The people in the room jumped at the sudden sneeze. Andrew chuckled at Kaden’s red nose that had a trickle of snot running down.
“You shouldn’t have ran in the rain,” he sang. “Naked.”
Kaden wiped his nose and sniffled, hugging the blanket around him tighter. “Y-You made me!”
“I didn’t have any spare clothes,” Andrew shrugged.
The whole room fell back into a lapse of silence, only being broken by Kaden’s sneezes. The small cracks of sunlight through the curtains brightened Andrew’s living room ever so slightly but it did nothing to help his member’s grim expressions. The faces of their four trainers had been paler since the last time they saw them. Andrew had relayed the words of Constantine, though he knew they wouldn’t grasp its deeper meaning – even he had a hard time thinking what the last phrase meant.
Loud reverberating knocks hammered against the wooden door, surprising everyone in the room yet again. The sounds were frantic, almost in full panic.
“Open up!” The knocks became louder. “Open up!”
“Nathen!” Kaden perked up. “It’s Nathen!”
Andrew pushed himself to a stand and jogged his way over to the door, opening it with a click. The dark blue haired male huffed and puffed, as though he had run a marathon. Andrew scrutinized his disheveled appearance, wondering why dirt smudged his cheeks and leaves nested in his hair.
“A-Alpha…” he breathed out. “Notice about Moonlight Clash.”
Andrew was taken aback. That would explain everything about Nathen. To get any piece of information on the event, you would have had to run to the council and from their standpoint, the council was not exactly a stone’s away…
He opened the door further, letting Nathen to drop himself to the cold, hard flooring after the first step inside. Nathen waved the scrunched letter weakly, his eyes closing on their on accord at the cool feeling. With a sigh, Andrew nudged his body away with a foot and closed the door before bending down to pick up the letter. Just as his fingertips touched the material, waves of fire shot through his entire body, burning him without mercy and just as fast as they came, it stopped when he pulled his hand back.
‘What in blazes?’ he swore mentally. ‘How did Nathen survive that?’ He looked at the body sprawled across the floor, the chest heaving rhythmically with every snore. ‘His element must have helped…or else he’d be dead.’
Bracing himself, he kneeled on the floor and tore the council’s seal off, wincing at the burn. He mentally cursed the council, feeling every shred of hatred dim the pain. He quickly took the letter inside and threw it on the floor once he flipped it open.
Kaden watched the grim expressions of his pack members take a turn for the worse. He turned his attention to his Alpha that shuffled to a stand, the letter lying dead at its spot. Why did he not pick it up?
“Six months…” Andrew mumbled. “Six months,” he repeated louder, his shoulders squared. “It starts in in a little under six months. On the first phase of the moon – the new moon.” Relieved smiles momentarily appeared and he softly apologized before continuing. “And by the end of this week will be the preliminary rounds.”
The room, the whole room, if possible, fell into a deep, dark silence. He frowned at his members who were slumped over in utter –already– defeat. Just why did his members have such low confidence? It wouldn’t hurt to at least be confident in oneself, would it?
“Okay, listen up. This is what we’ll do.” Andrew tried sounding strong but he knew his resolve was falling ever so slightly. “During the preliminaries, we’ll just do our best to live through this. And I mean live, not survive. We’re a family and we can count on each other for a helping hand. If you’re scared, confide in us. If you’re worried, we’ll help you out. If you’re sad, we can lend a shoulder. But we will, seriously, get through this. All right?” He sent them a lopsided grin, hoping it would at least reassure them.
And it did. He could see their determination in their eyes and the pride within them – he felt his own ego inflate when he knew they were proud to have him as an Alpha.
“Um,” Kaden cut in whilst biting his lower lip. “What about Caila and the rest?”
Andrew thought in silence. All lived but the four, all gone but the four. Life of the souls dead though the containers remain, in the mountains the keys reside.
‘I’m assuming…’ he started with a thought.
“We’ll do nothing,” he said with finality.
The other members wanted to protest but the look in his eyes shut them up.
“I’m not giving up on them. I’m saying that the only way to get them back is to overcome our battles. That’s probably the real meaning behind the ‘mountain’.”
Few of them grimly nodded their heads, others sighed and the rest let the whole ordeal just sink into reality.
“Now, get some rest… I’ll see you all tomorrow in the morning for the usual training,” Andrew dismissed them and they left the room, but he stopped Kaden, gesturing him to sit back down. Kaden did as he was told in a confused manner. “Be careful, Kaden… I can’t help but have this inkling feeling that it is about you. I don’t want to lose you to Einvygreene’s foolish pranks, experiments or whatever he calls them. It said to overcome whatever obstacles you faced but I highly doubt it’s anything to do with physical obstacles,” Andrew said, causing Kaden to close his mouth and drop his words. “Whatever it is, please don’t beat yourself up for it. If he said you overcame it, you will overcome it. But if it ever gets too hard, I’m here for you, ‘kay?”
Kaden let out a smile. “So basically, I just have to stay strong and live through this, right?”
Andrew nodded his head, returning the smile with his own. “Now, you go to bed too. You’ll need all the sleep you can get.”
He pushed himself off the couch and man-hugged his Alpha before retreating into one of the guest rooms. Andrew watched his retreating back disappear into the darkness on the upper floors before slumping onto the couch with a dejected sigh. Closing his eyes, he rested his head on the back of the couch, secretly prying into Kaden’s mind. He felt the emotions whirl around, worry, sadness and the slight shred of anger and…hope? He averted his attention to the four trainers, flinching back when a shock of electricity passed through his mind, jerking him out of his trance.
‘Damn barrier…’ he cursed, rubbing his sore temples. ‘Seems like I can only rely on Kaden now…’
YOU ARE READING
Fated
FantasyA werewolf who's deprived of love from another in his early years. He lost his passion for music and guitar, but his friends stayed with him. Even that, relationships with others were on a thin rope. His pack gets terrorized by the same rogue wolf e...
