The Undo Button

When the soldiers came, they did not bring bullets, but pamphlets. Tess watched from the inside of her shack, having called her pups back inside. She watched the soldiers staple the pamphlets to the shacks belonging to the members of their pack, before strewing any leftover papers on the ground of the Slums and leaving.

While her two males watched out of the window, keenly waiting for the soldiers to leave, Tess reluctantly cracked open the door once the soldiers had left their street, grabbing a slightly muddied paper. The Centre for Extra-Terrestrial Diseases has recently developed a cure for lycanthropy. It had been everywhere in the news. However, the leaflets held the newest development in the story: therapeutic vaccines will be distributed to the infected in Quarantine Area 32, effective Monday. Those unwilling to receive the vaccine will be removed from Area 32 and drafted into the army.

Tess let out a shaky breath as she read and re-read the pamphlet. She was the Luna of the pack; how could she abandon her wolves? She knew their fate in the army: the males would be soldiers, and the females would be used as breeders. Worse, if they tried to leave the Quarantine Area, they would be shot to prevent the spread of infection.

Her oldest male, Julian, knew something was amiss. He was seven, and already a future alpha in the making. However, she could not help but look at her pups' tattered, second-hand clothes. She wanted the best for them, but the Slums were no place to raise a family. Her younger male, Dirk, was but four years old, and the Slums would be a distant memory for him and her youngest pup, Eva.

Her mate, Alpha Theron, would be home soon. He had undoubtedly been helping solve some grievance or repairing something a pack member needed fixing. The duties of an Alpha were endless. However, he would want to ensure his family had not been harmed.

Once the soldiers left, the Slums sprang back to life, and her males exited the house. It did not take long for Theron to return. She heard his approach long before he arrived at their shack, for pack members shouted greetings as he walked down their street. Placing Eva in her cot, Tess tried to compose herself as the door creaked open.

"Where are the boys?" Theron demanded, looking around the shack.

"I sent them out to play once it was safe, we need to talk."

"We'll gather the pack tomorrow," Theron said, thinking aloud.

"No, we need to gather them tonight and make plans to flee!" Tess protested, unsure of why her mate was willing to waste time. It would be significantly easier to escape when the Slums were not crawling with soldiers and medical personnel.

"Are you insane?" Theron snapped at her. "The pack needs to get the vaccine to be free of this illness."

"We're not 'sick.' It's a part of us, not something that needs curing." Tess felt insulted by his words. Three generations of her family had lycanthropy—otherwise known as the 'star-sickness'—the result of an alien virus accidentally brought back to Earth. On the night of the new moon, they changed from human to a hairless, wolf-like form, and wreaked havoc, killing humans and animals indiscriminately. Locked in the Slums, they could do little harm, but the government had been at a loss of how to handle the wolves, for it was expensive to contain them, and healthy citizens lived in fear of being infected.

"It's a virus, what else would you call it?" Theron jabbed a finger at her. "A good wife and mother wouldn't want her children to stay sick."

"How dare you call me an unfit mother!" Tess shouted at him. "I let you breed me during each heat I've had, I birthed your pups in this shack, and I've stayed home to raise them by myself while you're out all hours of the day being Alpha."

However, as she said it, she considered Theron's words. He had referred to her, his mate, as his 'wife' and his pups as his 'children.' She realized this was not a discussion, for Theron had already made up his mind. No one in the pack had sacrificed more than Theron and Tess. It was inconceivable that Theron would throw away everything.

"You're willing to have our family live as citizens, not Alpha and Luna?" Tess challenged him, knowing the hours Theron spent helping his pack. Getting the shot would mean relinquishing her rank and denying Jules his birthright.

"Not our family, me," Theron told her, and Tess's blood ran cold. "I was forced into this role because I was first-born. We met when we were sixteen, and I never got a choice in finding love. I then had to produce heirs, forcing more innocents to be slaves to the whims of this disease. I'm tired of having my fate decided for me by this virus."

"I'm your mate, your pre-determined best match." Tess felt her eyes burning, and her voice trembled. "How can you say you do not love me?"

"According to whose standards are you my best match?" Theron snapped at her. "I never found out what I wanted in my ideal partner, for it was force-fed to me and I was told to shut up and accept it because you were allegedly my 'soulmate.'"

"You're getting the shot to rid yourself of me," Tess blurted out, her grief turning to rage.

"Mate bonds don't come with the option of divorcing," Theron told her. "This vaccine is my only chance at seizing control over my destiny."

"What about your pups?" Tess pleaded with him. "Are you going to take them from me after you become a citizen?"

This was by far Tess's greatest fear. If she did not get the shot, Theron would have the right to seize them from her. Theron had all the power in this situation, and she was at his mercy. To her surprise, Theron shook his head. "I don't want them. If you've raised them 'by yourself' as you claim, not much will change without me."

"You want to break our mate bond so you can get a chance of a do-over family?" Tess had not expected him to walk away from their pups.

"I told you I wanted to start over," Theron told her. "This is my 'undo button,' my chance at starting over and living the life I want. I'm going to remove every trace of my past. Don't try to contact me after this Monday."

"Then don't try to stop me from leaving with your pups."

"Tess, I don't care what you do after I walk out that door today," Theron explained as though she was a small child. "Get the vaccine, or get yourself and your kids killed, it doesn't matter because your future isn't going to be with me."

Theron turned away from her and began to gather his possessions. He did not care about the mess he made as he rummaged for anything he deemed to be his. Their pack was going to be without a leader, and Jules was far too young to take over from his father. When he left, Tess decided, she would call a meeting by herself. There would be time to grieve later, but for now, she needed to lead her wolves to safety.

Once Theron had gathered his belongings, he turned to leave their shack. As he opened the door, Tess pointed at Eva, who looked up wide-eyed at her father. "Can you look her in the eyes and walk away from her?"

Theron ignored her and shut the door, and the pair never saw one another again.