Hunted

Chapter 35: It's Who?!

He was coming at me. I was going to die. This was it. I needed to defend myself I wasn’t going to let some wolf who killed my brother just kill me. I put my weight on all my paws and growled back at him. He was still circling me. I didn’t know what I was going to do but I knew that I wasn’t going to down without a fight. It was now or never. The wolf jumped at me snarling and claws extended.

I woke up screaming. I wasn’t in the woods anymore. I was in my bed…at the pack house. I had barely sat up when my dad burst in the room and looked around. “Emmry are you okay?”

I didn’t realize how hard I was breathing till I tried to respond to him. My dad came and sat on the bed next to be. “Honey…breathe.” His voice was filled with worry.

“I…I’m alive…I…I was attacked it was him dad…the shifter who got mom.” I whispered looking over at my dad. I could see the pain all over his face.

“You’re fine, and safe.” He ran his hand through my hair and sighed. “He’s never going to hurt you again.” My dad whispered.

“Did…is he dead?” I asked pulling back to look up at my dad. I couldn’t remember anything after one of the pack members jumping in. He shook his head and took a deep breath. “He’s in the detention center. He’s going to pay for his crimes.” I thought for sure he wouldn’t have survived the woods. He could tell that I was confused. “If I killed him in the woods just like he did your mother, her death would mean nothing. He will be suffering for what he did. Plus, there’s a bit more of a complication.” A complication?

How could there be a complication? “What are you talking about?” I asked completely confused. He was having a difficult time finding the right things to say because it took him almost 5 minutes of starting sentences and stopping before he finally finished one.

“The shifter, we know him. He was a pack member. He was our Beta.” My dad looked down at me with sad eyes. The old beta…that was Colton’s father. His father killed my mother.

“How…what?!” I blinked and climbed out of my bed. “Why would he kill her?” I was completely lost.

“He isn’t sane Emmry. When his mate died giving birth to his youngest child something broke inside of him. He also…was close to your mother. We never had any issues with it because he knew his place. After she disappeared, which I’m assuming has something to do with that psycho, he went absolutely nuts and left. He sporadically came back throughout the years but he was cut from the pack and lost his position due to his abandonment. “ I had never seen my dad so riled up before. I could tell he felt so guilty and terrible about the past. There was nothing we could about that.

So the man was obsessed with my mother? That’s why he killed her? It didn’t make sense to me. “I want to talk to him.” I looked down at my dad who was still sitting on my bed.

“No.” He said with no emotion. “That’s not happening.” I threw my hands in the air.

“Why? I need to know why he did all these things to me. I need to know. I know he was the wolf who got me when I was 12. I need to hear his voice.” I was nearly begging my dad. I could tell he didn’t want to say yes. He was very against this but I didn’t care. This shifter had answers that I needed. Even if he wasn’t able to give them to me seeing him chained had to give me some kind of closure. It just had to.

“Fine. But I will be with you.” My dad got out of my bed and walked to the door. “Be ready in 5 minutes.” With that he walked out the door nearly slamming it behind him. I groaned and got dressed. There was so many things to unpack. I had shifted for the first time. Would I be able to do that again? The shifter who murdered my mother was captured and most likely going to be tortured.

I walked downstairs seeing the house full of people but you wouldn’t know it with how quiet it was. I was expecting them to all freeze and stare at me when they noticed I had come downstairs but they kept moving and doing whatever they were doing.

“Emmry!” Hope called out running over to me. I hadn’t even seen my cousin. She pulled me in a giant hug. “If you ever do that again I swear I’m going to…well something not nice!” She sighed and squeezed me tight. I wrapped my arms around her and hugged her back.

“I’m okay.” I whispered to her and pulled back after a little bit. “I’ll be back…I’m going..with my dad.” I bit my lip and started walking towards the kitchen where my dad was waiting.

“Wait what?” Hope followed me. “You are not going to see that monster?!” She yelled out across the house. Now of course everyone froze and stopped what they were doing.

“Hope I don’t want to fight about it. My dad said okay. He will be there. I’m going to be fine. I need answers.” I wanted her to understand that there was no way I could handle this monster being in our detention center and I didn’t once ask him why. Hope shook her head at me and shrugged.

“Whatever Emmry. I….whatever.” She mumbled and went the other way. I saw the shadow of Aaron following her out into the living room and I sighed. I know she’ll understand one day. Maybe not today but eventually she’ll just come to accept I needed this.

I walked with my dad to the detention center. He ran through everything that happened. Aaron had apparently jumped in and separated me from the shifter, who I had learned was named Tom. Aaron fought with Tom until Savannah and some other pack members got them. They were very close to killing him when Savannah realized it was her dad and begged for them to wait for my dad.

They knocked him out and brought him to the detention center shortly after. I couldn’t believe Aaron was the one jumped in to help me. I had never really seen him as a fighter. I owed him a big thank you..I just didn’t know how.

Apparently Colton in all this was passed out on the beach with his brother Brandon. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised by that. Part of me really wished it had been Colton who had been there. It doesn’t matter anyway. My dad opened the door to the detention center and gestured for me to go inside. We cleared through security and went to the cells.

I stopped at the end of the hallway and took a deep breath. I could do this. I was going to do this. I looked up at my dad. He had no emotion on his face at all. It must be extremely difficult for him to control himself…I should have asked him to have someone else come with me. Though I don’t think he would have said yes to that. “I’m ready.” I said looking down the hallway ready to  face the monster who murdered my mother…and tried to ruin my life.