Enemy Queen [2]

o r p h a n

Shivering, I clung to my brother's hand, squeezing it so tight that he tried to shake me off. He always held my hand, always had since we were toddlers. Even if I was close to cutting off the circulation to his hand.

Ares shoved me behind him and blocked my view of what was going on.

There was so much red.

The floors were stained with it and my daddy's shirt was soaked in it. He disappeared for a second but caught up with us the moment I thought he wouldn't come back. He fell twice and when he tried to stand the second time, his knees shook and gave out.

Ares looked back and froze.

"Take her and go!" Daddy yelled at us with his eyes ringing amber. Ares blocked my view again and we moved down the hallway.

"No! We have to go back and help him!" I cried but I wasn't strong enough to resist him.

"We don't have time."

The rest was an evasive memory.

Mommy appeared in front of us and ushered us into a tiny room with an urgent tone. "In here."

She locked the door behind us and I noticed that her hands were shaking.

"Are you cold, Mommy?" I asked, walking up to her and hugging her. I tried to give her all the warmth I had.

She enveloped me in a tight hug and kissed my forehead.

"Of course not, my little Claire-bear," She smiled at me and that's when I saw the blood trickling down her cheeks. Her eyes were bleeding.

"Mom?" Ares asked quietly, noticing too.

Her eyes rolled back into her head as her arms left my shoulders and she collapsed to the ground.

"Mom?" Ares shook her shoulders but she didn't respond. "Mom!" He shook her more roughly as he drowned in panic.

She opened her mouth but no words came out.

Ares let go of Mommy's hand and it fell limply to her side. As he left, I rushed to her side and squeezed her hand until she woke up.

Why wasn't she moving? Why was she ice cold, when just a second ago there was so much warmth?

Why wasn't she breathing?

I didn't understand.

"Why won't she wake up?" I wailed.

"Because she's dead." Ares grabbed my hand and tore me away from our mother. "They both are."

My brother died that day. Eyes that were once so full of light were gone and replaced with a hollow shell. It was then that I knew he would never be the same.

I hugged myself when it was obvious he wasn't going to comfort me.

They couldn't really be dead, could they? We were supposed to be a family forever. There had to be something we could do. It couldn't end like this.

"Why would anyone want to hurt us? We didn't do anything wrong. Who would do this to us?" All of these questions echoed in my head like a curse.

"Alpha Troy," He sputtered and said a word starting with an "f" that I didn't recognize.

Outside the snow was still falling.

It never stopped.

My family was ripped away from me forever. . . by the one they called Troy.