Chapter 88: Chapter 88

~ Hadeon POV cont. ~

“I’ve trained my entire life for this; I was made for this. I could have done it,” I choked out through panting breaths.

Remus sighed, “This is highly inappropriate, Hadeon.”

“If you said nothing, then I would have had the honour of taking care of the werewolves in a way no one has done before. Our people!”

“But the werewolves aren’t your people. You are not a werewolf – you aren’t one of us, Hadeon.”

He might as well have stabbed me in the heart; it would’ve hurt less than what he said to me. My rage took over as I stepped closer, squaring up to him. I wanted to fight him; I wanted him to fight me.

Remus sensed the threatening aura growing on me and pushed me against the tree, restricting my movement with so much ease. His eyes reflected a mixture of rage and sorrow, but most of all, there was no regret in his eyes – he stood by his choice.

And that made me even angrier.

Tears filled and burned my eyes, but I refused for them to fall. “I’m not a werewolf, and I’m not a human. So, what? Do I belong nowhere? You see me as a low-life Omega, or worse, a Rogue.”

The rage I felt was oddly powerful. It was different to other times I had been angry, like a storm cloud hovering over me and growing bigger and bigger, waiting for the lightning to strike. It felt like when it would strike, it would be apocalyptic.

Shaking his head, Remus’s voice softened. “No, boy. You belong here, in your pack, with your family, where it is safe. I’m only thinking for the good of all werewolves. I have my own family to think about, too.”

I swallowed. “You have children?”

“A son. I’m fighting for a life where there is no threat of war. I don’t want him to follow in my footsteps. I want him to choose his own life and not have to risk his for others. The last thing I want him to be is a Warrior if that’s not what he truly desires.”

Forcing my body to relax. “You’re a good man. I’m sorry,” I said.

He released his hold on me. “No need to apologise. I can understand why you’re passionate about this. We all want what’s best.”

I nodded, then noticed a woman approaching – I recognised her as an assistant to Alpha Wilder and the other council members who attended the meeting.

“Sorry to interrupt.” She offered me a sympathetic smile. Though she wasn’t in the meeting itself, she’d obviously already heard the news. Turning to Remus, she pushed up her glasses and spoke promptly, “Alpha Wilder needs to speak to you, and I was looking over your calendar for the next few months; it’s incredibly busy, so we should talk it through.”

“We can cover that once we’re back in Moonstone,” he said to her, then turned to me. “Take care, Hadeon.” He held out his hand.

I smiled and shook his hand. “Again, sir, I’m so sorry for–”

“Hadeon, please, it’s alright. I best be off; I don’t want to keep my Alpha waiting. But remember, we all want to serve our people and do what we think is best. You’ll find your purpose.”

My smile faltered to a grimace as I watched him walk away. “But I’m not your people…”

The assistant, who was busy tapping away at her tablet, looked at me. “Did you say something?”

“No,” I said, glancing down at her tablet for a moment, then back into her eyes. “Your job sounds excruciatingly intense, keeping the calendars for all these high-ranked werewolves.”

She nodded, pressing the tablet against her chest and smiling proudly. “Oh, yeah, it is, but it’s also quite exciting! I’m a new intern, and my responsibility is only to manage their calendars and keep their lives organised.”

She was clearly young – my age probably, maybe even a year younger. That dark cloud in my mind stormed over my thoughts, pushing me to get closer to her.

I watched her carefully and smiled softly. “We should hang out some time.”

Her cheeks grew rosy. “S-Seriously?” It was obvious that she was shy and introverted, and that worked to my advantage.

“Yeah, seriously. Give me your number…”

At the time, I had no idea why I was pushing myself to get close to her, but subconsciously I was ten steps ahead, plotting my perfectly diabolical plan.

✧ ✧ ✧

“You’re hiding in the damn bushes again, aren’t you, lil’ bro?” I said with a joyful chuckle. Brendan wanted to play hide and seek, and I happily played along, using it for a much-needed distraction.

Weeks had gone by since my fate was sealed. I was doing everything I could to move on and get over what had happened, but Remus’s words played in my mind on repeat.

The werewolves aren’t your people.

You are not a werewolf.

You aren’t one of us.

Snapping myself out of my thought spiral and pulled apart the bush that Brendan always hid in, but he wasn’t there. Weird. I was certain he would be in his favourite hiding spot.

After another 10 minutes of not finding him, I headed back to where my parents resided. Mum was reading her book, occasionally looking up to check on 1-year-old Katy, who was busy messing around with her toys.

“Has anyone seen Bren?” I asked.

“Weren’t you playing hide and seek with him?” Mum questioned, not looking away from her book.

“Yeah, but he wasn’t in any of his usual places, even his ‘super secret’ spot he thinks no one knows about.”

A cheerful voice called behind me. “I’m here! Mum, Dad, you’re not going to believe it,” Brendan exclaimed, jumping up and down. “I have shadow magic!”

Immediately, our parents’ attention was fully on Brendan. I spun around quickly to look at him, confused. He was too young to have shadow magic, even for a youngling – the youngest ever recorded was 14 years old.

“Are you sure, son?” Dad asked.

He nodded excitedly. “Look, watch.” Holding out his hand, he closed his eyes and seconds later it poured out of him like liquid smoke.

My body went still. It felt like an out-of-body experience watching everything.

Mum became teary-eyed as she approached Brendan and hugged him tightly. “Look at you, I can feel all that power radiating off of you. I’m so proud, dear.”

“I’ll get you set up for training immediately.” Dad smiled proudly. “That is a tough power to master, but it is a great gift, boy. Make sure you train hard.”

Brendan held his chin up high, struggling to hold back his smile. “Yes, sir!” His gaze moved over to me. He’d told me countless times how much he admired me and looked up to me, but his smile flickered when he saw me, because I didn’t look at him proudly like I should have.

I fought hard to hide it, but deep down I was hurt that my brother was gifted not only with a wolf, but one of the rare werewolf powers in the supernatural world, and I was left with nothing.

My inner storm clouds raged in my mind, and I knew exactly where the lightning had to hit – on the man who ruined my life.