Chris

I've got to admit, it was nice watching everyone enjoy the view. I felt somewhat proud of this town that I loved so much. It was by far one of the best werewolf towns in the world and now these humans were seeing that for themselves. Most gasped when they saw it, a lot of people were staring into the distance and I'm pretty sure Austin was drooling a little. He wasn't the prettiest sight to see but I'm glad he liked it. To add onto all the positivity, there were no more injuries. Sure, Drew and Dakota nearly gave us all heart attacks, but no more injuries.

I really needed to talk to Drew about earlier. I knew from the start that he wouldn't be too keen about humans staying in the town, but he had to understand that they aren't as bad as he thinks. Most werewolves aren't in favor of humans due to how they view us. There's a reason why there are secret werewolf towns all over the world; humans have secluded us. They believe the false stereotypes and believe we're monsters when we're really not. I only hoped that Dakota could keep him in check when I wasn't around.

Trust me when I say Drew isn't as bad as he seems. He's had a rough life, probably just as bad as mine. He's wary of new people and that's why he was so hostile towards the humans. When you get to know him, he's a great person and friend. I remember one time he and Dakota pulled a prank on me by dumping a bag of flour on my head. I chased them until we reached the river where I pushed them in before jumping in myself to wash off. Ah, fun times.

A couple of minutes had already passed and people were still staring at the view ahead, taking everything in. As much as I liked staring down at the town as well, I knew a lot of people here needed to be taken to the infirmary immediately. It was time to focus on the present situation at hand.

"I know the view is great but trust me, it's much better down there," I told everyone.

"How are we going to get down there? Jump?" someone asked sarcastically.

I looked at her and recognized her as the girl Austin got into a fight with earlier. I already didn't like her.

"By all means, go right ahead if you want to," I said, earning a laugh from some and a dirty look from her. "But for the others, there's a trail we can take to get down. It won't be easy, though."

Pushing my way past the large crowd of people, I made my way towards the start of the trail. When leading everyone here, it wasn't my intention to come across this path and for a good reason. It was probably the most difficult path that leads to the town due to the steep, downward slope and abundance of sharp rocks that littered it. If someone fell here, it wouldn't be pleasant for them. I only hoped we could keep the injuries to a minimum.

"Make sure you guys step where I step," I told them before hesitantly testing each rock with my foot to make sure it would hold.

Putting all my weight on a rock that I thought was sturdy proved awful. The rock loosened under me and went rolling down the hill, almost taking me with it. Thankfully I regained my balance before I could fall, too. As much as I wished we could turn around and find a new path, it would only take even longer than it would to get down this path. At this point, the inevitable injuries were worth it.

I was finally able to find a spot that would be able to hold everyone's weight and kept going from there. Steady rocks were becoming easier to find now and I was starting to feel more confident.

"So, Chris," Izzy said, close behind me. "I'm curious of that barrier from before."

"Yeah?" I asked, obviously distracted.

I wasn't trying to be rude, but I didn't want to risk looking my focus and getting sent spiraling down this death trap of a hill. I've gone up and down this path before, just always in my wolf form and never in my regular form. It was definitely a lot easier for a wolf.

"How is it there? I mean, how was it formed in the first place?" she asked curiously.

"My family's rings keep it intact."

"Just your family's rings? Why not everyone's rings? And how do the rings sustain it in the first place?" she asked once again, never pausing once between each question.

I knew she was only curious about all of this which she couldn't be blamed for, but I couldn't help but get annoyed by these flurry of questions. Between focusing on the task before me and trying to think of a way to explain it so that it wouldn't cause her to ask more questions, I was pretty stressed at the moment. Taking a deep breath, I tried to explain it in the best way I could.

"When any werewolf gets their ring, a drop of their blood is placed inside it which causes it to activate when we touch the stone. My family has been the leaders of this town since it was formed which makes our blood special and it creates the barrier. Before Charlie was born, it was only my father's ring that kept the barrier strong. Now that my father has us, it's our rings that sustain it," I finally finished.

She stayed quiet for a few moments as she processed all of this new information. I breathed a sigh of relief thinking that she was finally out of questions to ask, but that relief was soon short-lived.

"So what would happen if your ring got destroyed somehow?" she spoke again, her question clearly throwing me off.

"I'm... not sure actually," I said after a few moments of pondering on it. "We never destroy the rings even if the owner of it passes away."

As far as I knew, there had never been a situation where our rings have been destroyed for any reason, especially not any of my family's rings. I didn't know what would happen to the barrier if mine or Charlie's ring ever got destroyed. Frankly, I didn't think I wanted to find out.

I could tell she wanted to press the subject more, but she knew that I honestly had no more information on that subject to reveal to her. It didn't stop her from asking one last question, though.

"So it's just yours and Charlie's rings that sustain the barrier?"

"Yeah. Mine, Charlie's, and Caroline's-"

I froze the second her name left my mouth. This is what I get for talking about so much family stuff when I was distracted. None of the humans needed to know about her, not even Izzy.

"Who's-"

Izzy stopped mid sentence when she saw the look on my face. As much I tried to hide my emotions, my expression was as easy to read as an open book whenever my little sister was mentioned. She could see the sorrow plastered all over my face. Taking the hint that she stepped over a boundary, she dropped the subject.

"I'll just go back to Austin. I-I'm sorry, Chris."

There I was back to be left with my own thoughts as usual. Thankfully, I didn't have much time dwell on the thought of Caroline and pity myself. On the unfortunate note, one of my worst fears came to pass; someone slipped down the path.

Alyssa, who was only about ten feet behind me, suddenly went spiraling down the rocky path. Everyone in front of her could only jump out of the way to avoid getting sent down the death trap themselves. I couldn't do anything to help her until she got close enough to me so that I could grab her. When she was only a few feet away, I watched as she extended her arm out to try and grab one of the many sharp rocks that were littered around.

"Don't grab the rocks!" I shouted, but it was too late.

Her hand wrapped around the nearest rock which did nothing to slow her fall. All it succeeded in doing was leaving a huge gash down the center of her palm. She continued to slide down the path and I grabbed her as soon as she was close enough to me. She had a few small cuts on her face and clothing was ripped in so many places, but besides that she was fine. Well, she would've been if she didn't grab the rock. The large gash on her hand was bleeding profoundly and it was obvious she needed medical assistance soon.

"Alyssa!" a guy from farther back shouted as he stumbled down the path to get to her, almost tumbling down himself.

I quickly recognized him as the guy, Brian, who earlier warned us about the Hunters. The second he reached her he pulled out his canteen and poured the water on her wound. Despite what I expected, she only winced and made no other sign that she was in pain. She was tougher than I originally expected.

When Brian started ripping a small piece of cloth from his shirt to tie around her wound, I started walking down the hill again. As much as I was worried about her being okay, it wouldn't do her or anyone else any good to just stand there and wait.

Just as we were about fifteen feet away from the ground, the rock I had all my weight on shifted and I nearly went toppling over the edge to where the fifteen-foot drop loomed before me. Before I could fall down it, I felt two hands grab my arm. I quickly pulled myself back up and looked behind me to see Izzy and Austin.

"Man, what's with the two of you and nearly falling off of things today," Izzy said, humor clear in her voice.

"Don't think you'll be taking the easy way down and leaving us by ourselves," Austin told me with a wide grin.

"I wouldn't think of it," I laughed before turning to everyone else. "Only a little bit more to go. We've got this."

Due to some miracle, Alyssa was the only one who got hurt on the trail which I was fairly pleased about. Of course, I wished that no one got injured, but that was a lot to ask considering how dangerous and difficult it was to get down the path. I had to take what I could get.

Relief washed over me when everyone was standing on top of grass rather than the path. We were officially standing in the town - or at least the outskirts. The grass in the town had been worn down over the years to nothing more than small green patches scattered everywhere among the dirt. Healthy grass only existed in the in the park and the gardens.

"Everyone stick close to me and don't wander off," I told them before I began to lead them into the town. "I'm not sure how they'll all react seeing you guys."

Oh, I definitely had an idea of how they'd react all right. For the human's sake, it was probably best that I kept it to myself. They've already been through enough for one day. Frightening them wouldn't be the smartest idea.

From the moment we all stepped into town, everyone's eyes were on us. I didn't doubt that some of the werewolves would've attacked straight away if it wasn't for the fact that I was the one leading them. But my father's power in the town wasn't enough to deter them away from shooting dirty looks at the human's direction as well as mine.

I tried not to feel put off from their looks. Looking straight ahead, I tried my best to ignore the other werewolves until I had a chance to explain why the humans were here. I only hoped none of them tried doing something rash before then.

My anxiety only increased when I saw several werewolves touch their rings to transform into their wolf form. They growled at us and bared their sharp fangs. Even the humans could tell that they looked ready to attack at any moment. Every time a werewolf took a step closer to us, the others huddled closer and closer to each other until they were all packed together. They were trying to herd us like animals.

Enough. I couldn't think about this anymore. I just had to get to the infirmary and hope that the werewolves waited that long for an explanation. As I continued walking, a hand wrapped around my arm and tugged me back.

"Chris, wait," Izzy said, a look of fear evident in her eyes.

"What is it?" I snapped, obviously annoyed.

I couldn't help but be rude. Didn't she notice what kind of situation we were in? There was no time to stop walking until we reached the infirmary.

"A werewolf's going to attack you," she whispered.

I couldn't help but feel frightened, but I knew I shouldn't be. How the hell did she know that? I mean, she has to be wrong, but still. What made her think that? These werewolves were my family; they wouldn't attack me despite how displeased they were about this situation.

"I'll be fine," I said to her before quickly turning around and beginning to walk.

"But, Chris!" I heard her call from behind me.

I only ignored her and kept walking. The others hesitated before following me after what Izzy said and for good reason. Out of nowhere, a wolf jumped out from behind a house and tackled me to the ground, it's sharp fangs bared only inches away from my face. My heart nearly exploded from my chest from fright until I recognized just exactly who the wolf was.

Charlie.

While still on top of me, he touched his ring and transformed back into a person to show me the wide grin he bore on his face. He may have been grinning, but I knew him well enough to know that it was forced. His eyes always held his true emotion and he definitely didn't look as pleased as he was letting on.

"I'd say I got you back from yesterday," he told me as he stood up and helped me to my feet.

Right. Yesterday when I tackled him. Something told me that this attack of his had nothing to do with what I did to him...

"I see we have new guests," he said with a fake smile. He was definitely not pleased about this.

"Guys, this is my brother, Charlie," I told them all.

Nearly all of the humans were shooting wary looks at Charlie. I guess they still believed that he was going to hurt me after the little stunt he pulled before. They weren't exactly wrong. Charlie suddenly smirked a little when he spotted Izzy and Austin.

"I believe I know these two," he told me before turning back to them. "You're Izzy and you are... Liam?"

I could already see this conversation going downhill. Izzy quickly looked down at the ground when she heard Liam's name.

"I-I'm Austin," he informed Charlie.

"Ah. Then where's Liam? I believe I still owe him for the attack."

I had to resist the urge not to hit him. Charlie may be good at many things, but he's definitely not a people's person. I thought it would be clear to him that this was a sensitive topic but apparently not.

"He's dead," Izzy finally answered.

His smirk suddenly faded away and I could tell that he felt bad for pushing the subject so much.

"I'm very sorry for your loss," he told them before fixing his icy look on me. "Give them rooms to stay at in our home and make sure you tend to the injured. Once you're done, make sure you come straight back to me. We need to have a little talk."

I was most certainly screwed.