a Primal Pursuit

forty seven

The men around the table all stared at me with scrutiny, apart from Asra and Bohdi, who watched me with impassive expressions.

I crossed my arms, leaning back in the chair. My eyes wandered until they settled on Augustus at the opposing end. His lips pursed, eyes narrowed as he stared down at me.

"We took over because you humans were destroying the planet."

"Oh, and killing us was the right way?" I scoffed.

"Your kind fought; it was a war. Death happens."

"Well, how would you feel if creatures of the night came out of nowhere and started pillaging villages and killing your family? You're terrified every night that the beasts may come back and finish the job and you have nothing to defend yourself with because you know, deep down, that you are the weaker species. No weapons can stop the beasts, because you don't know what they are or where they came from. You are defenceless." I glared. "How would you feel? Honestly?"

His tongue came out to lick his lips, and he glanced toward my mate.

I gritted my teeth. "Don't get him involved in this. We are talking."

Eyes snapped toward me, and he sighed, raising his hands. "Okay, fine. I wouldn't be impressed."

"Right, good. Unimpressed is a start." I nodded, crossing my arms. "So then, what do you do? You retaliate in any way you can, and finally you realise that silver weakens the enemy. But by the time you discover that, it's too late and half of your entire world is dead. You'd be frustrated and in mourning, right?"

He shrugged and nodded quietly, watching me with interest, so I continued with my history lesson.

"Then, forced to surrender because your numbers are few, you submit to the enemy." I clicked my tongue, shaking my head with disapproval. "But they won't let you go so easy. They force you to sign a treaty, to make an agreement because they discovered something but won't tell you. Remember, these creatures came out of nowhere and killed nearly everybody on the planet, so this is the only thing keeping you alive. But you don't know what it is."

I continued, words tumbling from my lips without a filter. I knew I would probably regret half of the crap I was saying, but for now, they were shutting up and listening.

"So to avoid any more bloodshed, you sign it. Then they group you into different uses, restrict you to small districts where they force you to work for them, for a few pieces of stupid metal that don't even cover the rent they expect you to pay." My voice was stern, unwavering, and the alpha merely blinked. "Families are broken, towns torn apart. Everything you have created is destroyed. Every home, every memory... People's parents, siblings, children. Forced apart, killed, taken and never seen again... But why? Then, every year, the wolves come back, and they tear apart the villages, seeing if any of the humans are worthy of their time."

I avoided looking toward Bodhi, all too aware of his family's death during the war.

I laced my voice with hatred, and I noticed Augustus' nose twitch with the smallest of a flinch. His eyes dropped, staring at the table, deep in thought. I inhaled deeply before simmering all of my frustration with a sigh. My hand ran through the random wisps of fallen hair, smoothing them down my head to pass a moment of time.

"You make a very emotional point."

My once calm spirit flared up like a nasty rash. My eyes darted toward David, chest burning with hatred.

"I'm sorry, emotional? You are saying I am emotional when I was just teaching you history?" I laughed, loudly. "Coming from the man who cannot hold his own temper and constantly wears his emotions on his sleeve."