Chapter 170

Dylan POV.

"Seriously... that's another bullseye!" I was currently in alpha Gilliards pack training hall, with none other than Ryan Clarke, who once again looked at me as if I had three heads growing out of my neck as I threw yet another knife at a target . "How did you get so good at that? I mean, your hair is one thing, but I'll be damned if your actually a better shot than me."

"First of all, these are knives, honestly Clarke, have you ever even thrown a knife?" I raised my eyebrows at him cockily and waited for him to reply, he stuttered slightly knowing I was right, but still argued.

“No, but im good with a gun. I’ve even saved your sorry ass before now.” Had he forgotten I had saved him too. He nudged me playfully before winking at me in success.

“Oh please... you have literally shot one person in your entire life, granted it was a good shot, but still... it's natural that I am better than you." I laughed as I walked over to the far target and gathered the knives I had been throwing.

I had gotten the blades from the weapon room that Gilliard gave me the key for. Let me be the first to tell you that it was amazing, the sheer amount of weapons at our disposal was excessive and extremely useful. The person in charge of it stated that it shouldn't be an issue for me to have a silver dagger made, which would really come in handy on top of the guns I'll be wielding.

"And how many people have you shot? I strongly doubt it's much more than me." I sighed, already knowing the answer without even thinking about it.

"Four!” I walked back over to my almost brother and sighed, holding one of the knives by the bladed end and throwing it with a spin, it instantly once again hit the center of the target. "I've shot four people altogether." I shot My dad and killed him, I shot the king in his arm, I took out the kings guard with a bullet to the eye, and I ended the misery of the man who had been forcibly marked. I was officially a murderer. “I killed three of them, and I can only aim so well due to the moon goddesses gifts. Before hand it took me a Couple of tries to finally hit my targets, I was never really terrible at shooting, but I certainly wasn’t ‘bullseye every time’ good.”

“I hadn’t realized you had killed so many people. I obviously knew about your dad, but the other two? There were rumors about you killing a guy who had been marked without consent, but they were just rumors, I hadn’t even entertained that they may have been true.” In my experience rumors always held a hint of truth, even if not fully believable.

“Well, it’s true. The moon goddess blessed me, and I’m a murderer. But I’ll deal with that as it comes.” I had much bigger things to concern myself with, like the ever looming war that is most likely months away from actually taking place.

“You’re the talk of the town thanks to the moon goddess, everyone is saying the same thing, that the moon goddess favors you for a reason, and she wants you on the throne.” I mean, the lycans clearly knew their goddess well, because that’s exactly what her intentions are. She said it to me personally.

This battle that would ultimately decide the fate of the entire world would have to begin sooner rather than later. Nobody wanted it to take it lace in the upcoming winter months, I imagine that the circumstances would be far from ideal anyway, without adding snow, ice and arctic winds in the mix.

“What gave it away? The white hair, or my insanely accurate combat abilities?” I chuckled but felt nothing but dread sink into my bones. Still i hid my true feelings and smirked at my friend. “Anyway, now that I’ve proven my skills to you…” I held up a juicy red apple and wickedly grinned at the man in front of me. “Put this on your head, I want to see if I can hit it.” I watched my partner in crimes eyes widen, and a sharp flinch took over his body. “What? Don’t you trust me?”

“Not in the slightest, especially not with that wicked grin on your face.” I chuckled, half of me was joking anyway, the other half of me actually wanted to take on the challenge.

“Aww, come on… I’ve always wanted to do this with someone… now I actually have the aim to do it successfully.” He shook his head and chuckled taking the apple out of my hand and biting into it with a loud crunch.

“Then ask your boyfriend to be your test dummy. At least then if things go wrong he has faster healing abilities.” He raised his eyebrows at me, before taking a bite out of the fruit again, and slowly gripping one of the knives with his free hand. “My turn… it can’t be that difficult, right?”

He gripped the blades side, much like I had done previously, in fact he was basically copying every move I had made, right down to his stance. He threw it hard and I watched as the knife spun through the air and hit the target with a thump. The weapon then clattered to the grassy ground pathetically and I large snigger left my lips, due to how cocky Clarke had actually been.

“If your planning to use this as a weapon of choice during the fight, I suggest you get a lot more practice in.” My humor wasn’t at all unnoticeable as I eyed my friends apple, before taking it off him. Without missing a beat I threw it up into the air, then tossed a knife directly at it. The fruit hit the targets bullseye effortlessly, while the blade penetrated it directly through its core. I gave a single cocky raise of my brows before walking off into the pack house, having a few set of eyes staring at me as I went.

Paying no mind to the impressed gazes of both humans and lycans a like, I made my way up to my room, instantly I was greeted by the scent of Lewis.

I might not be a wolf, but every human still had a scent, and his enveloped the room in the best way, instantly bringing me comfort in its familiarity.

I walked to the bathroom, and turned the taps, filling the tub with warm inviting water. A quick wash wouldn’t hurt anyone, and as much as I liked Lewis, having him not waiting for me outside the tiled walls, eased my mind slightly, allowing me to bathe as long as I wanted.

There was just no peace like it at all, the feeling of being submerged in the tranquil gentle water. It caused my head to lean back over the edge of the tub, and I allowed my eyes to close blissfully. This upcoming fight would change everything, and I fully intended on savoring every happy moment I could before that day can to pass.

Half an hour later, I was disturbed by a loud, anxious knock at the door. I sighed, knowing that my minute of tranquility was now officially over. I quickly pulled the plug out and stepped onto the soft bathroom rug, wrapping a large towel around my naked body tightly, before walking towards the door to our room.

“I’m coming, I’m coming.” I called loudly before muttering a single protest under my breath. “Jeez.”

I was shocked upon opening the wooden door, when Vees eyes met mine and she barged into the room, looking to be on edge.

“God, no!” My thoughts tumbled out of my mouth as I looked at her frantic eyes. Hadn’t she just been on the phone with Carlos? Had she come to give me terrible news that he had already succumbed to his nonconsensual marking. “Is Carlos?…”

However, at the mention of her fathers name, her eyebrows furrowed, and the worry on her face quickly turned into that of confusion.

“My father? Oh… No, he’s ok. Well, he’s as ok as he can be given the situation. It’s guaranteed that he’ll shift in a couple of days, on the next full moon. He seemed to be kind of, calm about the whole thing.” Ok, so if Vee didn’t come here to tell me news about Carlos, then why was she knocking on my door with so much vigor?

“Oh, right…” I looked down at my towel cladded body and frowned at the girl now pacing the room. “Why exactly are you here then? As you can see I’m a bit, well, I’m naked.” I gestured dramatically to my attire and prayed the girl would just walk away and leave me be, but instead her now once again worried eyes met mine.

“I’m worried about Olly.” She allowed her finger tops to brush her prominent new mark, that rested on the crook of her neck, and looked up at me through her eyebrows. “He left hours ago with Lewis to check on the border, and he hasn’t contacted me since. We can mindlink now and still I haven’t heard from him, I’m really worried.”

“Nah, don’t be worried. Lewis often goes off to check on the border, sometimes he stays later to catch up with the patrol on that day. I’m sure he and Oliver are probably just talking about you, and how happy he is to have found his mate.” I wasn’t worried at all, it was typical of Lewis to do this, and it’s not like they could contact us with a cell phone, as they were rare to find.

“Your mate is out there right now, and you aren’t worried about him at all?” I shook my head and sat on the end of the bed folding my towel between my legs to attempt some decency.

“I’m a bit worried, but not in the same way as you.” She sat down next to me, uninvited I might add and looked at me sheepishly. “Look, you’re newly marked, right, so that bond is still so new and fresh, that you’re probably longing to be with Oliver, and so your mind as turned that longing into worry because you haven’t heard from him. Just wait another hour, or two. If there’s still nothing, I’ll go to the border myself. Ok?” I patted her on her back awkwardly, and stood up, wrapping the towel tighter around myself.

“You sure know a lot about things, despite everything. I can understand to an extent why people follow you. Even though I tend to disagree with your choices.” She chuckled and I was shocked at having such a moment with Vee.

“What was it like? Getting marked I mean.”

“It was Amazing, your whole body tingles with pleasure. Even Oliver had to just lie down for a minute after releasing me, because he poured all his energy into it. God it was incredible.” Her cheeks flared up just thinking about it, and I smiled slightly, maybe I should consider allowing lewis to mark me, the connection we share anyway would undoubtedly increase.

Our tender moment was cut short however, when a strained voice floated into my head. I forced trying my hardest to focus on the words, but an uproar of noise began outside of the bedroom door, making it impossible for me to hear. I groaned, throwing some clothes on before exiting the room and making my way down stairs.

In the entrance of the pack house, stood Oliver, blood dripping from his head while he held himself up by leaning on the wall, every set of eyes were on him and me as I came into view.

“King Josh has Lewis!”