Pure × Isaac Lahey

44.

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       Isaac Lahey had been to hell and back, twice, but nothing had shaken him quite like the men in masks had.

       The small office in Elora's house was a mess, strewn with printed pages from the Beastiary.

       Elora was holding Isaac's hands in both of hers, worried eyes focused on his shaking figure. "Check the security system by the window," she told Charlie with a tilt of her chin.

       Standing from the carpeted floor, Charlie followed her instruction without question. He pulled back the curtain, looking over the bars at the bottom that was lit with an eager green light. "The system hasn't been tripped."

       "Then how'd they get in?" Elora asked, using a thumb to dry under Isaac's eyes.

       "It was like they came from the shadows," Isaac said almost vacantly, fear stuck through his heart.

       Elora's eyebrows furrowed, glancing over to Charlie. "Why does that sound familiar?"

       Charlie ran a hand along his jaw, softly shaking his head. "I'm not sure, but it does."

        Isaac hesitantly looked to Elora, confusion making itself present in his stormy blue eyes. "Who is that? Who is he?"

        El absently bit her bottom lip, "That's Charlie."

        The beta's eyebrows lifted, "Charlie - Charlie?"

        "So you've told your little boyfriend about me?" asked Charlie with half a grin, hovering over the two as he returned from the window.

        "Not now, Charlie," Elora snapped, still checking over Isaac. "They could've killed him."

        "But they didn't," Charlie quickly corrected. "And there has to be a reason why." He met eyes with Elora, "But I think it has something to do with 2005."

        Elora's lips slightly parted, knowing exactly what he meant by the vague year. "It must be. That's why it seems so familiar-"

       "-But we can't quite place it. Exactly."

       Isaac could barely follow, eyes flickering between the two that smelled oddly similar. "What are you guys talking about?"

       "There's a blank summer," Elora said with soft hesitation. "We don't know what happened."

        "Our parents wiped all memory of it-"

        Elora winced, Isaac catching Charlie's words.

       "Your parents?" Isaac asked with wide eyes.

       The brunette gave a deflated sigh, "Charlie's my older brother."

        Almost a miss, Isaac looked slightly hurt. "I didn't know you have a brother."

        "Feeling the love, Ellie," Charlie remarked.

       "You shouldn't because there isn't any." El helped Isaac off of the floor, his body still cool to the touch. "You need some rest," she told Isaac as she walked him out of the office and into her room. "You're okay now. I'll put a ward on the room, no one else but me can come in."

        Isaac sat on the edge of the bed, looking up to Elora hesitantly as she lingered right by him. He held her hand loosely, more for comfort than anything. "Why didn't you tell me you had a brother, El?"

       "Charlie's done a lot of bad things. I haven't considered him family in a long time. Neither do my parents." She ran her free hand through his hair, her eyes focused solely on him. "I don't like to think about what he did to my family. That's why I never told you about him."