Fury shook his head. "I was the yin to your yang. I was a human child, then when I hit puberty, my base form changed to that of the wolf."
Vane winced. He understood his brother a lot better than he cared to. "I'm sorry."
"Oh, you've no idea. You think you had it hard? At least Anya and Fang stayed by you. Protected you. I tried to hide, but the minute Dare found out what I'd become, he told Mom. She went, pardon the bad pun, medieval on my ass."
Vane didn't expect anything less. His father would have done the same to him had he ever learned the truth. "She's a Sentinel. It's her job to kill the Katagaria."
"Yeah, I know. I was too young to fight her off. She attacked me with a vengeance unimaginable and tore me to shreds." Fury paused and flinched, as if the memory were hard for him even now. "I lay bleeding for days as I tried to hide from her and the others. You want to know why I can't command magic worth a damn? No one ever taught me. Markus, for all his shortcomings, at least made sure the three of you were trained after you returned from your year of survival. For a hundred years, I was totally alone. I didn't dare enter a Katagaria den for fear of them smelling the Arcadian scent on me. The only thing I've ever learned to pull off well is camouflaging my scent. For all you know, I could be lying to you now."
Vane stared at him, hard. Dangerously. "You're not."
"How do you know?"
"Ash wouldn't have left you here with me if you were."
Fury scoffed at that. "You put too much faith in a Dark-Hunter who could care less about our kind."
"No I don't. I put a lot of faith in a man who has never been anything other than a friend to me." Vane crossed his arms over his chest. "So why did you come to our den?"
"Same reason you sought out Mom. I wanted to know what the rest of my family was like. I had every intention of telling you who I was, but as soon as I saw how much Markus disdained you and Fang, I figured it would be a mistake."
"You could have told us. We would have welcomed you."
"And again, I remind you that Dare, my litter mate who was my best friend, had already betrayed me. He delivered me up to our mother in chains. I was raised believing that animals are unreliable and unpredictable. But you know what? Animals only kill for two reasons: to protect and to eat. Humans kill for many, many more reasons. In spite of what they think, we're not nearly as dangerous as they are. But you know that, don't you?"
Vane nodded.
Fury sighed and stepped back. "Well, you guys have a nice life or whatever."
"Where are you going?" Vane asked.
Fury shrugged. "Wherever."
"So that's it?" Vane asked. "You're just going to introduce yourself to me as my brother and hit the road?"
"What else is there? You don't want me around. You damn sure don't need me."
Vane frowned at that. Didn't Fury have any idea
No, he didn't. The only family he had ever known had betrayed him. Little wonder his brother hated him. At least he, Fang, and Anya had banded together through any and all threats and obstacles.
Fury had been alone for centuries. He'd always stood back in the pack and never talked to anyone. While other strati formed inner circles of friends and allies, Fury had always remained solitary. For that matter, he had seldom fought to claim a she-wolf.
It must have been awful for him to know they were kin and to never breathe a word of it. How often had Fury watched the three of them laughing together?
Seen them huddled together as family against the rest of the pack, while knowing he should have been included in their group?
For that omission of friendship, Vane would feel eternally guilty. He should have sensed the bloodline that bound them together.
Fury really was good at hiding his scent.
"You're my brother, Fury," Vane said sincerely. "Family means something to me.
If you know nothing else about me, you should know that."
"Since when am I family?"
"Since the minute we were born and since the second you came to me to warn me about Stefan." Vane held his hand out to him. "I don't need an oath to be bound to you, little brother. We're family."