by AJ Jarrett
“Start explaining now.” Kane began to pace back and forth. “I can’t believe this.” Kane fisted his hands in his hair. “We’re Warriors of the Dark. We don’t associate with them. They’re the enemy, for Christ’s sake, Kayson. Hale will kill you for this.”
“I am aware.” Kayson sat in the recliner next to the couch. He rested his elbows on his knees and put his head in his hands.
“No, I don’t think you understand the enormity of what you’re doing, Kayson.” Kane kicked the couch as he passed it, causing the furniture to scoot across the wood floor. “Why, Kay?”
“Because I’m in love with him, Kane,” Kayson shouted. He knew the risk involved but he refused to give up his mate. “I love Kevin and I’m not letting him go. I’m sorry but I can’t do that.”
“Kevin,” Kane whispered the name and Kayson looked up at his brother. “Why does that name sound familiar to me?”
“Because he’s the man Hale kidnapped twelve years ago after he killed his parents.” Kayson’s chest ached at the memory. He hated when the memories of a young crying Kevin invaded his head. He deserved to feel the pain he’d caused his mate. “I knew then who he was to me but he was just a boy. It wasn’t fair to force anything onto him. I thought I had time to prove myself to Kevin but his brother Matt and Colby stole him from me.” Kayson tucked his hair behind his ears. “When I found him again I couldn’t abandon him. I’m not like Hale. I can’t walk away from the love of my life.”
“Well, shit.” Kane plopped down on the couch next to Wes’s feet. “This is so fucked up.”
Just as Kayson opened his mouth to tell his brother it wasn’t his problem, the front door banged open. Kevin came running into the room. When he saw Kayson he ran over to him. Kayson stood up, fully expecting Kevin to punch him in the face when he saw Wes but he didn’t. Kevin wound his arms around Kayson’s waist and hugged him tight.
“Thank god you’re okay,” Kevin mumbled against Kayson’s neck. “I was so worried when Matt told me what was going on.” Kevin pulled back to look him in the eyes. “Matt asked me to lunch to distract me while Wes came here. Where is Wes?”
“He’s right here.” Kane patted his hand on Wes’s ass.
“Holy shit.” Kevin whirled around at the sound of Kane’s voice and pressed his back into Kayson’s front. “He…” Kevin looked between him and Kane. “He looks like you.”
“Kevin, baby. This is Kane.” He put his right arm around Kevin’s shoulders and pointed with his left at his brother. “He’s my twin brother.”
“Twin? There’s two of you?” Kevin turned into Kayson’s side.
“Y—” Kayson started to speak but was interrupted by Matt barreling in through the front door. He was snarling and had his fangs bared.
“What the hell?” Kane leapt to his feet and stood in front of Kevin and him. Kayson was touched that the need to protect one another was still there and that Kane included Kevin in that circle of protection. “Back off, fucker.” Kane snarled. “I’ll kill you before you touch either one of them.”
“I’d like to see you try,” Matt hissed and lunged for Kane.
“Stop!” Kevin shouted. He stepped out of Kayson’s hold and got between Kane and Matt. Matt froze and a look of relief spread over his face. Kane out of reaction reached out and pulled Kevin back toward him. “What the hell is with you?” Kevin glanced over his shoulder at Kane. “Let go of me.”
“Sorry,” Kane said but didn’t let go. “It’s instinct. My brother loves you and I can’t allow for anything to happen to you. It’s a twin thing.”
“No, it’s a brother thing, now let go of mine.” Matt grabbed for Kevin’s hand and pulled him toward him.
“No.” Kane swatted at Matt’s hand. “He’s Kayson’s.”
“Okay, everyone please stop.” Kayson stepped out from behind his brother. He wanted to put a stop to all this before all hell broke loose. “Kane, calm down. Matt is his brother. He’d never hurt Kevin.”
“How do you know that?” Kane frowned.
“Because he’s my brother, you moron.” Matt shook his head.
“This is beyond fucked up.” Kane blew out a deep breath. He sniffed the air. “Vamps, wolf shifters, and humans? My brain is fried.” Kane plopped back down on the couch, leaning back against Wes’s body as if the man wasn’t even lying there.
“Wes!” Matt knelt down to touch Wes’s face. “What did you do?” He turned to look at Kayson.
“Hey now.” Kane snapped his fingers at Matt. Kayson shook his head. His brother was never very good at picking up on cues to when a person was upset or sad. When it came to Kane, what you saw was what you got, like it or not. No filter in the man’s mouth whatsoever. “It wasn’t Kay. I knocked this little guy out.” Kane reached out both arms to stretch across the couch, one arm resting on Wes’s hip. “He wasn’t fighting fair.”
“Get off of him.” Matt shoved Kane toward the end of the couch and took his place. “Wes, baby, can you hear me?” Matt patted his hand against Wes’s face.
“What happened?” Kevin asked Kayson.
“I was switching the laundry when he showed up.” Kayson crossed his arms over his chest, suddenly realizing he didn’t have a shirt on and he was only wearing a pair of Kevin’s gym shorts. “I’m under the impression that he thinks I was going to harm you.”
“Was he wrong to think that?” Matt interrupted. “You kidnapped him twelve years ago. Why would either of us think you didn’t want to hurt Kevin? You helped kill our parents, after all.”
“I did no such thing.” Kayson’s voice rose. “I never touched them.”
“You didn’t help them either, did you?” Matt’s eyes were glowing a bright blue. “You allowed that monster to kill them then took my little brother. In my book that makes you just as bad as Hale.”
“We are Warriors of the Dark, after all.” Kane shrugged.
“Shut up,” Kevin shouted. “Will everyone please just stop talking for one fucking minute.” Kevin brought his hands up to grip his head.
Kayson felt terrible for the pain Kevin must be feeling. He knew that his mate wanted to tell his family in his own way that they were mates but that opportunity was taken from him. Kayson rested his hands on Kevin’s shoulders, rubbing away the tension in the tight muscles.
“Is what he said true?” Matt glanced over at Kayson. “Is he your mate?”
“Yes.” Kevin looked up at his brother.
“Ah fuck, my head,” Wes said as he tried to sit up. “What the hell is going on here?”
Chapter Seventeen
This was so not the way Kevin wanted to break his and Kayson’s being together to Matt and Wes. This was a delicate matter. Kevin knew his brother and his mate wouldn’t like this one bit but Kevin couldn’t help it. This was something he couldn’t prevent and after getting to know Kayson he didn’t want to. Maybe it was just the bond between them making him feel this way but he did care for Kayson.
“Do you want to tell him, or shall I?” Matt asked.
“Wes…” Kevin’s throat went dry and he couldn’t speak. He didn’t want to say he was ashamed to be with Kayson but he couldn’t help but feel that way.
“Hey, dude, they’re mates.” Kane sat up and leaned around Matt. “Oh and sorry for knocking you out. No hard feelings, I hope.”
“What the…” Wes pushed himself up and leaned against the arm of the couch.
“So, it’s true?” Matt asked. “He’s your mate.”
Kevin nodded. He found it odd that Matt didn’t seem all that surprised. If anything, he looked resigned to the fact. Maybe deep-down Matt knew there was nothing he could do about it. Fate had a funny way of putting two people together and there was no stopping it.
“Then this must mean you’re Kayson.” Wes rubbed his head. “Big scary dude that kidnapped Kev.”
“Pretty much.” Kane kicked his feet up on the coffee table.
Kevin narrowed his eyes at Kane. It was unnerving how much they looked ali
ke. It was looking at Kayson yet where there was a softness in Kayson’s eyes there was nothing but cold in Kane’s. And did the man ever shut up?
“I was afraid this was going to happen.” Matt covered his face with his hands.
“What are you talking about?” Kevin was confused. Matt didn’t seem all that surprised.
“That night we rescued you, you wouldn’t let me hurt him.” Matt chuckled. “You were afraid of him yet you were worried about him. I knew then something wasn’t right but like most people when faced with something I’d rather not think about, I didn’t. I ignored it and hoped it’d go away and it did for twelve years.”
“You suspected that he and I—” Kevin turned to look at Kayson. “Were mates?”
“I did but I prayed every night since then that I was wrong. I didn’t want that life for you.” Matt sighed. “For Christ’s sake, he’s a Warrior of the Dark. A monster.”
“Hey!” Kane slapped Matt on the arm. “Watch what you say, man. That’s my brother.”
“Don’t fucking touch my mate.” Wes lunged for Kane.
Matt rolled his eyes and put his hands out, keeping the two men apart. If the situation hadn’t been so serious it would have been funny.
“Knock it off, you two.” Matt sighed.
“You knew this was a possibility all this time but you didn’t say anything to me?” Kevin felt betrayed. “I’ve lived the past twelve years of my life like a fucking eunuch thinking something was wrong with me because I never felt a connection with anyone I dated. I never had a girlfriend or a boyfriend. For the love of god, I’ve never had sex!” Kevin shouted as he stood. He glared at Kane when the man snickered. “I was lonely and you never said a fucking word to me.”
“I wasn’t sure.” Matt leapt to his feet with the grace of a vampire but Kevin wouldn’t look at him. He couldn’t. His head was a mess. He’d been lied to yet he wasn’t innocent either. He was getting it on with a Dark Warrior. “Kevin, please. I didn’t know you were having these issues. Every time I asked, you said everything was great. Maybe that was me being in denial because I didn’t want this for you. I didn’t want you to end up with him.” Matt waved his hand at Kayson. “He’s a killer.”
“Here we go again with the insults.” Kane shook his head. His thick wavy hair, so much like Kayson’s, whipped around his face. He then tucked the long strands behind his ears. “Okay, here’s the deal. Had my brother intervened that night your parents were murdered, Hale would have killed him. Hale doesn’t take kindly to people telling him what to do, friend or not. He then would have killed your cute little brother then because I wouldn’t take the killing of my brother lightly. I’d have ended up splattered into a million pieces for taking on the king of all evil.” Kane shrugged. “You’d have all our deaths on your shoulders, big brother.” He winked at Matt. “I’m sure that wouldn’t have fucked you up in the head or anything,” Kane said sarcastically.
The room grew quiet. No one could look at each other. Kevin stared down at his feet. So many things were running through his mind. Everything Kane said was true. They all knew it on some level. Hale was an uncertainty when it came to most things but they all knew he wouldn’t hesitate to kill.
Maybe Kevin would have been better off dead, he thought for just a brief moment. That little devil on his shoulder telling him death would be so much easier than this. Living was hard, death was easy but could he really choose death over this? He loved his brother and Wes. He’d made some really good friends with the other Warriors of the Light. And he’d found what could potentially be the greatest love of his life.
Kevin turned to look at Kayson. His black eyes exposed for all to see and he truly did not want to see the evil that others saw when they looked at Kayson and his kind. But in that moment, all he saw were his parents’ lifeless eyes staring at him and he couldn’t take it anymore.
“I got to get out of here.” He walked toward the door. He grabbed his keys as he passed. He could hear Kayson, Matt, and Wes calling his name but he couldn’t stop his feet from carrying him out of the house.
“Kevin, please stop.” Kayson’s strong hand grabbed his wrist gently but Kevin jerked away from him. “I’m sorry.” Kayson held his hands up in a show of surrender and that sad look on his strong face nearly broke him.
“I just need some space, okay.” That was all Kevin said before turning around and walking the remaining distance to his truck. He got in and pulled out of the drive without looking back.
Tears burned at the back of his eyes but no matter how hard he tried to hold them in they fell anyway. Hot streaks of salty tears burned his cheeks as he sobbed silently. Why couldn’t life be fair? Why couldn’t he have the man he so badly wanted and make his brother proud at the same time?
Those were answers to questions he knew would never come. This was it. Life sucked and he was stuck in the middle of it all.
Chapter Eighteen
Everything inside Kayson told him to go after Kevin but he knew it wouldn’t help the situation. Kevin was upset and hurting and Kayson was the cause of that pain. If only he’d done something back then but…
“You can’t seriously be blaming my brother for this.” Kayson stepped back into the house to the sound of shouting. “You’re the one who never told the kid he was Kay’s mate.”
“And how would I have done that? Hmm?” Matt and Kane were standing toe to toe screaming into each other’s faces. “He was just a kid.”
“Oh yeah, that’s right. So that explains not telling him in the beginning but what about the other years? He’s twenty-six years old. Old enough to be able to handle the truth.”
“Hey.” Wes waved at Kayson when he saw him enter the room. Kane and Matt were arguing too loud to have heard or seen them. “I guess this means family dinners on Sunday nights will be more entertaining.” Wes chuckled. “I’m wondering when they’ll start throwing fists.”
“My money is on Matt.” Kayson tucked his hair behind his ears. “Kane can talk a big game but he’s not a huge fan of violence.”
“Really? Sure could have fooled me.” Wes rubbed the back of his head.
“I’m sorry about that. Kane must have come in when you were preparing to attack me. He only did what any brother would do.” Wes patted the couch beside him and Kayson eyed him wearily for a moment before taking the seat. He’d never spoken so friendly with a Warrior of the Light before. In fact, he never talked to one before now. This was very odd and yet welcoming.
“I get it.” Wes sighed. “And that’s what Matt was doing for Kevin.” Wes glanced over at him. “You understand that, right?”
“I do and a part of me wishes this didn’t have to be happening to Kevin.” Kayson let his head hang between his shoulders, staring at his hands resting in his lap. “I wasn’t looking to find my mate and I sure as hell wasn’t looking to find mine in a fourteen-year-old kid whose parents had just been brutally murdered. Fucking Hale.” Kayson looked up and let his head fall back to rest on the couch.
“Fuck you!” Matt shouted at Kane.
“No freaking way. I’d rather fuck him.” Kane pointed at Wes. “He’s quieter.”
“I have to admit this is the strangest fucking thing that’s ever happened to me.” Wes laughed, ignoring the two arguing across the room. “I’m sitting here having a non-violent conversation with a Warrior of the Dark. Weird shit.”
“I feel the same.” Kayson smiled.
“I gotta say, you aren’t what I was expecting.” Wes shifted in his seat to face Kayson. “You act so normal. Every Dark Warrior I’ve ever come across has wanted to kill me, never talk to me. Your brother”—Wes jutted his chin in Kane’s direction—“he could have killed me if he wanted to but he didn’t.”
“Like I said, Kane isn’t big on killing for just the sake of it. Don’t get me wrong, he’s killed before. He’s not an angel or anything like that. Over the years killing gets old.”
“This is so fucking bizarre.” Wes took a deep breath, his eyes wi
dening. “I thought all you Dark Warriors lived to kill people.”
“How many have you actually met and talked to?” Kayson asked.
“Touché.” Wes nodded. “But you have to admit a lot of you kill to kill. Look at Hale, for example.”
“You’re right.” Kayson crossed his arms over his chest. “Most do. It’s easier to follow orders and be evil than it is to be good and fight that struggle every day.”
“That’s bullshit,” Matt snapped.
“Hey!” Kane shoved Matt in the arm. “Be nice.”
“I’m sorry, Matt, but it is true.” Kayson leaned forward to rest his elbows on his knees. “Think about it. Wouldn’t you like to rip my and my brother’s heads off right now? I bet you’ve even pictured yourself doing just that but we’ve given you no cause to kill us. So, therefore killing us would be wrong. To kill without cause would go against everything the Warriors of the Light stand for or any good human being, for that matter.” Kayson gave Matt a tight-lipped smile. “That internal debate waging inside your head must be a doozy.”
“I…wait a minute.” Matt paced back and forth, nudging Kane in the shoulder with each pass by. “This is beyond crazy.” Matt stopped and sat down in the recliner next to the couch. “I mean, you guys can actually talk and form thoughts.”
“What did you expect?” Kane laughed. “Did you think we are all brainless drones?”
“Yes,” Wes and Matt said in unison.
“Well, we’re not.” Kane sounded offended. “Self-righteous assholes.”
“Can you blame us?” Matt groaned. He rubbed his hands over his face. “Your kind does try to kill us every chance you get.”
“Because you’re trying to kill us,” Kane countered.
“Brother, stop.” Kayson was getting tired of all the arguing. He turned to look at Matt. “Yes, there are some Dark Warriors that take pleasure in killing but there are some out there who fight on the side of Dark because they don’t want to be judged by your sanctimonious bullshit. You judge those you don’t understand and kill what you don’t understand. Needless to say, you don’t make wanting to be a Warrior of the Light all that great. Darkness lives in us all. Even you. Sometimes the darkness is greater than the light but that happens in each person that roams this planet. Mistakes get made and some follow false prophets. It took finding Kevin for me to want to change. I was happy just following orders and being with Hale but all that changed. I saw that there was a new path for me to follow and I wanted it. I want to be happy and be in love. I want to be with Kevin.”