The Dark-Hunters, page 539
Gods, his emotions were absolutely bipolar and volatile where Vane was concerned.
That pain and hurt were still raw inside him. The months of brutal survival couldn’t be undone with a simple encounter. He needed time to come to terms with what he’d been through.
What he’d consigned himself to.
With a hesitant smile on her beautiful face, Aimee met him at the kitchen door. Her T-shirt was a bit tighter on her body today and it caused a vicious wave of lust to consume him. Thank the gods something overrode his pain.
Before he even realized what he’d done, he reached out to her and put his arm around her shoulders. She wrapped her arm around his waist and helped him through the kitchen and back up to his room.
Fang didn’t speak the entire way up the mahogany stairs as the lavender scent of Aimee captured him.
Once in his room, he lay back in the huge tester bed while she covered him with a brightly colored quilt.
Her gaze suspicious, she paused by his side. “I know something’s wrong with you, wolf. You’re never this silent.”
Fang snorted at her poor attempt for humor. He probably shouldn’t mention any of this and yet he found himself confiding in her even against his better judgment. “If my mother’s defeated and Stefan is down there in the bar with Vane and Fury and not fighting them to the death…” He didn’t finish the thought. He already had a good idea of what that meant.
Someone was now in charge of those two clans.
And it wasn’t him.
That stung him deep inside. Things had changed so dramatically and he felt all alone. Disassociated. Stunned. Most of all, deeply betrayed. Maybe he should have stayed in the Nether Realm. It was obvious that no one here needed him anymore. Vane had moved on with his life.
Their entire clan had restructured under someone else’s leadership.
What was he going to do now? He felt lost and he hated that sensation.
Aimee felt Fang’s turmoil and it made her want to cry that she couldn’t help him. She couldn’t stand feeling so helpless. Most of all, she didn’t want to see their family splintered at a time when they needed one another the most. “You know your brother checked on you every day while you were out of it. Even today, he made sure to come see you. Fury was here too.”
“I know.”
And still he was so sad.
Without thinking, she curled up on the bed beside him and wrapped her arms around him to hold him close. It was the only way to comfort him that she knew.
Fang closed his eyes as his heart pounded from the warmth of her embrace. No one had ever held him like this before.
No one.
There was nothing sexual about it. It was a hug meant to comfort him. And may the gods have mercy on his worthless soul because it did.
Placing his hand over her much smaller one, he felt something inside him shatter and in that moment, he knew a truth that scared him even more than the demon that was living inside him.
He loved her.
It made a mockery of what he’d thought he felt for Stephanie all those years ago. This wasn’t the crush of a young wolf fascinated with a beautiful wolfswan who was coveted by the pack. This was the bloody and bruised heart of an animal that had never really been opened before.
Aimee had come for him and she had stood beside him when no one else had. She alone had fought to save him from hell.
Even now …
Gods help me. He shouldn’t feel like this. He should shove her out the door and yet he couldn’t bring himself to destroy the serenity of this moment with her. The tenderness inside him that her touch awoke.
For the first time in his entire life, he was at peace.
Without a word, she trailed her hand up to brush through his hair. His body was white-hot, reminding him of the fact that it had been literally months since he’d last been with a woman.
And he wanted her with a madness that was consuming. A madness he had to deny for both their sakes.
“As much as I’m enjoying that, Aimee, you’re going to have to stop.”
“Why?”
“Because I want you so badly I can taste it.”
She rolled him over onto his back. Her crystal blue gaze only added to the need in him to have her. Those dainty fingers, so soft and soothing, played over his lips as she smiled at him. Then she did the most amazing thing of all, she lowered her head and kissed him.
Fang growled at the taste of her. At the warmth of her breath mingling with his as their tongues danced together. He surrendered himself to the magic of her mouth.
For a moment, all of his thoughts scattered.
“No,” he said, pulling away. “We can’t do this.”
“I know. I’m sorry.” Kissing him lightly on the cheek, she got up slowly and straightened her clothes.
His cock twitched as her breasts were made even more apparent by that action. Damn, hadn’t one of her brothers or her parents ever told her not to parade around like that? Her nipples were hard and outlined in a way that tortured him even worse than the demons had.
Gods, to taste just one of those …
The wolf inside was salivating.
“Are you hungry?”
Yes, he was, but not for food. “No. I’m all right.”
She nodded. “I’ll be in my room if you need me.”
Naked? He almost groaned aloud as that image went through his mind with a clarity that should be illegal. Damn it to hell, get out of my head. But the image of her nude body was there and it blistered him.
As soon as she was gone, he placed his hand down to his cock to try and alleviate some of the pain she’d caused. It was no use. He was so hard, he could drive a nail with his erection.
“What am I going to do?”
If he touched her, he would violate all the laws of the Omegrion and her family would mount his balls to the mirror that hung over the bar.
So he would suffer. Whimper … none of it would give him what he really wanted, which was to be inside her sinfully delicious body.
“Fang?”
He heard Vane’s voice from the other side of his door. Pulling the covers over his lap to hide what Aimee had done to him, he sighed at the welcomed interruption even though he dreaded seeing his brother again. “Come in.”
Vane opened the door. “Hey.”
Fang would have been amused by his uncharacteristic hesitancy, but right now nothing much could elicit that from him. Not while his body was this hungry.
Awkward silence filled the room as they stared at each other.
Vane leaned against the closed door. “I can’t believe you’re finally awake. I really thought I’d lost you.”
“Yeah, well, you’ll have to forgive me for being a selfish asshole.” Fang cringed as those words flew out of his mouth before he could stop them.
Vane stiffened as he recognized the quote. “You heard me?”
Fang looked away, unwilling to answer. So he changed the subject. “Why’s Stefan downstairs?”
“Markus has fallen and Stefan is no longer a leader. I put Fury in charge of the pack.”
Fang couldn’t have been more pissed off had his brother slapped him. Then again, that’s exactly what he’d done by putting Fury in as their leader.
It should have been him.
“He’s not strong enough to lead.”
“With my backing he is.”
And with Vane’s backing, Fang couldn’t challenge him for leadership. Well, he could, but it would break their bond and weaken them before the others, leaving them open to attack. Which was exactly what the other wolfswains would do. Perfect. He’d been completely cut out of his birthright.
Markus would be thrilled.
Vane moved forward cautiously as he watched Fang’s solemn contemplation. This wasn’t the reunion he’d expected when Fang finally came out of his coma. He’d dreamed of this moment over and over again. Fang waking up, happy to be alive. His brother embracing him.…
But something was different now. There was an air around Fang far deadlier than anything Vane had sensed from him before.
His brother was angry and there was a bitterness to him that he didn’t understand. Why would he feel like that given what he’d put Vane and Fury through? “You’ve been out of it for months.”
“Believe me, I know.” His eyes flashed with brutal malice.
Frustrated, Vane sighed. “What do you want from me?”
“Nothing, Vane, I just want you to be happy.”
His mouth might have said that, but his tone didn’t. Vane tried again to ease the tension between them. “I am that. Finally. Bride’s better than I ever deserved. And we both have a room for you at our house.”
Fang grimaced at his offer. “I don’t know. You two are newly mated. The last thing you need is your mentally defective brother spooking the shit out of your woman.”
That was a vintage Fang comment. One of the sarcastic retorts that Vane had been craving to hear all of these months past. “Bride doesn’t spook easily.”
“Probably true if she sees you first thing in the morning.”
Vane smiled at his humor. His chest was tight as he realized just how much he really had missed his brother while Fang had been out of it. There was no one else in the world like him. “We want you with us.”
Fang shot out of the bed as if he were about to attack. “I’m not your son, Vane,” he snarled with an unexpected rage. “I’m not a child. I’m a grown wolf and I really don’t think I belong with you guys.”
He nodded, but refused to back down. He knew better than to let Fang sense his emotions. It would only make the wolf in him more volatile.
So he tried to change the subject to something safer. “There’s something else you need to know about Fury.”
Fang scoffed. “He’s my brother. Aimee already told me.”
That surprised the hell out of him. Just how close was his brother to the bearswan?
That couldn’t be good.
“Do you want to see him?” Vane asked.
“Not really. In case you’ve forgotten, the two of us aren’t exactly friendly.”
“Yeah, I know. But he’s been a big help protecting Bride.”
“I’m glad you had him.” The tone of his voice belied those words.
Vane scowled at his attitude, which was beginning to chafe his ass raw. He’d been keeping a leash on his temper, but it was starting to slip under the constant assault he didn’t deserve.
He was trying, but Fang wasn’t making any effort at all.
Instead Fang kept attacking and the wolf part of Vane was getting really sick of it. “Why are you so angry at me?”
Fang simmered inside. His fury was volcanic and he wanted to lash out at Vane in the worst way.
You let me down, you asshole!
But that wasn’t the only bane that burned inside him. It was the fact that while Vane had let him down, he’d cursed him for being trapped. That his brother had said things to him that were wrong and hurtful.
And wholly undeserved.
He wanted to feel the same love and loyalty for his brother now that he’d felt the night Anya had died. But it wasn’t there anymore and that hurt most of all.
Fang wasn’t the same and neither was Vane.
Unwilling to fight anymore when it wouldn’t change anything, Fang backed off. “Look, I still don’t feel well. Why don’t you go and spend time with your mate and Fury?”
“What about you? You’re my family too.”
Yeah, right.
Funny, he didn’t feel like that anymore. “Just pretend I’m still in a coma. I’m sure that’ll be easy enough for you to do.”
Vane screwed his face up into a look of disgust. “Oh, fuck you, you selfish bastard. You know, Fury and I were the ones who kept you safe while you laid in bed, worthless to us. And now you dare to cop an attitude with me? You are such a bitter shit.”
Fang raked Vane with a sneer. “Yeah, like you don’t know anything about being selfish.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You abandoned me to chase tail and then when I didn’t rise at your command, you buddied up with a bastard you hate. Don’t forget, I know your love of Fury runs about as deep as mine does. Where was your loyalty in all this?”
Vane slung his hand out and pinned him to the wall. “You better be glad you’ve been sick or I’d shove those words down your throat.”
Fang blasted him with a wave of his own. It shattered the powers Vane used to hold him and sent his brother reeling as he was released. “You’re not the only one who can command magick, dick.”
Vane looked up from where he’d landed on the floor against the wall, his features shocked. “How did you do that?”
“There’s a lot about me you don’t know, adelphos. Be grateful that I’m not willing to show it all to you. Now get out.”
Vane pushed himself to his feet. No, this wasn’t the same Fang who’d been through a bitter childhood with him. Something was seriously wrong with his brother and he had no idea what.
But if Fang wouldn’t tell him, there was nothing he could do.
He wiped his hand against his mouth. “Fine. Sit up here and rot.” He slammed the door shut as he left.
Aimee shot out of her room at the sound and paused in the hallway as she saw him. “Are you all right?”
“No, I’m not.” Vane glared at the closed door as he imagined splintering both it and Fang’s head wide open. “I’m one step away from killing that idiot.”
“Fang?”
“Is there another one?”
Her expression bemused, she nodded. “Quite a few under this roof, point of fact, and I’m related to several of them. But why would you want to hurt your brother after all he’s been through?”
“After all he’s been through?” Vane scoffed. “Pah-lease! You sound like him. I’m sorry if laying in bed and being hand-fed because I can’t deal with the same reality the rest of us had to face just doesn’t relate to what has been happening to me and Fury. We barely survived the hunt. I’ve had to battle a demon and Daimons and—”
“And you think Fang wanted to be in that coma?”
Vane sneered at her. “You heard what Carson and Grace said. He could have come out of it anytime he wanted to.”
Aimee shook her head. “No, Vane, he couldn’t. Believe me.”
“Believe you? No,” he said as his bitterness swelled up deep inside him. How dare she take up for Fang. “I know my brother better than anyone and I know exactly how selfish he is. All he cares about is himself.”
“Vane … you’re wrong. Fang wasn’t in a coma. He was trapped in hell. I know because I’m the one who went in and got him out of there. You battled one single demon. He battled hundreds.”
CHAPTER 19
Fang sat on the edge of his bed with his feet on the floor, his elbows on his knees, and his head in his hands. He was so tired of everything. Tired of trying to hold himself together. Tired of hurting. Of longing for things he couldn’t have.
He just wanted one minute of peace.
Why was that one thing so hard to find? Surely it should be simple and yet it was the most elusive target he’d ever known.
Before he could move, Vane appeared there before him in the room. He pulled Fang up from the bed and grabbed him in a hug so fierce he felt his ribs crack.
Fang fought the hold. “Get off me, you fucking perv!”
Vane let go, then punched him hard in his arm.
Grimacing, Fang shoved at him and would have returned the blow with one of his own had Vane not dodged it. “What was that for?”
Vane snarled at him. “For not telling me what happened to you, you asshole.” That last word was loaded with enough venom to bring down a raging bull elephant.
Completely confused, he scowled. “What are you talking about?”
Vane grabbed him by the shirt and held him with two angry fists. “Aimee told me where you were all the months I thought you were in a coma. What pisses me off most is that you should have been the one who told me. Not her.”
Pissed at his tone and hold, Fang shoved him back again. “Yeah, well, you should have been the one helping me get my soul back. Not her.”
“I thought I was dreaming.”
Fang snorted. “Vane, come help me,” he said coldly, using the words he’d tried repeatedly to get his brother’s attention. “Not exactly subtle.”
A tic worked in Vane’s jaw. He gestured toward the rumpled bed. “And when I came in here to see you, you looked comatose. Everyone told me that’s what was wrong with you. How was I supposed to know otherwise?”
How indeed. Fang glared at him and his obtuse stupidity. “You should have known better. When have I ever laid down and licked my wounds? Really?”
Vane looked away, his features sheepish as he realized the truth. Fang wasn’t a coward. He was a fighter through and through. “You’re right. I should have known better. I should have thought better of you. But I know how much Anya meant to you. I just assumed—”
That Fang was weak and incompetent. It was what Vane had always thought of him and Fang was tired of being in his shadow. “Look, I don’t want to talk about it. What’s done is done. Thanks to Aimee and her brothers, I’m back.”
Bully that, given the way Fury and Vane had shafted him. But for better or worse, he was here in the human realm.
Come to think of it, he’d basically traded one hell for another. Tell me again why I fought so hard to get back here.…
Then again, at least here no one was trying to disembowel him.
Yet.
“Let’s just forget what happened.”
Vane heard those words, but he knew his brother. He’d hurt Fang and it would take a lot of time for both of them to come to terms with what had happened. In all honesty, he hated himself for not being there when he should have been.
But as Fang said, he couldn’t undo what had been done. All he could do was make sure that he never let it happen again.
