Savage Desire
Chapter 27

"Ryan?" Reynard looked even more shocked. Then he gave a sigh of relief. For a moment he'd thought... Never mind what he thought. "You mean the faggot who's mated to the coward Stanwood alpha?"

"My mate is no coward." Ryan said icily, taking in the scene in the room. The four people in there were obviously having some sort of a meeting with the white-haired man who he'd assumed was the wicked Reynard. Couldn't they hear the battle raging outside? Reynard gave a cocky laugh. "Well, I thought so too but then...what brave alpha would up and run simply because his fellow alphas have been...killed?" He looked at the faces around the table with mock surprise. "Strange huh?" Then he looked up at Ryan again. "What kind of alpha allows his pack to go into battle without him?" Ryan shrugged nonchalantly. "An alpha who thinks the battle in question is too...insignificant to waste his time on." Ryan replied.

Reynard Wyatt's eyes widened. Damn these cocky werewolves, he thought laughing uproariously. "Listen boy, I admire your bravery and all but... You're just a small man

who took a wrong turn in the theatre and somehow wandered onto the stage. Don't dare think yourself a player." He turned glassy green eyes on Deloris. "You must be the warlock the albino was talking about. You obviously squealed. Too bad. Seen your dead daughter yet?"

Deloris managed a comically confused look. "You mean the one who's kicking arse out there? She didn't look dead to me when I saw her some minutes ago." She gave the Lord Command a sweet smile. The only thing that betrayed Reynard's anger was the insistent tick in his temple.

Deloris turned to look at Ryan. "How do you want to do this, Ryan?"

"Alright, alright, I'll give it to you." Reynard chuckled. "Deloris right? I don't know how you did it but, good job. I love it when warlocks who think they are powerful come up against me. I enjoy bringing them down a peg or two. I enjoy even more, hearing them beg for their lives. But watching the life die out of their eyes is always the best part."

"Oh wait...you thought all this was me?" Deloris looked downright amused. "No Reynard. Today is going to go down in history as the day the great Reynard Wyatt got his arse handed to him by a wolf. Not even the alpha himself you asshole. The alpha's mate." Reynard looked stunned for a moment. Then he burst into laughter and turned to Ryan. "Listen boy, you're not really the one I'm after. It's Jeremy I want. If you give me your mate's location, I could at least make your death quick. What do you say?" "You arrogant son-of-a-bitch." Deloris couldn't believe the warlock had actually suggested that Ryan betray his mate.

"You're so stupid if you expect him to betray his mate. Are you for..."

"I don't have time for this nonsense." With that angry growl, Reynard shot out of his chair and directed a beam of highly concentrated, torch-like fire towards Deloris and Ryan.

Deloris gasped in fright but that fire never got to them because Ryan's hand shot out to deflect it, sending it back to Reynard who reflexively extinguished the fire by shooting a thin blast of powdery ice from the tip of his fingers. The Lord Command stared at Ryan with a shocked expression.

"Shit." Ryan muttered, looking down at his fingers. "Almost as if we were playing tennis."

Deloris would have laughed at that had it not been for the fact that her heart was pounding so hard. "Great reflexes." She breathed, still reeling from what had almost happened. But for Ryan, the two of them would be toast.

"Well, thanks to you I have immunity, remember?" Ryan responded, still staring at his hands. "Why are my fingers cold?"

"They are?" Deloris asked with widened eyes. And at Ryan's nod, she gasped. "Oh my god."

Deloris wasn't exactly sure what power Ryan had just displayed. It could either be the power of absorption or mimicry. If it was the latter, then it meant Ryan had the ability to permanently copy powers that were used against him by other magical beings. If on the other hand, it was the former, then not only could Ryan copy the powers of others, but he could actually absorb it from the original owner, leaving the owner without that particular power. That also meant that Ryan would then become immune to

that particular power. Deloris prayed it was the power of absorption that Ryan had because if it was, then Reynard was fucked. Deloris looked up to see Reynard staring at Ryan's fingers. He knew. Deloris couldn't help the smirk that found its way onto her face. "Told ya!" Deloris sneered. "You're going down, old man."

"Enough!" Reynard roared, his face darkening in anger. He'd felt himself lose some of his powers just seconds earlier when he'd used them against the boy. Hell, the cold dust on the boy's fingers was evidence enough. He obviously had the power of absorption. A warlock? Obviously, all wasn't as it seemed. "Raj, tell me who he is, now."

"I just told you who he..." Deloris began but got cut o by the scream that tore out of one of the women around Reynard's table.

"This is not good, Reynard." The woman shook hard as she addressed her clan head. "He's your...he's your son."

A collective gasp went up from everyone in the room, with a shocked Reynard breathing; "What?"

"The fuck?" Ryan gasped in shock, staring at the woman who had dared uttered those silly words.

There was a long, terrible stretch of silence during which Ryan took a good look at Reynard Wyatt. He noticed the hair and the eyes. Well...strange, he thought, taking in Reynard's white long-sleeved, high-necked t-shirt and white pants. He almost laughed when John Webster's 'The White Devil' popped into his mind.

"I have no children and you know it." The Lord Command rasped, clenching his fists to hide how badly they shook. He was visibly seething.

"You mean you killed them." Deloris hissed and then actually grinned when a furious Reynard let fly a fireball in her direction.

Too late, Reynard realized he'd been tricked into using another power against Ryan. Although his target had been Deloris, the bitch was standing so close to Ryan it was just as though he'd used the power against Ryan. Meaning, his power of conjuring fireballs was also gone...absorbed by Ryan. And of course, Ryan sent the ball hurtling right back at him. Reynard saw the smug look on Deloris' face waver when the fireball bounced harmlessly against him and went of. Yes, he'd activated his shield. Nothing could touch him from then on for as long as he remained within that shield. Ryan looked clueless but Deloris didn't look happy with the latest development. The Lord Command couldn't pass up an opportunity to gloat.

"Eat that bitch." Then he turned to look at terrified Seer. "Raj?" He didn't have to spell out what he wanted to know.

"Pierre Part." Raj began shakily. "Thirty one years ago. Emma..."

"Emma Hicks?" Reynard bellowed. "Pathetic Emma Hicks?"

"Hey, you can't..." Ryan began but got cut of when Reynard went right on raging as if he hadn't spoken.

"You mean that bitch got pregnant?" Reynard roared, causing glasses and mirrors in the room to explode into shards. His angry eyes remained on the seer. "How come you never saw this?"

"I don't know Reynard." The seer groaned. "There's more..." She looked like she was going to be physically sick.

"Tell me." Reynard demanded.

"He...all the...your six children..."

"What of my six children?" Reynard snapped.

"They had divine powers, Rey..."

"Everyone knows my kids had great powers." Reynard growled. "They were given to them by a f*****g god."

"He..." Raj swallowed audibly. "As your only living child, the powers of all your children have been transferred to him." She pointed a shaky finger at Ryan. "He has all their powers. With all those powers he's almost as powerful as a god. Which makes him..." She looked terrified.

"Makes him what?" Reynard bellowed, making everyone at the table jump in fright.

"That makes him stronger... Stronger than you." The seer breathed.

In a fit of rage, Reynard stretched forth his hand towards the Seer, with an obvious intention of killing her with that beam of highly concentrated fire that he'd attempted to kill Deloris and Ryan with moments earlier. The Lord Command looked at his hand in surprise when nothing happened. In his rage, he'd completely forgotten he'd been stripped of that power by Ryan. He quickly conjured an energy ball and angrily hurled it at Raj, who immediately exploded into fiery pieces. With that close a hit, it was no surprise she exploded.

"You're supposed to see everything and tell me before it happens." The furious warlock screamed at the empty space where the Seer used to be. "What's your use if you can't do your job?"

"Are you out of your mi..." One man around the table began but he never completed his sentence because with a snap of Reynard's finger, his neck snapped in a weird angle, killing him instantly. "Anyone else have something to say?" The Lord Command looked at the remaining two around the table. Both fearfully shook their heads. "Good. Now to you, boy. I don't believe what my very dead Seer just said but...let's give her the benefit of the doubt. You're the only person who can prove that you're my o@spring." He went quiet for a moment. Then breathed; "Show me your deformity."

Ryan couldn't suppress the gasp that tore out of his mouth. "What?" He whispered, heart pounding.

"Aw come on, don't be shy." Reynard gave a smile that didn't reach his cold eyes. "You see, each of my children had...how do I put this? A unique feature. I made a pact with one of the most powerful and wicked gods that ever existed. That was before I started making babies. I was young and naive then. Among other things, every child of mine was to receive two very unique and very high level powers. But that stupid god loved to play pranks. He decided that for those powers, each child of mine was to receive a unique feature. I readily agreed, thinking they were probably going to be born with unique coloured eyes or hair or something like that." He gave a humourless laugh. "Imagine my surprise when Slater, my first, was born with four eyes. Four f*****g eyes!" He bellowed, pounding his fist on the table. "Then came Harry. A boy. Had all the features of a boy except for the most important feature of all. He had no p***s. Next was Nina. My beautiful Nina." He shook his head slowly. "She had three legs. Then the twins came. One had only one leg with two feet, the other had no legs at all. The last was Suzie. A girl. Well, she looked like a girl. Had breasts, feminine curves,

voice... A girl. But she came with the dick that Harry left. Didn't have a vagina, didn't have a womb. Freaks of nature...all of them. But I got the last laugh. I literally laughed as I watched the very essence drain right out of that god. You see, nobody crosses Reynard Wyatt." He growled.

The Lord Command didn't add his greatest regret though. He'd never regretted more, not giving another entity a quick death. If he'd done that with the god, he wouldn't have been in his current predicament. He'd been so angry at the god when his sixth child was born he'd decided to acquired enough strength and power to seek revenge for what he'd done to his children. And no one stood a chance if Reynard Wyatt went out of his way to plan and prepare for them. Not even a god. When he finally held the life essence of that god in his palm, Reynard couldn't help but gloat, taunt and goad. On hindsight, he shouldn't have drawn it out...made fun of the god as he struggled in his final moments. He shouldn't have given him the chance to speak. Because that was when the god had given that stupid prophecy. According to the prophecy, one of Reynard's children would wipe him out of the world and bring his clan to ruin. He'd been given the year and told to expect his end at the end of that year. Well, the year was finally here but it wasn't even the end of the f*****g year yet. Even in death, the wicked god had fooled him again.

"So back to you son." The sinister smile was back on Reynard's face. "What freaky feature do you have?"

"Was it easier to kill them because you saw them as freaks?" Ryan asked in a cold voice.

"They had to die for the greater good." Reynard said dryly. "I mean hey, they were my kids, right? I had the right to decide their fate. I sure as hell wasn't going to wait

around for one of those freaks to kill me. Now, that would have been downright foolish don't you think?" He laughed. "But you...you managed to slip into the world and go unnoticed." He laughed again as if something was really amusing. "That pathetic, dull-faced, slip of a girl. Emma. Interesting."

"Don't you dare talk about her in that way." Ryan growled, taking a step forward.

"I'll talk about her anyhow I want." Reynard growled right back, relaxing in his seat. "The one time I decided to show some kindness and then this happens. You see, no one wanted her. No man would touch her with a long pole. I'm actually surprised she's your mother. 'Cause she was one ugly bitch."

At Ryan's angry growl, Reynard smiled. The boy was getting angry which was a good thing. Anger made people make mistakes. He could have bet his last cent that the boy had some sort of deformity but he didn't need to see it to know that the boy was his son. That hair, those intense green eyes...all his children had them...just as he did. And if he was indeed his son...as he already knew within his bones that he was, then his end had indeed come. Prophecies somehow always found a way to come true. But the warlock also knew that a person's actions could change his destiny. Well, he could change his by turning the table and defeating Ryan. If he'd known about the existence of a son, he would have prepared for him and beat that prophecy, just as he'd prepared for that god and Jeremy Stanton.

The alpha of Stanwood Pack would have been dead already, if he'd had the balls to come and face him. But the coward had sent his mate, who happened to be his son and potentially, his killer. He had to use his experience to beat the boy otherwise that prophecy would come to pass. And

what better way to go about it than to get Ryan so angry he f****d up by making mistakes? In fact that was his best bet because much as he'd been ready for Jeremy and his Ojah nonsense, he had no idea how to handle Ryan. His plan was to get to his prisoners and absorb their souls, to give him the strength he needed to face his son. The soul of the young werewolf, Troy, especially, would help a lot since Reynard was not fighting against just any pack. He was fighting against werewolves from Troy's pack.

"I took pity on her and showed her how good it could be, having a man inside her." Reynard continued his chatter. "You should have heard her...screaming like a nympho." He laughed.

Ryan couldn't take it anymore. He opened his hands and let loose an incredibly powerful blast of bright white kinetic energy, which went directly towards Reynard. But of course it hit against his shield. The blast didn't touch Reynard's body at all. Rather, its great concussive force violently sent the two seated at the table, flying through the air. One unfortunately ended up on the sharp edge of the mirror that had exploded earlier as a result of Reynard's scream. He died instantly.

"Well, well, well...the little wolf is angry." Reynard applauded with a wide grin. "Don't bother wasting your energy on me. You can't touch me." He looked so smug. "Now, where was I? Yes, your nympho of a mother. Oh I gave it to her hard." Reynard's hands went behind his head in an even more relaxed state. It was almost as if he was sitting amongst friends, discussing the economy. "Know what surprises me though? I'm sure I pulled out before I...released my precious essence."

"I guess the great Reynard Wyatt after all." Deloris hissed. "Cause if is not that intelligent you were, you would know that coitus interruptus doesn't guarantee..."

"Spare me the sex education, bitch." Reynard snapped. "I'm talking to my son. Well, you still need to tell me about your deformity though." He directed that statement at Ryan. "I can't see any deformity on your person. Does it have anything to do with your penis?" He asked with a mock curious look on his face. "Do you have any at all?"

"Shut your mouth." Ryan breathed, his heartbeat quickening with anger and shame. He tried to control his breathing but he was quickly losing control.

"Don't let him get to you." Deloris muttered. "He wants you to get angry. Use your anger to strengthen your focus. He's the enemy. We're here to get him. And shield or no shield we're going to. Focus on how to do that?"

"Typical." Reynard taunted. "Very easy to make you stinky mutts angry. Judging by your tone and bulging forehead vein, you're boiling. I can hear your heart beat quickening. I hear the blood rushing through your veins....your muscles tightening...your teeth grinding. Ooh...the fury!"

Reynard knew that all he had to do was keep talking...goading Ryan...and he would somehow fuck up. If he played his cards right, he would just sit and watch the little wolf do all his work for him. Divine power or not, Reynard Wyatt was older and wiser. And he was going to beat Ryan and change his destiny.

"You spineless toad." Ryan growled.

"No need for name-calling, boy." Reynard grinned. "I might be your father after all. There's no reason for us to be enemies. This is our chance to get to know each other, don't you think?"

"I've seen all that I need to see. I'd rather die than have anything to do with your sorry arse." Ryan began to move slowly towards the arrogant warlock.

"Go to hell." Reynard hissed, finally showing signs of stress.

"Why bother? I'm going to bring it to you." Ryan didn't sound anything like the sweet man the Stanwood Pack knew. He sounded lethal.

And that voice immediately amplified the fears of Reynard's remaining warlock. Reynard's shield again saved him from being a ected by Ryan's fear projection. Had the other warlock been human, she would have been literally so scared she would have died of an instant heart attack. But since she was a magical being, she rather panicked so much she automatically began to chant with the aim of defeating the enemy. They enemy in that case, being Ryan. Every sharp edged object in the room elevated into the air, with the sharp points directed towards both Ryan and Deloris. Inside the sanctuary, the warlock's power was obviously still strong.

"Ryan..." Deloris gasped, her eyes going to Reynard's happy face. "This is not good."

Ryan stared hard at the warlock, using the same technique he'd used on Isabel when he'd found her naked in Jeremy's arms. He crushed her from inside but this time, he didn't hold back. The warlock began to scream just as the sharp objects cluttered to the ground. Within seconds, blood began to ooze out of her eyes. Then she began to choke. Finally, she crumpled to the floor, dead.

"Alright old man, why don't you spare us the bullshit and take your death like a brave man?" Ryan rasped. "I mean you've already been told this day was coming. You don't

really know whether I'm your son or not because you haven't seen any...deformity, right? But...if it looks like a duck and acts like a duck, I think we've got to get ourselves out of denial. It's a f*****g duck!"

"You arrogant prick." Reynard's face was red with anger. "I could crush you."

"Why don't you hit me with your best shot?" Ryan drawled. "And whilst you're at it why don't you come away from that force field you've surrounded yourself with?"

"Do I look like a fool to you?" Reynard didn't look amused. "Hit you with my best shot? So that you can steal it from me?" At Ryan's confused look, Reynard gave a humorless chuckle. "You don't even know, do you?" He pointed at Deloris. "She knows. I won't attack you to enable you absorb my power and gain more ammunition. And this shield is not coming down. You may be safe from me for now. But can your dogs out there say the same?" He sneered. "You will be sniping at the entrails of your beloved wolf pack come morning. Catch me if you can." With that last dig, Reynard disappeared.

Deloris and Ryan stared at the spot where Reynard had occupied mere seconds earlier as if they were in a trance. Deloris recovered first.

"Oh god, Ryan." She wailed. "The pack. He'll kill them all."