by Chris Savage
“Casper, you can get angry at me all you want but please don’t you trivialize Gary’s death. Please don’t you do that. He died for the sake of the pack. He died fighting a war he never asked for. He’s a hero. And don’t blame me for his death okay? I’m as pained about his death as anyone, and I tried my best to save him out there.”
Shane stepped into the room again and Casper turned around to face them this time. “Hey Casper, how are you holding up?” he asked. “You’re healing okay?”
“Why? So you can figure out if I’m strong enough to handle another news of William leaving?
There was silence, as Shane tried to avoid facing Casper after he completed his statement. Casper understood immediately.
“You have got to be kidding me Shane! Really? Really?! Again? The both of you left by noon with Gary and just got back late in the afternoon and Gary died before you were back! What exactly is wrong with you guys here? William, please, you cannot keep doing this!” His voice was beginning to drift from sounding angry and nonchalant to sounding sad and desperate.
“You can sit this one out William, I know you can! Just don’t leave again, not tonight, please!”
“Casper,” William started. “Gary died. I was there. I saw him die, I held him as he died! I can’t sit anything out, don’t you understand? I can’t sit this out, not tonight. And I am sorry. I am sorry that it keeps looking like I don’t care enough about you as I continue to run off for one mission or the other. But I need you to know that every single thing I do is for you and for Henry. I have nothing else to live for, Casper, nothing! Just the two of you and the entire pack. You both will always take priority in everything I do, and I really hope you understand that.” He was begging. He was scared of falling out with Casper, as he did not want to imagine a world without him.
“William,” Casper sternly said with tears forming around his eyes. “You can continue lying to yourself for the purpose of justifying what you’re doing, but do not lie to me, as I will never help you justify this. You call Damion a coward all you want but I don’t hear about him running around fighting small battles at the expense of people who he claims matter to him!” That broke William in many ways than one. Casper had just compared him to Damion while accusing him of lying to him. He was angry and sad all at once. He painfully looked at Casper with tearful eyes.
“This is the height of your lack of understanding, Casper, you need to address this part of yourself. The man I fell in love with is better than this! You’re being a totally different person right now. I really want to believe this is not you! It can’t be you!” William angrily stormed out and was closely followed by Shane. Mark remained silent all through the heated conversation as he held Henry in his arms.
Casper could not believe his eyes, he had expected his adamant stance to sway William’s mind and influence him to change his decision, not to end up like it did. He jumped out of bed, totally livid at his mate, and started to pack his things into his bag.
“Casper, what are you doing?” Mark inquired.
“What does it look like I’m doing? I’m leaving. I’m leaving, that’s what I’m doing. I will not continue to be William’s trophy that he attends to whenever he wants. He can go off hunting whomever he has been hunting all this while, but I don’t want to be a part of it anymore. I want out. Don’t give me that judgmental face, I’m leaving, and do not try to stop me.”
He retrieved Henry from Mark and with his bag in his other hand, disappeared into the night.
Chapter 18
The search for the three survivors was made more difficult for Shane and William for a lot of reasons. Bearing in mind the odds against them, they were both ready to quit the search once the other person suggested it. The lapsed amount of time was a major factor hindering the possibility of finding the three survivors. The interruption by the Hagen Pack members earlier that day was a huge hindrance, a setback that made them rethink their entire war strategy, apparently. They were not ready to give up. They needed the three survivors from the massacre as badly as they needed to win the war, as they were sure those three would have seen something, anything that would give them a vital lead to aid their war strategies. They were on the back foot, so they could not leave anything to chance. The enemy had a lot of pack members to spare, that was why their strategy was always in form of mass attacks, which opened them up to the risk of losing vital members of their pack, if they had any such people.
Another factor they thought could be a hindrance to their search was if the three wolves did not want to be found, since the Hagen Pack would most likely be on the search for them as well. William thought that there was a huge chance that the three survivors were searching for the Naltice Pack as well, as they apparently knew that the Naltice Pack was the main pack in the fight against Damion. If they wanted to survive, seeking refuge at the Naltice Settlement was the best way to secure their prolonged survival.
“What if they don’t find their way to the Naltice Settlement?” Shane pointed out the fact that they may have had the intention to secure their safety with them without knowing how to get to their location.
“They’re supposed to be wolves, if they cannot find their way there then I’m really interested in knowing how they were the ones who survived,” was William’s reply.
“Perhaps they’re just scared of being spotted by the Hagen.”
“Perhaps, but I don’t think the Hagen are that calculating in their thinking. I think they just want to kill, and since they did that already, they may as well just move to the next pack.”
“Which is where we strike them.” Shane spoke with so much venom in his blue glowing eyes as he stared into the dark.
“Shane,” William called to him as they combed through the woods.
“Yeah.”
“Do you think I’m being insensitive to Casper? You’ve been relatively quiet over the issue so far and this is a sort of issue where you’re the only one I listen to.”
Shane stayed silent for a while, thinking as they moved.
“I do not think you’re being insensitive, William. In fact this is the most sensitive you have ever been in your entire life. The way you apologized to Casper and kept asking for his forgiveness even if you have a perfect reason for doing what you’re doing, especially when it also benefits him, that shows sensitivity, son. He kept blaming you for things which we all know you have to do as a leader who carries the entire responsibility of a pack on his shoulders, and you on the other hand kept on apologizing and accepting the blame while you begged him to understand. That’s rare in anyone.
“The fact that you are asking me right now whether or not you were too insensitive shows that you care about the effects of your words and actions on Casper. The fact that you are willing to accept my judgment despite what it is shows that you are willing to be on the wrong side for his sake. That is not being insensitive, if you ask me. So no, you were not, William.”
William was overwhelmed. In his hundreds of years alive he had never heard Shane speak so well of him. Scratch that, in his hundreds of years he had never heard anyone speak so highly of him.
“Damn, Shane,” he said. “You just made me feel more than an alpha right there.”
“Well if it’s any explanation you’re more than just an alpha to me, and I think you know that already.”
“Thanks Shane.”
They finally arrived at the massacred village as they were greeted with the stench of corpses butchered primitively by Damion’s subjects.
“Wow, the rest of the packs must have really done something to hurt Damion, for him to have such vile intentions against us,” William commented as they made their way through the dead.
“Don’t move, Shane,” William suddenly said. Not again! Shane had gone through enough ambushes for one day. He prepared himself for an attack immediately. William suddenly disappeared, away from Shane’s side. I really hate when he does that. William’s incredible speed was one striking attribute about him, an
d had always been a point of great advantage in battle.
He immediately returned with two men; grabbing them by the neck, he dropped them on the floor before Shane. The two men look traumatized and unable to speak. They remained on the ground. At this point it was clear that the men were surviving members of the pack, and if they valued their safety they better start to talk, as far as Shane was concerned.
“Who are you guys?” William asked the whimpering men. One of them managed to point towards the death pool.
“Those… Those were our people, and look at them! Just look at them!”
It was indeed an eye sore. They were killed indiscriminately, with most of them mutilated.
“I thought three of you survived,” Shane eventually said, unable to console the men in any way.
“No, two of us. Just two of us survived. I think the Hagen wolves spread the rumour of three survivors when they could not find us.”
“Okay, you both need to get cleaned up, then let’s get going once you’re done.”
“Who are you guys?” The man was surprised by their gesture of kindness, as they were total strangers.
“I am Shane, and this is William.”
The two men opened their eyes wide in astonishment. They definitely would have heard of Shane and William of the Naltice Pack. They assumed a submissive position as they sat on the ground and thanked William.
“No please, you’re beginning to freak me out already. Let’s just go.”
Their arrival was greeted a lot of cheering and praising by the members of the pack. The first wolf they met upon getting back realized that they had returned with the survivors and was overjoyed. He howled loudly in the air and in an instant, the howl was reciprocated by a number of wolves and they all trooped out of their homes to see what the matter was. Upon meeting the survivors, everyone was indeed glad. They had taken a considerable step forward in the war. They had been on the back foot, and suffered a few setbacks from time to time, including the loss of Gary earlier that day. This was a sort of compensation, and whether or not they were at war, they were going have a good night feast.
William was about to go out and check on Casper when he saw Mark standing alone searching for him amidst the crowd. He stared at Mark and walked toward him.
“Mark,” he said, staring suspiciously at Mark. “Where’s Casper?”
Mark stayed silent. He did not know where to begin the narrative from. He looked at William and shook his head.
“What, what do you mean? Why are you shaking your head? Answer me!” The colour of his eyes changed to the alpha red as he questioned Mark. He tried assuming the worst at this point, but could not bring himself to do it. He looked at Mark straight in the eye and demanded an answer.
“He’s gone, William. He left. Took Henry with him as he did.”
William was lost for a few seconds. Lost, in a way where he lost sense of his consciousness for that period in time. Lost, as in losing sense of where he was and who he was. Panicking would have been an understatement to what state he was in. Immediately he grabbed Mark by the neck and threw him far across the room, shattering a few delicate objects in the process. The entire crowd became silent and the feast came to a standstill for a while.
“You were supposed to watch him!” He stormed out of the room in absolute rage.
William ran the fastest he had ever run to his personal home, where he immediately landed in the room where he’d left Casper. But he was gone. Casper, the baby, and Casper’s belongings. William ran his hand through his hair, back and forth in succession. His heart began to beat in geometric progression, as he looked for stability within himself to decide what to do. He was angry at Mark for letting Casper go, but deep down he knew that Mark did the right thing by not trying to physically stop Casper, as that may have had consequences on his fragile recovering body, or the baby he carried. Besides, Mark did not have the right to do that anymore as Casper was old enough as a wolf to make his own decisions. He was particularly angry at Casper, for being such a child in his actions. Where was he going to go? It’s late at night, there’s a war going on, who does he know? He is in more danger than he could ever imagine! Different thoughts flooded through William’s mind, and his anger became mixed with worry. He decided not to sit back and think anymore, and leaped up and out of the room. He ran out of his home and straight into the woods, tracking Casper through his scent as well as Henry’s. He only wanted to find Casper at this moment, and totally forgot the fact that he was mad at him. Seeing how dark and silent the night was got him scared for Casper’s sake, and most importantly Henry’s.
He in no time caught Casper’s scent with a bit of Henry’s. He immediately got a lock on the scent’s direction and began tracing it. Following the scent, he felt a bit of tension in the atmosphere, but brushed it aside. He was only focused on finding his mate and his child. He forged forwards and continued to track the omega’s scent.
He suddenly felt his focus shifting. He was not getting much of the scent anymore, neither Casper’s not Henry’s. Something was preventing his focus. The scent of another person, another wolf! William began to internally panic and was on a high alert. He was torn between pursuing the scent and finding out who it was, and directing all of his focus towards finding Casper and Henry. Both choices were aimed towards ensuring that Casper was safe.
As he contemplated, something suddenly struck his mind. He recognized the scent interrupting his focus. He went on higher alert and decided to track that scent down instead, there was no other option now. He was able to get a lock on the scent and began to track it as fast as he could. His ruthless instincts came alive, as he ran forward in the woods with incredible speed. He was alpha, so he knew what was at stake here. Henry was the future of the pack, so he was not going to let the creature go anywhere near him.
Soon, he began to lose track of the scent. He was not surprise,d as this was typical; the scent was being masked. But he was no ordinary wolf, unmasking the scent of any wolf was something he was certain he could pull off. He was back on track after a short while and continued his search. He was not going to allow such a vile creature anywhere near his mate and son. He was ready for anything now, as he got closer to the scent’s location. There was bitterness and rage in his eyes as he ran.
“Damion, I’m coming for you,” he silently muttered to himself under his breath.
Chapter 19
Casper rethought his decision to leave almost immediately after he left the house with Henry. He was mad at William, and that was not going to change for a while, but he was also not putting Henry’s life at risk. He moved silently through the woods, and was surprised at how fearless he was in the dark. He had never been one to fear anything at all actually, but that night there was confidence in how he moved through the woods, knowing the dangers of the night during such a time of war. Halfway through his journey he began thinking out loud, which made more sense to him than it normally should, considering the fact that Henry was with him.
“It has to be you, you know,” he began. “It just has to be, I’m supposed to be shitting myself right now out of fear. I mean we’re at war, you know. Gary was killed earlier today, while he fought off Damion’s wolves trying to kidnap him. Heard he killed two of them. He was brave, Gary was brave. I don’t think I’m that brave, not yet maybe. But tonight is different. I feel brave, like Gary. I feel like I can actually protect myself, and you. You have to be the source of my confidence out here. It has to be you. Nothing else makes any sense.
“You know, your father, William, is never scared of anything,” he said, admiring William in his absence. “He never fears an opponent in battle, no matter how much the odds are against him. He is possibly the strongest alpha that has ever lived, in terms of both his physical and mental strength, and his sense of commitment to the pack. That part is out of this world.
“But sometimes he can get too committed, you know, he never wants anything to interrupt his duties to the pack. I wanted him to realize
that things are different now, that he has you now, and he can’t keep running off at any opportunity to battle the enemy. He has trusted warriors and generals. A few of them are almost as strong as him, and can handle themselves in battle. He should trust them to do certain things and learn to delegate, that is all I ask.
“But William won’t. He prefers doing the dirty jobs of the pack, exhibiting his perfect sense of leadership and example before everyone. But I don’t think he needs that anymore, everyone already knows how much of a leader he is and that he would do almost anything, including give up his own life, to protect the pack. But then again, he’s not doing it for the recognition. He’s doing it because he has to, and he believes no one will do it if he does not, but that is where he is wrong. He just needs to take a leap of faith, really.”
Casper’s walk was filled with a lot of reflection. He liked his time at the Naltice cabin, but felt he was being treated like an egg which must not be dropped, and he did not like that. He thought about Mark, his closest friend in the pack, and felt sorry for him. He reflected on how much Mark would have to explain to William when he found out about his disappearance. He strongly hoped that William did not punish Mark unreasonably upon realizing that Mark let him go. He honestly was surprised himself when Mark did not put up any resistance to him leaving. He remembered how irrational he was acting and how Mark just calmly stood there, doing nothing as he packed his bag and carried Henry, not even saying a word to convince him to stay. He realized that Mark was only staying within his bounds and not trying to interfere in what was clearly between himself and William.
The plan was to get to the city through any of the entrances into the woods and to find his way back to his home, the Jackson Mansion, which no one else had lived in since he arrived at the Naltice Settlement. He walked towards the edge of the woods and his wolf instincts kicked in. He noticed that he was not alone, and he started to get concerned for the safety of Henry. Instead of panicking, he prepared himself to shift at any time for battle as he continued to walk silently through the woods.