A Kink in the Tail

Chapter 8 - There's not just one Wolf at the Door.

(Trigger warning)

Adam let the hot water run over his face. The steamy shower recess felt like a safe cocoon that shut out the world. If he stayed under the stream of hot water maybe he could stop thinking, stop the constant feeling of dread that had settled in his chest since he heard his brother Thanos was coming. Of all people why did it have to be him, he groaned to himself and tilted his face up. Out of all the family, besides his father, he was the most Machiavellian and sadistic. When Adam had his birthright taken from him and given to Thanos it had made perfect sense to him. Thanos was, after all, the mirror image of their father, perhaps a little crueler and quick-witted. By human standards, he might fall into the category of a psychopath.

He turned up the pressure until the stream was like sharp knives on his almost-healed wounds. It was unpleasant but it dulled his erratic emotions a little,  still, his mind continued to fill with images from the previous day.    

Adam shook his head when he remembered Constantine finally losing his patience with Shaun, who refused to leave and insisted he could help, such a delusional human.

"You think you can handle this?"  He had leaned in close and gripped Shaun's shoulder, letting his lips draw back and his teeth lengthen until his fangs appeared and his eyes started to glow red.  Shaun's resolve disintegrated like a sand castle after one strong wave.  What he imagined they were like became reality and the reality was terrifying.  He was mute with fear.   After that, it hadn't been difficult for Constantine to haul him out of the apartment, stuff him into his car and send him home.

Then they sat around the table and had the conversation that couldn't be avoided any longer.  It went in a direction Adam didn't anticipate. He was surprised by Constantine's take on the situation. Not the part where he couldn't see any way his family could present him at court before the new King. They would lose their social standing. As far as he could see that only left them with one option, to kill him. He talked cold-bloodedly about his possible murder. Adam knew what his family was capable of if pushed, so it did come as a total surprise. But it was painful to hear.

However, when Constantine suggested that realistically, they would also have to kill the only other person who was involved with him....and that would be his bound wolf.  Adam hadn't expected that.  It did not sit well with him to be responsible for someone else's death.  The werewolf went on to say with the same blandness that as a bound wolf he was the property of the Fischer Family and his death would be inconsequential. There wasn't even punishment that covered a Pureblood family killing one of their bound wolves.

Adam felt a pang of guilt, Constantine had done nothing wrong, unlike himself who was deformed, an embarrassment to the family, an aberration.   For the first time, he thought the laws were unjust.  His opinion of his family dropped to a new low.  They had no honour, Constantine  was more righteous than all of them put together.  Another wave of guilt hit him, hadn't he treated Constantine with the same disregard?  

Adam turned the tap until the water was almost scalding and the room filled with steam.  His skin started to tingle and then burn.  He moaned in pain and felt himself regain control of his emotions.  When he couldn't bare it any longer he turned the tap down to a reasonable temperature and let out a long breath.

The werewolf had continued.  "If I was planning this I wouldn't do it on foreign soil.  That could get complicated.  They have limited influence here and fewer connections who could help cover things up.  I would wait until we were back in Greece, where they'd have more power and more officials in their pockets.  Disposing of us cleanly would be child's play.  An unfortunate accident on a narrow road, something like that.  So, I assume they will fly us out safely but once on home soil  they will strike."  Adam thought it made horrible sense.  Before he could respond Constantine too him surprised again.

"I don't want to die."  Constantine cleared his throat and went on.  For the first time since he started speaking he looked unsure of himself.  "I don't think you deserve to die either.  You've already been stripped of your birthright, lost your home. You have done everything your family has asked you to do."   Adam was speechless, was this support from the oaf who has been a thorn in his side for three years.   "I don't think you deserve to be punished more than you have been already."

"I may be a bound wolf to the Fischer family but I took a vow to protect you."  Adam could see this part was hard for the werewolf because it wasn't a matter of black and white, he was conflicted.  Constantine's entire life was one long list of rules and this was very much a grey area.

 "Handing you over to them just doesn't feel right."  Adam sat back in his chair, he felt like he had been punched in the stomach.  

Constantine locked eyes with Adam.  "We have to run before they arrive."  

.....

Adam grabbed a towel of the rail.  The bathroom looked more like a sauna, thick with steam and hot as hell.  His skin was a deep red where he had let the boiling water run a little to long.  He groaned as he tried to pat the sensitive skin dry.  He didn't like pain, it was what it did for him that he endured it.

When the door flung open so hard it bounced back off the wall he jumped back and automatically extended his claws ready to attack.  

Constantine stood in the door, steam swirling around him.  He focused on Adam, ran his eyes of the lobster coloured shoulders and chest.  "Quick get dressed.  We have more trouble on the way."  He left the room and Adam wrapped the towel around his waist and followed him into the bedroom thinking "What now?"

Constantine flopped down on his bed and rub his face hard as if he wanted to wipe away his features.  He was the picture of utter frustration.

"What's happened now?"  

Constantine let is hands fall into his lap and slowly looked up at Adam. He was exhausted.  With some effort he calmed his pounding heart and his brain that was jumping from one doomed scenario to another.  He looked at Adam and took in the fact he had hurt himself again, his old wounds only just healed.   It re-lit his anger.  It made a mockery of the fact that Constantine's life's work was to keep him safe.  Adam didn't wait for others to hurt him, he did it to himself.  It was the thing he hated most about his stupid master.

"So...tell me what's happened."  Adam asked again.

"The Goddess must really have it in for us because after all these years of us keeping our heads down and living quietly, everyone has suddenly noticed us.  You remember that the only Lycan pack on this Continent is on the East Coast."   Constantine pulled his phone out of his pocket.  Adam nodded.  All he knew about them was that they had cut themselves off from the Homeland a year before they arrived.  They were now an autonomous pack.  He recalled his father calling them a contemptible pack of rogues. It had caused quite a stir in the Royal Court.

"I think they got wind of Thanos trip.  They may not have known about us before but they do now."   He held up the phone.  "I just got a text from someone called Lewis. Chief Lieutenant to the Ogéneia Guardian requesting a meeting with us. He's on a flight here already."