The Fragility of Fate ✔️

36 | Cutthroat

Gabriel

Diverting to the lake I had to move fast. Diving into the water, my wolf twisted and turned, ensuring every strand of fur was thick with mud.

Although it would soon wash off from the rain, it would be enough to buy me the time I needed to throw Miesha off my scent. I knew her plan- I knew exactly what she wanted, but I couldn't let it happen.

Coated in war paint, I bolted towards the thicket. The storm was but a mirror to the war raging within me as my wolf trampled across the sodden forest floor.

Surging and propelling further, I knew exactly where Jacob would be waiting for me.

The outskirts.

Our childhood battle ground, a place of play and fond memories that had since been smeared by the pain of the past.

Nearing the clearing, each blade of grass shimmered beneath the ivory moon as I tracked him to the ancient oak tree that framed the rugged backdrop before me.

My wolf steeled himself between the tall trees.

Wait.

It felt like a lifetime ago since I last saw my brother- really saw him.

As I peered through the trees, he was unrecognizable as he waited.

Feral.

Wild.

Gone was the man of long ago- his unruly, long hair... his expressive dark eyes- he was once so full of life. So admired. But staring through the eyes of his wolf, I could see what he had become. He was man no more. He was lost to the wild.

Sizing up his wolf, he was no longer the pillar of unyielding strength and pride that he was last time we battled. He was but a shadow of his former glory. Tufts of pelt were missing, the uneven patches of dusty brown were dull and lifeless... And the scar of our past encounter was a silvered and jagged reminder of the broken path we had taken.

My wolf snarled with need before a change halted him as it swept through the air.

Eliza.

He feels it.

The wind above us simmered and stirred, taunting Jacob no further- shattering him with the realization of his fate as he stood there alone.

That's the price you pay...

The silken silence between us ripped at the seams as his howl tore through the rain. Taking the lashing from the Goddess above, he was moonstruck in his madness, the invisible threads of his mate bond unraveling into nothingness.

My wolf stood still in ambivalence, watching him become undone. Any trace of sympathy had long since vanished and made no difference on his intent for the night's end... The deepest fissure of festering wounds that separated us could never heal.

So it was.

It was time to be heard.

"Your greed killed your mate, brother. You have no one to blame but yourself..."