Dark Twin Moon - The Awakening

Chapter 4:

The morning came faster than Kayleb would have liked. As he tried to get up, he could feel how stiff his body was; his neck hurt, and his feet were cold. It took him a moment longer before he finally opened his eyes. Confusion filled his mind as he saw an unfamiliar room around him. He panicked, shuffling around noisily, even going as far as jumping up from his sleeping place, causing pain rippling through his body. A small, pain-filled scream escaped his mouth. The moment he opened his eyes, he calmed down almost immediately.

Quickly, he realized where he was, thanks to the many family portraits hanging around. It wasn't a cause for concern for him, considering he hadn't left his room until the day before. The house was largely new to him. Even though he had been there before, it still felt unfamiliar.

Almost as soon as Kayleb had calmed down, his little brother came rushing down the stairs. Panic was written all over his face, claws and fangs out, as he came within sight of his older brother.

Ian looked around. But all he could see was Kayleb standing in the living room. He rushed to his brother's side, thinking whoever broke in had already escaped. Ian's hands were between his lycan and his natural erelion form. His fingers were shaped like his claws, while his metacarpal was his usual shape.

For Kayleb, it looked scary and funny at the same time. But he could see the concern in his brothers' eyes, so he didn't laugh about it, even though he really wanted to. Usually, they would joke if something like this happened to them. But even that didn't feel right to him without Maxie. While he was lost in thought again, the claws of his little brother's hands carefully searched for injuries.

Kayleb didn't even realize his scream of pain was so loud that Ian could've thought he was actually hurt.

"What happened?" Ian finally asked after staring into Kayleb's eyes questioningly for about five minutes after he couldn't find any injuries on his brother's body.

"I slept on the couch," Kayleb answered truthfully, not fully grasping the situation yet, as he just woke up. In his mind, that was all that needed to be said to answer everything, especially his hurt scream.

For a moment, Ian looked back and forth between his brother and said object, doubting that this could be all. Kayleb followed his brother's eyes, and to his surprise, he saw a blanket he hadn't felt before.

"Yes, I know. I put the blanket over your heavy body. You didn't expect me to carry you upstairs like a little kid. Did you?" He tried to sound serious, but the evil twinkle in his eyes told Kayleb something else.

"It would have been nice," Kayleb said, slowing his words a little. "Considering I did it for you up until two months ago, you know," he said, shrugging nonchalantly. Immediately, he could see a deep blush grow on his little brother's cheeks.

Ian tried to escape this conversation by rolling his eyes and walking away from him through the open doorway. But Kayleb caught him before he could get too far. As his arms wrapped around him to bathe him in affection, he must have understood what would happen next as he tried to escape his older brother's sudden embrace.

With a loud laugh that made Ian's blood run cold, Kayleb held him tighter. The older one felt a shiver run down the other's spine. Kayleb did the one thing his brother couldn't take: tickle him. Ian's hearty laughter warmed his cold heart, which he hadn't felt beating that strongly in the past month.

"Please!" He begged with every breath he could take. But Kayleb didn't even think about letting him go, knowing well that his little brother would run away. He tickled him until Ian couldn't breathe, and his wiggling finally stopped. Before he could pass out, however, his older brother stopped his menacing attack.

Instead of losing touch with his little brother, he tightened his grip on his sides, picked him up off the floor, and carried him over to the kitchen.

After Kayleb sat his still-weak brother on one of the bar stools, he ensured he was seated securely. It already had happened once that after one of those tickle attacks, Ian just fell to the floor like a sack of wet flour and injured himself pretty seriously. Kayleb did not want to risk it happening again.

He took a few steps from Ian to show him his torture was now behind him and pulled an apron over his clothes from the day before.

"Eggs and bacon?" he asked his brother with a contented grin as he walked over to the stove.

Instead of answering his older brother's question, he let out a smell of excitement. Kayleb knew Ian needed a few minutes to regain consciousness. The lack of oxygen is rougher on him than any other of their species Kayleb has ever known. It makes it easy to pick on him if someone gets their hands on him and is aware of his weakness.

But the moment Kayleb put the food down in front of his brother - about twenty minutes later - Ian quickly devoured it. Kayleb felt relieved he didn't hit his brother too hard with the lack of oxygen.

"So, will you tell me where you were yesterday?"

Without losing a heartbeat, Ian swallowed the food he had put in his mouth. At the sound of those words, his once-puffy cheeks deflated, and the food they contained seemed to have vanished.

He tried to cough it up, coughing violently, slightly choking. Kayleb didn't help him this time. Now, he knew something was going on. And that Ian didn't want to tell him what it was. It saddened him a little, but if Ian could have secrets, he had the right to have his own. Right?

With that in mind, Kayleb's belief that something was wrong increased tenfold. But strange as it was, something about his little brother's smell made him think he was hiding something awful. Possibly even something big. A scent of fear and shame that he released like a frightened puppy.

They just looked at each other for a moment longer than usual. Both knew Ian couldn't keep his secret in the dark forever. He was the weaker in every respect. But not only because of his younger age. His older twin brothers have always been gifted - Kayleb in particular.

There was only one problem: one that made Ian think he could hide it for a while. Kayleb hadn't turned since the accident he refused to talk about, which made that side of him weaker and angrier.

Kayleb quickly realized he wasn't going to get the information he wanted. Therefore, in his eyes, he let his little idiot see that he suspected something, letting him know he would not give up that easily. His patience suddenly snapped, causing him to storm out of the room in burning anger before either could utter another word. But really, it was just about letting him know that his stubbornness wouldn't save him forever.

His path led him to his bedroom, where he showered and finally changed into new clothes, just another plain shirt and pants. Nothing special. He wasn't really in the mood for anything else that day. Even his light-brown hair was having a bad day. It annoyed him even further.

Before leaving his room, he glanced in passing in a mirror. He was bothered that he didn't look as good as the day before, especially since he had a panic attack and still looked better.

Annoyed, he rummaged through his clothes and found a white button shirt, which he immediately slipped over his shirt but left the buttons undone and rolled up the sleeves. But even that wasn't enough. A cap that had belonged to Maxie rested on his head just a second later to hide his awful hair, and two of his rings landed on his left index and little fingers.

For a moment, it felt like he and Maxie were one and the same because half the clothes were his while the other half belonged to his dead twin. But it didn't feel weird; more like it was meant to be from the start. The longer Kayleb looked at himself in the mirror, the better he felt.

Just looking at the watch on his left wrist kept him from standing in front of the mirror all day.

He ran downstairs as fast as he could and grabbed his backpack, brother, and keys to start the second day at a school where Kayleb may have already blown their cover. Ian didn't know about it yet, and even Kayleb had forgotten it until that moment. He cursed himself loudly in his head so only he could hear it.

"Hide your damn smell, Ian! We're almost there." Instead of working on his anger, Kayleb took it out on his little brother yet again, only this time Ian didn't freak out. He just stared at his older brother while finally hiding his scent. That was at least one less problem for the moment.