test of fate

Caius Winters

“Midnight. Meet me at the stream in the dark woods. Do not be late.”

The Commander’s warbled voice on the radio had been impossible to ignore.

It had been almost impossible to get away from the fortress without drawing attention, paving through The Darkness with only my wolf’s all-seeing eyes to guide me.

The Darkness seemed quieter than it had been in years, with only the crunch if my feet on dried leaves as I waded through the winding dirt paths.

“Goddamn you, Caius. You’re being fucking stupid.” I cursed myself through clenched teeth, stopping just when I started to hear the trickle of a large stream up ahead.

Any wrong moves and I would step foot in the bog and sink into the murky depths, never to be seen again.

I was not about to die like that.

“Hello?” I called, resisting the urge to raise my voice as I peered around at the empty shadows surrounding me.

Nothing…he wasn't here yet.

Where the hell was he?

“Great, first you make me think the world’s about to end now you’re nowhere to be found—” I grumbled, clenching and unflinching my fist.

For some reason, I couldn't shake the lump of uneasiness that had formed in the pit of my gut, warning me to leave now…and fast.

My feet tapped into the dirt path impatiently when I thought I saw something move out of the corner of my eyes.

“Who’s there?” I growled, spinning in the darkness as the whoosh of my sword echoed a split-second before I pointed it at the noise.

The grainy silhouette of a bush and the long bark of trees surrounding me met my glare.

Nothing…there was no one there, but the hairs on the back of my neck stood pin-straight still.

It wasn't a good idea to call out to anything in The Darkness.

Hell, chances were if you had to call out for it that shut was already long gone. Leaving room for other hungrier, blood-thirsty things to listen…to answer.

My face itched under the thick cotton coat I wore, its hood brushing low over my face. 

I considered turning back when the distant creak of a carriage carried down in the silence.

The commander. He was close!

The wash of dim yellow headlights pierced through the darkness, pausing only a few feet away.

I bowed a courtesy as the short, sturdy wolf who looked more like a muscular shark than anything descended the gaudy gold carriage.

I didn't know what was worse. Waiting for whatever it was he had to say or staring at THAT thing the entire time.

“Caius Winters. I see you made it…and on time too! Your father would be proud,” The commander barked sharply, his tone formal…all business.

So that's how we were going to play this then?

Things between the old man and me had always been awkward.

Princess Triel had been the only one bridging the gap between us…bouncing holiday wishes and mating invitations back and forth.

And now she was dead and it was just us.

I shifted my weight from foot to foot uneasily when he closed the distance between us, stopping a few meters short.

I was grateful I didn't have to hold out my hand or worse...have to reciprocate when he went for a hug.

 Would sooner gobble up dog vomit than embrace the uncle who had been little less than a phantom in my memories.

“Uncle. I see you are well.” I commented, saying nothing more when he grunted his acceptance, dusting off fibers I couldn't see from the beaded toga he wore.

All at once, the tight air of formality he had maintained before dissolved into ice as he crossed his arms in front of him, his gold cane striking the earth and raising a pljne of brown dust between us.

“What is the status update on Triel’s murderess? Is she dead yet?” He ground through gritted teeth, the cold lines of his eyes boring into my face like poisoned arrows.

Blood roared in my ears and I swallowed carefully, aware that whatever I said now would either mend or break our relationship.

I was aware of the stern faces of the guards standing behind him, peering at us through the fog swirling in the forest.

Above us, the full crescent of a half moon shone down, the silver light snagged by the thick lush canopy that shielded us from view.

“Commander…Uncle—” ai started, but his patience must have grown even thinner than the last time we met, because he struck his cane harder into the earth, his voice rising by several decibels.

“I’m beginning to think you are doing nothing to avenge your sister’s death, Caius. Do you know the agony she must have went through in her last moments?” The commander snarled, flashing large white fangs that looked at least an inch bigger than all the other rows of sharp pointy teeth in his mouth.

My face hardened until it could have been cut from stone as my eyes flickered to the pairs of bright-red eyes surrounding us.

The commander had brought his soldiers…how many were there?

I could count dozens…no…hundreds of big snarling wolves that shifted in and out of The Darkness like shadows.

Shit. I was surrounded and he knew it. He’d gotten me good.

There was no fighting chance of me getting out of this unscathed. 

“I’m working hard to find the killer, uncle, you must give me more time,” I tried again, but my excuse fell flat even to my own ears and his lips tightened like he was on the brink of a screaming fit.

Adrenaline hummed through my body like a dynamite but I forced my wolf back.

Shifting now would be a direct challenge to his authority. Like a slap in the face.

It was either I killed him or he killed me if that happened.

And I knew well enough I wasn't touching him. Not with a horde this size.

“Time? You think your friends over at the fortress would beg for more time if I were to take you with me to my pack?” He challenged, and the tension between us could have lit a godamned dynamite.

The temperature in the forest had plunged until then chill stabbed at my sides like an iron rod.

The threat in his words had been unmistakable.

There was nothing I could do besides run if he tried to attack me now, but we both knew I wasn't going to do that.

The day I turned my back on an enemy would be the day I joined the local nunnery as an errand eunuch.

Infinity soldiers did not run from war. They ran to war.

“You think those fools would give a rat’s arse whether you lived or died? True blood is family, Caius. Didn't your father teach you that?” The beady-eyed commander snapped and I resisted the urge to hiss at him, balling my hands into fists instead as a vein throbbed in the sides of my head.

Oh, my father taught me plenty. Just nothing about emotional connections.

That’s right. One of the elite four shifters of the fortress had big fucking daddy issues.

His words were a cheap attempt at emotional blackmail but I couldn't help feeling stung by it nonetheless.

Would Dante miss me if I were to suddenly disappear tonight? Would Ronan even care? Or would he see it as his good fortune to permanently become Beta in my place?

And Laziel? I doubt he remembered anything besides the name of his favorite booze and what landmark our troops were going to attack next.

“That will not be necessary, Commander.” I said carefully, scraping the ‘uncle,’ bullshit for something more genuine and watching the powerful wolf’s bushy white brows rise expectantly.

“You have my word that whoever it is responsible for Triel’s…Triel’s murder would not go unscathed. I will bring you their heads myself.” I vowed, feeling my chest cave from the weight of the promise I had just assured the old wolf. 

He appeared to contemplate it for a while. Stark, gray hair glinting like clouds in the darkness before he drew closer to me, shaking his head like I had fallen short.

My body tensed instinctively but I forced myself to remain calm.

If he could kill me then the old warlock would have done so already. 

No…whatever it was he was scheming, he would need me alive and well for it.

Whether or not my limbs needed to be intact for it…now that was another matter.

“I have a better proposition, son.” He hissed, but the endearment made me cringe.

Son? 

All of a sudden I was his son? 

Where was he when my father— his brother, tortured me day and night?

Where was he after his brother died and his people refused to let me into his pack? A disgraced orphan of a royal family.

I was not his “son”. 

There was only one wolf who came close to taking that title, and that was Dante’s father. I was HIS son.

My jaw tightened and a faint flicker of alarm reared in the back of my mind when his eyes scanned the crowd.

“You look like a good warrior. I can feel the royal energy inside you, even if it is inferior to mine,” He hedged, the thinly-veiled insult making me flash him a grateful smile I was sure looked like a grimace.

It was just the type of wolf he was. Expecting gratitude for compliments, expecting what he ordered to be done when and how he ordered it.

A bloody tyrant if I'd ever seen any.

“My daughter has sacrificed a lot for you. For the sake of our packs,” he muttered glumly and an owl hooted eerily in the distance before a flock of birds scattered away from a tree only feet behind me.

I dared not look back. His army was moving…tightening the circle.

There was no telling if the man was hiding a shank in the bejeweled clothes he wore that made him look like some Asian Raja.

“What are you saying…Uncle?” I murmured, keeping my own tone cryptic.

Triel had done a lot for us, that was for sure. She’d been one of the only elite wolves from the east pack who cared for me before Dante found me.

Before I became an elite of the Infinity Army.

Guilt stabbed into my chest at the reminder that I had failed to care for her the way she did me.

It was a burden I knew I would be carrying to my grave.

“I want you to bring me the head of Dante Milburn.”

The command exploded like a bomb in my ears and I staggered back incredulously, my brows furrowing with a mix of surprise disgust.

Had he lost his fucking mind? 

“If I do that, commander, you think Ironside and Brahm are going to let me live?” 

I was trying to buy time. To think of a decent way to tell the commander my answer was Abso-fucking-lutely not.

I wasn't killing my best friend and brothers when we were yet to find the real killer. 

All because of some old bozo’s misplaced sense of justice.

“You wouldn't have to face them alone, son. My army will be stationed just outside your fortress, ready to take care of your little friends once you kill that arrogant bastard.” He spat so viciously that I swallowed the retort burning the top of my tongue.

He had it all figured out. I shook my head, barking out a harsh laugh that didn't reach my eyes.

“Do this, and I will make you my heir. You will be Alpha when I am dead.” He deadpanned, his sharp beady eyes burning with a fierceness I had never seen before until he leaned back and let the shadows swallow his face.