Page 34
When the kid smiled, he looked a lot like Mari. Of course, that look changed when his eyes narrowed and electricity arced from his fingertips toward Severin.
“Ah, sweet child, you don’t want to do that,” Thana warned.
Severin didn’t want to harm the kid, so he absorbed the arc and let it flicker through his veins like extra blood to be filtered. “Ah, like the zest. So spicy, kid. Is that your housewarming gift?”
He heard Thana sigh and knew, without looking, she was shaking her head.
“Pax, don’t,” Mari yelled.
“What the hell, Mari?” Pax leaned to the right, trying to look around Severin.
Pax let himself be heard as he walked to the house where he’d sensed his twin’s presence. He’d searched for her for years, finding only a hint of her in the last few months. His body shook with the need to rip the male in front of him out of the way, but instinct told him he was a formidable opponent.
“I’m more than formidable, kid. My name is Severin.”
Pax stared at the massive man with glowing red eyes. He’d seen a lot of shit during his time in captivity, but red eyes...that was fucking new.
“What the fuck are you?” Pax asked Severin.
“I am everything, kid.” Severin smiled, showing too many teeth.
“Don’t tease my brother, Severin.” Mari pushed past the large man, but another woman grabbed her arm.
“Sis.” Pax hated the sound of his own voice breaking.
“Sev, if you value your ability to fuck your female, get out of my way.”
He couldn’t help the grin that formed on his lips. “Same old little sister I’ve known my entire life. Come give me a hug.”
“Where have you been, Pax?” Mari asked.
Anger flared through him, making it harder to control his temper. He knew better than anyone how easily the thing he’d kept on a tether could roar into an inferno nobody could contain. The last time, it took him months to find his way back to humanity.
“The scientists moved me and the others they’d taken every couple of months. Once they had us under what they believed was complete control, they relaxed and kept us in an underground facility. The place sat in a border town that was very inhospitable to most people. I took it as a challenge, and so did a few of my fellow captives.” Pax held out his hand toward Mari, narrowing his eyes at the big man trying to block her from him.
“Oh, the boy has teeth. Not like mine, but he certainly looks like he wants to rip my head from my shoulders.” The man flashed teeth looking like fangs, like a vampire or an animal on the last word.
“Sev, please don’t tease the boy.”
His sister lifted her face to the ceiling. “Goodness, give me strength. He’s an apex alpha, Pax. You know you never tug a tiger’s tail unless you want to get bitten. Well, he’s even more fierce than a damn tiger. Tread lightly, or you’re liable to get that hand torn off.”
Pax rolled his eyes. “Oh, aren’t you just full of wit and wisdom, sis? Got any more of them for me?”
“You keep rolling your eyes that hard and you’ll be seeing the back of your skull. I’d say brains, but I’m afraid yours are fried, asswipe,” Mari cried and stomped past the two between them. Her eyes were so like his, shining with unshed tears, making him wish he could rewind time and undo what’s been done.
Pax opened his arms. He nearly whimpered like a little boy as he embraced his twin for the first time in over four years. The feeling of touching another being that wasn’t being forced on him nearly made his legs give out beneath him. “Sister, I’ve missed you.”
“You’ve gotten bigger.” Mari buried her face against his chest.
He felt her body shake within his arms. She was too thin, almost fragile. If he wasn’t careful, he worried he’d shatter her bones.
“And you’ve gotten too small. We need to fatten you up, dear girl.” He pressed his lips together and met the strange man’s gaze over Mari’s head. “I’m being hunted.”
“We’re aware. Your sister was taken by a group that transported her here, by her own devices, of course,” Severin said, nodding at his sister’s back.
Pax gripped Mari by the shoulders and pushed her back so he could look her in the face. “What does he mean, Mari?”
“Well, I kind of let myself be captured, a lot. Don’t look at me like that, you shithead. I’ve been searching for you,” Mari cried. She shoved his chest, and then began hitting him with her clenched fists.
