Nature is not a place to visit 29

Chapter 29
“Violence is never the answer until it’s the only answer.”
Derek Landy
There are some moments in life that you never forget. They’re etched into your brain, poised to wind up and replay
whenever they want.
Like the devastated look on Alpha Roman’s face when he told Hudson and me that our parents hadn’t survived the
Blood Moon attack.
The heavy grief that hung over our pack after that attack.
The sound of Luna Baela’s sobs in the infirmary when Alpha Roman died.
The list of unforgettable moments was short, but as I stared at the remnants of the Blood Moon pack, I was pretty sure
I’d be adding another one to the list.
When we’d emerged from the cells, I wasn’t sure what I’d been expecting to find. Ambrose had told us he’d “hold them
off,” and I knew he must’ve been somewhat successful if he’d also shown up to save us in the cells. Still, I had no idea
what “holding them off” looked like.
Until we got out of the cells.
With Ambrose at my side and my freshly-healed pack members behind us, I got my first good look at the Blood Moon
pack. Or what remained of it, I should say.
A chill swept through my bones as I took in the carnage.
“They’re all dead,” Rae muttered somewhere behind me, and I didn’t need to look back to know that my pack members were just as shocked as I was.
Rae was right too – they were *all* dead.
Bodies littered the forest floor, some with broken necks and others with slit throats. Blood stained the grass red, and the
stench was overwhelming. It was all I could do not to cover my nose.
There must’ve been more than a hundred bodies – some of them in wolf form, others still human with lifeless eyes.
It was a bloodbath.
My eyes immediately shot to Ambrose, looking for any physical evidence of the violence he’d inflicted on them. There wasn’t a scratch on him, and he had that blank look on his face as he stared out at the dead bodies.
“How…” I wasn’t even sure what I was asking – how had he killed them? How was standing in front of me, looking like
he’d taken out the trash instead of slaughtering a hundred people?
“This pack harmed you,” Ambrose said, turning to look at me. One of his fingers brushed through my hair. “They killed
your parents. Caused you pain. I could not let them get away with hurting you, little wolf.” There was no remorse in his
voice, nothing that indicated he felt guilt for what he’d done.
I looked back at the dead bodies, something close to fear settling into my gut.
It wasn’t fear of Ambrose or that he’d taken out more than a hundred werewolves in a matter of minutes. It wasn’t even
fear that he didn’t seem to feel remorse about it.
No, what scared me was that I couldn’t bring myself to feel remorse or guilt for their deaths. Nothing, not even an ounce
of sympathy.
These people had been slaughtered by my mate – shouldn’t I have felt guilty about that? At least pity?
*I doubt they felt much guilt when they killed your parents and decimated your pack*, some wicked part of me answered.
Was that a vengeful thought? Perhaps Rae had been wrong about me. Maybe I craved revenge more than I let on. I’d
never thought I’d get the chance to have it, but as my eyes scanned the scene of the slaughter, I felt relief.
Like someone had lifted a weight off my shoulders I hadn’t realized I’d been carrying around.
The Blood Moons were dead. All of them.
And that meant they’d never be able to hurt me or anyone I loved ever again.
🌔🌕🌖
It took us nearly a day to make it home.
I’d like to say that I felt the relief of the Blood Moons being gone the whole way home, but the truth was, I flipped
through emotions like songs. I’d feel relief about the Blood Moon deaths, but then I’d remember what those deaths had
cost: the lives of several of our pack members. Some part of me questioned whether they’d still be alive if Luke and I had
gotten to Ambrose sooner, if maybe we could’ve run faster.
And when I wasn’t grieving my pack members or dreaming about a world free of the Blood Moon pack, I was thinking
about my mate. I was starting to feel like a lovestruck teenage girl. The man was right beside me, and I couldn’t stop
thinking about his muscles or his eyes. I was drawing imaginary hearts around our names in my head.
It didn’t help that I could feel the soothing weight of his hand in mine the entire way home. He didn’t let me go once –
not even when we stopped to eat whatever remained in our supplies. I could only hope mind-reading wasn’t part of
Ambrose’s growing list of powers.
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“There! I see the border!”
Luke was the first one to spot the border of our pack, and I could practically feel the collective sigh from my pack
members. We’d made it home in one piece – even if that piece was smaller than what we’d left with.
There were two teenagers guarding the main gate of our pack, boys that I recognized from Rae and I’s training sessions.
Their eyes went wide when they saw us. “They’re back!” Shouted the one on the left, “Go tell Alpha they’re back!” The
other boy didn’t hesitate to run off.
Alpha. They mean Hudson. They’re going to tell Hudson.
My heart sped up at the thought of seeing Hudson again, of getting to feel my brother’s arms wrapped around me.
The other boy let us through the gate, his eyes wide and confused as he took in the strange, shirtless man at my side. Marcus, Luke, and the others bounded ahead, no doubt eager to be home.
“So, this is your home,” Ambrose said, looking around at the various tents and campers that populated the forest area.
Some of the pack members were beginning to emerge from their homes, and I could only assume they’d heard the
commotion.
My cheeks heated. Our pack lands were hardly impressive to most werewolves, so I could only assume how pathetic they
looked to a god.
“I know it’s not much, but…”
“Your home is lovely,” Ambrose said, and his gaze caught mine. There was a softness in his eyes as if he knew what I was
thinking. “It reminds me of my own home very long ago.”
Before I could ask him to elaborate, a frantic voice rang through the clearing.
“Where’s my sister? I want to see her!”