Unbreakable Bonds- Part I

Tynan:

Witless confusion, interrupted by sudden realization which ultimately leads to vehement hostility and disgust, emotions I read clearly in the puny Alpha’s eyes as if they were pages being turned, the titles too bold be missed, the feelings too intense to be overlooked, he knows, my beast growls in my head, his angst poisoning my veins and turning my vision red, of course he knows of whom I am talking, of what she is to me and the kind of bond we share, did she tell him herself? Did she run to him once again? Leaving me behind to wither in self-pity and hatred? Did she cry in his arms about how I hurt her? Questions push me on a downward spiral as my sanity slips away with every image my insecure mind throws at me, and the poison thickens, becoming more fatal with the added jealousy.

“Master…” Ben calls out to me as I try to rein over the beast that threatens to claw its way out of my skin but it is no easy task, and the knowledge that this bastard is my half-brother, my blood, doesn’t help calm him down, not when it is our mate he could be keeping.

With torturous composure, I turn to look at Ben who has his arms wrapped around a trembling Mila, both their terrified gazes fixated on me, but it is not just them, I realize as I take in my surroundings, feeling as if I had blacked out of rage for a second, and indeed, hundreds of eyes are looking at me fearfully, the warriors of both sides rallying back around us, waiting for an order, a sign, an explanation, something…

The battle is not over yet, the threats are not neutralized yet, but the biggest danger is me and this stygian seethe brewing inside me, one I can hardly keep within, one that is fed with all the past’s insecurities, the future’ uncertainties, and the present’s ambiguity, and it is all too much, my aura thickens around me, terrorizing all those who are near, friends or foes, but I can’t find it in me to care, not when my throat is clogged with the bitterness I feel about everything, about how satanically ludicrous this whole ordeal is.

A better man would have pushed it all back in, a better man would have fought against these venomous feelings and listen to the voice of reason that tells me to stop, to check up on Mila and Ben and the rest of my warriors, to assess what we have just fought and try to understand the why behind it before it punches us out of nowhere, but I am not a better man, I hardly consider myself to be a good one, and the more I look at the bastard’s face, the tighter this hellish hold becomes, and I once again feel like that little boy in the woods, how scared I was, how terrified of the thought that I was about to lose her, the one real thing, the one good thing I ever knew, the one light in my shadowed life, all for him to take her away, to keep her for so many years while I battled my pain and darkness without her, and of all the people he could have been, he had to be my half brother, we had to share the same wolf blood, the one which is warm and filled with life, the one that allows me to feel, the one that makes hating him feel like sipping acid and letting it eat you from the inside.

However, none of that is enough to quench my hatred, the mere sight of him makes my insides clench, and my body moves on its own as I slowly step towards him, replacing all the what ifs and the baseless feelings with facts, the facts that makes me angrier the closer I get to him, the same bastard who took her away from me all those years ago, the one who took a portion of what is mine, her love, her heart, the man who tortured and banished her, and even possibly the one she left me for, and curse the blood I carry in my vein if it will stop me from eviscerating him if he is the one keeping her away from me, I have already killed another sibling for her sake and I barely feel any remorse over it, but this one? Oh, this one’s death I am going to enjoy to the fullest if my suspicions turn out to be true.

“Don’t even think about lying!” I threaten slowly the second I notice the gears spinning in his head, working on some lame-ass retort to throw back at me, which only manages to make me angrier if that is even possible, the man with the dark gray wolf steps forward, placing himself between me and his Alpha, his injured Alpha, the last thought forcing me to stop for I do not wish to stoop to such level where I would attack an injured man out of spite, if I am to take him down then I would do it when he is at his strongest, only then will I be able to call myself victorious.

“She is YOUR mate? You?” I crook an eyebrow as my anger flares to become a destructive inferno the second his words register in my brain, my aura spreading all around me and the beast making its presence known under my skin, no longer caring about the fact that he is our blood, not when he just insinuated that we are not worthy of our mate.

“Yes, MINE, You don’t approve?” my lips curve up on their own accord as I feel my face morphing into a sardonic smile, one that inspires terror in the faces of those looking at me, Both Mila and the man with the dark gray wolf step forward, and it takes everything in me not to push her to the side for this blatant disrespect, but again, it is Mila.

“The Goddess must be fucked in the head if t…”

“Alpha, please!” the man yells at his alpha with horror and disbelief, right when I was about to jump at the blond bastard and separate his head from his neck for the thing he was about to say.

“Master, please…calm down!” Ben and Mila simultaneously step to my sides, their hands on my shoulders as if to ground me right where I am, giving me some of the stability I desperately need, their hands shiver as my beast battles to be unleashed, but they stand still nonetheless, showing their loyalty and support, and faced with this, I can’t help but take a deep calming breath through my mouth, shaking some of the redness off my vision, and with a clearer mind, I lock eyes with the silver moon alpha, this time seeing beyond the shadows cast by my own insecurities, and I recognize him.

My soul recognizes him as my blood, my sibling, my family, and it yearns for him.

My heart recognizes him as the one who stole our mate and kept her for years and even stole a part of her heart, and it rejects him like a fucking plague.

As the two battle amongst each other, my mind recognizes him for what he truly is, the enemy, the one holding all the answers, the answers that I need if I wanted to get my mate back and keep her safe this time, he is my enemy, I tell myself as I calm down gradually, that is all we will ever be.

And we only make peace with our enemies, even if temporarily, I need him, I need the answers he is keeping, and he needs the help I can provide.

“I was with her yesterday, I met her, and she was okay, she looked overall okay!” all eyes turn to the man with the light brown hair and gray wolf, Ray, I believe his name is, and while mine are filled with shock and hope, his Alpha’s are filled with betrayal, he didn’t know about this before.

“Ray?” the man whimpers at Axel’s questioning tone, one that is dripping with betrayal and heartache, but I am not here to witness their exchange, with wide strides I reach where the duo is in no time, pushing the puny Alpha to the side as all I care about now is ripping the words out of this wolf’s mouth.

“How and why?” the menace in my voice can only be outmatched by the menace in my fingers as I flex them around the man’s throat, he tries to resist me as I lift him off the ground, and I must admit, he has some backbone for he fights instead of succumbing and begging for mercy like any sane wolf would, but backbone never served as a shield against me, and I would continue to respect him when he is dead if he doesn’t tell me what I need to know.

“Mila!” Ben shouts and I feel the soft palms shaking my arm, I turn to my side to find Mila’s tear-stained face, her eyes filled with terror and plea as she shakes my arm feebly, not openly offending my decision but putting herself between me and my prey, and it doesn’t take a genius to know why, a lump forms in my throat as I regard her, the girl I consider to be my little sister, begging me with her silent tears, the only way she can make herself heard, and my heart breaks for her.

I know I am capable of burning the world for my little Ora, but will I be able to live among the ashes is the question I find myself asking as I look into the terrified eyes of Mila, and with so much reluctance, I release the bastard who falls on his knees, gasping for air, his eyes looking at Mila, begging her to go to him, to touch him, to ease his pain and humiliation, and to just be by his side, but my little wolf denies him that, instead, she remains by my side, showing her moon blessed where her allegiances truly are.

“Before you say anything….” I announce, looking at Ray and then at his Alpha and the rest of their warriors, weapons in hand ready to resume the fight, fear in their eyes and tremors in their limbs, and doubts, so many doubts, doubts as they look at me, doubts as they look at the injured Axel who is slowly healing, doubts as they look at the dead witches and slaughtered humans, and I know for sure that none of them knew, “Just know that this will not change a thing, you are still my enemy, you will never seize to be…” I say looking at Axel who rises to his feet, standing with his shoulders pulled back and his head held high, his eyes not leaving mine.

“Nor will I stop considering you my enemy, you killed my sister, or should I say, our sister…” I can hear the gasps and the accusing stares around us but I don’t give two shits about what anyone is thinking, that woman was no sister of mine, she was a deranged wolf who used the kindness of my little Ora and tried to kill her, I don’t regret killing her, and I will do it again now while knowing what she is to me.

“I know that our packs have suffered because of the other, and I understand that some of the things we did can never be taken back, it is too late for that now, and there are not enough olive branches in the world to restore the peace that has been burned to ashes…” Ben marches between us, separating me and Mila from the silver Alpha and his Beta who still has his longing stare on our little wolf, I take a few steps back with Mila by my side as Ben takes his place between us as the voice of reason he has always been. “However, it is clear to all of us now that we are facing a threat much larger than each other, one I doubt we can begin to comprehend fully, let alone face if we can’t momentarily postpone our enmities until this danger is dealt with!”

The warriors around us exchange glances while I lock eyes with the silver Alpha, my hatred towards him burning like acid in my throat, but I nod at him nonetheless, forcing my beast behind his bars for now.

“For a while now, I had my suspicions about the witches and their motives, ones which I couldn’t back up with solid proofs..” Ray begins with a collected voice, but my eyes don’t miss the apologetic glance he has each time his eyes meet his Alpha’s, but he continues to speak nonetheless, “Without said proofs and no apparent motives, I couldn’t raise my suspicions to you, Alpha, but I didn’t let go of them either, and the more I watched the witches the more I became certain that they were plotting something, something big, and they wished to include the humans which didn’t sit well with me one bit, and that is why I didn’t turn Leora in when I found her in our lands.”

“Go on…” the calmness in Axel’s voice makes Ray gulp visibly, and I can see the ice forming inside his soul, a part of me feels sorry for him, but the other part is glad, the treason that wounded him is the same one that kept my mate safe.

“I was patrolling the human compounds near the silver shores when I spotted her, trying to take the bus to the industrial zone, I will not go into details of why I made the choices I did, but Leora came here to stop the massacre, she knew what the witches had in mind and she was right all this time, she didn’t betray us, she didn’t betray you, Alpha, your mate did!”

“Careful!” Axel growls angrily, and I can see silver fur sprouting all over his body, I understand his motives, I do, I would be pissed if someone said the same thing about my mate, but again, he is talking about my mate, of how brave and selfless she is, of how she went on herself in a dangerous zone to save innocents, she didn’t go to him as I have thought, she didn’t betray me, my mate didn’t betray me.

“It is the truth, Alpha, and you can banish me or kill me if you wish but I will not take back my words, for I look around me and I see the price of my silence, of the blind trust we placed on the witches, our lands are now sullied with innocent human blood and magic, our souls sullied with the sin of participating in their death, Liam is dead and so are many of our friends, and my mate…” Ray’s angry voice breaks as he turns to look at Mila, his eyes barely holding back the tears as he takes her in, her battered form, her tear-stained face as she looks away refusing to meet his gaze, refusing to forgive him.

Axel, on the other hand, looks lost, troubled, and utterly defeated, and here I thought the Goddess was cruel to me, but I can’t even imagine being in his shoes, where I am in a position where everything about my mate is appalling yet my soul still yearns for hers.

“I drove Leora to the industrial zone myself, the plan was simple, she would warn her human friend, the manager she worked with, and he would warn the rest, while I come to you with the knowledge I had acquired and warn you, put a stop to the massacre before it begins, however, as I dropped her and was about to make my way back, I was attacked by Luna Ciana, the blow would have been fatal and I still wonder how I am still alive, and by the time I woke up, the battle was already on, Leora was gone, and it was too late…”

“So, she probably has her, this Ciana?” I ask calmly, tying all the dots in my head, the witches committed this massacre to harvest power, they even gave their lives for it, so it must be something with the dead if they wanted my little Ora, which means I don’t have enough time, I think as I finally take my beast form, black fur sprouting out of me, I may not know where to find her but I am willing to flip every stone until I do.

“Where do you think you are going?!” the silver wolf jumps in front of me, not fully healed, most of his wounds are still open even if they are not oozing, I growl at him to get out of my way, but he growls back, ignoring the fact that I can take him down with one blow, baring his teeth at me.

“If you think I will let you go near my mate, you are very mistaken!” he growls in my head and I pause for a second, unable to stop myself from admiring how much he loves this mate of his, even when she has been proved to be a culprit, even when he can barely stand on his own, he is still willing to defend her, but his love for his mate and desire to protect her is not greater than mine, for I too I am willing to destroy anything in my path just to get her back and keep her safe.

And just as I have concluded earlier, he is an enemy with answers, and now that I got my answers, I do not need him anymore, and if he decides to get on my way, then he is to blame, not me, I think as I prepare to charge while he does the same, our warriors watching with anticipation, ready to resume the fight.

And a fight is resumed, just not with the enemy we had in mind…