Though only a few yards off, the distance between him and Harlow felt like it stretched for miles. Caden stared into that elongated space and felt his stomach coil into a tangle of Celtic knots. His heartbeat, which had had enough gallop to it to put a V12 engine to shame, had slowed significantly as his vision lengthened feet into leagues. He could hear the slow thump-thump… thump-thump… thump-thump like the growl of thunder in his ears.
Timberland boots were heavy as cement, anchored down by the weight of his gut which had fallen to his feet at the prospect of walking the miles between the two Alphas. Without looking away from Harlow’s position at the treeline, he reached for the only source of strength he had just then, and locked his fingers through Willow’s once more. Her hands were tiny and warm in his, comforting enough to thaw some of the crystallized dread that had began to ice over his heart. On a heavy exhale that misted the air in front of him, Cade put one foot in front of the other and began the trek.
Slow as his pace was, he made it to Harlow entirely too soon. He’d noted the blood on his approach, how it stained her hands and was smeared on her clothes. There was a smudge of it on her cheek, from where she must have wiped away tears without realizing what her touch had left behind. Her eyes were bloodshot and watery, and the pink of her nose had nothing to do with the cold. Harlow’s expression was grim, sorrowful… apologetic.
Caden pinned the Alpha Female with a glare when the first words out of her mouth were ‘I’m so sorry.’ His heart, still beating the slow tempo of a metronome, was cast in iron and sent plummeting through the void of his torso, careening after his stomach. His molars ached down to the root as he bit down hard, a muscle feathering in his jaw from the building pressure.
He was shaking his head before the words were out of her mouth, refusing whatever she was about to say. He couldn’t hear it. Whatever it was. He couldn’t hear it. Not when he knew in that space where his heart had just been that Harlow was about to take from him something he couldn’t afford to lose. There was so little left in him. To lose any more…
The sound of his name on her tight voice was an invisible force crushing down on his windpipe. A boa constrictor had wound itself around his neck and was living up to its name, squeezing tighter, and tighter, and tighter until his lungs screamed for his next breath; not a molecule of oxygen able to squeeze past the pressure on his throat. It was a conscious effort not to crush Willow’s delicate fingers in his grasp as he struggled with the dread tearing at the all too fragile protective amour he wore around his soul.
Words without explanation, a statement without clarity. Harlow said it was Noah, but she didn’t expand on her meaning. What was she saying? What about Noah? Was he hurt? Was that his blood? Was that his baby brother’s blood? What happened?
Instead of any of the million question ricocheting within his skull, Cade growled low in his throat, his tone almost threatening as he demanded, “Where is he?” He didn’t wait for an answer from her, didn’t even give her the chance.
Releasing Willow’s hand, Caden shoved past Harlow and jogged into the treeline. A deep breath breezed through his nostrils, filling his lungs with the scent of the surrounding wood. Pine, snow, kicked up earth, the forest’s scents swirled in his chest and he picked through them with ease, focusing quickly on the coppery tang of blood and allowed it lead him.
There was no bracing himself as he ran, feet kicking up pine needles and snow as he cut between trees toward the source of the scent he was tracking. Try though he might to gather his strength to him and slap together some makeshift defense against what he knew he’d find in the middle of the clearing, Cade’s hopeful denial turned stoic strength to grains of sand. With each step toward the inevitable he patched together the grandest sandcastle he could, praying that it would withstand the tsunami building in the distance and racing wildly to meet him at the shore.
Noah was fine. Bleeding. Hurt. But he was fine. He had to be fine. He had to be. ‘Harlow would still be with him if he was fine,’ logic argued as he ran for his brother, the metallic smell of spilled blood growing with his every footfall. ‘No!’ Cade screamed back at himself, fighting down whatever better sense tried to warn him to turn back instead, not to face what he knew was waiting for him. ‘It’s fine. He’s fine. Everything’s going to be fine.’
Cade broke the clearing and his racing feet stalled to a stop. Snow was dyed crimson, speckled and splattered and pooled all around the butchered body in the clearing’s center. His heart, which had fallen to the bottom of the Mariana’s Trench his gut had become, lurched. His stomach churned. His mind didn’t immediately register what it was exactly he was seeing.
One step brought him closer to that too still body. Then another. And another. He noted the long black hair, just like his own. The once naturally tanned skin that was washed out and drained of all color. The shut eyelids that might’ve made him look like he was sleeping, if it wasn’t for the smears and splatters of blood staining the hard angles of his face.
“Noah?” Caden breathed, still slowly approaching the ruined figure laid out under dark grey skies. His feet were heavy. His knees shook. Cade was only a few paces away from the maimed and mutilated thing that was his brother’s body and his knees buckled underneath him. On a tight, hoarse voice, he croaked, “Noah?”
Something broke in Caden’s chest. Like spindling webs in glass, the thick dam that had kept him sane since the Winter Solstice ruptured. Grief burst in jets of water, the pressure building and building until the structure of his composure was shaking from the strain.
On his hands and knees in the snow, Cade stared at his baby brother with horror widened eyes. Tears gathered in number in his vision, washing the image of a blood soaked and disfigured Noah behind a thick wall of moisture. Jaw slack in terror of what he was seeing, he couldn’t look away. He couldn’t blink. He couldn’t process. That was Noah, unmoving and blue and bloody beyond recognition. That was his baby brother, dead in the clearing.
Noah was dead. His baby brother was dead… Noah was dead…
The soul crushed bellow that tore out from Cade’s lungs and shattered the skies above sent birds from their branches in a flurry of feathers and disgruntled caws. The dam broke, and everything he’d been holding back for fifty years came crashing down on him hard. His scream continued until his lungs shriveled up with breathlessness. An inhale pulled out another cry from his chest, as he crawled the rest of the way toward his brother.
The dam broke. And so did Caden.
The verbal confirmation came from Harlow and all at once, time slowed to a stop. The world around them ceased to exist as the alpha beside her absorbed the information, that fatal blow that was going to change his life forever- yet again.
He took off at a run, long legs setting him into a stride she couldn’t hope to match. A glance at Harlow had the pair following close behind, well - as close behind as Willow could get. Before long, Caden had torn through the brush and was no longer a spec on the horizon.
The scream that ripped through the forest was a broken man’s cry and it slammed into the empath like a ton of bricks. Her knees buckled, the weight of his pain crushing her. A sob escaped the small witch as she fought to catch her breath, the anguish rolling off of her mate slicing into her like a knife to the heart.
Scrunching her face, Willow pulled all the strength she had to force her way through the fog of his emotion, breaking into the clearing in search of him. Cade was huddled over the mangled body of his baby brother, and the sight alone had more sobs escaping her. She’d been there when Noah was born, so many moons ago- it felt like it was only yesterday.
Now…. now he’d never see a moon again.
Or the sunrise, or drink another cup of coffee, or tell Cade just how much he so desperately missed him… God, the pair’s last words spoken together had been in anger, a meaningless argument that could never be taken back.
She’d reached her wolf’s side, and her knees collapsed as another wave of pain rolled off him, and straight through her. Tears fell freely down her cheeks as her arms came around his large frame. There was little she could do to help, and as Harlow stepped into view, Willow wished- and not for the first time- that she had the power to turn back time, instead.
The corpse below… God, Noah. The vibrant son so full of life… She had no idea how long they all remained, motionless and broken in the wake of Noah’s death. The sun had begun to dip in the distant horizon, and her body had grown numb from the cold. She clung to Caden for all he was worth, until the feeling had been lost in her fingers and her arms ached from being stretched so wide.
After an eternity, she lifted heavy lids back to Harlow. The poor thing, they all had so much to deal with now… and what of the Accords? She’d think of that later. For now, she had to get Cade out of here, away from Noah, away from it all. As much as that would kill him, staying was worse. His now catatonic form unresponsive to them both.
“We need to get him into the truck.” Her voice was soft but Willow knew the she wolf would hear. “Grab the other arm, we’ll lift on three.” It took all the strength she had and a little magic along with Harlow to get Cade on two feet, and dragging him through the dense brush to the small truck parked beyond was a feat in and of itself.
Together, the females opened the passenger door, and heaved the wolf inside. It wasn’t until Caden was safely buckled up and closed in that she turned back to Harlow, who’s tear stained cheeks mirrored her own. Without a second thought, she threw her arms around her neck, holding her tight. “I’m here for you, too Harls. Don’t forget I’m only a phone call away, okay?” She murmured when they parted.
A final squeeze of the alpha’s hand and a burst of transferred energy through the touch saw her parting ways. Pulling Cade’s keys from his pocket as she buckled herself in, Willow waved one last time to the alpha as she drove him home.
Harlow watched Caden’s emotions shift. She heard it in the tone of voice and the growl he produced when he asked where Noah was. She was about to answer, but he had already taken off. Sighing, because she knew this was not going to be good, she looked at Willow who Harlow suspected was having the same thought.
The two women ran after him, Harlow deciding to keep pace with Willow in efforts to let Caden have a few brief moments of silence with his brother. The scream that erupted from his body was painful, even for Harlow. She couldn’t imagine how Caden or Willow felt. The poor empath had to deal with so much already, and Harlow suspected Caden did too.
She watched in horror, a new wave of tears streaming down her face as the two held each other and mourned the loss of such a young life. She lost track of time, and it wasn’t until Willow looked back at her that she remembered she still had things to arrange and take care of for the burial rights. Harlow would have to call Shivonne and the police as well, this was still a murder case.
Willow’s words brought her back to reality. Without speaking, she nodded and slung Caden’s other arm over her shoulder and lifted. He was dead weight, and Willow could only lift so much.
Once they arrived at the truck, Harlow did most of the lifting to get him inside. She stepped back and watched as Willow strapped him in. The hug was unexpected, but more than welcome. Honestly, it was exactly what she needed in that moment. She hugged the small witch back and responded, “I know. Thank you, Willow. For everything.”
Harlow felt the small burst in energy that the witch had passed over. She waved in response and watched the truck take off down the road. Wiping the tears from her cheeks she pulled out her phone to continue her tasks, because no matter how upset she was, she still had to be there for the pack.
