Chapter 54

Chapter 54

-Farley-

Despite my father's old age, he was doing relatively well for someone who had been poisoned by wolf's bane. Actually, it seemed that Rowan was starting to do better as well. It was as though a switch had been flicked. Part of me wondered if it was because Pax wasn't here, but I tried to shake that thought out of my head. Surely, that couldn't be the case. Yet, I didn't know enough about black wolves to know for certain.

Groaning from the other bed caught my attention. Even though there had been a lot of groaning and moaning over the past several hours, this one was different. It was a familiar groaning.

"Rowan," Iris exclaimed, and she jumped to her feet, leaning over her brother with tears already streaming down her face. "Rowan, can you hear me?"

The room became silent, the only noise being the very welcome complaints of the boy lying behind me.

I placed my father's hands on his stomach and then rushed to Rowans' side. I sat on the bed beside him and put my arms around his back when he tried to sit up by himself.

His skin was slightly discoloured, the usual white had a strange hue of green-grey to it which I could only associate with death. His eyes hadn't really opened yet, but the dark circles underneath them were stark.

"I-" he tried to speak, but his voice sounded as though there was no pressure put behind his words. He nearly hit me in the face as he reached his arm up to rub his neck. His eyes then tried to open, failing miserably. The attempt was clear, which only made it more heartbreaking.

"Rowan, it's alright. I'm here with you, Farley's here..." Iris trailed off. "Some of the other pack is here too. We're in the library."

Chaos erupted from my phone, thumping, shouting, and growling. My breath caught in my throat, making me want to cough up my insides. There was something wrong and I hadn't been listening hard enough to figure out what was happening.

"They went into the trees on 'The Pity'-" Channing started, using air quotes around the peculiar name. "-and they were met by Rosary and Cedar. The two of them talked to Pax for a little while before attacking."

I nodded and found myself staring at the ceiling as I prayed Pax would make it out alive. He was a good fighter, I had faith that he would be able to do this. I also worried for Kelsey, who I knew shouldn't have been involved, but it was our best option at the time.

Growls which I didn't recognise reached the phone, too many to be Cedar and Rosary.

"I know who that is," Carme announced with a gasp. Her lips twitched into a smile and fondness reached her eyes. "He'll be alright, I'm sure."

I didn't trust her, but I had no choice in the matter. I could do nothing.

"Rowan, can you hear us?" Iris asked again.

Rowan's hand curled into a fist, but his thumb stayed straight.

"You did not just give us a thumbs up," I said with a laugh escaping my lips with disbelief.

A smile crawled on Rowan's lips too. It seemed that even when he was inches from death, he still found a way to bring humour.

"I think that we should go make sure they're alright," Channon announced. "It's time we start to take care of ourselves. You know, the plan has already failed."

"Abilene's gone," Oran agreed.

"But the people who went to find her were either poisoned or in the middle of a battle," my mother said. Her voice was sharp, and her voice cracked. She hadn't left my father's side since he had returned. Tear tracks stained her face, as well as some make-up that she had been wearing and didn't wash off.

"Here," Iris said and handed Rowan some water.

I helped him sit up so that he didn't choke whilst drinking. My thoughts swirled once again, I doubted that I had a single straight thought since Pax had left, I shook my head silently, that was not a pun. Rowan had too much of an influence on me.

"Thanks," Rowan rasped out after he downed the entire glass of water. "Missing? Fight?"

I shared a look with Iris, I didn't want to stress Rowan out as he recovered. He had made more progress that I didn't want to risk losing.

"Rowan's looking for Abilene," Lowell said calmly. "We've been locked in the safehouse, essentially."

Rowan sighed and rested his head against the pillows. "What caused that?" His voice was barely above a whisper.

I snorted, there's no point in trying to keep anything from Rowan. I put my headphones into my ears, listening to what was going on with Pax and Kelsey. The growls, both familiar and unfamiliar, became louder. I feared that there would soon be a time where the call would disconnect.

"You're right," I said after two minutes of listening. "Staying here isn't doing anything. I think we should get in touch with Caspian first."

Channing facepalmed. "Why didn't I think of that?" I couldn't tell if he was being sarcastic or not, but his tone seemed good-natured. He rushed to Abilene's phone, which I knew held a lock on it, like my own did. "Five numbers, let's see which one of us she loves the most." He held the phone out to his twin and gestured for the rest of his pack to surround him.

"Got it," Melina announced and held the phone up to her ear. "Hello? Caspian?"

I narrowed my eyes at her and held my hand out for the phone, she only gave it to me when the person responded. "Hello?" I asked. A sigh of relief came from the other side of the phone.

"Farley, you're alright," Caspian said. "What's going on? Wasn't Abilene expecting someone? Why didn't you use your phone?"

I huffed; it was a good point. "I'm in the middle of listening to Pax and Kelsey fight a group of wolves with it," I replied in a tone which was snarkier than I meant it to be. "Someone knocked on the door, Abilene went to answer it and didn't come back. So, my father went after her, and didn't come back. Then I went with Channon and Channing to investigate, only to find my father blacked out on the pavement."

"What's Kelsey doing with Pax?" Caspian asked slowly. I could tell that he was stressed, but I couldn't bring myself to feel bad about it.

"Well, they were pretending to be normal people as they investigated the street. Obviously, something went wrong."

"Obviously," Caspian repeated. "We'll come find you. We've got some very useful information."

I raised my eyebrow even though he couldn't see. "You have?" I couldn't help but ask. I wasn't expecting him to return with information, I thought he was just after recruiting wolves.

"Yes, but we can't say much in case of prying ears." Tapping came from his side of the line. "I've got to go though; we'll be there within the hour."

"But-" I started to argue, but he hung up before I could. "Fuck."

I ignored the disapproving glances I received from Iris and my mother, as well as the curious glances I got from the other teenagers. I put my headphones back in my ears and closed my eyes, trying to figure out what was going on.

The growling came to a slow halt, and breathing shattered the silence which occurred right after it. There wasn't a voice, but the breathing was promising. I hoped so anyway, it could be Cedar or Rosary for all I knew. I strained to get any hint of who it could be, but the call then became dead.

Instead of throwing the phone across the room, like I was very tempted to do, I stood up and punched the wall. It caused a few cracks in the wall, and a few cuts to appear on my knuckles, but I and the structure of the building, would live.

"Fuck," Rowan said weakly.

Caspian hadn't told us that he would be coming alone, so I was very surprised when I opened the door to see a dripping wet wolf sitting patiently on the doorstep.

"What on earth happened?" I asked as he brushed his head against my leg when he entered. "Where's the others? Are they safe? What are you doing shifted? Did you fight? When did it begin to rain?" I rambled until he shut the door to the bathroom.

I had been pacing the length of the room since he hung up on me. I know that people joked about others creating a path in the floor whenever they paced, but I think I came closest to it at that moment. The floor had dented where I had been stepping, probably due to its age.

"Wow, I don't think that I've heard you ask as many questions from you since you were five," Caspian commented as he shut the bathroom door behind him. He was now wearing some baggy basketball shorts. "It started to rain about ten minutes ago, we did have a fight, I'll...tell you more details about it later," he said quietly. His voice made a shiver run down my spine, something had gone wrong, somebody was injured. "But they're heading to Quartvear."

"Really?" Lowell asked loudly. "So, we're taking the trouble back home, again?" He crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes.

"At least this time nobody's trying to tear down our forest," Oran spoke up.

"That's true, the forest will still be safe, Lowell," Caspian said. "They're just recuperating. All of your pack is safe."

"Everyone but Abilene," Channing denied. "We don't know where she is."

"And we don't really know where Pax is either," I added. I also wanted to mention Kelsey, but I figured that Caspian wouldn't' appreciate the reminder that I had gotten a human involved.

"Which is why we're leaving," Caspian announced.

Rowan snorted, causing Caspian to spin around with wide eyes.

"Rowan," he exclaimed. His previous demeanour was completely erased as he rushed over to the side of the bed and gently wrapped his arms around him. "You're awake, sorry I didn't see you, or know. I'm so happy you're awake." He pulled Rowan in for another hug. It was as though the man I had seen moments before had completely been replaced with another. The alpha was replaced with a loving father figure.

"I'm happy to be awake too," Rowan admitted and rubbed Caspian's back. "So, we're all leaving? I'm ready for that."

Iris shook her head with a frown. "We can't move him; he just woke up. He's still got to rest and recover."

"Iris, my dear sister, I would rather be carried out of here than sit here much longer." Rowan put an arm on his sister's shoulder. "But what about Brin?"

My father still lay motionless on the bed. His colour was becoming a little more normal, but his breathing was shallow.

"I don't want to disturb him too much," I said without thinking. "But we're in a hurry, we don't have much of a choice."

"Unless..." Caspian said before biting his lip.

"Unless?" I urged him to continue. I was hopeful for any solutions that he could give.

"We could just call an ambulance?" Oran spoke up. "We did that when Penny was sick."

"Aiden and Harlow's mam," Lowell informed. "She had the same reaction, it was terrifying."

"But she got better!" Channon and Channing chorused. "Like Rowan did."

Rowan reached over and ruffled Channing's hair, causing his hand to be gently swatted away and a small pout to appear on the blonde's face. "So, let's get out of here?"

"Let's get out of here," Caspian confirmed.

It wasn't long before the ambulance came, we moved my father to the street and decided that my mother would stay with him. So, she was sending me texts every five minutes letting me know what was happening at the hospital.

"I have no clue what we're looking for," Beaumont said as he searched the bushes. We were at 'The Pity', the place where I knew Pax to have last been. His scent was faint, which we did on purpose so that nobody could track him back to the safehouse. We hadn't thought that it would make it difficult for us to track him if we needed to.

"Footprints, claw marks, anything they could've dropped," Arkin informed. That was the surprise which Caspian had for us. He had recruited the other packs just fine, maybe they left one or two members behind who didn't agree, but ultimately, we have got some people on our side.

They had actually been rather informative. Apparently, Arkin was descended from black wolves, or his family had been in the same pack as them. He protected a lot of information for them and kept the information in the pack for years. Although it was no fault of his, Pax had been halting Rowan's and my father's recovery from the wolfsbane, as it came with his ability to withstand the poison.

"So, any general traces of anyone," I said with a sigh. "I think that they went over here." I walked beside the swing, or at least near the swing. "Kelsey said they went in this direction."

"We're checking the entire field, I don't think we're going to miss anything," Randall pointed out. "You have the best trackers here."

"Keep telling yourself that," Beaumont said with a scoff and a fond smile.

There were only around five of us here, a yell away from alerting everyone else who had gathered. This would hopefully be the final fight. It had to be. I think that I was starting to lose my mind with worry and fear that we would be attacked.

I closed my eyes for a moment and inhaled, the faintest smell of mint and coffee reaching my nose. I followed the scent without opening my eyes. I wondered if this is what Pax felt like all the time.

"Farley!"

Hello Lovelies!

I hope that you've had a good weekend :D

The question of the chapter is, what is your favourite era in history?

I've always been interested in ancient Greek, whether that be partly because of Greek mythology or if it was because of the medicine module I did when I did my GCSE's. I also like the ancient Egyptians, but that might also be because of the first video game I ever played :D