The Wolf and the Natural ✔️

~•40•~

I Don't know if you guys listen to rock music, but the song for this chapter is Hail To The King by Avenged Sevenfold. And I chose this song because... well ya'll will see by the end of this chapter. HAVE A FANTASTIC DAY! I will see you guys soon (sometime within the next couple days) with the next update. Love you all!!

KATE
The next day was... surprisingly... uneventful. Mom tried to look for Everly and found nothing. Me and Chleo shot back and forth ideas to kill Konrad, each plan crazier and stupider than the last.

My anxiety had hiked up so bad that my vision was blurred. I sat down, my head turning.

"Kate what's wrong?" Chleo asked, bending down to my level.

I shook my head, glancing at the clock on the wall. Midnight. I had just waisted December 30th doing absolutely nothing. We had gotten nowhere.

"I turn 20 in 26 hours. I'll be a werewolf, Chleo." I admitted quietly. It had never really hit me until now just what I had signed up for months ago. I felt like a senior, just now realizing that I was graduating and I had my life ahead of me.

Chleo stood up, letting out a long breath. "Just.... get some sleep. It's late."

I nodded and said goodnight to my mom and dad, saying that I'd see them tomorrow. By the time I woke up, I'd have even less time until I was a full werewolf.

And... and Arlis wasn't here to help me go through it.

***

I woke up to someone shaking me slightly. I groaned and pushed their hands away. Again, arms shook me. "Kate." Chleo whispered. I blinked my eyes open, his face tired and aging. "We have to go back to the pack."

I shook my head. "Why? Shouldn't we wait here while my mom tries to find Everly."

Chleo stood up straight. The sun flittered into the room in brilliant and vibrant oranges and golds. The sun was just rising, settling over the tree line outside my house. "She won't find Eve. Not if she's hidden on the map or dead."

I closed my eyes and threw my arm over my face. "Why are you in such a rush? Couldn't this of waited until the sun was actually up all the way?" I rolled over to face the wall.

"Jonah never slept last time when our brother was taken, neither did Dalia. They're not sleeping now. The—"

"Chleo, what does this have to do with going back to the pack?" I groaned. I fell asleep crying last night and I fell asleep late. Probably only an hour or two ago. I needed my rest.

"If you'd let me finish..." he paused, probably to glare at me. "They were awake and patrolling when they found..." Chleo paused again. I didn't think this time it was because he was mad.

I turned and looked at him as his face fell. "Damion and Jacobi are dead."

Two people I'd never forget. Damion and Jacobi, the people who single handedly tossed me into this world. People who tried to kill me, people who, in a way, brought me to be in this amazing life.

"How?" I asked.

Chleo's mouth bobbed for an answer. "One of the pack warriors was stationed there, witnessed the whole thing. It was a black wolf. A werewolf. A rogue."

I shot up from the bed, all my senses alert and awake. "You don't think—"

"Heads were torn off their shoulders. Their feet were mangled and ripped to shreds. Their hands... placed in the crucifix position." It was very... specific.

My mouth went dry. "What does that mean?" Chleo didn't answer. "Chleo! What does that—"

"That's Arlis's mark!" Chleo screamed, clenching his fists together so hard his nails drew blood from his palms. "Arlis did that to them!" He quieted down.