Chapter 54 - Sibling Rivalry

The standoff between Kai and Matias commenced immediately as they both looked at each other with aggression in their eyes.

Kai caught movement in the corner of the room. As he turned to look, he saw Lucas, Alpha of the Storm Forest pack and Elora, Matias' mate stood to one side.

"What the hell do you think you're doing pup?!" Matias demanded. His eyes were glazed over in fury.

Kai refocused his attention back to Matias. "Why?" Kai asked through clenched teeth.

"Why what?!"

"You know exactly what the fuck I'm talking about!" Kai started flooding the room with dominant energy and Matias' returned the same energy right back at him. Both of their eyes were now the colour of onyx.

"You've lost your god damn mind! Quite clearly you want to die today!" Matias growled at him.

"Mati!" Elora shouted across the room in concern. A fight between the two of them seemed inevitable. She wanted to run back to him but Lucas, her father, held her back.

"Leave now!" Matias shouted back at her. Kai watched them both leave the room out of the corner of his eyes. He could see the fear in Elora's face but Lucas looked almost suspiciously unperturbed with what was unfolding.

"Just tell me why?!" Kai continued. "Are you that desperate to be rid of me that you'd be willing to kill my mate to do it!"

"Your mate? The brunette from the ball?" Matias queried.

"Don't pretend you don't know what I'm talking about! I know the guy you hired was the one that spiked her drink. I never had you down as a coward sneaking in an attack from the shadows..."

The word coward instantly set Matias off. Matias darted across the room and smashed Kai's face in to the wall with the palm of his hand. The attack had caught Kai off guard with no pre-emptive tells that he was about to move. Being held with his back against the wall Kai quickly refocused himself. His eyes turned red and he shifted one of his hands and slashed at Matias' arm with his claws drawing blood.

Matias didn't flinch at all from the cut that Kai had inflicted. Instead, he continued to hold his hand firmly against Kai's head. He grabbed Kai's arm to stop him from clawing him again, then flipped him around so Kai's back was facing towards him. He then elbowed Kai in the shoulder forcing a loud cry from him before Kai buckled to one knee. Matias pulled his arm up behind his back to keep him on the ground.

"Me, a coward?! You think you can challenge me pup?!" Matias growled at him.

Matias shunted his arm further up his back nearly wrenching it out from the socket and Kai shouted out from the pain. The pain seemed to spur Kai into action and he swung around to release the tension from Matias hold and went to strike at his face with a clawed fist. Matias easily dodged it and he re-clasped Kai's face in his hand again and slammed him back down in to the ground. Kai could feel the metallic taste of blood in his mouth as Matias held him down.

"Weak! And you call yourself a Caine?! You’re pathetic! If I wanted you dead, you'd be dead already, by my hand. The only reason you live and breathe at all is because I choose to tolerate it!"

Being held down was only riling Kai up further. He was getting angry at his own weakness. He had trained for years. How could the gap between him and Matias still be so big? As he squirmed under Matias hold, he drew his legs up and kicked out against Matias chest sending him sliding back across the room. Matias grabbed hold of the ground to stop himself.

Kai was breathing hard already, both in fury and frustration. They both rose to their feet in unison, sizing each other up.

"So that woman at the ball was your mate after all. You come here to challenge me over a woman? You continue to disappoint me, but if it's blood you want come and get it!"

Kai was getting annoyed. He couldn't understand why Matias was still feigning ignorance. He could feel the need to shift welling up inside of him. Even invoking Pax didn't seem to be enough against him. Pax wanted blood and nowhere near enough had been drawn from Matias to satisfy him. Kai gave in to his primal urges. His clothes burst off him as he shifted in to Pax in the room. He bared his teeth and snarled like a rabid dog as saliva dripped from his muzzle.

"You bastard dog! Let's see what you're made of!" Matias roared.

Matias quickly shifted in to his wolf. His wolf, Edon, stood a good foot taller than Pax. His wolf was black all over and peppered with grey and white spots. He shook his head to loosen up the tight muscles in his shoulders than began stalking Pax around the room. Once he reached the corner of the room Edon pulled back on his hind leg in preparation to pounce.

Pax held his ground and braced himself in anticipation of his strike. Edon was big and heavy set. Kai knew that if he was able to dodge his strike, he could get him of balance and create an opportunity to go for his throat.

Edon lunged but instead of charging straight for him he stayed low to the ground and scooped Pax's leg in to his mouth. As Matias clamped his teeth around his front leg, a loud crack sound echoed in the room. Pax whimpered as the pain shot down his leg. Pax started biting in to Edon's chest but he remained un-phased as he clamped on to Pax's leg and started shaking it. Pax's back legs buckled from the pain bringing him down to his level. Edon released his hold on Pax's leg then start burying his snout in to the fur in his neck. Pax thrashed on the floor realising that he was trying to get a hold of his throat. Pax snapped his jaw up and managed to catch and rip part of Edon's ear in his mouth. Edon yelped in surprise before Kai jumped at him and latched on to his scruff.

Blood soaked their fur as they wrestled on floor and began furiously biting each other before Edon pinned him again. Unable to push him off with his broken front leg Edon finally got a firm grip on Pax's neck, then slowly started to press down on his throat. Pax could feel his airway restricting. Edon's hold was painfully slow and firm. He held Pax's neck right at the back of his mouth avoiding his canine's from ripping open his skin. He was trying to make Kai suffer.

"Stop you two that's enough!" Ophelia shouted from the entryway in to Matias' room.

As Pax started to go limp, Edon's jaw slacked and Pax rolled out of his mouth on to the floor like a ragdoll.

Matias shifted back to his human form. His skin was covered in a mixture of his and Kai's blood. His eyes remained black as he looked with dead eyes from Pax to his mother.

Kai automatically started shifting back to his human form but remained motionless on the floor.

"Matias what have you done?!" Ophelia asked desperately. The room was in complete disarray with blood spattered against the walls and furniture turned upside down from the struggle. From where she was stood, she couldn't tell if Kai was dead or not. She wanted to approach him but was apprehensive to move with how unpredictable Matias was being.

After a nervous moment or two a deep dry gasp escaped Kai's throat shaking him back to life. His eyes turned red instinctively as he tried to heal the damage to his throat. His breathing became more rapid as his chest welcomed oxygen back in to his system.

Matias looked at Kai on the ground, almost impressed at how quickly he was starting to come around. Breathing heavier than usual, Matias turned back to face his mother. "Don't get involved mother. If this dog wishes to die today then so be it."

Matias slowly walked over to Kai and grabbed him by the ankle then started dragging him in to the middle of the room. Kai's wounds were starting to heal, but they weren't healing fast enough. Kai tried to kick Matias' hand off his ankle without success as Matias continued to drag him.

"Matias please! I won't just stand here and watch my children slaughter each other!" Ophelia pleaded

Once Matias was satisfied that he had Kai where he wanted him, he dropped his leg back on the floor. He turned to looked at his mother.

"Your children? He's not even your child! Even when stood here next to your own flesh and blood, you choose to side with him?!"

"He's your brother Mati!"

"My brother? He's a filthy stain on the Caine family name. He and his whore mother are the reason why our King can barely get out of bed in the morning. He's the reason why people like the King of Sirran think that we are weak now. Well I won't stand for it! You need to choose your next steps wisely mother, because if you pick the wrong side, I can't be held accountable for what comes next."

As Matias turned his attention back to Kai, Kai slowly rose to his feet. Ophelia talking to Matias had given him just enough time to heal himself enough to be able to defend himself. He held on to his broken and bloodied arm and scowled at him.

"Don't you dare threaten her!" Kai growled.

Matias looked almost surprised to see him standing up so quickly. Kai could almost see a small smile forming on his lips and a prideful look in his brother's eyes before his familiar grimace returned.

As Matias started walking over to him both Matias and Kai suddenly dropped to their knees.

"THAT'S ENOUGH!" A voice boomed. The room rumbled as Maddox entered the room. The dominant energy being exerted from both of them in the room had alerted most of the pack, including Maddox. Arrow appeared soon behind him but was already kneeling on the floor from the weight of the king's dominant energy.

Ophelia looked in awe as her husband strode through the room. She was the only one not affected by him.

Arrow looked wide eyed at the state of Kai. Blood oozed from the wounds on his neck and arm, and a grizzly red puddle was starting to form beneath him.

"What the hell is going on?! Who started this?!" Maddox demanded as he walked further in to the room.

"Why don't you ask your bastard son, he quite clearly has a death wish?" Matias uttered between heavy breaths.

"Did you start this Kaiden?! What the hell for?!" Maddox asked.

Kai's eyes started to roll to the back of his head. With the adrenaline now leaving his system he could feel the pain that he had fought through starting to return. Whilst his wolf had already started healing some of his wounds, the blood loss was starting to affect him.

Maddox held on to Kai's face and titled it up to look at him. "Kaiden?"

Kai struggled to look him in the eye. He hadn't anticipated his father turning up so quickly. Kai shrugged his face out of Maddox's hand then stared at the floor, unwilling to share the details of the dispute. He still didn't want his dad to know any more than he had to.

"As the first alpha of the Blue Moon pack, I have the authority to discipline my pack how I see fit don't I?!" Matias challenged his father. "Kai openly challenged my authority by charging in here. Elora and Lucas were here in witness to that."

Maddox looked pained as he looked at both of his sons knelt on the ground before him. He had witnessed blood baths like this in the palace before with his own siblings, but had hoped that history wouldn't repeat itself with his own children.

Maddox knew that Matias was right. If Kai had started this and had attempted to attack him, the first alpha of Blue Moon, Matias would be in his right to demand punishment. But with Kai being a prince it would have to go to a public hearing with the council for the punishment to be decided.

"His fate will have to be decided at a hearing," Maddox responded.

"He can't stay here father! I want him gone until then! I refuse to share a roof with this animal!"

Maddox gritted his teeth then sighed. "So be it..." Maddox relaxed some of his dominant energy and motioned towards Arrow. "Take him and leave Arrow. I'll arrange for some of his things to be sent to him until the date for the hearing has been set."

"Yes, your majesty" Arrow nodded as he braced his arm around his Kai's beaten body.