My Most Precious Human novel Chapter 143

The world around me was spinning, and I could hardly walk by myself. I might have been more exhausted mentally than physically. The pain in my chest was dredged up by the guilt of my first kill. I knew I could rationalize what I did, and I knew that Derek deserved to die, but that didn't change how I felt about it deep in my heart. I kept staring at my hands, dirty with blood, and at the knife, which I held tightly.

Ian wrapped my arm around his shoulder and walked with me, supporting me at each step. I noticed that the majority of my wounds had mostly regenerated already, but the deep cuts on Ian's neck and chest were still far from healed.

"Are you ok?" I asked softly.

"I've been through worse." He gave me a wry grin. "It's you that I'm worried about. You look like a bloody mess. You won't die on me, will you?"

"It's not my blood, mostly," I sighed, then my lips curved into a faint grimace. "My body is going to be fine. It is my mind that is missing a piece…"

"You'd better fix that quickly. Our groups might have taken control of the area, but that doesn't mean we are safe," he advised, scanning my face.

"I'll get there," I promised, forcing myself to smile. "Speaking of getting there… Where are we going?" I looked around and saw that we were past the audience hall, heading to the stairs.

"The duel is going to take place outside on the grounds behind the mansion," he explained.

"That went fast…" I muttered under my breath.

I started wondering how long I had been occupied with Derek, for everyone else to secure the place, and move from the audience hall outside. My guilt began to shift towards not helping my group in the fight and taking care of my private clash instead. I hadn't been exactly given a choice, but still…

"I should have been there with the rest of the group…" I said with a heavy sigh. "I should have-"

"Bull shit, Lilith!" Ian snapped. "I met this red-haired fucker before you fought. First of all, you did the world a favor by killing him. Second, I'm not sure if anyone from our group could have taken him down the way you did. Believe me, the rest had it easier without him joining the fight."

I smiled feebly, thankful for what he said. I felt better thinking that maybe I had contributed to taking over the place after all. With the new wave of air in my lungs, I began to recover emotionally and realized how weak and naïve I had been choosing to participate in this war. My idealistic thinking produced a perfect image where no one dies, and defeated ones could get up the next day and choose to live differently. Oh, my dearest stupidity… The freezing cold shower I had just received, put a new filter on the world I lived in; a dirty-grey one.

As soon as Ian and I reached the stairs leading towards the main exit of the mansion, I saw many of our warriors nodding and smiling at me, as if I had achieved something big. I didn't think that I had done anything to be especially proud of. I quickly found out that news about me killing Derek had traveled across our groups at the speed of light.

"Well done, Lilith!" One of the warriors chuckled, "We haven't even attacked the Southern Woods yet, but you have already killed one of their best fighters!"

I held an awkward smile on my face, nonetheless, coping with the killing part slightly better. As we got out of the building, I saw close to a hundred Scarlet Valley warriors tied up and guarded by the Moon Hill Pack members. All six groups had completed their missions and were gathering at the grounds to witness the last resort the Scarlet Valley Pack had: the alphas duel.

It was an old werewolf's law. An alpha could always protect the pack by fighting against another pack's leader. A pack with a strong leader could always be safe, but without a powerful alpha, the pack could only count on its own strength. Once the alpha lost, the pack was entirely defeated, and at that moment, all the Scarlet Valley Pack's hope was in Alpha Marcus, a vicious, bloodthirsty tyrant.

When we walked outside the mansion, I let go of Ian's support. My feet became more stable, and my wounds disappeared underneath the ripped black once-fitted T-shirt and pants leg. Still, I was sticky from the blood, Derek's and mine, and couldn't wait to get it off of me. Not only did it smell awful, but it made me look like I got lost at the back of the butcher shop.

As we entered the grounds at the back of the mansion, I saw a huge crowd standing in a circle, creating an arena for the alphas fight. I thought of standing somewhere at the back, mostly because others didn't seem to have a single strand of their hair dirty while I personalized Bloody Mary, a literal version of her. However, Ian had another plan, and, before I knew it, he was holding my hand and squeezing us through the crowd. Surprisingly, people started making way for us to get to the front. As we walked to the inner rim of the arena, Draven was there to block my way, gently grabbing me by the shoulders.