Lost Heir

Chapter 4

Felix didn't stutter for a second. He grabbed onto me and said "Come on, we need to go."

"Wait!" I shouted back at him. "We can't just leave our pack. What happened to no man left behind?"

"That doesn't count right now. Athena, you heard what Luna Sandra said! She said we needed to run and never turn back. I didn't hear any sense of her trying to send us code that we needed to save the pack!"

"Felix, no! They are our family! Yes, this is a war, but we can't just leave as soon as we are told to!"

"Athena, we weren't just told to go! Our Luna ordered us to get out of here! I will listen to my elders and its best that you do too!" Felix shouted at me.

"No this isn't right! We can't cower against our own fear. We need to be stronger than that and fight for what is right!"

"Athena we have no idea what is right! All we know is what our Luna just told us. I just promised her that I would get you out of here. I will be damned if I break the promise to my Luna! We are warriors and we follow orders, Athena! If we can't follow a simple order than we are no better than any other person in this place. We are warriors! We are meant to be better then them!"

"Exactly Felix! We are meant to be better! We are not meant to be blind and obedient slaves! We have a mind and we know that this is wrong. We cannot just leave our pack behind to be slaughtered! We have no idea what they are going to do to those people up there."

"You are right. We don't have any idea what is going on up there and I am glad for that. I am going to do what is right and be obedient to my luna. I refuse to go up against a direct order from her. We are going and that is final."

"Just because you say something is final does not mean that it is!" I cried. "That is our family up there. We are down here away from all of that and it is our duty as a pack warrior to do what we can to protect them" I began to reach for the trap door and said "We can open this door and free those people that are trapped up there!"

Felix intercepted my hand and yelled "Absolutely not! If Luna wanted those people down here she would have brought them down here herself! We may not know what her plan was in all of this but we do have to have faith that she knew what she was doing better than we do! She is a Luna! She didn't get there by accident! She got there because she made a plana and executed it. I don't know what our role is in that plan, but we are going to follow it, okay!?"

"Felix what is wrong with you! How dare you turn your back on our people. You may be scared and so am I! Trust me! But I will not bow down to my own fear and be a coward! I will fight because that is what is right! There is no way that the right thing to do is to leave our people behind. They are our family. Remember what we learned in school! We are warriors and we fight until there is not a breath left in us to fight with!"

Felix let out a groan and ran his fingers through his hair. "Listen Athena you don't understand. You have no idea what is going on so please, just listen to me. Trust me that I know what to do. I will get you out of here and keep you safe. I will keep Harlow and Faye safe."

"I do trust you! You know that, but you are talking crazy right now!" I dug my feet into the ground and said "I will NOT leave behind our people. You can run away and hide like the coward you are but I will rescue my people." I reached for the door once again, but Felix grabbed me. In return to his outright attempt to stop me from helping our people I grabbed him in a mercy hold and shoved him to the ground.

With his face in the ground he yelled"Athena! Goddess! You are so frustrating. Shut up and listen to me! I tried to tell you earlier but Alpha Blake called me into his office today. Our dads were there and so was Luna Sandra. They told me that they needed me to protect you. They didn't know if something bad was going to happen, but they made me do a blood promise that I would protect you!"

With his last sentence I wrenched my hand away from him. "What do you mean you made a blood promise Felix! That's not just some little promise! If you break it you die! What the heck were you thinking making a promise like that!"

He slowly stood up again and said "What was I supposed to do Athena!? It was the leadership of our pack suggesting it. When they tell you to do something it's not like you say 'hmm, no I need to think about it.' You do what you are told! You know that better than anyone!"

"Why would my dad be there? Why would he make you promise something like that!?"

"I don't know! Why was my dad there, huh? I don't know! I don't have answers to all of these questions! You don't think that I haven't been wondering the same thing? That I haven't been wondering if they knew that this attack was going to happen? I believe in coincidences but them suggested that I may a blood vow to you this very morning and an attack happens tonight?! That is not just a coincidence to me!"

"Felix this is really really bad! Now you literally have to protect me! Why would you do something like that to yourself! We are only thirteen what are you thinking making a blood promise! There isn't an expiration date on those things. You swore yourself to protect me until we die!" I cried out. I had no idea what was going on. Too much was happening at once. I started to feel light headed. I sat down and put my head in between my knees.

Felix reached out and held my shoulders. "I know, Athena. We will figure this out. It's not like they forced me to do it. You know I would protect you no matter what. Why not make the promise when I already was going to do it for you."

"Felix," I sighed "this is more than a promise. You just swore yourself as my guardian. That isn't a small feat."

"I know, but we have to keep going. We can talk about this later. We need to keep moving. Do you trust me now that I am trying to do what is best for you?"

"Yes I know Felix, but I don't understand how the right thing to do is for us to run."

"I don't know either Athena. All I know is that this morning I made a blood promise to protect you. Luna Sandra was there and now only hours later she tells me to remember my promise and tells me to run away with you. That is not a coincidence Athena. She knew what was going on and she gave me the directions to get you out of here."

"Felix what if she was wrong? What if she made a mistake?"

Felix turned sharply away from me "The day that I question my Luna is the day that I turn my back on my pack. It is best for you to remember what your oath is as a member of this pack, Athena. You may be scared but you will not question our elders. I will drag you out of here kicking and screaming before I break my promise to my Luna. Before I dare question her." His eyes were cold against me as I looked up at him.

"I know. I'm sorry. I don't doubt my Luna. I never will. That's not what I meant Felix."

"Then you better start acting like it, Athena. It is high treason to question her. You may be my best friend, but I will not stand for you dismissing our elders. She told us what to do. You are either going to listen to her or I am going to make you" he said taking a threatening step towards me.

"Okay. I get it. Let's go." With one last look up at the trap door I saw the gentle dripping of something dripping down on us. Refusing to give myself another reason to stay and go against my orders, I stood up and grabbed my siblings hands.

Harlow, Faye, Felix, and I ran down the tunnels as the echoes of the cries from our pack grew softer and softer.