Chapter 38

Blaine’s POV

I always find there is a moment of peace before any fight between two people. I know that sounds odd and a little contradicting but it’s true. It’s the moment where the to two people involved stand opposite each other, sizing the other one up, to see if they could find any weak spots or vulnerabilities.

I had always found this moment particularly fascinating, watching the two opponents sizing the other up and wondering what was going through their mind. Whether they saw the slight limp I’d seen or wondering if they’ve seen something that I would have missed.

This was not something that I was feeling right now. The only emotion that was coursing through my veins at this very moment was fear as I watched my mate willingly walk into the cage to fight someone to the death so that we could all go free.

My voice had gone all scratchy from yelling so much and the hands clasped tightly around my biceps, holding me back, were no doubt going to leave finger shaped bruises once he released his hold on me. If he released his hold on me. Every attempt I’d made to escape his grasp had only wound up with me worse off, every time I tried to fight back I’d just have five guys tower over me and remind me why it was in my best interest to remain where I was.

So I stood helplessly as I watched the love of my life get trapped into the cage where a meer half an hour ago my brother had stood and killed a wolf in cold blood for sport.

“Oh boy do we have a treat for you lot tonight!” The announcer suddenly shouted into a microphone, making his voice echo off the stone walls as it came through the speakers. “Tonight we have the one and only... rogue killer with us” he screamed leading everyone else to join in with his enthusiastic holloring.

My eyes stayed fixed on Xavier’s as I watched him walk up to the chain link fence and place his hand against the cold metal. His eyes never wavered from mine as I watched a sad smile grace his lips.

‘I’m so glad I got to meet you’ he told me through the link.

The shouts and cheers from the crowd died away and suddenly all I could hear was the buzz of energy as I focused solely on the link.

‘There hasn’t been a day gone by where I regret finding you and getting to love you’ he continued.

‘I love you so much Xavier’ I replied as a lone tear escaped my eyelashes ‘thank you for teaching me how to love and for making me feel whole. I was lost before I found you, living the life of a lone rogue with no real purpose in life other than surviving and finding my family. You taught me what it was like to live and for that I could never repay you. You mean the world to me and when we get out of here I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life showing you just how much you mean to me’.

I was glad that we were talking through the link because I knew that if I was saying all this out loud there was no doubt that my voice would have shook with all the emotion I was feeling.

‘You are the best thing that’s ever happened to me’ he smiled sadly ‘Just promise me that no matter what happens you’ll get out of here okay? Even if it means leaving me’ Xavier replied in a sad tone before turning away from me to face the entrance where his opponent would be appearing.

I tried to link him back, scrambling for any form of connection I could find so that I could beg him to make sure he came back to me and that I could never leave him but he had cut me off, severed all ties with the link.

“XAVIER!” I tried to get his attention but with the noise of the crowd my voice was quickly drowned out.

“Okay ladies and gentlemen it’s time we meet our challenger” the announcer shouted through the mic just as the door connected to the cave wall opened and a dark brown wolf emerged.

My breath got stuck in my throat and my vision became slightly dizzy as my eyes landed on someone I hadn’t seen in years, someone who had taught me everything I knew and had always sworn to protect me for as long as he lived. My father.

My dad hadn’t been much of a fighter when he ran away with my mother. He had gone through the basic training that every wolf had to go through at a young age but apart from that he mainly just stuck to his day job and kept his head down. It was only when they had run away together and became rogues that he started paying an interest.

He started by learning hand to hand combat in his human form against other humans, learning the basic skills that every one would need to know in case they were approached and attacked. Once he was satisfied that he’d learnt everything that the humans could teach him he started to teach himself how to fight in wolf form. With his knowledge of fighting in human form he picked it up quick and before Daniel was even born he had been quite well know in the rogue world for holding his own in a fight.

That’s where I had learnt all my moves from, all my tips and tricks when it came to fighting off rogues. My dad had taught me.

At the time I was grateful that we had him around and that he had the skills and knowledge that he did, it meant we were safe and not an easy target for others to pick at. Now though I wish he’d never learnt it. I wish he’d never learnt any of it.

The second door to the cage hadn’t opened yet, leaving my dad standing in the metal corridor as he stared unwavering at Xavier, his next opponent.

“This sure is a treat for us all tonight folks, not only is this wolf the father of the rogue killer’s mate but we also know a tiny little detail in his past which we think will make this an unforgettable fight” the man announced.

What was he talking about?

“Rogue killer... you have been given that title because of your quest to hunt down and kill every rogue who was involved in the attack that killed your parents and little sister all those years ago, well you now have the possibility of adding one more name to that list”.

As soon as the words left his lips my stomach dropped. He couldn’t seriously mean what I thought he meant... could he? I mean yes my dad worked with some rogues sometimes to get some money for us to live off of but he would have never gone as far as to invade a pack’s territory... would he?

I looked over at Xavier to see his reaction. I couldn’t even begin to imagine what he must be feeling in this moment but I knew it couldn’t be good. I was counting on the fact that Xavier would maybe just knock my dad out somehow and not kill him, but with this new bit of information and the way I know Xavier reacts to people talking about his family I knew this couldn’t end well.

Xaviers stood stock still as he stared ahead at my dad. His fists were clenched by his sides and were shaking ever so slightly with the will to stay in his human form for as long as possible.

Before I could even blink, the gate separating the two opened and the battle between two of the most important people in my life began.

Xavier had shifted at the last possible second before darting out of the way of my dad’s first attack on him. I was torn between wanting to look away from the bloody battle that was taking place right before my eyes and not being able to tear my eyes from the two wolves as the both tried to lock their jaws round the others throat. I stared as silent tears streamed down my face, these monsters knew the exact way to get into Xaviers head. They knew if they presented my dad as his fight partner he wouldn’t put up much of a fight, but with the new information these people had just supplied him with it was enough to poke the bear and get a reaction out of him.

I once again wrestled with the man holding my back as the sounds of growls and snarls filled the room. It would appear that my capture was to ingrosed in the ongoing fight to realise what I was doing because it only took me a swift kick to the guys shin and an elbow to his nose for him to release his hold on me completely.

I didn’t waste a second as I kneed him in the head and elbowed him in the back of the neck, leaving him face down and unconscious on the floor.

This seemed to grab the attention of the guy standing next to me but there wasn’t much he could do seeing as he was dealing with a thrashing Anna who had decided to take a page out of my book and try to escape. I quickly dealt with him the same way I dealt with my own body guard and before long we were both free and heading for the secret tunnel.

“Jax’s mad we didn’t wait for him” Anna said as we continued our sprint down the dimly lit hallway.

“Well tell him to get himself out of danger, we don’t have enough time” I shouted as we came to the fork in the road.

“Blaine follow me” Anna yelled behind her as she ran down the opposite tunnel to the one we had previously gone down. “Trust me”.

I did, with my life.

I quickly followed after her as the sounds of cheers and snarls were quickly replaced with the echoes of our feet slapping against the dust covered floor and our laboured breathing as we continued to run full speed.

“Where are we going?” I asked, I’m not sure why I was trying to keep my voice at a low volume because we weren’t exactly being quiet on our approach.

“Here” Anna suddenly said as she pointed to a gap in the wall.

I slowed down to a stop and hugged the wall with my back, hoping to peer in and get a look at what we were working with but before I could peer my head around Anna ran past me straight into the room.

“Anna what the-” I hissed as I followed her into the room. My words were cut off though as I came face to face with screen upon screen littering the walls of the cave and members from our pack running around the room like headless chickens. It was clear we were in some form of control room, there was security cameras covering an entire wall whilst the other was littered with wires and circuit boards. Apart from that I had no idea what I was looking at, it appeared some of the pack members did though.

Two of them were sat in front of the desk, each frantically tapping away at the keyboard in front of them as their eyes never wavered from the computer screens they were working on. My eyes caught a screen displaying the fight between my dad and Xavier but I quickly looked away, unable to bring myself to witness it.

“Anna what’s going on?” I asked as I turned to her. I had interrupted her talking to two other pack members as they finished binding some unknown and unconscious people to a chair.

“They’re trying to break into the main server, that way we can control all the electrical functions of this place including the automatic doors, the cell doors and the collars around the wolves necks” she explains. “We believe that they’re not only able to electrocute them when they make to much noise but also when they try and shift back into their human form. Our hopes is that as soon as their collar is released they will turn back into their human form and along with it get their human emotions back”.

I shivered at the thought of being forced to remain in my wolf form for any stretch of time. I mean don’t get me wrong, I love being in my wolf form, the freedom you feel when you release her and just run for the sake of running. But being in your wolf form for to long could do serious harm to you both physically and mentally.

A wolf’s brain can’t cope with the complex amount of emotions that a human felt, going through something like forced shifts could cause the human side of you to go dormant or even disappear all together.

“That was why Marie didn’t recognise me, if what you’re saying is true then she’s been forced to be in her wolf form for over two years” I exclaimed, worry lacing my tone.

Anna just nodded at me grimly before walking over to me and pulled me in for a hug “It’ll be okay Blaine” she sighed as she rubbed my back up and down in a soothing manor.

“How could it though? My mate and dad are at each other’s throats, literally! My brother and sister may never remember who they are and we haven’t even found my mum yet, how could everything be alright?”

“It just has to be” she shrugged.

I was just about to respond when we were both interrupted by one of the girls working on the computer.

“We’re in”.