CHAPTER 428: XADEN’S NEW FOUND FRIEND

"What’s your name?" he asked, voice softer.

"Marro," the boy said with a small smile.

"Marro..." Xaden rasped, memorizing it. "You’re braver than most grown wolves I know."

Marro beamed.

Xaden swallowed the last of the water and reached down to his wrist. With effort, he tugged free the thick leather band he wore, marked with his family crest and rank.

It was weathered, stained, but unmistakable.

He pressed it into Marro’s hand.

"There’s a pack not far from here, by the Brown River. Find the outer province. Show this to the guards. They’ll know who I am and send help."

Marro clutched the band tightly.

"I’ll go right away," he said.

"No shortcuts," Xaden warned. "Avoid the main trail. Don’t let anyone see that."

Marro nodded, face serious now. "I’ll be careful. I promise."

And just like that, he turned and disappeared into the forest, running with purpose.

Xaden leaned back against the roots, heart heavy but flickering with hope. He’d done what he could. Maybe help would come.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Marro ran down the forest, Xaden’s band tucked in his pockets as he eagerly hurried to accomplish his quest.

His mother was going to give him a serious beating if she found out that he had been running around the forests especially now that they had been having issues with Alpha Hunter and his rogue pack.

They were all wary and scared of coming out of their homes.

He was a big scary man, Marro had heard but he wanted to see him.

He wasn’t afraid of him.

He felt that if he was given the chance to fight him, he would defeat him.

Once he was of age and able to shift yo his wolf, he would easily defeat him.

The man in the woods.

Once he had seen him and seen the trail of blood, he should have run off.

But something had told him to follow and find him and he did.

The man had been almost dead.

He should have run the moment he head seen him lying down like that.

It was what his mother would have expected him to. But something told Marro that he was a good man and he needed to

Help him.

And sure enough the man had turned out to be injured.

He didn’t know why, but he had to help him now.

As Marro hurried down towards the market where he knew he would find his

Way to the brown River park, he felt an arm grab him and haul him up.

It was none other than his mother.

"You little devil!" She shrieked. "Where have you been?"

His lips trembled in fear. He started to lie.

"I was playing with Olaf and Gabby."

"That’s a bloody lie." She said. "I just came back from Gabby and Olaf’s house and they haven’t seen you in well over an hour so where have you been?"

Marro swallowed.

"Do you have any idea why I prevent you from going fat?!" She hissed at him.

She started to speak when she stopped herself.

"You would be the death of me one day." She expressed in anguish.

Then she caught his ear and pulled him along. "Come on. Get your behind into that house."

"But mama I need to go somewhere!" He cried.

Her eyes widened in fury. "Do you even know what the time is? It’s almost six and you want to wander off and make me motherless?"

"You still have Fabian." Marro’s sharp mouth said.

She gave him a smack across his face.

"You better close that smart mouth of yours before I do it for you." She said.

And with that she dragged him all the way down past the small village and finally into their small cabin.

"For someone like you who has caused so much trouble. You have the nerve." She said as he shoved him inside the cabin.

Marro sulked as he went and sat down on the small couch in their home.

It was already dark now and there was no way he could deliver the dying man’s news.

His mother didn’t know what she had just done.

What if he died?

What if someone got to him and killed him?

That was all he could think of.

"You won’t be allowed out of this house for a week for what you have done." His mother reprimanded as she went to her pot of food and stirred.

He scowled. "You can do that!"

"Yes I can and I most certainly will!" She said in agony. And then her voice went down to whispers. "Do you know what Alpha Hunter’s pack does to little boys alone? They recruit them into their pack and make them monsters! Do you want that?"

"When I get older I am going to defeat him." Marro promised his mother and she shook her head in horror.

"Oh goddess help give my son some sense before he became the deaths of us all."

At that moment the door was open and then Marro’s father and brother stepped in.

Marro watched as his father handed a bundle of sack to Fabian.

He went over to their mother and kissed her.

Marro sulked at their show of affection.

"What’s that?" Marro asked his older brother who was around the age of fourteen.

"None of your business. You’re still a baby." Fabian said meanly and stuck his tongue out as he headed towards the rooms.

Marro was furious with his family.

They all treated him like he was a baby.

He was sick of it.

Once it was time for dinner, they were all seated at the old dinning table eating their meals.

Marro’s mind was too faraway thinking of his friend he had left in the forest.

He had thought that he would return back with good news and give him some food.

But he would be hungry now and he would think that Marro had refused to come back.

That he had gone back on his promise.