Chapter 157

The words rang in my skull; "You, Brooke, are an Elf."

I… I can't be. I'm not. How?

"N-no. Th… they've done blood tests and I'm not, they only found… they only found Lycan blood." I looked up at El-kor confused. He was lying, but why?

He laughed quietly, "You see, we do not have blood," He pulled a knife from somewhere and cut his palm, a green and black mist began pouring from it then his wound slowly closed, "We have what we call 'Essence'. It flows through all of us and can be transferred through human blood. And Lycan blood."

My mouth was parted open and my eyes darted around the tent continually searching for another explanation.

"I'm a-" I swallowed, "A hybrid?"

"No, no. You've seen Amelia, though she is not a hybrid, but most act like her; Unstable, insane, disturbed. You, are not any of those."

'No, but I think I'm heading there.'

"You are not the first to have your abilities." He said.

"Thresh…" I whispered. He knew. He knew about my gift, he knew the first person that had my gift. Did he know I was part Elf? I gasped, almost in pain, from that thought. Part Elf?

I blinked my eyes shut, I can't do this.

"Since you are my kind, and since your mate is near dead, why don't you join me? We can destroy the Faerie and you can share in the power we'll give you." He said as though he'd already gotten me in his pocket.

I looked up at him, "No." I said slowly, "I'm not yours. I'm not Thresh's. I'm Raphael's."

"Ah, but didn't you hear me, he's near death."

I gasped and looked out the window, 'No…'

"Now, since you won't join me, I will have to destroy you."

I looked up at him in shock and hurriedly moved away from him.

"You see, I can't leave you alive. A half-Elf who is fighting for the enemy," He clicked his tongue, "Won't work."

He disappeared and I ran to the window. Looking at where Raph was supposed to be, my mark wasn't hurting so what did he mean by near death? Was he going to kill him?

"Stay back!" I heard Nathan say. I turned and saw that the entire tent was looking at me with hatred. My blood chilled. I could die. They probably want to kill me.

"You heard him! He said that she was an Elf!" A person jeered.

"I don't give a damn. Back. Off." Mark said in a deadly tone.

The two brothers were standing between me and the hostile Lycans.

"No! She's one of them! I don't know how she manipulated our Beta into thinking that she was his mate, but it all makes sense now! She's an Elf."

'The depiction of evil.' I finished in my mind.

I felt my mark burn, "Raph!" I whispered urgently.

I looked at the radio, "Luke, you have to get someone to find Raph. He's in trouble!"

"No, and how would you know? You've got him under your spell. A mark wouldn't work under those circumstances. You're lying."

"Oh, shut the hell up. You think I'm lying?! Trust me, I'm not."

-Nathan, cover me.- I said and he flinched, then nodded. What the hell, I'll tell ever I can mind link. They already knew I was an. Elf.

I paused as I thought about that for a second then snapped out of it and walked to where the radios were, while Nathan pushed back the crowd. They were only staying back so far because Raph had ordered them to protect me. Nathan and Mark were just deterring them.

"This is the strategy tent calling the lake position. Does anyone have eyes on Beta?" I asked, my hand shaking.

"This is lake position. Beta disappeared near the ridge, should I send a team over to investigate?"

I swallowed and breathed agitatedly, "Y-yeah. Send a team. Make sure to bring a healer. He might need it."

"Roger." He answered and I hung the microphone up.

Turning I looked at the rest of the room. I was the smallest out of all of them. All of the women were even taller than me.

All of their faces were angry or even fearful, save Mark and Nathan's.

I looked up at them, "You don't need to be afraid of me. I'm not one of them. If you look back to just a few seconds ago, you'll see that I had no idea I was an-an Elf, until just a few seconds ago." I muttered knowing they could hear me, "I was never fighting for them. I'm still not."

"But what about the Chimera? You released that didn't you?!" A voice asked.

"That was a trap laid by El-kor. He wanted me to open it."

"And you did!"

"It was a trap! Do you know the definition of trap? It's usually something the second party doesn't know about. I did not know that she was a Chimera. None of us did!"

'But I did know that El-kor had sent her.' I added.

"I don't care if you didn't know what you are, you're still one of them."

I swallowed and met Mark's eyes. They were steady and he didn't seem too frightened.

The radio turned on and a voice came through, "This is lake position calling strategy tent."

I fumbled for the microphone, "This is strategy tent."

"Beta's scent has been found and hunters are on their way."

I closed my eyes and breathed a sigh of relief, my mark was still burning slightly but help was on the way, "Excellent. Once Beta is found, tell him he's needed back up here."

"Roger."

I hung the microphone back up and looked back at the tent. I really had no idea what to say. They all looked so angry. Some were pensive but most looked at me with burning hatred.

What had I ever done to them?

I'd never felt truly comfortable with all of the Lycans in the Pack, but I never thought that they would be my enemy.

I walked to where the window was and instead of facing the forest I looked at the people in the tent, their eyes followed all of my movements.

I swallowed and made eye contact with each of them, "I know that none of you trust me. I know that most of you hated me from the start just because I was human. But, I don't want you to die, so… when Raph gets here you can either tell him that you were all intent on killing me, or." I allowed myself a small smile, "Or, you can just say that El-kor showed up and I will deal with the nasty bits."

A few of them nodded but most of them just started yelling and saying that they would rather die than lie to their Beta.

Their loyalty was admirable but absolutely pointless at this time and place.

I just watched them sadly. I knew he would probably kill them. Or hopefully just seriously injure them.

My eyebrows drew together as I heard a whistling sound and felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end.

"Brooke!"