Claire P. O. V
I jolted awake, my mind racing back to the moment those guys shot Sister Maria in the head. I sat up in bed, but I could feel a hand gripping my waist, keeping me from moving around.
I was gasping for air, drenched in sweat, and my thoughts were all over the place since I opened my eyes. Indeed, what happened last night was just a nightmare. Sister Maria, Andy, Vicky, Sister Alberta, and the rest of them have to be okay. They have to be.
I quickly wrapped the blanket around myself and dashed to the door, even though I had no clue where I was. This place felt weird to me. It definitely wasn’t my room or any dorm room I recognized, and I couldn’t recall ever being here.
I struggled as I reached for the door handle because someone was trying to pull it from the other side. Their grip was stronger than mine, and I nearly lost my balance, but then they caught me around the waist. It was Ethan Randall.
“Hey! Easy!”
“No! Let me go! Sister Maria! My family-”
“I’ll take you later.”
“No! Take me now!” I forced Ethan, who was still trying to hold me down.
Ethan seemed hesitant to lend a hand, which made me want to push back. I rushed her up high to dash to the dorm to check on sister Alberta and the others. Ethan tried to stop me, wrapping his arms around me and repeating that everything was fine.
“What do you mean?! Are you saying last night was just a dream?” I shot back. It felt like he was just brushing it all off.
I wasn’t sure what he was getting at, but I kept pressing him to spill the beans about what really went down, whether it was all just a figment of our imagination or something real.
“Claire, listen to me. We-”
I really didn’t want to hear what Ethan had to say. I shoved him aside and headed straight for the dorm. Ethan yelled at me to stop, but I just kept going. A few people tried to hold me back, following Ethan’s orders, but they struggled to catch up. I was lost when I reached the front yard, unsure where to go to return to the dorm.
“I told you, just listen to me. We can go together, but you must clean up and eat something first.”
“Do you really think I can eat when all I can think about is my family being gone?!” I snapped at Ethan, but he just stayed calm.
Ethan wrapped his arms around me, soothing my nerves, and then called Danny to prep the car since he realized I wasn’t ready to eat.
He quickly led me to the dorm after some back and forth with Ethan. As I feared, last night’s chaos wasn’t just a nightmare; the dorm was wholly reduced to ashes. There was nothing left but a charred mess. Now, it was a spectacle for the church folks who showed up every morning, their faces filled with curiosity and a million questions about what had gone down.
“No! This is impossible.”
I fell to my knees in tears that didn’t stop melting. Ethan tried to hug me, but suddenly, Hendrik pulled my hand, and Agatha, who looked very angry, pulled it.
“Ack! It hurt! Let me go!” I tried to push back, but Hendrik clamped down on my wrist with a grip that hurt like crazy, and he wouldn’t let go, even though he could see I was in pain.
“What did you do to cause all this chaos, Claire?!” Hendrik yelled right in my face. It was the first time I’d ever seen him like this.
Honestly, I had no clue how things got so out of hand, how the dorm ended up in flames, and Sister Maria got shot by those guys.
“I-I don’t know what’s going on, but Sister Maria, she-”
Before I could finish, Agatha slapped me hard, turning me into a spectacle for everyone around, including the cops who were trying to break things up. Agatha looked disgusted with me, and her anger grew when she noticed the officers were trying to shield me.
Agatha was on a roll, yelling at me, “It’s your fault everyone in this dorm is dead! You’re to blame!” I couldn’t believe the awful things she was saying; I’d never heard such harsh words from her before.
Even though a couple of female officers tried to intervene and calm her down, Agatha was having none of it. She kept making accusations against me, even though I was in the dark about everything.
Finally, I couldn’t take it anymore and lifted my head to respond, but Ethan stepped in, pulling me behind him and said, “So you really think she’s the one who did this?”
“Absolutely! She’s the only one who wasn’t here last night. Then she shows up this morning acting clueless! All those poor sisters and the kids left behind? That’s on her! How can you even defend her?!”
“It doesn’t matter who I am, but you should remember how you treated her at the seaside restaurant yesterday. That was just cruel.”
“What-”
You just left her at a restaurant with the food you ordered, ditched her without any cash or anything, and now you expect her to cover all the bills? After she wandered around lost in the streets at night, not knowing how to get home, and eventually ran into me, you’re blaming her for everything? For her family’s death?
“You’re lying! How could I ever do that! I-”
“Enough already!” Someone yelled, cutting Agatha off.
We all turned to see who had spoken. Agatha, Hendrik, and the others, including the priest and the police, looked terrified. They quickly bowed and greeted the person who had just stepped out of the car and approached us. It was the Alpha.
Ethan didn’t greet the Alpha like everyone else; instead, he shot him a smug look. The Alpha, slightly hunched over, leaned in to kiss the back of Ethan’s hand in a show of respect.
“Alpha Ethan, I’m really sorry. This whole thing is a huge misunderstanding. When you came to visit, everything spiralled out of control,” the Alpha said, clearly panicking.
Hearing that, I glanced over at Hendrik and Agatha. They looked terrified, beads of cold sweat forming on their foreheads, while Ethan smirked, oozing confidence.
“I want to see you at my Pack House tomorrow. Figure out who’s responsible for this mess and bring me the ashes of my late sister, Alberta. And make sure my Luna isn’t blamed for what happened to her family.”
“What? Lu-Luna? Her? How is that even possible?”
“Yep, she’s my Luna. And if anyone has the guts to say anything negative about her, I’ll make sure they regret it. They need to know who I am and what it means to lead the Silver Fire Pack for over thirty years,” he declared with pride.
After that, Ethan took my hand and led me back to the car, leaving everyone around us looking more and more terrified at the mention of The Silver Fire Pack from the guy who claimed me as his Luna.