wolves¹[wyatt lykensen]

.10

UNITED WE RISE

"NO ONE IS listening! Stop the demolition!"

"Addison." Her name left my mouth in disbelief. After what happened, she still showed up to help and stop them from destroying the stone. A grin came to my face as she, the cheerleaders, and the zombies began standing up for the wolves. Wynter shouted in celebration and cheered on Addison and the others, causing more of the pack to do the same.

"This shouldn't be happening!" Zed shouted. He stood at the front of the crowd, taking a deep breath before walking forward and stopping in front of his dad. "You've got to stop the demolition, dad. I know how hard you worked to get this job, but if it's gonna hurt the werewolves you have to stop it."

His father was visibly conflicted and was debating what he should do. He glanced to the pack, then to Addison, and then to his son. "You're right. Addison's right—all of you are. Shut it down, stop the detonation," he ordered the crew behind him. "Tomorrow when it's safe, we'll find what you're looking for, but right now, you can all go home!"

Everyone began cheering and celebrating loudly, grins and smiles covering everyone's faces as the officers took the cuffs off my hands and freed the other wolves.

"Yes!" Wynter beamed, pulling me into a tight hug and jumping around giddily. She let go after a moment, causing me to chuckle before I was pulled into another hug.

My feet left the ground as I was spun around, causing me to wrap my arms around the person so I wouldn't fall. They lowered me back down after a minute, arms still wrapped around my waist. I looked up, meeting Wyatt's brown eyes. The biggest smile I'd ever seen was present on his face. My cheeks heated up at the sight, making me look down to where he couldn't see. "We did it."

➤

The necklace was clutched in Zed's fingers as Addison roped him into a hug, glad that he'd found the object, but once he didn't hug her back, I realized something was wrong. Her face fell as she let go of him. "What's wrong?"

"I...I took it," he sighed. "I stole it when you weren't looking."

A expression of betrayal took over Addison's features. "I thought I lost it. I questioned myself! Coraline needed that necklace before and I couldn't give it to her because you stole it!" Her voice raised and I winced once my name was mentioned.

"Addison, I'm sorry," he apologized. "I was afraid that if you turned into a wolf I would lose you."

"You don't get to make that choice for me!"

"But a werewolf?" Zed asked incredulously.

"I could've finally found where I belong, and you steal that from me? Why would I ever go to the Prawn with you after what you did?" Addison snatched the necklace from him, turning away quickly.

Willa tried to step forward and get the necklace back, but I held out my hand, wanting to see if the cheerleader was truly a wolf or not. If she had the slightest chance in becoming one, I wasn't going to take that away from Addison. I technically didn't need the stone anyway, so it didn't bother me as much as it did Willa.

Addison's breathing was heavy, but she shook her head to clear her thoughts and reached behind her neck to clasp the necklace together.

We waited for her to turn around, the anticipation becoming quickly prominent among the group.

She turned on her heel after a moment, raising her hands and opening her mouth as if to show fangs. She faced Bree and held the stance for a moment as the necklace faded from its glowing blue to a dull white. "Am I?" she questioned, dropping her hands to her sides.

Bree reached out, setting a hand on her arm gently. "You're beautiful, Addy," she said softly. "But the same beautiful that you've always been." Her words made a sadness cloud over Addison's features as she slowly reached behind her neck and unclasped the jewelry, holding it in her palm.

"She's not a werewolf," I whispered, my voice breaking slightly. Addison is one of my best friends, if being a wolf meant that she would be happy, I wanted that for her, but seeing how it broke her made the sorrow of the situation hang over me as well.

The girl walked over, her boots clicking against the concrete before she stopped in front of me. She held out her hand, the necklace sitting there as she waited for me to take it. "Addison..." I trailed off, unsure of what to say, but she gave me a look, gesturing her hand out again and having me take the necklace into my own hand.

"Oh my gosh. Boss! Boss! We got a problem!" The moment was interrupted by one of the workers rushing over to Zed's dad with a tablet in his grasp, quickly jabbing towards the display. "The remote shorted out and now the detonation timer's running." Those words caused my stomach to drop.

"Well, shut it off!"

"I can't!" The worker fiddled with the key and twisted it back and forth, trying to cancel the detonation, but to no avail.

A rumbling noise began to sound out through the street, earning shouts of 'no' from the foreman and his coworkers. They began running down the street as we followed and got closer to the plant. The sounds got louder the closer we got and before we knew it, a large boom echoed out as we reached the end of the road to see the building collapsing into flames and smoke.

"What have they done?" Willa let out, her brow creased in worry.

A moment passed before I heard coughs and small wheezes from the pack, making me turn on my heel to see them. "Oh no," I said softly. I looked over to Wyatt, seeing his eyes begin to glow and his necklace to fade into a sickening yellow color as he coughed. Willa and Wynter stood beside him, their figures hunched over as they tried to catch their breath. I stuffed the necklace I carried into my pocket, freeing my hands to set on their shoulders to support them. "It—it's going to be okay," I tried to comfort them, helping them stand back up, but even I could hear the uncertainty in my voice.

I looked to other members of the pack and moved to check on them as well, making sure they were all okay.

An unintentional whimper left my lips as I looked back to the plant that had been destroyed. I couldn't let this happen. There had to be some way to fix this and help the wolves get better. There was always another way, I just had to figure out what it was and soon.

I wasn't going to lose another pack.