Run **unedited**

Chapter 18

We walked through the crowd of bodies looking for faces we knew. I recognized the barista from the cafe this morning, she had been disemboweled and left to choke on her own blood. A young woman i didnt recognize sat beside the barista's body, holding her and crying, screaming to the sky and begging for this all to be a dream.

Everything was pure chaos, people were crying and screaming, running around and looking for loved ones. I searched the crown, trying to make sure there was no one i knew dead on the ground. We went from body to body trying to consul people and figure out what was going on, but came up with nothing.

It wasnt until mary found a young man bent over a body and screamed that we finally got some answers. Mary rushed over to the young man and knelt down beside him, pulling the boy into her side and sobbing.

Anna, andy and i rushed over to her and anna gasped. "Thats mary's son-in-law."

I wasnt sure if she meant the body on the ground or the boy mary was holding but in that moment it didnt exactly matter, our friend was hurting.

We all watched as the strongest and oldest of us broke down and sobbed, completely swallowed by her grief at the loss of life that lay in front of her. The boy was bloodied and broken, his leg pointed off and in the wrong direction and his head was twisted around sideways, obviously his neck had been broken.

I scanned the crowd, trying to figure out what was going on, but all i could gather was this all looked staged. There was less blood on the ground than there should have been around the bodies. There should of been signs of a huge battle but there wasnt, none of the tables and chairs in the square were over turned, no broken windows or anything. Just bodies laying dead and broken. There should of been puddles of blood as well but there was only the bare minimum.

"Your seeing the same thing, huh?" andy whispered from beside me, also scanning the crowd.

I nodded, "there should be signs of a battle here, but there isnt" i said.

He nodded and pointed around at some of the bodies and people leaning over them, "they are all grieving as if they lost their mates too, but look closely"

I did and noticed that the main people who were grieving were of the same sex as the ones on the ground. "You dont think he would of done this, do you?"

Andy shrugged, "if im right then it looks like james just killed off all the same sex mates in the pack." there was nearly fifty bodies on th ground, fifty families who had been destroyed. I turned back to face mary and her grieving.

"Is that her son on the ground?" i asked anna, quietly.

She nodded. I wanted to scream, to scream to the heavens and to the goddess in that moment. To beg that she bring back all of these people and stop this battle from happening, but i knew that wouldnt do anything to help us.

"Alissa" i looked over to see the alpha walking towards us, or more like storming. Her strides were long and quick and there was a look fo pure, guarded fury on her face.

"What in the fuck happened here?" she asked when she got to were we all stood.

"It looks like alpha miller has decided to declare war openly" andy said, his voice full of guarded fury. "Am i correct in thinking these are all same sex mates?"

Alissa nodded as she looked around at the carnage before us. "We need to get all of these people moved and layed to rest. I hope the goddess is ready to accept all of these poor sould into the other world. When we are done here i need the three of you, and mary if she is feeling up to it, to report to the pack house for a war meeting."