CHAPTER FOUR : THE DARKNESS

Jarek's POV

But she did hear. And she sat at once, falling silent. Her shoulders hunched inward, and she hid her face in her hands, shaking.

Fucking evil, I thought, careful not to look at Joe. My wolf growled louder, and I tried to ignore it.

There were certain things that even an Alpha couldn’t go against. If her Alpha, her own brother, had agreed with the Elders that she would be given to the dark woods, I could do nothing about it. And even if I could, what then? Someone had to be sacrificed. If not an Omega nobody liked, then who? As callous as it was, Jessa wasn’t going to be missed. Her death would be the least painful.

It didn’t help with the unsettled feeling that swept through me as us Alphas stood. Everyone was whispering again as Joe strode through the crowd and grabbed Jessa’s arm. His face was a blank mask. I was close behind him, and I expected, once more, for Jessa to act differently than she did. I thought she would whimper, beg, cry. Instead, she was quiet. She yanked herself away from her brother but then walked meekly beside him.

“It’s a good choice,” someone in the crowd whispered as they passed. The rest of the packs fell into step behind the Alphas.

“She might as well be dead,” someone else agreed.

Jessa winced. She’d heard them. I wanted to step up closer and tell her that her sacrifice was honored, but those words would be hollow. Hadn’t that been exactly what I thought? Nobody cared about her. Nobody would miss her. Even her own brother wasn’t fighting for her. It was a good choice.

A woman with large brown eyes sneered as Joe led Jessa past her. “Good riddance,” she said, loud enough that her voice rang through the hall.

They don’t have to be cruel about it, I thought.

I still thought that she should have been allowed to volunteer. Who knew, with her life the way it was, maybe she would have done this willingly. I hadn’t paid much attention to her myself, though I’d seen her around a few times.

Omega Jessa. Limp, thin blonde hair with a full, curvy figure that would be attractive if she carried herself with more dignity. She walked with her head bowed to the ground, always muttering to herself. Prone to outbursts where she told people who weren’t even talking to her to shut up and leave her alone. She claimed to be talking to spirits, but there were no spirits in Silverwood. They didn’t like to be around civilization.

Besides, people couldn’t actually see spirits. They were shades and shadows, nothing more. There was something wrong with her. Something that didn’t belong in the pack. Either she was making it all up, or there was something broken in her head, to see things that others didn’t. I’d heard plenty of stories that made me believe it was the latter. There was something wrong with her, and it was off-putting at best.

Even still. She should have been given the chance to volunteer. She should have at least been warned ahead of time, so she didn’t have to deal with the emotions of being slated for death in front of the town that hated her.

My wolf’s natural protectiveness of the weak was kicking in. I moved forward a little, walking closer to Jessa on her other side.

“Your sacrifice will be remembered,” I told her in a low voice.

She shot me a tear-filled, baleful look. “By who?”

I fell back again, not certain how to answer. Once more, I was struck by the fact that she didn’t deserve this. What had she done to be so hated? But the Elders decided. Right? It had to happen, and it was better to be her than anyone else. I still wished I could say something to give her strength. Even with her back to me now, the look in those dark blue eyes of hers haunted me. So much hurt and anger in them. And hate. I’d never seen anyone look at me with such sheer hatred before.

Maybe that’s why the Elders decided to sacrifice her.

The rest of the packs slowly left us as we headed into the woods. We could have shifted to our wolf forms, but we didn’t, which made the trek longer than I thought necessary. But then, maybe Jessa didn’t have a wolf. I didn’t know one way or another.

The redwoods grew thicker and taller as we made our way into the forest. Night fell and grew colder as the full moon rose. We finally made it to the edge of the dark woods, where the trees abruptly changed from massive, elegant redwoods to tightly packed, twisted pines and spruces. We all came to a stop and stared at Jessa. She stepped toward the thicket of dark trees, then stopped.

“Joe,” she breathed, turning terrified eyes on him. “Please. Please don’t make me do this.”

Joe didn’t answer.

“Please,” Jessa begged, reaching for his sleeve. He jerked away from her.

Jessa flinched back from him. She looked around at the rest of us, desperately searching. I leaned forward slightly, but before I could make up my mind as to whether I should say anything, her shoulders straightened.

She pushed them back and lifted her head high.

Without another word, she turned on her heel and marched into the dark woods, disappearing almost at once.

As soon as she was inside, a jolt came through me. My feet brought me forward before I knew what I was doing. My wolf howled, thrashing in my chest. Blood pounded in my ears as only one thought went through my mind.

Protect her.

I started forward, my fingernails turning into claws. A hand grabbed me.

“What the hell are you doing?” said another Alpha.

I snarled, whirling with the intent to punch him in the face. I barely stopped myself. What was going on? My wolf howled again, growing more frenzied. Was I going crazy? What was wrong with me? I had no reason to go charging into the forest after Jessa, yet that was the only thing I wanted to do.

As I scanned the gathered Alphas, I caught sight of two other faces just as shocked and determined as I felt. Something about seeing them snapped something inside of me. I shook off the Alpha holding me back and plunged into the forest. Hang on, Jessa. I’m coming.