Chapter nine.

Even though they had fought and come out victorious against their enemies, the glorious win did nothing to make any of the two packs and half-vampires happy. While a lot of lives had been lost, Blayne was hanging onto the last thread of hope to see his wife, his mate for one last time before he would have to leave the world forever.

He had seen his daughter already and had been grateful for her being unharmed despite going through such a brutal fight. He was proud of her due to the courage she had shown and the bravery with which she’d sparred. More so than that, he knew his mate was safe in the woods; he was content that he could now leave without having to worry about his family.

There was a sudden commotion around him. A horde surrounded him making it harder for him to breathe. Everyone was whispering to one another, their voices full of grief and sorrow. But it was all monotonous to him.

And then he heard that voice; the voice of his mate, of his life. She was shouting his name, "Blayne. Oh my God..."

Suddenly the other voices faded away, they were drowned out by Colina's cries as the most beautiful face he had ever seen, but had always failed to convey the same, materialized in front of him. He regretted how he hadn't expressed that how much he loved her, how much she meant to him, and now was the last time that he could, so that thought alone wanted him to stay.

Tears ran down his beloved's face, making his heart clench. He wanted to make his last minutes count.

Celeste stood a few feet away from her parents, not prepared for what was to come. She was strong; in fact strongest in her pack but at the moment, she felt fragile; weak. She was in a dilemma. She wanted to say goodbye, except she didn't. She could hear him taking his final breaths; harsh and painful. His time was coming closer and closer as the seconds were passing by.

Then she heard her mother's sobs grow louder, "Blayne, please don't leave me. Oh God! Please," she cried out. "Hold on for me, I'm going to do everything to heal you." Even though Blayne knew that he was a lost cause, Colina didn't want to give up.

Stuttering, Blayne whispered, "My love, d... don't waste you... your energy over a sink... sinking-ship." Inhaling a sharp breath, she replied fiercely, "But you're not! I'm not giving up on you and I'm not going to let you do that either."

With that said, she tapped into her inner healer, letting the powers take over her. She placed both of her hands on Blayne's chest sending warmth through his cold body. She was determined; she was not going to let her husband die, not when she knew that he could be saved. She had always been hiding the extent of the power possessed by her, from the world and her family as well but now she wouldn't.

It didn't matter that it would taper the wards that her mother had died building around her to keep every bad creature lurking for power, away.

Everyone gasped as brilliant blue-ish light emitted from Colina's palms, reaching directly for Blayne's wound in tendrils and swirls. It felt warm against Blayne's skin. He could feel the tug of his mate's power; he could feel that the vines of power were pulling him back. On the brink of death, he almost gave up when suddenly he felt buoyant as though a boulder had been lifted off of his shoulders.

He gasped, grabbing Colina's now ice-cold hands in his warm ones. He felt alive but could feel the lack of something significant. Something was amiss, but what? He couldn't yet figure it out. It wasn't even the time to contemplate such things, he was alive and his wife had saved him. What more could he possibly desire?

☾ ⋆*･ﾟ

Elliot knew, articulately, who his go-to-guy was for the ideal spiritual training. Elder Zachariah, however, had other plans. He sent Elliot to the other elders, who he was sure, would train him to his extremes.

To Elder Zachariah, Elliot was like his kid now. He knew he wouldn't have been able to push him the way the other Elders could. His training in the past had been successful enough for Elliot to gain in on speed and a little more of strength. Albeit being weaker than the other wolves, he was progressing at a satisfactory pace and Zachariah was proud of him in a way he would have been of his own son.

Through the hardest days of the training, Elliot found himself giving up but then the stranger's warning flared in his mind. He had lost Lea, he wasn't losing anyone else. For months and more, he trained with all his might, without letting his weaknesses get to him. He had learned the theoretic of how to shift but never once had his wolf been controlled by his human. Everyone in the camp had begun to fear him, for the story about his ferality had finally gone around and no one except the Elders conversed with him. It irked him in ways more than one. Only if he'd somehow known about his lycan form any sooner, he would have gotten used to it. But it wasn't a time to think such irrepressible things, wasn't a time to regret.

His eighteenth birthday came and went, nothing out of the ordinary happened as his father had feared. However, Elder Zachariah explained to Elliot that he hadn't abruptly shifted because he had come into his lycan self once before.

However, one not so fine day, while Elliot was out working on his shifting abilities, – big surprise there – jotting down his weaknesses in his mind's journal, the familiar stranger decided to pay him a visit.

There was merely a crunch of autumn leaves that announced his arrival, alerting Elliot. Somehow, he didn't consider the stranger as a threat but Elliot had heard an old friend say, "anyone can betray anyone."

"Look who decided to show up," Elliot mocked. "What's the new advice you've got, pal? Anything along the lines of how to avoid creepy strangers such as yourself? Oh, wait, that advice is ages old. Every kid knows it, rarely followed by anyone though." His cynical face settled in a deep frown when Mr Familiar Stranger refused to express anything, let alone reply.

"Are you done yet, kiddo?" Elliot whirled around to find Gavin behind him, the stranger was momentarily forgotten.

"You scared the fucking shit out of me," Elliot frowned again while Gavin snickered.

"Who were you talking to? I mean I knew you were feral, latent and whatnot, but insane too? Should I talk to the elders to keep you on a leash, pup?" He snickered again but Elliot felt a fit of anger fuming deep within him. However, like all the other times, he didn't feel his wolf or his emotions. It felt as though the wolf had abandoned him just like he had been oblivious to his wolf for eighteen long years. These thoughts made him even more furious.

He shoved Gavin with all his might, making the other guy hit his back on the tree trunk far behind him.

"You sure wanna go there, boy?" Groaning, Gavin got up and shifted.

The burgundy wolf growled at Elliot.

In a trice, Gavin’s wolf had Elliot pinned beneath it. Its strong fangs were now wrapped around Elliot’s calf. Whimpering in pain, from the impact of hitting the ground and of the bite, Elliot screamed in pain. He tried once, twice, to shift. However, every time he came closer to shifting, his wolf pulled far away from him.

As the fangs dug deeper, Elliot’s vision started to get blurry. Tears of pain made it even hazier and then Elliot found himself staring at the translucent form of the stranger, hovering.

Gavin’s wolf was now dragging Elliot across the forest, away from the tribe’s houses and towards the denser part of the forest. Despite being mostly out of it, Elliot could sense what Gavin’s endgame would be.

“Wake up.” The stranger’s voice, albeit soft, held the authority and power to send a surge of adrenaline kicking through his entire body. He could feel it now, the bones changing shapes, snapping and popping and healing, settling in a position that his body preferred but always prevented from turning into. The silver of Elliot’s was now free of the burgundy wolf's hold, standing in all his glory, overpowering the supposed enemy's feeble form.

The silver wolf growled in a voice so ferocious that a flock of birds flew away from the forest, detecting danger that was Elliot.

The burgundy wolf of Gavin, however, seemed to hold a vengeance against him.

Lurching high, the wolf attacked Elliot, merely managing to make Elliot sway a little. Elliot struck back. His wolf was enjoying this fight, albeit the burgundy wolf wasn't even a competition. From the back of his mind, Elliot tried to reign in the wolf but failed despite his efforts.

Gavin's wolf was now circling Elliot's but the silver wolf was tired of this petty game. He smashed into the burgundy wolf again, getting a hold of his prey.

Mightily enough, and akin to a bit of a pretentious asshole, Elliot's wolf growled again.

It then buried its fangs deep inside the skin of the burgundy wolf, eliciting the scariest howl that sounded like an eerie death-song.