Chapter 7: Confrontation

Chris POV:

Chris turned away from his family home, grabbing Asa’s arm. He had to get Asa out of here now. No telling where Jacob hid, and what chaos he would try to bring with him. He’d get Asa back to his den safely, then he’d go and end this once and for all.

“Chris, don’t do anything stupid,” Xolo called after him.

“Stay out of it, Xolo. Asa let’s go!” Chris jerked on Asa’s arm a bit more roughly.

“Wait, where are we going?” Asa asked as he stumbled after Chris.

“Home,” Chris spoke gruffly.

“What about the feast?” Asa asked and Chris turned on Asa.

“Forget about the stupid feast, we have to get you out of here,” He yelled and Asa shrank back, his head dipping in submission.

Chris regretted yelling at Asa like that, but he had to get him save.

“Come on, climb on, you can’t follow me like that,” Chris said before shifting. Asa climbed onto his back, curling his fingers in his fur before Chris bounded out into the woods.

He slowed to a trot as they approached his den before letting Asa off.

Chris transformed back into his human form, approaching Asa.

“Go in the den, don’t let anyone in, and don’t leave, do you understand me?” He commanded and Asa nodded.

“It’s all a misunderstanding, we just need to tell people,” Asa tried to reason but Chris heard none of it.

Chris didn’t want to hear any reasoning.

He just wanted to get rid of Jacob.

Asa’s calls fell on deaf ears as Chris stormed out of the den and back towards the town.

His eyes closed as he sniffed out that whiskey scent. Chris found Jacob at the lodging for the out-of-town participants. Chris pounded on the door.

“Come out! Come out here now!” He called angrily.

The door slid open and Jacob slunk out.

His stomach churned with anger as he looked at Jacob.

Chris left horrible scars across Jacob’s face, leaving it puffy and red. Angry slash marks marred his left eye, mirroring the wound on Asa’s side. Even though he had the wound, his stared proudly, haughty even.

“You think you’re really tough huh? Came back to finish the job? Another unprovoked attack?” Jacob said loudly and people began to peer out of their lodgings.

A fire raged up Chris’ spine, his face dropping into a snarl.

“Unprovoked?” He growled out, grabbing Jacob’s collar and slamming him against the doorframe.

“You lying piece of— ” Chris began.

He couldn’t see straight.

The urge to kill him consumed his mind.

A collective growl rose from the shifters watching him and Chris growled back.

Chris would take them all on.

“Chris! Stop!” Xolo yelled from behind him.

“You can’t stop me, I'm going to kill him,” Chris growled out.

Xolo gripped Chris’ shoulder, pulling him off of Jacob. Chris bucked Xolo off, but Xolo grabbed him again, pulling him away.

“I’ll end you!” He yelled ferociously.

He wanted to wipe that smarmy grin off of his face.

He wanted to leave his throat smiling.

“Chris stop, think about this! Think about Asa!’ Xolo yelled at him and Chris stopped thrashing.

“Asa?”

“You— the idiot press charges with the council. He wants the court to decide whether Asa belongs to him or you.”

Chris had to go.

“You’re lucky I don’t let him get to you. You should be ashamed of yourself!” Xolo yelled and Jacob sneered.

“I’ll drop this when he admits that I won, that Asa belongs to me,” Jacob yelled out and Chris lunged at him.

Xolo tightened his grip on Chris, nearly sending both of them to the floor.

“Go to Asa,” He said and Chris nodded, doubling back even through the difficulty of wanting to stay and fight.

He needed to get to Asa.

A new thought occurred to him as he ran home.

Chris couldn’t guarantee safety for them in his den.

Everyone knew where they were.

He had to find a new place for them to stay.

Chris stormed into his den.

Asa sat on the couch, his hands worrying with his crutches as if fear kept him from doing anything other than to sit where Chris had left him.

He left Asa nearly defenseless.

What could the weaker shifter have done if something happened?

Only an irresponsible mate would do something like that. He needed to get his act together.

Now that they were together, he wouldn’t live without Asa.

They needed to go.

Now.

Word had to have gotten around town by now about his outburst.

With all of those outsiders there, no doubt the story continued to change in Jacob’s favor.

Just thinking about the other shifter made him rage again.

He took a deep breath through his nose.

First, they needed to leave.

Chris threw his clothes into a bag before pausing to look at Asa.

He didn’t have any clothes for Asa. Asa could wear Chris’.

He closed his bag before looking back at Asa.

The confused look on Asa’s face only deepened.

“I don’t have time to explain. We just need to go. Now. Trust me,” He uttered, knowing the implications of that word on their bond.

Even with such a new bond, trust inherently given because of their status, once the trust broke— it could not heal.

“Okay,” Asa said carefully, seeming to consider the implication as well.

Asa, strangely quiet as they fled, followed Chris’ lead instinctually. Maybe the wound, or the freshness of the bond, caused the quietness; but, Asa didn’t question him.

A small cabin came into view and Chris breathed a sigh of relief. The building still stood among the leaning oak trees.

Originally his father’s den, a conversion took place making it his family’s first home. Their family outgrew it fairly quickly, and visits were far and few in between. Chris couldn’t ask for a better hideout.

“It belonged to my family, something a bit cozier for us, yeah?” He said.

Chris couldn’t tell Asa about the charges. He didn’t need to give Asa something new to worry about. Instead, he would make it work.

Asa needn’t worry his pretty little head about this.