Kalen looked at Lycus, and he smiled, flashing his canines. “Because if they don’t, I’ll bite,” he said, and Kalen laughed, letting Lycus lead him back inside.
After the day he met Lycus, they were joined at the hip, drawn to each other. Lycus always defended Kalen and taught him how to protect himself as best he could. However, when they were both fourteen, Kalen’s mental health declined, and his depression worsened until Lycus got sick of watching him hate himself.
His teacher had hit Kalen across the knuckles with a cane when he was trying to explain the work to Lycus beside him. Kalen’s knuckles split open, and Lycus lost it, standing up and ripping the cane from his teacher’s fingers. The man was cruel, hated Lycus and Kalen, and used any excuse to punish them. Lycus pulled the cane from his hand before wailing on him with it. Lycus was then shot with a dart gun after one of the students raced into the halls to alert security. Kalen watched on helplessly as Lycus was then hauled away to the infirmary, and Kalen wasn’t allowed in with him, so he waited by the door for him to wake up.
“Kalen! Now!” his teacher called to him. Kalen was waiting in a corridor for Lycus when he heard his name called. Kalen pushed off the wall he was leaning on as the burly vampiric fae stalked toward him. Kalen glanced at the door where Lycus was before turning his attention to the headteacher.
“Follow me,” the man said.
“But, Lycus—”
“I am not here for the were-fae. Now, hurry up,” the man said, turning on his heel and walking into the gymnasium. Kalen followed. He had never had issues with the headteacher; he was only new to the orphanage, so he didn’t suspect anything wrong. When he entered the gymnasium, his math teacher sat on a chair. Lash marks covered him where Lycus had beaten him.
A few other teachers stood off to the sides as they entered, and Kalen followed behind, thinking he would probably be issued the cane. He got the cane. Not a piece of his skin was left untainted when they finished beating him. This was their punishment for Lycus. They knew Kalen was Lycus’s weak spot and the only person he cared for, so they hurt Kalen to teach Lycus a lesson. Then they fed on him, nearly killing him before dumping him outside the infirmary door for Lycus to find. A few days later, Lycus had enough.
Chapter 79
“Psst, wake up. Weare leaving,” Lycus said, shaking Kalen’s shoulder and waking him. Kalen groaned and rolled over to see Lycus hovering above him.
“What’s wrong?” Kalen whispered, sitting up and rubbing his eyes while yawning.
Lycus grabbed Kalen’s face, which was still covered in lash marks. “We are leaving. We are better off on our own,” he told him, pulling Kalen’s pajama shirt off and dressing him. Kalen’s sleeping medication made him extra groggy and almost nonfunctioning.
“Where will we go?” Kalen mumbled, trying to lie back down when Lycus grabbed him under the arms forcing him to his feet.
“Anywhere they can’t touch you,” Lycus growled before chucking a bag over his shoulder.
Kalen, doped off his face from the medication, woke up later at the bus stop, having no memory of the walk there. It was freezing cold, snow covered the ground, and Lycus was rubbing his arms, trying to warm him up. The motion having woken Kalen, he peered around, confused.
“Shh, go to sleep,” Lycus murmured. Kalen trusted Lycus to keep him safe, so he did just that.
They lived like that for years, living day to day. Taking any odd jobs they could find. Lycus, at one stage, even became a male stripper to get them by. His werewolf genes made him appear older than he was, and as much as Lycus hated it, he did more than just strip for the filthy old pub tarts as he called them to get them by until he realized he was hurting Kalen. I was then shoved into one of Kalen’s happiest memories.
Lycus had just come out to the kitchen at the back of the strip club where Kalen was washing dishes, covered in sweat with money stuffed in his briefs. Kalen hung up his apron as his shift ended before stalking off out the back.
“Kalen?” Lycus asked, chasing after him and pulling clothes on as he chased after him, but Kalen hated seeing Lycus with women and found it made him jealous. He didn’t know what to think of the strange feelings he had for him. He thought it wrong to feel that way.
Trudging home in the snow, they were currently sleeping in a tent at a nearby park, both still too young to rent a place, and neither had ID.
“Kalen, did something happen?” Lycus asked him, catching up to him, but Kalen ignored him and kept walking home. When they got to the small park at the back of the pub, Kalen unzipped the tent and climbed in, sitting on his makeshift bed.
“What’s gotten into you?”
“Nothing.”
“Well, something is wrong,” Lycus said, sniffing himself. He shuddered; he hated how they pawed at him, hated the things he had to do, but he did them so they could survive. When Kalen didn’t answer, Lycus growled before stomping out of the tent and toward the toilets. There was a shower in there, but it only had cold water. Still, it was better than nothing. When he returned, Kalen continued to ignore him.
“Kalen,” Lycus said, and he looked up at Lycus. He passed Kalen a burger he must have gotten on his way home. Kalen sighed but took it. Lycus sat across from him, eating his own food.
“You were in the red room,” Kalen muttered, taking a bite of his sandwich. Lycus shrugged like it was no big deal.
“Filthy whore, she was married, too,” Lycus said, his eyes flicking to Kalen’s.
“What?” Lycus asked, but Kalen shook his head, going back to eating his food.
“You have been really strange lately. What’s gotten into you? Have you run out of medication? I can pull a double tomorrow,” Lycus told him.
Kalen muttered under his breath, and Lycus growled at him. Kalen knew he was annoyed. They told each other everything. Well, except for one thing; he never told Lycus how he felt about him. When they finished eating, Lycus rummaged through their bags, looking for Kalen’s sleeping pills, and sighed.