FIGHTING FOR SURVIVAL

Chapter 16

Taylor

Ethan's green eyes darkened immediately . His lips stretched out into a scowl and he swung his legs over the couch.

"You," he said, his voice dripping with venom. His face was bruised and the blood that had pooled at the bottom of his throat was now dripping down the front of his shirt. "You are the most...selfish...vindictive, cold hearted person I have ever known!"

"Now, why would you say that?" I asked him, sitting up on my elbows. My body had healed faster than his. The only pain I felt was a dull throb in my ribs but I knew that would be there for a while. Besides, I could still fight, with or without that pain.

"First, you try to kill Sheldon," he started, but I cut him off before he could go on.

"He had it coming," I told him. "Besides, isn't that what we werewolves do? Kill to rule the pack? I thought you knew that. "

Sheldon was my cousin. Our pack had been led by my father's brother for almost five years, until he handed the position of pack leader to his son: Sheldon. I had known that I would make a much better leader, so I had naturally decided to stand up against him. The only way to become pack leader was if you killed the previous one, or if the previous one handed his position to you.

I had attacked Sheldon one night while our family was having one of our oh-so-special bonfires. He had not seen me coming, but had recovered very quickly from the shock. So we had fought, only to be caught by witnesses. Everyone loved Sheldon and when they saw me trying to kill him, they had all turned against me: even my own family. They had claimed that I would have torn apart our family if I had killed Sheldon. So, we had been pried apart and I was punished for what I had done.

I should have been pack leader. I should have killed Sheldon that night. But I planned on killing him now too. I would take over this pack and then attack my old one. Then, they would have no choice but to surrender.

"He is family!" Ethan shouted, making me chuckle slightly.

"If he were family, he would not have attacked me when I tried to honorably end his life!" I retorted.

Ethan flinched and stepped back. "Listen to yourself! You say you know what family is, but you know absolutely nothing about it! You left us, Taylor, you..."

"I left because I had to," I replied calmly. "Nobody respects me there. I want to get the respect I deserve, and here? I do get it. I will become pack leader here and then you'll all see what I am really capable of."

Ethan opened his mouth but no words came out. Good, I had rendered him speechless. Had this been any other occasion, I would have found this situation comical, but not now. Now Ethan was just standing in my way.

"Mother cried for weeks," he muttered and I narrow my eyes to slits.

"Maybe you should have stayed with her then." I sneer and he grimaces. After I attempted to murder my cousin, our father had been furious. He had said he was disappointed to have a son who only cared about power, and not family, and that was exactly why I was never to be willingly handed down the position of pack leader. I was too selfish to care about family. My mother had wept.

But then I had formulated the perfect plan to get back at all of them: my cousin, his father and my own. I would leave my pack and look for a new one, training myself for combat. I would overthrow that pack's leader and then have a whole pack under me.

My plan was going well so far. I was part of the Crescent Hills pack and was by far, the strongest wolf they had. The pack leader: Lucas was a strong fighter, but I had all his weaknesses memorized. I could easily beat him now. After months of training in secret, I was finally sure that I could take him down. I would take him down, become pack leader, and then show my family I was more capable than they thought.

"I only came looking for you," Ethan replied.

That was only partly true and we both knew that. The real reason he was still here at Crescent Hills was a vampire: a being our family would never approve of.

"We both know that isn't the complete truth," I sneered. "You came looking for me about two months ago, but you didn't find me. Instead, you found a vampire girl, fell in love with her, and stayed because of her and not because of your brother. You didn't even know I was living around here, did you?"

Ethan's eyes widened and he gasped, clearly shocked. "How...how..did you...?" he stuttered and I grinned.

"Figure it out? I have ears everywhere, little brother. Although when I found out about the vampire, I thought maybe I was wrong. That maybe I had heard wrong. You really have stooped low."

"I have not stooped low," he replied evenly. "She's a night child, just like us, and she is very beautiful."

I snorted. "We'll then, good luck explaining that to the pack."

"I'm not going back." At first, I felt like he might me joking, or that I might have heard him wrong. But then he continued. "There's nothing left for us. Mother and Father will never let me be with Gabrielle and you will never go back either, so that is not my place to be anymore." I looked into his eyes and I saw something I never thought I'd see in them: sorrow, and guilt.

Suddenly, a new and improved plan started forming in my mind and I thought that Ethan might just be what I needed. I had originally come to ask him for his house, but now I could see he had so much more to offer, especially since I was his big brother. He would do anything.

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A/N

I feel like I haven't updated in a long time so there you go :) There are only four more chapters to go. Yay! Please vote and comment you guys xD