Page 59 of Bad Moon Rising (Dark-Hunter 17)
Markus would be thrilled.
Vane moved forward cautiously as he watched Fang's solemn contemplation. This wasn't the reunion he'd expected when Fang finally came out of his coma. He'd dreamed of this moment over and over again. Fang waking up, happy to be alive. His brother embracing him. . . .
But something was different now. There was an air around Fang far deadlier than anything Vane had sensed from him before.
His brother was angry and there was a bitterness to him that he didn't understand. Why would he feel like that given what he'd put Vane and Fury through? "You've been out of it for months."
"Believe me, I know." His eyes flashed with brutal malice.
Frustrated, Vane sighed. "What do you want from me?"
"Nothing, Vane, I just want you to be happy."
His mouth might have said that, but his tone didn't. Vane tried again to ease the tension between them. "I am that. Finally. Bride's better than I ever deserved. And we both have a room for you at our house."
Fang grimaced at his offer. "I don't know. You two are newly mated. The last thing you need is your mentally defective brother spooking the shit out of your woman."
That was a vintage Fang comment. One of the sarcastic retorts that Vane had been craving to hear all of these months past. "Bride doesn't spook easily."
"Probably true if she sees you first thing in the morning."
Vane smiled at his humor. His chest was tight as he realized just how much he really had missed his brother while Fang had been out of it. There was no one else in the world like him. "We want you with us."
Fang shot out of the bed as if he were about to attack. "I'm not your son, Vane," he snarled with an unexpected rage. "I'm not a child. I'm a grown wolf and I really don't think I belong with you guys."
He nodded, but refused to back down. He knew better than to let Fang sense his emotions. It would only make the wolf in him more volatile.
So he tried to change the subject to something safer. "There's something else you need to know about Fury."
Fang scoffed. "He's my brother. Aimee already told me."
That surprised the hell out of him. Just how close was his brother to the bearswan?
That couldn't be good.
"Do you want to see him?" Vane asked.
"Not really. In case you've forgotten, the two of us aren't exactly friendly."
"Yeah, I know. But he's been a big help protecting Bride."
"I'm glad you had him." The tone of his voice belied those words.
Vane scowled at his attitude, which was beginning to chafe his ass raw. He'd been keeping a leash on his temper, but it was starting to slip under the constant assault he didn't deserve.
He was trying, but Fang wasn't making any effort at all.
Instead Fang kept attacking and the wolf part of Vane was getting really sick of it. "Why are you so angry at me?"
Fang simmered inside. His fury was volcanic and he wanted to lash out at Vane in the worst way.
You let me down, you asshole!
But that wasn't the only bane that burned inside him. It was the fact that while Vane had let him down, he'd cursed him for being trapped. That his brother had said things to him that were wrong and hurtful.
And wholly undeserved.
He wanted to feel the same love and loyalty for his brother now that he'd felt the night Anya had died. But it wasn't there anymore and that hurt most of all.
Fang wasn't the same and neither was Vane.
Unwilling to fight anymore when it wouldn't change anything, Fang backed off. "Look, I still don't feel well. Why don't you go and spend time with your mate and Fury?"
"What about you? You're my family too."
Yeah, right.
Funny, he didn't feel like that anymore. "Just pretend I'm still in a coma. I'm sure that'll be easy enough for you to do."
Vane screwed his face up into a look of disgust. "Oh, fuck you, you selfish bastard. You know, Fury and I were the ones who kept you safe while you laid in bed, worthless to us. And now you dare to cop an attitude with me? You are such a bitter shit."
Fang raked Vane with a sneer. "Yeah, like you don't know anything about being selfish."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"You abandoned me to chase tail and then when I didn't rise at your command, you buddied up with a bastard you hate. Don't forget, I know your love of Fury runs about as deep as mine does. Where was your loyalty in all this?"
Vane slung his hand out and pinned him to the wall. "You better be glad you've been sick or I'd shove those words down your throat."
Fang blasted him with a wave of his own. It shattered the powers Vane used to hold him and sent his brother reeling as he was released. "You're not the only one who can command magick, dick."
Vane looked up from where he'd landed on the floor against the wall, his features shocked. "How did you do that?"
"There's a lot about me you don't know, adelphos. Be grateful that I'm not willing to show it all to you. Now get out."
Vane pushed himself to his feet. No, this wasn't the same Fang who'd been through a bitter childhood with him. Something was seriously wrong with his brother and he had no idea what.
But if Fang wouldn't tell him, there was nothing he could do.
He wiped his hand against his mouth. "Fine. Sit up here and rot." He slammed the door shut as he left.
Aimee shot out of her room at the sound and paused in the hallway as she saw him. "Are you all right?"
"No, I'm not." Vane glared at the closed door as he imagined splintering both it and Fang's head wide open. "I'm one step away from killing that idiot."
"Fang?"
"Is there another one?"
Her expression bemused, she nodded. "Quite a few under this roof, point of fact, and I'm related to several of them. But why would you want to hurt your brother after all he's been through?"
"After all he's been through?" Vane scoffed. "Pah-lease! You sound like him. I'm sorry if laying in bed and being hand-fed because I can't deal with the same reality the rest of us had to face just doesn't relate to what has been happening to me and Fury. We barely survived the hunt. I've had to battle a demon and Daimons and-"
"And you think Fang wanted to be in that coma?"
Vane sneered at her. "You heard what Carson and Grace said. He could have come out of it anytime he wanted to."
Aimee shook her head. "No, Vane, he couldn't. Believe me."
"Believe you? No," he said as his bitterness swelled up deep inside him. How dare she take up for Fang. "I know my brother better than anyone and I know exactly how selfish he is. All he cares about is himself."
"Vane . . . you're wrong. Fang wasn't in a coma. He was trapped in hell. I know because I'm the one who went in and got him out of there. You battled one single demon. He battled hundreds."
