Harry

"Where did this come from? What the hell!" Aaron cannot seem to wrap his head around what is so clear to me. This attack was specifically targeted at us, especially our warriors who seemed to have a drone on each of their heads.

"Are you serious right now? You've murdered their Alpha. Did you really think they were going to let that slide? Cower with their tails between their legs? Are you really that fucking stupid?” I barked at him, eyes glowing in rage.

Aaron is taken aback by my aggressiveness.

"Calm down, Harry. Your brother couldn't have known they would go this far!" Dad interjected, frowning reprehensibly at me.

"Because they didn't have anything left to lose. And people with nothing to lose are the most dangerous of all! You should have taught your son that lesson!" I shot back in a feral tone.

This is the angriest I have ever felt about Aaron and his stupidity.

"Now we get to watch as thousands of people get murdered because you decided it was a good idea to kill one of the most powerful Alphas in the country." I stated, deeply worried about my friends and family.

We were all standing there completely gobsmacked, watching devastated as people bled out. Wolfsbane is incredibly poisonous to our kind. Since they created a way of spreading it through the air, it becomes even more dangerous. Though the effect it causes is horrifying, the bomb has a short reach, which is why it hasn’t affected us up on the stage so far.

I'm terrified. Stunned. Surrounded by entire families being murdered on the spot. No one is safe, not even the people at the booths part of the festival.

The drones spread throughout the entire square, not leaving anything to chance.

My mom shielded my siblings from the horrors as much as she could, but no one was spared of the warfare and its harrowing effects.

Eventually, authorities were called, police, fire brigade and ambulances. The event was treated as a terrorist attack. Of course, by the time they arrived, the drones were long gone.

It would take several hours for the first responders to comb through hordes of dead people. Men, women and children. They did not discriminate, though I'm sure children weren't the target.

We spent so much time isolated at the stage, some of us got sick at the parade of corpses lying around us. It was a warzone.

Finally, we were rescued by first responders.

They told us we were lucky to be at a high point, protected from the sky. Truth is we only built the stage to give the Alpha a platform to speak. And we roofed it just in case it rains, to protect the sound system.

We didn't even think about protecting ourselves in that way. Nor did we ever imagine there was gonna be anything like this to be protected from.

My brother and father are completely devastated by all this. My mom and sister in law are wrecked. No one could have thought they had this in them.

I guess there's something to be said about underestimating your opponent. No wonder they took their time getting their revenge.

This was not easy to pull off, neither was it cheap. No, those bastards planned this to a tee. They knew about the centenary festival. They knew the whole pack would be there and planned accordingly.

I am just surprised that they allowed my family to get out unscathed like this. I thought for sure we were going to get attacked on a personal level instead of ‘just’ having to watch the gore take place.

We made our way to the pack house together as my parents and siblings went to their house. We were all exhausted and couldn't even begin to figure out how to proceed after that monstrosity.

"I don't mean to sound grim, but isn't it a little weird that they planned this so well and still our core family members remain alive?" I wondered, pensive. I lost plenty of relatives, but my nuclear family stayed safe on the stage.

Aaron, Jessica and I walked from the garage to the front door of the pack house.

"They killed thousands of people. Do you think this isn't punishment enough?" Aaron glared daggers at me.

"I do. I'm just saying I thought they'd try going for you, no offense." I replied, causing my brother to snarl at me.

"By coming for my pack, they did come for me!" He raised his voice, angrily.

"I'm sorry I said anything." I mumbled, not wanting to antagonize him further today.

Because all the residents of the pack house were going to the centennial, it remained closed until now. Lots of people have keys, but with everything that happened today, we don't know exactly who survived.

"Do you have your key, Harry? I forgot to bring mine.” Aaron inquired, glancing at me as we stopped at the front of the house.

"No, sorry. I stopped carrying it after I went to college. I didn't even think we'd need it." I replied, honestly.

The truth is the pack house is rarely closed with all its residents. Plus, it's usually guarded by warriors 24/7.

"Men… so useless." Jessica poked fun at us, reaching out the keys from her pockets. She took a few steps further and unlocked the door.

"You're the best, baby!" Aaron drooled over his mate, who looked saddened by the tremendous loss.

"You really are, Jess." I winked at her, who smiled weakly at me.

As soon as she touched the door knob, she screamed in pain and fell to the ground in agony.

"What happened? What’s wrong?" Aaron rushed to her side, worriedly.

Jessica was having a reaction to the same poison we just had front row seats to. I got desperate as she cried in pain.

"Let's take her to the hospital!" I suggested, exasperated.

Aaron picked his mate up and carried her back to his car. I followed them nervously. My poor sister in law started to bleed out of her nose, agonizing in sharp pain.

I drove the car while Aaron stayed in the back with her, crying desperate tears of helplessness.

We arrived at the crowded hospital, still treating many citizens from earlier today. Jessica was admitted quickly and the doctors started her treatment right away.

Aaron sobbed, desperately concerned for his lovely mate. I called my dad and told him what had happened. Immediately, he came to the hospital to comfort his oldest son.

While we were at the hospital, we saw countless people spread throughout the whole place. Those who were still alive and are being treated.

The morgue is beyond capacity with all the dead. Additional measures had to be taken, similar to what happened when the pandemic broke.

When our dad arrived at the hospital he went straight to find Aaron, offering him some solace. He explained what happened and dad was horrified by this stunt.

While Jessica was being cared for, I walked the hospital halls aimlessly, utterly destroyed by all this. There are so many ill people that I can barely breathe, intoxicated with all the different scents and smell of death permeated everywhere.

Not far from where I was, I heard a person sobbing in the lounge. There were a lot of people crying over the deceased, but this one captured my attention.

When I came closer, I could see that it was Spencer who was crying. I rushed to his side right away.

"Oh my goodness, you're alive!" I couldn't help but sound cheerful by his presence. He looked up at me and his expression broke my heart.

"I am but Kevin…" He trailed off, then cried louder. I hugged him and teared up at the news. Oh no, poor Kevin.

I have no idea how many warriors actually survived, if any.

"I'm so sorry, Spence. I really am." I tried to comfort him, though right now there's little consolation I could offer. The loss of a mate is quite devastating.

We stood there hugging each other for a while as he cried. I simply cannot believe this, Kevin was such a kind soul.

He did not deserve this. No one did.

I'm raging against the Regency Falls pack. Why did they need to decimate the entire pack? Couldn't they just take their revenge on my brother?

I'm not advocating for anything bad to happen to Aaron, by any means. But this seems like cruel and unusual punishment to me.

After I left Spencer to make the necessary arrangements, including contacting Kevin's family - hopefully, there is still family left at this point - I went back to where my family was.

It’s quite disheartening walking the halls of the hospital seeing so many people desolated over the incredible loss. I offered more condolences just this past hour than my entire life up till this point. And I don’t think I’m done.

I found my brother crying over my father’s shoulders copiously.

I mean, he was bawling his eyes out. I approached them cautiously, not knowing how to proceed.

“What happened? How is Jessica?” I asked my dad in a low tone.

“She didn’t make it.” Dad replied, tearfully.

Oh no! Not Jessica. The most gentle soul I have ever met aside from my mother.

“I’m so sorry, Aaron.” I offered, tears already dropping from my face.

My brother cried loudly. He was impossibly devastated. With reason, this loss is insurmountable. He will never get over this, just like any other survivor. But his loss hurts the deepest. Now his capacity as Alpha has been impaired, not to mention his ability to provide an heir now that his Luna has died.

Honestly, it’s a mess.

My mom arrived soon and she offered her shoulder for her son to cry on. She was inconsolable as well. Our entire family loved Jessica. This is by far the cruelest stunt they could pull. Our family and pack - whatever is left of it - will never recuperate from this mortal blow.

My mom told me to go to their house because she had to leave my siblings sleeping. It’s late at night and there’s no telling when my family is gonna leave the hospital.

In tears, I took my leave and did as I was ordered. I took a shower and went to bed, crying myself to sleep. No one should endure this kind of loss, especially in one single day. I know my brother and I give each other a hard time, but losing one’s mate is such a terrible thing I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy.

I expected some kind of retaliation for my brother’s actions, but never in my wildest dreams I thought this could happen. Not in a million years. This has destroyed my family and everyone we love.

A FEW WEEKS LATER.

In the days that followed, funeral services were busy with the amount of deceased people. The official tally amounts to 5 thousand dead, 2 thousand injured, most of whom have recuperated.

Those who didn’t, it is because they experienced some form of neurological deficit from the poison and are left with lifelong disorders.

It is bad, really bad.

Most of our warriors have died, what’s left of our force isn’t sufficient to patrol the border. Basically, we were left defenseless though the Regency Falls pack didn’t strike us again. Not that there is much left to strike.

We had to bury my sister in law Jessica and now my brother barely leaves his bed. He’s so devastated over her loss, it’s impossible for us to say anything to him; he just bursts into tears.

My father has since been acting as Alpha once again. My poor brother is beyond any capacity to lead at this point. I don’t know if he’ll ever recover from this. All I know is that he feels sorry for his actions against the Regency Falls pack.

He deeply regrets killing their Alpha. I guess he thought killing the head of the snake would take care of the rest, but what he didn’t account for is that the snake had children. And if the past couple of weeks have taught me anything is to empathize with grieving people.

I know what it's like to feel that a life has been lost senselessly. I know rage over losing a loved one needlessly. Though I could never forget or forgive, I can certainly understand their anger. Like I said before, I was never on board with the assassination of Alpha Barnett.

My father had no other choice but to call for a truce, to which they responded demanding terms of complete surrender. Unfortunately, there’s no choice to be made. We can’t go to war with them if our pack is frazzled.

Even if we could offer some sort of retaliation, at this point our family is already broken. With widowed and mateless sons, there’s no guarantee what the future of our lineage is gonna be.

Besides, my father has probably lost his taste for war. All he wants is to try to move on with his life and lead what’s left of our pack. Let the healing process commence without any fear of attacks.

I agree with him wholeheartedly. We fought. We lost. It happens.

We have nothing left to lose except for our lives and they’re too precious to squander. And right now we are too broken to do anything other than try to heal.

I also have been checking on Spencer after the loss of his mate. He too seems inconsolable these days. But he lost not only him, but also his father in the attack. I try to cheer him up a bit everyday, but the loss is still fresh.

Ironically, with this much loss I haven’t spent a second worrying for my mate. At this point, I don’t know whether or not he was at the festival and I missed him. Or worse, if he was present, I don’t know whether or not he survived it.

I don’t want to spiral out of control any more than I already have. If I entertain the idea that my mate died before we even met, I’ll go crazy. Unfortunately, there’s no way of knowing that now. I would have to attend every funeral to find out and a lot of people were cremated due to the lack of space. I’m telling you, it was so awful.

My parents decided to move back to the pack house to take care of my brother and better exercise leadership. To be honest, I’m a bit scared for my brother. I hate to think about it, but he has been somewhat suicidal lately.

I mean, he hasn’t done anything to that effect yet. But I worry about his state of mind. Thank Goddess for my mother and father, who lend us their strength.

“Good morning, son.” My dad greeted me as I came into the dining hall for breakfast. Unfortunately, now we cook our own food since the pack house employees have died in the centennial.

Fortunately, my parents are very hands on in the kitchen.

“Morning, dad.” I greeted him back as he and mom finished setting the table.

“Is Aaron coming down?” I asked them, frightfully.

“I knocked at his door and he told me he’d come down later.” Mom replied, concerned for him.

“Good.” I breathed out, relieved.

“Harry, there’s something I need to talk to you about.” Dad said in an ominous tone.

I gulped and prepared myself for the bomb. His facial expression is not indicating anything good.

“As you know, the Regency Falls has demanded that we send over a representative of the pack to negotiate the terms of capitulation.” He started, causing me to get riled up.

“And you want to send me? What?” I gasped in shock, horrified at the notion.

“Calm down, son! I’m sending Beta Willmont to negotiate.” He clarified, much to my relief.

I breathed out a huge sigh of relief.

“Dad, you scared me for a second. I thought you were gonna send me to the lion’s den.” I said, humorously.

“That’s because I want you to accompany him to Regency Falls.” Dad elaborated and I gasped again.

“What? Why?” I’m gobsmacked, baffled by his request.

“Because it’s the only place left to search for your mate.” Dad explained and my heart sank. This is one hell of a Hail Mary if I ever saw one.