Dark Tales: Shadow [BxB]

Chapter 12

Gretel, Alectos, Jan, Hector, Hart, Blaze, and Rain sat around the conference table.

"Hart, do you mind recounting the situation at hand again," Gretel said in a low deep voice, daring anyone around the table to disagree. Gretel was furious. His eyes blazed with fury from the thought of trusting that witch and putting Shade in harm's way. He should have never turned to her for help.

Hart recounted the story for the second time, recalling as many details as possible under his king's watchful eye. But Hart's eyes had never left the floor. He was ashamed. In the kingdom far away from here, he was known as the most talented Watcher. Watch, inform and take action. His teacher's motto. Hart always followed it faithfully. He had never failed in his missions. But now he has.

By the time Hart was done recounting the story, Rain was done waiting.

"That's it, I'm going to find him!" Rain exclaimed, standing up and making his way towards the door. Blaze immediately went after his husband.

"Dear, please calm down." Blaze urged, hoping his husband would stop and listen to him.

"No!" Rain shouted with a trembling voice. "It has been 2 days! God knows what is happening to him! His mate is being completely useless and I'm not going to sit here and wait for this meeting when I should be out there looking for my son!"

Blaze didn't say anything at the outburst. He too was starting to get angry at Alectos, who doesn't seem to be making any effort in the search of his own mate. But the one to stop Rain was not Blaze.

Hector walked up to the couple and in a soft, guilt-ridden voice, he said: "Sir Rain. It was my fault. I..." Hector paused for a moment. Rain was quick to tell the boy that it couldn't have to be his fault, but Hector continued before Rain could say anything.

"I should have warned Shade about what I knew when I released Richard from his mind control, but I didn't. However, now is not the time to blame ourselves. King Gretel is here so that we can share what information we have and come up with a plan." Hector strongly protested, which made Rain's determination falter. He knew that the boy was right. There was no way he would be able to find Shade's position by himself. Clairvoyance magic was not a strong suit of his. Feeling defeated, he went back to his seat. Blaze gave Hector a thankful gaze, which Hector returned with a nod, and went to his husband's side, pulling Rain into his embrace.

"Now then," Gretel said after everyone looked settled. "Let us exchange what information we have I suppose."

Alectos slipped out of the conference room during the commotion. No one noticed him. After waking up in the hospital, he instinctively knew that he had failed to save Shade. He made his way to his room and sat on his bed. He closed his eyes, as he did every night, and tried to feel his mate link with Shade.

He felt his conscious fade a little and soon he was running after a thin of light. But like always, it fizzled and disappeared into the never-ending darkness of his mind. He tried it again. And again. And again. But it had not worked even once. Had he completed his mating with Shade, he would be able to figure out Shade's whereabout. So much for being a primal wolf when you couldn't even protect your own mate.

Like the past few days, Alectos felt his heart giving up. Like the past few days, Alectos kept his mind in the darkness, feeling for the only link he had left with Shade. But unlike the past few days, Alectos has no intention of returning from the darkness. Arc, Alectos' wolf spirit, caught on to it and tried to reach out to him spiritually. But he was too late. Alectos has locked himself in the darkness of his mind.

Jan was rushing to her Alpha's room. She felt a strange shift in the atmosphere while in the meeting with the king. She instantly knew that something was happening to her Alpha. Hector knew it too. The pack connection with the Alpha had a sudden tug and it was as if some part of it disappeared.

When she reached the door, an odd whining could be heard coming from the room.

"Alectos?" She asked, straining her ears for a reply. A low whine. It sounded like another wolf. But for some reason, Jan felt her heart drop. Something was wrong.

"Alectos, can you please answer me." She said, hoping to hear a reply from her Alpha. But instead, another whine came from the room. It sounded almost as if pleading. Dread slowly filled Jan's heart. Hector had caught up, breathless from all the running.

"Hector, I need you to standby in case I need your power." Jan looked at Hector and knew that her brother understood. Jan readied herself and kicked her right leg, colliding with the door. The door was ripped off its hinges from the brute force tearing through it and crashed out of the window. Arc whelped from the door suddenly flying off its hinges and growled at his attackers whom he soon recognized to be his Beta and her brother. Arc relaxed and cuddled up near the bed like a wolf.

"Hm... I didn't expect it to be this bad." Gretel muttered while observing Arc who was squatting on the floor, trying to scratch his ears with his legs. He followed the twins to the Alpha's room when they ran back to the conference room panicking.

"What do you mean?" Jan asked desperately.

"Alectos has locked himself up in his mind, with no one inhabiting the body, his wolf soul took over," Gretel explained. He has seen this kind of case many times in the past. Arc yelped as he fell over, sprawled on the floor with a whine. Hector quickly rushed over to heal the toppled Arc. Hector shrieked in surprise when Arc licked his palm as if he was in wolf form.

"Then what do we need to do? Without Alectos our combat power is severely weakened." Hart asked. He too had not seen such a case before, much less how to solve it.

"That wouldn't be a problem," Gretel told them with some certainty. "Due to the sudden change, Arc hasn't adapted or received the motor skills as a human. It will take about a day or two before he can act or speak like a normal human, although the proficiency will be much lesser."

"So that means we just have to wait?"

"That will be the case. But we will need to find Shade as soon as possible. Without his mate, Alectos might shut himself out to a point of no return." Gretel said gravely. A hushed silence echoed through the room.