Chasing Forever: Jacob's Story

What are brothers for?

  I stare at Ezekiel in shock, fully aware that the others in the room are going to realize something is up. "What did we do wrong?"

 "What makes you think we did something wrong?" Ezekiel whispers following me as I walk over to my bed and sit down, holding the letters from Chyenne against my chest, as if they'll protect me from whatever punishment we'll be getting when we go to the castle. "Maybe he just wants to meet us."

 I look at him. "King Henry isn't the type to invite supernaturals into the castle unless he wants them punished." I whisper, my heart pounding in my chest. I don't even understand how the King even knows my name, I stay under the radar here. "We've obviously done something wrong."

 "Maybe he's sending us home." Ezekiel guesses as he plops down onto my bed. "Father is going to kill me if the King kicks me out. I'll have disgraced the family name."

 If he's even kind enough to let us live long enough to get home. I think bitterly. Most likely he'll just have our heads for some form of treason. "Sure.."

 We're both silent for a few moments, both of us wondering how we're going to get out of this, before Zekiel looks up at me. "We need to have a funeral."

 I blink at him in shock. He can't have been serious. Funeral's are forbidden. "A what?"

 "A funeral, Jacob." He says, exasperated. "If you're right and the King thinks we've done something we won't live longer than another two days. We deserve a chance to say goodbye to our brothers who have already been killed."

 "What do you mean, the King thinks you've done something?" Antoni says from beside the door. "How do you know that?"

 I sigh, holding up the letter from the King. "Ezekiel and I are invited to a formal dinner with the King tomorrow night. They're bringing us formal clothing and we are to wash up and be presentable."

 Antoni blinks. "You get to meet the King?" We both nod and he whoops. "That's a privilege. King Henry only invites supernaturals he thinks are special to dinners. My father told me so."

 I look at him. "What does that mean exactly?"

 "Well he'll probably offer you both positions in the castle." Antoni says excitedly.

 "Doing what?" Ezekiel says slowly, clearly as suspicious as I am. "Washing his trousers?"

 I laugh loudly at the look on Antoni's face at Zekiel's joke. "No." Antoni says, recovering from his shock. "Training his children most likely. So that they can defend themselves if there's ever an attack on the castle."

 "But we would still have training, so what, we would never be able to sleep?" I say confused. This doesn't make any sense.

 Antoni shrugs. "I don't know honestly." He admits. "Maybe he'll let you both stop training and give you quarters in the castle."

 Zackery, one of the vampires from Anthony's clan shakes his head. "So what? Jake and Ezekiel get out of this hell hole and get special treatment? What makes you any better than us?"

 I blink, anger suddenly boiling in my veins, and I struggle to control myself before I shift. "Nobody ever said that we were." I growl through my teeth. "Or that this is exactly what's going to happen."

 He snorts. "Right. The King just randomly chose the princes of both kingdoms to come to a dinner in the castle, but that totally doesn't seem like nobel privilege."

 Ezekiel's eyes turn flat black in his anger and he jumps up, heading for Zackery who crouches ready to fight. Before Zekiel reaches him though I jump up and I grab him, holding him tight, my arms around him tight enough that there is no way he can break free. Not without ripping my arms off, of course.

 "Stop it!" I say loudly. "Both of you, knock it off before you get us all killed."

 Ezekiel starts to relax until Zackery growls, flashing his fangs at him to make him angry again, and then he starts to fight against me. "Watch your mouth, Zackery."

 "You aren't King yet, E." Zackery spits back. "I don't have to follow your orders."

 Zekiel struggles to break free from my grip, but I just tighten it, tapping into Jayden's strength to keep him still. "Ezekiel, you need to relax." I whisper into his ear urgently. "You can't lose control now. You know what happens if you fight when it isn't training. You'll lose your head."

 He stares at Zackery, his anger making his heart beat incredibly fast, but he stops struggling. "He insulted me."

 "It doesn't matter. Put your pride aside." I say quietly. "What matters is staying alive so we can make it back to our mates, remember? That's what we promised each other."

 He stops struggling completely and he looks down but his heart is still beating furiously and I can tell he needs another nudge to push him to calm down. "What's her name, Ezekiel?" I whisper. "Say it."

 "Carla.." He says, and the sheer longing in his voice is enough to make my heart break a little for him. I know exactly how it feels to know that your mate is so close to you but you can't see her.

 "Again." I order him, relaxing my grip slightly, testing the water.

 "Carla." He says and his voice is slightly stronger, more in control.

 "And what about your son?" I say quietly. "He'll be two soon, right?"

 He nods. "Next month."

 "You can't leave him like this E." I say. "He needs a dad. Fighting Zackery isn't worth losing him and Carla, is it?"

 He shakes his head and his heartbeat begins to drop. After a few seconds I let him go, taking a step back, but staying close enough that I can grab him again if Zackery tries to start anything else. "No," He says, turning to look at me. I'm relieved to see that his eyes are back to their normal shade of violet. "It isn't."

 "Good," I say to him, smiling slowly. "Just hold on to that alright, E? You'll be out of here in a year and you'll be back to them soon."

 He nods. "Thank you."

 "What are brothers for?" I grin.

 After a second, I turn and look around at the rest of the guys, all of them had gathered around in anticipation of a fight, despite the warning from the Kings men that all of us would be punished if we allowed a fight to break out any other time then training. "We all should get to bed." I say quietly. "We have training in the morning."

 Zackery purposely slams his shoulder into Ezekiel, who ignores it and walks to his bunk, pulling out the letter parchment and starting a letter to Carla, probably to help himself relax. I smile to myself. I'm proud of him for realizing that family is more important than pride.

 I check on Bryan again, feeling his pulse and wiping sweat off his forehead before I climb into my bed, clutching the letters from Chyenne close to my heart as I close my eyes and fall into another restless sleep.