THE PRICE OF SILENCE

Osric’s POV

“You fucker! No wonder you always found something to take us away from the pack, all the rare times she visited.” I hissed, my claws sliding out. “I went along with your bullshit, thinking you were just a huge bigot, and I didn’t want you thinking I chose her over you. But it was because you were keeping me from discovering it, wasn’t it?” 

He shifted back fast as I approached him, putting the sofa between us. 

Smart move because if I got my hands on him right now, I was going to do serious damage, and some part of me, the part that was still rational enough to have a passing thought, acknowledged that he probably knew it too.

“How many years, Alaric?” I snarled, feeling my wolf close to the surface. “How many years have you known?!”

“Since the first day we met her,” he confessed, the words sounding like they were being torn directly from his chest.

“What?” I muttered, freezing in sheer shock. 

I let out a growl, and I lunged across the sofa, my claws extended to tear into his arrogant face. But before I could connect, a massive wall of muscle crashed into my side. 

My father had quickly intervened, using his strength to shove me hard to the side.

I flew sideways, crashing into a heavy oak shelf and shattering the wood.

I bounced back to my feet immediately, my boots kicking through the debris, my eyes flashing amber. 

“Stay down,” my father ordered, his tone tired.

"Why are you defending him?!" I screamed at my dad, my chest heaving as I struggled against the command in his eyes. "You heard what he did. He hid my mate from me!” My voice cracked with growing despair and pain. “Now she doesn’t want me."

Honestly, I was focusing all my emotions on my twin right because I didn’t want to face the pain my wolf was in at the moment. For years now, we have imagined how wonderful it would be when we finally meet our mate. 

None of the imaginations had included this mess.

"I am not defending his actions," Lucius replied, his voice low and measured. He still kept his body positioned between us, ready to intervene again. "But you need to calm down and let him explain. I believe he has a reason".

He turned a sharp gaze to Alaric. "Why did you do what you did, son?” Then his brows furrowed in deep confusion. “Actually, how did you even know so early? You were only sixteen when you guys met.”

Alaric avoided our father's piercing look, his eyes dropping to his fists. 

"My wolf manifested early,” he mumbled, looking down at his fists to avoid our piercing gaze. 

My mouth fell open in shock, the revelation hitting my brain so hard that I forgot my anger, and my eyes actually faded back to their normal blue for a split second.

"What?" Lucius whispered, just as shocked as I was. "And you kept something like that to yourself? Our bloodline manifests at nineteen. Your situation was incredibly rare, Ric.”

He shrugged, trying to act nonchalant, but the tight set of his jaw betrayed him. "I didn’t want everyone making a big deal out of it."

"Goddess," I spat, a bitter laugh bubbling up from my throat. "You’re always so fucking pompous and secretive.” My voice got rough as the rage came rushing back. “That’s why you thought you had the right to keep the information about my mate away from me!"

"All those times I spent talking about finding our mate, wondering what she would look like, you always shut me down.” I hissed, slowly approaching him. “You knew exactly why I felt that hollow and you said nothing. What gave you the right to decide my fate?!"

“I was protecting her,” he replied as he eyed my movements cautiously, his voice low but firm. 

“Protecting her?” I snarled, my voice echoing off the high ceiling. “You call treating her like a subhuman defect all these years, protection? She spent ten years thinking we loathed her!”

"Yes!" he finally snapped, his control splintering as his own wolf surged to the surface. 

He stepped out from behind the couch, staring me down head-on. "She was fifteen, our fucking stepsister, and she had no wolf,” he hissed, his voice rough and gravelly. “The pack... hell, the entire shifter community would have eaten her alive if they knew the Luna chosen for the golden heirs was a powerless girl."

"Oh, that’s just complete bullshit!" I thundered, ignoring the way my father edged closer to keep me from closing the distance.

“This is why I didn’t say anything,” he yelled, his eyes dark, his power bleeding through his skin as he bared his teeth at me. “You never think deeply about anything. Do you have any idea what that kind of vicious attention would have done to her back then? She was very emotionally fragile.”

Lucius let out a long, exhausted sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose. 

Pack members always liked to joke that the twin heirs were like night and day, but they never had to live through the moments when our contrasting mindsets actually clashed. 

Normally, when Alaric and I fought, it was an explosive storm that usually ended with us finding a middle ground. 

But as I looked at my twin right now, I couldn’t see how we could ever find a middle ground. I saw a thief who had stolen years of my life with our mate.

My father looked back at Alaric. “It was not your decision to make, though.” He said, the authority returning to his tone. “You didn’t have the right to decide that for her... or for your brother. Mate bond and trust are two very delicate things, Alaric. And you managed to fracture both.”

"I did what was best for the situation at the time," Alaric said, stubbornly standing his ground, his chin lifted. "She was too fragile then. And judging from the way she just ran, she still is. I did what I did to protect the pack's reputation and, most importantly, her.”

The air in the room became heavy, suffocatingly hot as our pheromones crashed into each other. 

“You think you are the only one who gets to protect her?” I hissed, my wolf pushing hard against my skin. You think I am so weak and incapable that I couldn’t have shielded my own mate?!”

In a fraction of a second, I lunged past my dad and slashed my claws directly at Alaric's face.

He ducked in time, and the tips of my claws missed his cheek by a millimeter. 

He blocked my follow-up strike with his forearm, his hand locking around my wrist with a crushing grip. Then he twisted his hips, using my own momentum to slam my back hard into the wall, leaving a dent in the plaster.

I winced as the impact rattled my teeth, but my free hand came up, my claws scoring deep tracks across his forearm, drawing blood.

"You need to calm the fuck down!" Alaric snarled, his face inches from mine. "This is exactly why I did not want you to know. Think rationally, Osric!"

"Fuck you!" I roared, and then I threw my head forward, slamming my forehead directly into his nose.

The bone cracked, and Alaric stumbled backward, his grip breaking as blood began to stream down his face. 

“Enough!” My father thundered, using his alpha command just as I raised my hands again.

The sound wave hit us like a physical wall, rattling the glass panes in the windows. 

We both staggered back, our knees buckling slightly under the pressure, chest heaving as our wolves forced us to submit to our father's tone.

"It’s a good thing my grandfather made the walls of this wing extra thick and soundproofed, if not the whole pack would have heard this. Right now is not the time for a fight.” Lucius snarled, pointing at the two of us, his eyes flashing. “You need to stop acting like feral children!" 

He paused, staring at both of us before letting out a tired sigh and running a hand over his face. “We’ll soon have foreign dignitaries, rivals, and visitors coming into the pack for the ceremony.” He continued, his voice lower. “You cannot let a single outsider know there is discord among the heirs".

His eyes went slightly unfocused for a second as he linked with someone outside, then he let out another sigh. "Beta Roland just called for me. The first convoy from the northern packs has arrived". He pointed a strict finger between Alaric and me. "Talk it out calmly or shelf this entirely for now. You still have three months of her stay to fix this mess and claim your mate.”

Then he turned on his heel and stalked out of the room, slamming the door behind him hard enough to shake the dust from the ceiling.

The silence that came upon the room was a different kind of heavy.

“Do you even feel any ounce of guilt for what you’ve done?” I muttered, glancing at my twin. “How can we fix this mess?”

Alaric walked away from me, grimacing as he looked at the already healing gash in his arm.

“For now, stay away from Tyra,” he said as he adjusted his clothes, already composed in that infuriating way he had. “Until we figure out how to approach this.”

I looked at him for a long moment before letting out a low, bitter chuckle, the pain of his betrayal burning like acid in my throat.

“You are one cold prick, aren’t you?” I muttered, shaking my head. “I’ve always heard people make comments about it, but I didn’t see it… till now.”

I quickly walked toward the door, knowing that if I stayed in his infuriating presence for one more second, my wolf would completely take over and tear the rest of this house down.

“Because of a decision you made for us without our permission, I’ve lost years with my mate,” I said without turning around. I paused with my hand on the doorknob. “Fuck you.”

I stepped out and shut the door behind me.

Then I pressed my back against the wall of the hallway and closed my eyes. My wolf was howling inside me, longing for its mate, but I couldn’t give in. 

I knew Tyra; if I pushed too hard, she'd run without looking back. I had to be wise and strategize first.

“You are not going to keep me away from my mate, Ric,” I whispered, my voice rough. “Try stopping me, and see what happens.”