Derrick clenched his fist and stared intently at the ground.
"We should've been gone already. This city will only get more dangerous from here," he said. "We need to hurry and leave."
I listened to him talk as we walked back to the truck. He was right; the faster we went after Allison, the better. I was honestly a bit surprised at how serious he was taking this. I guess knowing that our lives were in danger was enough for him to mature a bit.
As we drove back to the hideout, I went inside my bag and picked out the chocolate bar I had picked up for Lily. When she saw it, a greedy smile appeared on her face, and she instantly grabbed it from me.
"Thank you, big bro Liam," she squealed as she ripped the chocolate out of the bag.
A large fang protruded from her mouth as she bit down on the chocolate. She wasn't fully able to transform with all her canines yet; all she had to show for her werewolf gene was a single fang. Her claws hadn't developed yet either, but I had an idea as to what her special trait would be. I was 90% sure I knew what it was.
By the time she was done, her entire face and clothes were covered with chocolate. Come to think of it, she could use a bath. It wasn't healthy for a child to go more than a day without bathing. I'll ask Isabella to do it when we get back. I would do it myself, but she had a habit of splashing me with water. I would rather subject Isabella to that fate.
When we got home, surprisingly, Liora was on her feet. She was still weak, but she could still walk. She came over to us while Derrick and I unpacked the supplies from the truck.
"I think we should leave now," she said pretty adamantly. "I don't want to hold us back. The longer we wait, the more danger Allison could be in."
"Are you sure? It would be worse if we left and you weren't properly healed," Derrick said.
"I'm fine. I can handle whatever comes."
Derrick stared at her for a few minutes as if contemplating something. After a while, he finally came to a decision.
"Fine, we'll leave in three hours."
Just then, Ava approached us, looking a bit hesitant about something.
"I'm sorry, I can't come with you guys. I have to find my family. I'll find them, then we'll leave the city together. Thank you for everything you did for me," she said, bowing politely.
Liora looked taken aback by this, while Derrick and I didn't have any reactions.
"Are you sure you can find them on your own?" Liora asked, with a look of concern evident on her face.
Ava nodded her head. For some reason, she seemed optimistic.
"I'm positive I can. My father is a high-ranking military general. He must be at his base, and if he's there, it means the rest of my family is there also," she said with a confident smile. "Well, anyways, I hope we'll meet again one day, Liora. I had so much fun being on the student council with you."
Ava and Liora embraced each other with tears in their eyes. Ava then bid one last farewell to us and left. Afterwards, we went back inside the hideout, but as we walked, Liora tugged my sleeve, forcing me to walk beside her.
"Why did you tell Ava that Victor was the one who stabbed her?" she asked while glaring at me. "Why are you so adamant in protecting that girl?"
"I was protecting Ava, actually. I didn't want her to be a problem that I needed to take care of."
Liora's expression froze stiff.
"What does that mean?"
"You know what it means. Isabella was the one who protected Lily while we were all fighting for our lives. Try to be more open-minded about her. This pack will never survive if all its members can't get along. If you continue your one-sided beef, then it will drag us all down."
Liora loved our pack. Hearing that her behavior could put us in danger was more than enough to bring a change in her.
Liora shook her head solemnly.
"You never cared about Ava, did you?"
"I never cared about any outsider."
Ava wasn't a part of our pack, so I never spared a thought for her safety. If Isabella or anyone in our pack were to kill her in her sleep, I wouldn't have batted an eye.
Since we weren't going to leave until three hours later, I ordered Isabella to give Lily a bath. When I did, I noticed a few red streaks dancing on her cheeks. She desperately tried to hide how happy she was to be given this task.
It was obvious by the way Isabella eyed Lily like a delicious piece of meat that she had fallen for the little ball of cuteness. Every time she heard 'Big Sis Isa,' blood rushed to her head, turning her entire face red.
I, on the other hand, decided to take a nap before we all left. A few hours later, I was woken up and told that it was now time to leave. I sat at the front of the truck so that Liora would be forced to sit at the back with Isabella. We drove for hours until we were close to Allison's university.
Strangely, this side of the city seemed deserted, but soon, we came across a blockade of military vehicles and trucks. There were soldiers armed with machine guns standing on both sides of the road.
One of the soldiers approached our truck while the other two took aim from behind. He looked inside the vehicle, then saw the three of us on the front seat, and a frown immediately appeared on his face.
"Didn't you hear the evacuation orders? What are you still doing here?"
Derrick didn't like dealing with soldiers or police officers, but he managed to keep his cool when he spoke.
"We have a family member who is around here. We're just here to pick them up. She goes to Princeman University."
"Princeman?!" A look of surprise crossed the soldier's face. "You must be mistaken. There is no one at Princeman University; they have all been evacuated."
Derrick's hand balled into a fist as he stared daggers at the soldier. He knew the soldier was lying since we could feel our connection to Allison growing the closer we got to the university. Derrick was clearly pissed off that the soldier was lying to him, but I was more intrigued than anything.
Why is he lying? What is going on at that university?
"We are certain she is here," Derrick said adamantly, which caused the soldier to issue one final warning.
"Leave."
Derrick shook his head solemnly, then in the next instant, he reached his hand out the window and grabbed the soldier by the throat. The other soldiers reacted instantly, but before they could pull the trigger, my shadow hounds spawned behind them.