The Beast Within Us

Chapter 13: Burn

Candice lightly shook her head. She looks around, at the sky, at the ground, then finally, at me. She presses her lips together and nods.

"Ok..." She quietly says.

Candice shuffles on her feet in discomfort. She wipes her hands on her pants then runs her fingers through her hair. She sighs.

"Years ago, we were attacked... by an enemy we could never see... they moved to fast and within the cover of darkness. We never stood a chance..." She began, "They set fire to our homes, to the trees... even to some of our people..."

She breathes in.

"Most- if not all of the people that you see here- were made orphan that night. That includes me! Jason! Even Alex! He had no choice but to take the title of Alpha at such a young age!"

I've never seen her like this. A mess. Robbed of a childhood that could only be given by loving parents. If I had known, I would have never pushed her to relive these memories.

"I was a child when it happened, we all were- just barely able to walk! Yet, we remember everything..."

"I... I didn't-" She cuts me off.

"Do you see those children?" Candice states. "They play, minds free of worry... We promised that they would never have to live through what we went through. We made it, with our lives! If that was to ever happen again, we fear our children will never be as lucky..."

"I'm sorry..." That is all I can say.

"This is what we hid!" She says. "This is why our pack is so small! This- this is why you cannot bring up what you saw. Those people? They are terrified of fire... even the word smoke will trigger panic!"

"They need to know!" I say.

"Dalia. Don't."

"No!" I exclaim. "They deserve to know..."

I rush away from her before she can say anything else to me. I run inside the main house, ignoring the pain in my ankle. I jog up the stairs and stop right in front of Xander's office door.

I better be right about this. I have to be...

I slowly open the door. Jason turns towards my direction, his nose is now bandaged and still red from the incident. He glares daggers at me, mouthing for me not to say anything. I ignore him. Alex and Alice both look at me when they finally notice me.

"Ah, Dalia," Alex says. "What is it?"

"I was out there- in the forest." I start. "I was jogging--"

"Candi's favorite thing to make her trainees do." He chuckles.

"Yes... while doing so, I- I stumbled upon the dead lands." He raised an eyebrow as I continue on, "I saw smoke."

Before anyone else could comment or ask any questions Jason spoke first.

"Alphas, please excuse her." He says. "It was early in the morning and she was tried and--"

"It was a fire!" I blurt out.

The room falls silent. All eyes are on me. Jason rubs his temples, obviously pissed and annoyed with the choice I have made. What I saw was smoke, what I didn't see was what was producing the smoke. It just had to be a fire...