Oath of the Hunter

16 - Harrowing Truth

The sound of muffled voices and the thud of approaching footsteps rouses me to clarity. I sit up a little, abruptly alert. Tension hangs thick and choking in the air.

Either side of me, Rowan and Lachlan tense against invisible foes; a pair of stoic sentries. Whilst Kay melts a little further into their seat, Matteo rises just as Darius appears in the open doorway.

He doesn't give the alpha time to say anything. Instead, he demands, "What the fuck else have you hidden from us?"

Darius raises a hand in submission and skulks into the room with Imogen and Milo. Their gazes, as one, flicker to me and drop down to the floor. Apprehension, and perhaps a little bit of guilt, twists their features.

"Please, Matteo. I can explain. I never meant to deceive you. Any of you," Darius says, sinking heavily onto the armrest of the empty sofa opposite us.

With clear reluctance, perhaps due to the five fiery gazes being directed their way, Imogen and Milo take their seats as well.

"Are those wolves alright?" Rowan asks, breaking the silence that gathers between us. When I glance his way, I find his dark brows pinched and his lips pulled into a little frown. He catches my gaze and his arm tightens securely around me.

"They're fine, thanks to your fated," Darius returns. His eyes shimmer a little when I look at him, and he nods a sombre acknowledgement. "I owe you a life-debt, River."

"You can start by explaining what the hell we saw in those woods," I grumble. "You called it a lycanthrope."

He nods and rubs a hand over his stubble-shadowed jaw. "To put it plainly, it is a monster. A curse."

"Did you know about it when you called Teo here?" Rowan asks, a rare sharp edge to his tone. The others pick up on it; even though his words aren't directed at them, Teo and Kay shuffle uncomfortably.

Darius drops his gaze to the floor, his answer clear.

"You bastard. You're saying you would've let him die in your place if he came alone?" Lachlan speaks up, his eyes blazing golden fury.

"You have to understand, we thought it was the hunters mimicking a rivalry, at first," he rushes to explain himself. "Wolves started showing up dead— but not from the hunters on our tails. Their bodies were torn apart. We picked up this foul scent and tracked it. When we found the creature down by the lake, I realised how much shit we were in. It all happened so quickly. We were all there— Klaus, Milo, Imogen, Grace and I. We knew it was our duty to put an end to the abomination, but it— it lunged at our Grace. We tried to stop it, but Klaus got there first. It tore him apart like he was nothing, and it snatched my daughter away. It took my baby. So I started calling for help. We couldn't face a war on two fronts, but no one would come if they knew about the lycanthrope and what it could do—" He breaks off, his voice shuddering with emotion, his eyes fluorescing golden sorrow as he covers his mouth with a shaking hand. "I lied to you about that wolf you found because I couldn't risk you running. I thought if I could just get some help with the hunters, I could take on the lycan alone. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

"Bullshit," Matteo snaps. "You're not taking on anything, you're telling your own patrols to run from it. You're drowning, Darius, and you're pulling us down with you."

He didn't want to send any werewolves with us to deal with the hunters because all of his attention — all of his pack's attention — is on this creature. A creature that shouldn't even exist prowling and tearing his people to shreds.

"I will not let my pack pay for the mistake I made," he returns, though his tone is lacking its usual fire. Instead, something awfully close to defeat cools his expression. It makes me uneasy seeing him this way; a timid candle's flame compared to his usual inferno. "Their only hope is to run before it catches them."