Moon Bound

(2) The Pack Comes First |Scarlet's POV|

Home is a place of warmth where you feel you belong with your flaws and your virtues both.

My home was that place once, a place where the ring of life's joy could be heard. It was never just a word but a place where you found that buzz of happiness and felt it like it was an electrical current in the air around you. It filled you in. It made you smile.

The town he showed me was not home but the ruins of it. It was all gone. It was all tainted with this man's curse now.

No bodies laid on the ground. Only the heavy feel of death and a few marks remained where the fighting had taken place on the streets, but they too were washed away. People gathered in small groups executed that task. My own packmates, mostly women and juveniles, were cleaning up the mess while his men—the ones responsible for it—oversaw the work.

Angry stares directed at me, they never stopped their work, but every once in a while I'd catch them glaring at their failure of a leader.

He never looked away, never acknowledged the attention. He kept yanking on the leash, kept bringing me further into the shame with his act that I couldn't escape no matter how much I wished.

I was trapped. Bound by metal, collared with leather and held by my own guilt, that brutal realization dawned on me with each step we took.

Tangible in the air like a choking stench that clogged your windpipe.

I could barely breathe, let alone fight him.

We turned around the corner to the main street. The familiar buildings looked deserted now that his pack was here and mine was out washing the blood off the streets.

Friends, lovers, family. Happy memories that tasted sour now. The flow of water was going to rinse it all.

He stopped in front of a lamp post on the walkway and secured the chain around it. I watched him place fingers in his mouth to produce a loud whistle that sounded across the place immediately putting all activities to a halt.

"Gather around!" his voice echoed through the sudden silence and not even a heartbeat later, people started to form a circle around us.

I didn't dare look at him when I felt him step toward me, instead I found myself suddenly fascinated by my feet—bare against the asphalt.

He placed his hand on my shoulder and spoke, "Was this your alpha?" his voice so soft that I wasn't sure the cluster of wolves would have heard if not for the deadly quiet over the place.

Venturing a glance up, I saw the surprise on the faces of my packmates that he knew my role in this pack.

"I guess she was, wasn't she?" He chuckled. "But the real question is—are you willing to risk your own lives for someone who failed you?"

Silence.

"You see, folks, I tried to reason with her but she just won't accept me as her alpha and defiance is something I simply cannot tolerate. So, I thought since you know her a lot better than I do, you may succeed in convincing her. After all...." Words trailing off, he gave me an evil grin before going on with his speech.

"You are her pack, therefore you have a better chance to get through to her. You should be the ones to teach her the lesson she needs to learn. It's for your own good too. You don't want to see me more upset than I am already, do you?"

I looked at each and every face in the crowd, some of them meeting my eyes while others looking away.

He leaned toward me and whispered, "Let's find out just how loyal they are, shall we?"