HOWL OF PAIN.
1013 Words
Because if he claims her now, he steals her choice. But if he waits, he'll go mad and a mad wolf is vulnerable. Easy prey for enemies circling his territory. His father would never take back a banished heir turned feral. The council would vote to put him down before letting him anywhere near Beacon Hill.
Kai pushes harder, faster, trying to outrun thoughts that won't stop spiraling.
A familiar scent cuts through the trees.
He barely registers it before a massive black wolf tackles him from the side. They go down in a tangle of fur and snarls, rolling through underbrush. Kai's instinct fires. He twists, snaps at the other wolf's throat, pins him in the dirt.
Jackson.
Jackson bares his teeth at Kai, which makes Kai rake his claws through Jackson’s fur. Not deep enough to tear muscle, but enough to sting, to leave heat behind. Jackson shoves back, his shoulder driving into Kai’s chest, forcing him off. Kai loses his balance and tumbles away, then regains his footing and settles into a defensive stance.
Jackson exposes his throat immediately, whining in submission. But his amber eyes stay locked on Kai’s, concerned rather than afraid.
Kai steps back and lets the dominance display dissolve into what it really is. Two brothers who have survived hell together, playing at hierarchy because it is the only language their wolves understand.
Jackson shifts first.
The transformation ripples through him, bones cracking and reforming until he's crouched naked in the dirt, human except for the amber glow still in his eyes.
"What happened?" Jackson's voice comes rough. "I sensed your distress halfway across the valley. Had to come."
The bond between alpha and first beta runs deep. Deeper than pack or blood. Jackson would feel Kai's emotional state like a second heartbeat. Another bond like this is that of mates.
Kai shifts too, the change easier now that Valor's had time to burn off some rage. He sits in the dirt, head in his hands, and says nothing.
"Talk to me."
"I'm just stressed."
"Bullshit." Jackson moves closer, crouching beside him. "You're barely holding it together. I can feel it. What's going on?"
Kai's jaw works. He wants to explain everything to Jackson that Ivy is his mate and he's terrified because everything is falling apart faster than he can control it. Yet, something is holding him back.
"Well." Jackson exhales slowly. "If you won't tell me, I won't force it."
"It's nothing I can't control."
"I hope so.” Jackson studies him carefully, weighing whether to deliver the news he has. “I know you have a lot on your mind. But, this can't wait."
Kai’s head snaps up. “What can't wait?”
"News came in from Beacon Hill."
Kai's body goes rigid. Nothing good has ever come from that pack. Not since he was told to never come back until he had the white-witch.
"Our informant says your father killed Elder Torren."
The world stops.
Torren.
His mother's brother. The only family who mattered after she died under mysterious circumstances that no one would explain. The man who taught Kai everything about being a wolf, about honor, about control. Who visited him in secret after the banishment, bringing messages, resources, his wisdom and hope that someday things might change.
Torren, who was more father to him than his actual father ever tried to be.
Gone.
"No." The word barely makes sound. "That’s… he wouldn’t—”
"I'm sorry." Jackson's hand lands on his shoulder. "I know what he meant to you."
Kai can't breathe. The forest suddenly comes alive as his chest caves in on itself, ribs crushing lungs that refuse to pull air.
Torren is dead.
His father killed him.
Why?
"Leave me alone." Kai's commands.
Jackson hesitates, then nods. Starts to rise.
"Wait." Jackson pauses halfway to standing. "There's more. Your father has personally taken up the search for the White Witch."
His brows knit, not in confusion but in refusal, his mind scrambling to reject what it’s just been handed. Displeasure follows close behind, sour and immediate.
What's so important about this White Witch that's making his father give everything to find him or her including Kai?
Everyone knows of the prophecy. Not the details. Just enough to make it dangerous.
There is a White Witch. That much is certain. Whoever they are, they are not just powerful. They are the hinge the world swings on, the key to everything that is coming. People whisper that part carefully, like saying it too loudly might wake something.
It is also common knowledge that the White Witch comes from the Blue Fur pack. That detail slipped out years ago and never went back in. But that is where certainty ends.
No one knows if the Witch is a he or a she. No one knows what they are meant to do, or how, or when. Only a handful have ever seen the full prophecy, and that was no accident. His father made sure the rest of it stayed buried, locked down so tight that all anyone else is left with are rumors, half truths, and fear filling in the gaps.
Kai needs to find her before his father does, because capturing and presenting her to him is the only way Kai will ever reclaim his birthright. The only way he'll bring his exiled pack home.
"That means more obstacles," Jackson continues quietly. "More competition. More danger." He meets Kai's eyes. "And if your father gets to her first, you'll be a lone wolf forever. No throne. No redemption. No home."
Kai sits in the dirt, naked and shaking, his mate still unclaimed while his last living family member lies dead and his father hunts the one thing that could save him.
Everything is falling apart.
And he can't tell which thread to grab first before the whole tapestry unravels completely.
Jackson shifts back into wolf form and disappears into the trees, leaving Kai alone with the moon and his grief and a howl building in his throat that might never stop.
- Writer
