Blood Ties

32

Brothers
~
Lycus
~

Lycus despised silence. The way it carried itself in heavy and loud muteness.

The silent sound wasn't a tune he was familiar with. He never needed to, not when he was in a pack that revelled in the cries of others who begged for their lives. Not when they celebrated the battles they won in loud and prideful music that washed out any reason to be quiet.

Lycus wasn't used to silence, not when his father was around and more so when Rexton was born.

But at the moment, he preferred it.

The fallen leaves crunched beneath their boots and the bare trees showed the dark skies and moon that hung high like a mark. A constant reminder of the curse Lycus served.

His beast side may not be bound to the punishment the moon invokes, but it showed as a reminder of how he came to be and why he will always remain that way.

Lycus couldn't help but think, even in the pursuit of avoiding Accalia, an essence of his already fractured and forsaken soul, he had been mended by her.

How strong she appeared in the presence of her father, a cowardly and unworthy man who looked down at Accalia like she was nothing to him.

Lycus's fists clenched, hating the look he saw in William's bitter brown eyes and how it reflected so much of his father, Roman.

Roman Fenris regarded Rexton in the same way, with resentment and frustration as if his son didn't deserve the time and effort.

Once it was known Rexton wasn't like the others, with no black eyes, no beastly form or canines that were made to bite, Roman spat in his face that he was no son of his.

Banishment.

That was what Roman wanted, deemed the very thing Rexton deserved.

Lycus put his foot down and claimed he would take care of his brother from that day onwards.

The first Alpha couldn't go up against his two oldest sons and could no longer lay a hand on Rexton without meeting the wrath of Lycus and Gabriel. Roman had no choice but to yield to the arrangement.

It pleased their mother, Roman's mate, that finally after thirteen years, no harm could come to her youngest son despite not protecting him from any of it.

Lycus wondered what she would think now. What would she think of Rexton being locked away for a reason no one imagined?

"You must be wondering why I brought you out here," Lycus's voice echoed through the forest.

Rexton shook his head from side to side. "I wasn't. I'm content walking by your side, brother."

Lycus closed his eyes, wrapping his hand around a tree trunk and swinging around it to gather his thoughts.

"I didn't come to walk with you, Rexton." His voice trembled with annoyance, but he didn't mean for it to be directed at his brother. It was an arrow at himself.

Rexton paused, stopping in his tracks and awkwardly stuffed his hands into his pockets. "Did I do something wrong? If so, I did not mean—"

"You did nothing," Lycus said gently, trying to sound as kind as his feral voice could be. "You never did anything."

Rexton's head tilted, biting the inside of his cheek as his face changed, trying to understand the man before him.

He wouldn't get far, he would get nowhere in trying to decipher the man—lycan in front of him.