Chapter 41

~Tony~

Gone was the cocky attitude, the annoying confidence and the know-it-all grin. In its place was uncertainty and maybe just a touch of nervousness.

It was definitely a far cry from his usual disposition.

"I guess you heard everything then." He was saying now, eyes not quite meeting mine and his fingers knotted together in front of him.

"I heard enough." I replied in a voice that no longer sounded like my own. My throat felt as though it had been rubbed raw with sandpaper and every time I swallowed it hurt like you wouldn't believe.

I glanced over at Kaio, who stood at the foot of my bed, watching me with an expression I could only describe as awe. When he caught my eyes he offered a small smile.

"It's true." Malik was saying and I glanced back at him. "You're my brother."

"My parents died in a car crash when I was just a scrawny little kid and I lived in foster homes until I was nineteen." I told him quietly. "Throughout all those long years I'd go to bed every night and wish for a brother or a sister or any sort of family to take me away from there and through all that wishing and hoping; that brother and sister never came. So if you really are who you say you are, then why now, why at all?"

Finally he met my eyes, determination burning bright as he watched me. "Those people who died in the accident weren't your parents. If anything they were your kidnappers." he began and I felt the low throbbing begin in my temple. "You were taken right from our own backyard. You were just a toddler...barely even able to walk."

I could only look at him. With every word he spoke, the more drained I became and when he opened his mouth to continue, I turned my attention to Kaio.

"Where's Rien?"

His eyes went to the phone he held and he frowned at the screen. "He had an urgent matter to attend to. He will be back here as soon as time allows."

I glanced around the room, taking in the rows and rows of empty beds and the bare white walls.

"Which hospital is this?"

Kaio and Malik exchanged a look. "This is not a hospital. It is merely a place for you to recuperate. We have taken refuge here for a while until Lord Riener negotiates a plan of action."

Even reaching up to run a hand over my forehead took some effort. "What plan? What's going on?"

"Perhaps when you are better rested we may discuss it."

"Tony, if you'd just give me a chance I'd like to explain everything. I want to tell you about our parents and how I managed to find you after all these years." Malik tried again and I took a breath.

"Maybe when I'm better rested we can discuss it." I recited Kaio's words and to my surprise Malik grabbed my hand and squeezed.

"I swore to myself that I'd tell you everything when you woke up. I'm done with the secrets."

"And I'm not in the mood to hear them." I told him firmly and it was the truth. I was feeling all kinds of banged up. Everything hurt and I was tender in places I didn't even know were there. My head was throbbing, my throat was raw and the longer I kept my eyes open, the more I found myself losing focus of everything in the room. I wasn't in the mood—not for anything and certainly not for this.

"You're stubborn... I get that. It's something I've had to deal with since I met you." Malik continued to make noise. "But I've got a lot to say and I'm not leaving here until I do."

I looked at him and thought it strange the way his face was blurring right before me. I blinked a few times and when my sight cleared, I looked at Kaio.

"Get him out."

He looked surprised, then uncomfortable as he glanced back and forth between us.

"Tony, perhaps if you were to give Mal a chance he cou—"

"I want him out." I told him again and a strange weariness swept over me.

I could tell he said something then, but I didn't hear what it was and I didn't think I wanted to know. I just wanted Malik to leave and I wanted to sleep and I wanted Rien.

"Where's Rien?" I asked him again because I couldn't remember what he'd said before and this time he frowned at me; his expression a mixture of concern and something else I couldn't understand.

"Go get the doctor Mal." I heard him saying. Then he was by my side, clutching my hand.

"Perhaps you should try to rest now Tony. You have been through a great ordeal." he continued and by now his blurry face was hardly recognizable. "Lord Riener will be by your side when you next wake."

When my eyes closed I was too tired to open them again, but that was okay. I would just rest them for a little while. Just for a while until Rien came.

.................................

"Just let him rest. He's been through a lot. When he wakes up again let me know."

"Of course doctor."

"He's already been sleeping for over three hours, what more rest could he possibly need?"

"Relax Mal. You have heard what the doctor has had to say. Allow him to rest."

"What if this isn't just sleeping? What if he's knocked out like before?"

"I do not think that is the case."

"You can't know that."

"I do. I can feel the difference in him. Tony is healing. He is doing well and Lord Rien will be pleased when he learns of it."

A pause.

"Is he still not answering?"

Another pause.

"I'm afraid not. Perhaps the meeting with his father is still underway."

"This is the man Tony wants in his life? Some emotionless dick who can't even stay by his side when he needs him the most?"

"Lord Riener does what needs to be done. I assure you he would not have left Tony's side had he not a good reason for so doing."

A sigh. "He doesn't even want to hear what I have to say Kaio."

"Patience Mal. Tony has never been very trusting, but soon he will come to accept you."

"I've been searching for him for years. Mom and dad searched right up to the time they died. I can't have come this far to fail."

"The very fact that you have found him is testament of your success."

"Yeah...sure."

"I think a walk would do us some good... come along."

"No... you go ahead. I think I'm gonna stay here for a little while."

"Watching him while he sleeps will not make him wake up any faster you know."

"No but it gives me a chance to talk to him...he could hear us last time...maybe this time I can tell him everything without him shutting me up every half a minute."

"Very well. I shall be back in but a few short moments."

The shuffle of feet sounded on the wooden floor, then the opening and closing of a door.

I opened my eyes when I knew Kaio had left and watched Malik pace the floor. He had his hands trapped behind his back and his head bowed as he walked; back and forth from the wall to the foot of my bed.

"I thought you wanted to tell me everything without me shutting you up every half a minute." I said into the silence and he froze, looking up at me in surprise.

"You've been awake this whole time?"

I would have shrugged if I didn't know the action would hurt like a bitch. "Long enough."

He took the few steps it would take to get to my bedside and as I watched, he sat.

"How are you feeling?"

I flexed my fingers. "Like I was somebody's punching bag. What the hell happened?"

He leaned back in the chair and folded his arms before him. "You were shot with a poisoned arrow."

Ah yes. Noah and Snowflake. How could I forget.

"Where are we?"

"A wolf camp. Rien's father lost his shit and plans to sacrifice his entire coven in some crazy attempt to conquer the wolves." He said simply." Waste of time if you ask me. I've never seen so many wolves in my life."

"So Rein managed to convince them then." I surmised and he nodded.

"He told you."

"Bits and pieces." I replied.

He shook his head. "Yeah your boy Rien is a real charmer apparently."

"Always has been."

"I guess that's how he sucked you in huh?" he continued. "He used his fancy words and you fell for his bullshit?"

"I think I sucked him in actually. He wanted nothing to do with a little human boy back then."

"Yeah? So how'd you do it?"

This time I did shrug and as expected it hurt. "I was persistent. Wouldn't leave him alone and wouldn't take no for an answer." I smiled at the memory.

"You're a pretty stubborn guy."

"You're no better."

He smiled. "Yeah but dad was worse... I'm tame compared to the two of you. I couldn't get a word in where he was concerned."

I looked down at the soft cotton blanket that had been thrown over me and picked absently at it. "So it's true then." I said  "We're really brothers?"

"We are."

I was pretty sure it hadn't really hit me yet. I couldn't say what I felt in that moment.

"I researched you like you said back then." I told him. "So your folks are dead and you have more money than any fool has any right to have. What else?"

This time he leaned forward, his elbows on his knees. "I was just a kid when they took you." He began. "The abridged version is; mom and dad told me to watch you while we were out in the yard. I had better things to do and next thing we knew, you were gone. They searched for you for years after that but no luck. We moved to the states when I was eighteen but they never stopped looking. Right up until the point of their death they had private investigators scouring Russia for you... but I think they'd lost hope by then anyway."

"I don't remember ever being in Russia."

He shook his head. "You wouldn't. When they died, I figured it was time for me to take a different approach...an unorthodox approach."

"That being?"

"Vampires."

I watched him through narrowed slits. "Go on."

"I'd had the misfortune of meeting one back in college. A nasty fellow that one, but I quickly found out that even the supernatural could be strapped for cash. So I used that to my advantage." He took a breath. "I didn't see him again for two years after I left, but I managed to get a hold of him after mom and dad died. I paid him to find you."

"And it was as easy as that huh? Pay some bloodsucker and you got yourself your brother back."

He shook his head. "I thought it would be that easy...especially if he was going off a sense of smell, but he explained that blood is never a sure thing. There are too many similar blood signatures and scouring the earth to find one that matched my own wasn't easy." He explained. "Took him three and a half years to track you down."

"And that's how you ended up on the frontline." I surmised and he nodded.

"We just never imagined you'd be in the US army. So with the help of the vamp, I infiltrated their group on that same day you were injured. "They never suspected a thing."

"And what did you really think you could do out there?"

"Figured that if I found you I could convince you to leave with me... or drag you kicking and screaming if I had to."

I shook my head. "That's probably the dumbest plan I've ever heard."

He nodded. "Probably, but I just wanted you out of there. I told myself I couldn't have been searching for you for so long only to have to die in some pointless war."

"And of course you didn't find me...so then what?"

"The vamp found you...spotted you by the smell of your blood and pointed out the vehicle you were travelling in. That's when I realized I was on the wrong team.

When I only watched him, he cleared his throat and continued.

"So anyway the vamp pointed you out just in time for me to see some guy from our side pointing an RPG at you guys. I didn't think. One minute I was watching him, the next minute I was tackling him to the ground and the shot missed its chance of a direct hit."

I processed his words carefully. Thinking on what he'd said and allowing what it meant to fully register.

"If we'd been hit directly I'd have died instantly. You're saying you saved my life."

"I'm saying I tried to keep you from getting blown up... You were still hurt pretty bad. Rien saved your life."

"And the vamp that helped you? Who was he?"

He shrugged. "No one you know."

"How'd you get injured?"

He chuckled. "About a second after I tackled the one guy to the ground, everything around us went to shit. I literally watched a guy get blown away, then I remember feeling this heat and the next thing I knew I was waking up in a room with Rien and Kaio standing over me."

Something clicked then. "Rien told me that Kaio mistook you for me out there because of how similar our blood smelled. Didn't realize what he meant at the time."

He nodded.

Comprehension dawned. "Rien knew." I said with certainty. "After he rescued you...he knew you were my brother."

He nodded again. "I'd had to tell Kaio, but yeah, Rien figured it out somehow."

"And even after all that time he didn't think to tell me." I didn't know why the things Rien did surprised me anymore.

"I wanted to tell you on my own terms."

My eyes narrowed. "Yeah and you waited until I was shot with a fucking poisonous arrow to come clean. Great timing." I continued sarcastically.

"I know...I should have said something earlier. It was stupid of me to keep it to myself."

"Stupid and a dick... you're full of surprises aren't you?"

"Yeah well I can say the same about you. The fact that you're actually giving that damn vampire a chance after the shit he pulled is pretty damn stupid in itself."

Rien's face flashed before my eyes then and I felt a hollowness in my chest.

"Where is he anyway?"

"Back at the coven last I heard."

"He say when he'd be back?"

He shrugged. "Not a clue and to be honest I couldn't care less." His eyes met mine. "You could do a lot better."

I felt the anger well up inside me. "Don't think that just because you told me we're brothers means you get to shove your advice down my throat and lecture me about shit you have no right to talk to me about."

He held up his hands in surrender. "I'm just being honest man."

I shifted slightly to ease the throbbing in my side and lifted a hand to my head. "Sometimes he makes shitty choices and maybe I'm still pissed off about the way he handled everything five years ago, but he's still the only one who's ever given a shit about me. Despite all the crap I pulled and the hell I put him through, he was always there when it counted."

"He left you in the army for five years...how was he there when it counted?'

I looked at him then. "Do you know how many men go through a year without even a word from the people they love? You know how many men would give their last breath to get even a letter from somebody... from anybody while they're out there serving?"

He shrugged.

"More than you'd imagine." I told him. "Yet I was lucky enough to get my two packages every month like clockwork. I never wanted for a thing while I was in there. Yeah it was damn hard and yeah I missed him like you wouldn't believe, but he took care of me. He didn't have to but he did."

"So what? You think you owe him now?"

"No.  but I've had time to think these past few weeks I've been in that coven and even though I give him shit for leaving me there, the fact is, I got myself into it. I'm the one who signed up; no one forced me to and it wasn't his job to get me out of it."

"Maybe not but—"

"No buts about it. It wasn't his job, but he damn well made sure I was okay. I doubt I'll ever get over the fact that he left me for five years and maybe I was too angry to see it before or I just didn't want to admit it, but it doesn't change the fact that he loves me." I told him seriously. "When he looks at me, he's looking at me and despite the anger and the pain and how much I blamed him, there wasn't one time I could honestly say I didn't still love him right back."

This time he said nothing and I looked away.

"Maybe it's time I stop being a pussy about it and tell him that."

"Your language still leaves much to be desired, but I shall accept your confession nonetheless."

My head shot up at the sound of Rien's voice and beside me, Malik rose slowly.

"I thought you were back at the coven." I issued weakly and as he pushed away from the door and approached, a small smile formed on his lips.

"I was."

I was vaguely aware of Malik exiting the room and when Rien came to sit in the chair he'd vacated, I sat up carefully.

"Hello my love." He said simply, taking my hand in his.

"Why are you always keeping shit from me?" Was the only thing I could think to say in the moment and he kissed the back of my hand.

"It was not my secret to tell. Malik alone was entitled to that privilege."

"I don't trust him."

"No, but perhaps one day you will."

"He wants me to believe that the people I've missed and loved my whole life kidnapped me from some backyard in a foreign country and tried to raise me as their own?"

"It may sound farfetched but I do believe he speaks the truth."

"There's something he's not telling me. I can feel it."

He smiled. "Perhaps there is, but I wouldn't worry too much about it." He said, then leaned in to plant a kiss on my cheek. "I have missed you desperately Tony."

I looked down at our joined hands, then back to his face. He was watching me with such intensity that I felt my face heat—like a damn chick.

I looked away.

"You scared me." He said softly and something in his voice made me look back at him.

"Really now? The big bad Rien of the warrior coven gets scared?"

"For a while I thought that perhaps I would never hear your voice again. I have never seen you so ill."

"Did you give me your blood?"

"It had no effect." He said. "Nothing had any effect. You gave us all quiet a scare."

"Yeah well... I wasn't about to make a piece of stick get the best of me." I grinned.

He didn't return it.

"Do you remember the pain of it? I have never heard you scream so. I have never seen you suffer so."

I nodded slowly. "I doubt I'll ever forget it." I told him honestly. "How long have I been out?"

"Long enough to have me worry, but not too long as to warrant a glance at the calendar."

I nodded, then asked the question I was dreading to hear the answer for. "What'd you do to Christophe?"

His mouth tightened and so did my chest. "Nothing...which is more than the fool deserves."

"You didn't touch him?" I questioned in surprise. "How come?"

"I did not wish to cause you heartache when you recovered."

I glanced right back down at our hands again and he squeezed gently.

"So I hear you love me."

I shook my head. "You heard wrong."

I didn't have to look at him to know that he was smiling.

"I love you too you know. Always."

"I know."

"Look me in the eyes and say the words. I have longed to hear them."

I made to pull my hand from his but he held on tight and I looked at him. "Stuff like this doesn't come easy to me."

"It did once." He said.

"Yeah well...things change right?"

"Yes, but your heart has remained the same...just as I have always known."

"Then if you know, why do you need to hear the words?

"Because just minutes ago I believed you were on the verge of death and now I refuse to allow pride to take away from what we have.

I could see something in his eyes as he watched me. It was something I'd seen many times before in others, but never something I thought I'd see mirrored in his own.

This time I did pull away from him and my eyes narrowed. "What's wrong Rien?"

He frowned. "I do not follow."

I glanced around the room, then back at him. "Something's wrong. Tell me what it is."

He shook his head and tried again to take my hand, but I pulled it out of his reach. "What's going on?" I was dead serious as I asked and for a while we only stared at each other in silence, until finally, he looked away.

"The pack is now preparing for war. Kandane means to strike against us and I fear for your safety."

"Kandane? I thought your father was—"

"My father is nothing but a man with tricks. Kandane however, is in a rage and when he does not get his way he cannot be appeased. He means to strike against us...against you and I need to remove you from here and to a place of safety."

"You'll stay here and fight I'm guessing."

He nodded. "Of course. I must."

"Then I'm staying."

He was already shaking his head. "Absolutely not. You are barely able to shift without feeling discomfort. I will not keep you here where the risks are greater and you cannot even flee to save yourself."

"Then give me your blood. Heal me."

"It will bear no fruit. I have already told you of my attempts."

"I'm better now, just tired and sore. Your blood will work."

He was shaking his head again. 'I do not understand why you would wish to remain here and risk your life. You are as reckless as you have always been."

"I'm not reckless Rien.' I told him seriously. "Just in love...now give me your damn blood, then help me off this bed."

For a second he could only stare, then slowly a smile blossomed on his serious face.

"I shall give you my blood, but you will not remain here."

I smiled just a brightly. "We'll see about that."

And he bit into his wrist.

AUTHOR'S NOTES

EXAMS ARE DONE SO I'M FINALLY BACK!

THANKS FOR BEING PATIENT AND THANKS FOR READING!

-DoUbLe.A

-unedited.