Barry sat on the couch, chatting with Fallon. Thomas was alone at the motel, Hyde and Rune took the girls on a tour around Corburn. Dione and Severn were both in the room, chatting as well.

  Someone walked inside. Or two people, rather. Tayen and Warlon came into the room.

  “Fallon!” Warlon called out, seeming worried. He wore a shoulder sling, bandages were visible around his collar.

  “What?” Fallon responded.

  “We have a problem.”

  Fallon stood up. “What is it?”

  “I’m getting threats again.”

  “They’re still not done?” Fallon let out a frustrated groan. “What more do they want?”

  “For us all to be dead.”

  Barry stood too, giving Fallon a concerned look. “Are these still the same problems as—”

  Fallon nodded. “They left us alone while I was alpha, but not anymore.”

  “What—why do these problems still exist, didn’t they win already?”

  Fallon sighed. “They wouldn’t take the whole forest when I told them to, they wanted to fight for it.”

  “As if they didn’t fight for it already!” Barry frustratedly clenched his hands in front of him.

  “I know!”

  “Do you have any idea what to do?” Warlon asked Barry. “You’re the most experienced with this.”

  Barry tensed and sharply inhaled. “Nothing. Do nothing. It’s pointless and will get you killed.” His hands quaked. “Who cares about this forest, anyway? No one does anything with it!” Barry turned his shoulder to them and grabbed his hair. “The pack wouldn’t care, they don’t care about you, all they want it for is meaningless status and if you have to die for it, so be it! The next one will take over after you anyway, they could afford losing you! But of course they won’t do anything themselves, you’re the alpha, you’re supposed to put yourself in danger, not them!”

  Barry yelped at a hand on his arm. Fallon was concerned for him. He put both his hands on Barry’s shoulders and pushed him to sit on the couch as he said, “Why don’t you sit back down?”

  Barry let him push him down and sat. He looked down at his shaking hands. A drop fell on them from his face. He wiped his cheek, leaving his hand wet. He hadn’t realised he was crying.

  “Let’s not get him involved,” Fallon told Warlon. “Clearly, he isn’t ready to be thrown back into this.”

  Barry hadn’t known this affected him so much. He hadn’t felt a lot about what happened before, other than anger and frustration. But only the thought of it happening again triggered this reaction. He hadn’t realised how much it had traumatised him. But it made sense, he was murdered. For him, only a few weeks ago.

  The addition of a third voice to the conversation led Barry’s attention back to it.

  “Maybe he should get involved,” Severn suggested, having joined them near the couch. “Show the leader who killed him he’s alive and scare them enough they’ll back off.”

  “That sounds risky,” Fallon argued. “How could we be sure they’d be scared and wouldn’t try to kill him again?”

  “I did it before, worked wonders. Seeing someone you knew to be dead tends to stun people for quite a while, as I’m sure you’ve experienced yourself.”

  “I’d rather not see the guy who murdered me,” Barry joined again. “Who knows if he’s still even alive? If so, he’s elderly by now.”

  “It could be the best solution,” Severn told him.

  “We should do nothing this time,” Warlon said with a frown. “We had a plan last time, I would’ve died if it wasn’t for Hyde. The only thing that seems to be effective against them is doing nothing.”

  “Then we’d only be sitting here, hoping they’ll get bored,” Fallon was uncertain. He sighed. “But it does seem like the least risky option.”

  Severn didn’t seem pleased. He stepped away and said, “Alright, I doubt it’d be that easy, but it’s your call.”

  Barry wasn’t convinced either. It was a gamble. But the smallest gamble they could take.

  It had gotten dark. Hyde and Rune were on their way to take Night and Moon to their motel room.

  “What did you think?” Hyde asked them.

  “It’s such a cute town,” Moon squealed. “With the plants and grass everywhere, and the little houses, I love it! I can’t believe you grew up here.”

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  Hyde raised his eyebrow. “Why not?”

  “Because you’re not cute at all.”

  Hyde was taken aback, his brain stuttered for a second. What a correlation to make.

  “Says you,” Rune argued.

  “Maybe he would be if he shifted,” Moon added. She glared at Hyde. “Which I still haven’t seen!”

  Hyde groaned.

  “What about you?” Rune asked Night.

  Night hummed as she looked around. “It’s not my thing, but I get why people like the atmosphere.”

  They arrived at the motel.

  “Alright, good night.” Rune smiled at his sisters. “Say hi to Grandpa for me.”

  “You could come in and say it yourself,” Night told him.

  “No, he wanted to be alone. And we should be heading back, too.”

  Night shrugged and walked inside with Moon behind her.

  Hyde and Rune went on their way.

  “You think your dad has been rude to my parents again?”

  “I wouldn’t be surprised.”

  Hyde chuckled.

  He heard rustling. He yelled as he was tackled before he could react. Hyde turned on his back to see a werewolf sitting on top of him, ready to fight. Hyde shifted too and growled.

  “Hyde!” Rune yelled.

  The other werewolf bared his teeth and roared, earning a knee in his mouth from Rune. The force pushed him off Hyde to the ground. Rune pulled Hyde up to stand. The werewolf sat on the ground, his nose and mouth bleeding, some of his teeth broken. He growled and fled.

  Hyde shifted back. “What the hell,” he said under his breath.

  “Do you think they’re attacking again?” Rune asked.

  “Yeah. And not only Warlon this time.”

  “Seems like you’ve put a target on your back. Again.”

  “Dad!” Hyde yelled as he ran inside, Rune close behind. He found him in the living room with Barry, Warlon, Tayen, Dione and Severn.

  “They’re attacking!”

  Everyone instantly tensed.

  “How do you know?” Dione asked.

  “One of them jumped on me.”

  “Well, that didn’t last long, did it?” Severn helpfully commented from the kitchen.

  Fallon was quiet, thinking of what to do. He looked at Barry. “You stay inside, you’re in no mental state to fight.”

  Barry sighed and silently agreed.

  Dione walked over to Fallon. “I’m fighting too.”

  Fallon was shocked. “But—”

  “You can’t stop me, I won’t just sit around this time! We’re married, we’re supposed to do this type of stuff together. I’m not a fragile little flower.”

  “I—ehh…” Fallon stared at her determined face. She wasn’t backing down. He sighed with a worried frown. “Okay.”

  Rune walked over to Severn. “We should warn the others.”

  “Stay inside, okay? That pack doesn’t have any problems with us, they won’t go after you,” Rune told his sisters and grandad at the motel.

  They all sat in one room. Rune and Severn on one bed; Thomas, Night and Moon on the other across from them. The girls were scared. Moon more visibly than Night, but Rune could tell Night felt it, too. He wasn’t sure what Thomas felt.

  “What about you?” Moon asked.

  “I can’t leave Hyde to deal with this on his own. Especially after how much he’s helped me with the gang.”

  “I’m helping too,” Severn said.

  “What?” Thomas was startled. “Why? This isn’t your fight.”

  “Our fight with the gang wasn’t Hyde’s either, but he still helped us a ton. I wouldn’t even be alive right now without him. The least I can do is help in return.”

  “But you—you’ll put yourself in danger again!”

  “I won’t die. At most, I’ll lose a limb or something,” Severn assured him like it was no big deal if he did lose an entire arm somehow.

  “That is not comforting,” Thomas hissed.

  “Oh, and in case you wanted to know,” Rune began at Thomas, “Barry is staying inside, too.”

  Thomas frowned. “Oh, okay. Good.”

  “What will we do?” Rune asked Hyde. Him and Severn had returned to the house. There was a tense, uncertain atmosphere. No one knew what would happen tonight, if they’d all make it out in one piece. Or alive.

  Hyde stood in the kitchen, his elbows on the counter, hands in his hair. He sighed. He grabbed a butter knife off the counter to put between his teeth, but Rune yanked it out of his hand before he could.

  “Don’t,” Rune told him sternly.

  Hyde groaned and glared. He rubbed his face. “We don’t have much choice but to fight.” He grabbed his hair again. “They’d be after Warlon, but probably the rest of us too, since they already attacked me.” He looked at Warlon and Tayen. “You two stay inside, you can’t fight with your shoulder.”

  Warlon agreed, but didn’t seem to like it.

  “We’ll fight the werewolves,” Hyde continued, looking at his parents. He turned to Rune. “You and your dad could stand guard at the door.”

  “Okay,” Rune agreed. So did their parents.

  Hyde’s eyes widened, he pushed himself off the counter and asked, “Why am I the one taking charge?” a bit distressed.

  Dione shrugged. “I don’t know, you’re the one who’s talking.”

  “But, if something goes wrong—”

  “It won’t be your fault,” Rune interrupted. “No one else has a better idea.”

  Hyde stared at him for a bit, scared.

  Rune put his hand on Hyde’s cheek. “We’ll be fine,” he comforted him, which felt weird with their parents watching.

  “Rune and I will need some sort of weapon, then,” Severn said to no one in particular. “We don’t have razors on our fingers and in our mouths like you all do.”

  “You have fangs,” Dione reminded him.

  “The most these things can do is puncture little holes, not rip off flesh or anything.”

  “Grab a knife from the kitchen, you’re familiar with that,” Fallon told him, startling Severn.

  “How do you know that?”

  “Hyde told us you went on a stabbing spree.”

  “…Oh.”

  They stood outside, ready to fight. Rune and Severn in front of the door, both with a knife. Hyde went to the left on his own, he tried to stay close. Dione and Fallon to the right, together.

  Rune anxiously held the knife in his hand. This wasn’t the little pocket knife he had with him for years. No, this was a big, sharp, murder knife. He looked at his dad for guidance. “I don’t want to kill anyone.”

  Severn frowned at him, seeing the fear in his eyes. “You don’t have to. Injuring should be enough. Deep cuts could fend them off, or, if you must, a good stab in the shoulder always does the trick.”

  It didn’t ease Rune’s nerves much. What if he stabbed wrong or cut too deep? Wouldn’t be difficult with a knife like this.

  “Rune,” Severn asked for his attention again, “I’m here with you, okay?” He smiled. “We’ll be fine.”

  Rune took a deep breath, then nodded. They’ll be fine.

  He looked into the direction where Hyde disappeared between the buildings.

  They’ll be fine.

  Inside, Barry nervously sat huddled up on the couch, resting his forehead on his fist and pulling at his roots. He wanted to help, he wanted to hide, he wanted to go to Thomas, he wanted to protect Fallon, protect Hyde. He should be protecting his son and grandson, not the other way around. This was all his fault. They wouldn’t be going through this if he had won thirty years ago. But he was too weak.

  Near him, Warlon was upset too. He paced around ranting to Tayen, “Everyone is fighting to protect me right now. I’m alpha, I’m supposed to be leading this! Not hiding inside like a coward!”

  “Hey.” Tayen grabbed his hand. “You’re injured, no one blames you. You’re family, of course they’d fight to protect you.”

  Barry felt those words were somehow meant for him, too. They didn’t calm him down.