Restless Waves

Chapter 65

Rowan's first thought wasn't that he was now next in line to be the god of the sea; his first thought was how did Wez's soulmate die, when, and why?

"We all woke up this morning, and she was there, lifeless. She has no visible wounds or anything to say that she was the cause of her death. I fear it was Wez. Either way, they're both dead now," Laiken said, his mouth curled with sadness behind his grey beard.

Kaerius repeated his words to his soulmate, and Rowan looked to his mother, who had just lost her brother.

Mandy soon realised that everyone was watching her and tried to act strong. "I was hoping that after this is all over, we could all reconnect as a family. I wasted that chance."

Michael wrapped arms around her, feeling guilt like he was the one to kill Wez. Everything circled back to his parents. Michael couldn't help but feel responsible. "We need justice," he said in English so Rowan could understand. "We're not running from this. Wez deserved so much better."

Mandy slowly nodded to agree. Her brother had lived on land for twelve years to look after her, despite Mandy being cursed to become an awful person. "I didn't think they would go this far."

"They cursed you for twelve years," Rowan said, trying not to sound too angry. "They showed what they were capable of when they shot me in the back. We need to stop them. We need to do it now." The more he thought about poor Wez, the more the rage started to simmer. Soon it would boil, and Rowan wasn't sure he would hold himself back if he came face to face with any more hunters.

"Yes," Laiken said. "Stop hunters."

"Yes," Kaerius agreed. Swimming away was easy when nobody had died. Wez was a lovely guy and had looked after Mandy and her family for years instead of starting one of his own. He deserved justice.

Everyone soon decided that they had to go to the werewolves and tell Braiken if he didn't already know. Getting there was tricky because nobody had clothes, so they had to sneak back into Mandy's house by the beach.

Michael went first because of his experience with hunters. After a week in the ocean, the hunters had moved onto other things, and the house was empty.

Mandy's weapons that she threw out were still in the bins outside, so Laiken and Jaiker brought them all back into the house.

Kaerius and Rowan hurried to his bedroom to get changed.

"You feel nervous," Rowan said, watching Kaerius struggle to get jeans on. He kept putting his foot through the holes on the knee. "I think I'm nervous too."

"It would be weird if you were excited. At least we have werewolves and vampires on our side," Kaerius thought. After he dressed, he sat next to Rowan on the bed to put socks on.

Rowan watched him, fidgeting with his bracelet. Rowan wanted time to love Kaerius and explore their completed bond. Rowan was miserable before he met Kaerius, but he used to have all the time in the world back then.

Rowan rested a hand on Kaerius's knee before he got up to find shoes. They looked at each other, cherishing what little time they did have before they ventured to the werewolves.

"Stay by my side through everything, okay?"

Kaerius nodded, watching Rowan's brave little smile. "I'm sorry about Wez," he thought.

"Me too. Wez was a really good guy."

The boys then embraced. They squeezed each other tight and buried their heads into each other's shoulders.