Forty three

Axel's jaw tightened and he immediately jumped back, taking a fighting stance. "I won't let you near her!"

Sofiane paused, keeping his eyes on Axel. The old Axel he knew could never be so commanding. Perhaps some time in the company of the Crow brother had done him some good. Sofiane heaved a sigh. "I don't want to fight you, Axel. The last thing I want to do is kill a former friend but I will be forced to if you stand in my way."

"Sofiane, you have to let your hate go. The pack of Hobbstone keeps collapsing while you do nothing but obsess over your revenge. Do you know how much it hurts me to watch you destroy yourself?"

Sofiane removed his gaze from Axel. How dare Axel have the guts to be so self-righteous? Did he forget so easily how easy they all threw him to that same grief when he was at his lowest? "It probably doesn't hurt that much Axel. Your words of encouragement might have worked better if you did not disown the pack you were born in and align yourself with the enemy. You are not my friend Axel. You are not even my beta. Not anymore. So spare me the lecture and move."

They circled each other, doing nothing but observe what the other did or intended to do. The air got tense and Axel noticed Sofiane's iris burn a fiery red. It made him clench his fist in preparation for a bloody fight but irrespective of the inevitable way the situation would turn out, Axel continued speaking to his former Alpha.

"I know losing Candice absolutely destroyed you but you have to remember that witch was no saint. She deserved the fate that befell her. You are better than this Sofiane! You are my Alpha! You will always be–"

Before Axel could finish his sentence, the Alpha vanished from his line of sight, and right before his defenses could be alerted, Axel felt a sharp dull pain surge its way from his torso upwards. The hot pain made Axel look at where the pain was originating from. There was a knife embedded inside him and by the moon goddess, it stung. Sofiane retracted it just as quick as he had stabbed him. Axel's leg buckled. It was weird. He peered at his wound again and noticed a deep crimson liquid spreading across his shirt and soaking it. The cut wasn't healing. Axel's breathing went shallow and it seemed the more he inhaled air to cope with the searing, the more blood and pain shot out from his wound. Axel's legs finally gave and he collapsed to the floor.

"Why?" Axel managed to say.

"Because I'm a horrible person," Sofiane muttered under his breath before picking up the shovels and walking into the mausoleum.

***

OLAMIDE

There you are, A male voice said making me turn. I made an effort to wipe my tears when I believed it was Axel but when we made eye contact, I found myself gripped by fear. I shot to my feet and took two steps back. Standing there, I found myself unable to pry my gaze away from Sofiane, wondering why he was here and more importantly something he had whispered to my ear when we first met. Despite being afraid to see him, a part of me could still label this homicidal werewolf as hot, which was rather ironic considering how scary and cold he looked. Sofiane kept his distance and threw the sack of shovels in my direction. The sack flew a considerable length before falling on the earth next to me.

My knees were about to give when I dared to make eye contact with him for the second time. "What do you want?" I demanded as I tried to understand where Axel had vanished to when I needed him the most.

"Are you looking for Axel?" Sofiane asked but I noticed his lips did not move. He was doing that mind thing. While it had not terrified me the first time I entered his head, I was absolutely white this time. Things were different. Things were more complicated.

"What did you... Where is he?" I stuttered, calculating if I could be fast enough to pick out one of the shovels on the floor to protect myself. If I was going to die, I needed to at least put up a fight. I would not be going down easy.

"I made sure he couldn't disturb us but I assure you he is fine." This time, Sofiane spoke. With lightning speed and strength, Sofiane stalked close making my heart race. His piercing crimson irises settled on me and only one thing resonated in his mind, Candice.

At that moment, I figured it out. He wasn't here to keep the promise he made to me outside Jason's mansion, Sofiane was her because the witchy experiment he had performed on my hair to understand why I could read his mind had revealed it had something to do with his late mate. For Sofiane, it was much worse. One of his hands crept behind my back making them straight while the other grazed my hair. I struggled to remain alien to everything he did but it was practically impossible. Sofiane had nullified my existence. In his mind, I was no longer an entity whose body his mate stole to escape her fate. In Sofiane's heart of hearts, I was Candice Blossom. My gaze settled on him and gall immediately crept up my throat. Whatever fear that engulfed me vanished and was immediately replaced by anger. I didn't have time for this. I pushed Sofiane off me with unflinching courage. The Alpha was much stronger but my push had taken him entirely by surprise.

"I am not Candice. My name is Olamide and I am not your rebound. I don't know what business you, Jason, and this your crazy mate have but leave me out of it. The last thing I want is to be further entangled in this world's mess." And without wasting another second, I reached for the sack, tore it open, and withdrew a shovel. I then walked up to the floor my brother was buried and began to dig.

"I apologize." To my surprise, Sofiane said. "I am not sure what came over me."

I stabbed the cutting edge into the ground and looked Sofiane straight in the eye. "I know excuses when I hear them. Don't deceive yourself into thinking you are the victim here. You've killed people to deaden the guilt you feel over your mate's murder and that doesn't make you a saint. Neither does it make you an anti-hero. Just like Jason took someone you loved, you have also taken the lives of countless others and to answer that burning question in your mind, Candice did not dig her way back to the land of the living for love. No, she did it for revenge. So if that is enough closure, I suggest you move on."

There was a berating at the back of my mind. It was Candice alright. But I didn't care. I pulled the shovel from the earth and continued to dig. As the minutes ticked by, another shovel joined me.