Ties to unbind
~
Accalia
~

William Larren dug a grave too deep for him to get out of.

And for a fleeting moment, Accalia wouldn't mind burying him in it with dirt and a shovel as she met the floor, swirls of black twinkling her vision.

"Dad!" Tristan roared in outrage.

The darkness storming Accalia's gaze faded as her brother knelt to her side and swept a lock of hair from her face to observe her batten cheek.

She flinched away from him and lifted her chin to peer at her father.

Cadence, before she even considered what she was doing, shoved William back — away from Accalia.

William stumbled back and was steadied by the wall behind him. A peel of laughter burst out of him and his eyes narrowed into slits when they locked onto Cadence. "So much like Katerina, Cadence. What are you going to do, little girl? Punch me?" He asked menacingly, taking a step to his niece in a subtle way to provoke her.

"I'll treat your existence just like a werewolf, uncle. Don't doubt me." Cadence sneered at him without thought.

A sob choked out of Accalia as her face reddened, her lip bleeding and she seared a hole into her Dad's head. She didn't doubt Cadence and she certainly couldn't doubt her father. Not anymore.

Tristan pulled Accalia to her feet, clutching her close as her knees almost gave out.

"You're acting like I asked for this!" Accalia sneered at her father.

William looked unfazed by his actions and regarded her with a look of pure loathing. "You're mated to Lycus Fenris, the Alpha of Alphas!"

That means nothing! Accalia wanted to scream at him. But she wouldn't beg nor plea — she couldn't face defeat either.

"Don't — don't worry," Accalia said, regret lacing her tone as she held back tears. "I'm leaving."

Accalia clutched her face as she swept around Tristan and disappeared down a hallway, her boots stomping down loud enough to cover her cries.

"Yeah," William drawled out, throwing his arms in the air and spit flying from his mouth, "Fuck off then."

Accalia stormed into her bedroom and fell to her knees, shoving her hands under her bed, and pulling suitcases and bags out. Then, she was in her closet and rummaging through her draws, grabbing and shoving clothes into her bags with harshness as tears blurred her vision. He didn't think twice and slapped her across the face like she was nothing but dirt. Not his daughter, not even a hunter.

She tried to ignore her bleeding lip and the throbbing feeling on her face. She should've seen it coming. The bastard.

Accalia didn't have a plan, she hadn't thought too far into things and it was so simple as to why. She thought her home would be her sanctuary. Her father, her protector.

After fleeing the Fenris pack, she deemed being back here would grant them safety and protection. Even preparing for the worst if Lycus didn't back off.

"Don't go, Accalia." A voice said behind her.

"He wants me gone and the lycan won't stop, so either way, I'm not going to get what I want. I have to leave." Accalia tried not to choke up.

Tristan stepped inside, his head brushing against the doorframe with softening eyes as he came to his sister's side. "Dad feels he has no choice."

Accalia whipped around, face shining with fury and eyes narrowing. "This is my life! I'm twenty years old, I don't need you or Dad, or that dog telling me what I'm going to be doing. I'm not anyone's mate and I'm most definitely not someone that can be slapped around!"

Accalia lifted her bag off the bed and onto her shoulder, shoving past her brother and calling out for Cadence.

"Ready!" Cadence exclaimed, carrying three bagfuls of her belongings and shutting her door in the process with her lanky leg.

Fumbling around with her bags, hooking them around her shoulders and trying not to lose her footing, Cadence tipped to the side with an overload of stuff and still, managed to give a cheeky grin to her cousins.

Tristan almost laughed, placing his fist over his mouth.

Accalia halted, scrunching her face up as she looked at the three bags with concern. "Cadence, that's way too much."

Cadence frowned, face defensive. "This is all I have. This bag is for weaponry, this one is for my clothes and this one, well, I don't know what this is for yet, maybe a dead body or if we find a stray cat but right now, there are only my swords in it."

"It didn't fit in your weaponry bag?" Accalia asked, somewhat amused despite everything.

Cadence shook her head with a cautious grin and looked over to Tristan. "I'll see you around, cousin."

"You always liked being on the road anyway, Cadence," Tristan mumbled, looking away from her penetrating stare.

It dug deeper than that. Cadence would go wherever Accalia went, hunting through ghost towns, travelling the backroads and taking up the challenge. Accalia would do the same.

"No father hits his daughter," Cadence said sharply. "Uncle William is lucky he's still walking."

The threat didn't go unnoticed by anyone as Cadence humour disappeared without a trace and was replaced by something less humane, more haunting.

"It was a long time coming, Tristan," Accalia looked back and up to her brother, "Ever since mum, he began to react coldly at first, then became distant and asked more of us as hunters than children. He's a hunter first and a dad last."

Tristan swallowed and his thick brows pulled together as he tried to register her words, seeing through the lens she did.

"I'll walk you girls out," Tristan informed them.

Accalia didn't see William again as they left the house and she didn't want to. She didn't want to spare a word, a look, a flicker of anything to that man.

Tristan followed after them and the front door creaked behind them as he closed it.

Accalia didn't think this place much of a home, anyway.

"I'm driving!" Cadence called out and ripped the keys out of Accalia's hand, making a beeline to the driver's seat.

Accalia turned around to spare her brother another glance and a pang of guilt hit her in the gut. "You could come with us,"

Tristan fiercely shook his head. "It's best you girls get a head start. I'll check in with you when it's safe."

His burly and long arms embraced his sister securely and Accalia felt small for a moment.

"I'll try and get through to him, Accalia," Tristan whispered into her unruly hair as he held her a bit too tightly.

Accalia pulled back and wiped her lip which continued to bleed. "Those were the actions he made Tristan and it cost him his only daughter."

~

They were out of their hometown and back onto the highway, the lit forest looming on each side of them as Cadence sped down the road.

Accalia huddled into the corner, face leaning against the window as she tried to cover her whimpering cries with coughs or sniffles. Her head pounded rhythmically, her brown face red on one side and her lip flowing like a river with blood. She cupped it with her shirt trying to slow it down.

"I thought he'd help us," Accalia wheezed out and spat out droplets of blood that entered her mouth.

Cadence kept her eyes on the road. "Is your face alright?"

Accalia sighed at that question, her face stinging with blinding pain. "The next time someone tries to hit me in the face I'll cut their hands off, that's all I'm going to say."

Cadence couldn't help but cackle at that as she weaved down the road.

"But I guess it was expected, wasn't it?" Accalia murmured, something watery and stinging filling her gaze.

Cadence bit the inside of her cheek and shrugged. "Uncle William ... I don't know what to say about him, Accalia. He's your dad and he didn't want to help you. Just told you to piss off."

Accalia wiped her lip with the back of her hand and forced out a laugh. "He always made me take the backseat and not do anything until it suited him."

"He does care for you, Accalia, in whatever way that is," Cadence said forcefully, but Accalia assumed it wasn't to spare her feelings. "I wanted to hurt him."

Accalia genuinely laughed with a hiccup and gestured to her face. "He knows how to show it."

Rock music streamed from the radio and Accalia made a point of turning it up, attempting to tune out the chaos in her head.

But with great success, came failure. It didn't work, not even a few minutes went by when Cadence turned it back down.

"We need a game plan," Cadence announced, excitement hitched in her tone. "We could go to the Jaeger cabin."

Accalia inclined her head. She didn't want to get others involved. They needed to throw the Alpha off their tracks.

"We need to stay away from small towns and the woods. We should head to the city or something." Accalia suggested, comforted by the fact the bleeding was stopping and drying up.

Cadence nodded as she slowly blinked, eyelids becoming heavy and solemn. "Sounds like a plan,"

Accalia made a ragged noise and sat up. "But we don't have any money."

"You doubt me that much, cousin?" Cadence piped up with a mischievous look.

Accalia casted her a sideways glance and considered what was going on in that mind of hers.

"We're not robbing anyone!"

A hand was dramatically placed over Cadence's heart and said, "Now I know you doubt me. I have a few thousand in cash, Accalia. I've saved up a lot and it's from when I've worked."

Accalia reached over and lightly slapped a hand on Cadence's face. "Smartass."

Cadence whacked her hand away and paid attention to the road that went on and on. "I'm also starving,"

"I'm also tired," Accalia remarked.

But despite how tired Accalia looked, baggy-eyed and grimy, that wildness still shone from her like no tomorrow. Accalia's body was sculpted shapely, broad-shouldered and with wide hips. Her skin, still matted in dirt and blood was bronze brown. Her cluster of hair was an untameable mess, which exuded a striking fierceness, paired with russet eyes that looked ready to roll back into her head.

She looked like a girl on a quest for vengeance. But that quest wouldn't happen if her only intention was to escape Lycus, not find him. That was the last thing she wanted.

Being a part of this world with lycans and hunters came with a cost, the cost of continuous carnage and bloodshed, but that didn't mean a hunter always wanted to be in the midst of it.

But was that Accalia's only fate, the name she bore being known for war and nothing more?

Even with knowing about mates, Accalia still struggled to understand the extent of her being one; the meaning behind it and what it all entailed.

A bond binding two souls together and tethering them as one. A mate. Accalia was aware that depth can be a romantic and passionate connection but is it a connection she desires in life?

Bound to someone who was out of your control was something Accalia never wanted.

The only certainty Accalia would stick by was the mate bond didn't affect her and the lycan.

Only misery, measured with torment.

With every tree they passed, signs they drove by and the tank sinking lower and lower, that meant Accalia was getting further away from him.

"Blood doesn't look good on you, Accalia," Cadence said, taking in her cousin's current state.

"Neither does it on you, Cadence." Accalia laid back with folded arms and finally, when her eyes closed, she felt rest beginning to set in.

The sun heated Accalia with warmth and the wheels kicked up dust as Cadence drove. Everything felt still for a moment, just the briefest of moments where every crushing memory that flickered through Accalia's head had vanished without a trace.

And the car braked with a screeching jerk and Accalia lurched forward, eyes widening.

"Cadence! This is why I drive!"

Cadence flailed her arms around before jerking it back, gesturing to something behind them. "They keep tailing me, so I braked checked them." 

Accalia peered at the side mirror and it was confirmed. Someone was extremely close to the boot of them, Accalia couldn't even see their front tyres in the side mirror they were that near.

Cadence gripped the steering wheel and yelled, "Take over me then, you idiot!"

It was a black Jeep with a dark tint to the windows and when Accalia spun around, trying to capture sight of the impatient person, her heart could explode on its own accord. Rather broad in the shoulders and upright, Accalia thought she could see his clad of black hair and sharp jaw through the shadiness.

"Cade—Cadence—" Accalia slapped her arm and didn't know why she continued to do so when she already had her cousin's attention.

"What?"

"I think it's Lycus."

It was the only logical reason. The one that made the most sense. Even with their long list of foes, Lycus was the most recent with the greatest goal to gain.

Cadence shot Accalia a disbelieving look. "Can't be,"

She peered behind her shoulder and immediately swerved onto the other side of the road and then back to her lane. "Maybe he wants the car back that we stole,"

"Sure," Accalia slapped her thigh as she tried to brew up a plan. "We'll just go with that as we're in a damn car chase!"

Cadence stepped on the accelerator and spaced out the distance between them.

"We'll lose him," Cadence said determinedly.

Accalia clutched her head with her hands, trying to capture quick breaths of air as her heart rattled against her ribcage.

"I can't believe this is happening," Accalia spilled out between breaths.

Cadence drove with one hand as she put the air conditioner on and placed the same hand on her cousin's shoulder. "You need to try and breathe, alright? You're no good to me freaking out. We're gonna get out of this."

Accalia looked up for a split second and just locked onto the sight ahead, a shriek lurching out of her throat.

"Cadence, watch out!"

Accalia grabbed hold of the steering wheel, jerking the wheel to the side as she attempted to not hit the animal that stood in the middle of the road and not have roadkill on their tyres.

Successfully, the girls rounded the frozen deer, but as Cadence gripped the steering wheel once again it swerved on its own accord and all sense of control went out the window.

A screech followed and glass shattered as the vehicle flipped. Screams cut through space and air. It felt eternal, the sounds of screams and the day spinning out of reality as the car landed on the roof.

Accalia braced herself as a thundering crack hung underneath and the roof caved in from beneath her. A colliding noise came after that and it was Cadence. Her forehead smashed into the steering wheel and she immediately went limp, her head slumping against the seat, almost lifelessly.

"Ahh," Accalia cried out, gripping the corner of her head as her vision swayed over to Cadence, who lay unresponsive and bleeding.

An untouched and fearsome feeling like a hole being made in Accalia's chest punched through her.

"Cade—Cadence!" A scream spilled out of her, voice reaped with desperation as she tried to unbuckle herself.

Glass scattered Accalia's body as a gust of fumes shrouded her and Cadence, engulfing for air becoming shallow and stuffy.

Blood seeped down her throat as she continued to cry out for her cousin and tried to wedge out of her seatbelt to get to her.

But her eyes locked onto something else.

A pair of rough boots stalked to her side of the vehicle, coming her way at a fierce stride and when someone came to their knees, Accalia felt tears rush to her eyes.

"Stay away from me! You did this, you caused all of this!" Accalia screamed at him.

Lycus's lips tore into a grim line as he fixed her a look, taking in every angle of her body.

"I'm going to get you out, Accalia," Lycus murmured to her and she felt cold against her seat, head craning against the floor at an uncomfortable angle.

"No—no—get Cadence, get her now!"

If he was going to do anything remotely beneficial for her, it would be to rescue Cadence and then she would find her way out.

Just get Cadence out.

Lycus amber eyes scorned with defiance, a grunt hitching in his throat and said, "I need to get you,"

Accalia's face darkened with animosity, a fretful feeling of sickness rising to her throat. "Please just get to her—"

The sense of reality began to fade when Accalia found her voice dying out and before she could shed the moment away like it was a nightmare, the day became darker as her eyes closed and she fell into obscurity.