Kill or Be Killed (#1 Eastern Werewolves Pack Series)
Chapter 21: Zia

She stormed out of the gallery without cared for the amount of attention she was attracting. Zia knew that this was a bad idea. She should have listened to her instincts earlier. This matter could have been avoided, but no, she decided it was a good idea to meet him. Everything was almost perfect until he brought her to the gallery because all the arts in there were contradicting her belief that werewolves were the monsters. And, the new art broke her into pieces because she recognized the brown wolf. It was the same brown wolf she had killed. What if Jaxon knew it was her doing? What if he was just baiting her out? If he was truly an Alpha, then he was one of the highly-skilled and intelligent werewolves.

“Zia, wait, wait, wait,” Jaxon caught her wrist again as she was walking down the street.

The way he touched her, she wasn’t sure if she wanted to scream bloody murder or caved in. She couldn’t get over the butterflies inside her stomach every time he touched her. This was what she shouldn’t have done.

She sighed as tears fell. What was wrong with her lately? Craving for the touch of her brother’s murderer?

“Baby, shhhh,” Jaxon wrapped his arms around her as she muffled her cries on his chest. “Hey, what’s wrong?”

It hurt her. Knowing him was hurting her so much that she wanted to get hit by a truck. She was killing his kind and yet, here he was, consoling her through her wreck moment. There were too many ‘what ifs’ in her mind. She wanted to believe that he wasn’t responsible for the death of her brother. But, the evidence was pointing to Jaxon—the same man who consoled her when she found out Brody cheated on her. Jaxon was the same man who refused to take advantage of her weakness. If she asked Brody that, he’d have done what she requested.

Her phone rang in her purse causing her to break the hug. With teary eyes and raspy voice, she answered the call and at the same time, Jaxon’s phone rang too. He took a few steps back and answered his.

“Clay,” Zia muttered as she wiped her tears. “What is it?”

“Dad needs our help. Job’s gone wrong.” He said before the call ended abruptly.

“Damn it!" She heard Jaxon cursed not far from her.

That was how she knew that Joshua’s mission must have something to do with the Alpha. Zia didn’t waste any time as she rushed to her car and drove away.

When she reached home, she ran into her room and equipped up. Even though she was mad at Joshua about what he had said to her, he was still her father. Blood was thicker than water. Zia would come to his aid whenever she could even if it means to betray someone. No, she didn’t trust Jaxon. There was no trust to break in between them. She couldn’t even call him as her friend either. At this point, she didn’t know who he was other than the murderer of Samuel.

“I’m coming. Send me the location.” Zia said as soon as Clay answered his phone.

She checked her weapon in her car before she hopped into the driver’s seat. Her phone beeped once and Zia opened the location Clay had sent to her. With one hand on the steering, her other hand was loading up her gun on her lap as she sped through the empty street. Her car skidded on the gravel road before it came to a halt. Zia grabbed for her communication link and turned the frequency to the one they usually used during the hunting. She could hear Clay and Brody were shouting some profanities through the link.

“I’m here,” she cut them off as she got out of her car, loaded with guns. “Where you both now?”

Before she could hear any answer from the two guys, several gunshots echoed into the silent night. Zia picked her pace and ran into the woods as she followed to the sound of the gunshots. There were several wolves ran in the forest, parallel to the direction she was heading. It indicated that someone in her group had caught one. Werewolves worked in a pack and it was easy to predict that they’d do anything to free their friends. Someone grabbed her arms and she was pulled into the darkness. Zia elbowed the person on the ribs, but the person didn’t budge.

“Zia, stop,” the person grumbled in his raspy voice. “Don’t go that way. They’d have you surrounded.”

“Brody?” She gasped as she turned around.

His shirt was covered in blood and ripped in several places. He winced as he tried to breath. She hated what he did to her a few nights back, but he was still a part of her family. She helped him to sit down and checked his wound. There was a deep purple color on his chest. The bones might not be broken, but she wasn’t so sure. She wasn’t a doctor. He couldn’t breathe properly without wincing as if he was in deep pain.

“You have to go, Zia,” he muttered weakly. “If you’d stay, you’d die. There are too many of them.”

Zia ignored his words as she unbuckled her belt and tied it around his wounded right leg to stop the bleeding.

“Where’s my dad?” she asked instead.

Brody shook his head, “We got separated. The wolves flanked us in all directions.”

His eyes widened for a second before he pushed her away and pointed his gun to the darkness. A big black wolf emerged from the darkness, growling ferociously as it showed its canines stained with blood. With slick hands, Zia reached the first gun her hands got on. It was her sniper and pointed it to the head of the wolf. When the black wolf turned its head to her, she couldn’t breathe. Its eyes sucked her away from the reality for a moment because she recognized the person hidden behind the eyes. Jaxon was standing before her in his wolf form. Killing him was the only way she could avenge for Samuel’s death and proved her loyalty to her father.

Her index finger was ready on the trigger. Its head was in the reticle of the scope of her sniper. All she got to do was pulling the trigger.

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