Eternal Chains

EC 45: What Jealousy Can Do

Sheiy froze once she heard that cold voice, there had been a nagging feeling in the back of her mind all this time, that she should listen to the voice and do what it wants. Her gaze went towards where Xander was then she had a smile on her face, a crazy smile. She succumbed to the voice then she felt suddenly lighter like every negative feeling she had was gone.

Edrei felt a chill on his back and it made him look behind but there was only the woman, Sheiy, and the other children behind him. That coldness was the same as what he would feel whenever they would face enemies in the past but there was no enemy around. He then excused himself for a while to scout the area to make sure that the surrounding was safe.

Xander watched as his bodyguard slipped away from them. He had a frown on his face as he also looked around. Edrei seemed to be tense when he asked for Xander's permission to leave for a while. The former looked at him with a confused expression and furrowed eyebrows, "What's the problem?"

Edrei hesitated for a bit before he decided to answer, "I just need to scout the area. I suddenly felt danger just a while ago and I wanted to make sure that everything was okay."

After he heard the word 'danger', Xander became alert and could not help himself from looking around but all he could see were the trees and the bushes that surrounds them. "Alright." He agreed, it was much better to be sure now than be sorry later.

"Is there a problem?" One of the aunts asked after they noticed that Xander became restless after his bodyguard left.

"Oh, nothing." Xander shook his head and smiled. He did not want to alert them since there was no confirmation of danger yet. That day was supposed to be fun so he chose to remain silent and wait for Edrei.

Edrei together with the other warriors who came with them circled around the river for a total of five times but felt no danger or threat. To make sure that there was really no threat, he instructed the others to be on full alert. He then returned to Xander's side and shook his head. Xander sighed in relief and nodded before he faced the aunts who were already setting up the cloth and the foods that they had packed.

The pups had started to play around and soak on the river. It was a total chaos after that but Xander was at ease to watch over the pups without any worries. For the rest of the day nothing happened thus the play date they had ended with a good note. The pups enjoyed and even them who were only there to watch them enjoyed themselves too.

"Alright, come and line up, we will be going home now." They called with the pups eagerly lining up. Some of them were even reluctant to go home but it was already noon so they could do nothing but follow the adults.

One of the caregivers counted the pups and frowned when she saw that there was one of them who was missing. She looked around but saw that the other pup was not with them or in the vicinity.

"What's the matter?" Xander asked. He saw that the aunt was frowning after counting if the pups were complete. He then counted them himself and found the problem. "Has any of you seen Lulu?" the pups then looked at each other before they shook their heads.

The happy atmosphere was suddenly gone when they all realized that Lulu was not with them. Xander looked at his bodyguard, Edrei whistled to let the hiding warriors know that there was a problem. With their enhanced hearing, they already heard of what had happened and started to look for the missing pup.

One of the werewolves who came with them came out and approached Xander and Edrei. "The others are already looking for the pup but right now, we have a bigger problem." He moved closer to Edrei and whispered, "The pup's scent is gone. None of the warriors were able to locate him."

"What? How?" Edrei snapped his head to look at the warrior. "How could that happen?"

The warrior shook his head because he also did not know what happened. Right now, they were having a difficult time locating the pup. Edrei's sight moved to Xander who was looking at them with a frown.

"Why don't all of you go first, we will look for Lulu and follow later," Xander's expression changed there was definitely something wrong. He turned back at the children and gave them a smile. He then stared at the aunties who nodded. Xander was glad that they understood what he meant.

They then bid goodbye to the pups and gave Xander a nod. "You should also go Xander, we will inform you once we find him." Edrei pushed him but Xander was firm and did not leave. He decided to stay and help them in any way he could. It was not the only the warriors who are responsible for the children, he as man, was responsible for them too.

He did not want to be idle and just wait on the side. "No, I'll help you." His gaze did not falter even in front of these fierce werewolves. Edrei did not convince him any longer and when things had been settled in their side, the man received a distressed call through the mind link from the other werewolves who were looking for Lulu.

'Rogues!' was the only word he heard before the mind link was cut off.

Xander watched as the people with him left in a haste. "Stay here. We will be sure to find Lulu and keep him safe." He heard Endrei say before he too left. Xander was left behind but since he said that he would help, he decided to follow them.

He waded through the grass and bushes while he followed the general direction where they went. It was a bit far and he got some scratches on his skin while he battled with the wild bushes along his way.

Growls, he heard growls not far from where he was so he stopped walking to take a breather before he slowly continued. Xander closed his eyes and took a deep breath before he slowly peeked from where he was hiding. The sound of the water rushing was loud but the growls were louder and stronger.

Edrei and the other warriors had shifted into their wolf forms, they were growling at the other group of wolves that were also snarling at their direction. He could also see a small body hidden by one of the wolves from the pack. In front of them were the rogues while at their back was the raging water that leads to a drop a few meters away from them. It was a situation which was greatly unfavorable for Edrei and the other warriors.

'That must be Lulu,' he thought to himself as he continued to observe both groups. Even though he was there to help, he did not intend to get in their way. He stayed where he was and made himself as small as possible. There were other wolves on the ground too, they seemed to have been knocked out based on what he can see from where he was but when one of the wolves from the pack moved forward, he saw that there was something red on the ground.

Xander's eyes widened when he realized what it was. Those wolves were not knocked out, they were actually dead. He covered his mouth to stop the gasp that was about to come out. He was yet to recover from what he saw when he saw that the enemies started to lunge towards Edrei and the others.

This was the first time that he would be seeing an actual fight between beasts and it was brutal. They were trying to bite and tear each other apart. Not only their fangs but even their claws were vicious in trying to rip their enemy to shreds. He held his breath while watching all of this play out but he could not take his eyes off this barbaric fight.

Even though both of his hands can't stop shaking, his eyes were still glued at the fight. At that moment, he did not know if the shaking was caused by fear or his strange fascination of the chaos in front of him. He was suddenly enthralled by what was happening and if not for the terrified scream from Lulu, he might not have woken up from his stupor, where he was trapped.

He heard the loud snarl of the copper-colored wolf as he tried to make his way towards the child but the enemy seemed to be faster than he was. The wolf that was supposed to be protecting the pup was engaged in a battle with the first enemy who attempted to attack them but another rogue came out of nowhere and directly lunged at the frozen pup.