Heart's Price (MxM)

Chapter 64

Rejoining the others, we find Dane and Freya have the situation in hand.

Aengus is locked in a pair of irons, chained to a point of his own star, a rag bound over his mouth and guarded by Freya. Nearby, Dane tends to Mathilda's injuries with the first-aid kit he keeps in his car. 

For her part, Mathilda kneels in the grass by Penelope's body and holds her daughter's hand, seeming hardly aware of the man taping gauze to the side of her head.

She's lost both her children in roughly the span of a week, I reflect; but while I'd have hardly guess she even knew Brutus, for Penelope, she weeps.

Aileen sits at the corpse's other side, also in tears, while August stands a few feet away, hugging himself and looking miserable.

"Poor Penelope," I murmur as we approach. "I know you think she was as bad as the rest, but... I think she deserved better."

Ambrose squeezes my hand, but holds his peace.

Spotting us, Dane leaves off his ministrations and strides straight for Julian, catching him in his arms. Then the two speak soft and close, and I hear Dane say something like, "shouldn't have," as he touches Julian's pointed ears.

Julian shrugs self-consciously and mutters, "Would have had to, anyway," and the two embrace again.

A low whistle draws my attention away from them, and I cringe as I turn to find Freya taking in the view.

Ambrose is still on full display. I know she's filing away all sorts of information for my future torment, but when my sister turns her attention my way, her expression carries only concern.

"You okay, little brother?" she asks. I'm a year her senior, but she's been calling me that since she outgrew me at age nine. "What happened? We heard that howl, and then your man there took off like a bat outta hell."

As Julian and Dane join us, we quickly recount our misadventures with Thom.

"A Lycan?" Freya gapes. "Holy shit, Nono. Good thing you had a dragon on your side."

"Good thing he had a Fae, more like it," Ambrose allows. "It was fair Julian who finished the beast."

Freya and Dane both stare, one with surprised admiration, the other with undisguised fear, but Julian merely shrugs.

"I snuck up on him and stabbed him in the back. No big deal."

Ambrose rests a hand on my shoulder. "Nonetheless, I am grateful, and shall be forever in your debt."

Julian shrugs again, looking uncomfortable. "Hey, what's Pack for?" he says, but then he meets my eyes and goes slightly pink.

I blink, and then nod an assurance that I understand.

He'd risked his life to fight at my side, as I had once fought at his, refusing to let me face danger alone. If any part of me had not yet forgiven him for betraying my trust, I forgave him now. 

We were Pack, and that made us brothers, even if we didn't always get along.

"So... What now?" Dane asks, indicating Aengus and the relics, which still rest in a pile on the altar at the center of the seal.

Ambrose sighs and runs his hands through his long, soot-streaked hair.

"I've an idea," he says, "but it's not my choice alone to make."

He nods towards Mathilda, Aileen, and August.

"It's the only sure end to all of this, but it's for them to decide."