Chapter 164: Silly tricks

Chapter 164: Silly tricks

Thorne’s POV

There was nothing friendly about Ferdinand and I. As a matter of fact, I barely even knew him, only saw once or twice sometime in the past. But there was no particular bad blood between us. Until today.

“I am not your friend”. I shake my head, holding his gaze. While I would normally use a sarcastic remark to reply him. I decided that I had to make it known. Even though I know he does not mean it in the way that I think. I have a habit of going against what people expect me to do sometimes.

Ferdinand draws out a harsh and coarse laugh, walking around to start circling me. I walk in the opposite direction, facing him. He already attempted to catch me by surprise once and I wasn’t foolish to let him do it again. It is clear he is a sly and cunning wolf.

Something in his laugh makes me furrow my brows. It is the sound of it. Hoarse and broken as though his vocal cords are strapped in heavy chains. I refuse to assume that the Council would send a dying Alpha to the battlefield, but then it clicks that this is the Council we are talking about.

They can send a man on his deathbed to war. Anything to make sure someone else dies the death that is meant for them.

“You are still the same as when I last saw you”. He tells me, his voice resuming that broken record motion of speaking.

“You’re not.”  I tell him. “You look seconds away from your death.”

And that he is.

“Don’t be deceived, Black wolf”. He  growls out. “Too much is at stake for you to come out of this war alive.”

I laugh, having had enough of the small talk. He would even be lucky if he comes out of here alive WITHOUT me having to kill him. The fight around us intensifies as they see us about to fight each other, and it has the blood pumping faster in my veins.

Ferdinand is weaker than I thought and incredibly slow on his feet. It is honestly a surprise to me how he had intended to walk out of this brawl alive. I throw him around me in different directions for the first few minutes of the fight, and I almost start feeling bad for him when I see him struggle to stand on his feet with blood trickling down his mouth. Almost… until I see the look on his face.

His eyes hold no fear in them, and from my viewpoint he looks… content. Calm and collected as though the war is going exactly how he had planned it. Which is quite the opposite. Except…

I study him with deep breaths falling from my nostrils. Ferdinand is loosing a lot of blood, and is getting weaker by the second. But he is refusing to give up, and keeps coming at me as though he has other tricks up his sleeve.

Which I am starting to think he might.

He tries to come at me again and I dodge, moving over to the side in a swift slide. He grunts in pain at the sudden movement, his entire body trying to balance on one leg. I look around the battle field as that same ominous feeling comes back to me again.

Something is still wrong.

“Don’t tell me you are suddenly getting cold feet.”  Ferdinand calls in a slur from his spot on the ground as he tries to rise to his feet again. “Need I remind you that this is a brawl and you are not allowed to get tired?”  He smiles.

Bingo. Now I know why he keeps trying to get me to beat the shit out of him. He wants to tire me out. But what for?

His smile slowly vanishes as he sees my lips start to curl up. “You seem particularly hell bent on getting me tired, friend”. I repeat the same name he called me earlier, moving closer to him. “But you seem to have forgotten who you are brawling with. How about I end it all by snapping your neck and making sure you don’t live to see—”

My words are cut off by the commotion coming from around us. A new commotion, one that causes all the guards on the field to stop and stand.

Roars and howls of hundreds of wolves pouring out from behind the trees surround us as they match into the brawl and get straight to work, killing my soldiers. I squint my eyes as I try to decipher what exactly is going on. These are not wolves from his army, which means he hired warriors for the brawl.

My eyes find Ferdinand’s again, but he is no longer beneath me, but beside me, a sly smile on his face. “I always thought you were smarter than you claimed to be but it turns out you are just… smart.”

My eyes sweep over the field, at the new set of warriors that trample on my soldiers.

This is what was off. This was the silly trick up Ferdinand’s sleeve. This is why they smelled much more than what they turned out to be. His motive for trying to tire me out all along.

Before I can turn back around, I am suddenly struck across the face with sharp claws that send me falling sideways and sliding against the earth.

“Alpha!”  I hear in my thoughts almost immediately. It is Carlos. I do not know what side of the field he is in, but clearly he has his eyes on me. “You have fallen. Do you need help?”

“No. Keep fighting. We are outnumbered now”. I order him and rise to my feet, baring my teeth at Ferdinand who is slowly regaining his strength.

I have to end this truffle with him as soon as possible so I can focus on the other guards.

“I have to give it to you”. I start with a grunt as a sharp pain spreads through my leg. “You exceeded my expectations this time around.”

“I’m amazed you even had expectations. You always looked at me like you had none towards me. Like something you wouldn’t waste your time on.”  He sneered, stretching his claws towards me.

I marvel at his words. It only goes to show that ignoring people you have no business with makes them feel… ignored, and therefore offended. There really wasn’t an easy way out when it came to doing what people wanted. I don’t bother correcting his standpoint because I know it would hurt him further for me to do otherwise. So I do just that.

“You’re right. And I’m still not fully convinced that you are worth a thought. Or my time. So let’s get this over with shall we?”

I watch the way my words pierce at his silly unbothered facade, spilling out the pure rage that is brewing inside of him over the fact that I have refused to acknowledge him.

With a war cry as fierce as that of a thousand warriors, Ferdinand charges towards me with the last of his strength.