A Luna's Broken Heart

Chapter 8: Information

-Rider-

It was the middle of the night when I suddenly heard a loud crash. It startled me awake before I looked around the dark room for the source of the noise. I heard another loud bang and jumped out of bed before putting on a pair of sweatpants. I walked out of my bedroom, looking down the hallway, but it was quiet. I moved back into the room, pulling a gun from a drawer beside the door. I held the gun firmly in my hands. It was strange holding a gun again. I hadn’t done that in years, and I still kept one close to my bed. I slowly walked down the hallway, my back constantly close to the wall. I moved over to the stairs, looking down to the other floor, but I saw nothing but the quiet entrance to the house. I quietly moved down the stairs, before leaning up against the next wall, slowly inching closer to the living room, until I was able to peek around the corner.

“What the hell!” I yelled.

I moved away from the wall, lowered the gun and placed it on a shelf over the fireplace, before walking over to the couch.

“James, what do you think you’re doing?” I asked, looking down at the pale and shaking male before me.

“Where the f*ck am I?” he growled up at me.

While still having a high fever and still not being able to stay awake long enough to intake solid food, he seemed to be more allusive this time. I slowly reached for him, wanting to help him back on the couch, but he just moved back, almost scared. It didn’t surprise me. After having been in his wolf form for so long, a simple touch was too much for him.

“Your eyes,” he said.

He was having trouble meeting my eyes, looking from the floor up to them and then back. While I hadn’t been born to be the next king, I was still an alpha and I was still a wolf of pure blood and part of the royal family. Looking into my eyes was not something just anyone could do.

“W-Who the f*ck are you?” he asked.

“We have already been over this, remember?”

He just looked at me confused, before shaking his head. I sighed, before slowly reaching for him again.

“Just let me help you up.”

James was hesitant, but eventually let me come close enough so I could put my hands on his arm and help him back on the couch. He slowly laid down again, pulling the blanket higher. I checked if his IV was still attached to him, and if he had required any other bruises or injuries. Other than being scared of seeing my yellow eyes, nothing else had happened to him.

“Your eyes,” he repeated.

I looked at him again, before walking over to the fireplace, and taking my gun. I stared at the black surface for a little while, before turning to James again.

“You should get some sleep,” I said.

“Who the hell are you?” he growled.

I let his question hang in the air for a little while, before I answered him:

“I’m Rider … Valerio’s younger brother.”

James shook his head slowly. He didn’t believe me. Not surprising. I was supposed to be dead. Everyone believed I was. So how could I be here? He probably thought all of this was a dream in some way. Unfortunately for the both of us, it wasn’t. We were both here, in my house, far away from my brother’s territory and James’s home.

“That’s not possible,” he said after a few seconds.

“No, it shouldn’t be, but it is.”

“You’re dead. You were supposed to be dead.”

“Sorry to disappoint. I’m not,” I said.

James just kept shaking his head. It seemed to be too much for him right now, and his confusion slowly turned to anger.

“Does Valerio now?”

This time it was me shaking my head.

“No. No one knows. At least not the people who knew me before," I told him.

“Then why … why are you here?”

“It’s my home.”

“But … You’re alive! Your home is with your brother," he said.

“No, your home is with my brother.”

This shut him up, and his anger subsided and turned into a sadness. He slowly turned his face away, not being able to look at me anymore. I knew it wasn’t the mentioning of my brother and his home that made him sad …

“You should have left me out there. I wanted to be left out there,” he said, still not looking at me.

“I couldn’t.”

“Why not?!”

He turned his head. His eyes were shiny from unshed tears, and the pain in them made it hard for me to look at him. I wished I could do more. I wished I somehow could give him his wish to be left alone, but I couldn’t. Valerio and the rest needed him too much. He was too important to everyone. Besides, I was a doctor, I didn’t just leave someone to die.

“Because it isn’t your time,” I said.

“The hell it is!”

“James-“

“How the f*ck do you know who I am?”

I bit the inside of my cheek. What was I supposed to say? Yeah, I kept track of my brother over the years, but I didn’t show myself even once, because I was too much of a coward. That would just be really great to hear. A stalker and a coward.

“I kept track on my brother,” I just said.

“Yet you never let him know you were alive.

“No, I didn’t.”

“Why not?” he asked.

“Why did you not return yourself, letting my brother know you were still alive?”

“Don’t turn this back to me! This is about you,” he sneered.

“No. It is about you, James. My brother needs you.”

“No, he doesn’t," he said.

“Yes, he does, and so does the rest. My brother has formed a new council. Did you know that?”

James didn’t say anything. Of course, he didn’t know. He had been gone since last December. For half a year he had been living as a wolf. He had no idea what went on at home.

“He has made a new council to calm those that tried to kill him. To calm those that killed your mate.”

“So, he has rewarded killers?!” he growled.

“No, he has made peace. There hasn’t been peace like this in years. People talk to each other now. Alphas, pack members, lone wolves. Everyone has a voice. Octavia has even stepped up as queen officially,” I told him.

“How the f*ck did he come up with such a bad idea?”

“It was Damian’s mate’s idea, I was told.”

“What?” he asked.

“Yeah, a half-blood who tried to have Damian killed. Apparently, she was the daughter of someone from the former council. Turns out Damian and her are mates, and it saved them both.”

“Damian found his mate?” he asked.

I nodded.

“He did.”

“When?”

“In April," I told him.

“What month are we in?”

“July.”

“That’s three months ago," he whispered.

I nodded again, seeing James slowly putting the days together, realizing how much time had passed.

“You have been gone for half a year.”

“Half a year?” he whispered.

He was quiet for a little while, trying to wrap his head around what he had been told, but then his eyes once again focused on me.

“Has anyone else found their mate?”

“No, not that I know of. It has been quiet for a while now, and hopefully it stays that way, but I heard a certain person is gone for good.”

“Who?” he asked.

“Zane’s mother. Clarissa.”