With having two friends dying so close together, one being a best friend, and the other he had recently made, Xairin felt obligated to avenge both of them. The men that hurt Xairin had taken someone very dear to him away, and with Alex, he felt as if he could have done something more to have saved his friend, if only he had been stronger, faster…
It hadn't been quite three months since he emerged from that Quarantine camp. So many things have happened to him in those three months. Between friends dying, and revelations of his family line, Xairin felt like he was torn in so many directions at once, that he was having difficulty keeping it together.
Xairin needed some desperate, me, time.
Jason heard branches snapping and turned around. His attention to the vampire, drifted to a face he was both surprised to see, and dreaded to be in the presence of, his father, August.
Xairin wiped away another tear and turned around. By the time he caught sight of Jason, another werewolf had arrived. Jason was about a hundred yards away from Xairin, in what looked like, an argument with someone youthful, possibly twenty, and dark hair. The young-looking man also reminded Xairin of Alex in the face. It dawned on him, it was Jason and Alex's father.
"What makes you special?" August asked. "I'm an Alpha, you're nothing but a beta, Argosh should have had me escort the Prince, not you!" The Angry alpha said.
"August, it's not as if I was given a choice. He asked me, I said yes. What kind of pack member would I even be, if I refused our Grand Alpha's orders? Especially since he's a Council member…"
"I am your father, and you will address me as such!"
Jason put his left hand on his hip and stared him down. "Just because you're my father, doesn't mean you're my dad!" Jason huffed. "You never spent any time with any of us. Hell, Alex didn't even know about me until three decades ago. All you care about is being an Alpha, and piss on the rest of us!"
"I am your Alpha, Jason, you owe me respect!"
Jason huffed again, scoffing even. "You're an Alpha, one of many, and yeah, you might be able to control me, but in my eyes, you are not my Alpha!"
August crossed his arms and glared at him. He was angry. He felt it was his right to do the escorting, not his son, especially a son that had let him down. August couldn't stand the fact that Jason wouldn't produce an heir due to his homosexuality at play. "It should have been me that escorted this prince, all I am saying."
Jason looked at him. His eyes turning yellow. "That's all this is to you, August. That's all this has ever been. You kissed ass until Elder Kiluix allowed you to evolve, and now you are pissed off because the Grand Alpha overlooked you. Get over it and stop acting like the age you look like and act like the fucking age you actually are August!"
August grit his teeth and snarled. His own eyes were turning, his eyes went reddish with hints of amber. "You have disrespected me for the last time, Jason."
"Really?" Jason asked. "When was the first time I disrespected you? Oh yeah, when I got outed against my will by Sydney when he let everyone know about seeing me making out with that guy in a gay bar?” Jason stood his ground. “Ever since you found out I like men; you have treated me like shit! Going on and on, saying that it was some huge dishonor that I'm, oh, what was it you said? Oh yeah, that's right, your exact words, calling me some fag that couldn't give you an heir. That's all you are is some superficial whinny ass bitch that can't handle me being my own fucking person!"
“Don’t make me control you again Jason!” August threatened.
Xairin could hear still hear them. “What, control me like you did each time I tried to go on a date? I like guys August. It’s not a choice, it's part of who I am. What you made me do that last date I went on, was wrong! Don’t you get it? I deserve to be happy August, I deserve to find love, and each time I have tried, you have mind controlled me each fucking time, ruining my chances.” Jason tried not to cry. “I am tired of you treating me like this!”
August's claws grew upon his fingertips. Xairin could see them with his enhanced vision.
Jason saw it too and swung his arms open. "What are you going to do? Kill me? I bet that would go over really nicely at the next pack meeting?"
Jason growled. "You can't accept me because I'm gay, and you can't accept the fact that our superior asked me to escort the prince on our lands. Get over yourself!"
Xairin had been listening in, long enough. While the two men quarreled, Xairin reached into his front pocket of his jeans and got out the cellphone that the Society had given him. It had every council member's number listed. He called Argosh.
"Yes, Xairin?" Argosh answered.
Xairin did well to keep his voice down as the feud between father and son escalated. "Hey, first, I want to thank you; secondly, my guide has been very helpful, but his father has shown up, and I think I am about to see two wolves kill each other on your sacred lands."
"Excuse me?" Argosh replied.
He kept his voice down. "Some douchenozzle named August showed up and is giving Jason one hell of a way to go. Clearly, the man has pride issues since you chose his son to escort me here, over him. Honestly, I'm glad you did, because I'm just about ten seconds away from ripping this homo-hating werewolf into so many pieces that he can't wipe his own ass for a week until his limbs grow back."
Argosh spoke quickly. "No need, not on our sacred lands and especially on the burial grounds. I will take care of it now."
"How?" Xairin asked. "You're not here."
"I am close enough, just watch, I promise, I will make this right." The grand alpha said with an assuring tone.
"I hope so, because I can't stand homo-haters, and the way he is treating his son right now Argosh, I do not approve."
"I got this, I am looking through their eyes now, I can see you, just turn around and watch," Argosh said sternly.
Xairin turned around and crossed his arms. August had Jason lifted off the ground by his shirt with one hand. He was about to hit him.
Xairin was about to slip over and beat the immortal senseless. That was when it happened. He saw Jason drop to the ground. August was stunned, falling on his knees. The dark-haired alpha's arms flew backward as if he was being pulled by some invisible force, stretching him. The next thing Xairin saw was his mouth opening wide, so wide that the skin was tearing and attempting to regenerate while his head looked right up at the sky. August was pinned, with his face slowly ripping, his arms stretching backward, the skin ripping, and trying to heal. That's when Xairin heard Argosh's voice coming from August's widely forced open mouth. "Xairin, I do apologize for the actions of this pernicious pup. And to you, Jason, looking through your father's thoughts, I didn't realize how cruel he had been to you. For that, I am sorry."
Xairin arrived at Jason's side and reached down to extend a hand to help pull the handsome werewolf upward. Once he was standing, Xairin looked at the distorted figure being twisted. "Argosh, is he aware of what you are doing and saying?"
His voice echoed from the wide-open mouth. "Yes, he is fully aware of everything I am saying, and can still hear what you have to say."
Xairin put his hands on his hips and bobbed his head a little with a frustrated smirk across his face. "Well good, because if this homo-hating fuck-shit better never ascend to grand alpha, ever. Furthermore, I want his ass punished for disrespecting his son and me. I will not tolerate this shit, you fucking disgusting asshole, and as long as I live, you will never be allowed to evolve, and if you ever find a way to do so, I will have you hunted down like the dog you are, got it!?"
Argosh spoke through him. "He heard you. He will be punished. I will control him and force him to submit to the elders. They will place him in a silver cage for a month for his actions."
Xairin snapped his fingers from his right hand. "A month, oh hell no, this furry bitch is getting locked up in the pound for two months."
"Two it shall be," Argosh said through August. "Again, I am sorry for his insolence. And to you, Jason, I am sorry this went on for so lon
g. It will never happen again."
Xairin thought for a moment. "Argosh, since Jason was so kind to me and escorted me here, I assume that August will need a replacement for his part of the tribe, yes?"
Again, he answered back through the wide-open mouth still ripping along the lip lines. "Yes, he will. August governs over twenty wolves in the tribe."
Xairin looked at Jason, then at the puppet before him. "Is it within a Grand Alpha's power, to evolve anyone?"
Argosh voiced his reply. "Yes."
"Then Evolve Jason into an Alpha so that his father can never again control him and let him lead his father's pack until August can show proper respect."
Jason looked at Xairin. The man could have cried right then and there. Freedom, free from his father keeping him down, and become an Alpha at that. At that moment, he wanted to hug and kiss the vampire on the cheek for freeing him from his father's mental meddling. He was sobbing. "How can I ever thank you?"
Xairin looked over and smiled. "Well, I can give you my number, and who knows?"
August fell to the ground as Argosh left his mind. His face was bleeding, his armpits and shoulders were bleeding, as were his elbows and parts of his back where his skin was ripping open slowly. It took almost a full two minutes for his jaw to return back to what it should look like. Xairin kept watching him with a disgusted look across his face.
He waited until the alpha stood up. "I may not be allowed to rip you to shreds like I wanted to since Argosh opposed it. But let me tell you something, if it weren't for you being able to regenerate, I would have your fucking ass neutered!" Xairin slipped, appearing beside him, when August turned around, Xairin backhanded him so hard that he flew through the air, landing sixty feet into the dirt along the path. A split second later, Xairin was on top of him, his red eyes glowing. "You have no idea how tempted I am to just end you here, and now, you better be glad that I like Argosh. Enjoy the fucking pound, you fucking prick!"
Xairin stood up and reached for his sun goggles. He turned around and saw Jason coming closer. Jason was a little dizzy. "Evolving already?" Xairin asked.
"Yeah, I think so. My head is splitting, and all I want to do is sleep."
"Does that non-flying truck of yours work like a regular car?"
Jason nodded. "Yeah."
"I can drive, I can remember how to get you back to your garage."
"Are you sure?" Jason asked while he began rubbing his temples.
"Yeah, really. Photographic memory and all. You just give me the keys, and I will get you back before you pass out. I may be a young immortal, but I do know evolutions force you to pass out."
Jason tossed him the keys. Xairin had to start helping him to the truck. This was happening quickly.
Jason was fast asleep by the time Xairin made it off the dirt road and back to solatex roadways. He looked over at Jason, and then back at the road. The werewolf was handsome, ruggedly handsome. Xairin sort of cocked a grin. "I wonder if he's an average immortal." Xairin looked over slyly at Jason's outline between his legs as he was propped against the side. Xairin had to catch himself. "Okay, no lusting; just get him back, and we can imagine it later."
He pulled into the garage. Sam Marche, the tattooed woman that Xairin saw earlier, came out running with Brittney Ugo, the blond he noticed before when he arrived. They both came around to the passenger side. Xairin got out and came over. "Sam was insistent. "No, we got this."
Xairin smirked. "I hate to play my prince card and all, but let me, please. Least I can do for him being kind to me."
Brittney backed off, while Sam was more resistant. "I can help. Not a helpless woman here, immortal, remember?"
Xairin gave her a stern look. "Jason escorted me to his brother's resting place least I can do is help him. As for you being helpless, please, I get it, not trying to step on toes or even think along those lines, so let me help, okay?"
Brittney put her arm on Sam's shoulder. Sam backed off as Xairin effortlessly carried Jason in his arms. "Okay, ladies, can someone show me where to put him."
Sam went ahead and opened the door, while Brittney followed.
The rest of Jason's employees gathered around as Sam led Xairin to a sofa in the breakroom. Xairin laid him down gently and noticed a pillow on a chair across the room. He reached for it, willing it to float over quickly and propped it behind Jason's head.
Charlie Boothe, the short dark-haired man all greased up and standing there looked at Sam. "Is he really evolving?"
Sam nodded. "You can feel it."
Charlie seemed a bit slow. "How?"
Sam looked over at Xairin. "There are only a few ways that could have happened, one is if…"
Xairin spoke quickly, interrupting her. "Jason's father showed up being an ass, I called Argosh on my cell and had him take care of it from afar. Plus, I asked Argosh to make sure that August could never control Jason again. To do that, Argosh made Jason evolve." Xairin sighed. "No one deserves to be treated the way I saw his father treat him. No one."
"August showed up?" Sam asked.
Xairin stood up slowly. "In all his homo-hating glory."
Sam growled, “homo-hating? Yeah that sounds like August alright.”
Xairin sighed as he looked at the handsome face resting. “Even more of a pity to hold such a handsome guy back from finding someone.”
Brittney asked. “You think Jason is good looking?”
Xairin shrugged. “Well yeah, look at him. How long has his father been keeping him from being himself?”
Sam scoffed. “You have no idea.”
“Humm.” Xairin said.
Xairin had a new number, so he had to look at his phone's settings to get it. He looked at Sam and then Brittney. "Can one of you get me something to write with?"
Brittney nodded and walked out of the room, returning with a pen and scratchpad. She handed it over. "Here, ya go."
Xairin looked at his phone, then wrote on the yellow scratch pad's top page. 99-706-81-9045682. He looked up. "Can I trust one of you to give him my personal number, and have him call me or text me when he wakes up?"
Sam scoffed. "A council member is giving Jason their number?"
Xairin shrugged. " It may be weird to say this since I just visited Alex’s grave, but what can I say, Jason’s good looking and if he is into vampires, I am single, and I just might be interested. I honestly wouldn’t mind asking him out on a date." Xairin couldn’t believe he just said that out loud. He smiled and looked down at Jason's comatose face. Then he looked at Jason's employees. "Please?"
Brittney pushed past Sam and gently took the number from Xairin's welcoming hand. "I will be glad to."
Xairin smiled. "I need to be getting back."
He looked back at Jason. "How long do wolves take to evolve into Alphas?"
Sam spoke up. "Eight to twelve hours, sometimes longer. Jason being a born werewolf, I would say eight, but you never know."
Xairin looked at her. "I guess you all will make sure he is safe."
Sam growled. "Oh, if August is on the prowl, we got this."
Xairin sighed. "August is on his way to your elders to be locked away in a silver cage for the next two months, and Jason is to take over August's pack until he comes to his senses."
Sam barked out. "Are you shitting me?"
Xairin shrugged. "I asked Argosh to reward Jason and punish August for the way he acted, not just for how he treated his son, but the way he acted in front of a gay council member. I admit I am kind of new to all of this, but it was pretty interesting seeing Argosh make August look like he was playing a game of possessed twister on the ground."
"It is about time that asshole got his for a change." Charlie blurted.
Xairin smiled. "I also requested that he never be allowed to ascend to Grand Alpha since he clearly is nothing but a bigoted power-whore... Anyhow, I need to get going."
Chapter 6
Xairin made it back to Bastion City. He decided he would go home to Ethan's Mansion. It ha
d been a busy day. He just wanted to lay down, rest, and then go and visit Rory's grave. He had a promise to make and wanted to make it there when no one else was around. He was still grieving heavily, and with everything that happened after the funeral, he was still processing it all.
Sensing his arrival, Ethan, Peggy, and Justin were eager beavers, waiting for him to park his vehicle. The three walked out to greet him. Ethan looked concerned. "Are you okay?"
Xairin looked exhausted. "I have been to my friend's funeral, whisked away to a council meeting, and then I had to deal with a jealous ass werewolf who got pissy because Argosh picked his son to escort me instead of him. I have had a hell of a week."
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