Fated To Three, Betrayed By All… Until She Rose.

Zevran.

A frown tugged at my face as I mulled over the piles of documents sitting in front of me, but no matter how hard I tried to concentrate, I just couldn’t.

It felt as though there was something I was missing out on, and at first, I tried to blame it on my straying thoughts. I dared to think that the reason I was this flustered was because I still couldn’t stop thinking about Leilani and what her reaction would be to this sudden wedding between us and Chalice.

But this... this was beyond her.

This was more raw. More painful. It felt as though my heart was being shredded into a million tiny pieces by a shredder.

My wolf was howling, thrashing wildly within me; But just like me, it had no idea what was wrong with us.

My head shot up when my door creaked open just then, and upon seeing that it was none other than Caelum, I dropped my gaze and drawled; "Brother."

But Caleum didn’t respond right away. My brows furrowed when he plopped into his chair and frowned, his hands occasionally rubbing at his chest as he silently scrolled through his phone.

Then as if feeling my eyes on him, he finally looked up, and in his eyes were questions... tons and tons of them. Even he looked like he was in pain just like me. He asked; "Do you feel strange too?"

And that... that had my eyebrows shooting into my hairline. My heart raced as I looked from his face to the screen of his phone, and a weird feelings settled at the base of my stomach when I realized that he wasn’t watching one of Chalice’s thirst trap pictures— those were what he spent most of his time on his phone doing— instead, he was looking through Kael’s contact information.

I nodded, answering slowly. "Yes."

"And do you not think it’s weird that we both feel the same way at the same time?"

"I didn’t know you felt that way too. But now that you’ve mentioned it, I feel... strange. Bothered. My heart keeps racing and my wolf is restless. What about you?"

"Same." He answered simply, then lowering his head, he added; "Kael didn’t come back last night. And that’s what makes this whole thing even worse. I can’t stop thinking about him, and I... I..." his voice trailed off, but I already understood what he was implying.

Hell, I was beginning to imply that as well.

I quickly rose to my feet then, my once racing heart now palpitating in both terror and worry. For the life of me, I never thought once that my discomfort would have anything to do with Kael, and to be frank, I didn’t even realize that he didn’t come home last night until Caelum mentioned it.

And now, thinking about it, it made the restlessness in my heart intensify. My hands wouldn’t stop shaking as I picked up my phone and dialed Kael’s number, but just as I did, it disconnected.

In fear, I turned to Caelum. "It disconnected."

"I’ve been trying for hours now, it keeps disconnecting." He answered worriedly. "... and I was hoping that it would be different for you."

If that was meant to make me feel better then it was futile. Because instead of feeling great, I felt worse. I felt devastated, and the ache in my chest kept intensifying with each passing minute.

Desperate, I called Beta Blackthorne, Chalice’s father, my voice quaking as I drawled; "My brother is missing."

Beta Blackthorne’s voice sounded groggy through the phone. It took him a moment for my words to take any effect and when it did, he rasped; "That’s unheard of."

And true. True, it was unheard of but it was happening.

I rubbed my face tiredly, too tired to speak. Too worried to drop the call. A minute passed between us... and two before I finally found my voice again.

I said slowly. "Kael didn’t come home last night. His phones are disconnecting and I need to reach him. Please deploy people to check for any signs of him."

"Okay, I’ll do just that." He said, and with that, I ended the call.

I had just sat back into my chair, clasping my head in my hand when my phone suddenly began to ring. I glared at the screen in annoyance when I saw that it was an unsaved number, but I didn’t pick up. I looked away.

It rang again.

And again.

Until Caelum, probably irritated, snapped; "You may want to get that."

I glanced at him then back at my phone, my nostrils flaring when it wouldn’t stop ringing.

Disgruntled, I picked it up and slammed it against my ear, my rage pouring into my voice as I snarled; "What?"

"Am I on the phone with Mr Zevran Stormborn?" A soft feminine voice called back, and I rolled my eyes before gritting out;

"Yes."

"I’ll have you know that we’re calling from the hospital because your brother, Kael Stormborn, has been in an accident."

I froze. My entire body went rigid and the phone fell out of my deft fingers. I could only watch as it clattered to the floor, not finding my voice even as Caelum shook me wildly, his voice shaking as he asked me about what I’d just heard.

When I still wouldn’t respond— because frankly it felt like my brain was frozen— he picked up the phone and called back the number.

And I am sure as hell that he was told exactly what I was because then his face fell too. A gut wrenching scream tore through his throat as he staggered away from me with tears filling his eyes.

He turned to me with red rimmed eyes, his lips trembling as he whispered; "Kael was in an accident? They say it’s serious?"

But I couldn’t respond. I couldn’t even move. My mind felt blank but my heart... that felt like it was about to shrivel and wither.

Caelum watched my face for a second too long as if looking for a trace of anything. He slapped me at the back and cursed; "Fuck Zevran! Breathe! Don’t die on me!

And without a word, he stumbled out of my room.

From a distance, I could hear the sounds of keys jiggling as he went and I instinctively knew what he was about to do, so I rushed to follow.

—

"He suffered a major concussion. We fear that he may have sustained an injury to his spine... but besides that, his body is responding well to treatment and we hope that he wakes from his coma very soon." The female doctor said grimly as she looked between Caelum and I, and her soft words managed to rattle me a lot more than I already was.

I dropped my head as I let her words wash over me, whilst trying my hardest not to look in Kael’s direction.

I still couldn’t bring myself to look at him without feeling like I was about to disintegrate.

He looked battered. Rough. And on the brink of death. And that... the thought of him almost dying made my chest ache terribly.

I dragged in a shuddering breath and nodded to the doctor. With a cold voice, I drawled; "Thank you."

She smiled. "You’re welcome. And if there’s anything you need... anything at all... do not hesitate to call for my help. Okay?"

"Okay," I answered, ignoring the way her amber eyes snagged on my face for a second too long, and ignoring the pointed look she cast at me then at my groin.

That made me frown but instinctively turned away from her and faced Caelum who immediately asked me; "Should we tell mother about this?"

No... or should we? How would she take the news?

However, before I could answer, a familiar sugary vanilla scent filled my nostrils and I rolled my eyes before Chalice even came into view.

When she stumbled in, her eyes darted around the room quickly but I didn’t miss the way she looked somewhat dishevelled. I frowned.

Her lips were swollen and red and her cheeks looked flushed. Rosy even. It didn’t look like she’d been worried at all. If anything, it looked like she’d been having the time of her life before being dragged into our mess.

She asked; "Is Kael fine?"

"No." Caelum answered dimly, "We don’t know when he’ll be waking up."

At that, she turned to look at me, a worried expression painting her face as she asked; "So that means the wedding won’t hold anymore?"

But I didn’t respond right away. I couldn’t respond. Because for some reason, that question irritated me to no end. It annoyed me to think that at this moment, our wedding— her dream wedding— was all that she could think about.

With a snarl, I bared my teeth at her and growled; "No." I said coldly, "...or do you plan on wedding a comatose groom who can’t even say the words: ’I do’"

She turned away and dropped her head.

"Sorry."

Sorry for yourself.