hurrying over to the kitchen area and getting a glass of water. Shana eagerly took it, drinking it down.
“How did you get here?” asked Jason.
He looked her over. Shana’s hair was matted and dirty, her clothes looking like they hadn’t been washed in some time. Jason hadn’t been close with Shana over the years, only knowing that she was one of Lexi’s few friends.
“Hitchhiked. When...when it happened, I couldn’t get to a car. All I could do was run.”
Jason and Lexi shared a look, one that, without words, said that they understood the next step was to ask what, exactly, had happened.
Lexi put her hand on Shana’s shoulder, tears glistening in her friend’s eyes.
“Shana, I know this is hard. But you need to tell us what happened out there.”
She nodded, biting down on her lower lip as if preparing herself for the pain of recounting it.
“It was an attack.”
“What kind of attack?”
“A huge attack,” she said. “It was a few days ago, a typical day in the woods. Chad...he’d been furious at what you did, that you two ran off together. For several days after, he did nothing but storm around the grounds, only stopping to go out to hunt.”
Lexi and Jason said nothing, letting her go on.
“Rick tried to talk him down, to tell him that you two might come back, or that he’d find another omega. But Chad didn’t care. He and Rick fought about it, and they fought publicly. Chad told Rick that he wasn’t fit to be alpha, and that if he couldn’t even manage his pack, then maybe someone else should step up and do the job.”
“Sounds like Chad,” said Jason.
Shana nodded and went on.
“But over time, his rage seemed to die down. A week on and he was back to his usual self. Granted, that ‘usual self’ is him being a total prick. But still. It was better than how he’d been. There was even talk of finding him another omega from one of the nearby packs. Everyone was disappointed that you two had gone, but I think they all understood. Who’d want to be married to a bear like Chad?”
Jason felt his stomach tense, knowing that they were getting to the less happy part of the story.
“I knew something was wrong. Chad was...too normal. Then, one day, he and Rick and some of the betas went off to hunt. I knew I had to follow them. Something just seemed off. And Sam came with me. So, we stayed behind the group, watching to see if anything happened out of the ordinary.”
“And let me guess,” said Jason. “Something happened.”
She nodded. “Once they were alone, a group of bears came out of the woods. I could tell right away from the scent that they were from some other pack. They circled the group, and all of them prepared to fight. But then...they didn’t.”
“What?” asked Lexi. “What do you mean ‘they didn’t.’”
“I mean, once they were encircled, Chad and the betas just...backed off. They didn’t stay, they didn’t put up a fight. They just let the other bears move in and attack.”
She swallowed, more tears forming in her eyes.
“And then...they killed Rick.”
“What?” asked Jason, his voice coming out in a shout. “They killed our alpha?”
“Rick was confused, wondering why his son wasn’t helping fight them off. But as the bears moved in, he realized what was happening. Chad had worked with one of the other packs to take out Rick.”
Jason narrowed his eyes. “Our alpha’s last thoughts before dying were that his prick of a son betrayed him. And for what? Just so he could be on top?”
He stood up and went to the bathroom, returning with tissues. Shana took them and dried her eyes, bringing in a deep breath before going on.
“We didn’t know if they saw us, but we got the hell out of there as quickly as we could. We went back to the camp and hid, not sure what to expect from Chad.”
“What happened?” asked Lexi, desperation in her voice.
“Chad came back, carrying his father’s body like he’d died valiantly in battle and not because he was stabbed in the back by his own flesh and blood. He gathered the pack, set down the body on the bonfire, and set it aflame. As his father burned, he told the pack that he was forced to step up and take charge. And more than that, he placed the blame for Rick’s death right on the shoulders of the Leafcutters.”