When Darius heard Nicholai's name, he couldn't help but scream: "Son of a bitch!"
The father ended up running across the hospital hallways at his inhuman speed and soon along the streets in his quadrupedal werewolf stance. Unlike when he was not agitated, Darius managed to cross back to the coastal city in less than a couple of hours. However, when he tried to look around the old city that he lived in, he quickly went into hiding.
He had completely forgotten that his old pack could still be there. He didn't want to run into any of them, especially not Audrey Gillard, who decided to have a blood debt with him. It's just that… he also needed to figure out where Nicholai had taken Dylan. Maternal uncle, his ass.
"Dammit… where are you, Dylan?" Darius looked around and tried to locate the boy's blood scent. It's just that… there was no trace of the kid anywhere. The father then calmed down and took a deep breath.
"I will sock you when I see you… where is my little boy?" Darius murmured to himself, trying to reestablish the mate bond that Nicholai had tried to use to bridge between them that night. It was incomplete due to multiple reasons, but he could at least sense a vague location where Nicholai was. Moreover, he could send a formless message to the man.
It's just that nothing was responding to him. He had no idea if it was because Nicholai decided to sever that link or if the bastard just chose to play a prank on him. If it was the latter, didn't he realize that Dylan was in danger? Why would he take a dying boy from the hospital?
Ping. As if something pinged inside him, Darius perked his head up. He zeroed in on a location that lay in the heart of the werewolf territory in the coastal city. If he walked into that place, there was a big chance that he would run into his old pack.
However, Darius was not scared of facing them. He just didn't want any trouble because of the kids. By then, he knew that he would escape them if they grew too much of an inconvenience. He needed to find Nicholai and Dylan fast.
That was all he was willing to deal with at the moment.
…
The coastal city was a place that was stuck in a time capsule. Even if the people there could go with the technological trends for the public, the place was still the same as it was ten years ago. It was fairly easy to get around without being seen, especially if it was a former street-dweller like Darius. However, at a distance was a place that he had never seen before.
Darius blinked as he remembered the smaller Gillard Mansion standing on the lot far ahead into the woods. It's just that there was now a bigger estate in its place, and it had also eaten up a few more trees to accommodate its gigantic size. It was as if when he left, the pack had been taken over as well.
Also… his heart was throbbing a little. Didn't Nicholai tell Darius that he had gotten a place bigger than the Gillard Mansion? Moreover, that high-baller was the only person capable of constructing such a thing in a second-class city such as this coastal city.
It also didn't help that the new estate… seemed to have a huge garden.
"…he better be inside, or else I'll rip him apart…" Darius got out of his hiding spot and moved stealthily to get closer to the estate. When he got near the perimeter fencing that was even taller than two humans, he took note of the elegance of the posts. He even spotted electric wires protecting the perimeter from thieves. Damn, that bastard sure was loaded.
"Hey, you can't be here." A voice came from behind him, and Darius twitched. The place was so polluted with werewolf scent that he could barely detect anyone approaching him. However, a group did surround him as he was the stranger on their turf.
The man who called him out gave him a few once-overs. "This place isn't for random people. What are you doing here?"
That was what he said, but it was a cue for the guard werewolves to arm themselves with their claws. Darius didn't look around some more and readied his own set of claws. He knew that these people wouldn't listen to him at all. Even if they were more powerful than the ones from the port city, there were only six of them. Darius should be able to handle them well.
"Is your Alpha inside? I want to see him."
Darius got some words out, but that very notion triggered the Gamma wolves to attack him for sure. He wanted to meet their Alpha? Not without going through them! That was the message they were sending to Darius. How unfortunate was it that Darius was an Alpha himself?
Swoosh! His red eyes flashed again as he dashed around like a whip that hit them whether they saw him coming or not. His claws were nothing duller than theirs, and his bloodlust was greater than any of them. Even if they evaded his first attack, the second and third would land without a miss.
It might not be as much carnage as what happened in the port city, but the Gamma wolves were shocked at the power of this Alpha that they were facing. He might not be as powerful as their own Alpha, but they didn't know why this one had come. Was he here to challenge their Alpha for the territory?
"Stop."
A voice made the Gamma wolves retreat with a whimper. Darius had also retreated from the source of the voice quite farther than the Gammas… since he recognized that voice. It came from a woman that stood nearby as if not finding the urgency to keep any of them from getting killed.
Her blue eyes landed on the fighting group, meeting the sea of gray eyes before staying on a pair of red. She then smiled derisively, a hand flipping her reddish hair behind her. "Darius Walker, it's been three years since you left this place in ruins. What could you possibly want that wouldn't warrant the wrath of our new Alpha?"
Darius narrowed his eyes, but his expression grew solemn. He recalled his claws and his flashing red eyes as he stood. "Millicent, I'm here to talk to Nicholai. He took something that belongs to me, and that is not your werewolf turf. I want to talk to him. Is he around?"
"Only if he…" Millicent, an old member of Darius's broken werewolf pack, growled. However, she reacted to an order before huffing in mockery. "The Alpha allows the meeting. Come with me, rogue."