The Beta’s Regret

Three days.

Three days was all it took for the spies to get back to us.

There was a tense silence in the camp as I stood before them, listening to the only survivor as he told us exactly what had happened.

Out of the four men that went out as spies, only one of them made it back.

Dread pulled at my veins with every word he uttered. This wasn't what I had envisioned would happen, and suddenly I began to doubt my decision.

The day they left camp to spy on the palace, I was filled with hope that they would come back with information that would hopefully help us defeat Pison and take back our territory.

It wasn't supposed to be a very difficult mission; at least that was what I thought before.

"Tell me, Killian, how did it go?" Even though I had already been briefed on what happened, it was still agonizing to hear the end of their quest.

"We didn't make it." I heard the man kneeling in front of me say. His voice broke as he bowed in despair. "When we got to the palace, we decided to go our separate ways so we could cover more ground."

He shut his eyes tightly and tightened his fist on the ground.

"They didn't make it out of there. I barely escaped myself."

My teeth clenched. I never anticipated this disaster.

"What happened there?" I asked.noveldrama

"We got little information on King Pison and his men, but while trying to sneak out of the palace, we met some rogues. They were drunk and having some sort of celebration... It was unexpected. They immediately knew that we were spies and took us down." He looked away as he continued.

"I fought hard against them, but we were outnumbered, and no matter how hard I fought, the rogues were stronger. It was as if they had some kind of extra power. They were extremely aggressive... brutal. It was a lost cause."

"I couldn't save them."

"How did you escape?" I asked.

"Dain." He said softly.

I was able to place the name with a face. Dain was the biggest of the four men. I chose him for his strength.

He took a few seconds before he continued, his voice heavier.

"Dain was able to fight off the wolf that was on me, but he was overpowered and defeated; however, I was able to escape. At first I tried to help, but when I saw that I couldn't help the others, I ran back to the camp. I knew I had to inform you of all that we have gathered and what happened to others.

I turned away, unable to hold the pain that pricked me. This was all my fault. If only I hadn't told those men to go out and spy, they would be fine with their families. Instead I sent them to their deaths.

And now, not only did I put these men in danger, but I have also put us in a tight situation. It was certain that King Pison would never let those men go without drilling them for all the information he could get, and even at that, he would probably kill them. Nobody was safe.

With all the courage I could gather, I turned back to the crowd.

The silence was still strong. The people looked at me, waiting to hear what I had to say.

"We need to evacuate the camp right now. Pack everything valuable and let's go now!" Immediately, the crowd burst into a loud murmur. No one made a move to get their things.

"Why do we need to move away from here? We just moved to this place." A man shouted from the crowd.

Before I could respond, another female added. "Why should we keep running? We are far from the palace. They wouldn't find us here."

The noise in the crowd increased, and soon I could hardly keep track of what everyone was saying.

"Everyone!" I called out loud. The

noise went down. I continued. "We are far from being safe. Our men have been captured. And we know what King Pison and his rogues are capable of. They will need answers, and they will find it. No one is safe here. The sooner we leave, the higher the possibility of us staying alive. If we stay here, we will be dead before sunrise tomorrow."

The crowd gasped in one voice.

"Now... hurry, pack your things. We leave in a few minutes." I said, dismissing the crowd. "We are one!" I called out.

"We are one." The crowd cheered in response as they went to get their things together.

I barely made it to my tent before I crumbled to a mess on the floor. I bawled, tears falling down like a flood. I felt the guilt gnaw at me as I held in the screams I felt tempted to release. Knowing I had no time, I grabbed what I could. My son was with my mother, and Lily was with Beauty.

"Eden!" I heard a furious female scream from outside.

I cleaned my eyes and made my way outside, my eyes still red-rimmed. I saw a woman, clothes torn apart from her anger, as she pointed at me.

"You witch!" She cried out.

I frowned. "Who are you?"

She scowled and spat at me. The people gasped.

"Who am I?" She laughed. "You sent my Dain to his death while you sit here, safe with your friends and family. You are not a queen, but a murderer. You killed my mate."

Mate. Dain's mate? My eyes widened. Guilt pricked me once more. I could see the people look at me with doubt.

"Tell me, how many more of us

would you sacrifice to save

yourself?" The woman sneered. She faced the crowd, her back turned to me. "How long will we have to run? Until we are all dead? Why don't we just surrender and submit to King Pison? At least we will survive."

Before I could say a word, Killian answered.

"Survive? King Pison couldn't care less about your loyalty. Every survivor they captured from the war was met with hard labor.

The rogues, harsh taskmasters are

armed with whips laced with wolfsbane. They would lash every creature until a task was completed. The people are in great suffering, while King Pison just sits on his throne, fed and surrounded by his concubines...

Tell me, if surrender, won't he do the same to us or even worse? Is that the life we want to hand over to our children? A life in captivity?"

My father moved forward and gave me a soft nod before he spoke. "Both the Queen and Kilian are right. We need to leave right now."

I nodded. "Lord Shevek will lead the way. Let's go."

The crowd murmured their consent, and soon, wolves shifted midair as they began to run through the forest.