction we had come from.
“Something feels wrong,” she said quietly. She started walking away from me and the road.
“What is it?” I whispered, knowing she would hear me with her enhanced senses. I didn’t want to be too loud.

“I think we need to go,” she said as she turned back to face me with wide eyes. She started hurrying to the road but Charles was still kneeling by the tree and the flowers he had placed down. He had zoned out from the world. “Charles, come on.”
“Hang on,” he said, lifting his hand to signal that he just needed another minute or two.
“I can smell blood,” she hissed. That wasn’t good. There was a scream in the distance and I nodded in agreement and started jogging to the road.
“We have to go, I don’t think we have a minute or two.”

Charles was still kneeling so I ran over to him, putting my hand on his shoulder.
“Charles, we can come back and do the flowers later,” I said. Looking up, I spotted red eyes in the darkness of the forest and my heart sunk.

No. He couldn’t.

“I know it’s important, Charles, but please.” I tried to drag him away but he didn’t move an inch, staying as he was, still kneeling in the dirt.
“Charles!” Tamika yelled from the road. “We have to run!” My hand left Charles’ shoulder as the figure approached. The red eyes were that of an Alpha, and there was only one Alpha in this area.

Deucalion.

Taking a deep breath, I turned to Tamika.
“Run,” I said. “Go without him, please, just run.”
“What about you?” she asked as she slowly took steps backwards, ready to run at any second.
“Don’t worry about me,” I said, trying to give her a reassuring smile. Neither of us were convinced but she nodded and started running.