Crown of Blood

7 | chills

my heart's racing, trying to catch up to you,

the light that you let off is gold.

i can't shake this feeling it fills the room,

these chills didn't come from the cold.

they came from you.

Stuffing my mouth with the last bite of my waffle, I stood up from the box I had been sitting on. I grabbed a glass of milk and gulped it down, letting out a large burp as I finished.

"Must you do that every time?" shouted Uncle Eddie. "You are royalty!"

I turned and flashed him a big grin, showing off a very unattractive milk mustache.

"Oh goddess," Edison wailed. "I have failed your parents greatly!"

"On the contrary, I think you've done an amazing job," I laughed, patting his shoulder. "Now come on, we have to leave if we want to get there on time."

"No," he said, shaking his head. "He is not worthy of our presence."

I sighed. "I completely agree with you, but this must be really important. He even had someone come to our house."

Uncle Eddie pondered this for a while. After a moment he let out a large breath of air.

"Fine! But I will not be on time," he huffed out, crossing his arms over his chest.

Chuckling, I put my sweatshirt on, being extra careful as it went over my back. "I wouldn't expect anything less."

"We leave right after this though," he added. "I don't want to spend any more time here than necessary."

"Right away," I agreed, excited to finally get out of this place.

Though I was initially hesitant about the idea of moving, the more I thought about it, the more I realized it could be a good thing. Of course I always wanted to get away from Alpha James, but I had been worried that leaving would mean I wouldn't be able to get any more information about the attack all those years ago. However, moving around could just be the perfect opportunity for me to branch my search out.

Exiting the house, I walked in the direction of the meeting grounds that hadn't been used for an actual meeting in several years. Alpha James did mention last night that he was going to make me "regret" my actions. But would he really call a pack gathering over it? Something deep down told me it was really unlikely he would.

Maybe the Reds had finally exploited our pack as well? They had taken resources, money and people from other packs, rendering them poor and defenseless. For some unknown reason, the Lunar pack hadn't been one of their targets. Yet.

We all knew it was coming at some point. But Alpha James had never bothered preparing for the possibility that we could be left to suffer and starve. It would make sense that we had finally been hit.

Arriving at the grounds, I saw people scattered all over the field, majority of them bunched together in front of the platform where the Alpha would speak soon. Over a thousand members were already here, and more were making their way over. No children were present, confirming my suspicions that this wasn't a light matter.

Tugging my ear, I made my way to stand at the back, behind everyone else. Soft whispers floated around as people speculated about the impromptu assembly.

Finally, a hush fell across the crowd as everyone went silent. Alpha James walked up the stairs on the side of the platform, coming to a stop in the middle.