Chapter 860: Book 8 Part 22

I was feeling restless again and I was standing on the porch scanning the forest. The pack was sitting on the porch drinking coffee and Slade and Leon were wrestling on the grass in front of us. We were about to head in for the night when Blaise stood up straight in my mind.

‘Danger!’ Blaise roared in my head and I looked over my shoulder as he peered through my eyes and I saw movements in the trees.

“Get in the house!” I yelled as the flames leapt to life in my hands.

“Hlíf!” I yelled as the flames enveloped the house and they ran inside. I heard the gunshots and shielded them from danger.

I turned to where the shots were being fired from. “Lata líkami,” I whispered as I shifted into Blaise, expelling the three bullets from my back. He started running and I could smell them clearly. Humans with guns, but they had another odd smell to them.

‘Hunters,’ Blaise said as he ran to the first one and bit his head off. He kept running and one shot at us again and the bullet hit my abdomen. Blaise bit into his side, ripping away a large chunk of flesh. The man went down screaming and I knew he’d bleed out.

‘Slade! Are you safe?’ I asked in his mind.

‘I’m right behind you, Jake. Everyone’s safe,’ he said and I saw him from the corner of my eye as he lunged at another hunter.

I squared up to the man that smelled like their leader and he aimed his gun at my head. ‘Stoðva,’ Blaise said and his finger froze on the trigger. I shifted back to my human form and punched him so hard that the blood flew from his mouth and nose and he was knocked out.

‘Leon, bring us pants, please,’ I said in his mind.

Slade had also shifted back and we dragged the three dead bodies closer together. I looked down at the three men and searched their pockets but they had no ID on them. Their bullets were laced with wolfsbane but I felt unaffected by them.

“Brenna,” I said as their bodies started to burn.

“Here you go… woah!” Leon said as he handed shorts to me and Slade.

“What about that one?” Slade asked me.

“I’ll take care of him,” I said and picked him up over my shoulder.

“I didn’t even smell them,” Slade said.

“Neither did I, Blaise did. They masked it somehow,” I said.

“Bastards,” Leon said.

“I’ll be back,” I said to them. “Fara útar um vægher kastali.”

I appeared in the forest at the border of the castle’s perimeter in Scotland. Within ten seconds I was surrounded by twenty Zetas, most of whom I knew, which meant that they also knew I had been banished.

“I request permission to speak with your king,” I said and I saw Rutgers’s eyes change slightly as he linked someone.

“Permission granted,” he said and they escorted me towards the castle.

“Jericho,” Kai said as he descended the steps with Falcon slightly behind him.

“I brought you a present,” I said to him, my anger taking over.

“An unconscious human?” he asked me.

“A hunter,” I said to him and his eyes found the blood on my stomach.

“You were attacked?” he asked me.

“Interrogate him as much as you like, but I already know who’s responsible,” I said to him.

“He wouldn’t dare, not after today,” Falcon said.

“So it’s just a coincidence that I make a fool of him in front of the World Council and hunters seek out my house?” I asked him angrily.

“We’ll interrogate the hunter and if it’s Nick, he’ll pay,” Kai said and I nodded.

“Take him to the dungeon,” Falcon said. “And continue with your patrols.”

I turned around but Kai grabbed my arm and pulled me into a hug. We stood like that for a few minutes until I finally pulled away. I didn’t know what to feel and I certainly didn’t know what to say. I did miss him, I missed talking to him every day but I was confused by his attention towards me.

“I have to go,” I said and stepped back from him.

“I’m proud of you, Jericho,” he said and I saw pain in his eyes.

“I doubt that,” I said and ported back home.

I walked out of the forest back towards the house and I closed my eyes as I turned back to the forest. “Merki hringr.” I expanded the protection circle to include the forests surrounding the house. No witch, unwanted wolf or human would be able to enter and come close to my house.

The boundary is fantastic because it’s not like you step over it and walk into something solid that blocks your way, it’s more of a feeling. An intense feeling of such dread and fear that your mind physically can’t comprehend it and refuses to move forward.

“That was fast,” Slade said as I neared the porch and they all stood there waiting for me.

“Did you kill him?” Leon asked me.

“No, I took him to the king for interrogation,” I said to them.

“You know the king?” Harper almost yelled at me.

“What’s going on?” Dani asked as she stood in the living room trying not to look at me.

“You’re going to have to tell them,” Slade said and I nodded as we walked back into the house.

“Tell us what?” Dani asked and I saw slight anger in her eyes but I didn’t really care at that point.

“My real name is Jericho Kiran St. Claire, first born son of the king of Scotland,” I began my story.

“You’re a prince?” Harper yelled at me.

“I was a prince. Slade is my Royal Beta, that’s why he’s so much stronger than Rick,” I said and Harper turned towards Slade but she didn’t say anything.

“A few weeks ago, my friends and I stole a school bus, went drinking and then I crashed the bus. They all died. I took sixteen lives that day and my father banished me from Scotland and our pack, made my younger brother his heir and told me to leave,” I said to them.

“Don’t forget the sixteen names he burned onto your back with magic,” Slade said, his voice filled with disgust.

“So that Council you attended, that was in front of your father?” Dani asked me and I nodded.

“My grandfather is Kiran Sinclair and my great-uncle is Levi Sinclair, both Alphas of the World Council. They were there too,” I answered her.

“Were you banished too?” Harper asked Slade.

“I chose banishment because I’ll never leave Jake,” he said to her.

“Why did you change your surname?” Dani asked me.

“Basically I’m an embarrassment to the family and not fit to use that name,” I said, still not looking down. I couldn’t look down even if I wanted to, Blaise would never allow me.

“I literally don’t know what to say right now,” Harper said.

“Is your pancreas doing okay?” I asked and she laughed almost hysterically.

“It’s throbbing,” she said and I shook my head as I smiled.

“Can I talk to you alone?” Dani asked me.

I followed her upstairs to my room and I wasn’t sure what to expect. It was a lot to take in and I’d basically just told her that everything she knew about me was a lie and I had rejected her. I had confessed my sins and now I would have to face the consequences. I closed the bedroom door behind me and she sat down on the bed.

I leaned against the door and I didn’t really look at her because I didn’t want to see hate in her eyes. She stood up and then she hugged me, wrapping her arms around my waist and I closed my eyes for a minute. We stood like that for a few minutes before she took my hand and led me towards the bed to sit down. She was looking at me and I couldn’t read her expression and that scared me as well.

‘I’m not feeling the bond with this one,’ Blaise said in my head and it all hit me at once. I wasn’t feeling anything for her.

‘Neither do I,’ I said to him.

‘I feel frustrated and something else, I don’t know how to describe it,’ he said.

‘Blaise, do you think this could be a false imprinting? That she’s feeling the bond but we’re not?’ I asked him.

‘Anything’s possible, human,’ Blaise said and retreated again.