Chapter 22: Gavin

Chapter 22: Gavin

I didn’t want to talk to anyone. I didn’t want to see anyone. After sharing with the rest of my pack what had transpired between us and Eastpeak—that the Mythguard wouldn’t help us, that Everett thought it could be resolved through diplomacy—I wanted nothing more than to retreat into darkness and fester. Try as I may be strong for my pack, that day overwhelmed me, sapped me of all my resolve, and left me feeling hollow. I hated David and Everett both. I felt hopeless and alone, and the uncontrollable anger that tormented me was rearing its head again. I couldn’t even bring myself to accompany Billie and Muriel to my apartment. They went with Aislin while I stayed back, avoiding Billie’s eyes, ashamed that I’d turned my anger onto her. But it lingered in my mind: what if she was only here to weaken me?

I rejected anyone’s attempts to comfort me the rest of the day. Nothing anyone could say would soothe what I had learned. Uncertainty and fear ruled my pack and now it ruled me too; I didn’t even know if it was safe for me to take my beast form into the woods and blow off some steam. Chances were, the moment Dalesbloom or the Inkscales caught my packmates alone, they’d rip them to shreds. It was hard enough for me to let Albin, Barbara, and Casimir go, but they had to return to the hotel. The others stuck it out while I skulked around the pack house, glued to my phone, expecting some other twist development to fuck me over even worse. By nightfall, the rest of them had gone to their own homes, leaving me with Oslo.

I stood in front of the kitchen window, staring down the dark driveway.

“You’re doing your best for us. They know that,” said Oslo beside me.

“It’s not enough,” I muttered. “I can try my fucking hardest to protect us, but it won’t mean shit if I’m up against… what, forty-three wolves and fifteen dragons? Oslo, I can’t fucking handle that. I don’t know what to do. I don’t even know where to begin.”

His hand went to my shoulder. “That’s why you have Gretel and I. It may feel like you’re alone in this, but you aren’t.”

“But I am,” I growled. “We can’t do anything. Me and you, we’re fucking helpless. The Mythguard could come in and take David into custody, but they won’t. They won’t do anything until he kills us. Or until Cat turns into a lycan, but who knows how many people she’ll have slaughtered by then.”

“You don’t really think Cat’s capable of that, do you?”

“You saw what she did to Joseph.”

I never thought Catrina would have been capable of it either, but I knew now that everyone in the Hexen family was hiding a dark, nefarious hunger that I couldn’t compete against. Even Colt, with his ‘crush’ on Aislin. That little fucking bastard.

“Nobody’s patrolling tonight, right?” I asked.

“No. We cleared the patrol schedule until further notice.”

“Our borders can’t stay unguarded, but I can’t risk anyone getting hurt. You and I will patrol tonight. Call Niko and have him come back here,” I instructed.

“I agree,” said Oslo. “I’d rather it be us than anyone else.”

“We’ll split up, and each take half the perimeter. Stay a quarter of a mile away from the markers and send up a howl if you even catch a whiff of Dalesbloom or the Inkscales. I’ll take the north, you take the south.”

Oslo lingered, meeting my eyes. His thick eyebrows tucked down with sober concern for me, fatherly in the way he held my stare. “Be careful, Gavin. If they catch you alone, you know they’ll kill you.”

“Yeah. I know.” To be honest, that was almost what I was counting on. If they killed me, then maybe… at least… it would motivate the Mythguard to act. It wasn’t a sacrifice I wanted to make, but I was willing to in order to protect my packmates. Sighing, I planted my hand on Oslo’s shoulder too. “I’ll be careful. But if they catch me, I’m taking those fuckers down with me.”

A half-smile cracked across Oslo’s mouth. “I wouldn’t expect any less.”

We waited until Niko arrived before transforming and taking off into the woods. Going alone could be the worst decision yet, but I was confident that my death would keep the rest of my pack safe. I didn’t think about Billie. I couldn’t. It stung me to imagine what she was feeling, spending the night alone after we had grown so close. It stung worse to imagine her suddenly robbed of her fated mate, but if I died, she’d get a new one. She didn’t plan on staying with me anyways, so fuck it. The further I distanced myself from Billie and the pack house, the more my thoughts shifted toward anger and the tantalizing notion of avenging my parents. I knew now who was responsible. I had them in my sights: David and Lothair. I had to admit that if I ran into either of them tonight, only one of us would be coming out alive.

As a wolf, I trekked through the night-darkened woods with a small drawstring bag in my teeth. Inside were my clothes and my phone. Usually, I didn’t like carrying anything—we had designated spots in the forest where we left our things—but it would be important to keep in touch in case I found anything.

Approaching the shared borders between Grandbay and Dalesbloom, my nerves electrified. There was already evidence that Dalesbloom was encroaching on my territory. Despite telling Oslo to keep distance, I ventured to our markers, where I found trails of Dalesbloom wolves weaving back and forth. None of them were fresh. I suspected they had come here earlier this morning, before David’s appearance, but my packmates had all been at the pack house by then. I walked for ten minutes before encountering a warm scent on the wind, knowing that it had been wicked off the body of a Dalesbloom wolf in the unclaimed buffer between our territories; but before I sent up a warning call to Oslo, recognition clicked on who it was.

Colt.

My first thought was that he was here for Billie. Maybe they had planned to meet up. Again, I churned with discomfort and anger, and betrayal that had never even occurred. I wanted to hurt someone for all the anguish I’d experienced today. Like a bullet, I burst through the forest toward the Hexen boy, my paws beating grass and crunching twigs with little consideration for stealth. Let him know I was coming for him. I wanted him to be afraid of me.

His scent suffocated me the closer I came until I saw his pitch black body silhouetted in the moonlight. The lean Hexen was sniffing a tree, only raising his head to look at me when he heard my crashing approach. His body tensed in the seconds before we made impact, then I dropped my bag and slammed into him, snarling and furious. He yelped as his body crumpled underneath me. I stood over him, flinging my teeth down at Colt, intending to shred his face like I had the last time we hunted together. The prick! How could he just stand by while his father and sister threatened to kill us all?

I tasted blood and didn’t stop. Even as Colt squirmed, I clamped down on his muzzle and thought about how I wanted to break his jaw. He thrust a paw at my face, and I only let go when his nails dug into my eye. Colt scrambled away but didn’t get far before I grabbed his ankle and wrenched my head side to side, shaking him like a ragdoll. I didn’t realize he had begun transforming until his cries sounded distinctly more human.

If it were David, I wouldn’t have stopped. The unspoken law of shifters was to never strike in the midst of transformation, but it was clear David lacked any honor to deserve that courtesy. Colt pissed me off, but I was more interested in hearing what he had to say for himself than taking his life. I backed away and began transforming too.

Colt’s human form buckled into himself on the ground, naked, clutching his face where I had torn him open. His shoulders shook with heavy breaths before he looked up at me standing over him, having only the patience to put on boxers and nothing more. The mosquitoes didn’t bother me. The moonlight was cold on my back, but I didn’t care. I bent down and grabbed his arms, forcing him to his feet. “What the fuck are you doing here?”

Blood poured from the gash across the corner of his mouth. His normally dull blue eyes were more like wild lightning tonight. “Looking for Billie,” he said hoarsely.

“She’s never talking to you again,” I snarled.

Colt tried to push me. “I deserve to talk to her. Just let me talk to her.”

“Eat shit!” I ripped my arm away, only to punch Colt hard in the nose.

He recoiled with a scowl. “I—Fuck—I’m not trying to hurt anyone.”

“Liar!” I roared. “Were you planning something together?”

“What?” Colt looked at me past his fingers. His breath shook against his hand. “We—We were planning to run away together. I want… I just want… to see Billie…”

“Don’t fucking lie to me, Colt! If you’re not in cahoots, then you’re working with David. If she’s not working for David, then Catrina’s going to kill her. So don’t fuck with me. I know what you’re doing.”

“I won’t let Catrina hurt her.”

His meek response didn’t convince me. He’d never been able to stop Catrina from hurting Billie before. I knew he was lying, and that idea alone sent me over the edge, igniting my anger into another flurry of blows. I pushed Colt down and knelt on his ribs as I punched him again, this time in the cheek. Then I stood and kicked him hard in the stomach. “You slimy piece of shit. You asshole! You’re a fucking snake just like your dad!”

Colt coughed and rolled onto his stomach, frantically dragging himself away from me. “Gavin, please,” he rasped.

I wasn’t done. I dropped my knee onto Colt’s back, grabbed his head and shoved his face into the dirt. “I should just fucking kill you!” I raged. I could do it. There was nobody here to save him. “Get it through your thick skull that Billie doesn’t want anything to do with you. She hates you, and Cat and David too. She hates what your family did to her.” Every second word, I shoved his head harder until I was sure he was eating fucking dirt. “I’m not letting you Hexens hurt another person. I’ll kill you before it happens. The next time your dad sets foot in my territory will be the last, Colt! How do you think I should send that message?”

My fingers tightened in his hair, but the moment I lessened my grip, thinking I’d give him a chance to speak before snapping his neck, he took in a breath and unleashed a haggard, “Help!”

Blinded by wrath, I shoved him down again. Colt fought back and used every spare breath he had to call for the aid of his packmates. We thrashed together until a nearby wolf howl informed me that Dalesbloom was on their way. If I wanted to get out of this alive, I had to leave now.

With a growl, I flung myself away from Colt and transformed back. Fortunately, the transformation was swift; Colt had barely managed to sit up before I was panting as a wolf again, my livid gaze on him. He gazed back with fear and pain—the likes of which I’d felt in myself—which I almost regretted before whipping around and running.

I should have killed him.

As I fled across the buffer and back into Grandbay, howling for Oslo to reconvene at the pack house, my anger began to clear. In my clarity, I knew that Billie never would have forgiven me if I’d killed Colt. But I couldn’t shake how unnerved it made me, to think that Colt had wanted to run away with Billie. He was lying. He was as loyal to the Hexens as Catrina. It didn’t just make me angry. It made me… jealous.

I should have just fucking killed him.