“My brother, Sol! You had him right in front of you. And you’re telling me he was working for Andre? How could you keep that from me? You knew!” There’s so much anger in Cam’s voice, but there’s an undercurrent of hurt, too.
“I didn’t have a choice. He teleported away.” I give Sol credit. His voice is calm and even. I’m not sure many would be when facing Cam’s wrath.
“You always have a choice! You could have teleported him to me!”
“And what?” Sol asks with his voice rising. “Were you going to put handcuffs on him and keep him here so he never leaves again?”
“I don’t know!” Cam’s breath catches. I can hear it easily as I’m sure everyone else can. “He’s my brother, Sol. My blood. And he was out there doing Andre’s bidding. Did he… Did he kill anyone?”
“Not that I know of. He was focused on Ladon and Genevieve.”
The entire Avynwood Pack knows what happened. But Ari was there to help them, though all of us would have been in a hot second had we been asked. As angry as Aries was that he wasn’t told until it was all said and done, he understood why Merrick didn’t involve us.
“A hundred years. That’s how long I’ve been looking for him. And he’s been hunting shifters. I just… How could he?” Cam’s voice cracks. His pain is palpable.
Dante turns and starts pushing the pack away, whispering for them to get back to their rooms. His hand lands on my arm but I shake him off. I’m not going anywhere. Dante studies me for a second but ultimately walks away. Then Cas is there by my side.
“We should go,” he tells me in my mind.
“I can’t leave him like this. He’s hurting.”
Sol appears in the doorway as a soft cry reaches my ears. I’m two steps forward when Aries strides past me into the room. I’m close enough to see Cam on the floor with his back against the wall. His knees are tucked up against his chest. Tears run down his cheeks as he lifts his face to Aries.
Aries doesn’t hesitate to pull him into his arms. “I got here as fast as I could.” Aries lifts his head to Sol. I’m sure Sol is telling him what he relayed to Camden. I decide to dive into Sol’s head. He usually has a strong block up but maybe it’s down.
He turns to me. “I’m letting you all the way in. Find what happened. What I saw. Nothing else,” he tells me.
I nod and easily find it. Cam’s brother. The contacts he wore to disguise himself. The determination he had. And then there’s more. Part of it is secondary.
“That’s from Ladon’s memories,” Sol says. “I didn’t witness it myself.”
It’s Caiden again. This time telling Ladon and Genevieve how he buried the shifter part of himself down deep. And how it’s dead. How he wants to rid the world of shifters. He has vampire abilities. And he’s been out there all this time, hunting those he thinks are lesser than him. Shifters like he is and his brother.
Cam has searched for him. Followed leads that always turned up empty. Caiden didn’t want to be found. He was too busy hunting others of his kind, carrying out his own mission, while Camden was looking for him.
Glancing over to Aries again, I find Cam clutching Aries’ shirt tightly as Aries whispers to him. Promises they’ll help find his brother. That they’ll talk to him.
“No,” Cam says softly. “I’m done. He obviously doesn’t want anything to do with me. If he did, he would have come to me. No more searching.”
His words break my heart. Cam is giving up. I can’t blame him but at the same time, I want to go in there and tell him not to do it. That somewhere out there is his brother. That no matter what, he’s still his blood. But I can’t make Camden fight for him. And I know better than anyone what it’s like to have family turn on the ones you love.
I finally spin and stride down the hall until I reach my door. It’s on the opposite side of the hallway, one over from the landing that leads to the steps. The first room was Mom and Dad’s. It still remains empty. I told Aries he could put someone new in it if he wants. I cleaned out their stuff with Titus’ help. We went through everything.