Chapter 61

When Constantine's day started, it was already nighttime and Ari was nowhere nearby.

It was evident to him, he could sense how faint the traces of him were, and he made an accurate estimation of when he had left. It wasn't a source of worry, just mild disappointment, and he thought nothing of it. The city was big, and it was easy to lose track of time. It wasn't so late to cause him to think that anything could have happened as he wondered where his fun would start.

He didn't kill every day – as surprising as that statement may seem – but that particular day was so dull. There was nothing to do, Lenora was gone, and he returned a bit late in the morning with an itch for blood. A constant annoying itch that brought him gratification whenever he satisfied it. The scent of blood often followed him.

But then he stopped when that was all what greeted him, its faint scent.

It was a remnant of his past kills, probably some of the knives he didn't clean up well. His overly sharp sense of smell could be a curse sometimes as it picked up the faintest of scents, but it also alarmed him because those scents weren't being drowned by Ari's.

In fact, Ari's scent had grown even fainter.

Constantine sighed.

Back to square one it seems.

That's how he found himself making a visit to the one place he never thought of going back to, and it was mostly out of curiosity than anything else. It was the dullest place on earth, and he scouted it a bit to figure out what he was dealing with.

Seems like the Hawthornes made a few friends.

The perimeter of the town was filled with wolves surrounding the place, searching the area for anyone suspicious. It was highly unlikely that all of them were from the Hawthorne pack, and Constantine actually recognized some of the wolves belonging to another pack. They were people he dealt with once, amicably.

And some of them not so amicably since he left them with a few broken bones. A lot of his ventures ended in violence, but he did frequent places that were prone to violence.

He could tell that at least two packs were siding with the Hawthornes, and it made Constantine realize that he might have developed a nefarious reputation if he grabbed this much attention – which made him regret not being a bit more discreet.

Not that it mattered anyway as he casually walked towards his usual entrance to that stupid town.

It was done purely to see how far he could get away with it. He didn't mind getting caught, he just wanted to see how attentive those roaming wolves were. As he neared the area close to the last house he visited there, he realized that they were seriously lacking.

Boring and uninteresting.

There was absolutely no effort spent to guess where Ari had been kept. The men guarding the general area and the ones surrounding his mother's house gave it away. They appeared to not know about one of the panels of the fences being missing, conveniently obscured by a tree. They were guarding the gate to the yard, but nobody was near the other hidden unintentional entrance. How could they have missed that? It made him snort in amusement.

It was how he sneaked in last time.

The rest was laughably easy and he simply walked in using the back door. Exactly like last time.

He was greeted by an empty dark house when he walked in, soundlessly closing the door behind him with practiced ease. This time, the traces of Ari were more prominent and clearer. He had been here just moments ago.

The scent went into the kitchen where his mother died, and a steaming coffee mug was placed there next to the sink making him tilt his head in confusion. He did know Ari wasn't much of a coffee drinker, but he didn't know that it was Ari's little joke to himself.

Something only he would understand and laugh about.

Ignoring that, Constantine made his way up the stairs listening to them creak as he did so. The hallway might have been unlit by the lights inside, but the sunlight from the window was more than an adequate source of lighting as it brightened up the place.

So cozy, so normal.

Constantine didn't get to take in the sight before a beautiful disbelieving face peered at him from the door not making a move to approach him, but the sight of Ari's whole body relaxing was heartwarming.

"How are you here?"

"I walked in." Constantine answered him simply because it really was that simple. It was like everyone really thought he was the type to make grand entrances or be stupid enough to, well, use an obvious entrance. It was almost insulting to his intelligence. Everyone was concentrated where they shouldn't be. "How are you here?"

Ari gave him a smile. "Alpha Hawthorne was nice enough to let me stay here."

Constantine raised an eyebrow at that. "Didn't you kill three people?"

"Yes." Was his response as he let Ari walk up to embrace him, clinging to him as if he was begging to be taken away again. "I framed you for it."

The apologetic tone he used was unneeded, and Constantine couldn't help but shake his head in amusement. He loved him. So sweetly wicked, so fun.

But it wickedness wasn't in Ari's nature, and he shouldn't be dealing with what it dragged.

"I am hurt and appalled." Regardless of his words, he placed a kiss on top of Ari's head, not minding being framed at all, before pushing Ari back to capture his lips in one, and Ari chased after him with endearing eagerness not wanting to be separated again. But then Constantine gave an apology of his own. "I'm sorry."

Before Ari could ask what he meant with his sudden apology, or why he was actually apologizing, he found himself being pulled down the stairs with a hand covering his mouth and a knife poking his stomach. In his confusion, he struggled and felt a little bit betrayed as he was roughly dragged out to the back door by Constantine who completely disregarded his protests.

"Struggle as hard as you can, it's useless."

Those words almost made him go still by how they shocked him, and Ari's hand tried to pry off Constantine's away from his mouth. The hand wasn't budging no matter how hard Ari pulled, and that's when fear set it. The feeling of being trapped overwhelmed him, and he wasn't used to being handled so forcefully like this.

Not by Constantine.

He almost felt hurt by it as he found himself seriously trying to get away wondering where everything went wrong, and in the process, he clawed at the arm holding him crying as he did so as he thrashed around knocking some of his deceased mother's things not caring that they went crashing down.

Not even when he felt a prick of pain on his neck did it all stop, and he could smell and feel his blood seep into his shirt from the very place his mark was placed. Before he regretted it, and before he could wonder just why this was happening, Ari found himself standing at the door looking out the backyard with teary eyes and fearful pants of breath not realizing his mouth is freed. He was genuinely scared at the sudden hostility, but that's exactly what he was supposed to be.

Genuinely scared.

"Whoops, looks like I'm caught."

In reality Constantine knew a trap when he saw one, and this was such an obvious set up. They knew about him the moment he was near the border and he was aware of it.

Getting caught in traps is almost a hobby of his own. Did they really think he'd believe it was this easy to walk in?

The place was surrounded, and Constantine subtly let the hand that was on Ari's mouth trail down his back and give him a one last comforting stroke as if he was apologizing for the distress Ari was in – and he did apologize beforehand for it.

Suddenly Ari was let go of, and Constantine took a few steps back as men appeared behind him, entering from the front door. Someone came by Ari's side rubbing his shoulder soothingly, but he didn't care for it as he dazedly watched how everyone just went into action restraining a relaxed motionless Constantine.

He was letting them drag him away, cooperating even.

"Hold him down." Someone had yelled, but nobody attempted to actually push him on the ground. The whole time, they were careful not to provoke him, especially when he displayed an unsettling calm.

The whole commotion and chaos dissipated, and all Ari could do was watch before he was dragged somewhere himself and he realized he was sitting on a hospital bed.

It was the same nurse as last time, with her warm brown eyes and her lovely halo of curls, and she was biting her lips with a look of unease as she wiped the blood off of his neck. Ari liked her.

"Luna," The nurse said staring down at Ari's neck for a few moments in discomfort before she turned to luna Anna. "He's been marked."

And all luna Anna could see was the tragic sight of a recently orphaned boy with blood coating his clothes from a bite he never asked for. Forcefully marked, eternally tying him to a psychopath who was so hellbent on having him. There was nothing anyone could do anymore.

They thought they were too late.

And all she could do was sit beside him with an arm around his shoulder and a crestfallen look on her face uttering useless words of comfort to him.

Ari is a blameless victim, and Constantine was the blameful assailant.

Constantine was shouldering all the blame for him to ensure Ari would be okay.