Chapter 6

Layla's POV

"Fuck! Let's run!" Zion screamed as he tried to run in the other direction away from our town. 

"Are you serious?" I grabbed Zion and stared at him with an incredible look on my face. "Our town is under attack by vampires. Our subjects are trapped in the town. Your Alpha is in the town. Your own mother is in the town. Are you trying to run away just like that?" 

"Shut up you stupid bitch!" Zion raised his voice. His voice became high-pitched when he was afraid. "We can't fight those vampires! They are way more powerful than us! And have you heard of the Vampire King? Nephrite Buchanan? He became mad when his parents were executed by our Lycan King and swore to kill every single werewolf on earth! He defeated the Lycan King's Royal Army! He forced Lycan King to kill himself for fuck's sake! We're the only existing werewolf pack and now he's coming at us! Do you think that you're more powerful than the Lycans?! You're a fucking she-wolf that can't even shift into a wolf! How are you going to fight against the vampires?! Are you losing your fucking mind?!"

I clenched my fists as Zion blurted out his fear. Having taken a glance at the fire and smoke, which almost lit up the entire sky, I turned to Zion's gang and said in a plain voice, "The sky is on fire. So does our town. We've all got family members trapped in the town. Now, I'm heading back to rescue mine. Whoever wants to tag along can feel free to join me." 

Then, I started to run toward the town. 

That was the most courageous thing that I had ever done in my life. I didn't know what was going to happen to me, but I knew it was the right thing to do. 

But how am I supposed to fight the entire vampire army on my own? How am I supposed to save my father as well as the werewolves of our pack by myself? 

I didn't have any answers to these questions. The only thing I knew was that my heart was pounding so fast that it was about to jump out of my throat. 

To my great relief, I heard the sound of footsteps behind me. 

I turned back and saw Mick and other werewolves following me. 

It seemed that I wasn't alone after all. 

I saw Zion standing where he was, shouting at his gang in a shallow voice, "She's retarded! She's fucking insane! You guys are going to die because of her craps!" 

Micked shouted back at Zion, "We're going to die because we choose the right thing to do! And we choose to die with our family!" 

"She's weak! She can't even shift into a wolf!" Zion didn't want to give up. 

"It doesn't take a wolf to prove that she's our natural-born leader," Mick growled before he shifted into a giant brown wolf.

Then, other werewolves shifted as the first ray of silver moonlight kissed the ground. All of the wolves were running next to me while howling toward the moon.  

My blood was boiling as I was running toward a burning town with my fellow wolves. 

It was the first time that I felt a sense of belonging and recognition, and I absolutely thrived on it. 

But it didn't take long before I couldn't feel my legs. I had to stop and rub my legs because they were cramping. 

At that time, Mick's wolf jumped out of the bush and stopped right in front of me. 

"Come on, Layla!" he said. "Get on my back! It will be faster!" 

I immediately climbed on his back and held fast to his mane. 

He took a leap in the air like a dart. For a brief moment, I thought I was flying in the air when the strong night wine swept across my cheeks. I could feel the energy and fire surging from the bottom of my heart, spreading across every single inch of my skin. 

Under the background of a burning night sky, I felt that I was invincible. 

However, I didn't know at that moment that it was the first and last time that I had ridden a wolf in my life.

As Mick and I were getting closer to our town, the air became dense due to the smoke. 

I had to lift one arm to cover my nose and mouth with my sleeve, so I didn't pass out because of inhaling too much smoke in my lungs. 

At that moment, I saw a flash of light passing right next to my face. 

Then, before I realized what it was, I had already been thrown up high in the air. 

How could this be possible?! 

I looked down and tried to grab Mick's wolf, but the only thing I saw was a giant brown wolf rolling in pain while whimpering on the burning ground. 

As I dropped toward the ground, I saw a bleeding hole in Mick's head. 

It was a bullet hole! He was shot! 

"Mick! No!" I shouted, stretching out my arms toward him while falling hard to the ground. 

But it was too late. Mick's body had already stopped twitching as I hit the ground. 

My right shoulder must have been relocated because of the impact, but I didn't care. 

I struggled to get up and get hold of Mick. I desperately wanted to know if Mick was still alive. 

As I crawled next to him, I tried to cover his wound with my hands. 

But the bleeding just wouldn't stop.

Crawling in the pool of blood, I screamed at the top volume -

"Mick! Wake up!" 

Desperately, I shook his body, but there was no response. I touched his face only to find out that it had already become frigid.  

It was the first time that I had ever touched a dead wolf and it left a permanent scar in my heart. It took me a while before I fully conceptualized that a werewolf had just died right in front of my eyes. 

I covered my mouth with my arm and bit it, so I didn't scream out loudly.

I knew I had to get up to look for my father, but I really couldn't move at all. It felt like my whole body was laden with heavy lead.

Then, I saw a black figure emerging from the fire and smoke.

Ashes kept getting into my eyes, which had already blurred by my tears and blood. 

I couldn't figure out who this person was until I heard a familiar donkey-like neighing voice -

"Mick, you stupid fucking idiot! This is what you got when you defied and betrayed me!" 

As I finally managed to wipe off the tears and blood from my eyes, I saw Zion limping and staggering, slowly approaching me like a predator.  

He was holding a gun in his hand. 

There was white smoke coming out of its barrel. 

He fired at Mick and he took away his life. 

"What are you going to do?!" My voice was trembling.

"Take a wild guess, little slut." Zion replied in a scratchy, sinister voice. 

There was a vicious smirk at the corner of his mouth, like an ugly, evil scar.