His Prowl

Part 30

Chapter 30

Expecting the man to radiate power, like his son, Blake was surprised when the man who stepped out of the small camper had no power floating about him.  Trees blocked his view, making it hard to tell what the man looked like.  If he would just take one step forward, Blake would be able to see the man for himself; he would be able to know who the person who had been controlling him was.

A voice flowed through the forest, and Blake immediately recognized it.  He had heard the voice as the man took over his body.  Rage coursed through him as the man began to speak.  “Well, I have to admit that I never thought it would be you who would visit.”

“You look horrible,” Zeke mumbled with a slight shocked tone. 

Blake tried moving to see what was happening.  There was hardly ever a time where Zeke actually sounded shocked.  A dark chuckle echoed through the woods.  “You haven’t heard?  I’m dying, and to tell you the truth, I’m glad that you’re going to end my suffering.”

Zeke growled low in his throat.  “You killed Kris for nothing.”

“No,” the man answered.  “I killed her to prove a point.  None of you are safe, no matter how much you believe I may care for you.”

“She was your daughter,” he snarled.

Another laugh poured from Zeke’s father.  “No, she actually wasn’t.  Your mom and I were never mated.  You were mistake, and it looks like your mother made another mistake as soon as I left her.”

Zeke growled again.  Blake had never heard the man as angry as he was in that moment.  He could feel the rage throughout the forest.  The only two that seemed to be affected by it were Zeke and he.

“Do you honestly think I’ll let you out that easily?” Zeke asked.  The tone of his voice would have scared Blake off if he weren’t handcuffed to a tree.

“Of course not, son.  You never do things the easy way.  Tell me though, where is the man that killed my daughter?  Did he tell you how he secretly enjoyed it?  How much he liked the blood flowing through his fingers.  How he glorified in the adrenaline.  Did he tell you that?”

Zeke let out a laugh, but instead of holding that scary edge, there was actual humor in his voice.  “What else father?  What else did he feel?”

Blake shook in fury.  He didn’t feel any of those things when he killed Kris.  He felt helpless, irate, sad, but never happy.  There was never a moment where he enjoyed it. 

“The first time he plunged the knife in, it was by doing.  Tell me this though; did you know that it was only the first stab that I forced him into?  The rest, he did on his own.”

He pulled against his bindings, ignoring the silver biting into his skin.  Being past the point of being rational, he let a small smile cross his face as the chain between the cuffs snapped.

“Don’t Blake,” Amaya whispered.  “He got into your mind once; don’t let him do it again.”

“I have to,” Blake whispered.  “I can’t do it anymore.”

He stepped from behind the tree, and his eyes immediately connected with Zeke’s.  “Why does everyone have to be so predictable?” Zeke asked to no one in particular as Blake stalked towards them.

“How am I predictable?” Zeke’s father asked with a laugh.  “Maybe because I know your little secret, Zeke.”

Zeke’s eyes snapped towards his father.  An evil grin crossed his face.  “You won’t have a chance to utter a word about me,” Zeke predicted.  “You remember why you were out casted in the first place?”

“You cannot hold that over my head.  I’m a rouge.  I don’t play by your rules.”

“Humor me.  Tell me why you were ostracized again,” Zeke demanded.

The man took a step forward, but Blake still couldn’t see his face.  All he could do was glare at the man’s back as he spoke.  “It was that stupid little girl.  The one you felt you needed to protect growing up.  You acted like it was your fault she didn’t have parents that wanted her.”

“I just knew how if felt not to be wanted by your own blood.”

“Don’t give me that, boy.  I loved you.  What I didn’t love was how easily your loyalty was swayed.”

Zeke tilted his head to the side.  “You still haven’t told me why you were forced to leave.”

Zeke’s father let out a laugh.  “I almost forgot about the entire thing before you brought it up.  The girl saw something she never should have seen.  So, I made it to where she would never see again.”

As the words connected in Blake’s mind, his body began to shake uncontrollably.  Falling to the ground, he remembered what his parents had told him the last time he had shifted.  Never shift unless it’s a last resort.  Never fight your shift, and never shift in anger.  It looked like Blake was about to go against two of his parents rules.  He would let the shift take over; he would enjoy it, but he was furious at the man standing in front of him.

His shift took over easily.  Rolling to his feet, he whipped his tail back and forth, hoping to get the man’s attention.  He turned, and it was the first time he looked into the man’s eyes.  Blake was disappointed.  The man’s eyes were sunken in, his hair was receding, and he appeared weak.  This wasn’t an opponent he wanted to fight.  He stalked towards them and was surprised when the man took a step away from him.

Zeke smiled at him.  “Completely predictable, but if it makes you feel any better, I had to do less to make Sebastian shift.”

“Zeke,” Barron mumbled, looking at him with narrowed eyes.

“If you want to know the answer, ask him.  It isn’t impossible.”

“Black leopards don’t mate outside of their own class,” Barron stated with eyes still on Blake.

Blake stepped towards the man once more.  “Blake,” Zeke said, causing him to stop.  “I don’t want to kill him.  I want something worse.  I want him to have to suffer.  I want him to live the rest of his days in agony.  You can do that Blake.  You can make that happen.”

He looked at Zeke in confusion.  In his leopard form, there wasn’t much he could do.

Zeke laughed, obviously reading his mind.  “I needed you to shift in order to be sure.  You’ve seen both Ally and Seb.  You haven’t noticed anything different between you and them?”

Blake shook his large leopard head.  After his first shift, he hadn’t shifted again.  His parents had taught him to blend.  Shifting into a leopard made it difficult to blend in the human world. 

“Let me give you a hint,” Zeke said with a smile.  “Black leopards don’t have white spots.”