Chapter 7
Daymond
“I’m the coward? I came back for your dumbasses.”
“Guys, this is getting us nowhere!” Bernard sighed in defeat.
There was a moment of silence after. It grew and festered at each sibling’s throat. What they saw was unspeakable.
“Look, we might not come from the same mother,” Camille started, looking around at her brothers. “But we have the same father, and he’s missing. Something weird happened to us. And now we are alone. We need to find our dad and figure out what just happened.”
She was met with silence, but somehow, Daymond knew they were all in agreement. They were going to find their father and figure this all out. They had to, or their brains would explode.
From the distance, twigs snapped.
“Did you guys hear that?” Daymond asked.
The three nodded in unison. They huddled around Antonie as he was still sitting on the ground and decided that whatever they faced, they would do it together. There’s no point in running. They tried that, and it didn’t work. More twigs began to crunch, and it became louder and louder. Eventually, in the distance, they saw eight figures in the fog.
“Who are those people?” Daymond grabbed a hold of Camille’s arm as any form of protection.
“I have no idea,” she whispered.
Strong, resilient, and terrifying, the group came closer and closer, not changing speeds but continuing an even trek.
“What do you want from us!” Antoine called out. Camille grabbed Antione’s leg and pressed down—a look of annoyance plaguing her brows.
The group stopped instantly.
The man who stood in front of them stepped forward. A playful grin played on his lips. “We are only here to help.”
“That didn’t answer my question. What do you want? Who are you? What the hell is going on!” Antonie appeared to be losing his patience.
“My name is Jean-Claude. ” Turning to his sides, he looked back and brought forth two other people: “This is Errin and ZaMauri, and we are pack Laurell.”
“A pack?” Antonie tried to sit up, but he was still very weak. “What does that even mean?”
Jean-Claude smirked down at them, mumbled something to his people, and said, “You’ll find out soon enough, my friend. But all in good time. Let’s get you warmed up first. The weather is certainly odd right now, isn’t it?”
A woman addressed as Erinn began to make a fire. It was daybreak, yet it was unusually cold. A drastic change from yesterday’s heat. Antoine didn’t trust them–not one bit. But his body still ached even if there were no physical marks on him anymore. The four of them huddled together on a log and looked at Jean-Claude.
Camille was the first to speak: “Excuse me?”
Jean-Claude grinned mischievously. “Yes, darling.”
Camille scowled before asking, “What is going on? Who are you? Were you the ones that attacked us?”
Daymond stared at her in shock. Did she seriously just ask him that? I’m glad I’m not the only one thinking it, but what are we supposed to do if he says yes?
“So many questions,” Jean-Claude groaned, “And so little time. The question isn’t who are we. You know who we are, sweet child. The real question is, what are we?”
Camille visibly swallowed and rested back into her spot on the log.
“Then what are you?” Daymond asked lamely.
Jean-Calude spread his legs out, relaxing his entire body. His other pack members were busying themselves by walking amongst the trees and grabbing more firewood.
“You know those scary stories you heard as a child? Those mythical creatures like vampires and werewolves? Those are real–all of them. And guess which one am I? What you four are? The latter.”
The four looked at each other in disbelief. This couldn’t be happening. Daymond began to laugh hysterically, looking to his siblings to join him. They didn’t.
“Daymond, are you okay?” Bernard patted his shoulder, causing him to shrug it off.
“No worries, he’s probably in shock,” Jean-Claude remarked.
“This – this is crazy, you know that,” Daymond said through his fits of laughter.
“I’m sorry to break it to you, but it’s true. You are true blood werewolves. Each of you has a special role that plays a part in the grand order of things.”
Camille rose from where she stood, her eyes narrowing, “You were the ones that attacked last night, weren’t you?”
“No, sweet child. We are only here to help.”
“Then how would you know to come here?” Camille demanded.
“Well, I have a mind-link with different Alpha’s. I felt that your father was in danger. I traced his scent here and came across you. Now that you are in the transition phase, I– we can smell your scent. And it’s why your eyes are now purple.”
Daymond shook his head. “I admit I wasn’t paying much attention to Antione and Bernard, but I know for a fact that Camille’s eyes and mine were already purple.”
Jean-Claude raised an eyebrow. “Is that so? How very interesting. Most werewolf’s eye color changes around their first transformation. Have you already experienced it?”
Antione snorted. “Definitely not.”
Daymond wasn’t sure why, but the satisfied look on Jean-Claude’s face unnerved him. “Really? We’ll have to ask your father about it, won’t we? It’s been a while since I’ve seen him. But his eyes were always a rich golden hue… I wonder where you inherited the purple from?”
