Brothersong (Green Creek #4) - T.J. Klune Page 0,63
my arms through his coat, his face streaked with tears. “You fucking asshole. Do you know how long I’ve been—”
“I wish you were real,” I told him, needing him to understand. “I wish you were here so I could be strong again. So I can be brave again. My phone broke. I had your phone number, but it broke. I always wanted to call you. I howled. Did you know that? At the full moons. I howled for you to hear me just like I said I would.”
He said, “Stay here, don’t move, stay here.” And then he was up and running.
I did as he asked.
I stayed.
His coat was warm on my chest. It didn’t do much for my legs, but that was okay. I inhaled deeply and laughed at how odd this was. How strange. It was like he was real. It was like he was—
I sat up slowly at the sound of crashing through the trees.
It was coming toward me.
My legs were shaky as I stood.
Kelly appeared again. His eyes were wide, and he skidded to a stop when he saw me.
He said, “Carter?”
And it was then I heard it.
Something I hadn’t heard in a very long time.
His heart.
I heard his heartbeat.
Not-Kelly never had a beating heart, no matter how hard I tried.
Not-Kelly was a ghost, and ghosts didn’t have hearts.
But this Kelly did. It was the loudest sound in all the world.
And then someone else appeared beside him.
He was bigger than I remembered. Stronger. Greater. More. I felt it wash over me, Alpha Alpha Alpha.
I said, my voice fractured like glass, “Are you… are you real?”
And Joseph Bennett said, “Carter. You’re….” I watched as a single tear slid down from one of his red, red eyes.
Kelly’s shoulders shook.
Joe’s chest hitched.
I sank to my knees in the snow.
They came for me.
They engulfed me, and it was frantic, the way their hands rubbed against my face. My hair. My chest. My back. They were talking over each other, each of them saying my name again and again and again.
Joe, Joe, Joe took my face in his hands. His thumbs brushed away the tears as he breathed heavily through his nose. He studied me with blue eyes, and I swore for a moment it was our mother who held me.
Joe said, “His eyes. They’re violet. He’s Omega.”
Kelly said, “Can you find it? Can you find him?”
Joe said, “He’s there. It’s faint, but it’s there. I can—”
Kelly said, “Do it. Make him hear you. Do it now.”
Joe’s eyes turned to fire, and white hair sprouted along his neck and face. And something shifted in my head and chest, and it felt alive, a mass of roiling, knotted threads. They shuddered. They quaked.
And then Joe roared.
It was the song of an Alpha.
It slammed into me and I—
“WHERE’S YOUR BROTHER?” a boy asked me.
“I don’t know,” I muttered. I looked back over my shoulder. A group of girls was following us, whispering to each other. When I looked at them they giggled, waving and blushing. I could hear the sounds of Caswell in the distance, the lapping of the waves from Butterfield Lake. But Joe was gone. He’d been calling to me to wait up, that he couldn’t run as fast as we could, Carter, Carter, I’m going to tell Dad!
“He’s always following you,” another boy said. He had a mean face, and I didn’t like him much. “Both of your brothers do. It’s annoying.”
I glared at him. “They’re not annoying.” They were, but only I could say that. They were my brothers, not his. “Don’t talk about them like that.”
“He’s going to be the Alpha of all,” the first boy said, shoving the second. “Better watch your mouth or he’ll kick you out of the pack.”
“Whatever,” the second boy said. “I’m not scared of him. He’s just a little kid. He’s not the Alpha of anything.” He smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “My dad says that Bennetts don’t deserve to be in control. They ruin everything they touch.” His smile widened. “Can’t even keep their own pack safe.” He leaned forward. “What was it like when the hunters came? Did you see them kill anyone? Was there a lot of blood?”
My father told me the only time I could hit someone was when I was protecting myself. That I needed to set an example. People looked up to me because of my name. I had to be the better person, he told me. I had to be just and kind.