Argent's Wolf [NaNoWriMo 2020]

Chapter 4

The eagerness to break and rip apart one of the men responsible for his son's death dimmed fast when confronted with King. Milo Matthews King, the eldest son of Leonard Matthews via adoption and current leader of a paranormal call in Grasmere, was at his mercy. Lucky didn't fully describe the circumstances leading to his being at a fur market auction. Kaine hated the things with a passion. He didn't like the scent of terror and pain. 

He hunted monsters. He refused to become one, unlike some of the so-called humans salivating at the taste of despair and terror in the air. 

King's state sang of abuse and uncaring cruelty. Locking a wolf in a cage too small was bad enough, but nailing his paws to the cage to stop him from hiding put the auctioneers on a level that Ross had yet to fall to in his darkest moments. 

Fury iced his heart, and his hands longed for vengeance. That meant nothing when finding the focus of his anger on the edge of shattering beyond repair. King would heal; that much was clear. King has a level of stubbornness that took more than this to crack. He hadn't shattered, though the absolute exhaustion hanging over the pup's shoulders invoked a similar imagery of a death shroud. 

He could do it. A bit of kindness before returning with a whip would break King, and Kaine could not bring himself to do it. At some point, he forgot that his plans involved hurting King and making him beg for forgiveness. Repairing King was more pressing.

The idea whispered as he cleaned the pup's fur and dried him off, but his heart doubted. His morals about hurting a damaged creature mocked the desire to destroy a man who killed his son. This wasn't a man. This was a pup, and he'd almost forgotten that little fact in his rage. 

King wasn't an adult yet, not to the wolves and not to the humans.

Sleep didn't come easy as the reply of his plans mixed in with the image of King curled around his snout to try to stop the pain. The bundle of bones and blood in the back of his car, trying to escape by being small. The image of broken big eyes not focusing on him danced above the bed. Everything he planned to inflict on King and his friends all washed away with the simple ringing fact that King was two years younger than Micheal and barely a month older than Roddy. 

A bigger question swam as King's defeated body haunted his thoughts. How had a bunch of children ended up as Arfed's paranormal guardians? It was a new city. No ancient demons or fae claimed the land as theirs yet. Though, being an old city didn't guarantee that it would have people trying to protect folk from the supernatural world. King and his friends were a collection of oddballs wanting to prove themselves as good and righteous. King fought his father and ran away, Sidney awaited her coming of age, Tone was a city native and Noelle, well, Kaine didn't know her purpose yet. 

Arfed hadn't grown too big yet, but five people could not keep it safe alone. This situation proved that more than anything else. As far as Kaine had dug up, the four didn't know where their leader was, and Matthews didn't know his Pup was missing. 

So what was he going to do now?

Take his anger out on a child? Or let the situation continue and endanger his remaining son?

He watched the ceiling, not feeling able to sleep. This safehouse didn't have the security measures that most of his had. He rented it out to others as a holiday home. Anything too extensive would look strange. A simple iron and silver barrier sat on the perimeter, scaring off the weaker creatures who dared roam near his house. If anything powerful came hunting, they'd be in trouble. 

The house creaked in the wind as the weather outside blew strong, and rain began to splatter against the rooftop. The blanket's softness didn't breach his armour, but the idea of taking it off made Kaine's fingernails itch.