"Look at me, if you're going to be in charge, you can't be soft," Temp said, watching as I applied a fresh bandage over my right thigh. It had only been a couple of days, but my wound was healing nicely; the stitches were hideous, but in the end, I was going to have some great battle scars. I took a deep breath, already tired of how Temp was telling me how to lead. Literally, left and right, he was trying to order me around, persuade me into doing things his way, or giving me advice. It was just like back at the facility and on our assignments; he always had to be the one in charge and for once, he wasn't. It was clearly bothering him. "I mean, how do you think you're going to find Ethen? Huh? Or, any lead on him?"
"I don't know," I told him, frowning. "But, I have pack to follow us, don't I?"
"Who won't help us kill him," he pointed out, kneeling down in front of me. "We're wasting our time sitting around here, Blue."
"Well, do you have any brilliant ideas?" I asked, harshly. "If so, don't be afraid to share." I rose to my feet, careful about applying too much weight to my bad leg. "Now that I have this pack, things are different, Temp. We need to be smart and take advantage of this power while we have it. Yes, they won't help us kill Ethen, but they'll help us find him."
"How?" he questioned, coldly. "You don't know, do you?" I pinched my lips together, understanding his point. I had spoken to Kolton and Pete the day before about any sort of plan, but there was nothing. In all honestly, I had no idea what I was doing; I couldn't lead or control a pack of werewolves. What the hell was I doing? Temp stepped forward, his voice dropping to a whisper. "We make him come to us."
"How do you suppose we do that?"
"He took this pack's Alpha, right?" he said, raising an eyebrow. Slowly, I nodded, trying to gather what he was thinking. "Then, Ethen knows the pack resides here - he knows about this forest, about how surviving werewolves are inhabiting it. This is why you can't be soft, Blue." I frowned at him in confusion and he moved his mouth towards my ear, hesitantly. "What if something tragic happened to the survivors? What if the forest all of a sudden caught fire?"
I shoved him away. "You're insane!"
"Think about it," he tried, tossing his hands. "It's his kind, isn't it? He cares about the survival of werewolves, right? A sudden fire, a suspicious one, will make him want to check it out."
"First off, I'm not killing anyone else," I told him, referring to the werewolf that I had battled against to survive. "There are children in this forest, Temp. A fire could wipe out the majority of the werewolf population and we'd be responsible - yeah, I'm not completely fond of the race, but not all of them are bad. Secondly, the fire would piss Ethen off and thirdly, what if he's not the only one who checks it out? What if his brothers do too?"
"Even better," he responded, rolling his eyes. When he noticed the ugly expression on my face, he took a deep breath. "Sometimes, sacrifice is necessary."
"We're no longer working for the government," I whispered, eyes narrowed. "Sacrifice isn't an option now."
He huffed. "This is why I should be in charge."
"No, this is why you're not," I argued, shoving at his chest again. "You're not smart about things, Temp." He huffed in disbelief and shook his head, angrily. I didn't want to argue with him; despite the pack, he was all that I had. Tilting my head back, I continued, "Listen to me, there are some nasty werewolves out there, like Kolton. But, there's this saying - that wolves hunt for survival, for food, but humans hunt for sport, for fun." He looked at me, clearly not understanding the point. "It's saying that we are the heartless monsters, so I'm not going to prove the saying right by starting a forest on fire."
