Page 25 of Bad Moon Rising (Dark-Hunter 17)
She lunged at him, biting him hard. "I loved him, you stupid idiot. Why else?" She howled, a baleful, haunting sound. The cry of a wolf in utter agony.
Leaning his head back, he joined her and let loose his own pain.
His sister was going to die. . . . And there was nothing he could do.
Anya broke off to continue crying. "How can he be dead? How?"
But Fang didn't hear her words. All he could do was see her dead and limp. See her pups as they looked to him for stories of a mother they'd never know.
How could this be?
They would be just like him. They would have that hole deep inside them that nothing ever filled. The question of what it would have been like to be loved. To have a mother who cared for them and nursed them.
Turning human, he pulled her into his arms and held her as his own tears brimmed. "I won't leave them alone, Anya. Ever. They will want for nothing."
Except you and their father.
Those words choked him and succeeded in breaching his control. Against his will, his tears flowed. Embarrassed, he hid his face against her neck and held her for everything he was worth. It wasn't supposed to be like this. His brother and sister were the only constants in his life.
They were his only solace.
And now to lose one . . . it was more than he could stand.
He held her close, rocking her for hours, unaware of anything else. It was only when Vane returned at dawn that he realized how much time had elapsed.
Vane approached them slowly. "What's wrong?"
Fang grappled with a way to tell him gently. Anya was asleep now, but there was no such solace where he was concerned. He tightened his fist in her white fur and decided there was no way to sugar-coat the truth that would shatter Vane the same way it'd shattered him. "Did you know Anya had bonded with Orian?"
Vane curled his lip as if he found the idea as repugnant as Fang had. "Why would she have done that?"
"She said she loved him."
Vane went stiff all over. "You spoke in the past tense."
Fang took a deep breath and braced himself for Vane's reaction. Gods, how he wished he wasn't the one who had to tell him. "He died tonight."
Vane let fly a curse so foul, Fang was dumbfounded by it. Normally his brother was much more circumspect. But he understood completely. He mirrored the same emotions.
Vane sank down on his knees beside them and put one hand on Anya. When he met Fang's gaze, Fang saw all the agonized pain inside his brother's eyes that he held in his own heart.
"What are we going to do?"
Fang shook his head. "We're going to have to watch her die."
Vane looked away. It was as if he couldn't face it any more than Fang could. "What happened?"
"A group of Arcadians attacked them and Orian was killed during the fight. What else? Stupid fucking wolf. He should have been here with Anya and not out carousing with his friends."
Vane glanced around the den as if looking for the shadows to come to life and chase them down. "Did they track the rest back here?"
"I don't know. I didn't ask that question. Markus and a group of others went after them."
"And?"
"They haven't returned."
Those words had barely left his lips before the others loped slowly into camp. Some were bloody and limping. But none seemed to be missing.
"Stay with Anya." Vane went to check with them.
Fang didn't move until his brother returned with a steely look on his face. "What?"
"It's the group of Arcadians Acheron warned us about. Somehow they found out we're here and their Sentinels are out for our blood."
That was the story of their lives. No matter where they went, the Arcadians found them and attacked them. Why couldn't their human brethren just leave them alone?
Because the Fates are three psycho bitches bent on completely annihilating your species.
Now his sister would pay the ultimate price for a curse none of them had wanted or deserved. Life was so unfair. But as Acheron said so many times, deserving had nothing to do with anything. Life just was.
Vane sat down beside him. "You look like shit. Why don't you go get some rest?"
"I can't sleep."
"You need to sleep. You're not doing anyone any good if you're too tired to function."
