DIFFERENT [hs] |Complete|

Thirty-Four

Cass.

I gripped the thin material of his shirt tighter and held him against me. There were no more screams, no more sounds of glass or windows shattering. All was still besides the constant quivering of my body. Everything was soundless which terrified me even more. Harry held my hand in his and stood up, motioning me to walk down the stairs with him, but I only shook my head as I felt more tears break across my face. His eyes were so bleak, lacking the emotion and thrill they once inhibited. He didn't look scared, at least not from what I could determine.

"They're going to kill you," I whisper, continuing to shake my head at him.

He softly tugged my hand until I was pressed right to his chest where he held me tightly as I sobbed quietly. One of his hand was softly caressing my hair, what I once found a comforting gesture now absolutely terrified me. There was not a single inch of space between us. The heavy thumps of his heartbeat matched mine. I wanted nothing more than to lead him away from all of this, maybe go back to living with my father with the exception of Harry's company.

"I'm going to be fine." He pulled away from the embrace and held the base of my chin with his thumb and forefinger. "We're going to be fine." I shook my head as my lips continued to tremble.

But we're not, I wanted to say but no words escaped my lips. He leaned down, pressing one final kiss to my chapped lips before we parted. The distance between us maximised when Harry began to descend down the steps until he wasn't in sight anymore. My head dropped slightly as I began to follow him quietly, gripping onto the side railing.

It wasn't until the final step did I raise my head to see three unknown figures. Two men, one woman who wore long black trench coats. All three were identical with moderately dark skin - the two men were almost undistinguishable if it weren't for the long scar that ran from one of their faces and through the eye socket. The mysterious woman had almost identical features; the same hair colour, eye colour, nose shape, and height. Her black smeared lips curved into a tight smile as she noticed me staring so I quickly averted my gaze to the other side of the room.

The others were all standing near the kitchen, all huddled up to one another. I couldn't shake the feeling of hatred I had for John who stood with his arms crossed and a prominent scowl on his face. But one emotion he failed to hide was his fear. He was afraid.

"Lovely to see you, Harry."

I turned my head as the man with the scar across his eye spoke with a thick unrecognisable accent. I reached forward to grip onto the back of Harry's shirt as I stood behind him, fearing that without my tightened grasp he'd slip away from me. His arm held onto my hand where he entangled our fingers together but he made no move of dropping his hand, but keeping it against his back. The woman noticed our gesture but said nothing of it.

"So much chaos has occurred because of your actions. I'm afraid you are aware of the consequences for breaching the laws set by The Elders, yes?"

Harry tensed. "I am."

"And you understand that the penalty is death?"

"I do."

"Do you, Harry, acknowledge that because of your deeds and... personal desires, that you are responsible for the death of your father?"

"What?!" Harry spat, lurching forward which only brought me to tighten my grip around his hand. "I never killed my father!"

The man tutted and took another step forward. "Your mark has not yet been configured, has it?" He paused for a moment only to receive silence from Harry. "Oh, you naïve little boy. You inherit the exact mark as your father does. And I speak in present tense although he is dead and rotting as we speak, the symbol is still there. His mark symbolised obedience, and before you were Alpha he was able to suppress the urge of obeying to the mark's desires.