Fated

Chapter 7 - Hidden In The Mounts

The sway of the trees was gentle in the breeze and colours of the new day were shining across the vast heavens. Kaden walked the lonely streets alone, his expression grim. Today will be the funeral of Mrs. Evans and Lancelot. The four trainers remained on the brink of life and death, and they now rested in Andrew’s house, each in a separate room.

His fingers traced the contours of the walls, his eyes fixated on the lines but his mind floated somewhere else. Were all these for a reason? He walked on, letting his feet pull him to wherever they wanted. Why did all those things have to happen? The city scene thinned out and the greenery surrounded him. He watched the shadows flickering on the grass as the wind blew, ruffling his clothes and the leaves of the trees.

“Aw,” a voice cooed. “Alone, now, are we?”

A chill ran down his spine and he felt the small shred of fear inside him. It couldn’t be… Kaden halted in his tracks and craned his head up, only to meet face to face with the one person that had been terrorizing his pack, Constantine Einvygreene. Another whisper of the winds blew, it picking up the long midnight locks of Constantine’s hair and in the shadows of the trees were his glinting amber orbs.

“Why so quiet? Cat got your wolfy tongue?”

“Leave,” Kaden said, his voice firm but his body shook silently with the growing fear. He was alone and no one was out in the forest.

“Ouch,” Constantine said with mock hurt and he placed a hand over his heart. “Is that the way you treat your fellow kin?”

“No. It’s just the way I treat you.”

Constantine clicked his tongue and leaned his head back. “You’re no fun. And here I was thinking on telling you how to wake your fellow ‘trainers’ up,” he shrugged while doing air quotes. “Seems like my kindness has gone to waste.”

Kaden’s eyes widened. He was going to help? That couldn’t be! Constantine made a move to roll off the branch when Kaden called out to him, causing him to pause in his actions.

“What’s the catch?”

Constantine faced Kaden with an innocent expression, his eyes wide with mock innocence and he batted his eyelashes. “What catch? There ain’t no catch.”

“Shut up and tell me, what is the catch?” Kaden paused after every word, his irritation overbearing his fear.

If he weren’t concentrating, Kaden would have missed the faint smirk that appeared. “Ah, there’s no catch. I was just trying to make peace. I am the cause of their states, am I not?” Constantine took hold of the branch with a hand and dropped his body, so that he hung like a monkey. “I got to say though, it was a success! My little experiment that is.” He released his hold and landed on the grass, his knees bent just before so the impact was absorbed. “You’re not happy with my success, are you?” he pouted when he noted the scowl on Kaden’s features.

Kaden took a step forward, ready to lash out when an arm blurred across his vision, cutting him midway. His eyes trailed the arm to the owner and let out an involuntary gasp.

“Alpha! Why are you here?”

Andrew’s eyes had lost their glint of excitement and happiness; in fact the warm colour was dull. He twirled the caught dagger so that he held the handle in his bloodied hand, the blade pointed at Constantine.

“Oops, my hand slipped,” Constantine grinned and he put his hands up in surrender.

“Don’t you threaten my pack, Einvygreene.”

The fellow rogue groaned exasperatedly and threw his arms into the air dramatically. “If you’re going to use that name, use the full name! Constantine Einvygreene! Con-stan-tine, E-in-vy-gre-ene! Get it?” He opened his mouth to rant, seeing as the Alpha and Beta weren’t up for talking, when suddenly he froze for a split second.

A quiet whistling sound rang in the air and the object was embedded into the trunk behind Constantine, the blade missing his neck by a hair’s breadth. The rogue glared at Andrew who stood there with a calm façade though his eyes raged with pure fury.

“Oops, my hand slipped,” Andrew, mocked.

“And you missed,” Constantine taunted, that is until he felt the slow trickle of a liquid run down his neck. Bringing a hand up, he let a finger slide over the liquid and looked down at the crimson blood.

“Oh? I didn’t miss after all,” Andrew narrowed his eyes into a glare, with on his face a lopsided smile.

“Lucky shot,” he scoffed.

“Now, are you going to tell us how to save our friends or what?” Kaden voiced, sidestepping from behind Andrew.

Constantine looked to the skies, his expression one of deep in thought, a finger tapping his bottom lip and a frown curving upon his face. Andrew and Kaden waited, and waited. The minutes that ticked away, when in actual fact were mere minutes, made the atmosphere grow thick and heavy. Constantine kept up with his act of thinking, intentionally trying to piss the two dominant males off.

“What,” Kaden growled, his temper beginning to spike. “…Is the way!?”

“Why sho –”                                                                            

Constantine grunted when Andrew slammed right into him, the air knocked out of his lungs with his limbs shocked from the sudden attack. The rogue wolf’s head shook side to side to and the fury in his amber eyes shone. Andrew jumped away as Constantine lashed out a series of punches, their movements all but a blur. His body moved to side and his hand shot up to grab Constantine’s outstretched arm before throwing him over his shoulder. Without waiting a moment’s notice, Constantine twisted and used his legs to swipe at Andrew who merely jumped up to avoid getting hit, but he was quicker. Planting his hands on the ground, he propelled himself up, sending the Alpha backwards as his shoes came in contact with Andrew’s jaw.

Kaden, who’d been at the sidelines, growled and shifted into his black wolf, tearing away at his clothes, and lunged at Constantine from behind with his claws at ready. Constantine turned around, his gaze intimidating the Beta, who faltered for a fraction, and he ducked just below Kaden’s belly. When the wolf was overhead, he dropped onto his knee and knuckled his midriff. Kaden howled out in pain but he could do nothing as Constantine rolled onto his back in that split second and lashed both his legs at his jaw.

Worried and shocked, Andrew ran over to Kaden who had shifted back to his human self and began coughing vigorously, drops of blood colouring the grass red.

Andrew turned to face Constantine who just got to his feet. “You will pay for this!”

“Tsk, tsk. I didn’t even start the fight.” Crouching into his position, Andrew let out a hostile growl. Constantine sighed and shrugged his shoulders. “Take a chill pill, will you? I didn’t exactly kill your members. ” Andrew made a move to attack but he stopped halfway at his next words. “All lived but the four, frail the one was but surmount he did. Life of the souls dead though the containers remain, in the mountains the keys reside.”

What?

Lines of confusion were etched on his forehead and just as Andrew looked at Constantine, there remained nothing. He was gone. Poof like he didn’t actually exist. His eyes widened in realization as they searched their surroundings. Nothing! Constantine escaped!

He yelled to the skies in frustration. Why did Constantine always terrorize his pack? The clouds above came together, their grey colour darkening with time. Everything was silent and he stood there unmoving, until he heard Kaden cough.

This was no time for him to wallow in self-pity, no matter how much he deserved it at that moment.

He dropped down next to his Beta, his hand patting at Kaden’s back as he wheezed. He waited for Kaden to regain his breathing and a drop of water fell onto his hand, before the rest of the downpour started.

“Um, Andrew?” Kaden said, his voice in a question. “Do you by any chance have extra clothes?”

Andrew raised an eyebrow. “No, why?”

Kaden pursed his lips into a straight line. “I’m not actually going to walk in the rain…naked.”