Blood Ties

44

Wolves & Silver
~
Cadence
~

Fenris wolves scattered the lands in their own right. Some were already on all fours in their other form and others wore armour, their eyes plated orange like their werewolf makers before them.

Lycans dominated the territory, plated in armour to protect their furry chest. They towered everything around them as they stalked on their hind legs, their majestic physique built for war and didn't hide their brute strength as they revelled in their primal side.

It was unlike anything Cadence had ever seen. She was used to being on outlines, the person peering in, the hunter on the opposing side. Not the hunter siding with her natural enemy to take out more of their kind. It was unlike anything she had ever imagined for herself.

Lycus and Cadence stuck to the borders, watching as the wolves flocked the young ones, the children and pregnant she-wolves away into the underbelly of the earth, where they are safe.

If lycans and werewolves saw Lycus, they would bow, submitting their heads to the earth in acknowledgement of their Alpha, but resumed to their duties.

They paid no mind to Cadence or the boy in Lycus's arms, his people knew when to mind their own and Lycus was the enforcer of that. He was known for it, redecorating with the right shade of red if people didn't fall in line.

"We're close," Lycus announced.

Cadence didn't respond and followed loosely behind Lycus until he came to a dead halt, his boots sweeping across the ground where sticks and dead grass flew away.

They were isolated from everything around them, hidden away by a city of trees and bushes that hid their tracks.

"You made this?" Cadence questioned, leering at Lycus as he placed Rexton on the ground.

Lycus bent to his knees and wiped away at the remaining mirth and moss that tarnished the door embedded into the earth. With a swift pull, his hand snapped the lock and a door opened, revealing a mouth of darkness.

A heavy and earth-like odour suffocated Cadence's nostrils and it didn't take long to recognise this dungeon hadn't been used in years.

"This was for him," Lycus explained and picked the limp boy back in his grasp. "I took many precautions— he would occasionally hide here to escape my father."

They descended the staircase and Lycus pulled out a lighter, brandishing torches that stuck to the rocky walls into flames.

The underground spoke of its old age, a dark space emitted with intact structure but unwelcoming gloom.

This wasn't a hideout, it was a tomb.

"Rexton would hide here?" Cadence questioned, trying to envision the young hybrid running for escape in a place as bleak as this.

Lycus carried Rexton deeper into the cellar and stepped through an open door of a cage that took haven in the corner, the flames barely embracing the confinement.

Steadily, Lycus placed Rexton down on the harsh floor and clutched his hand briefly before releasing him, stepping back out of the cage.

Lycus wedged down the door and a bar of iron metal slammed into the creases of the pavement, solidifying into the ground. 

"I created it centuries ago with Gabriel," Lycus began, staring at Rexton who made no move or sound. "When my father was Alpha, my pack travelled a lot — war-causing and thieving, once my mother was pregnant for the third time, we settled back here where we would return every few years. I haven't left since and I built this place for Rexton — in case he needed an escape. He was targeted a lot for being a late bloomer. No one could trace him here except us.