Chapter Two

Kaelan

Wolves are not violent creatures, like most presume. As a matter of fact, they are pack animals. Relatively peaceful and kind to each other unless threatened. Therefore, I think it is wrong to say that our bad tempers stem from our animals. It is our human side that is the problem. No matter how separated our two selves are, they still entwine, making it impossible for true undiluted instinct to take over, the same instinct that lets us recognise someone as superior and that makes wolves naturally bend into packs.

Instead of peaceful life together, what do I normally see in newly formed packs? Chaos. Everyone goes about trying to act as an alpha, and even when one person comes out on top it will generally take up to three generations for everyone to settle into their roles without causing any trouble.

Unfortunately for me, it happens to be my job to resolve disputes.

I don’t dislike my job. Or maybe I’ve gotten used to it so much I no longer cared. I certainly had enough time to do so.

“…kills! It is OUR land!” The voice of a short blonde almost turned into a snarl as her eyes narrowed in the direction of a man who stood to my left, opposite her.

His lips twisted into a smirk. One could tell he was not sorry he committed an obvious infringement of territory rights at a glance. “It’s been years since those borders were put in place. Who cares?! If you’re not strong enough to keep your land safe then maybe it’s time to move out.” He supplied in a southern drawl that made my lips twitch. My fingers tightened on the arm of the large wooden chair I was sitting in, worn by years of usage. It was a nasty piece of furniture, and uncomfortable to boot. It fit in with the rest of the room well.

“I’m going t-.”

“Enough!” I said quietly. I didn’t have to raise my voice, and my eyes narrowed just a fraction with unconcealed boredom shining behind them. “You, I expect your pack to behave.” I sent the words in the direction of the man before turning to face the woman. My voice, although she was the one who was in the right, when directed at her was painted by far more anger than when I spoke to the man. “And you, never come to me with such pathetic matters again. If your packs have any future issues, I expect you to solve them yourselves. I don’t care how, as long as the body count doesn’t get too high or the human authorities get involved. Get out.”

I dismissed them with that, waving my hand at the doors on the far side of the room. A brief flash of annoyance could be seen on their features, but neither of them said a thing as they acknowledged my words with court, stiff bows before retreating.

This finally left me all alone. Dealing with the packs was the most tiresome part of my day, but once they were gone along with all of their complaints, the room always seemed too quiet. Not even my excellent hearing could pick up anything from the outside. The walls were perfectly isolated as to keep any noise and confidential talks away from the ears they weren’t meant for.

I tapped my fingers on the thick wood of the armrest before standing up and pushing the chair back, paying no mind to the documents scattered across the grandiose desk in front of me in favour of heading for the doors to the left of me, almost perfectly concealed by a large cabinet.

Opening them did not bring me any relief, though. The sounds from outside flooded in, along with a dash of fresh air, but the person leaning against the wall and watching me with a smirk made me pause. That was not something many could make me do, and I could tell he always loved evoking any kind of reaction from me.

“What do you want?” I was in no mood for playing games, and it was something he was quite adept at, so my best shot was asking a straight question.

“That’s cold. Someone might think you don’t like me.” The red haired guy snickered, pushing away from the wall so he could stand in front of me. A little too close for my liking, too, might I add. The man had no sense of personal space whatsoever, but it was too late to correct his character. “No hellos or how you’ve been?” His pitch black eyes sparkled. I could remember his hair coupled with his eyes causing us no end of troubles in the past. But people back then had quite different views about redheads.

“Because we always use our time together for family bonding, right?” I retorted quite naturally. After all, it was not the first time we had exactly the same conversation, though his follow ups often managed to surprise me.

“Well, that’s odd of you to say, since the reason I’m here is the fuss an odd little family member of yours is causing.” He laughed, slinging his hand around my shoulder and pulling me forward, forcing me to walk with him.

“A family member? You aside, I’ve a total of three, and neither of them would make you turn up here. They can take quite good care of themselves.” By the way, if not obvious by this point, the brute was my brother, and for all his pretence for coming off as innocent and charming, he was not a likeable person.

“Ah, yes, well, not family in that kind of sense. The problem’s from the side of family we shared nibbles with. Awfully cold of you not introduce us sooner, too. A family dinner was too much trouble to organise?”

“If you want us to introduce each other to every person we’ve bitten over the years I’m going to have to pass. Besides, we don’t have a room large enough to fit them all. Which of them made trouble?”

“A pretty little thing. Brunette, about Marie’s height. Very cute. Has quite a nasty temper when told to shut up or stuff it. Ringing any bells?” He droned on, at which point a sudden flash of anger and malice made me shrug his arm off violently enough to make him wince and a snarl break off his lips quietly. The temporary shift in his character was smoothed over as quickly as my anger receded, though both left me feeling wary.

“Vaguely. Not anything recent, I assure you. What’s the issue?”

“She demanded to see you. Which I’d be pretty happy to oblige, we all know you need something you can treat a little rougher than those fragile dolls of yours, but I’m afraid it wasn’t that kind of visit she was looking for.”

I gritted my teeth, doing my best not to fall for his petty provocations. He used every chance he got to comment on my ‘shameful preferences’ as he liked to put it.

“She was screaming something about you lying and ruining her life, demanding you fix things. But I didn’t really listen. Don’t you miss the old days? You know, when we took care of problems together?” His voice took on a velvety tone, like a whisper you’d use when conveying sweet nothings to your lover. The look in his eyes coupled with the way he spoke only made him more repulsive to me.

“No, I don’t.” I snarled, feeling another flash of anger. “And I don’t want to. Where is she?!” I spun to face him, making him cackle more like a jackal than a wolf as he smirked.

“No need to lose your marbles. Just a little reminiscing. And not even you can deny it was much easier to slash and then ask questions…. Much less complaints that way. Oh well…” He tapped my shoulder, turning around and made to leave. I was confused and angry, was he just going to walk away? “She’s in my favourite room on the first floor, all yours.” He drawled, waving back at me without sending me another glance as he walked off.

I waited until he was out of the way before I placed my hand on the wall, leaning on it as I covered my eyes for a second. My breathing was quick and turning ragged, and I felt a familiar tugging sensation in the pit of my stomach. It had been a while since I’d last felt anger like that, even for a fraction of a second. My wolf was acting up, and it’s only been happening more and more often.

I brushed my hair back, gathering my wits about me as I marched forward through the dimly lit hall. I knew that meeting Adrian never brought anything good. He was my older brother, one I avoided for a reason. I could never tell what he was about to do. He could go from pretending to be a saint to a sadistic bastard at any given time of day based on nothing but his mood.

And I was supposed to be the one who wasn’t holding things together.

I found the implied room rather easily. I wish I could pretend I did not know what he was implying, but ‘his favourite room’ could only be the one used for interrogation. And he enjoyed using the time he spent inside of it ‘to the fullest’. He took after Grandma a little too much, as my father likes to put it.

There were two guards stationed in front of the doors. Both of them, I recognised, turned by and completely loyal to my brother. His favourite kind, burly, brainless, and prone to violence for no other reason than to cause pain.

I approached them with a passive look on my face. They stiffened as soon as they noticed me, and from our earlier interactions as well as their current reaction to my presence I was almost certain I wouldn’t like what I’m going to find inside the room itself. “You’ve exactly five seconds to get out of my sight.” I snarled, giving them no further attention as I grabbed the knob, twisting the doors open.

At least they were smart enough to leave immediately.

The doors locked behind me automatically when I entered, the only way to open them the small glass panel attached to the doors that contained a pad with digits meant to compromise the unlocking password. Technology did not bypass us, though my father had grumbled a little when we first introduced it to our home. He took to having access to hot water whenever he wanted rather quickly, and after that never put up much resistance again.

The inside of the room was plain and dull, composed entirely of stainless steel and rows of shackles that lined the wall. In the middle of it was a metal chair attached firmly to the floor, with a drain under it, and plenty of straps and shackles attached to it that were meant to keep a person tightly in place. Currently, the said chair was occupied by a lovely brunette I had known quite intimately a while back, her eyes wide and frozen on me from the moment I opened the doors.

Those eyes weren’t filled with fear, though, but with undiluted anger. For someone who had spent time with my brother, she looked remarkably well, with only shallow cuts and bruises covering her skin. Her lower lip was split, though, and on a second thought, with the healing abilities of our kind she probably looked a lot better than he had left her, her tattered and stained dress a proof of that. She could probably thank her appearance that closely resembled that of Adrian’s mate for getting off ‘easy’. For all his faults he still had a single soft spot.

The girl was not pleased to see me. Her body immediately strained against the restraints she was in as she tried to lunge at me, her eyes shining and her lips pulling back as her teeth grew, turning more animalistic, and a low growl reverberated through the air.

I sighed. “Nice to see you too, Georgiana.” I said calmly, crouching in front of her and starting to undo the numerous bindings, unconcerned with her anger. “Why are you here? You know you’re not supposed to show up without an invite, or at least calling ahead. The Pack members a…”

As soon as her arm was free, she slammed her hand into my face, her nails digging into my skin and leaving deep gashes behind as I stumbled back, steadying myself. I was pretty lucky those had not yet turned to claws.

“You are a monster and a liar!” She shouted loudly, holding nothing back as she continued to struggle to get to me. She could’ve at least let me set her free, or tried to undo the rest of it herself, but judging from her eyes she was past the point of rationality and was satisfied with simply trying to shred me to pieces.

“You’ve seriously got to come up with some new insults. Heard those before.” I sighed, straightening my back and wiping away the blood. My cheek had already healed, and while there was still a shallow cut running under my left eye and over my nose it would soon be gone too. “For the sake of our conversation, what exactly did I do?”

“You turned me!” She screamed even louder than before, making me cringe. Human or werewolf I guessed that had to hurt, although her throat, too, would be healed just as quickly as my wounds had been. “You said turning me would give me immortality! You said I’d never have to lose someone again! But you never told me I’ll never have a family!” I could see tears rolling down her cheeks, but instead of feeling guilty or moved, I felt a deep, stinging darkness steer inside of me.

“Shut up.” I growled warningly, flexing my fingers as my fingertips started to ache.

“You never explained anything properly! You just baited me with what I wanted to hear! But then you just left me all alone!”

“I warned you I wasn’t going to stick around.” I hissed, narrowing my eyes as the feeling in my stomach intensified. “I warned you you might never have kids of your own. And I told you about the risks!”

“Told me?! Warned me?! I loved you! I just wanted to be with you! But now, I can never have a child of my own! I can never give the man I love a family he des-.”

Her voice was suddenly cut off when my hand closed around her throat. She released a small, startled sound as her fingers immediately clawed at my skin. I couldn’t explain it properly, but my already unstable wolf had just snapped at what she said, and I moved without even meaning to.

“You think you have any idea of what you’re talking about?” My voice was barely more audible than a whisper as I forced the words to come out. “You’ve been around for what, fifty, sixty years? And all of a sudden you think you have the right to demand something from me? A family? It’s my fault you can’t have one?!” I roared, my grip intensifying and her face changing colour as her attempts to get free became weaker. I was barely aware of the pain in my hand or the blood that trickled down my fingers from the gashes she left there.

“You have no idea what I’ve gone through.” I growled loudly, trying to be louder than the pounding in my ears. Her eyes seemed to be open even wider than before, a shade of red slowly staining the white in them as a disgusting kind of sound left her mouth.

The white hot anger in me was still as intense as before, but all of a sudden, I was aware of what I was doing, and when my eyes took in her pathetic state I didn’t have the will to kill her any longer. I scowled at how pathetic she was, but I released her all the same, her body sagging forward as she coughed and wheezed through choking sobs.

I gripped her hair, yanking her head back roughly as I leaned down so my lips were just an inch away from her ear. “Get out of here, and never come back. If you do, next time, I promise I will show you just how much of a monster I can be, because trust me, you have no idea.” I whispered, letting go of her as I stepped away, sending her one last menacing look before spinning on my heels and punching in the code.

I didn’t care if she could get out of there on her own as I slammed the doors shut, or if Adrian would come back to have some more ‘fun’ with her. She had meant nothing to me for a long time, and all she did was stir up unwanted memories.

I snarled at nothing in specific as my eyes danced with an eerie light. If I didn’t find a solution to fix my raging animal soon, I was going to be in trouble. Going insane with this thoroughly consuming anger was something I could almost stand, but knowing I would fall to the rank of a lowly rogue was unacceptable.

I really did have the worst of luck. Maybe Adrian was right for once. ‘Fragile dolls’ are just not enough to catch the interest of my wolf. If I was to find someone like that, I would have to look elsewhere, even though that ‘elsewhere’ was among my own kind.

“Well, that’s not a very complimentary look on you, you know?” A taunting voice drifted to me, making my eyes snap to its source. “Trust me, I’ve been trying to get your brother to fix that ugly glare that seems to run in your family for years.”

“Marie.” I grumbled in the direction of the petite brunette as she twirled a lock of her hair between her fingers. There was a small smile playing on her lips, something in stark contrast with her words. I knew she had truly tried to change my brother. I was just suspicious she had at one point started enjoying the very things she advocated against. In the very least, she distracted me, allowing me to compose myself again. “I didn’t expect to meet you here.”

“Just here to take care of the mess that silly mate of mine made.” She answered cheerfully, walking over to me and sending me a dazzling smile as she wiped the remaining blood off my face. “There. Much better. Now you look presentable.”

“You know, you should be more careful, that mate of yours you mentioned has a nasty jealous streak.” I chuckled for once, finding the thought amusing. Though the actual thought of viewing my brother’s mate as anything more than my sister-in-law filled me with anything but a deep feeling of disgust.

She laughed, shaking her head and causing her curls to bounce around her head. “You? Don’t worry. Don’t you know what they’re saying about you? The opposite sex might as well not exist if they have fangs, claws and are even remotely capable of taking care of themselves. Helpless and defenceless is what you like.”

I growled, feeling my irritation rear its ugly head again, but she dismissed me entirely as she opened the doors. She was about to walk in when she paused, glancing back at me as if in afterthought. “By the way, your father wanted to see you.” The words she delivered so casually before slipping inside were definitely not something one could just forget about. I was taken aback, my mind reeling before I realised that, just as usually, I would not get any answers just from standing around.

My father was not the kind of man to call on us for no reason. Actually, he wasn’t the type of man to call on us at all, if it could be avoided. So if he was asking for me then it was most certainly important. Resigning myself to a dreadful afternoon, I turned my back on the room, walking away briskly in the direction I knew my father was in.

At least my mind was no longer on things that were better off forgotten.