HUNTED-Chapter 345: Taste of vengeance (1)

[Aldric]

Seconds ticked by as Aldric processed Harry’s words. His wolf, Callan, was practically snapping and clawing at his mind to break through. Aldric’s own pulse was hammering, his lip snarling, yet he had control over Callan and breathed slowly. They did not know who it was yet, and he would kill them, that was for sure. There was no doubt about it.

Until then, he would listen to what his friend had to say. Harry also confirmed in that one sentence what Aldric believed to be true. There was no accident, and someone..

His hands balled into fists, and his eyes darkened to the barely contained fury.

Someone wanted his family dead. Someone killed his wife, his mate and almost stole his children from him as well. That someone was going to pay.

"Who was it?" Aldric growled, flicking his gaze to Harry once more as he stepped towards him threateningly.

Harry seemed to hesitate, eyes assessing the lycan for a moment. "It was Mark.. and his friends."

Aldric stepped back, feeling like he’d been punched in the gut. He looked Harry up and down and observed his face for any telltale signs of a lie. He started to shake his head. It seemed impossible. His wolf, however, almost snatched the reins to his mind while he was distracted.

His hands turned to claws, and for a moment, the seams of his clothes started to rip as black fur sprouted through and his jaw elongated into a snout and long sharp teeth. Aldric pushed him back with a large shove, and his features returned to normal, except for his eyes that flickered between his usual brown eyes and the glowing bright blue ones of his inner wolf-transformed lycan beast.

Aldric knew Mark didn’t like him, he made it apparent, but he never thought the man was a killer. "How?" He grunted while his body trembled. Callan was pushing and pushing against Aldric’s control.

He didn’t want explanations. He wanted blood. So did he, but he needed details. He needed to know more before spilling more blood. Marks blood. Though he was barely controlling himself to turn from Harry and attack the sick fucker then and there, let alone controlling his wolf.

"Al!" Callan roared in his mind. He whimpered and growled, wanting to kill anyone in his way until he avenged their mate.

"I know, I know. We will avenge her. Make no mistake about that," Aldric soothed his wolf with the promise of violence.

Harry held the phone out in his hand. "This is Marks. I watched him for a while. His obvious hate for you was disturbing, but then he kept watching Rex and Elissa like-"

Aldric’s chest grumbled, eyes glowing once more. Their paternal protectiveness kicked in. Nobody threatened a werewolf’s pups and got away with it. He wasn’t just a werewolf now either, he was a lycan, and since transforming, their temper had grown with it.

Harry watched him, remaining quiet. Aldric hadn’t gone through the chat yet, only going by Harry’s words. But he trusted the rogue-like he was his brother. He knew the phone was evidence of Mark’s crimes.

"Send everyone home. Everyone except for Mark," Aldric spoke calmly, too calmly, which made the situation worse than if he was raging and growling. This calmness had settled over him and Callan to allow them the time to process what they would read and then kill the human fuck once everyone was gone.

He glanced at the darkening sky. People were already starting to leave anyway. "Come up with a good excuse. Something like we could only book for a certain amount of time."

Harry nodded and started to leave. "Oh, and Harry.." The rogue paused and looked at him. "Make sure Cathy takes the kids back."

Aldric looked back at the phone and started going through the messages of the group chat Harry left it on. The more he read, the closer he was to completely losing it, letting his wolf take over, and he destroyed not only Mark but the bar and anyone nearby. Of course, that never extended to his children.

Even in their wolfish rage, they would never lay a hand on their children.

"Aldric? Did you have to really send everyone away? Cathy’s parents are also grieving-"

Callan ripped through his mind, and he shifted into his 8ft grown black-furred beast, leaping straight for Mark. His jaw sank down into Mark’s neck as his head hit the ground, knocking the evil, sick fuck out.

A spine-chilling scream erupted into the air, making Aldric look up, his snout bloodied, as he looked at Cathy. She was held back by Harry, but his children and Jack and Daisy stood there, wide-eyed at the violent scene before them.

Cathy struggled in Harry’s arms. His solid biceps hugged her from behind, pinning her arms to her sides. Sudden awareness flashed through her that Harry was most likely like Aldric, and she was weak compared to them. Still, she squirmed and glared at Aldric. Fear and shock plastered across her face as tears streamed down her eyes.

"Get off of him!" Cathy screamed. "You’re a disgrace! This is Emma’s funeral! The children.." She looked at them. "You’re scaring them! How dare you act in such a way in front of them-"

Aldric remained above Mark as he slowly shifted into his human form and snarled. "HE KILLED MY MATE! Your precious husband wanted Emma and my children to die!"

Cathy flinched at his words. Aldric used that moment to rip the suit jacket straight from Mark, the sleeves tearing the back apart, and he made a sarong out of the tattered material for the sake of the children. Daisy now clutched at Jack, keeping him close to her as she stared wide-eyed. The girl was only nine, but she was braver and smarter than most.

Her dad was on the ground, blood spilling onto the grass, but she remained there, turning Jack away from the scene as she assessed everything. His children, on the other hand, seemed unfazed. Rex was even glaring at Mark while Elissa held his hand, most likely not aware of the situation.

"He wouldn’t.." Cathy began to sob and started to shake her head. "No.. he cared for the kids.. Emma’s my sister.."

Aldric was marching back to where his clothes lay in a tattered state on the ground, with Mark’s phone.

"Mark planned the fire," Harry replied, while Aldric paced, snarling and almost returning to Mark to finish off what he started. But the children were there. If they weren’t, Mark’s head would be ripped clean off from his body.

Callan was almost drooling in his mind at the idea of beheading Mark.

"He.." Harry glanced at Aldric, but the lycan nodded, telling him to continue. He’d read the sick and twisted messages. Harry dropped his voice so only Cathy could hear and not the children. "He found the idea of Aldric and Emma together to be disgusting, that she was a slut only to a werewolf cock and she was only being used to create more of our kind.."

Aldric growled at the words, making the ground rumble slightly. Cathy’s eyes were wide, her face paling. "No.. he.. you spent time together?" She looked at Aldric’s pacing form in confusion.

It was all so confusing until Aldric read the messages. They had indeed gone to bars together and tried to become friends because of the sisters, but there was something like an awkwardness between them. Aldric always knew it had something to do with what he was, and he tried to make Mark comfortable around him. It never worked, and now he knew how far his hatred was towards him.

Aldric wondered how Mark could sit there with him, though, if his thoughts were about how disgusting he found Aldric.

"If he tried killing us while I was around.." Aldric began his voice more like a growl. He stopped and looked at Rex and Elissa. Rex stood before his sister protectively, but it wasn’t towards Aldric. His gaze was on Mark, bright blue eyes flickering in flames.

Could he hear their conversation? Rex was shaking so much it paused Callan and Aldric from their state of rage and watched their son. He was a half-werewolf and half-human. They didn’t know what that meant yet.

Would he shift? If he did, he was far too young to do so.

Harry followed Aldric’s gaze, and his own brows furrowed. "I can take them inside. I think Cathy is in too much shock. You’re not going to hurt her.." Harry mind-linked him.

"She looks just as torn. I didn’t think she knew. The girls were too close," Aldric mind-linked back. "Take them inside."

"Al.. I know you want to kill him, but.." Cathy began before Harry started to release her. The lycan paused to see what she was going to say before letting her go. "Let the police put him behind bars. I.. Don’t kill him.."

Callan growled at her suggestion. It ripped through Aldric’s lips before he could stop himself. "The world is in pieces about the supernatural creatures at the moment.. The police won’t know what to do.." Harry acted as a mediator as he held onto Cathy.

Aldric’s gaze returned to Mark and then to Rex. He was squeezing his eyes shut now like he was in pain. He wouldn’t shift. He couldn’t?

Aldric frowned and then looked at Harry. "Get Chase’s number. Let’s put the hunters to good use," he suggested with a snarl.

He wanted to kill this asshole. He wanted nothing more than to skin him alive and rip that smug head from his body. But the children were there, petrified, and Rex seemed out of sorts.

Harry nodded, releasing Cathy as he pulled out his phone and started to usher the children away.

"What are they going to do to him?" Cathy asked, her knees buckling beneath her, and she slammed into the ground, staring at her husband, paling the longer she looked at him.

Aldric shrugged. "They’re meant to be our law enforcement. Apparently." A snarl left his lips again. Should he use the hunters or go by pack law? He was technically still a part of Aila’s pack.

Even though he wanted a taste of vengeance, Aldric had a more pressing matter to deal with now. His son. Rex looked similar to how many werewolves started to act before their first shift. He was only seven, whereas the youngest he knew to shift was sixteen, except for Aila and Damon, but they were obvious exceptions.

"Cathy.." Aldric held her gaze. "Mark and his friends killed Emma."

He wanted that to settle into her mind as he placed the phone into her lap before spitting on Mark’s face as he passed by. "He should rot in hell. Be lucky right now. Rex needs me more than my urge to kill Mark."

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Cathy laughed, but there was no humour in it. "Lucky? My husband killed my sister.."

Aldric didn’t respond, leaving her to scroll through the messages. Cathy might very well cover up for him, even if she did hate her husband, but it didn’t matter to Aldric. If Mark woke up and tried to run, Aldric would hunt him down and finish what he had started. Then he’d hunt down his friends.

So he left the couple on the ground, uncaring about their next moves as he walked towards his future. His children.