“Wolf? Wrath? Are you still… is that you?” Mac was in his wolf form, and Wrath could immediately detect Macauley’s one body, one mind, and one spirit. A good spirit.
“IT IS ME. Come forward if you’re that brave.” Wrath put as much intimidation as he could into his voice. He could hear Mac just beyond the door, maybe waiting for the acrid black smoke that rose into the sky and spread like a terrifying mushroom cloud to clear the tight twenty-by-twenty-foot cave.
Wrath sat on his haunches with his large head lifted high, the sleek midnight black fur along his chest and belly that differentiated him from Wolf on proud display. He tried to appear in charge regardless of the fact that he sat behind two sets of iron bars. As Mac stalked closer, his head low, tail sticking straight out and his ears drawn back against his head, Wrath felt Alek’s pride for his brother’s display of courage. He wasn’t tip-toeing in with his tail between his legs. He was on the defense and ready to respond… and Wrath respected that. Even on alert, Macauley smelled of righteousness and honesty.
“How did you find me?” Wrath shot into Mac’s mind. The way the handsome wolf gruffed and shook his head told him that he’d heard and understood him. Wrath had never tried to communicate telepathically with any of the siblings before.
“I followed the ashes,” Mac answered.
“You were a fool to come here. I could end your life in seconds… painfully.”
Wrath. Don’t, Alek begged again.
“But you won’t,” Mac shot right back. Again, nothing but goodness flooding off him. Love and concern for his brother streaming into him that Wrath hurriedly filtered past himself—barely feeling an ounce of the comfort, not wanting to like it too much—and sending it directly to Alek. “I remember you now. That night when Mom died. You were there. You saved Farica.”
Wrath hadn’t expected this.
“My father had gotten most of us in the vans and I was supposed to watch over Taleb while Justice and my dad went back for others. But, I disobeyed and got out anyway because I thought maybe you could use my help. Alek used to teach me fight moves when he trained even though mom didn’t want him to. Do… do you remember that? Were you there?”
Wrath swallowed, but he made no outward movement to show the effect Mac was having on him. “I remember everything.”
“Why are you down here like this? What is this place?” Mac’s blue eyes scanned the bars that had cooled and were now covered in soot.
“Ask your brother. This is where he and Wolf lock me away when I try to come out.”
He heard the gasp, felt Mac’s revulsion as he surveyed the small space not befitting a shifter of their caliber, and certainly not the way to treat a demigod. “Why would Alek do this?”
Let me speak to him, Alek asked, with less venom. But Wrath wasn’t finished. He’d never had this opportunity.
“I know you did what you had to, Wrath. I saw how much it took for you to break apart from Wolf. I remember because of the black chest. None of us have that. For a minute I wasn’t sure of what I was watching. Couldn’t believe my own eyes. You were massive… and on fire. Everything around you burned.”
“That’s how it’ll always be. That’s why you’re all so afraid.”
“Not me. You burned the hunters that came to attack us, but you didn’t burn Farica when you saved her. The shifters who got killed didn’t recognize who you were, that’s all, and they got caught in the crossfire. I saw it in your eyes, the regret the moment they burned and fell.”
Did Mac truly believe this? Then how come he never came to them to console them after the accident? When he’d been outcast.
“I was just a boy,” Mac said, as if he’d read what he’d been thinking. “I didn’t understand. Not until I got older and I started to put it together bit by bit. That day was so tragic that I think I’ve buried most of it.” Mac moved closer until he was perched just beyond the bars. Close enough for Wrath to swipe his long claws through the slits and rip Mac’s chest open. The sinister thought quickly fled his mind. “We all thought you’d gone. We didn’t know Alek was holding you hostage inside. It wasn’t until that scene in the common yard earlier when heatwaves started to rise off my brother. I could tell Wolf was holding you back. The shift in energy was…”
“SAY IT… SAY THE WORD YOU ALL ASSOCIATE WITH ME…TERRIFYING.”
Mac growled low, probably not appreciating the vengeful energy Wrath had just let out. It couldn’t’ve felt good. With his deep voice more restrained, he replied, “that’s not what I think. I believe that you saved us once, and with some brotherly love and teaching, you could probably save us again. And I never thought Wolf destroyed us no matter his namesake… you both protected us. We’d all be dead if you hadn’t done what you did.”