"Why the hell are you not saying anything?" Xia asked. If he was in public, a lot of people would think he had a mental issue, but that was not the case. He was talking to his wolf who had been quiet for a very long period.
"What do you want me to say?" His wolf responded in a cool manner, which was so unusual.
"I can't believe how cool you are with everything that is going on." No matter how Xia tried to normalize it, the voice inside his head was that of an animal. His wolf had always acted like a hype man to his emotions. If he was feeling angry, his wolf would be two times that.
"Look Xia, I'm as confused as you are, but you know what you could do." The wolf said still in a very cool voice like he knew a solution to one of Xia's problems.
"What?"
"Keep your eyes on the road." His wolf screamed. "I just found my mate; I'm not ready to die yet."
Taking a deep breath, he focused on the road. He realized that he wasn't going to get answers by reasoning with the little knowledge he had.
He took a sudden turn onto a path that led deep into the woods. This part was once cleared and smooth, but the constant rain had washed some part of the soil away, and fallen leaves and branches had covered the path. As he drove into the woods, the scent of rain mixed with earth filled his senses, and the cool breeze welcomed him. He felt like morphing and running through the woods so he could feel the breeze hit against his fur, but he soon erased such imagination as he clearly remembered his mother's warning.
He was getting closer to his destination, but if one was to look far enough, there was nothing but tall trees that blocked out sunlight. He drove into the dark part of the woods. He was relieved as the path wasn't as bumpy as the one behind him. He kept driving till he met with a very large tree that stopped him from driving further, but Xia didn't budge. Instead, he kept driving forward till his car hit the tree. There wasn't any crash or obstruction, but the car passed through the tree like a knife cutting through butter.
A spell had been cast around the wolf creeds territory by some of the witches who had joined the pack. This was done to keep their habitation a secret from human eyes. The spell created a barrier that was invisible to the human eye and at the same time prevented an enemy from attacking them unannounced.
Xia, now at the entrance of his home, was about to push the door open, but the doors opened to reveal his elder brother, Ian.
Xia had a wide smile on his face; he thought his brother had come to welcome him home. But he soon noticed the sad look on Ian's face. Before Xia could ask what was wrong, Ian forcefully pulled him by the hand, dragged him to his room, and locked the door.
Xia was surprised at the way his brother was acting; it felt weird and scary to actually see his brother so serious.
The only time he had ever seen his brother this way was when his mate was captured by some outlaws, vampires to be precise. But Ian was a calm person, unlike himself.
Ian stood protectively in front of the door, as if he was trying to prevent a monster from leaving the room and harming his family.
Xia hoped to get an explanation for his brother's action and hopefully, an explanation for the noise he could hear coming from downstairs.
He had heard cries when Ian pulled him, but Ian's sudden actions prevented him from finding the reason behind so many loud cries.
"What is going on, Ian?" Xia questioned Ian, who was now leaning against the door with red eyes and messy hair. Xia then pulled off his hoodie and dumped it in the laundry basket.
"You need to rest, Xia, I'm sure school was hectic today." Ian noted, trying to drift away from the question thrown at him.
"No, actually, school was fun." Xia said with a little hesitation to say the next words. "I even found my mate today." He said, spilling the beans while his brother's mood was lifted up a little.
"Wow, let's talk about that, who is she?" Xia could tell that Ian was trying to avoid his question.
"I really don't know anything about her aside from her name." Xia replied with a lack of interest, like the idea of finding his mate didn't please him. But that wasn't the case; he just had this worry within him about what was going on. He didn't like being left in the dark. "Can you please just tell me what's going on?" Xia pleaded this time around, but he was frustrated that he had to beg to find out what was going on inside the house where he lived.
Ian didn't know how to pass the message that had brought pain to his heart and not just his but that of others. He knew the message would have a very negative effect on the mind of his younger brother.
Ian walked up to the closet in Xia's room, leaving the door unguarded. He turned his back to Xia and placed his hand on the closet door with his head bowed; it was clear he didn't want to look his brother in the face while passing the message.
"Xia," Ian called while letting out a sigh. His voice was shaky, and he sounded like he would burst out in tears. "I need you to be ca... "Before Ian could finish his statement, he felt Xia run past him and out the room.
Xia was about to go down the steps when he saw his mother. He paused for a moment because he didn't know how to wrap his head around her appearance. Her eyes were red just like that of Ian, maybe worse; she looked to be in serious pain, but he didn't notice any damage on her body. He looked back at his room, and his eyes met with that of Ian who had just stepped out of the room; then he looked at his mum, she looked back at him and soon broke down in tears.
There was something wrong about this scene, and Xia wasn't sure he was ready to know what that thing was. He quickly ran down the stairs and wrapped his hand around his mother, giving her a reassuring hug. He didn't want to see her in pain; he didn't know who had hurt her, but he had already set in his heart that he was going to make that person pay once he finds out.
"Who hurt you, Mum?" Xia asked, ready to run and pounce on whoever it was once he got a reply. That was the problem with him; he wasn't patient enough to think things through before taking action. Everyone who was around him knew this fact; this was also the reason Ian was so hesitant to inform him of what had happened.
Mitchell, who was not able to come to terms with the news since it reached her ears, had cried and cursed since that was the only thing she could do. No one was able to take away the sadness and the hurt, not even her sons. Mitchell's mind wasn't really with her when Xia embraced her, but she could sense the amount of anger Xia was holding in. It was difficult for her to speak; crying so much had made breathing and talking at the same time hard for her, but she was able to let out a few words.
"Yo...ur dad...he..." She wanted to continue, but her words were being suppressed by continuous sobs.
Xia was confused; he didn't understand how his father could've hurt his mother. This time, he stood still as he thought of any scenario in which his father would hurt his mother, but his thoughts just didn't match up. As usual, Xia couldn't wait to listen to the rest of what his mum had to say. He released his mother from his embrace and held her by both shoulders as he asked.
"Where is dad, Xia?" He was so filled with anger that he didn't notice other pack members in the house were hurt, and some were in tears. Everyone watched as Xia shook with anger. One thing that surprised them was that despite all his anger, Xia didn't move an inch from where he stood.
"Where is dad?" Xia asked again, this time to no one in particular. He waited for an answer, but since he didn't get any, he decided to search by himself. He turned and was about to leave when Ian spoke.
"Dad's dead, Xia," with those few words, he passed the news to his brother. This wasn't the way he wanted Xia to find out, but he couldn't keep the news any longer. Ian actually saw it best that Xia found out earlier.