Later at night, while sleeping, I feel Theo’s hands around my waist disappear. I turn over to his side to see him dressing up. I wonder where he is going this late.
“Theo, is something wrong?” I ask, sitting up on the bed.
“Yes, but don’t worry about it. Go back to sleep. I will be back soon,” He says and pecks my forehead before he walks out.
I wonder what could be wrong to make Theo leave the house this late at night. I don’t go back to sleep as he asked and wait for him to come back so I can ask him.
As I am sitting on our bed waiting for Theo, I hear someone wailing outside. Is someone crying? What is going on? I rush to the window to see what’s going on. I can see Theo and Dan standing in front of a group of people. They look like they just came from a fight. Did something bad happen? I quickly change out of my sleeping clothes and walk downstairs to find out what is going on.
“Theo, what is going on?” I ask once I reach them outside
They look to be about 50 people here, all covered in blood. Their clothes have been ripped to pieces. What they have on is barely covering them up. I quickly take the shawl on my body and cover a lady whose clothes were hardly doing anything to cover her up. Most of them are women and children. Before Theo can reply to me, the woman who is in front of him crawls to me.
“Please, my queen, save us. Please save us, don’t send us back there. We will die if we go back there” I am sure she was able to figure out that I am Theo’s mate because I smell like him even though I don’t bear his mark. I smell like him because we sleep on the same bed.
“Save you from what?” I ask, lifting her off the ground, but she almost falls. I quickly use my body to support hers.
“The vampire king, he has killed everyone. We are all that is left of our pack. Please save us, my queen,” She says, and my eyes widen as I realize what is happening.
They must have ran away from a fight between their pack and the vampire king. I look at their bodies, and they all have blood on them that I am sure does not belong to them but most likely the people they have lost.
“Dan, ask the pack doctors to come immediately.”
“The king has already sent for them”
“Good, and how about rooms? Have you arranged rooms for them?”
“We have a little problem?”
“What’s wrong?”
“We don’t have space in the packhouse?”
“How is that possible?”
“This is not the first pack to arrive because of the vampire king?”
“This has been happening a lot?” I ask, shocked. I can’t believe this has been happening, and Theo did not tell me about it.
“Yes,”
“What if you put them in the king’s house? We have a lot of space to accommodate all of them,” I say and look at Theo for approval. I should have asked him first, but I was just thinking of somewhere where all these kids could sleep tonight. He gives me approval with his eyes, and I am happy he does not have a problem with it.
“I will take them there once they all get treated.”
“Thank you, Dan.”
“You are welcome, My Queen.”
I help the pack doctors with treating the wounded pack members. I am not a doctor, but I know how to use a first aid kit. I make sure everyone gets food and blankets to sleep with before going to bed. I walk into our bathroom to take a shower before going to bed. There is blood and sweat all over me.
I walk out of the bathroom once I am done showering. I walk out to find Theo sitting on the bed waiting for me. He went to the lake in the woods to shower. He can’t use any of the bathrooms in the house. The wounded werewolves in the house are mostly using them. I ignore him at the edge of the bed and get under the covers. I am a little angry with him. Something so big has been happening to our kind, and he didn’t tell me about it. I feel like he does not see me as his equal.
I feel him get under the covers beside me. I pretend not to notice and continue to face the opposite side. His arms go around my waist, and he pulls me closer to him.
“I am sorry,” He says, burying his head in my neck. His voice is a little muffled because he is speaking into my hair. I use that to pretend like I did not hear him.
“Are you talking to me?”
“I am sorry,” He says a little clearer and louder this time
“For what”
“For keeping such a big problem away from you.”
“I would forgive you if you tell me why you did,” I say, turning around to face him.
“I didn’t think there was any need to tell you.”
“You didn’t think there was any need to tell your mate that the vampire king who kidnapped her mother is killing packs,” I say, feeling a little angry.
“When you put it like that, it makes sense why I should tell you. I am sorry I didn’t tell you. I promise never to keep such an important thing from you again.”
“Better, and do you know if he is killing packs because we rescued my mom,” I ask, worried that might be why he has been killing a lot of my kind recently. If that’s why it would really hurt me because it would mean he is doing it to get me. He must be killing them, so I will give up myself.
“I don’t know if it’s because of that, but it started a few weeks after we rescued her”
“Of course, it’s because we rescued her. You just don’t want me to feel guilty about it. It must be why you didn’t tell me,” I say, realizing it’s not because he doesn’t see me as his equal.
“No, I didn’t tell you about it because I didn’t see a need to, not because I didn’t want you to feel guilty,” Theo says, trying to make me feel better, but it does not work. I know why the vampire king is suddenly killing a lot of werewolves, and it’s because of me.
“Okay, if you say so, and what are you going to do about it,” I say so he would think I am not feeling guilty about it.
“I am preparing for war. He has wiped out more packs in the last weeks than my fingers in total. That is a declaration of war to me.”