Several hours before…..
After Ateara was taken-away, he couldn't move any part of his limbs to escape the grasp of his masked enemy. He couldn't help thinking about Seth, wondering if he was unable to locate his whereabouts, for his enemy's scent was powerful. Ateara was thrown into a dark cabin and had a strange sense of deja-vu. He'd felt like he had been here before, but with being blind-folded and unable to move and feel he couldn't tell. Atera hoped that Seth would be able to recover in time to find him before they were on the move again.
Two hours later, Ateara began to get some feeling back into his body, gently wriggled his fingers and toes. Surprisingly, he was not bound so he was able to stumble to his feet. So he removed his blindfold slowly letting light in to prevent blinding himself. It took a while to adjust, as soon as his vision cleared he noticed he was in a cabin. He scanned the cabin and walked towards the door but when he turned the door handle it wouldn't open, he realised then why he wasn't tied-up. Atera moved his head slightly and peered through a small gap managing to see a relatively large lake. It was a rendezvous he knew particularly well as he remembered Carns used to take him there saying it was also his past self's favourite place to be calm.
Just then the door rattled, he scurried back to the floor and sat with his back against the wall. The door opened, two male figures walked-in.
"Ah! Finally awake. The Alpha has been waiting to see you. You'd better prepare yourself for what he's about to do" one guy warned, expressionless.
The other guy grabbed Ateara and violently pulled him to his feet. They escorted him out the cabin and Ateara took one glance at the lake and knew instantly. He knew exactly who the Alpha was, but he couldn't understand why he would choose this particular moment to attack. It was only a short walk to the Alpha house, Ateara walk-in, but the two guys stayed outside. "The Alpha wants to see you alone," one of the guys explained.
So Ateara carried on walking in and there he was standing at the altar half-naked.
"Ateara! We meet again," Carns sniggered.
"Carns! I don't understand, I thought you were happy when we went our separate ways. What happened?" Ateara recalled the past.
"Well let's just say it didn't work out and I couldn't stop thinking about you, then someone came along and helped me get you back" Carns told him.
"Who helped you?" Ateara asked. Carns turned his head as Medea walked-in.
"Medea?! You really want to see your brother unhappy don't you?" Ateara said.
"Not true, I want to see him happy, I just don't like the idea of him being happy with a guy," Medea looked disgusted as she spoke.
"Love is love, we can't help who we fall for. This is fate. We are soulmates," Ateara tried to explain.
"Soulmates?! We were soulmates, but look what has happened now." Carns scoffed.
"You and I were soulmates in a different lifetime, Carns. In this life Seth and I are soulmates, why are you trying to go against fate? We tried to rekindle our love, it didn't happen," Ateara told Carns. Carns grew angrier and looked towards Medea. She seemed to know what to do as no words were exchanged. She was muttering something under her breath and Ateara knew it was going to be a powerful spell. He prepared his shield hoping it would be strong enough. As she waved her hands in circular motions an electric sphere formed and she pushed it towards Ateara. The sphere hit his shield causing it to reverberate. He thought it was going to break but it held up and eventually his shield absorbed its energy. Ateara hadn't felt such powerful energy before. Once he regained enough strength within himself, he managed to use some of its energy to fire a single bolt towards Medea. She dodged but the bolt grazed her right arm.
"But how? I thought it was just a shield," a surprised Medea asked. "Did you know he could do that?" She turned to Carns scowling.
"I knew it could absorb, but I didn't know he could use it as a firearm," Carns told her.
"I could kill you! You disgusting half-breed…" Medea threatened as she glared at Carns.
"What's stopping you Medea, I'm unarmed," Carns provoked her and she readied herself to attack.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you Sis," Seth said, announcing his presence.
"Why? What did you do Seth?" Medea grew angry, but also looked scared.
"Well, you see I put a simple spell on you where if you did any harm or killed anyone, you would hurt yourself too and killing me won't undo the spell either I made sure of that," Seth explained.
"Argh! You infuriating spoiled brat," Medea yelled as she ran towards Seth, punched him in the face and hurt herself in the process. She stumbled back to her feet, "I will find a way to undo your spell and when I do I will be back for the both of you and she ran off.
"We'll be ready and waiting, so good luck to you" Seth said, unfazed. "She won't be able to as I used all the blood in the family to make the spell work and it would need the same amount to reverse" Seth whispered to Ateara, almost forgetting Carns was still there until he spoke.
"Thank you for saving me Seth, I know I don't deserve to be saved after that. I just couldn't move forward without Ateara," Carns apologised.
"How do you feel now?" Asked Ateara.
"I feel like I can begin to move forward now, but baby steps," Carns said accepting what is. "The first step I shall take would be leaving you both alone and I will find my path once again," he finished saying before he left into the woods out of the bayou.
"Good luck Carns" Ateara called out.
Carns didn't dare to turn around but he stuck his hand in the air and waved back.
Although Ateara missed his family, he loved the idea of being by the lake, so Seth and himself both agreed to stay and rebuilt the cabin.
Five Years Later…
"Seth, I can't believe we have been together for five years," Ateara told him as he kissed him. Seth smiled and just as he was about to speak, he caught a strange scent. Shortly after Ateara also sensed something or someone. At this point they were both on high alert and ventured out to hunt together. Then a head popped out from a big tree trunk and they stilled.
"It's ok we won't hurt you," Ateara said calmly,
"It's safe for you to come out," Seth finished.
The scared little cub hesitated, but stayed behind the tree. Seth and Ateara smiled and decided to walk away back towards the cabin holding hands. It was obvious that the little cub had no family and nowhere to go. The cub watched them and slowly smiled and started to follow them. The little cub eventually stood beside them until they gestured for him to sit down.
"So little one, how come you are out here on your own? Where's your family?" Ateara asked as he handed him something to eat.
"Do you know your name?" Seth asked, handing him something to drink.
There was a moment of silence as the young cub ate his food and drank some water. Soon as he was full he sighed before slowly beginning to answer their questions.
"I have no family, they were killed by a powerful witch" anger filled up inside of him, tears ran down his face, "my parents told me to run as far away as possible and don't look back," He sobbed tearfully.
so Ateara and Seth looked at each other and decided to take him in and they became a proper family.
"Well you can stay with us if you want to? We have plenty of space," Ateara told him.
"That would be great, thank you. My name is Vlad"