“We don’t have time for this. We’re not here to fight or hurt you. We’re here to protect the pack and take Juan to the vampires. You can either assist or be tied down until this is all over. If you don’t want to live on as free-roaming wolves, help us, and we will reunite the pack when this battle is won. Your suffering can end after this.” Sierra becomes dominant in the conversation with a commanding tone I’ve never heard from her. Stamping towards Aiden and towering over him with a fearless aura, she glares down at him with all the presence of a queen. “You can go on with this attitude and become a hindrance, or you can get up, dust off and do everything to free and reunite our wolves. The vampires are the enemy, not us and Juan….. we’re here to ensure he pays for everything he has ever done. Don’t you want to be part of that?” She spits it at him and then places a flat palm on Radar’s shoulder to move him back so she can lean down and gain eye contact with his prisoner. “We need allies. We need the villagers to join the fight. If not, many of us will die here tonight.”
“Why should we trust any of you? Where were you all these months when Juan turned on us?” Taemin struggles to get free but is kneeled upon by an extra wolf as they regain control of him. None of the guards are letting up, and it seems even if they were once brothers, the priority is to keep me safe.
“You’re right! We weren’t here…. we were in another place, fighting to survive and figuring out how to fix a fractured pack. We were out there licking our wounds and struggling to know what to do while oblivious to your suffering. We have no excuses.” I try and soothe them with my words, feeling the intensity of betrayal among them and attempting to push this conversation onward.
“We need you to put it aside and help. You’re part of the pack here, and you three can be more useful if you rally your friends and family to Colton’s side. Look at me…. You know who I am. I was here until only a few weeks ago, so don’t give me your bullshit and act like you were the only ones. I lived here. I know what went down. I’m telling you to suck it up and stop acting like sulky babies.” Carmen walks around to the front of all three and stands with her hands on her hips, jutting out her jaw while swishing her hair back with a flick of her head. “We’ve suffered too. We’ve been fighting and hiding and had our own losses. You chose to stay here, so don’t put that crap on us. Cut the bullshit attitude and show some respect to your saviors.”
There’s silence for a moment as they stare her down and then break contact. All three look away. Clearly recognizing her and knowing what she says is true, but that high-strung wolf gene is hard to dampen. I can feel their fire dying a little and look around me to double-check there aren’t more to contend with. It seems these three were patrolling near the manor, probably scouting for supplies or maybe sightings of Juan, and had no one else with them.
I notice the camera is focused on us and no longer moving around, so someone is watching this scene unfold, and I second guess whether these boys are with Juan or not. Whoever controls it is interested in what’s happening here, and I wonder if they have audio too. I have the urge to wave and throw them the bird.
“Look. You say Juan is the enemy, then help. He’s in there, right? Watching. Holed up like a coward and letting his people suffer. So, get up and do something about it. We’re here for the same purpose.” I aim for a level tone, a hint of warmth in my words, and pace around to get eye contact as best I can while ignoring the spying technology. I notice how Radar watches my every move and that the guards follow me closely with an unbearable stench of mistrust for what was once their brothers. It makes my heart bleed to feel the distance between blood like this and scowl at the manor with a glance at the man who did this to them. A once superior pack, yet we lay crumbled in ruins this way.
“Get up and die at the hands of vampires? None of us are healthy enough to do very much. Isn’t that obvious by how quickly you took us down? We are living like wild wolves nowadays, hunting and foraging to survive. Juan uses the frequency to keep us weak.” He shifts enough to nod at one of the speakers up high, and I turn and lock eyes on what he’s motioning towards. Confusion at his words invading my thoughts.
“What?” I quiz and glance back and forth, trying to understand. “What do you mean?”
“You don’t feel it? I guess you haven’t been here long enough yet. The frequency has another pitch in the notes, and exposure over time dampens our strength and ability. He’s ensuring we can never take him down and are too feeble to escape this place.” Taemin rolls enough to stare at that same speaker, and in unison, Carmen, Sierra, Radar, and I all turn and stare at the black box hung up about forty feet in the air and scrutinize it for a moment. A sudden tense quiet as we all take a moment to digest this.
“So, you’re saying the villagers are all weak right now and that …. up there…. will weaken the rest of us before long?” I blanche and scrub my fingers through my hair at my temples, suddenly worried and instantly afraid. My heart lurches into my mouth, and Radar and I gawp at one another as a problem suddenly hits us.
“Nailed it. We have no strength, and our speed is almost nonexistent. Look at us… we can’t even heal properly. We’re all sick. Juan knows how to hurt his own kind.” Aiden loses all fight and seems to cave into a messy heap under Radar, a long sigh as he gives in to the fatigue overtaking him.
“Oh, my god.” Carmen verbalizes my gut reaction. A moment of panic sets in, and I glance around at my comrades, meeting equally shocked expressions as all our minds go to the same place.
Colton, we have a problem.
I link him in desperation as visions of vampires taking down our strongest flood my mind, and sudden nausea and fear suffocate me that we just walked ourselves into a trap set by Juan. He can’t regain power over his people but surely won’t mind seeing them all die.
He’s pumping out a tone to disable wolves, yet if we tear the boxes down, the frequency to counteract the vampire’s weapon will also be useless. It’s a no-win either way, and now, as the noises drift towards us on the wind of a full-throttle war raging in the valley, I start to wonder which side is winning.