Hi…..
I’m back with a bang:D My exams are over and so updates will be better than they were (conditions apply)
Okay…. so this chapter is dedicated to @himanshukurmi92 :D
Pic on the side is of Duncan’s wolf>>>
*****
“The worst pain in the world goes
beyond the physical. Even further
beyond any other emotional pain
one can feel. It is the betrayal of a
friend.”
― Heather Brewer , Ninth Grade Slays
DUNCAN P.O.V
Her brother? Seline had a brother?
Orion?
And he was killed by those rogues?
I stared at Sel who was growling continuously. Her golden eyes met mine before she took off running in the opposite direction.
“Sel” I called her but she didn’t sojourn, so I followed her.
All the while I kept a good distance because I knew she needed this run, to control her wolf. Around fifteen minutes later she stopped running. She stood on a rock and craning her neck up she howled. Her howl was filled with pain and my wolf whined slowly inside because he could connect with her.
Lowering her head she looked at me slowly. I closed the distance between us and slowly ran my fingers on her soft fur. It felt good to run my fingers on her beige color fur. Live electric current spread all over my body when I did that. “Are you okay?” I asked her and she whined.
“Come on” I told her and she followed me while we made our way back towards the lake.
“Sel” I called her. She had shifted back and gone behind a tree to change. She was right; the extra dress does come in handy. “Sel” I called again but there was no reply. I could hear her breathing and so I walked towards the tree.
Sel was leaning against the tree, with her hands behind her back. She closed her eyes shut and then the tears rolled down her pink cheeks. I pulled her towards me and hugged her. Soothing her hair, I whispered to her that I love her.
“He was eleven at the time” she spoke breaking the silence, her voice muffled.
Pulling away she looked at me. “My brother Orion” she said smiling sadly. I looked at her eyes that had a faraway look in them.
“When was he-?” I asked but I stopped mid-sentence.
“A year after Remy’s death” she said. “We never found his body” she said and broke down crying again.
After some time she stopped and then rubbed her cheeks with the back of her hand. “We all grew up together. Me, Twin bros, Orion, and Tito” she said and I furrowed my brows.
“Who is Tito?” I asked her.
“Twin bro’s younger brother.”
“They have a younger brother?” I asked in surprise.
“And a sister too. Her name is Kasey; she is just seven years old.” She said.
“Oh” I said in surprise. I didn’t know Tyson had younger siblings.
“Tito was also killed by those rogues” she spat. “Then two months later they killed my brother. We found Tito’s body but we never found Orion’s.” she said and looked away.
“I can’t tolerate them. I hate them. I hate rogues” she snarled at me. “They made our life hell” she said but instead of sadness, there was anger in her eyes and tone. She had held the skirt of her lemon yellow dress in a fist. “Just because their wolf was different, they killed them” she said.
“Different?” I asked her.
She looked me in the eye and then spoke. “Orion and Tito shifted when they were eleven” she said and my eyes widened.
“They were like Remy?” I asked stunned to hear it.
“Yes.”
“Were they gifted?”
“Yes. Orion used to control fire and Tito used to control air” she said smiling. “They were young and they were just learning how to use their special gifts. But everything came to an end.” She said and lowered her head.
After few minutes of silence Sel looked up, “Orion used to always call sun as an orange ball of fire” Sel said blinking. I recalled that those were the exact words she used that morning when we watched the sunrise. “He used to tell one day he would touch the sun” she said smiling. Anyone could see the love Sel had for her brother. “We thought he was kidnapped for ransom but there was no call or anything. No prayers nothing helped us bring him back. Orion was gone. Within a day of him being kidnapped our link with him was broken” she said crying loudly.
My wolf was pacing inside me because he could feel all her pain. I hugged her and she nestled her nose against my chest. “Ma and Pa were depressed for days. I did everything I could so that they wouldn’t feel the loss. I tried to be good, listen to everything they say to make them happy but it was of no use. Orion was gone. No one could fill his place” she said gripping my shirt. I rested my chin on the top of her head while Sel sobbed against my chest. I let her cry and take it out all at once.
Her crying was painful to bear but she had to let it all out.
I don’t know how long we stayed like this when I pulled away Sel’s eyes were red from all the crying. I wiped her tears with my thumb finger and kissed her temple. She sighed slowly.
“I have not spoken about Orion for a long time” she said sadly. “When you brought the topic yesterday, it came back all again” she said sniffing.
“What about Tito?” I asked her.
“He was found in the woods. His body…. His body was ripped” she said and looked away. “Those rogues are behind all of this” she said growling. “I hate them” she said repeatedly. “They had destroyed a pack and then they killed Orion and others like him” she said.
“I don’t want you associating with them Duncan” Sel said and shook her head. “I don’t want you going there ever. I hate them” she said and I nodded.
I despised rogues but hearing after what Sel had to say, I despised them a lot more. If only I had known about Sel’s brother before I would have killed Leo then and there.
Bastard.
“I need to go back” Sel said and I nodded.
Parking my Mercedes in the school parking lot, I turned to look at Sel who was silent during the entire ride. Her head was leaned against the window and she had her eyes closed. Hearing her soft breaths, I knew that she was asleep. She looked at peace when she was sleeping. She looked beautiful.
Now I understood what her mother meant when she said Sel changed. Her brother’s death had been difficult for her. From what she said it must have been three years ago that Orion and Tito were killed.
I wondered does Aunt Isa knew about Orion and Tito who were also killed like Remy.
This means three such wolves were killed and only two more were left now. One was the she-wolf who was with Cortez then who was the other?
From what Sel and Aunt Isa had said those rogues kill them brutally. So we have to save them before anything such happens.
Where was this other gifted wolf?
Most importantly how was Cortez involved with them? Did he work for those rogues?
No, that wasn’t possible. The rogue himself told me that he wanted O dead which means that O was totally different. He wasn’t a rogue. He was a pack wolf and Cortez himself might be O. But I still didn’t get why was he killing other Alpha’s and what was the gifted she-wolf doing with him?
There were so many questions and the answers to all of this were unknown.
I decided that I needed to talk with Granel about this and find out if he knew anything. I even needed to speak to Raven.
The school bell rang and Sel stirred. She woke up and blinked repeatedly. “How long was I sleeping for?” she asked rubbing her eyes.
“Twenty minutes” I said tucking a strand of her hair behind her ears. “Are you okay?” I asked her.
“Yeah, I am fine” she said and smiled. Cortez topic was long forgotten between us after Sel heard about the rogues. She didn’t even speak a word about Cortez and I doubt she even recalls it.
“I can drop you at home” I told her. Seline sighed and stared out of the window. “Seline?” I called her and she turned to look at me. “Do you want me to drop you home?” I asked her.
“Yeah” she said. “I don’t think I will able to teach anything now” she said rubbing her temples.
“Okay” I said.
‘Nick’ I called him through the link after I dropped Sel to her apartment.
‘I am already here Alpha’ he said. He nodded after I spotted him. I needed to talk to Granel and so I drove to his house.
“Duncan?” Granel said surprised when he saw me. I stood from the couch in his living room.
“What’s up?” he asked me clearing his throat.
“I needed to tell you something I have discovered about Sel’s attack” I said and Granel stared at me. “It was Cortez” I told him and he looked at me weirdly. It was an expression I couldn’t actually define.
“What?” he asked me after sometime and then sat on his couch.
“Cortez is either O or he is working for O” I told him and Granel lowered his head. To say I was shocked to see his reaction was a minute thing. I was perplexed because he wasn’t reacting at all. He had kept the palms of his hands on his knees and he had lowered his head.
“Granel?” I called him but there was no reply. “Granel” I called him louder and he looked up, but didn’t meet my gaze. I saw his face and growled. His lips were pressed in a thin line and he was looking anywhere but me. “Did you hear anything I just said?” I asked him and he didn’t respond.
He swallowed audibly and nodded.
“Your mate’s brother was responsible for the attack on my mate, my father” I said to him through gritted teeth.
“He is not really her brother” he said shrugging and then looked away.
What kind of an answer was that? I stared at him like he had grown two heads. He was acting as if this wasn’t a big deal at all. He was acting nonchalantly about all of this and that was really irritating me.
I didn’t really want to do this. I didn’t want to close my eyes and patiently hear my good friend’s heartbeat, but his reaction was confusing me and I wanted to do it.
Closing my eyes, I blocked all the sounds around me and focused solely on Granel’s heartbeat. His heart was beating faster and he was swallowing repeatedly. He was not scared all right, but he was definitely lying.
He knew about Cortez. He knew everything about him. Who knows Granel might be involved too in this after all, he was the one who found Sel in the backyard first place. I recalled the time I had spoken to him about O and he was all cool about O. I didn’t really doubt him first but now it was impossible not to doubt him.
This wasn’t really working. His silence was making me angrier each passing second. My wolf didn’t appreciate his behavior and so I stood up angrily. “You knew about it, didn’t you?” I asked him growling and clenching my fists at my side.
Granel who until now was avoiding my gaze looked at me. His hazel eyes turned darker. “Yes” he replied honestly and I growled ferociously at him. He knew and he lied.
“Are you with him?” I asked hoping that the answer was no. But his reply shattered that hope.
“Yes” he replied again and I growled louder than I have ever before. This felt like backstabbing to me. It hurt a lot that my good friend since childhood, was with the person who killed my father and attacked my mate.
I couldn’t take it any longer and so I went for him.
“Bastard” I called and punched him with full force. He fell on the couch with the force I had used and he immediately stood up and glared at me. “I thought you were my friend” I spat and he looked away.
I was getting madder by each second. I fisted my hands and punched him again. This time though Granel didn’t accept it. He punched me back and shoved me against the wall. The photo frame in the wall fell down when I collided against it.
Lunging forward, I held Granel by the throat and had him down on the ground. My claws and Canines were out and I snarled at him. His eyes were darker than usual and he snarled back. There were growls repeatedly coming from our chests which caused the windows in the room to vibrate. I tightened my hold on his neck. “You of all people?” I snarled raising his head and forcefully ramming it back to the floor.
Granel who until now was trying to loosen my hold on his neck, caught my throat and forced me to loosen my hold. The hold he had on my neck wasn’t tight to choke me to death and I felt that Granel was trying not to fight. I fell back and stood up immediately facing Granel again.
“I suggest you to leave right now Duncan. You don’t know a thing because your saint of a father had hid everything from you. Don’t come between what we are doing” he said through gritted teeth and I snarled at him. “Leave” he said in his Alpha tone that didn’t even make me blink.
“Not until I kill you” I said and went for his throat again.
“Duncan, don’t” I heard Raven shouting near the doorway. I knew she had come running here from the school.
I didn’t turn to look at her while I had Granel cornered against the wall with my grip extremely tight on his neck. “Who stabbed Sel?” I asked him and Granel growled at me. I pushed him against the wall and Raven growled loudly. “Who. Stabbed. Sel?” I asked him through gritted teeth.
I knew it was him but I needed him to confirm it.
“I did” he said without blinking and looking me straight in the eyes. There was a guilty expression in his face but that didn’t matter to my wolf. He had hurt my mate and he is going to suffer. My wolf growled ferociously and I held my hand back to claw him, but Raven stopped me by holding my hand. I didn’t care about him being my friend anymore because he hurt my mate. The emerald green eyes of the blonde were pitching black now and she was staring at me with anger. Her wolf was in bay and I knew she would do anything to protect her mate.
“Step back” I snarled at Raven while Granel growled at me. Granel who wasn’t fighting against my hold up until now did start, after I snarled at Raven.
Raven growled ferociously and before I knew it she had thrown me to the couch away from Granel. The couch fell back with the force I landed on it. I stood up and glared at the couple who were standing and growling at me. The liar of a good friend and his so called untrained mate.
“Leave Duncan” Granel said again calm and composed. He was standing in front of Raven covering her.
“Is she the she-wolf who saved Cortez?” I asked him and he shook his head in denial.
“No. She is not” he said and crossed his arms across his chest.
“I know you feel like I have betrayed you Duncan and I did too” Granel said softly “But I am doing what is right and I don’t feel guilty of killing or hurting anyone other than Sel. The only reason I stabbed her was to stop you from going after Cortez” he said, his voice deep with emotion. I looked at Raven who placed her one hand on Granel’s shoulder. Granel turned to look at her and he sighed softly. “You don’t know anything Duncan. You don’t what we are doing and why we are doing it” he said sadly.
For some unknown reason, I felt like believing them. I wanted to believe that they are telling the truth but I wasn’t ready to accept it just yet. I wanted to know everything from the start. Answers for all the major W’s, but right now I was too much in anger to hear or pay any attention to anything they have to say. I was furious.
Glaring at them nastily I walked towards the door but stopped when Granel spoke again. “I am not O” Granel said “But I do work with O” he concluded. Raven’s eyes widened when he said that. She was either surprised to hear it or she was surprised that he told me about it.
Growling murderously, I shifted into my black wolf and ran towards the woods.
I needed to hunt.
I was running wildly in the woods and jumping through the broken tree logs. Stopping in my tracks once, I craned my neck and howled loudly.
I was frustrated. The day was horrible for me. First, I quit my job and then I find about Cortez. I chase him again and miss him, again. Then, I trespass into the Elegance territory and meet those bastard rogues who killed Sel’s brother. And if that wasn’t enough, I learn that my good friend is also involved with O.
He is responsible for killing my father but he didn’t seem the least bit guilty or ashamed of his actions. At least Cortez was someone I didn’t know before unlike Granel, who was friends with me since my childhood. He was never like this and I wonder what caused him to change and become a killer.
I couldn’t help but laugh mentally at myself because I had come here to save Granel thinking he was O’s next target when he himself was associated with O.
What grudge were they all holding against the Alpha’s they killed? Who was the Alpha that helps the rogues? Most importantly who is O? The she-wolf or Cortez because Granel said he was not O. But I doubt the she-wolf is O which means Cortez is O. Cortez has to be O because I doubt the she-wolf to be O.
Why is O called O? Until now I used to consider his name to be O but now I am not sure what to think?
It is also crystal clear that O is different. A third party in all of this. Like I said earlier, it was frustrating and so I looked at the sky and howled louder again. I wanted to let it all out. It was bothering me. I started running again.
I could repeatedly hear what Granel was saying. How he said I knew nothing about what was going on and I knew it was the truth. That is why it made me angrier.
Obviously, Aunt Isa didn’t know Granel’s involvement in all of this because then she would have never helped me in finding O. The poor woman hates O and I wondered how she would react when she finds all this about her own son.
I wanted to go back and rip Granel’s throat for attacking Sel. She is his friend and he had attacked her. Right now I wasn’t sure whether Raven had helped him or not. It’s disgusting to have such friends, I thought painfully.
I looked at the sky after I stopped in my tracks and saw the sun up there. My guess was it was close to two in the afternoon because it was impossible to look at the sun now. It was burning like fire.
When I thought about fire, I recalled what Sel had said about her brother Orion. He was killed by those rogues. The rogues that wanted me to help them. It will not even happen in their dreams. Killing those young children and throwing their broken bodies for their families to pick up. How more brutal could those rogues get?
Just then something else that Sel said flashed in my mind. Her brother’s dead body was never found but they only know that the mind link was broken. Could there be a chance that her brother was alive? Could Orion be alive?
I stopped and blinked once and then again.
Orion?
O?
Not possible Duncan, just because his name starts in O doesn’t mean he is Orion. There are thousands of people whose name starts with O and besides Sel said he was dead. If his body wasn’t found it might be because they had thrown it somewhere. I closed my eyes when I thought that because it was a painful thought. My heart went for Sel and her family.
Too much thinking always makes me mad and hence I wanted something to vent my anger at and I knew hunting will help me.
Vernon was holding some clothes when he saw me near the gate of the apartment building. He rushed towards me and threw them. I held it between my teeth and went to change behind a tree.
After wearing the blue jeans and black t-shirt, I made my way towards Sel’s apartment.
“Alpha, Isadora Hampton had called you when you were out” he said walking beside me.
“Did she tell you what she wanted to talk about?” I asked him.
“No, but she told you to call her as soon as possible” he replied and I nodded. I think my cell phone was in my coat pocket which was inside my car, which was still parked in the street opposite to the hotel.
“Give me your cell” I told Vernon and he handed it to me. I called Aunt Isa and she picked up after two rings.
“Aunt, it’s me Duncan” I said as soon as she picked the call.
“Oh! Thank God you called me Duncan” she said in a hurry.
“What is it?” I asked her furrowing my brows.
“It’s Darya” she said and paused for a few seconds. “Darya is the she-wolf”
*****
Haha… so those who have already guessed Darya well… YOU WERE RIGHT. But… (Here comes the best part)… did ANYONE suspect Granel?
Please do tell me if you were spooked after knowing the second guy was Granel?
And do you think Orion is alive?
Also we are close to the revelation of O because Chapter 17 (2 more chapters after this) will have O’s P.O.V for the first time :D:D
Hope you all liked it:D
Please click on that vote and (Please) comment something about Granel because I want to hear it.
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Next update on 17th November.
Thanks :-*