A Tainted Love

Chapter Twenty-Two

Lily's POV

I couldn't stop crying. How could this be happening? I was going to seriously kill whoever was responsible for the death of my brother! They wouldn't get away with it.

When I had turned to find Hannah, I found Derrick lying on the ground with a broken foot that needed to be rebroken and fixed. He was bleeding profusely and he needed Cori's help.

Hannah and Garret were gone. When I asked around I found out that Brett and Bridget were gone also. I was furious. It was their fault that my brother was dead. First one of them poisoned him and then Garret got him all excited and made his heart rate accelerate which in the end killed him. The poison was going to be gone, but the accelerated heart rate boosted it up and brought it closer to his heart. He died about the time that Licorice reached him.

I paced the floor of my room, trying to decide how to address the pack. It had been about an hour and almost everyone had heard. I was still going to make a speech though. I wiped my tears away as I thought about what I would say. I had to be strong in front of them and not show any weakness.

Derrick was in the infirmary healing up. His ankle had to be broken again and now it was almost completely healed. He was furious for losing and wanted to get a chance to have his revenge on Garret.

I heard a knock on the door and told them to come in. It was the omega. "Are you ready, alpha?" he asked me. It was still weird to hear that title, though people had been calling me that since they heard of Amos's death.

"I'm coming. I asked you not to call me that. Lily is fine, I assure you," I said in reply. He nodded. I followed him out the door and out of my house. Everyone was piled up in the streets. Some were sitting on the ground while others were standing protectively around.

Amanda was standing next to Derrick with her belly showing slightly from under her shirt. She smiled at me encouragingly as I began to address the crowd. "As you may all know, my brother was murdered. The people responsible for this have escaped off our lands and headed back to their own territories." I stopped talking to let it all sink in, though most knew this already.

"I have two questions for you. What do you want to do about it? Fight them by going after them, or leave them be and stay here? It's up to you. I'm going to give you a moment to talk amongst yourselves before I take a vote. I want the person responsible for my brother's death to be killed. If you're with me, then vote yes." The people immediately started talking and I met Amanda halfway.

"I know what I want to do," she said to me. I looked at her, then at her belly. "Not me exactly, but the pack," She looked around at all the people, "I want them to fight, because Amos was the backbone of this pack and kept everyone in order. With him dead, there will be chaos amongst us. I encourage you to find a mate to help you keep the title of alpha, or my mate will steal it from you."

As she grew silent toward the end of her sentence I looked around for the person she was talking about. I saw Derrick studying us from about twenty feet away. He looked curious, but made no motion to come toward us.

"I want to find a mate, but now the males will only come after me because I'm the alpha female. I want a mate that will love me, not my position. What do I do?" I asked her. She shrugged and looked around.

After noticing that the crowd was ready to vote, I walked back to my spot. Amanda made her way back toward her mate who immediately bombarded her with questions. I rolled my eyes before speaking.

"I am ready to take the vote and it seems that you are too. All in favor of attacking the wolves that killed my brother, raise your hand," I said, letting my voice carry over the crowd. All of the hands went up. "All not in favor." None of the hands came up. "It's settled then. We will leave first thing in the morning. It's late now and we all need our rest and to eat. Go home, if you have a family, tell them bye. Only the males will be accompanying me. The females must stay to take care of the younger pups and the future pups." Here I looked at Amanda. "I will see you all here in the morning, don't be late. We leave at dawn."