Escape is Only Temporary [boyxboy]

Chapter XVIII

~Tuesday 21st June 2016~

It was still raining that morning when Reece stepped outside of the cave, lingering at the mouth. The heavens were crying, grieving for the child that had been taken, mourning the life that would go unlived. Reece leant against the damp rock, watching the thick droplets fall from the lip above as the forest around was drowned by mother nature herself. That was her vengeance. Reece remembered Shepherd saying something like that once, that mother nature was a wrathful deity, one who shouldn't be angered. She was punishing the land for that human's actions, the actions that had ended a life she had spent so long crafting.

Normally, Reece adored the sunrise. The first after the full moon was so pretty, especially when viewed through the thick covering of branches and leaves above. However, that morning, Reece took no enjoyment from watching the sun climb over the horizon and begin the laborious task of it's daily journey. Juda would never see another sunrise, so why should he be allowed to revel in the sight? It was Reece's fault the boy was dead, he deserved to have passed in his place.

Reece flexed his fingers, looking down at the blood spatter still dotted over his flesh. He hadn't had time to clean himself properly last night, not with the chaos that had erupted around him. When he first felt that aching pull within his chest, he feared that Aris and Tavien were in distress nearby. He hadn't experienced the sensation for so long, he had been blissfully ignorant to what it symbolised. Until he found the pair, fighting playfully over their prey. It was then that he knew something was wrong.

Aris and Tavien weren't able to shift forms back during the full moon. Reece only had that skill due to his genes. He was an alpha, a black wolf, and the gods had blessed him with that switch that he needed. He had alerted Aris and Tavien to the strange feeling within, no longer interested in the hunt that evening, more concerned that it might have been Shepherd that was hurt. Of course, when he received no response from Shepherd's phone, and an emergency message that there was a city-wide power cut due to the storm, Reece stopped thinking.

He listened to his instincts instead, returning back to the penthouse suite as swiftly as he could. To begin with, it looked as though nothing was wrong. Nothing was out of place, there were no signs of a struggle, it was simply dark in the living area. Dark and empty. But, of course, Reece didn't solely rely on his sight. It was his sense of smell that led him to Juda's bedroom, to the scene that would forever haunt him until the day he died.

Shepherd was silent as he knelt beside Juda's wolf, yet, when he raised his eyes to meet Reece's, there was no trace of calm to his expression. His eyes were wild, panicked, and black. The same shade as his skin, glistening with unshed tears, almost feral as he reached out to Reece, begging for his help. Bloody didn't even begin to explain the appearance of the warlock. He was covered in red, his clothes soaked through, smeared over his flesh, even in his hair. It was everywhere.

Initially, Shepherd wouldn't let Reece touch him. He reared back when Reece tried to coax him away from Juda's mutilated corpse, speaking in tongues that the wolf had never heard before. It was only when Reece growled, asserting his own dominance as an alpha, that Shepherd crumbled. The colour returned to his eyes as his Wakaath lost their glow, and he began to weep. His speech was still indiscernible, switching from unknown languages to English faster than Reece could comprehend. He was in shock.

Reece had wrapped Shepherd up in the nearest blanket he could find, trying his best not to think about the second body in the bedroom. If it could even be called that anymore. He knew that had to have been the killer, and that it was more than likely that Shepherd was the cause of it's death. He didn't look at the warlock any differently as he drove back to the forest, meeting with Aris and Tavien's wolves, who had waited there for his return. They blocked themselves off from Reece, rather than speaking to him through their pack link. They didn't want to know what had happened.