18 years later
Danny awoke to the sound of birds chirping, to the feel of her wet sheets clinging to her skin, it brought back memories of the night before and how difficult it had been for her to fall asleep, the heat had been unbearable and when sleep had finally come, it had been a grateful escape, sighing in gratitude to whatever had granted her that escape she arced her back and stretched on her bed. Hearing the usual pop that accompanied the action she sighed in satisfaction. The ringing of her phone pulled her attention towards her bed side table were her phone lay vibrating as it rang, the vibration causing it to move closer and closer to the edge of the table. The sheets moved along with her, forming tangles as she attempted to reach it before the phone fell of the edge or the call ended. She stretched her hand just in time and caught it just at it fell of the edge, lying on her back she brought the screen close to her face to identify the caller, she had to squint her eyes as her glasses lay on the same table from before.
It was Lawrence, answering the call she pulled the phone towards her ear
"Good morning" she said her voice sounding groggy from sleep
"hey there moonshine" he said before adding "you're still in bed aren't you" , his voice coming out deep but lively as opposed to hers an obvious indicator of the fact that he had woken up hours before. "Morning people" she thought with an eye roll. Smiling she untangled the sheets from her legs, "you know me so well" she replied, bending her knees so that her folded arms rested on them her gaze moved towards her window to the tree outside where she was sure the birds she'd heard from before perched, they were brightly coloured, and most seemed involved in the process of building their nests from what she'd noticed the past few days, everything always seemed so quiet till mornings, they woke her each day and she was grateful for this, she had no idea what type of birds they were and she didn't care, knowing those kind of things had never really appealed to her before and they still did not.
"Love, you still there"
"Yeah" she said forcing herself to concentrate on what he was saying
"So I'm picking you up yeah"
"uhhmm, for the sake of clarity can you repeat what you said right after" she paused trying to recall his last words before she had zoned out, remembering she continued "you're still in bed"
"ahh, and this is for clarity" he said clearly mocking her
Claiming ignorance she replied "yes, definitely clarity, so that you know all forms of ambiguity are eliminated, I mean you don't wanna come here and discover I'm not ready at 7..., 8", as she said this she got of the bed, heading towards the door that would lead to the stairs, pulling the door open she was met by the silence of the hallway, usually she was creped out by the silence and that meant that Lawrence slept over a lot but last night had been one of those nights were she had been home alone but for some reason today she was not creped out, smiling at that fact, she resumed her conversation
"9"
"For god sake Danny be ready by 6 or I swear"
Sighing in exasperation as her feet padded down the stairs she replied "calm down lawie I'll be ready", drawing out the sentence.
"You better be" he said his tone grumpy, but she knew he wasn't annoyed at her, this was just their little game, he complained about her tardiness and well she remained tardy.
"You bringing breakfast" she said, searching for her bag as she entered the living room
"Yeah, just be ready yeah, I don't wanna miss the morning rush"
"I don't think there is such a thing as a morning rush on this island" she said making air quotes at morning rush. "I mean it's pretty much the same number of people mornings, afternoons" pausing she rounded her couch, noticing the bag resting at its edge she mouthed a yes then continued "evenings"
"I've reached the road leading to your house" he announced into the phone
"What, you said 6" she gasped, running up the stairs back into the room, stripping her t-shirt off.
"Its 5:55"
"ohh, well uhmm, let yourself in" she said, hearing him scream her name before ending the call. Entering the shower she switched it on, letting the cold water wash away the heat.
* * * * * * *
Biting into her sandwich, she bent her head back moaning in pleasure, noticing a pair of eyes on her she turned towards the other occupant of the car
"What"
"Don't do that" he said
"Don't do what, enjoy good food"
"Yeah, you can enjoy good food and not make me uncomfortable"
"And you need to get a girlfriend, this unhealthy relationship with your car is not good" she countered
He rolled his eyes at her scoffing as he did before turning his gaze back to the road causing a giggle to erupt from her mouth.
"It's not funny Danny"
"Ohh it is...for me anyway" she replied "I just love the way your face goes all weird whenever I mention it, now that is funny", pushing her glasses so that they perched just right on her nose she returned her attention back to her sandwich this time allowing herself a generous bite but carefully so that it did not spill, she would not hear the end of it if she stained the leather of his 'baby', rolling her eyes at that memory she turned her gaze to lawie's side of the car to find his eyes staring at her sandwich. Rolling her eyes this time for him to see she said "I'm being careful"
"Yeah that's what you think" he said grimacing
Shaking her head, she stuck her tongue at him
"Yeah that's very mature of you, very" smiling she turned her gaze to the view of her window, deciding to enjoy the view instead she wrapped the remnants of the sandwich and placed it back in the brown paper bag lawie had brought them in much to his relief. The window revealed dark surroundings, the sun had already risen but not so much that it chased away the darkness. Pushing her hand through the window she felt wetness, dew, she loved days like this, pushing her head into the head rest she took a deep breath, today was going to be one of those good days.
Lawrence's hands glided across the familiar feel of his steering wheel, each part an expected coarseness causing his mind to remember a time when his hands had glided across an unfamiliar part once and he had wondered if that part had always existed or if he had never really noticed until then, or maybe it was all together new to begin with, he suspected it had been the second. Remembering something he'd wanted to talk to Danny about, he called her name, his gaze moving to her side of the car for as long as it had taken to grab her attention which had been a few seconds before his gaze returned to the road.
"Yeah she said whipping her head towards him and as she did long brown locks of hair, blond at the tips covered her frames. Pushing them away, she smiled at him to continue.
"So there's this festival coming up, there's going to be music and dancing and some of the kids are thinking of doing the whole group choir thing and I was thinking of doing something myself, ya know with my guitar and wondered if you wanted to join me, the number I'm thinking of doing will sound so much better with a violin and I was thinking...." He let the sentence hang. He allowed himself a glance away from the road to observe her face, it was blank.
After a while he heard her say "this another sad attempt to get you a girlfriend", her voice sounded light and teasing but he knew better, shaking his head he said "it is not and we both know that if I wanted one I could get one stop trying to change the subject"
Sighing, he continued "look maybe it is" he said in an attempt to lighten the mode, "but I'm saying this for you, join me"
Taking a deep breath, she replied "I don't know lawie, I don't feel….. I don't feel in a good enough place to....." she said trailing off, she had considered telling him no outright, but lawie was different he was her closest friend and sometimes her only friend he knew everything, an abrupt answer did not seem right.
"okay" he said hesitating before adding "this is probably or you know what very presumptuous of me to say because I didn't know her, not like you did anyway all I know about her are the things you've told me and from the few times I'd stayed over at your house when we were young, but I think she would have wanted you to be happy all mothers want their kids to be happy"
"I am happy" she said allowing her hand to rest on his arm, "and no you're not being presumptuous or anything", a lazy smile spread across her face, "you just care about me, I know"
"But you're not playing anymore" he said
"And I'm happy without it" she said retracting her hand slowly from where it had rested on his arm.
A tired smile spread across his lips as he spared a glance at her once again, "yeah, maybe you are"
"But I've seen you play Danny, and whenever you did, I didn't just see happiness I saw everything else, pain, love, hate, you somehow made all of them together a beautiful thing to watch and I'd love to see that again so could you do me favor and at least think about it". He did not expect a reply out of her, he suspected she was no longer here and that she was probably somewhere in her memories, thinking of things she had not been able to control and he wished he could make her believe that.
* * * * * * *
Axel's fingers lay wrapped around the flute of the champagne glass the waitress had given him at the beginning of the flight, after the waitress had poured the champagne into his glass he had watched the tiny bubbles rapidly rise to the surface, he had watched the other occupants of the plane raise the glass to their lips, he had watched his uncle's vizier do the same only with a certain restraint he had observed was peculiar to certain people, after doing this he had closed his eyes, then he'd watched the others sitting at the front gulp it down, they were supposed to be his personal guards but he knew better, he knew they were here to keep him in check just in case he lost control, which he did a lot this days.
His uncle had declared that he needed a vacation, a small respite from all the chaos back home, the worst had been over for months but the dusts was still settling down and his uncle felt his absence from the situation was necessary. All he felt right now was trapped, his fingers caressed the sides of the flute of the champagne glass subconsciously and he took a deep breath, falling deeper into the leather of the plane seat and resting his champagne glass on the table before him, he turned his gaze to the window beside him. He wondered why plane windows were not big enough for people to jump through and if it were he wondered if he would jump. The past days hadn't been so horrible that the thought of death had occurred to him more than the usual, but in this moment, in his uncle's private plane, being shipped to the middle of nowhere he couldn't help but think about it.
He wondered if his uncle would care, he was sure of a few people under his uncle's command who would celebrate at his death, because then there would be no one else strong enough to threaten the line of succession, his cousins throne would be safe. Pulling his gaze back into the plane he looked at his hands and he saw red, he wasn't innocent, he had killed people for a cause he had thought once right.
He rested the heel of his palm against his forehead and moved it up and down in a massaging manner, he could hear the voices again, specifically his grandfather's and every man he had ever deemed worthy his trainer. He could hear every order he was ever given, every lie he was ever told, he could hear the screams of his victims and he was sure his mother's too existed there. Suddenly it seemed like there was not enough air, he could feel the sinking feeling again, the voice inside taunting him to let go, promising escape and bliss.
"axel, are you alright" he heard Adam, his uncle's vizier say, flashing him a look of annoyance, he didn't have to look around the room to know that everyone was probably on full alert, every wolf in the room noticing the dominance his wolf was sending out in waves.
"sit" he said, immediately noticing that his words had come out more of a command than as a request not as he had intended, his wolf's dominance had leaked into his voice. He knew everyone else in the room had probably obeyed the command except for Adam. This caused his wolf to surge forward in challenge but clenching to the arm rest of his seat he took deep breaths wrestling with the wolf within for control, the full moon had been a few days ago so gaining back control had not taken as much time as usual.
"I'm fine" he said reassuring himself more than the other occupants of the plane, he allowed his eyes to meet the ones of a standing Adam sending him a glare and maintaining eye contact, It must have been enough as he soon sunk hesitantly back into his seat. Adam ached for the boy and wished the boy would talk to him or anyone as a matter of fact, he wanted him to ask questions and not assume that everyone was either out to get him or use him or worse that he had lost everyone that had ever cared for him the day his parents had died. Glancing at him once more he allowed his hearing to focus so as to hear the boy's heartbeat, it was slower now, he thanked God for that.
He could still remember how the boy had been before his parent's death, he had been lively and a mischievous little thing, playing pranks on everyone around, adults and children, he remembered a particular prank he had done that had affected one of the royal dinners, everyone in the room had been covered in all the food that had been placed on the dinner table. It was discovered later that he had expertly placed little explosives in the food and had befriended a witch his age to activate them at the time he'd wanted. His mother had pulled him by the ears out of the room scolding him as she did but the boy had shown no remorse on his face, him and his father sharing secret looks at each other. It was hard to reconcile that image with the boy that sat beside him now, he seemed broken, resigned to something he had no idea of. Guilt consumed him as he remembered the events that had led to today and his mind traveled to a distant past he wished he could change.
15 years ago
There was a certain tenseness in the air that came from too many alphas gathered in one place, their wolves itching at implied challenges, fights would break out soon he just knew it. They were hosting this time and it was his duty among others to stop the fights that would soon occur, he grimaced at that thought, these were going to be a very long few days. Moving swiftly, he headed towards the training grounds in search of a boy he knew attracted fights like magnets and for young wolves it was good to fight, let go of tensions and train together but most wolves that fought with this boy well who was he kidding every wolf he'd known that had ever challenged him or implied it had always ended up close to death and with so many alphas around he knew the boy would be wound up and stressed and there was no better place to relieve stress than the training grounds, he just hoped he was relieving on the punch bags and not on actual people.
Finding him punching one of the sand bags in practiced patterns, he sighed in relief and walked towards him, getting close to him he called out his name, he knew his wolf was close to the surface and did not want to antagonize it, pausing a few feet from him he called his name louder this time
"Axel"
The boy stopped slowly and turned to look at him, he noticed a lot more yellow than usual around the boy's irises and raised his hands up indicating he meant no harm, the boys chest continued to heave up and down his eyes watched him.
"Hey axel, how ya doing buddy"
The boy's eyes narrowed at him, before he straightened his back and rolled out the kinks, moving his head side to side, for a boy his age he was tall but then again there were a lot of things different about him.
The boy shrugged at him then turned towards the sand bag again positioning himself to resume punching at it.
"Maybe we should lay off the bag for now" he said slowly just before the boy could throw a punch
The boys fist lowered to his sides but remained clenched
"And what else would you have me do" the boy said slowly between clenched teeth
"Have you eaten" the man said in a cherry voice
The boy sent a dark look his way his voice darkening as he said "don't patronize me, today is not a good day"
"I know" the man replied in a kind tone
"Do you" the boy challenged his walk and voice becoming more animalistic as he walked towards the man.
Not moving backwards, the man let a breath out in exasperation before saying "I don't" pausing he looked the boy in the eye and continued "but if we went elsewhere I could train you"
This caused the boy to pause, his face adopting a thoughtful look, after a while the man felt a drop in the tension in the air, he hoped no one else had noticed this show if any of the other boys saw him as a challenge, things would not go well not to talk of the wrong kind of attention from the wrong kind of people. The boy resumed walking towards him, this time with less hostility. When the boy reached him, he swung he arm around the boy's shoulders, squeezing a little and then guided him away from the field.
"Leaving now are we" he heard someone say behind them
Pausing, he turned around and looked at the person; he was tall his body was not the size of a seasoned warrior but he looked fit, though a little bit on the lean side he was agile and had fast reflexes, he had noticed it the first day of the gathering when trainees in their teens had fought, he remembered the boy had stated his age 16 if he remembered correctly. But right now as he looked at the boy approval was the last thing on his mind, sending him a hard look he maintained a hard grip around the shoulders of the boy noticing that he had tensed up, "pick someone else, preferable one your own age" he said in a tone leaving no room for discussion, turning around he resumed walking grateful that the boy did the same. But the other it seemed had not gotten the message or maybe had all together ignored it as he continued to speak.
"well, he should have considered his age before sending out his dominance like that, people tend to see that as a challenge" this time they stopped but not because he had but because the boy had, seeing that as a signal to continue the other boy said "you know I watch you come in everyday, kick and punch around a sand bag and then leave I was hoping one day for all your showing off you'd man up and challenge" pausing he added with a smirk while motioning around "anyone"
"Well it's just as much, I should have known that you are nothing but a coward putting on a show to make people think that you are special when you are really nothing but a boy pretending to be a man"
If the boy had been tense before, it was nothing compared to what he was now, his breathing was coming out in heaves and his dominance had increased till he was sure everyone within a ten mile radius could feel it. Speaking in a low tone close to the boy's ear while still maintaining a firm grip around his shoulders he said "Axel calm down you know you are stronger than him, if you fight him with how angry you are right now, you will kill him do you understand me, don't stoop to his level" but all his words fell on deaf ears, as the boy had now began to growl. Realizing the boy was far too gone to reason with he backed away slowly and motioned towards the other boy, who now wore an unsure look on his face compared to the confidence he had worn earlier.
The boy turned slowly and followed the movements of the boy who had been teasing him, he was moving closer to his uncle Adam, he could feel his wolf, push at the cage of his consciousness that he had created to keep the animal at bay but as he stalked towards the boy he realized that it wasn't just the animal within him that wanted to hurt the boy, he wanted to too and so sinking into the confines of his mind he planned to do just that.
Adam had already sent orders through the mind link for reinforcements, contacting his alpha too and informing him of the situation. The boy from before now stood behind him, but this did not stop Axel from advancing towards them. His eyes were yellow and his fangs were exposed peeking through his lips, he didn't have to look at his hands to know that his claws were probably out too. A crowd had gathered around and Adam wanted to shout at them to back off, but he knew that this would only tick Axel off and if Axel had not noticed the crowd it would probably tip him off of it and put more lives at risk so he backed off slowly guiding the boy behind him and hoped no one was behind them.
Looking behind Axel, he noticed a man he knew belonged to his training unit and as he looked around he noticed more appear, till they had formed a circle with Axel at the center, stopping he turned his head to the side and spoke in a low tone to the boy behind him, while maintaining eye contact with Axel "run", the shuffling of feet behind him, assured him that the boy had heeded his advice, still looking at Axel he saw his eyes follow the boy behind him for a few seconds before looking at him. Taking a fighting stance he released his dominance in waves causing yellow eyes to narrow at him but soon his men around did the same causing axel to spin around noticing for the first time that he was surrounded, returning his gaze to Adam his face twisted into one of anger just before his neck popped, this was followed by the sound of more breaking bones, he watched the boys nose wrinkles and elongate into a snout and fur sprout throughout his whole form, he stood his ground just like the others did but screams were heard as the crowd ran for safety.
Soon he stood before a familiar tall dark brown wolf, the wolf puffed at him just before charging forward, but one of his men behind Axel charged at the wolf, morphing midair but the brown wolf's reflexes were fast turning around just in time he sunk his fangs into the neck of the attacking wolf but lacking proper training he had missed the lethal spot, another wolf barreled into the brown wolf sinking its fangs into it's hind legs a loud whiny sound was heard but the brown wolf shook him off ripping his leg from the wolf's mouth, Adam was aware of the fact that his men were fighting to subdue and not to kill and that axel's move of ripping his leg from the wolf's mouth had left him bleeding and had hindered their efforts, but the brown wolf still fought on as if not perturbed by his wounded legs his attacks this time more savage. By now everyone had shifted with the exception of Adam. He knew the boy would continue to fight and that despite their efforts they would soon not be able to stop him, he did not want to fight the boy and he hoped that his alpha showed up soon if not he would have too. The wolves formed a mass of fur and blood with Axel being the recipient of bites and claws. But he held them back and fought back with viciousness of a wild animal, sighing he knew Axel had probably stepped back from his consciousness, it would take a lot to reach him.
Adam felt him, before he had seen him, his dominance had slammed into him causing him to bare his neck almost immediately and as he turned around his eyes reluctantly met those of his alpha's, torn between his natural instincts and the fondness his human side knew for his alpha. His alpha had only spared him a glance, nodded at him and continued towards the fight. His eyes followed his alpha to see that the wolves now stood some distance around axel, their heads bent low in submission to their alpha. Axel still stood his hackles raised as he growled at the new arrival. His alpha continued to walk towards Axel pouring out his dominance in waves, he and the other wolves moved backwards their wolves seeking distance from the discomfort their alpha's dominance caused. But Axel still stood seemingly unaffected by it. The alpha now stood face to snout with the brown wolf, his eyes looking into the wolf's forcing submission, a few seconds passed before the wolf began to whine, it's ears slowly bent as his head began to fall, the alpha increased his dominance again for good measure and watched as the wolf slowly and reluctantly submitted to him. If any other wolf had done that, he would have been dead by now, but this wolf was his alpha's nephew, his wolf recognized him as his own and would not hurt him and his human side loved him beyond all measure.
The alpha watched the boys bones break and reform and shrink to reveal his nephew's naked form covered In blood, he was curled up resting on his side and he noticed that one of his legs held a large gash, stooping down he brushed brown blood matted hair off his nephew's face to reveal pleading eyes, smiling reassuringly he whispered "it's okay buddy, I'm not going to hurt you", returning his gaze back to the boy's injured leg he tried to assess the level of damage done to it, in his wolf form the boy's healing process had begun but as he had shifted back blood was pooling around the wound. As carefully as he could he placed his arm under his back and the other under his legs and lifted him up, the boy groaned in pain biting his lips as he did.
Standing slowly, he spun around and walked towards the parks infirmary with the boy in his arms, silence following his every footstep, he felt eyes on him but he gave no indication that he did all he cared about was the wellbeing of his nephew.
"it seems you are having trouble teaching this one control", the alpha turned around to meet the eyes of the person who had just spoken, it was alpha Crane, he had the same colour of eyes as his sister in law blue, he remembered his brother say that those were the first things he'd noticed when he'd met her. He said they had held childish mischief and so much kindness in them, the man that stood before him now held none of this, for as long as he had known this alpha there had only been one resting emotion in his eyes and that was greed, everything the man had ever done had been for the sole aim of gaining power, that was except for Greta she had done everything to escape him, she had found them, married his brother and left her pack and her life behind, he'd always wondered if it had hurt her to do that, but looking into the eyes of her father he couldn't think of any reason of why it would have.
Frowning he addressed the alpha with as much hostility as he felt "I don't think I asked for your opinion"
He continued to stare the blue eyed alpha down aware of how much it annoyed him, looking behind him he noticed for the first time the alpha's first son, he had the same eyes as his father, in colour and in everything else, he allowed his expression to turn into one of disgust before turning around and continuing towards his destination.
"He should be trained by his own kin" he heard the other alpha say as he walked away.