The air between us thickens, Lycans stand around seemingly shocked by the show of a sudden sibling reunion. This should be a sweet moment, grabbing him in my arms and explaining the life we have lived for centuries away from one another. But he's standing there so comfortably beside the male who has ruined so many things, so many people—including his sister. Their smiles are seemingly the same, evil, and meant to raise the hair on the back of your neck.

Xanth was the least broad of my three brothers, and yet held the title of our oldest sibling. His compassion for others was something that held him highly ranked throughout our home, and with the bonus of being unbeatable in hand-to-hand combat, he was fawned after often. A lady's man before his twenty-first year, never taking the same girl out twice but always leaving them with a smile.

The brother standing before me had been brave, a role model, and someone I'd spent so many years missing. Now he resembles the monster, and all the emotions that would bene kept for him dissipate into numb disgust. My expression shows it all, which surprises Ivan—but not Xanth.

"Well, maybe I did underestimate your ability to hold a grudge," Ivan admits his plan into the air, giving me even more motive to jump across the floor and do to him as I've done to the female. She had not done much to deserve death but ridding ourselves of her before she could become another thorn in our side seemed reason enough to me.

"Eira?" Alarik questions me softly as if I am a fragile woman who can be broken if he speaks too loudly. I do not look to him, keeping my gaze on Xanth who seems to be uninterested in me—instead, he's eyeing up Valda and Asger. The Betas arms have her pulled close, and she seems to be in more distress than anyone else here.

Including me, the one trying to form a correct reaction to my vampire brother standing before me. When his gaze finally meets mine again, he tries to wipe away the traces of his irritation, another step closer to the sister he has appeared to have abandoned.

I did run from the coven, but I had no clue anyone else survived. He never came to help me when I begged for it, never stopped the acts of horror bestowed upon me by his friend.

"Can we kill them both?" I question, hoping my mate would comply with my wants without any needed reasoning—but I am never that lucky. Instead, he moves to pull me against him as if it can protect me from the feeling of having my heart broken one more time.

"We can't do that, not to...him. Ivan, why do you keep asking me to kill you by coming here? To start a war. Are you wanting all of your people to die, to be torn apart and have no one to tell your old stories?" Alarik sounds choked up with the words, and I see for the first time how much of a toll this loss of friendship has taken on him.

My mate cared for the man, for his coven, and has been forced to drop it all in my name. His old friend smiling, cheerful with the way things have turned out as he shows there is nothing about the loss of Alarik that upsets him. A one-sided friendship between my mate and a psychopath.

"I'm not asking you to kill me, Alarik. I know you never could—you have too many emotions in that big body of yours, more than your mate or myself will ever understand. We had a fun run, didn't we?" Asger gives Valda a soft kiss on her forehead, a low hiss coming from my brother while the Beta makes his way to his Alphas side. "I've brought Xanth here as a peace offering. Something that your mate has always wanted, but never knew she could get back—isn't that nice of me?"

Asger is on him in a breath, the first punch knocks Ivan clear off his feet and has my brother trying to defend his leader. Valda grabs him, the way he halts at her touch begins the realization that I don't have time to fully process yet.

"I reject your peace offering." I finally find it in me to speak, my hands shaking as I move to run my hands over the male I am against. The feeling of his skin against mine brings in the smallest bit of comfort, giving me a few moments to let go of the tension that is coiling around me.

Our Beta lands another hit to the vampire, and I hear the grunt of pain as he's eventually left on the floor while the other male is taken care of. Asger's foot meets Xanths stomach, his knees meeting the floor while Valda seems to be helping him hold himself up.

"Was that necessary?" She scolds the Lycan, eyes narrowed at him. Asger simply huffs, his gaze not moving from where his love interest and my brother are sharing contact. I don't speak my suspicion, but eventually, I'd be needing more information. The female moves away from both males, obviously agitated by the tension that is bringing unnecessary attention her way.

"You're going to leave him again, Eira? Abandon the only family you have left, for a second time?" It is I who strikes the male now, my blow seems to shock him more than the Betas.

Ivan hadn't thought very far into this, even after centuries of holding this plan. He could not have known that I would be this stubborn, that my will could be this strong, but every Lycan here was aware. No one objected to my shrug, I fight to hide the hurt spreading through my chest at the thought of my brother being hauled away. Then I realize he won't be dragged away as I was, Xanth won't leave these pack lands kicking and screaming—my brother will walk hand and hand off this land. He will laugh with my tormentor, who has stood beside Ivan this entire time.

There was no chance of getting my brother back, one look at him could tell me that. I had the urge to beg, to plead my case and explain everything that's happened since our last time seeing one another. I don't. A waste of words is all that would be.

"You know I never left him; you know the things I went through to just get away from you." I raise a brow towards the dark-haired monster. "Even had I known my brother was there, in that coven with me, I wouldn't have stayed. No one on this Earth is worth staying with if it means spending even a few breaths around you." Something about my words rattles the vampire further, on his feet, and moving swiftly towards me I meet him halfway.

I feel Alarik's fingers brush my wrist as if to pull me away, but he stops himself as I square up with the nightmare.

"I see sleeping with the wolves has made you grow mouthy." Ivan hisses, staring over me with an expression resembling disgust. I preferred it over his usual look of lust.

"What do we do, Alpha?" Asger interrupts our face-off, the look in his eyes tells me he is hoping for the same answer I am. Kill them, end this issue once and for all so that we can finally move on from the one stone on my ankle I've yet to cut free from.

I shouldn't want to be the hands that kill my brother, but nothing of the man I'd known in my last life is left. He's as depraved and monstrous as Ivan, the look in his eye told me there would be no end to the terror he could bring. I wouldn't allow another person to go through my old hell at the hands of someone I'd once called family.

"This choice is out of my hands. Valda and Eira have the right to do with them as they choose." Now I'm turning to face the woman who'd wanted to hide from everyone's eyes only moments ago.

Why had they never mentioned Valda was mated to a vampire? Surely, they couldn't have known we were siblings, although they could have easily put together our features. But why had they acted as though this was something that had never happened? Was it because my connection to Alarik was stronger than Valda's to Xanths? Surely it had to be if they were not mated.

The attraction there was obvious, but not something so strong they could not fight it. Alarik had seemed to have a choice, granted I don't know if he ever imagined fighting off the bond no matter what species his mate was. Even when he'd approached me, smelling of that human boy, he'd wanted me. Declared me his mate and made sure everyone around knew that I belonged to him.

"I'll stay here, without trouble, if you let Ivan leave in one piece." I'm laughing at Xanths heroic sacrifice, and I barely keep myself upright as the humor of his situation fully rocks me. Valda laughs herself, but everyone else remains silent.

"You do realize, we don't want either of you here?" The female Lycan questions. My brother's confident stance falls way as the two vampires fully realize their predicament. She'd be less likely to want to kill my brother, but my words could persuade those who disagreed with me.

My mind plays through our different options, none of them being letting Ivan or my brother this pack. Enemies never stayed gone, they would plot and plan and attack until they eventually got what they wanted. The issue tonight seemed to be that only I wanted to end them both. Never did I believe I could see the day where the Lycans wanted to preserve life overtaking it.

"Everyone knows what I want, but if we can't do that then I don't need to be here." My exciting feeling for the night has been swept away with the sudden feeling of helplessness that always seems to sneak in when Ivan is around. Alarik tries to touch me, to give me a sense of protection but that wasn't what I needed. Like so many other times I didn't need my handheld, or my shoulders rubbed.

While these two are running around I could never have what I wanted. Peace. I'd always be looking over my shoulder, waiting for the next attack to come or the next visit. With the sudden drop in the mood, I feel something else shifting into me as I turn to stare at the pack of awaiting Lycans.

My steps towards the exit are stopped by an unknown source, my body refusing to move as I command it as a thought flutters through my head. Lunas choose. It's not my voice, the sharp and vicious growl that comes with it tells me that much. Why did these things have to happen at the worst times?

I hear a few people call my name, confusion surely filling the room as my voice holds steady at the back of my throat and my legs no longer hold me. The first bone that breaks is my shoulder, my chest hits the hard floor as the grunt leave my mouth. I'm trying not to scream—filled with my sense of uncertainty and dread.

Why did this shit keep happening to me?

I do not listen to anyone who surrounded me, worried more as one after another I hear and feel the dislocating of my body. Every bone twisting, turning within me as my mouth opens in silent horror. The pain is surreal. Alarik presses a hand onto my back and that's when the first noise leaves me.

Is this my first shift?

I hadn't even fully mated him yet—what is this? My whimper is a plea for it to stop, for the pain and torment to end.

Chaos breaks loose, for what reason I am unsure as I close my eyes and try to dig my nails into the floor as the bones in my legs begin their new game. No one touches me again, not as I twist and turn and scream into the ground with everything, I have in me. How much pain could one bond bring? When would mine and Alarik's eternity of bliss start, or would it continue with these never-ending interruptions?

Unresolved terrors.

Even while I'm rolling around in pain, thinking that death would be so much better than this, I can't get the thought of ending those vampires out of my head. Whatever being, or inner self-conscious, had spoken to me had made me even more certain of what I wanted. That I needed to push for it.

When the numbness sets into my body, every limb is worn out from the sudden attack given within I barely keep myself from passing out. I want to push myself from the ground and get back to what I want to do, which is making sure the two males I hold only hate for are never seen again. I can't do it, just opening my eyes takes strength as I look around the room.

Leslie is crouched down beside me, worried as always as Alarik mirrors her expression. My eyes search for the two I crave to see most. The dramatic nature of this partial shift has me feeling something that resembles embarrassment. The Lycans were probably sick of watching their future Luna lay on the ground or cry out in pain.

Ivan is nowhere to be seen, and neither is Asger. Valda has Xanth on his chest, his face bloodied and eyes crazed as he struggles to free himself from the weight of her foot on his back.

"—Leslie gets Eira into the packhouse, we have to get him before he is off of our territory!" My brother's mate growls her demand, and my dear friend does not hesitate to jump into action as she drags me from the ground. I bite my lip to hold back the sounds of pain that almost leave my mouth.

"What happened, where did—" Alarik sweeps me off my feet, pulling my face into his hard chest and aggressively shushing me.

Rude.

No one tries to stop us as we make our way away from the party, or what was once one, and push our way into the packhouse. My fingers ache to curl into his shirt, to pull myself impossibly closer and inhale his scent until the end of time but I can't. My fingers are numb, the hands I usually push away from him with are useless—every inch of me is done for. Exhausted, more so than I've ever experienced.

One normal day, dammit. That's all I ask.

"Your body is ready for the change, baby. It's preparing itself because it knows you will be shifting soon." I groan, not wanting any more Lycan stuff to happen within my body. Couldn't we just stay the way we were? Me a vampire, him a stubborn Lycan?

When I give no other response, my mate sets me onto our bed and presses a hard kiss to my mouth. Oh, how I wish I could give back the passion, but I just sit there with weak limbs and now needy center. Leslie crawls beside me as Alarik pulls away, she wraps herself around my body and the maternal instinct I've ever felt seems to kick in. I forced my arms to move and lean my head against hers as she sighs in relief.

"I'll be back in a few hours. Stay in the packhouse until we get back, okay?" We both nod to the male, and although I knew I should be worried I could not find it in me to yell for him. To beg my male not to leave, because I understood that the pack needed their Alpha.

I only hoped he would finish his old friend, for the sake of our bond and the sake of the pack.