Chapter 10:

Lucius 

My heart is clenching, pushing at my ribcage constricting my breath from coming out. 

Before leaving the office, I thought I could keep myself together. Turns out it was a faux restraint that spoke, just so I could get up and away to meet Penny. 

I bet we did not think, we would be seeing her in this position. On the hospital bed. Still seemingly better - holding hands and out of the hell of a club after today. 

Wrath, jealousy, confusion - every emotion that I keep at bay clouds me. 

I dont remember a day I was so angry, that I hauled an entire man with just my fingertips. I dont remember a day I was soo jealous, just because I heard my brother’s name instead of mine. And I dont remember a day, when I questioned my decisions. Confused as hell, telling myself it is ok to take a chance with Penny.

That I dont need to wait for my mate. 

That it is okay if she wants us both. It is okay, if I open the door I once closed labeling it as our horny perky days. 

I dont like to be insecure. 

Nevertheless, Alpha or not we all have our own, we just dont own them. 

So, when Aeric asks me what would I do if she wants us both. The only sane thing that came to my mind was to give her that. 

Mate or not- Penny perforated the only organ I keep shielded. 

I look down at our threaded fingers, raising her hand to kiss the edge of her knuckles. Aeric did his best, to add his magic of mirth to the room. Not gonna lie. It pulls me off the edge placing me on more level land. 

My back’s killing me from sitting on this hell-of-an-uncomfortable stool. I dont know how many seconds, minutes, or hours pass by, the only thing I remember is the creek of the uncreaky, if that's even a word when the doctor enters the room. 

I twist on my arse, the best I could to see him and not strain Penny's arm too far from her body when I see the twinge of uncertainty, with a whole-ass bucket of fear etched on his brows. 

“Doc… Is something wrong?”, Aeric asks, sensing the very features, I suppose. 

He supposedly, was even gentler because I was ready to snap his head for whatever reason his expression contort in a displeasing way. 

“Amm…” he hesitates, doing his best to avoid the space my puffed-out chest claims.

“We tried to figure it out, but I think you should take a look at it.”, he says scrambling towards Penny’s feet. 

He lifts the blankets from around her ankles. Aeric, and I stand not letting go of her hand, tiptoeing with our six and more stature to get a better view. 

It's the shackle I saw the other night. 

Why isn't it off her foot by now? 

I unthread our hands, placing her palm flat on her stomach to kneel near her ankle. The doctor - gasp. 

Yup! Alpha’s aren't supposed to kneel to anybody, but I couldn't care less. 

I take her ankle in my hands. The soft velvety skin of her leg brushed the callouses of my skin with a fervent warmth, making them just as smooth as her skin. 

Gently lifting her leg, I look at the shackle. 

Up, down. 

Right left.

The shackle caught my attention at the club. I knew it wasn't normal, like the ones secured around every other girl. Looking closely at it, my speculations were right.

No latch, no screws, or any dam thing to open it. It is as if inked on her skin, in 3D- only an inch thicker than her skin. 

“Why dont you remove it?”Aeric says. 

“We cant” I say looking at him. His head tilts in confusion. Repeating my prior course of action, he places her hand securely over one another before scooting near me. He kneels; an action too egoistic for his narcissistic self. 

I want to raise an eyebrow, twerking my lips in a stupid smirk he carries to ask about his oath, “To not kneel.” I know I can't. 

His face yells, serious. Weirdly, it makes me happy. 

Stretching his fingers he touches the metal of the shackle. 

“What is this?”, he croons.

“We dont know masters. We tried our level best to get it off her feet. That thing on her feet is like her skin.”, he says pulling out sheets of records from a file in his hand. 

“We checked it thoroughly, there is literally no space for any instruments to slide between her skin and the metal. We can't cut through the top, it is super thin and we can't make where the metal ends and skin starts. Apart from it, everything is absolutely fine with her.”

They sure cant. This isn't a simple shackle, this cant be. Aeric and I trace the shackle with our fingers, our skin bouncing on the little unknown words engraved on the shackle. Four different lines of words, going around in circles, reunifying in themselves. I take a closer look as if the alien language will reveal itself, probably, speak to us. 

In this lifetime, I have learned more language than necessary. Some for business, others to read the coded scriptures of Alphas and their sacred rules to rule. But none of them were remotely related or even curve the slightest in the way the words on her shackle do. 

What is this Penny? I rasp inside my mind, my throat tight and heavy from all the emotions that impale through me. 

What emotions? I am not sure yet. It's the shackle that sends the weird vibrations to Aeric, his mind link coursing the same through my mind as we feel it at the same time. It's like the shackles have a life of their own. 

“Get her discharge papers ready.”, I say. The doctor scoots out of the room on his tiptoe, afraid to either get questioned or caught up in a brawl. 

“Aeric, we should take her to our house.” Aeric’s body freezes, a pensive stare barring a hole in the mattress of the bed. 

I frown, his expression turns hostile soon, contorting with pain. A heartbeat later, his eyes jump on mine, their edges rickety. My heart picks a beat, a sudden pain crashing me down in the wave of agony. 

No? This can't happen. 

My mind was too muddled to sense the inevitable, unbearable pain that went straight to my heart. It just did not scratch, it gashed, taking one of its most important parts off and far away. 

Mom's dead.

" When it rains, it pours". 

My head falls back on the headrest of the car seat, a chuckle erupting from the base of my throat. I rub a palm over my face, holding tears bay. 

I dont want to cry. 

I can't. 

It's just gonna make things worse.

Aeric is no different. He sits in the front seat. Fingers swiping through his blonde top hairs, farfetched look in his eyes. 

Trust me, if someone gives us a second of solace from being the bad-ass-future-alpha-kings, we are gonna break down, crawling on our knees. 

Begging every superpower to give us our mom back.

Fuck!

My throat tightens, the pain almost unbearable. 

For fuck’s sake! It was our mother. 

We can't even mourn her death without looking weak in front of the pack. 

My body itches, my wolf clawing my insides to let it free. My feelings are suffocating him, the pain surely a lot more unbearable for him than my human form. 

I take a deep breath, inhaling the childhood that lingers in the air. Leaves hurl off the trees preparing themselves for the winter, letting out a sweet musky smell from decaying piles of leaves on the ground. 

The smell reminds me of the crustless cranberry pie, mom used to cook for us after hours of training. She wasn't a cheerleader for pumpkin in fall, she made her own rules. 

A traitor tear pooled along the edge of my eyes, turning a small patch of my brown khaki pants darker in shade. 

That's it I can't take this anymore. 

“Stop the car!”, the words are too hoarse for my liking as they slip past my lips in warm agony. Aeric turns towards me, the driver hitting the break in an instant. 

“I will be at the mansion. You can go ahead” I say opening the door. Leaves crunch under my leather boots, the air knocking the memories out of my guts. Aeric’s eyes impasse on mine. 

‘I need a run’, I mind link him.