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Chapter 10: Together Until The End

Ray sighed as he and Maya curled up on the couch. It was the night of the full moon and he hoped that Kai and Cole came to their senses before it was too late and their secret was exposed. There was still no sign of either of them and none of their friends or Nya had received any more calls. Ray had called all their relatives he could think of that the boys might have been staying with. Unfortunately, there was still nothing but at least they all knew to keep an eye out.

However, Ray and Maya had failed to mention to any of their relatives why Kai and Cole had run away.

That was something that didn't sit right with Nya. She had even gone as far as to call her own parents homophobic, the stress of everything finally catching up with her. This of course got her grounded for the rest of the month, or until her brother and Cole returned home, which everyone hoped was soon. There were missing person posters for them all around the city. The police had set up a large-scale search but time was running out.

They had to find them quickly before the moon raised or else something bad could happen, not only to both of them but to the werewolf secret as well.

Maya whimpered in worry at the thought of what could happen to her son and his boyfriend. Even though she hardly knew Cole she knew what he meant to Kai and he was a good friend to Nya as well. Seeing his wife's distraught face, he pulled her into a hug, and Maya struggled not to cry...

Kai sighed as Cole filled up the tank in the car at another gas station. They were running out of money and time before the full moon. They had to find an isolated area, as far away from human contact as they could get, or else who knows what could happen to them.

"What do we do now?" Kai asked as they paid for the gas and started driving again.

"I don't know." Cole sighed.

"We can't go back home." He groaned, not willing to throw in the towel yet. "How far should we go?"

"We can go as far as you want to, babe." Cole smiled loving at him and they drove in silence for half an hour until they pulled up outside a diner on the side of the road, near a small forest. They ordered some food, only something small however because they were running low on money and started eating, trying to think of their next move.

"We have to find somewhere to stay." Kai sighed before nibbling on some fries.

"You know... the world sure seems big when you can go anyplace..." Cole mumbled as he took a bite out of his burger. As they continued eating, the man behind the counter turned on the TV to the news channel.

"Authorities are still looking for teenagers Cole Brookstone and Kai Smith, both disappeared in the afternoon almost a week ago." The woman on the TV said, causing the young couple to freeze and turn to the TV. "The mother of Kai Smith has issued this emotional plead."

"Oh shit," Kai mumbled, beyond shocked, as his mother appeared on the TV.

"Kai, darling..." She sobbed loudly as tears rolled down her cheeks. "Your father and I are worried about you! Please come home!" She begged as two images of Kai and Cole appeared on the screen. They both grabbed what was left of their food and hit the trail again before anyone in the diner recognized them and called the cops.

"You're parents must be pretty worried." Cole suddenly said.

"Yeah, I wonder if your Dad's heard about this?"

"Don't it." He huffed. "He's never worried when I need him to be." He growled as his grip on the steering wheel tightened at the thought of his father. They were dragged out of their thoughts, however, when an odd sound reached their ears. Cole stopped the car and looked in the rearview mirror, only to gasp when he saw police helicopters behind them. Someone from the diner must have recognized them from the news and called the police.

Thinking quickly, Cole drove into the treeline on the side of the road and vanished into the forest.

The helicopter pilots suspected nothing as they flew away. Kai sighed as he watched the blurs of greens and dark browns flash past them as Cole sped down the dark and bumpy forest trail.

"Guess everybody's looking for us." He said as he finished his food.

"We won't be too easy to find," Cole reassured. "It's a big planet."

"Yeah, we could hideout for a long time, they might stop looking for us."

"Let's look around." Cole suddenly said as he pulled up in the middle of the forest. It was getting closer to moonrise and they needed to find somewhere to transform and spend the night. Remembering where they had parked, they get out and left to explore. Soon they reached a small waterfall. They quickly started climbing it, with Cole reaching the top rather quickly. The raven-haired teen watched his smaller boyfriend as he attempted to scale it.

He tried to climb up but there was a rock that is just out of Kai's reach.

Cole stretched out his hand, and Kai quickly grabbed hold of it just as the rock under his feet gave out. The brunette let out a gasp of fear but Cole pulled him to safety and gave him a wink. Kai could only blush slightly and he gave him a small kiss on the cheek to say thank you. They continued walking and as they were climbing a hill Kai looked at the sky and fear started to set in his stomach. The son was almost completely gone and a few stars were starting to appear.

He was so distracted by his fear that he ended up stumbling over a stone hidden in the grass of the hill.

He fell to the ground with a grunt and upon hearing his boyfriend's surprised gasp, Cole rushed to his side and tried to help him to his feet, but Kai quickly pushed him off. They continued walking and stopped at the top of the hill. Their jaws dropped open at what they saw. They were looking at a magnificent lake near a forest at the base of a mountain range. By the lovely blue lake was an expensive-looking villa with a dock and shed that must have contained boats for the lake.

They guessed it was a vacation spot for a rich family or something like that.

They took a quick sniff around but thankfully they were alone. Knowing they had just a couple of hours before moonrise and there was little chance of finding out, the couple walked towards the villa. Kai tried the lock on the front door but to no avail. It was locked with a padlock and chain. He considered breaking a window to get in but quickly dismissed that thought and instead he simply looked in the window to see what was inside.

Everything was covered in cobwebs and some of the furniture had dust covers on.

Just then he heard a loud metal clank and he turned to see Cole holding the now broken chain. The larger teen gave a sheepish thumbs-up and they went inside. It was dark, cold and dust inside but anything was better than spending another night sleeping in the car. With an exhausted sigh, they both collapsed onto the dusty loveseat, wanting to get some rest before it was time for them to transform. As they waited, Kai started shivering from the cold.

Cole quickly pulled him into an embrace, trying to keep his boyfriend warm.

His eyes wandered to the dark, empty fireplace and, even though their inner wolves growled at the thought, they both would murder for the warmth of a fire. That or just their own beds, a warm meal, or a refreshing shower. Kai almost cried at the thought of home. He missed all of that but mostly, he missed his friends and family. He wanted to go back home but he knew Cole was too scared to and there was no way he was leaving Cole here alone to fend for himself.

Cole saw the sorrowful look on Kai's face but before he could comfort him they both tensed when they felt a familiar sensation.

They quickly went outside, not wanting to transform inside the villa. Nervously, Cole and Kai looked up at the shining full moon that reflected in the water as their hair flowed in the cold night wind. As they waited for their bodies to change Kai looked to Cole, who gave him reassuring smile. Their eyes turned a luminous yellow and the veins in their hands and necks darkened, revealing themselves in the pale moonlight. Kai's hands started shaking in fear or from the cold, it was anyone's guess.

Cole gently took hold of his boyfriend's had and gave it a comforting squeeze as the two of them blushed as they looked into each other's eyes.

Suddenly, he and Kai gasped as they felt a strange freezing shiver ripple throughout their whole bodies. Before they realized what was happening, they felt their bodies start to shrink as their cells rearranged themselves. After they had transformed they shook off the few clothing left on them. The two wolves circled each other, taking in each other's unique scents until they couldn't contain their excitement anymore. They both howled to the moon glowing above them, light dancing across the lake's water.

The sound echoed across the land before they set off running into the forest...

Kai ran blindly into the surrounding forest as Cole ran in the opposite direction. Trees, rocks, and wildlife alike were all just a blur to the teen-turned-wolf as he ran with the wind in his fur. For a few moments, it felt all his worries had just disappeared. He knew it was petty and childish running away like he had but he honestly couldn't bring himself to care. The pressure of being the best son and brother, having to be perfect in every way, had been building for some time now.

Kai wasn't even surprised that he'd finally snapped.

He was fifteen for God's sake, he shouldn't have to deal with all these problems. It was times like these that the brunette longed for a normal life. A life without all this drama, even a life without werewolf powers. He wondered what his life would have been like if he'd been born a normal human like the other kids at his school. Would he and the others still be friends? Would he still love Cole? Kai grumbled, pushing his way through the undergrowth of the forest.

He would always love Cole, powers, or not.

It was then he realized he had run way too far into the dense trees. Before, back in Ninjago, Zane always warned him and the others of the wild feral animals such as bears and cougars that lurked deeper within the trees. No one really believed him about those warnings but they didn't want to risk it. Even in wolf form, the thought of being attacked by vicious feral animals had always been enough to prevent Kai from venturing too far.

But this wasn't the forest they knew, maybe there were no dangerous animals, aside from him and Cole, roaming the area.

The villa was a nice place to stay, at least until the original owners returned. It was isolated, had shelter and with their instincts, they could hunt all the food they could eat. He knew no one would think to look for him or Cole here which was why it was the perfect place to hide. Those were his thoughts right up until he stepped forward into a clearing beside a small cliff face. His left back leg disappeared into the slightly long grass when quiet unexpectedly, pain flared through his paw.

The pained cry that left his muzzle was bloodcurdling, sending a few birds into a panicked flight and nearby deer running for cover.

But Kai did not notice any of this, however. All he could see and think of was the blinding white-hot pain emanating from his back left leg. He didn't want to look down, didn't want to see what had caused him such agony, but the young wolf knew he had too. Scared yellow eyes glanced down and suddenly Kai felt his stomach wanting to expel all of its contents on the grassy ground. A fox trap with razor-sharp metal teeth had clapped firmly over part of his back left leg, crushing his paw, almost beyond recognition.

Bright crimson blood was gushing from the wound, turning the lush green grass and his brown fur a sickening red.

Kai tried to move, intending on pulling his injured leg free from the brutal metal jaws. But as soon as his leg moved in the fox trap blazing daggers of hot pain shot through his mangled paw. His cry of pain wasn't as loud as the first one and after the pain had ebbed away Kai was left panting and trembling in shock and anguish. This kind of pain, it was the worst Kai had ever felt in his entire life. It was worse than when he was four and he'd fractured his arm when he fell out a tree trying to impress Nya.

Worse than when he'd dislocated his shoulder from arm wrestling with Cole when they were twelve.

Kai laid back down in the grass, trying not to move his trapped leg for even the tiniest twitch sent pain shooting through his body. He snuck another glance at his trapped appendage, feeling the need to be ill once more as he examined the wound. He knew for certain that his ankle would be badly broken when he returned to human form. The fragile bone having been certainly crushed when the fox trap had first clamped down on the limb.

Unconsciously, Kai let out a tiny whimper, a sound brought on by a mixture of pain and fear.

He was out in the middle of nowhere, trapped in a fox trap, bleeding, and alone with no clue where Cole was. Every little noise had him tensing, teeth bared in defense and fear. He kept thinking that a bear or mountain lion had smelt his blood and had come looking for an easy meal...

Cole gave a loud growl as he zoomed through the deepest part of the forest, chasing after a fast white rabbit. It was no secret that during the full moon he and the others, during the full moons at Zane's house, full moon allowed their most primal and buried instincts to rise to the surface. On more than one occasion they would find themselves hunting and eating a few woodland creatures. They all found it very disgusting the next morning and never brought it up again.

That's why they had started putting more meat in the den to prevent that from happening in the future.

Sadly they weren't at Zane's house for the full moon now and they were running out of food, gas, clean clothes, and money. But it seemed their luck was finally turning around for the better. He had come to the conclusion that the villa deep in the forest would allow him and Kai remained hidden from the rest of the world and the people looking for them. Until whoever the villa belonged to came back that is. They had time to rest and come up with a plan before that happened.

Cole was so caught up in his thoughts, however, that he ended up losing the rabbit.

He zipped through the many trees, angrily scanning the ground beneath him for the slightest glimpse of his prey but found nothing, it was like the rabbit had vanished. In fact, now that Cole listened more closely, he realized there was hardly any wildlife in this part of the forest. At first, he thought it was because of the villa but he was currently far enough away from the villa. The large black wolf was prepared to turn back the way he came, feeling the need for some food and a good night's rest, when a faint sound reached his ears.

It sounded like a whimper, very soft but it was there.

If he could have in this form, he would have frowned, confused as to what could make such a sound this deep in the forest. He listened for more sound but nothing happens. He was ready to brush it aside as the wind when it came again, this time louder and most certainly filled with pain. Curiosity eventually got the better of him as he headed in the direction of the sounds. Cole didn't have to go far. He soon came upon a clearing, flanked by a cliff to one side.

It seemed peaceful enough with nothing out of the ordinary bar the overpowering smell of copper.

The black wolf knew immediately that it was blood and lots of it. He briefly wondered if he'd stumbled upon a wild animal's kill when the whimper sounded again, drawing his eyes off to the side where he was met with an awful sight. His boyfriend, Kai Smith, lay before him, crumpled on his side. His yellow eyes were glassy, overcome by pain and blood loss. His breathing was hurried and erratic, a clear sign of shock, but the worst part for Cole to see was his left back leg.

The fox trap had ripped right through the brown fur and skin like they were made of paper.

Some of the blood had hardened slightly but the wound still continued to ooze, coating the fox trap and surround ground in a dark crimson liquid. The disturbing sight left Cole blinking in muted horror. His mind was racing as to how Kai got caught in such an inhuman device. They were usually very careful in case of these kinds of things. The only explanation was that a human was hunting illegally, quite possibly the owners of the villa.

They must have thought that because no one ventured out this far there would be no risk of someone getting caught by accident.

Obviously, that logic had failed. Shaking himself out of his shocked stupor, Cole began to cautiously approach the wounded wolf. He wasn't stupid, he knew werewolves, despite having evolved greatly over the years, were still animals. They retained many of their feral instincts that would surface when they were under extreme stress or in a great amount of pain. During a full moon, all those feral instincts were dialed up to eleven thousand.

Kai was probably both in pain and frightened, the mix making for a dangerous situation if Cole wasn't careful.

Just like he predicted, as soon as Kai became aware of his presence, the smaller wolf started to growl aggressively, sharp teeth bared and eyes darting around as a clear show of aggression. Ignoring these warning signs, Cole stepped closer, eliciting a deeper growl from his clearly terrified boyfriend. Kai probably didn't even recognize him, driven purely on instinct. Cole moved closer towards his lover, intending to use his teeth to remove the disgusting contraption from the smaller wolf's leg, only to yelp when a pair of jaws nearly clamped themselves on his snout.

He pulled back scowling at Kai who seemed to glare back with just as much hate, clouded by fear.

The bright yellow eyes unnerved Cole but he shook the feelings away. Kai snarled but some of the haze seemed to lift from his eyes at the sight of his boyfriend's wolf form. The larger wolf yipped in joy at this, eyes narrowing when the brunette flinched suddenly, a soft cry escaping his muzzle. Slowly, ever so slowly, the haze lifted and Cole saw the recognition in Kai's eyes. Kai blinked up at Cole, confused and still in pain. He tried moving his trapped leg, crying out as he did so and the sound had Cole flinching slightly.

He had to help Kai before he bled out.

As he got a closer look at the injury, however, he knew there was no way he could pull Kai's leg free without doing even further damage. He would need human hands to free Kai, but it was too risky to wait until morning. Kai could bleed out by then. He whined loudly as he tried to come up with a plan. He looked up at the moonlit sky and was suddenly hit with an idea. It was incredibly risky and might not even work but he didn't have any choice.

He took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

Almost immediately his body erupted in hot pain, but he didn't lose focus. He thought back and his reasons for doing all of this, his feeling for Kai Smith. Kai was the best thing that happened to Cole's life and although he didn't always know it Cole had loved him from the second he saw the brunette. He loved Kai's fiery personality, his sense of family, and how much Kai loved him. With that in mind, Cole let out a pained gasp as he opened his human eyes.

By some miracle, he had managed turn return to his human form during a full moon.

He wasn't completely human, however. His eyes were still bright yellow and all his veins were black and visible. Instead of human nails, he had long black claws and he could feel his teeth were still sharp and canine-like. Cole could feel his body trying to change back so he had to be quick and at least get Kai free from the trap. Still, in wolf form, Kai watched drowsily as Cole began to reach for his mangled leg, only to pause and bite his lip.

"This is going to hurt like hell, so sorry in advance, baby." The human muttered, his voice strained as he tried to stay in this form.

He saw Kai tense at his words before attempting to relax. The brunette let out a shaky pained whine and Cole nodded, turning back to the task at hand. The raven-haired teen could feel his hands starting to shake with rage as he surveyed the damage done to the limb. The metal teeth had crushed the fragile bone completely while at the same time ripping the surrounding flesh to ribbons. Cole knew he wouldn't have a problem pulling the metal jaws open, it was just going to hurt like hell for Kai.

Taking a deep breath he reached forward, gripping the jaws tightly.

The movement had Kai whimpering, teeth clenched together in an attempt to stop himself from crying out. Wanting to get this over with as quickly as possibly Cole heaved the metal jaws open, cringing at the loud howl of pain that followed. As soon as he was free Kai closed his eyes, breathing heavily as waves of pain raced up his leg. It was like it had just been caught all over again, the pain was unbearable. Cole watched as the body of his lover withered on the ground before he quickly bent over and picked the wolf up.

Kai simply growled in reply, eyes sliding closed only to jerk open when Cole lightly tapped his cheek.

"Don't you dare fall asleep on me babe," Cole warned gently. "You've lost too much blood so falling asleep puts you at risk of falling into a coma." He said and he was sure if Kai was also in human form he would have smiled weakly at the comment and teasing Cole for fussing over him. But right now the brunette was fighting to keep his eyes open. Cole didn't say anything else as he started carrying Kai back to the villa. All he was focused on was getting Kai somewhere safe and warm where he could heal in peace, until morning.

Soon he arrived at the villa and he quickly went inside.

He gently placed Kai on the floor in front of the fireplace, trying not to jolt his injured leg too much, and looking for something to bandage the wound. He had to settle for the light grey curtains. He tore a large piece off, his claws making quick work of the fabric, and he tied it as tightly as he could in an effort to stop the bleeding, wincing as Kai let out a pained yelp. Just then his concentration broke and Cole grunted as his body painfully reverted back into a wolf.

As soon as he shook off the aches and pains in his body, Cole checked Kai over and whimpered as the light grey cloth around his injured leg was turning a dark crimson.

He also noticed Kai had fallen asleep. He started licking Kai's face, trying to wake the smaller wolf up but it did no good. All he could do was curl up next to his injured mate and keep him warm until morning...