His Hunter

XXI | Blackout

Cole felt strangely comfortable. It seemed that everyone else in the Pack was on edge. The lockdown was making people nervous. The only other person that seemed just fine with the situation was Albert, and that was because he didn't know any better. 

He knew that it was probably a bit strange to be fine with it. Technically, he was in danger. There were intruders within the walls of the Pack Mansion. The Reapers, they were called. And Mazka was still alive.

But he wasn't afraid. Cole had been in danger before, but the weight of his gun on his hip was like a shield. He trusted himself. He had to, after everything. Though he had to admit that there was a part of him that was worried about Lionel. The guy was still injured, yet had run off to talk to the Alpha. And there was Kaia, too. Mazka had been out to kill her. It was because of who she was, which didn't seem like an all-together convincing reason to justify killing someone. 

Cole remembered the feeling of Mazka in his head, though, controlling his body. The guy was just crazy. He wasn't stable. Something had ruined him, and now he was a tornado of hurt, ripping people apart wherever he went. Cole wasn't going to let anyone he loved be a victim of the cycle of perpetual pain. Because that's what Cole suspected it was; it's usually people who have been hurt before who do the hurting. 

"How are your injuries?" 

Cole looked up immediately. Elias was approaching him. Cole had been leaning against the wall near the residential wing of the Mansion. He'd been so lost in thought that he hadn't noticed Elias. Either that or Elias was just a sneaky son of a bitch. 

"I'm fine," Cole said. Realizing that his response may have been a bit curt, he elaborated. "Jaeger fixed me up after I ruined my stitches. He yelled at me." 

Elias nodded. "Jaeger is a yeller when he's frustrated, but he means the best." 

"I get that," Cole said, nodding. 

"Can you fire a gun?" Elias asked, eyeing Cole's sidearm. 

Cole stood up straighter. He had something to prove. He'd been in a rush at the time, desperate to see Lionel, but Cole had realized that Jaeger had referred to Cole as 'sir.' That one tiny word meant so much. Maybe it was a start, Cole had thought. Because Cole was dedicated, now. He was in deep, a little terrified but ready to try and change who he was. 

If asked for a list of words that would describe who he was, Cole would once have easily used the word 'Hunter.' Before everything, when Cole was young, he looked up to his dad. He saw his dad and his ability to fend off the lycanthrope as amazing. He was so strong and admirable. Being a Hunter was a badge of honor. Now, it was different. Cole didn't hate Hunters, but he knew that he wasn't one any longer. Cole wanted to scratch the word 'Hunter' off of his list and scrawl a messy 'Prowler' right beside it. 

"I can fire a gun," Cole confirmed. "I think it might mess up a couple stitches, though. I might go deaf from Jaeger's shouting." 

Elias chuckled. The sound was deep and somehow kind of intimidating. Elias was...well, Cole was embarrassed to think it, but he was cool. That was the first adjective that came to mind when they'd met. Elias was always level-headed, in command, ready for anything. He held significant respect in the Pack. He was kind of a badass, too, but that was beside the point. "I think you'll be ok," Elias said. "We'll be needing you, I think. You've been trained, haven't you?" 

Cole hesitated. He felt himself bristle like he'd been backed into a corner. He didn't want to talk about being trained. He'd been trained to shoot so that he could murder lycanthrope. At least, that's what Cole felt. But he couldn't pretend as if it had never happened, could he? To do so would be to lie to himself. He could scratch 'Hunter' out, but it would still be legible through the jagged mark. "My dad taught me to use a gun when I was seven."