Chapter 1; Philip Harrington vs. Troy ‘Travis’ Stanton: The beat to his heart…survival!

***

Weeks Earlier…

In the midst of a fierce battle, two pairs of eyes…one so grey and the other so blue, meet and hold. For one, it is clear…the blue-eyed kid is his mate. But he’s so young, he can’t help but think even as everything within him…most especially, his practically salivating wolf urges him to go to his mate and claim him as his, right there in the midst of the battle raging around them. He fights the urge and holds back because he knows that it isn’t the right time. Lives were at stake. Being there for his pack was his ultimate priority. He decides to concentrate on the battle at hand, and hope that he finds his mate after all was calm…

Blue eyes, on the other hand, isn’t that knowledgeable. He doesn’t understand why the heated gaze from the handsome grey-eyed man was causing his heart to flutter within his chest, and his body to shiver so deliciously. The man was the enemy. After all, he was the one giving orders to his murderous, bloodthirsty wolves, to massacre his family. So why did he feel a sudden urge to go to him of all people? Too bad he couldn’t stay around to find out. To save his own life, he has to flee from the man and the chaos that surrounded them.

***

Present Day…

“Oh, shit…” The dark-haired boy of about twenty looked pale with fear as he turned to the gorgeous blonde male standing behind him. “Troy, do something.” He squealed as his eyes moved almost frantically to the entrance of the bank. “The police will be here soon.”

“Patience, Paul,” Troy muttered as he opened beautiful blue eyes and fists which had in them some dried leaves. “Patience.” He whispered, his eyes fixed on the street in front of the bank.

“But the sirens are getting closer…oh fuck, here they come.” Paul gasped as about four police cars appeared on the street. “Troy, it’s too late.” His fear-filled eyes moved back to Troy who was calmly blowing the dried leaves out of his palm. “They will be caught. Then they will blame us for…” Paul trailed off when the sounds of sirens suddenly stopped. He turned to look at where the police cars had been mere moments earlier and saw nothing. “Oh, my god you did it.” Paul breathed with relief as he wiped his sweaty forehead with the sleeve of his shirt. “That was close.” He panted as he watched Troy get to his feet. “Those guys would have killed us.”

“What is taking them so long?” Troy grumbled as he stared at the entrance of the bank.

“Come on, come on, come on…” Paul chanted beside him. “Yes!” He fist-pumped when four masked men rushed out of the bank with sacks of cash and jumped into the waiting BMW which immediately took off. “Wow! Did you see that?”

“No wonder they took so long.” Troy scowled. “Come on, Paul.” The two young men started for the bus stop. “They said they were only going to take something small. Did you see all those sacks?” He was clearly miffed. “That wasn’t necessary.”

“We will just take our share and go our way,” Paul said as they got onto a bus that would take them to the hideout of the leader of the gang. “Those guys are dangerous. Please don’t challenge them to their face when we get there. They can hurt you.”

“Well, I can hurt them too if I put my mind to it,” Troy muttered.

“But you won’t,” Paul said firmly. “You said yourself that doing dark spells is bad for the soul. I’d rather that soul of yours remain pure.” He said softly. “Maybe you could turn them into babies or something?” He grinned.

“I don’t think I can pull something like that off.” Troy chuckled. “Turning bad men into babies was not one of the spells I was taught.”

“Well, too bad.” Paul sighed. “I don’t think they will ever let you go though. They need your skills.”

“We’ll see about that,” Troy muttered as he turned to stare out of the window with a dejected expression on his face.

Troy couldn’t believe he’d been reduced to helping criminals, steal. He blamed those wicked, rabid wolves who had destroyed his home weeks earlier. It had been almost a month since those animals had killed all the people in his home and caused him to flee for his life. But for the timely intervention of their handsome but equally wicked leader, those wolves would have killed him too. Troy still saw those beautiful grey eyes in his sleep every day. Strangely, even in sleep, those eyes brought him some peace. But in as much as he liked seeing the face of the man who had saved his life in his dreams, he couldn’t help but hate him and his wolves for what they’d done to his clan. If he ever came face to face with that soulless monster again, he was going to burn him alive if it was the last thing he did, Troy vowed silently. He still couldn’t believe that everyone he knew was gone. He was pretty sure that some had escaped just as he had been able to. But so far, he didn’t know of any other survivors besides himself. He needed them…any member of his clan, Troy thought worriedly.

It was almost that time of the month. He needed a warlock to cast a spell to stop his monthly ailment. He could already feel the beginnings of the restlessness within and it scared him. At a particular time in every month, he felt restless and had some really terrible bodily pains. Mary, a very powerful warlock and wife of the Jackal, who had been his guardian, had always healed him by casting a spell. Troy feared that in the absence of the healing spell, the ailment was going to get very bad. And that was one of the reasons he’d thought he needed that money from the bank robbery that he and his friend Paul had just helped pull off. In the absence of a spell, he could use some of the money to see a real doctor.

Troy had never stepped foot outside the fortress that he’d called home since he could remember before it was destroyed. He’d been, therefore, so confused and overwhelmed when he found himself in the boisterous outside world. He’d gone without food for the first two days, then he began to beg for food on the streets. After being advised by an elderly homeless man to find a job since he was young and energetic enough to earn himself some money, Troy had started doing odd jobs for money. It had been during one of such jobs that he’d befriended Paul, a lively friendly cute twenty-five-year-old who looked younger than his age. The two boys had bonded with each other and become fast friends. Troy loved two things about Paul. One was the fact that Paul saw every misfortune as a blessing in disguise…which actually gave Troy some hope. Secondly, he loved how Paul could make him laugh even when he was worried.

Troy, who had no idea he was supposed to keep his magic-filled life a secret, had told Paul all about his background. Paul had initially thought that Troy was narrating a movie he’d watched or a book he’d read. He’d laughed and applauded Troy’s brilliant narrative. When Troy insisted that he was serious, Paul had demanded to see a demonstration. Troy had obliged. Paul’s eyes had almost popped out of their sockets in shock when Troy conjured a cat out of thin air after reciting some words for about three minutes. Troy couldn’t help the smile that appeared on his face as he recalled the gobsmacked look on his friend’s face on that day, weeks earlier…

“Oh, fuck this is…how did you…whose cat is that?” Paul looked shocked, excited, and completely freaked out.

“It’s a stray.” Troy laughed as he reached out to touch the cat. “It’s our cat now.” He said as he gently stroked the purring cat.

“Dude, we can barely feed ourselves.” Paul laughed breathlessly. “You expect us to feed a cat? Whilst living in an abandoned structure? Come on!” He crouched beside Troy and began to pet the cat too. “It’s beautiful.” He whispered. “What should we call it?”

“Thought you said we couldn’t keep it.” Troy laughed softly. “How about…Jer?”

“Why that name?” Paul asked curiously, looking at Troy.

“I don’t know.” Troy shrugged. “That name has always been in my head. I like it.”

“Maybe you were called Jer in your previous life as a…vampire.” Paul laughed, making Troy laugh too.

Knowing what Troy was capable of had made Paul place him on a certain pedestal. Although at twenty-one Troy was four years younger than Paul, Troy acted as though he was older by always looking out for Paul. It wasn’t easy getting by but the two young men were okay because they had each other.

All was well until Paul was accosted by a gang of five as he was going to get them some food, one fine afternoon.