Extraits

KELLY (2/4)

“—me,” Kelly says. “Hold on to me. As tightly as you can. I know it hurts. I know what it feels like. But we’ll find him. We’ll find him and bring him home.”

Carter doesn’t speak, his head against Kelly’s chest. He thinks about the unfairness of it all. He finally has Robbie back, all of him, every piece and part. They might not be who they once were, but they’re together, and Robbie remembers him, remembers all they mean to each other. It’s a start.

And Carter.

He has Carter.

His eyes are orange once more, the Omega magic that had consumed him gone, gone, gone, but at what cost?

Because though the violet has faded from Carter’s eyes, it has been replaced by something equally as terrible: knowledge of what has been before him the entire time, within his grasp, now gone away, following a beast that should not exist.

Carter clutches at him, his head against Kelly’s chest. He shakes as he breaks apart, and Kelly’s eyes burn as he struggles to remain in control. Carter needs him. He has to be the strong one now. He owes his brother this much at least.

“I’m here,” he whispers. “I promise.” He rubs Carter’s back, something their mother used to do to them when they were younger. He doesn’t know if it’s helping, but he doesn’t know what else to do. He wants to tear the world apart for being so unfair, for putting the weight of everything upon their shoulders once more. Don’t they deserve peace? Don’t they deserve to have one fucking day where they can just…be?

It’s always something. Always a battle to be fought, always blood to be spilled. People looking at them to lead, to protect, to make everything all right. But what about them? Who’s supposed to protect them?

“I love you,” Kelly says. “I know we don’t say that as much as we should, but I do. More than anything.”

Carter laughs wetly against his chest. “More than Robbie?”

“No,” Kelly says. “Just…differently.” He thinks of Robbie in their room. Kelly had left him in their bed, barely able to look away from him, sure the moment he did, Robbie would disappear again. He’s had a hard time convincing himself this isn’t a dream, that Robbie is really here. He never wants to go through that again. He can’t. He won’t. If anything—Livingstone or some other monster—tries to touch Robbie again, it’ll be the last thing they do. Kelly will make sure of it.

Carter rubs his face against Kelly’s shirt. They’re sitting on the porch, Kelly’s back against the side of the house near the door, Carter laying between his splayed legs. It’s cold, but Carter’s warm, and he’ll stay with his brother for as long as he needs it.

“I don’t know what to do,” Carter whispers. “I should’ve done more. I should have fought harder. I didn’t know. Kelly, I didn’t know.”

CARTER (1/4)

When Carter is lost in a haze of violet, his rage alive and all-consuming, he hears the only voice that matters.

He stands in a clearing, the same one where so much of their history has been decided. His thoughts are angry. He wants to bite and tear and claw until the earth beneath him gushes blood. It’s the land of his father, and his father before him. And how he hates them, hates them for all they’ve done, for all the mistakes they’ve made. Duty called, and they’d answered, not caring who stood in their way, or who they left behind. Carter was too young to understand it when it happened, but he knows it now.

His father is here.

Sometimes he’s a wolf, white with black on his chest and back.

Other times, he’s a man, a breakable man who watches Carter with knowing eyes.