As always.
Now, he wants her to take me and run, I know it.
But I won’t leave him. I won’t let them kill him. I desperately try to think of something to do, something that will stop this from happening, but I know in my heart that there’s absolutely nothing I can do.
They’re going to kill Rory, and then they’re likely going to chase down and kill me and Vivian too.
“Sorry it has to be this way,” Remus says as his jaw widens, and his mouth suddenly looks like his canines are way too big to fit inside of it. The words signaling bloodshed begin to form on his lips … and then he’s stopped.
“It doesn’t,” a new voice bellows from behind me.
I have never been more happy to hear Romulus’ voice in my life.
I turn around to see him and all the rest of his pack walking up behind Vivian. There are even more people with them. One of the women that I don’t recognize walks up and puts her arm around Vivian as if she belongs to her, and then another man—the one I saw arrive with her that first day—walks next to Vivian’s other side and she lowers her head in response to his presence there.
Vivian’s pack is here too.
Even with their added numbers, however, Remus’ pack still far outnumbers us.
Romulus, Lydia, and the other two boys walk ahead of the others and past where Vivian is standing. They come up to flank Rory on either side. Lydia stands next to me and I can feel her reach for my hand.
I let her weave her fingers between mine and take a big breath in as I wait to see what will happen now.
Romulus and Kaleb stand on one side of Rory, and Marlowe on the other. I catch a quick glance of Kaleb’s eyes flashing back toward me to make sure I’m alright. They must have gotten Vivian’s messages after all.
God, they arrived just in time.
Remus glares at Romulus and even though I can’t see the expression on Romulus face, I can imagine it. The muscles at the sides of his neck are taut and bulging and his posture seems much taller and broader than it was before, which is impressive considering Romulus’s already massive stature.
When we survive this, I would be curious to see what Romulus looks like in his shifted wolf state.
If we survive this.
“I understand want
ing to come and save your son,” Remus says to his brother, “but it was still a stupid idea to come. Rory has broken our agreement. He has trespassed onto my territory, and he did so with the intent to kill. You and I both know that our pack laws side with me.”
I can tell by the protruding vein in Romulus’ neck that he does know that, and that Rory has placed them all in an impossible situation.
I’ve placed them in an impossible situation. Again.
“I don’t debate the stupidity of my eldest son,” Romulus says, calmly. “But I do debate your manner of dealing with it. We are blood, something that you claim to be of utmost importance. And yet you would strike down your own nephew, your own blood, simply because a rule was broken? Which is it then Remus, which thing is more important to you; rules or blood?”
The expression on Remus’ face twists into one of rage.
Still, Romulus is right, and if Remus wants to adhere to his pure-blooded values that his pack is built upon, he can’t just slaughter his nephew … not over a human, anyway. Someone so insignificant.
“You’ve always been the clever one,” Remus says snidely. “Ever since we were young. I admire that quality in you, actually. But this simply cannot go unpunished. It was a foolish, human judgement that caused this rift between you and me to begin with. The rift that has broken a brotherhood and caused our packs to be more enemy than ally, was all caused by a pathetic, human woman that came between us. This is no different, and it will end no less poorly.”
The tone of Romulus’ voice changes. It’s no longer anger, but rather seems to be laced with pity and remorse as he appeals to the part of his brother that he once recognized.
“She was not a pathetic human woman,” Romulus says as if it pains him deeply to even speak of her. “You loved her every bit as much as I did. Human or wolf, it matters not … what matters is that love is love. She wasn’t the one that caused the rift between us, brother. Deny it all you like, but out of everyone standing here—all of our pack members and family that are ready to go to battle with each other right this very moment in this very spot—you and I are the only ones that carry the pain of that in our bones each and every night.”
He and Remus face each other, neither one backing down, but also neither one eager to cross the withering gap between them.
“You can hate me and my choices all that you like,” Romulus continues, “but you and I are forever connected because of that. You can fool everyone else here, but not me.”
There’s a very distinct look that comes when someone has reached a level of pain that is so overwhelming that the only way to cope with it is to turn the pain into anger.