Dark Possession ✔

Chapter 4: Wildly Sweet

Adrik swiped his hand across the foggy mirror, exposing his face in the clear reflection. But he wasn't proud of what he saw nor was he glad to see himself again. That was because when he looked into the mirror what stared back at him was a scarred man who drank the blood of his dead father and hadn't sympathized or felt remorse for the dead. Memories that were raw as a gunshot wound had rooted deep into his tortured body.

No place was left unmarked by his father, because each time Adrik had lost in a fight or failed to obey an order, it had costed him deeply. Scars weren't his only punishment though. Frankly, Adrik preferred the solitary confinement sessions over the other heinous methods his father resorted to use, because confining Adrik in a cage only caused him physical scars. But the times when Adrik's father paid extra attention to his son's sessions caused the poison of hatred to sink deeper inside him.

His entire body was left at the mercy of the men who thought violence was the key to power. How wrong were those men to abuse their children? The children that are now the product of hatred, but also, they are the monsters that surpassed their fathers' resentful supremacy. The only way which Adrik knew how to conceal the past from his body was to replace every scar with a darkly inked tattoo. These tattoos on him weren't to be cool or for art, like how other ordinary people got them. For Adrik each tattoo covered a scar and showed Adrik that he had won against his father.

Adrik combed his fingers through his wet hair when the annoyance in his temper seemed to aggravate the blood in his veins. He had just finished his training around the pack territory, that typically lasted for five hours.

With a dark scowl on his face, he turned away from the mirror and left the bathroom entering his bedroom.

Eventually once dawn had passed, he saw other pack members out for a run in their wolf forms. But he couldn't transform, not without risking everyone's lives. So, he stayed in his human form for the last two hours of training.

He was always the first to wake up from the rest of the members that lived in the house. Adrik knew that Ronin, Lazarus would have already gotten up, since nine o'clock was their time. Isaiah would wake up with Ashley in an hour and so would their daughter, and Zeiden would be dead to the world still in bed. Only to be woken up by Lazarus with a pillow to the head, just so the boy could eat breakfast with them. It was eleven o'clock now and Adrik knew that everyone should be awake and gathered around the breakfast table as usual.

Adrik didn't bother with a suit today. He picked out a black shirt, which he just buttoned up to his collar-bones. He grabbed a pair of black jeans, that were rugged and torn-in. He went over to the table in his room; gathering his wallet, car keys and phone, he put it all in his pockets.

Adrik glanced over his bedroom, which was fairly simply. No extravagant decor or special pieces of art. There was a big bed that faced a fireplace and a seating area. He ditched the walk-in closet, since he didn't need that much room for his mainly black wardrobe. Adrik closed the door to his room and moved to go downstairs where it was always rowdy.

Evelyn's voice was the first thing Adrik heard before anything else. "Uncle Zar, could you pass me the milk?" she asked as she sat with her uncle.

"What's to eat? I'm starving," asked Zeiden, as he walked into the kitchen still in his pyjamas, which consisted of comfy red flannel pants and long-sleeved shirt set.

"It's between cereal or BLT sandwich, you choose," offered Ronin who was grilling bacon at the stove.

"BLT, please," said Zeiden eagerly. "I was missing your cooking, Ronin. You should do it more often and leave Lazarus in the dirt."