The Beasts and Brave - Chapter 9
#11 of Eben Black Series - The Beasts and Brave
© All characters and storylines surrounding these characters belong to me; Eben Black..
I woke up to the sound of a loud bang on the bedroom door. I sat upright and breathed in deep, the suddeness of the knock had made me jump. Donovan eased out of bed and padded across the bedroom. He opened the door, and peered outside. He spoke in hushed voices and then closed the bedroom door again. He turned and walked to the foot of the bed. He crawled across on his knees and sat back, looking down at me with the pale green of his eyes. He smiled, but there was a distant sadness there. I found his hands with mine and realised what the message at the door must have been. I raised his hand to mine and touched lips to the back of his hand. He smiled wider. He leaned closer and kissed me, a deep, chaste brush of flesh. He broke the embrace and leaned his forehead against mine. He closed his eyes and took another deep breath, he shuddered from unshed tears while I looked up as he trembled a little around the edges.
"Looks like we have a guest." Donovan's words breathed along my muzzle as he opened those eyes and looked at me.
"Them?"
He nodded and leaned back. "You prepared?" he asked.
I smiled and replied, "As prepared as possible."
"Then lets go and meet him." He spilled off the bed and together we changed. Donovan donned a pair of white-wash, denim jeans and a white tank top. He bore his silver loop through one eyebrow and smiled at me with that distant sadness. He was anxious and worried about what might happen in the next few hours. I couldn't blame him. I dressed in a simple black tee, while a low, scoop-neck. I wore a pair of denim-three-quarters, as well as a black wristband around one wrist. I had the two silver loops through one ear and grinned back at Donovan.
Time to do what we did best. Survive.
His name was Balthazaar. It sounded like an old name. Then again, he was the oldest living wereanimal I'd ever met. His power, his beast breathed around him like an invisible second skin. He stood at six foot eight, muscular here and there, but more toned. He had dark grey, almost black fur, startling lavender eyes that reaked of power and bestial anger. The jaguar paced in front of the windows, overlooking LA. He was dressed in a simple dress shirt, done with black dress slacks, polished dress shoes, a slender black tie, and head fur sleaked back and done in a slender ponytail that cascaded behind him and brushed his waistline. From what I'd been told he'd walked in through those front doors downstairs and had demanded to speak with the pack leader of the LA wolves. Eddie and his lions made sure he was comfortable in the lounge and then took up posts around the lounge. Snow, Aleksander and Kane in time gathered and took their places around the lounge too.
Snow sat the closest, his hulking form eased back onto the couch, while he was dressed in a pale blue tank top and denim jeans, the knees ripped away. His wrists and hands were bandaged from the boxing he'd been doing when the council leader had turned up. He had a serious look on his face, one that screamed he was on edge and at a constant tension. Kane was stood as far back as possible, back against the wall, katana sheathed and propped in one hand beside him like he would prop up a cane. He was dressed in a short-sleeved, fitted black tee, black bottoms and black boots. His usual monochromatic black seemed more lethal and aggressive than usual. Aleksander stood a few feet from Snow, he rested his rear against the back of the circular couch, while he stared across at the back of Balthazaar. He was dressed in a white tee, a pair of black jeans, and white boots. He wore a silver bracelet around a slender wrist while he eased back, legs crossed at the ankle, his green-grass eyes focused and sharpened on the beast that now loomed over all of us.
I sat beside Snow, elbows resting on my knees, while Donovan stood up, in the middle of the lounge, his eyes focused as he stared across at Balthazaar.
Balthazaar turned slow, his lavender eyes should have looked peaceful, relaxed even, but the immense rage that burned beneath simmered like a violent storm. He stepped forward and a smile curved his lips. He looked over us. It was apparent something amused the Hell out of him, but I think we were all a little frightened to ask what was amusing.
"You all seem so tense?" he asked in a deep, rich tone. His voice was full of education and intelligence as he spoke.
"We are being visited by one of the council. I think the tension is understandable, Balthazaar." Donovan smiled as he said this.
"You are referring to your previous encounter with one of the board?" Balthazaar asked.
Donovan nodded and said, "Might I ask what has happened to Sawyer?"
He grinned and replied, "Sawyer has abandoned the name of council member, and has decided to pursue his own needs and desires."
"And that's alright with you?" Donovan asked.
"I assure you, we have been following the illusionist for some time, but his new powers have made him a slippery mouse to catch."
"What will you do when you catch him?" I asked. Balthazaar considered me.
"Sawyer will be punished for what he did. He acted out of turn, and ravaged the name of council in the proceedings. He will be caught and killed." He snarled the last word.
"Killed?" Donovan repeated.
"You believe that to be a bad idea?"
"I believe Sawyer needs help, some form of psychiatric help."
"He's beyond help. He's insane."
"He may be a madman, but is death your final trump card, or is this the initial method of punishment?" I asked.
Balthazaar considered me and asked, "Do you want him alive then?"
I thought about that, and remembered the power that Sawyer had owned. He'd been truly insane, there was no doubt there. "I suppose not."
"Do not allow human reasoning justify your way of thinking when it comes to your enemies, Eben Black."
"You know who I am then?"
"And you know who I am. I also have a feeling you know why I am here too?"
"Your here to apologise for what happened three months ago?" Kane demanded.
Balthazaar looked over at the wolf and smirked. "I have assured you that Sawyer will be punished. Consider that our way of apologising."
Kane frowned deep. Something told me he'd wanted an actual "I apologise" from the council leader.
"I am also here to look into the rumours surrounding you and your pack, Lupine." Balthazaar stepped forward again and looked down at me. "Is this the tiger called Snow?"
"I am indeed." Snow stood as he spoke and faced the taller wereanimal.
"Your bond with Eben Black is a rather interesting, unique phenomenon. Have you figured out what has caused it?" Balthazaar asked as he looked at Donovan.
"The bond between Eben and Snow seems to have awakened power in both of them." Donovan spoke with a gentle, almost tense caution.
"And I understand you bound yourself to the Lupine when you discovered his capabilities?"
"It is what was required for our pack. Plus, love played an immense part in our binding, as it did with the bond Eben shares with Snow."
"Interesting. And you are bound to another as well?" Balthazaar's statement stopped everyone dead. No one had spoken about the binding to Kane, besides those we trusted.
"I don't know what you mean." I tensed beside Snow.
"You lie, wolf. Do not lie." Balthazaar looked across at Kane and smirked, "You?"
Kane and Donovan exchanged a look, Donovan nodded and in turn Kane nodded at the council leader.
Balthazaar considered me for a moment and then said, "So your beast seems to be able to bind itself to others, as well as your King-equivalent. Interesting."
"What are your intentions, Balthazaar?" Donovan demanded suddenly. It seemed the King was growing more tense by the second.
"I came here to confirm the rumours surrounding Eben Black and this pack. Nothing more."
"Sawyer wanted to take Eben for himself. Do you not feel the same?"
"You believe I would steal your Lupine from you?" Balthazaar asked with a casual shrug. He added, "You think I am a creature of stealing a man's lover?"
Donovan frowned. "I go by what rumours I have heard about the council, Balthazaar."
"And those would be?"
"That when the council takes an interest in someone, they merely take them without consent or warning."
"And you believe I would do something like that? Me? The oldest of the wereanimals?" Balthazaar demanded, he sneered and roared, "Do not assossiate me with pathetic criminals, Donovan Reed!"
Balthazaar crossed the room in a black blur, his looming form towered over Donovan as he looked down into the wolf's eyes. Donovan's hands balled into fists, a tension settled into his shoulders while he gazed back up at the tall jaguar before him. Balthazaar smirked and raised a hand, touching the jawline of Donovan's face. He looked deep into Donovan's eyes and then touched his lips to Donovan's. The whole world stopped dead, while Balthazaar took a deep breath and broke the kiss. Donovan never budged an inch, he focused and stayed rooted where he was. Balthazaar looked over the room again, his eyes flared with that untapped rage. He was bad. He was so fucking bad. I needed him gone. Part of me screamed kill him, kill him now and be done with it, but the rest of me seemed so immobile in his presence. Was this what true age did to a wereanimal? It turned them into Balthazaar?
Balthazaar leaned close, his eyes never left me as he whispered against Donovan's ear, "I'll be keeping an eye over this place in the coming days. You never know when things might get...complicated." He stood up straight, he left a stunned look on Donovan's face as he turned and rounded on me. In all the movement Snow had stood up and now pushed me behind him, his fists clenched as Balthazaar glided toward us. Balthazaar considered the tiger while he walked and then he looked down at me, his eyes burned with such a devious glimmer. Hatred. That's what Balthazaar was. He was an absolute source of untapped hatred. Who had made him this angry at his own kind?
"Your beast is powerful, Eben Black. All the beasts here that have been touched by your beast have strengthened. I can see them, like shadows around their masters. You do intrigue me, I will not lie, but I'd kill you before I tamed you as a pet. That power is a dangerous one. Perhaps too dangerous to keep walking around alive and free."
Snow growled and demanded, "Is that a threat?"
Balthazaar grinned at the white tiger and replied, "More like advice. There are those like Sawyer who would see your power as their own."
"So these are words of kindness?" Donovan asked.
"The council knows no kindness!" Kane growled.
"Each of you has such potential burning around you, all of it here because of this child," he gestured at me as he spoke, "But understand this. A flame can burn strong and powerful for decades, even millennia."
"I sense a but coming along?" Aleksander mumbled from where he stood.
"Indeed," Balthazaar replied. "But that flame can be snuffed out with a simple exhale of breath, Eben Black. Remember that and be cautious."
"Are you done with your warnings and advice?" Aleksander demanded. He'd been quiet this entire time, but now it seemed his anger had boiled from the council leader's warnings. He stepped over the back of the couch and stood on the seat, his eyes met Balthazaar's. He trembled as Donovan had done, but his pride as King prevented him from stepping down. Perhaps Aleksander's pride wasn't all bad, when directed at our enemies. In that moment Balthazaar's beast and Aleksander's beast loomed over their master's and growled at one another, testing the waters as Aleksander's beast had done beforehand with mine. But there was no interest there like there had been with me, there was just a desperation to attack from either end. "If you are done, the door is there?" Aleksander said with a polite grin.
"A wolf King partnered with a cheetah King? You do keep unsual company, Donovan."
"Do as Aleksander requested. Your messages have been delivered and we are done with hearing them. The council has not been called here. You came here to apologise, and you did that in your own way."
"You are quite the rude host, Donovan Reed, but I can understand the tension and fear. Fair enough, I shall leave you alone. But, Aleksander was it?"
Aleksander nodded.
"Your beast may indeed want Eben's more than any other beast has, but your personality is what stops Eben from bedding you."
Aleksander blushed, he blushed and cursed under his breath as he trembled with shame and anger. "Leave."
Balthazaar smirked, those lavender eyes widened as he grinned and said, "I bid you all farewell. Do be careful. Even around those you consider allies, Eben Black."
Donovan saw the towering black shadow out and when the elevator sank below, the whole room seemed to exhale some compressed breath. It had been short, and somewhat frightening, but I was pleased the male was gone. He scared me, he scared me more than Sawyer did. He scared me more than my own beast did. He was pure hatred, a seeting brothel of unseen horrors and past memories that would haunt and torment for generations to come. His beast alone seemed so old, and when he stood with us, it was like my beast could sense that age. Was it possible he was the first wereanimal of all time? No. Surely not. If that were the case then all wereanimals would be jaguars. He may not have been the original, but I bet he was damn close to the original. Donovan returned, he slumped against the wall and breathed out, he slid to the floor while we watched him, tears streaked his face as he smiled up at those around him.
The beast had invited himself in, and soon the bravery we all shared had dulled and died out with the beast's words. Snow cuddled me from behind, and when I wondered why I realised I was sobbing too. Was I that scared? Yes.