Lucca (The A'rouk Brothers Book 3)
Page 21
Slade wanted to turn around and read the faces behind him but before he could do that he needed to once again do an internal check. Was he here to honor Brie’s request or was he here because this is truly where he wanted to be?
Once again, he saw his twin and the other males that should have been his brothers. Those that he should have grown up with and bonded to, then he remembered the brothers he chose The Broken. Was he here out of a sense of duty?
No, he was here because when they were together, none of them were as broken as they were when they were apart. When he was with these males, there was a sense of family, a sense of what he always desired when he was growing up. That’s why he chose them because they really were the only family that he had.
“Now that everyone has chosen.” Dante lifted his hand.
There was no time to turn around as he fell to his knees. Pain more intense than any he had ever experienced pierced is head and then his body. He cried out unable to keep it to himself.
“What the hell is happening?”
“My body is being torn apart.”
“Sweet death take me now.”
“How is that lunatic doing this?”
“Don’t call him a lunatic, he’s the first he could kill us with a flick of his finger.
“Shut up! All of you are thinking too loud.”
Blessed silence reigned. Body’s began to move and murmurs of pain filtrated through them. In the end, they settled on lodging their bodies against a chair and staying still. None of them tried to stand knowing that falling on their faces wouldn’t be forgotten anytime soon.
“What did you do to us?” He placed the heel of his hand against his temple and pushed trying to stop the low hum of voices that resided there.
“Being the first brother the one who is charged with the safety of all his other brothers is a heavy responsibility. You find yourself watching out for them even when you know they can take care of themselves. There are days, months, and years that you have to stop yourself from interfering in their lives. They need to know they can do it without you. I’ve begun to wonder if what the lead brother feels is similar to what a parent feels when they have to pull back and watch their child walk or fall on their own. I have no children, not even a mate, so I don’t know. All I can do is speculate.”
He stood and walked around stopping to look down at each male before he knelt before him and touched his forehead. A bright light came from him, and then he moved to the next.
He knelt before Slade. “Maybe you will be able to answer that question for me when we next meet. You’re family now just like any other family. Your beasts are not from the same line, but they are now family. The only question is where will you live. Fortunately, I have an answer for that also. See you in the past.”
“Did he just disappear?”
“He did.”
“What did he do to us?”
“I can feel you, all of you in my head.” Phoenix touched his head before he flinched.
“I can feel all of you also.”
“He linked us. I don’t know how he did it, but he linked us.” Slade reached out and used his chair to help pull himself from the floor.
The others did the same no one moving fast because the new connections in their heads still throbbed.
“Is this what it’s supposed to feel like.”
“Yes,” Akron said softly. The others echoed his yes.
“Akron?”
“No Slade. It’s too soon it may always be too soon.’
He nodded pain didn’t just go away because it had been days, months, or years. Some pain always seemed to linger to catch you off guard to remind you of what you lost. Once again, he understood he was right where he was meant to be.
“What did the lunatic mean when he said he would see us in the past?” Phoenix looked around for an answer.
“I don’t know, but I think we should leave the Earth and find a different place to call home.” Jabari looked at Slade to see his reaction.
“We’re leaving unless anyone has a reason to stay.”
There was nothing but silence. He gave the orders to take the ship out of orbit and look for the closest inhabited planet where they could lie low.
“It’s never that easy little brother.” Laughter that sounded just like his own haunted him. “Send him back as soon as you can. We’re used to him popping up when least expected. Take care.”
Aran was gone, and he was left to wonder why he spent years of his life berating the silence in his head. How hard would it be for him to get that silence back?
Mekhi turned to give him a mocking look before he focused on his station.
They moved out of orbit easily as they took the ship into deep space leaving the earth and any thought of it behind.
“Shit.” This came from Phoenix with Jabari and Akron agreeing.
“What’s happening?” Slade turned on the view screen to see waves of intense blue light coming toward their ship.
“What the hell is that?”
“Good question brother. Tell me if you know that answer.” Mekhi’s fingers were moving fast over the keys in front of him and data was pouring across the stream.
“The computer has never analyzed anything like this before. I told it to guess. It didn’t like that, but if the extrapolated data could be used to look forward, this could be a wave in the time-space continuum.”
“Whatever it is it will overtake us in, five, four, three.”
“Hold on tight!”
“One.”
The ship rocked throwing them to the floor. A pair of eyes appeared on the bridge, but no one noticed the freaky sight because they were all passed out.
*~*~*~*
“What happened?” Slade was back on the floor with his head throbbing. Was this take two and what happened earlier?
“Large blue waves attacked us, and we passed out as a result.” Akron pulled himself up to his chair as his brothers did the same.
“We are in orbit around a large blue planet, and the ship is cloaked.”
“Very few people in the government know that aliens exist. I suggest you bury your ship when given a chance. We don’t want them going on a witch hunt.” He smiled. “I guess we should call it the hunt for The Created.”
“No more fun and games at our expense.” He eyes blazed as his beast fought to surface. “I want to know what’s going on.”
“You’re starting to take to leadership. As far as playing with you that’s not my style. Hmm, maybe it is, but you’ll get used to it. I did exactly what I told you I would do. I brought you to Earths past.” He unfolded his frame from the wall where he was standing and walked to the view screen.
“Magnify.”
Jabari looked at Slade who nodded yes. The image on the screen was magnified until they could see the individual streets. This was not the same Earth they had just walked on.
“Come with me, I seem to be in the giving mood, so I have something for you.”
Before they could protest, he left the ship taking them with him.
“How did you do that?”
“Where are we?”
“Why did you do that?”
“Who are you?”
“All excellent questions.” He turned and pointed all eyes following his outstretched hand.
“What is that?” Slade walked a little closer never having seen anything like this before even when he went to Aran’s house, this place put his brothers to shame.
“This is a house. They call it a mansion in this time. It has six different wings offering you each privacy. The kitchen, game room, and several others rooms are all common space, so you have a space to be together as well as apart.”
The mansion was surrounded by green space that backed up to a forest.
“It’s all yours further than your eyes can see.” He took them in the house and let them look around while each brother found the space that was perfect for them.
They met back in the living room. D
ante was sitting in a floating chair waiting for them.
Slade walked in front of him. “I’m almost afraid to ask what’s next.”
“You’re learning. You live life. This mansion, this land it’s not a handout. I didn’t give it to you because you earned it. I won’t be taking care of you. You’ll have to learn that on your own.”
“What do you expect us to do? There’s no food, no furniture.” Mekhi looked at him floating above the floor the question of who was he once again tickled a portion of his brain.
“Then buy some. You have money, and you have items on your ship that can be converted to money. If you want or need more money, then you’ll have to do what everyone else does to get it.”
“What’s that?”
“Work for it, Akron.”
“Why are we here in Earths past?”
“This is not Earths past it’s your future.”
“That still doesn’t tell us why we are here.”
Dante took a long deep breath and let it out in a sigh.
“You’re as bad as if not worse than the Dare’s in the beginning.”
They straightened their stance and smiled, it lingered on their lips. He shook his head they were taking it as a compliment. Why shouldn’t they, he partially meant it that way.
“No more questions, you’re Created given the ability to survive. So, survive.” He disappeared, but he would keep an eye on them.
Epilogue
“We need a grill.”
“What we need is an outside kitchen.”
“Mekhi is right. How do we live in a mansion and not have an outside kitchen?”
“What does it matter we don’t have families.”
“Do you think the Dare’s waited until they got families to get an outside kitchen?” Slade decided that calling them the Dare’s, it kept some of the rage he still felt tamped down. He didn’t hate his twin anymore, and he had no desire to kill him or himself.
Life moved on whether he liked it or not. He talked to Brie every night telling her what he did every day. It calmed him even as it stroked the pain of her not being with him.
“At least look at the plans the architect drew up.”
Mekhi spread them out on the table between them. The plans were sound, and it would increase their desire to be outside.
“I say we do it. That way we have it if we need it.”
“We can get the female on television build it for us she seems competent.”
“No, anyone but her.” Mekhi got up and took his plans with him.
“I say we get her because he doesn’t want her.”
“Phoenix.”
“What?” He looked at Slade before he shrugged. “He was in my rooms the other day. I didn’t invite him, and he never told me what was he looking for. Besides the female does look competent.”
“I think men are the only ones that should do construction.”
“If Brie were here, you’d regret that.”
“I don’t feel that way, but I heard several earth men talking about it when her commercial came on.”
“Where were you at to hear this?”
“The local bar.”
“Phoenix.”
“You’re my brother not my mother. Oh wait, I don’t have a mother because I’m a created being that wasn’t given a chance to have parents. I’m a being that had a target on my back, but instead of killing me they destroyed my first set of brothers. You don’t get to Phoenix me. And I’m not the damn bird they talk about rising out of the ashes. No one rises out of the bloody ashes of their family. Call the female if we have to suffer then why shouldn’t he?” He got up and stormed away.
The others got up. Most of their together time seemed to end this way with one of them suffering the pain that broke them in the beginning.
*~*~*~*
She watched the phone as it vibrated against her desk making a line for the edge of it and the floor. It stopped just before it hit the floor. She should care, but she didn’t.
Thoughts of how she was going to pay her employees were much more pressing than the thought of her phone hitting the carpet. She hated carpet in her office she would have switched it out with engineered hardwood, but it wasn’t worth the cost at this point in her career.
She picked up the phone to listen to her voice mail. It was about a job, a small job but it would help her make payroll the only thing she was worried about at this point.
Other books by the author
Love Me Harder Series
Aran Book 1
Niko Book 2
Sergey Book 3
Nicolas Book 4
Hale Book 5
Alexei Book 6
Ash Book 7
The A’rouk Brothers
Mick Book 1
Damon Book 2
Lucca Coming soon
Alien Mates Series
Soul-Bonded to the Alien Book 1
Rylan’s Heart Book 2
Gabe’s Destiny Book 3
Colun’s Passion Book 4
Joaquin’s Saving Grace Book 5
Dragon Mates Series
Alexa’s Dragon Book 1
Nadia’s Dragon Book 2
Skye’s Dragon Book 3
Willow’s Dragon Book 4
Shifters on the Run
Tane’s Mate Book 1
Dev’s Mate Book 2
The Wolves Den
Lazzar Prequel
Enzo Book 1
Cole Book 2
Connect with me
You can find me at my website
I’m also on Twitter
My author central page
My Facebook page
Join my mailing list