Secrets to Keep
“Where is Vince?” Jack asked, as soon as warmth returned to his bones, while Theodore held him close, trembling himself.
Theodore turned his head sharply. Jack followed with his eyes and froze when he saw Vince, who seemed asleep, lying on one side, close to the edge, only inches away from the abyss yawning below. He struggled not to cry out.
“Theo,” he whispered, his teeth chattering again, “you need to save Vee, okay? That witch or whatever that horned creature was must be trying to push him over.”
The alpha moved silently, putting him down gently. Jack lay on the ground, his body shaking now and then, while his eyes remained fixed on what was happening before his eyes like in a slow-motion scene in a movie.
If Vince woke up suddenly, or if Theo made the wrong move, it would be enough to send the big man over the edge. It was all happening because of him. He had been stupid enough to let himself be kidnapped, and now this: Vee close to flying to his death, and Theo having to deal with the pressure of always having to do the right thing without fail.
In the meantime, he was busy lying here like a crash test dummy, doing nothing to help. How was that fair? Was some of what that creep said true? It seemed like it. Jack knew it would be a hell of a struggle to get rid of the crippling doubt—
His mind jolted into awareness as he recalled what he’d seen in the visions the witch had forced him to witness. His body reacted as well, becoming frantic in his need to go to Theo, to Vince, to protect—
But how could he protect anybody? He was useless. But maybe those visions weren’t even real. They could have just been a trick designed to destroy the bond between them. Yes, that had to be it. His anxious mind and keenness on what-ifs should take a break.
Theodore was now by Vince’s side, catching him and bringing back from the edge. Vince appeared confused as the alpha straightened him up, helping him stand on his feet.
Jack let out a breath of relief. He would never believe the visions the witch had tried to force upon his mind. They were nothing but dirty tricks.
***
Vince blinked and looked around. Theodore was there, steadying him and looking at him with concern. Vince remembered how he had tried to protect himself from the ice needles shot through the air by the creature holding Jack in its grasp, and then… nothing.
“Can you walk by yourself?” Theodore asked in a rough voice.
Vince nodded and let his eyes take in their surroundings. When he spotted Jack and his eyes met the clairvoyant’s, he let out a breath of relief. “You did it, Theodore,” he praised the alpha. “You saved Jack.”
“You’re hurt,” Theodore said curtly.
Vince flexed his arm and looked at the cut on his bicep. “I can barely feel it,” he said with a smile. “I’m sure you’d be willing to lick it for me,” he added, mostly as a joke.
But Theodore had already grabbed his arm and swiped his tongue along the cut.
“Hey,” Vince protested, “that might be a wound made by magic. Don’t rush into it like that.”
Theodore looked up at him but kept his tongue against Vince’s wound. His eyes said everything that needed to be said. And Vince was already feeling better.
“Shouldn’t your wolf be the one able to do that? My arm feels better already,” he said, flexing his muscle briefly.
“We share most of our abilities,” Theodore said curtly. “We must tend to Jack. And I didn’t save him. The creature that kidnapped him simply decided to let him drop from the sky. All I did was catch him before he crashed.”
“Don’t sell yourself short,” Vince said. “I believe we just had our first encounter with the enemy.”
Theodore agreed by nodding, wearing a grim expression on his face. “And it went for Jack first. It should pick on someone its own size.”
“Jack is stronger than he looks,” Vince pointed out. “But that doesn’t mean that we have been spared. You are its target, Theodore. It must know what losing Jack would do to you.”
***
The guardian’s voice and the meaning of his words cut deep, reminding him of old wounds. Of course, his mortal enemy, whoever it was, had to know that an alpha without a pack would cling on the mere notion of having companions. He, however, didn’t share Vince’s opinion of Jack; the field mouse, unfortunately, was much weaker than an alpha and even a human guardian. The feeblest member of the pack was the easiest to target.
He knelt by Jack’s side and took his hand. “Must I carry you?” he asked.
Jack pursed his lips. “If you’re asking like that, I’d better walk.”
Theodore cussed himself internally. He hadn’t meant his offer to sound that way. The field mouse was fragile, both in body and emotions. With a short huff, he placed his hands underneath the clairvoyant’s light body and hiked him up. “I would prefer to have you near me like this,” he said.
Jack’s pretty eyes finally flashed with amusement. “You are so romantic, Theo. Maybe I should get kidnapped more often.”
The wolf inside him acted before he could rein him in. The growl escaping from his throat ruffled Jack’s hair, making the clairvoyant wince.
“Ouch, too soon?” Jack dared a little more.
“I will make sure you will not be kidnapped again,” Theodore said. “Vince, we must find our way back to the trail. Jack, do you need to lay down your cards to see if our path suffered transformations?”
“My cards!” Jack exclaimed anxiously and began patting his pockets down, squirming in Theodore’s arms. “Phew, they’re here. Good thing I have spares, anyway.”
“Good,” Theodore agreed in his usual curt manner.
He wasn’t the kind to acknowledge when changes were forced upon him from the outside, but seeing Jack act like his usual self lifted a weigh off his chest.
“The night is falling quickly,” Vince warned.
Theodore stopped abruptly. How much time had slipped through their fingers while chasing the shadows that had grabbed Jack? The sun set behind the peaks before their very eyes, engulfing the mountainous landscape in tones of orange and deep yellow.
At the same time, the shadows of the pines lengthened, gathering around them ominously as if daring them to take shelter underneath their dark-green foliage.
“We must find a place to spend the night,” he said out loud.
“I think I’m feeling better,” Jack chirped away, as it was his habit. “You can put me down so we can be more efficient in finding shelter. What do you say, Theo?”
“No,” Theodore replied. “I am not letting you out of my sight.”
“Not even when you’re asleep? That might be hard,” Jack warned. “Brr, it’s getting cold, isn’t it? The good part is that it’s not the same cold as before. This feels like normal cold.”
Theodore longed to lend the field mouse his body heat, but first they needed to discover a good place to spend the night. With such creatures lurking around in the shadows, he didn’t want his pack to sleep under the naked sky.
“I think I see a small cave,” Vince said. “It’s over there,” he added, gesturing at two slanted granite blocks creating an entrance that beckoned to them.
“It’s dark in there,” Jack said. He was holding Theodore by the neck with one hand and appeared quite comfortable now.
“We’ll start a fire,” Vince said.
“Wow, Vee, you know how to do that?” Jack asked.
Theodore growled. It appeared to be his usual mood as far as Jack was concerned. “It is not that complicated. I can do it, too.”
“Actually, I was counting on Theodore to know how to do it,” Vince said, always the diplomat.
The human guardian cared about his feelings. Theodore didn’t need that kind of caring, but he couldn’t say ‘no’ to it since it was always offered freely and without asking for anything in return. However, as soon as possible, he needed to make both his companions understand that they were the ones who needed to lean on him, not the other way around.
“You will not freeze under my watch,” he said pedantically and stalked toward the cave entrance with Jack in his arms.
***
The cave was barely little more than a hollow scooped out of the mountainside, but it would have to do, Theodore decided. While the entrance was quite narrow, it opened wide enough inside to allow them to have a fire and space to lie down. Not that Theodore planned to do much lying down once the sun set for good.
The ceiling arched low, so standing up was barely possible. It dripped with condensation, and there was moss and gravel on the ground. A wind started up outside, and Theodore noticed it briefly. No matter how small and uncomfortable, this cave would offer them sanctuary for the night.
“Stay with Vince,” he said, reluctantly passing his charge into the guardian’s dependable arms. “I must inspect this place first.”
Without wasting a moment, he began scanning the inside of the cave, making sure not to leave a single dark corner un-scouted. He hadn’t lied when he’d told Vince that he and his wolf shared most of their abilities. Even without looking in a mirror, he could tell his eyes were flashing gold now as he examined the cave’s interior.
Satisfied it was empty, he set to work with flint and tinder. Vince was correct to assume that he knew how to do that. By human standards, he was well-versed in such outdoorsy activities. His movements were precise and controlled as he assembled the resources needed for building a fire. Each time he went outside to gather dry twigs, he checked on Vince and Jack. They were huddled together, and it appeared that Vince was offering the clairvoyant the body heat he required. A now familiar squeeze inside his chest warned him that he had nothing to be jealous about. They were both his companions, and the human guardian was able to protect the field mouse for now.
He sent sparks to the kindling with intense concentration to keep his hands from trembling. Soon enough, the fire caught, small at first, then blooming into steady flames bathed the gray stone with flickering orange.
***
“What happened back there, Jack?” Vince asked while Theodore was busy getting the fire ready. He looked around every now and then, taking in the thickening darkness as the night fell fast. There had been barely any twilight to speak of. Soon enough, they would be alone under the stars. A thin wind tried to sneak inside their clothes, and Vince had to remind himself to thank Theodore for thinking of getting them weatherproof clothes before they left on this adventure.
An adventure that had taken a dark turn very quickly. As of right now, Vince was no longer sure of what he’d seen. Had there really been a presence there, keeping Jack suspended in the air by magic? But the wound on his arm, the one already healing due to Theodore’s intervention, was real. He hadn’t imagined anything.
“It was pretty awful,” Jack murmured, looking down.
In Theodore’s arms, Jack had seemed to have found his usual self and his predisposition to banter, but now he looked serious for a change.
“Should I wait until you can tell Theodore, too?” he asked kindly.
Jack sighed. “Can you keep a secret, Vee?”
“We shouldn’t have secrets,” Vince warned the clairvoyant. However, seeing how anxious Jack looked, he nodded. “Go ahead.”
“I had… visions. They were pretty bloody. And that creature tried to get me to believe something terrible.”
“What are the chances it was showing you the truth? Wait, was it the past or the future it showed to you?”
“I believe it was the past… but it mingled with the present and a possible future. It was the past part that made me… ah, Vince, I’m not good at keeping secrets.”
Jack peered over Vince’s shoulder, looking for Theodore with his eyes.
“Vince, what would you do if you discovered a terrible thing about someone dear to you?”
“You say you’re not good at keeping secrets, and now you’re basically keeping one and only teasing me with it.” Vince hid his own unsettled feeling that bloomed inside his chest at the sound of Jack’s words. “What horrible thing?”
Jack worried at his bottom lip and said nothing.
“Jack,” Vince whispered, “you can tell me.”
“Okay,” Jack said, exhaling hard through his mouth. “That witch or demon or whatever it was made me think you and Theo don’t need me. And it was so upsetting, but I couldn’t even cry properly because it was so cold that my tears just turned into frost.”
Jack spoke rapidly, most likely not wanting Theodore to overhear them. Was he forgetting the alpha had superior hearing?
“Anyway, it only lasted a little while. I remembered how good you’ve always been to me, and then I noticed my cute little dog.”
“What little dog?” Vince asked, disconcerted by that change of tack in Jack’s speech.
He smiled when Jack showed him the print on the pocket of his jacket.
“It’s cute, indeed,” he agreed. Why had he been so worried? Jack was Jack; not even a witch could unsettle him for long.
“Theo got it for me,” Jack whispered conspiratorially. “Which means that he knows me so well he knows how much I love cute things. So, whatever that bitch, I mean that witch, meant to make me believe by that, I couldn’t care less.”
“Okay, that sounds swell. What else did the visions show you?”
“A bunch of stuff that I’ll share with you and Theo both,” Jack said, forcing himself to smile.
Vince hugged him tightly. “You were very brave, Jack. Don’t forget that, okay?”
***
He had been brave up to a point. But he wasn’t brave enough to share with Vince what he had seen in those visions, the part where a young Theodore appeared to have gone insane and murdered his pack. Jack had to remind himself that most likely that vision wasn’t true, and just like how Theo and Vince had never been the assholes the witch had tried to make them out to be, this bit was also untrue.
But why, oh why, did he feel such strong a need to keep that part a secret? Theodore would feel insulted if he mentioned it. Maybe Vince would get upset, too, because of how terrible that vision was.
So why cause more unhappiness by talking about something untrue?
Such were his rationalizations, yet a part of him couldn’t stop wondering: what if it had truly happened, exactly like that? Theo wasn’t to blame, how could he be, since it was so obvious he’d been possessed by an evil spirit or something just as bad?
Still, it brought up a question that began gnawing at Jack’s brain like a termite in wood. Was that spell or curse inactive now? Had it been purged out of Theodore Pembroke, the lonesome alpha of Whiteflame? And if not, could he turn murderous at a moment’s notice again, whenever his ‘master’ felt like it?
“Jack,” Vince shook him gently, “let’s go inside.”
“Did I space out or something?” Jack asked quickly.
“Yes, kind of,” Vince confirmed. “Let’s get close to the fire. We need to get warm, both of us.”
Warm, of course. Jack recalled the pleasant heat of Theodore’s body. Was he hotter because he was a wolfshifter and an alpha? Maybe he should ask.
Theodore stepped outside and gestured for them to move inside. Jack stared at his handsome face, his head still humming with the dark possibilities presented by the witch.
He was a seer, he decided to tell himself. Even alphas needed help, and since Jack had survived this first vile attack, he’d get stronger.
***
“It showed me your pack,” Jack started.
Theodore held the field mouse under his arm and would have preferred to postpone this conversation until his charge no longer trembled. Their supplies were somewhere down at the foot of the granite wall, which meant that they didn’t even have the means to prepare tea.
Surprisingly enough, Jack was the one who had his cards still with him and a hydration pack, so he was better equipped now than Vince and him.
“My pack?” he said slowly. “They’re all dead.”
“Yes, they were,” Jack said in a somber voice. “But I feel like they were trying to tell me something. We might be able to save them.”
“Those visions were the product of the spell the presence who kidnapped you put on you. So you might just as well have seen nothing.”
“True,” Jack admitted, “but I don’t think it’s that simple. And this whole kidnapping thing… it didn’t work very well, did it? I mean, the horned demon--”
“Horned demon?” Theodore asked, a buried memory jolting to the surface, only to die like a spark in the night.
“Branches grow out of its head and everything,” Jack explained, gesturing with both arms. “But that’s not important. If that thing could kill me, why didn’t it do it? I don’t particularly look like a fighter if you take a good look at me.”
“That’s true,” Vince said. “I don’t think it’s as powerful as it tried to make itself out to be. What’s your opinion of what happened, Jack?”
The clairvoyant looked to him for approval. The simple gesture surprised Theodore, so it took a moment before he could agree with a nod.
“The thing, let’s call it that, is trying to tear us apart,” Jack said. “It obviously thought I was the weakest link, but the joke’s on it. I saw right through its charade. Okay, it scared me and all, but eventually I escaped because I didn’t believe a word it said, like how I was useless to you and all.”
Theodore felt his wolf stirring. His hold on Jack tightened, startling the seer into silence for a moment. “You are not useless at all,” he said. “You are important to me.”
TBC
Thank you for reading!
@Derek - the more our heroes approach the veil, the more unsettling things will happen... this isn't the last you'll see the evil character.
@Mark Mortland - they will be getting there! (acting like a pack) But they will be tried and tested... and Jack is far from being the weakest link!
@DavidB - I'm so happy you warmed up to Theo :) He's not all bad...
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