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Chapter 14: If it's Any Consolation...
xXx Humphrey xXx
The young wolf's feet strike against the dirt in a rhythmic, yet frantic sprint. His surroundings go without notice, his attention focused completely on the approaching target. Nothing was going to stop him, come Hell or high water. This kill was his, and he simply couldn't wait to pounce on the unsuspecting prey and... Hug her.
"H-Humphrey?! Oh God Humphrey!" Kate stammers in confusion as her mates tongue slides across her face.
"I'm. So. Glad. To. See. You," Humphrey excites between kisses.
"I was so nervous! I thought we were going to lose you! I thought I was going to lose you!" Kate replies with a quiver of her lip, before reluctantly falling into tears.
The two mates collapse to the ground in a melancholy collage of tearful rejoicing and unsettled laughter, obviously unaware of the spectating crowd.
"I told you he wouldn't die!" Faith gloats with a sharp grin.
"Don't hate on me for showing, dare I say, emotion!" Flare rebuttles with a roll of his eyes. "Emotion! By God, why whatever could that be? Let me explain it to you, my dear, because of it you have none."
"Don't be a smart ass and just accept that I was right and you were wrong. I guess that flower of your's really work. Huh, Daren?" Faith smiles widely.
Daren chuckles with satisfied resolution "I couldn't let him die, now could I?"
"Yea, that would be a buzz kill..." Flare intercepts in unease.
"So this is the infamous Humphrey." A commanding voice questions with authority.
"If by infamous, you mean, the guy who we hauled to the moon and back so some God forsaken poisonous berry wouldn't put him in the ground... Then yes, that would be him." Faith answers from a usual, satirical point of view.
Tempest smiles at the blissfully ignorant lovers, before giving the fleeting sky a worried glance. The clouds flew at dangerous speeds, trying to outrun the black and threatening storm cloud the bit at its heels.
"I do hate to disturb this, lovely, reunion. But I do believe a storm is about to break. Right over our heads, unfortunately." Tempest states softly, gaining the attention of the sprawling starstruck lovers.
Faith scoffs in a sarcastic tone, "Gee, what gave it away? The giant clap of thunder we heard moments ago, or the fact that the cloud above us looks like a tornado out for blood?"
Flare kicks his chuckling mates leg in silence. "You are so rude, my God. No one else is laughing, but you."
Faith seemed to absorb the comment, slowly examining the tired and stony expressions around her, before erupting into laughter harder than before. "Since when do I give a fuck?" She cackles, tears brimming in her eyes.
Kate shakes her head with a slight giggle fading from her face, before truly acknowledging the elders comment about the worsening weather, and rising from the place next to her mate.
"Humphrey, wasn't Bella behind you?" Tempest asks as the grey wolf lifts himself from the ground.
"Actually, she was. That's strange, she was right behind me, ah, sir? I'm sorry, I don't believe we have met." Humphrey stammers in slight embarrassment.
"I do believe you're right. My name is Tempest, and I am the lead alpha of this territory." Tempest nods in introduction.
"Plot twist!" Faith interrupts, tears now running down her face, "He's Daren's father, and he can move shit. Like, with his mind!"
"Thank you, for that." Tempest follows with a chuckle of his own.
Daren giggles at the expression of shock on her young friend's face. "I'll tell you everything I have told the others, but let's do so inside. We just saved your life, we can't have a strong wind blowing you off the side of this slope."
Humphrey nods in acceptance, before following the small group into shelter, Kate close to his side.
xXx Stormy xXx
Rain vibrates through the air outside the warm den, sending a slight chill into the uncomfortable environment. Glacier stood at the far end of the living quarters, avoiding his brother's harsh gaze, who sat at the opposite end of the room.
"Can't you two just make up already?" Stormy asks through the eerie silence.
"No. Fucking faggot can go jump off a cliff." Haze seethes with spite.
Stormy sighs in defeat. It had been almost a month since Haze's introduction to King's inner circle, and in the short amount of time allotted, it had begun to change her brother in the worst ways possible. His language had grown vulgar, he was volatile, and he had joined the territory bandwagon among all alphas to treat Glacier like the pariah of the population. Insults, slanderous rumors, and even the occasional physical bullying, Haze had helped induce it all.
Glacier, on the other hand, had suffered a personality switch of his own. He had become anti social, submissive, afraid and quiet. Nothing Stormy said would cheer him up, and she had tried everything.
"Haze, you can't honestly be mad at him for scoring better than you on an alpha demonstration, can you? I mean, if you showed up for class every once and a while, you would know how to properly stalk, where the vital points on prey are and all the jazz. But instead you run off with that dirty King boy and do God knows what in the woods. You can't blame anyone but yourself, brother." Stormy states in a matter of face tone.
"Shut up Stormy." Haze mutters in denial.
"She IS right," Crystal interjects without much care. She preferred not to involve herself in the dramatic affairs of her brothers.
"You can shut up too, Crystal. Both of you should quit trying to defend him, it's made him the pussy he is today." Haze spits with venom.
"He's not a pussy. You're just an angry little brute." Crystal retaliates with a smirk.
"Oh he's not? Is he? Well, we will see about that. Stand up bro, let's show our sisters how brave you are!" Haze orders in a threatening tone, moving from his end to the den and approaching his silent sibling.
"Enough, Haze." Stormy commands in slight panic.
"What? I'm not going to do anything, I'm just going to prove to you and the Bitch that our brother is a wimp, that's all." Haze replies in a sense of innocence, staring down at his slightly smaller brothers with an evil grin.
"Stand up and hit me." Haze nearly whispers.
The three siblings watch as Glacier slowly rises to his feet, and begins walking past his brother, in a notion to leave the den.
"Oh no, no, no, no." Haze chuckles before knocking his brother to the ground and dragging him back to his starting point.
"Stop it Haze, I'm not kidding." Stormy nearly yells to her brother, hopping to her feet as well.
"Just let me go, Haze." Glacier mumbles, catching the attention of all in the room.
Haze seems to mull on the request for a moment, before shrugging, and stepping aside. Only to tackle his brother again as he stands up.
Glacier shows no emotion upon hitting the floor, perhaps a fleeting look of solemn, but nothing more.
"Comon do something!" Haze screams in amazement.
Glacier slowly stands up, and meets his brothers eye with a look of depression. "Haze, what do you think father would say. About the way you're behaving."
Stormy lurched forward at the comment, already knowing the outcome. It came as no surprise when Haze retaliated with force. What did surprise the sister, however, was the severity of the retaliation.
Without warning, Haze had torn into his brother with raw blood lust, biting as many times as he could before Stormy pinned him.
"Have you gone insane!" Stormy screamed at Haze from atop of him.
"You heard what that little bitch said! I'll fucking kill him!" Haze screamed in equal rage.
Stormy turned to glimpse the current condition of her injured brother, only to find him swaying, but quickly walking toward the den entrance.
"Crystal! Go get Eve, right now!" Stormy shouts through Haze's profanity.
Crystal nods in obedience before sprinting from the cave, not a seconds hesitation.
Stormy turned her head at the sound of collapse, quickly sighting her brother, who lay still just outside the den.
In the moment of worry, Haze seized his opportunity and struck his sister across the face, sending his sprawling to the ground next to him, and giving him time to sprint after his badly injured brother.
The world spun for a few moments only settling when a blur of a white mass skidded through the cave floor, streaks of blood stretching from start to finish.
"You're going to kill him!" Stormy pleads with a cry, holding her head from the internal twister. It was hard to see straight.
Her vision clarified just in time to see Haze approach the heaving ball of bloody fur, startling her when Glacier sprung to his feet and clawed Haze across the face in obvious self defense.
Stormy knew the mark had been struck as blood splattered across the den floor, and Haze collapsed to the ground.
Glacier groaned weakly, a soft sob running past his lips. His upper body was riddled with gashes and bite marks, and blood drizzled out of a cut dangerously close to his neck.
Moments from inquiring about how bad the injuries were, Haze regained his ground and pounced on his bleeding brother, blood now running from four deep cuts below the left eye.
Haze snapped his attention to his preparing sister, and placed his paws carefully around Glaciers neck. "If you try to pin me again, I'll crush his fucking windpipe."
Stormy stared in silence, and defeat. "Please don't hurt him, Haze. He's already losing so much blood."
Haze growled in aggravation, before pushing ever so slightly. Just enough.
Glacier coughed, panic slowly etching through his wounded body. Haze was applying more and more pressure, and it was getting harder to breathe.
"Haze! Stop! You're fucking killing him! What the fuck is wrong with you that's your brother!" Stormy screamed in pleading.
Glacier gags in suffocation, tears welling in his eyes. It would only make himself look weaker, in his brother's eyes, to cry. But his vision was starting to fade, from lack of air or blood, it didn't matter, he was afraid.
"Aw, are you crying now? You're a little bitch you know that?" Haze mocks with a sneer.
Haze pushed for one second longer, before preparing for a final swipe to the face. However as the claws fell, Glacier moved his face downward, allowing the blade like nails to bite through the top half of Glacier's right ear.
The scream that filled the den was nothing short of a nightmare. Even Haze immediately removed himself from his brother, fear strong in his eyes.
Glacier retreated into a ball of bloodied fur and tortured, agonized screams, his paw firmly pressed against his now maimed ear.
Stormy looked for words, even actions, but could find none. She could do nothing but stare, and shake.
"I... I didn't... I don't... What have I done..." Haze whispered to himself in self acceptance as he tearfully glanced around the bloody den, the decapitated piece of his brother's ear caught his attention, and immediately induced vomiting.
Eve burst through the front of the den, Allen and Winston following seconds later. The scene obviously took the elder by surprised, as she seemed at a loss for words. Even Winston and Allen could do no more than to stare blankly around the room. However, no matter their initial reaction, all three adults held the same response upon spying Glacier, whose fur shined so deeply with crimson, that his coat could be mistaken for being red.
"Oh my God..." Winston muttered in shock as Eve immediately reached for the sobbing wolf.
"His throat hasn't been punctured, but there are gashes all over his body and... The... The top right of his ear has been... removed..." Eve stated slowly, a look of nausea resting upon her face as well. "Allen, go get Hellen, this instant. Please hurry. And do not allow Crystal up here, she does not need to see this. And you." Eve nearly snarled, looking at Haze with hellfire, "You will go with my husband this instant."
"But I..."
"GO!" Eve screamed in a scary rage.
Haze scurried to the front of the den, and averted the pack leaders disgusted stare before following him into the night.
"Stormy, come here." Eve commanded in panic.
Stormy hesitated for a moment, before reluctantly approaching her sobbing brother.
"Everything is going to be alright, Glacier. See? Your sister is right here, and we aren't going to go anywhere. You are going to be OK." Eve whispered in uncertainty after a small glance up and down his bloody form.
Glacier stared mournfully at his sister, tears streaming down his face, "S-Stormy. I'm s-scared."
Stormy turned away from her brothers stare, refusing to allow him the sight of her crying as well. She was scared too, but she would not let him know.
"You're going to be fine, Glacier, I promise. You just have to, you know, b-be strong." Stormy struggled.
Hellen rushed into the den, panting heavily, and nearly fainted from the sight.
"What in the world happened in here!" Hellen asked in horror.
Eve looked back at the territory healer with a look of fury, "Haze chopped off his brother's fucking ear!"