Chapter 6

She had not blinked since he started talking. She had also not drank from her glass all she did was gaze in the blue sky with the wind blowing on her face messing up her hair. They were starting to think maybe she was angry and it was a very bad idea to bring up such an obnoxious topic.

"You want to hold the competition sooner" She said in a very promising tone.

"Yes" Dylan and Wayne said in unison.

They were the main proposers of the move, they had to be feeling great with such a promising tone. As for Elliot he was just waiting for the outcome, either way he had it all under control. He was the most opportunistic person in the lot.

"No, not possible go home prepare" She said walking away very fast.

They all looked at her until she disappeared. Their attention was shifted on their friend in opposition.

"This was a bad idea" Elliot said ceremoniously.

"Everyone knows you are happy" Dylan said brushing past him.

Wayne just looked at Elliot with disdain before he walked away too. Elliot was left smiling. His friends were treating him unfairly out of disappointment. He wanted the contest delayed for his personal reasons. He needed to figure Gilbert out first. The one bold rule in Astra was one, never trust a vampire especially if they are related to Gilbert now imagine he was dealing with Gilbert himself.

******

When Clyde got to the pack territory his mind link came back on. He could feel and read the thoughts of some of his pack members. They were anger, mixed with fear sorrow and sadness. It was true. He screamed out loud enough in the woods and tried to morph but the wolf bane in his system was still strong. The glow of his eyes was faint and even his carnassial teeth couldn't sprout. He rolled on the ground screaming in pain until even his vocal chords gave up on him. His mouth was wide open but no sound was coming from it. Clyde was in shock. He couldn't move. He used the mind link to ask for help.

"Help! Anyone closer to the west side of the woods help"

He tried to stretch his leg and hold onto a rock but his legs were still stiff. His lachrymal glands went dry too. He could not produce any more tears as much as he would have wanted to. The tears from his eyes to his cheeks had dried leaving an imprinted scale like path. The greyish pelt on his face looked sporadic. He had never been caught up in such a situation before.

"Am coming" A random wolf answered via the mind link.

"Who are you?" Clyde asked trying to cough.

"Kai"

When he heard it was him, Clyde was not worried anymore he passed out.

Kai arrived a few minutes in his wolf form and morphed back to human.

"Ooh my God Clyde" He said trying to open his eyes.

They were cold. His heartbeat was not that steady. Kai made a decision right then. He had to rush him to the pack witch or to the infirmary before it got too late. He carried Clyde in his hands and ran through the woods as fast as he could. He could not tell the direction he was headed to. The scent guided him as he went past the thorns and thicket. His wolf was growling attempting to come out, his iris was glowing green. Perhaps he couldn't see it but it was a perfect green. His heart was racing as he came to an open ground. The wolves that were training stopped when they saw him put Clyde's lifeless body on the ground.

"I need Daphne, Someone get Daphne!" Kai shouted.

As one of the wolves rushed to get the witch another one brought Kai a trouser and baggy T-shirt to cover his nudity. The wolves dropped their training weapons and gathered around Clyde. As a family. Daphne came in quickly carrying a bag of ingredients.

"What happened to him?" She asked looking at his eyes the same way Kai had done.

"I heard him ask for help through the mind link when I got where he had fainted just..."

"His eyes are clear, he still has a lot of the bane in his system and he is in shock" Daphne interrupted him looking through her bag of tricks and tools.

"What can we do to help?" Alcott asked making his way through the small crowd.

Daphne did not answer she continued to look through her small numerous bottles of portions until she settled on one that was carrying a reddish-brown liquid. She raised up and looked through it.

"This is it, after I give him this take him to my house" She said opening the rubber lid with her mouth.

With the help of Kai they turned his head and opened his mouth. Daphne poured the entire contents of the bottle to his mouth.

"Now give him some room to breathe" She said.

Alcott took the initiative to clear the area asking them to move backwards to create some room for Clyde. He started coughing first weak and consecutive coughs at a slow pace then he coughed out loud opening his eyes like he had just risen from the dead.

"What? Where am I?" He asked rolling his eyes to look around.

He still couldn't see clearly. Blurry images of people like figures was all he could see.

"Take him away, you are safe Kai Just saved your life" She said staring at Kai.

"It is all you" Kai said helping to carry him away.

When he came round the grief was still waiting for him on the other end. His unconscious had saved him from facing reality. Clyde was breaking into tears as they carried him away. Arnold was like a brother to him. Their relationship was like that of a blood brother not just a beta. As matter of fact he never regarded him as one. To him Arnold was a brother he never had.

"No" Clyde said, "No he can't be dead" He rolled down the skin they were carrying him on and fell with a thud.

"Let him cry out" Daphne said stopping them from putting him back.

Clyde got on his knees his visage blocked by tears. They were uncontrollable.

"What did you give him?" Kai asked.

"It's an antioxidant, it flashes out the Bane in seconds" Daphne said, "Don't worry he is fine. I think Arnold's death is heaving a toll on him" She explained.

They gave him room to mourn his brother and friend. The other wolves went back to training leaving Kai and Daphne with him. Clyde was devastated, he clawed the ground ripping the grass from it. Reality was painful to face and fantasy was almost nonexistent. When he had enough Kai and Daphne took him to her house where her girls received them. They lay him in one of the rooms.

"So, Alpha Kai I guess" Daphne said busy mixing the ingredients for a spell.

She was always busy mixing them.

"Sounds good but this people don't want me" He said walking towards the window.

On his way back he saw a bottle of whiskey and a couple of glasses. He needed one to knock himself out of worrying and the pressure he was feeling. No mate, no strength and a tournament was in a few months. He still didn't even know how to win. All he could think of was his pack members looking at him in disappointment after he has lost the tournament to one of the other four Alphas who were talented, ready and vicious than him.

"Who said they don't want you?" Daphne asked taking the glass from him.

"Well, for some reasons actually they are free to, I don't have a mate one, am not strong enough. I think Alcott made that clear and I know nothing about the competition besides am feeling a lot of pressure I cannot let them down and I still don't know who killed my father..."

"Hey, go easy on yourself"' Daphne said getting closer to him, "One thing at a time you will get through this" She said holding his shoulder.

Kai's blood froze. His entire body felt like he had been electrocuted by a small voltage. Maybe he was wrong, Daphne was a witch perhaps she was doing that to him. To make him feel better. Or maybe it was real. He felt something new and so thrilling. Something he would have wanted to feel for the rest of his life.

"Wha...t, what was that?" Kai asked looking shy and coughing uncontrollably.

"What was what?" She asked.

"Never mind" Kai said breaking free.

He drank the entire whiskey from his glass and put it back where it was.

"Thank you for everything, I mean the drink and Clyde I will check on him later" he said and walked out.