Chapter 192
Clementine:
“She’s losing blood fast. She needs to transition,” Mira urged, looking up at us.
It was true. At this point, the only real way for any of us to survive was to shift and let our bodies repair themselves. But no one moved. We were all still shaken, haunted by what had just happened outside.
And then there was Sebastian, pale and grimacing. Renee hovered over him, doing what she could, though the pain in his face was clear.
It was a moment of great loss for us. We did not just lose to the Wendigos. We managed to kill quite a few, at least four from what I could count. All the ones that had come toward us in the first fight, we killed them. But then the others came, and they escaped. So there were probably a few more left behind, unless they reproduced quickly.
I sighed, staring at the ground. I still could not believe Jessie was gone. We tried so hard. If only she had not lost control of her emotions like that. And then there were all the injured ones.
I began to worry about Ian. He was all alone out there. What if the others were also hurt, and there was no one to help him? A sharp headache started building in my head.
Then I heard Mira’s little whisper.
“I think it wasn’t Oriana’s fault what happened to Valerie. Jessie was a mess p>
Silence filled the room. One by one, we looked at her. Some were even judging her for changing her stance so quickly now that Jessie was gone.
“I’m just saying, I thought maybe Jessie was right, that Oriana had made a mistake by purposely leaving Valerie behind. But now, after how Jessie reacted and everything, I think this place gets to us. It’s easy to put blame on others. I mean, look at Clementine. She’s putting all the blame on herself. Look at her face. It’s obvious, even though she did nothing wrong.” Mira pointed at me, and everybody turned to look.
Troy quickly held the juice box he had opened for me earlier. I shook my head, but he stepped closer.
“You need to take pain medication. If you’re not going to transition, then we need to use other means to help you, Clementine,” he said, almost sounding upset that I was doing nothing to heal myself.
“I think Mira is right. Clementine isn’t even trying to heal herself. That’s how guilty she feels. But if you think about it, we all could have been dead by now, even when we tried fighting for Jessie. So in other words, Jessie put us all in danger,” Renee said with a hiss. But it wasn’t hateful. It was full of concern for the safety of others.
Of course I was guilty, but that wasn’t why I wasn’t transitioning. There was a deeper reason. Even though I knew my wolf was extremely beautiful and powerful, I still remembered the words of the council, and I didn’t want to transition and have everyone look at me differently. At least not until I found out why my wolf was different from everyone else’s.
I sighed again, having no response for them, and accepted the tiny juice box from Troy just so they would shut up about me being guilty. I was a fucking loser. I couldn’t even save the one person Matthias had trusted me with.
It was hard to drink the juice with everyone staring at me, and I had to act like I wasn’t that guilty, even though I was for not bringing Jessie back to the mansion alive.
As I drank from the straw and my squadmates helped Sebastian with his injuries while the girls crowded around Oriana, I noticed something on the ground. I pouted. How the fuck did we not see it?
There was a blood trail running upstairs from the edge of the bottom step. It wasn’t that far from us, but the blood caught the light. I frowned, then narrowed my eyes. I hurried toward the stairs, hearing Oriana complain behind me.
“All I need is my friend and I’ll be fine,” she hissed, letting everyone know that even in pain she wanted my attention, and I would have given it if I hadn’t seen such a devastating sight.
“What the fuck?” I growled. I didn’t even have to step closer. It was fresh blood.
I stepped back, then turned around. I guess the others noticed the panic in my voice when I groaned, because they all began to rise from the ground.
“What is it?” Yorick rushed toward me, following my eyes to the blood trail. I saw the same shock on his face.
“This wasn’t here before,” Troy said.
I turned and glanced at everyone. Suki and Jack looked shocked too, but then we realized someone was missing.
“Where the fuck is Yash?” I asked and Nate gasped.
“Nate, he was with you, right?” Suki pressed him in a concerned tone. I suddenly panicked as he shrugged.
“I don’t know. I mean, he was here, but then I ran with a sword to help everyone on the road. I don’t know what happened afterward. I came in and forgot about him,” Nate blurted, words tumbling over each other as he clenched his hair with his left hand.
Our attention turned back to the second floor where the blood trail led, and we began to hear faint groaning and wheezing. We all stared in that direction, watching someone crawl out of the shadows.
Yash was covered in blood, barely holding on as he tried to reach the stairs. He raised his hand, shaky and dripping with blood, before being yanked back with a single brutal pull.
We all gasped as the realization hit us. The second time Wendigos attacked, nobody saw where they went. Now, one by one, three of them started to appear.
One jumped onto the ceiling of the first floor, snarling and running in circles. The others rushed down too, still holding what was left of Yash in their jaws.
“Fucking run out of the mansion!” Yorick screamed.
But many of our crusaders were injured, so we did not have the strength like before.