Chapter six.

It had been seven days; a whole week and Elliot hadn’t stopped cussing upon each and every star that had made him accept the challenge that was this training. He had never been in so much pain. Even his coach at school hadn’t drilled him to this extent. But no matter how much Elliot desired to, there was no going back now. He had signed up for this, and even though he was hurting, he knew it deep down that this was only helping him, albeit gradually.

In the mornings, Elliot would practice shifting, but it had been seven days and he hadn't been able to so much as snap a single bone in his body, apart from having them broken while combat training.

At night, the Indigenous people would take him to patrol around the mountains where he, being the only one in human form, would be exhausted by all the running. No doubt he was the quarterback in the school team, but running along with the wolves was a whole new degree of hustle and he couldn't keep up.

The first day of their welcome had been the only one when he'd been entirely happy of his decision, and not pushing himself. The next morning, when he woke up, the eldest werewolf had called him in to ask him about his first transformation. It wasn't easy for Elliot to describe everything as he was unconscious for the most of his transformation and the aftermath but Elder Zachariah had been helpful enough in explaining what he had witnessed.

There was a schedule set up for him then. Every day he had to get up at four in the morning, train with the members of the tribe for three hours, then, he had to go for a hunt. That was the most difficult part for him. The fact of killing someone, even if it was just an animal, seemed to ridicule and disgust Elliot, eating them after having seen their pain grossed him out on a whole different level. At times, he wanted to turn into a vegan. Physical exertion was endurable, but the mental exhaustion that the guys of his age put him through was something he couldn't tolerate. Despite being of his age, they treated him like a low-level pup.

In high school, he was used to being the most popular kid, and with Lea by his side, he had always felt almost invincible. Here though, it was the worst. The wolves his age called him names, even though many of the words were ones he had heard for the first time, the undertone always left him flinching. This, he thought, was what bullying felt like.

Weren’t these people, being closest to Qaphsiel and all, meant to be more humble and better than common men?

At present, he was patrolling around the village when he overheard two of his friends speaking, "I heard he found his mate. Do you know who she is?" Lloyd questioned.

"Yeah, she's a wolf from a southern clan," Gavin said making a guttural sound at the back of his throat.

"No kidding, that dude's got to be ready for what's coming." Lloyd laughed along with Gavin.

Elliot was getting more and more perplexed as the conversation escalated, "What's a mate?" He finally questioned when both the wolves had begun talking of the mating process. He had been told by his father that Greta was his mate, and Xavier was hers but he never got the hold of the concept properly.

"Whoa! Are you really this naive or are you just acting like this for the fun of it?" Lloyd smirked.

"Come on, Gavin. You know I am new to all of this. It's difficult for me to grasp so many things all at once." Elliot grunted.

"Yeah Gavin, cut the kid some slack. He is already going through a lot." Lloyd said and then began explaining how the mate bond worked, "Well, just like there are soul mates in the human world, we have mates. When a wolf turns eighteen, they can sense their mate if around. Until a wolf is eighteen, the wolf won't be able to know who his or her mate is. Once they recognize their other half, a wild urge takes over the wolf to claim the other one. The possessiveness of both the wolves reaches to a whole another level. And the fact that stands out the most is that they can feel each other's emotions through a mind-link."

“Oh, don’t forget the part where they say fate brings the mates together so that they can recognize each other. The recognition part works differently for every wolf. For some, it might be a tingle, for others, it’s like lightning striking the body,” Gavin added.

Elliot gaped at them and then shaking his head, he retorted, "it’s complete rubbish. I know you guys are pulling my leg again, aren't you? And – and what do you mean by claiming one another?"

"Not at all, pup. You'll know if you find your mate." Gavin smirked and went to the opposite direction, back to the woods. He then turned around, making a biting gesture, he mocked Elliot, "And... and that's how you claim, buddy."

"What did he mean by if I find my mate?" Elliot furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.

"Ah, you have to be lucky enough to find your mate, buddy. Even if you are destined to cross paths, you might not be blessed enough to identify them if they aren’t eighteen then." With that said, Lloyd patted Elliot's shoulder as if he knew what the pain of living without a mate was.

Later that night, Elliot decided that going for a run would be better than sleeping. He was feeling aggravated for reasons unknown. He had talked to Xavier who, with the support of his former friends and pack was already preparing an attack against the leech. All they needed now was a leader and Elliot wasn't ready to be one.

☾ ⋆*･ﾟ

"It’s gonna take Elliot more than a month or even two to get control over his wolf. Or maybe he never would." Donnan voiced out and after gaining a growl from Xavier, he rectified immediately, "Just saying that we should go ahead with the plan, ask for help from allied alphas and the people from our clan who are also fed up of Ben's torment. Think about it, Alpha. It'll be like killing two birds with one stone as from what my sources tell me, Malcolm's headed towards Ben's pack."

"I understand where you're coming from Donnan, but we need a leader to convene an attack of this proportion," Xavier replied.

"Then what's wrong with you leading us? We used to be an unbeatable clan before, we will even be now," Donnan argued.

"Yes, we were until we were destroyed by that hell of a traitor." Xavier retorted, "I am not even in a position to lead you all. It was long ago and now I am out of it."

Greta stood up, speaking directly to her husband, "you can never be out of something you were born with. You were always a natural leader, Xavier. No one can take that away from you, not even you yourself." Xavier was now feeling cornered.

"Alright, alright, I'll do it," he said raising a hand, "but that means we'll have to get allies, and it should be done sooner than we had planned. Donnan, Gayle, both of you need to talk to your friends, new or old. From Ben's pack or mine."

"We're a step ahead of you, Alpha. Your Omega's already onto it. We attack tonight." Gayle grinned and then turned to his phone, making calls.

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As though in a trance, Elliot kept running towards the direction where a strange pull directed him to go. He had next to no idea as to what was going on, but he just couldn't stop running. It felt like there was something that needed to be done, something that couldn't be ignored.

Little did he realize that it was his own restlessness over losing his girlfriend and his whole life getting swept up by a tornado - taking him with it - that was making his wolf push further to the edge, forcing him to lash out; to kill. He had no choice but to go along with it.

His wolf wanted to lash out at someone, it wanted to kill. Kill the person because of whom his Lea was dead, kill his father's betrayer for taking away the childhood that he should have had. It was because of Malcolm that Elliot's wolf had gone feral. It was because of him that Lea was dead. But what could he do? He wasn't even capable of shifting of his own will; let alone control the wolf after the shift.

With a newborn determination fuelled by frustration, Elliot lunged into the air hoping to end on four paws; instead, he rolled down the hill.

☾ ⋆*･ﾟ

In the haste of getting away from her captors, and to save what was left of her dignity, Celeste had become desperate. She was done moping around, now she had decided to show everyone what she was made of, what kind of girl her father had raised her to be. She had now taken it upon her to free herself and her family of Ben and his son. The only obstacle was the silver around her wrists.

So when Victoria had come for her daily routine of getting Celeste ready for Dante, she had wrapped her arm around Victoria’s neck in a chokehold as soon as she was out of the cuffs. Then she had dragged her unconscious body to the washroom, settling her in the tub. Later, she had put on the blood-red lingerie that the maid had brought for her.

She looked at herself in the mirror, assessing herself and smiling maliciously as the knob of the door turned and the thought of how Dante was totally oblivious to what was waiting for him behind the closed doors made her heart beat faster with hope soaring through her.