Closer To The Truth

The chilling breeze before of the dawn was adamant to shackle the handsome mans obstinateness. The Elemental today was unaffected by it all. It was the soothing joy and a pinch of hope in his heart that was making him stay on his course. His determined self refused to find a shelter in this harsh weather.

Callan tapped his feet and eagerly awaited the arrival of his special someone. His face lit up like the stars of the night when he saw the muscular man approaching from afar. He couldn’t control his feet and ran as fast as he could to embrace the man in a tight hug. What followed was a sweet kiss of longing; of love.

Both the men parted their lips and lovingly looked at each other. Einar raised his hand towards the beautiful man and smiled “This for you.”

Callan held the object covered in a small satin cloth in his hand and surprisingly asked “What is it?”

“I thought that since this is our first day together we should celebrate it with a present.”

“But I didn’t get you anything.”

“It doesn’t matter. I have you by my side which means more than anything for me.”

Einar’s words flustered Callan. He bowed his head as his focus was completely directed at the small satin cloth. He carefully unveiled the fabric to reveal a wolf carved out of pure mahogany wood. The wolf looked determined while he was sitting on his hind legs. His furry tail was stretched up to his front legs. “It is beautiful!”

“I broke a similar toy when we were young. Do you remember?”

“Not exactly.” Callan chuckled “My memories are not that strong.”

“We played together as kids.” Einar smirked “I loved your presence by my side but I was jealous of your toy wolf and so I broke it.”

Callan amusingly laughed at Einar “Ohh. That’s more like you.”

The melodic laugh of his mate automatically forced Einar’s lips to curl “I shouldn’t have done that.”

The men talked for few more moments before finding a comfortable place to sit. It was like any other day yet this day was special. Both of them had been together before but they were seeing each other in a different light; as lovers. Callan kissed Einar’s cheeks and stretched his legs to lay down on his back. He cradled his head on the laps of the muscular man and both the men stared at each other in silence.

“This will always be special to me.” Callan said looking at the toy.

“Why?”

“This is the first ever gift that you’ve give me. I will treasure it.”

It had been years since Einar’s soul found this inner peace. His inner turmoil and the constant pain he felt when he was away from Callan was all gone. It was a nice feeling. Being this close to the man he loved, he couldn’t ask for anything anymore. He could bring the entire world to his feet if Callan just said so.

However soon Einar’s face tensed for he realized that he could not do everything for Callan. In fact he could do nothing for Callan. He was bind by his roles and responsibilities. He was forced to hide his relationship with the man for people would never accept it. Moreover his father will never allow for this union.

“You know my situation with the pack and my parents.” Einar dejectedly lowered his eyes

Callan was saddened by the look on Einar’s face. He sat upright and rubbed Einar’s arm to soothe him “I do and I completely understand.”

“You do?” Einar asked surprisingly

“Look I am not against the customs and rituals of the wolves. I just don’t feel like I am a part of the pack. To be honest if it hadn’t been for you I would’ve left the pack a long time ago.” The words caused Einar more pain than comfort. Imagining Callan to be apart for even a moment was difficult to bear.

The handsome man bit his lip when he realized the awkward words uttered through his mouth “What I am trying to say is that I don’t want the position of the alpha mate. The pack needs a Luna and I cant be one. I need you that’s it. That is the only thing I care about right.”

“It wont be easy. At times you may feel insecure or disappointed for you cant share the same space as me. The laws dictate that the alpha’s mate accompany him to the throne. For me it is you.”

“The pack wont accept us. You have a duty towards your people which you cannot neglect.”

Einar turned his face away. He was not brave enough to face the reality. He couldn’t promise Callan anything because he was not sure if he could even fulfill them. He wanted his mate to be happy at all the cost but nothing was helping him at this moment. Odds were against them and he knew it.

“My mind is completely blank right now.” Einar deeply sighed and almost choked “I don’t know what to say.”

“Don’t feel pressurized.” Callan could see the desperation in Einar. The desire in his eyes for a better future was making Einar sad for he knew that the dream was a distant one. Einar could not leave his pack and Callan could not join him. The handsome man held Einar’s cheek and turned it towards him. He kissed Einar’s forehead and lovingly smiled at him “I don’t want the pack, the throne or the power that comes with it. I just want you.”

“But I feel helpless.”

“I know you want to give me the world but I am happy where we are. Lets just enjoy every moment that we spent together. We will deal with the problems when we have one.”

The muscular man was at ease at once. He felt lucky to have a companion as such. All those years when he was worried that Callan would reveal all or would demand an equal position as him were futile thoughts. The handsome man was beyond all of those desires. He only cared about his mate; his love.

Einar closed his eyes to breathe in the mesmerizing scent. He leaned his head ahead and rested it on the shoulders of the handsome man. Callan ruffled the hair of his mate and both of them were relishing each others company till they were allowed to.

****

Fayette’s hasty steps were not helping her cause. She took long strides to cover a large distance but she knew she was late. It was almost sunset and she was nowhere near her home. She was worried for her father would reprimand her.

Her speedy steps were halted all of a sudden when a strange figure with broad shoulders stood in front of her abruptly.

“I need to talk to you.”

Fayette scowled and looked at Garrick with uninterest. She diverted her body to the right and marched ahead “I don’t want anything from you beta of the blue moon pack.”

“Please just listen.” Garrick sighed and followed the beautiful human “I have been trying to have a conversation with you for so long. I really need to talk to you.” All his words fell on deaf ears as Fayette was reluctant to stop. With no other choice left, Garrick overtook her and blocked her way “Please hear me out just once.”

“Fine.” Fayette sighed “What do you want to say?”

Garrick looked all around to make sure that they were truly alone. The meadow looked abandoned while the only presence of the myriad birds was no hindrance to his objective. He took long breaths to gather all his courage and looked at the lady with confidence “You may not know this but destiny has paired us together. You are my mate.”

“I know that.” She replied nonchalantly

Garrick’s mind froze. He wasn’t expecting the answer. He stared at the lady in disbelief “You know! How..? Did Ashton tell you.” he stuttered.

“Yes.”

Garrick was visibly angry because Callan had taken his right to share the biggest revelation to his mate. He gritted his teeth but calmed himself for Fayette’s sake “So now you understand how important you are for me.”

“I know and I really don’t care.” Fayette didn’t bother to look at the distraught face of the wolf as she retreated two steps to divert her direction and march again.

Garrick was moved by the words said by the human. It was devastating for him. He shed a bead of his sorrow and spoke in a meek voice “Don’t say this. You are breaking my heart.” He overtook Fayette yet again and pleaded her “Please..”

Fayette sighed. Though she did not like the wolf, it was her pure heart which demanded her to soothe the person in front of her. She bit her lips to choose her words more carefully “You are not the person who is fit to be my husband.”

“I can be everything you want. Just ask.”

“You are just not right for me. I am sorry.” Fayette gave an apologetic look to the wolf. She looked at him with calm features hoping that the wolf would understand her decision.

It was hard for Garrick. He very much wanted the bond to work but he realized that Fayette was beyond his reach. After years of yearning he finally had a chance to love; to be loved. His life had always been dull after the death of his parents. He was lonely, he was dejected. All those years of suffering were about to change by the presence of his mate; the beautiful lady in front him. But destiny couldn’t gift him the chance of happiness.

Garrick sighed deeply and raised his head “It was Ashton right?

“What?”

“That filthy bag of lies has poisoned your mind right?” he scowled

“No!”

“Yes it is!” Garrick raised his voice “He didn’t like me from the start. I bet he was the one who brainwashed you against me. How low can he stoop!” he scoffed “I was the one who blindly put my faith in him. My guts indicated me to not seek help from him. I was right. He is the one who loves to spoil other pairs because he himself can never get his love. The cursed son of a bitch.”

Fayette fisted her hands in anger “That’s enough. I have heard enough.”

“You are blinded by his façade of a good nature. You don’t see the real him as I do. He is dangerous. It is a fact that death follows him like a shadow. Every pack member he befriended was dead. He is cursed. He will harm you.”

“I said that’s enough!”

“You cant see things clearly because you think he has virtue, he has heart but he has none. For all I care I pray to the Luna that this man should rot in hell.”

Even before Garrick could register anything a hard slap stung his face and he was out of his anger at once. He was shocked. He couldn’t believe the fact his own mate was defending the pride of some another man. She was choosing Callan over him.

Fayette on the other hand gritted her teeth continuously as she looked at Garrick with pure hatred. It was as if she could kill the wolf and not care one bit “Don’t you ever dare say a word against Callan in front of me.”

Garrick was stupefied. A spark of jealousy raged in him “Why do you care about him so much? Do you love him?

Fayette snorted in derision. “Yes I do but not the way your filthy mind is thinking about it.” She held the betas hand firmly “Come with me. I will tell you what he means to me.”

****

The big spacious room was all a mess. It looked as if a hurricane had just passed through. All the warriors were lined up, frightened for their life. While the elites were standing at a close distance to the angry figure.

Stanislas eyes were red because of his crying and partly because of the building rage in him. He wanted blood.

“Have you found any clue?” he asked indifferently.

A man with long beard and red curly hair stepped ahead in trepidation “Its difficult to say my king.”

“You worthless people.” the king roared “Someone from the royal family gets brutally killed inside the palace and no one has any idea how it all happened!”

The room was silenced yet again. The dominant aura of the king was forcing the wolves to submit before him. Stanislas diverted his attention to the door when three young men stepped inside. All the men looked almost identical to each other. With dark brown hair and persona fit to be a king, they all matched the dominant aura of Stanislas.

“Father.” All the three men bowed in respect.

“Wallace, Bernard, Frederick. Please tell me you have some news.”

“The guards outside Beatrice room were all killed.” Wallace replied “It seemed as if they were resisting the intrusion of the killer.”

“Where were the maids?”

“I interrogated all of them.” Frederick gestured to the woman who was visibly shaking in the back “Debrina here has some information for us.”

The king eyed her with dominance “What did you see?”

The aura of the king was such that the lady could not resist his dominance and she uttered all what she knew “T-The princess was getting herself ready and I was waiting for her in the room when a large black wolf entered. He was a big wolf. His power was something else. I-I was frightened to the core. He gestured me to leave the place and so I-I did without giving much thought.”

“Do you know who it was?”

“I don’t recognize him.”

“Was it someone from the palace?”

“I don’t know.”

“Why didn’t you call any one us?” Bernard asked the lady.

“I-I was scared.”

“You were scared! You had one simple job.” The anger in Wallace was boiling up “All you had to do was warn us.”

Debrina was shaken by the powerful voices of all the prince. It was as if she was the culprit who was responsible for the murder of the princess. She fidgeted her thumbs and gasped in short breaths for she was scared of the outcome.

Stanislas’ patience hanged by the thread. It had been almost one week after the incidence and no concrete clue came to light. He couldn’t understand the reason or the motive behind this cold blooded murder. What pained him more was that his loving daughter was brutally killed by a maniac and he was not there to save her. He couldn’t let this slide easily. He had to find the wrongdoer and punish him for his offence.

Stanislas flared his nose as he took menacing steps towards a scared Debrina “The reason you couldn’t speak was because you were scared. A call or a scream would have saved my daughters life. It seems you were scared to use your mouth. I guess we don’t have any use of your tongue then.”

Stanislas closed the distance between them as Debrina instinctively crossed her hands on her chest in an act of defense “Please please..”

The king was not having it. He had to make an example of someone. Give a message to the perpetrator to know who he had challenged. He held the cheeks of the lady with his strong hand and forced Debrina to open her mouth wide. He pulled out the fleshy organ from the mouth with his other hand and slashed her tongue with his claws to sever it from her body.

Simultaneous gasps of horror echoed throughout the room. Debrina cried out loud in pain as she gagged in blood. The pain was insurmountable.

“Take her away from my sight.” Stanislas ordered his men. He gestured the elites and the other warriors to leave the room at once so he could discuss the matter with his sons in private.

Bernard sighed and put one of his hands on the shoulders of his father. Stanislas took steady breaths because he wanted this puzzle to be solved. His features were serene once again as he march ahead and took his place on the large metal chair.

Wallace cleared his throat “We need to find the wolf father. What I am worried about though, is why the wolf attacked Beatrice in the first place?”

“May be it was a statement for the king. A threat perhaps.” Frederick replied

“Or maybe Beatrice had done something to ire the wolf.” It was Bernard’s turn to speak.

“Who in their right mind would be so bold to kill a royal blood inside the palace. The wolf had the audacity to step in enemy’s land and do the deed under our nose. That’s ridiculous!”

“But why Beatrice? He could’ve attacked anyone else why her?”

“Easy target maybe.”

“Or it had to do something with Beatrice. Whatever the reason maybe we have to do something.”

Stanislas observed as his sons debated over the future course of action and perhaps the probable reason why Beatrice was killed. In fact the thought had plundered his mind for days. Why Beatrice? What had she done to earn the ire of a maniac wolf? Up until her last day she was cheery and bubbly about her mating with the human. Then what happened all of a sudden?

As these thoughts crossed Stanislas mind he realized something. Beatrice was about to be mated to the human; the Elemental. It was a fact that Callan had not found his mate and of all the Elementals he had gathered information about, the human looked mysterious. Perhaps his greatest fears were true after all. The one who he had been looking for so long was none other than the human of the blue moon pack.

Stanislas gasped slowly as his lips trembled “You cant do anything..” he almost whispered looking at nothing

The sudden change in his expressions concerned Stanislas’ sons. Wallace looked at his brothers with confusion and stepped ahead towards his father “What are you saying father? We will avenge the death of our beloved sister. You don’t have to worry.”

“You don’t understand.” the king raised his head in trepidation “Its him. The Elemental.”

“Who?”

“The human of the blue moon pack. He has to be it.” Stanislas gulped “He is connected to the beast. Every other alpha wolf has the tendency to submit before the royal blood; except one. The ancient wolf. ”

“That’s a myth” Frederick laughed derisively

“It is not.” Stanislas whispered in trepidation “He has reborn again.”

“How can you say that?” Bernard looked confused.

“This explains everything.” Wallace scowled “Beatrice was about to be mated to that human. The wolf somehow must’ve known about it and hence he murdered her because he thought that she was a competition.”

“This means that the human is a powerful Elemental.” Wallace and Frederick agreed to what Bernard said “What do we do?”

The question silenced the four men for quite some. It was ultimately the king who took charge “We need to find out who his mate is.”

“But how? We cannot frisk every male from the community..”

“His mate is definitely a powerful alpha.”

“What!” the prince were surprised all at once. This was a rare scenario. Up until now they had encountered male bond pairs of omegas, warriors and in some cases even gamma and beta blood. To discover that there is a male bond pair of an alpha wolf was horrifying indeed. It had never happened before. Every alpha wolf needed an heir and so it was obvious that he was paired with a strong female wolf. Hence this was unusual.

Wallace, Bernard and Frederick looked at their father with worry. The king was in his own daze. Like he was thinking something; like his thoughts were scaring him.

Frederick was the one who stepped ahead to gain attention of his father “We will find out who the human is paired with.”

“How do we do that?” Bernard asked

“We have to bring him out of his hiding.” the king replied in a meek voice as if he was talking more to himself.

He stood from his chair and positioned his hands to the back of his body. He walked a bit further to reach the large window where his gaze was stationed at the clear sky. He looked at the moving clouds where he could see the sun hiding behind the dense fog. The king snickered all of a sudden. He turned around and looked at his eldest son with determination and an evil smirk.

“Wallace tell Donovan that its time to pay a visit to the blue moon pack.”

********

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