CHAPTER 27

LEUKAS

A large, startlingly white wolf was curled up on my bed when I finally made it inside my room, its presence sending equal feelings of longing and comfort into my heart. It was amazing how familiar to me the wolf was. I knew that if its eyes were visible, their indigo color would sparkle with a glint of mischief which would be better suited on a naughty puppy. Its teeth would be sharp and long, strong and capable, and as white as the wolf's coat. I didn't want to see Atlas' wolf, it felt like a gallon of salt poured onto my wounds, but I also felt an immense joy within me as I saw the creature who had meant more to my wolf than anyone else ever had. His twin wolf. His other half. His soulmate.

Before Atlas and I, alpha lycans, especially wolf ones, had never been known to be born in twos. It was unheard of. Alphas could not coexist in that manner and not dispute for dominance. Such pregnancies usually resulted in a miscarriage and always had, save for one story told of some bear lycans who lived and walked among the gods millions of years ago. According to the tales, a woman bear lycanthrope who had long been barren had found favor with the gods and was granted the life of both his bear cubs. Since Lanthe's status as a High Priestess isn't common knowledge Abattohn was understandably shaken when she gave birth to two healthy alphas who shifted immediately and began licking and yipping at each other with no sign of rivalry but more than a little sense of affection and dependency on each other.

Even though Atlas and I grew to be very different people, our bond as brothers grew every day. Since I was born first, I began my training for Alpha as soon as I understood the responsibility and the honor the Alpha role possessed, and Atlas was only too happy to leave the future position up to me.

I spent the whole of my high school alternating between trying to learn and understand every single subject and trailing after my father, excitedly taking notes, brainstorming pack affairs and affairs concerning every supernatural creature, and making plans for the future under my rule.

Atlas on the other hand had spent his time sleeping with every girl who would let him, participating and excelling in all the sports, helping Lanthe organize pack events, taking stupid risks for fun and all in all giving all the young ones a great time and the adults a couple of headaches, aneurisms and conniptions with his magnificently contagious wildness and recklessness and general bad influence. Despite it all, Atlas had been Abattohn's golden boy who was so friendly and fun everyone couldn't help but love him despite the trouble he caused, and I was the responsible future alpha whom everyone approved of.

Needless to say, our schedules were rarely in sync and we were rarely at the same place, at the same time. But whenever we happened to be together, we clung to each other. Our wolves couldn't help but be drawn to each other. Even in our human forms, we tried to be as involved in each other's lives as possible. From the day he had gotten a personal trainer for his boxing, I had practiced with him as much as I could, and he in turn was my main sounding board and my study partner. He was always better at math than me though he'd never admit it. While most lycans had only the pack bond when they were too young to mate and tether to another, Atlas and I each had two tethers from the day we were born; the pack and each other. No matter how much time we spent apart, we were inseparable in all that matters. Even when we were twelve and we got separate bedrooms, Atlas would still crawl into my bed at night and shift into his wolf, triggering my own identical one into existence before the two wolves who recognized each other from way before we were born, would curl up to each other and fall asleep with an incredible sense of fulfillment and completeness.

Losing my wolf might have devastated me, but I tried to forget how much it had damned near destroyed Atlas and our bond. My wolf had been his tether, and it had been my duty to take care of that sacred bond we shared; to preserve my brother's security and happiness by keeping his tether safe and sound. I had failed Atlas when I lost my wolf. I had failed his dreams to travel the world as an international boxing champion and a life devoid of the crippling responsibilities that I could see him drowning in. I had failed to keep the teasing grin on his mouth and the mischievous spark in his eyes. Because ever since he had had to take over my duties as the Alpha heir, his overall spark had dimmed. His smiles weren't as easy anymore, and when they came, they weren't as dazzling and magnificent as before. His aura wasn't playful and bright anymore and his days weren't filled with the high intensity of hours spent on the boxing ring followed by reckless partying and stunts which would inevitably lead him to our mother's well stocked medicine closet. He let out his wolf less and less, especially around me. Atlas wasn't happy anymore and I couldn't stand to see it. It was one of the reasons I had packed up and left Abattohn.

I had been killed literal minutes before my parents finally managed to reach the cave in which I had been held. It was a terrifying experience. Even though I had known that I was dead, my wolf had writhed in utter agony and I had been in so much pain. It felt like it would never end. To present day, I had no idea how Atlas had reached into me and pulled me back into existence, just in time for the first sigil to cling onto the little life force he awoke in me. I only know that he had been in more agony than I had been. And I knew that he blamed himself for everything that had happened and he had intended to spend the rest of his life in misery as long as I was ok. As desperate as I had been then to lean on him when I felt so empty and broken, I could tell the guilt of seeing me daily was killing him inside. So I had packed up my life and left. It had hurt him to no ends when I had said he couldn't come with me, he still hadn't forgiven me for that, but in the end he was able to pick his life up and live a little since then. Our relationship was nothing like it had once been.

Despite the strain on our relationship, we still had some connection. When I arrived in Abattohn a few days back, I had been off balance and out of sorts. Atlas had calmed me a bit. And we'd talked all night, something we hadn't done in a while, and I'd told him all my fears, my anger, and the feelings which came with my sudden parenthood. Our relationship wasn't suddenly great, but judging by his seeking comfort in my bed after a stressful day in office, we were well on our way to a closer relationship.

After a quick shower that managed to wash away the physical grime of another day in my new reality and some basic night routine, I wore some of Atlas' grey sweats and a t-shirt of his too. In our haste to leave the UK and really my whole life beyond Abattohn, I hadn't been able, nor did I think to grab any clothing. I had just come to Abattohn as I was. Before this, it had been a while since I stayed in Abattohn for longer than a day, and that too was rare. It was another allowance that my family made for me. Since I couldn't handle being back home, they made sure to spend most of the holidays following me across the world to wherever I chose to hide out of guilt. The guilt that even at twenty-six years, my family was still tiptoeing around my feelings like I was the same broken teenager who had always been so scared of violence and death, and had come to witness both in terrifying abundance. It seemed that Aleks's appearance and all the ensuring drama left me no space to be too fearful of, or picky about my surroundings and the tainted memories that now surrounded my childhood home.

Atlas on the other hand had wrapped up whatever life he may have had outside of Azzuire and had moved permanently to Abattohn ahead of his wife, who was also wrapping up her life as a doctor in London, and their son in order to get everything ready for their arrival later on in the year. Their future accommodations weren't yet determined but Atlas was keeping most of the clothes on the Island so I had been naturally helping myself to his clothes until I managed to get mine shipped over. We were roughly the same size, luckily.

When I emerged from the closet though, Atlas was up and shifted back to his human for. He sent me a sheepish and apologetic look that I refused to acknowledge, causing him to chuckle, breaking the slight tension that seemed to sometimes appear between us. He was lying on top of the covers, also fully dressed up in sweats and a t-shirt, a habit we had both learnt from Jason who said it was wise to be ready to jump into whatever action is needed in case of night emergencies and being dressed automatically made you less vulnerable in that case. I quietly slipped into the bed, on the right side where I always slept, and faced the ceiling. The heat was on so the room was warm and toasty enough for us to be on top of the covers. The bed was huge and there was a lot of space between us but I could hear his soft breathing and some of the distant sounds of hooting owls and shaking leaves. My sensitivity had dwindled since I left Aleks's side but it was still there; lurking, a sign for what was to come if I didn't get myself a tether. I let out an involuntary sigh at the thought. Suddenly getting married to Fletcher didn't seem such a straight forward path to take and I didn't want to acknowledge why.

"Where you with Aleks just now?" Atlas finally asked after a while of both our silent musings. I didn't like the amused undertone on his voice so I debated answering him for a while but I knew very well he wouldn't let it go so I answered.

"Yes." I said curtly.

"Hmmh." He hummed, his voice still tinged with amusement.

"Lanthe made me do it. It was not of my free will." I blurted out defensively and groaned when he started laughing and I realized that he had been goading me like he had done when we were kids and I had fallen right into his trap and responded like a nine-year-old kid. I couldn't help laughing a bit along with him, the rest of my tension and worries fading away for the moment as I watched my brother's dimples flash and his eyes twinkle with merriment as he laughed so joyously. Atlas' joy had always been a significant part of mine.

"She's your mate, you know. I can tell. My wolf can tell." He said softly when the laughter had died down. I was too tired and drowsy to dispute it so I closed my eyes, fully intending to ignore him and let sleep claim me. But for some reason I just couldn't.

"How?" I questioned, not knowing what I really meant to ask, what I specifically needed to know, but fully aware Atlas would. He'd always known me more than I'd ever known myself. But then again, that was before.

Atlas was silent for a while and I thought he had fallen asleep, but he spoke again." From the moment I saw her, I just knew. She felt so…right. And my wolf recognized her soul; that it was made for yours and every time I sees her, I feel so hopeful. So happy. She's meant to be yours Leukas and he is perfect for you. You would be a fool to make excuses not to be with her and your beautiful kids forever. Maybe you will never get to hear your wolf go absolutely crazy over her; bouncing around like a loon and practically howling in glee inside of you. But trust me, my wolf is looking longingly for yours and wondering why you're not claiming a woman who is so clearly meant for you." I refused to answer him and drifted off to a peaceful sleep, his words echoing in my head.

Atlas was gone when I woke up early the next day and part of me was glad. I didn't want to face him so soon after his declaration last night. Since it seemed like I wouldn't be leaving Abattohn for the foreseeable future, I figured I might as well start some kind of routine so that I wouldn't go crazy with the chaos some aspects of my life were becoming. I needed a little order, so the first thing I did was fix up an exercise routine for the duration of my stay. The island had a total of three fully equipped gyms so that wouldn't be much of a problem, but I decided to do my cardio, running and walking, outside, so that I could re-familiarize myself with the place. My hands hovered over the black gloves that I had always worn when I ventured out of my own controlled environment and into the pollution infested streets and human contact with strangers that I sometimes couldn't handle when my skin got tighter and too sensitive, but Abattohn was no doubt at least ten times cleaner. The air, the water, the food, it was a massive change from New York, his most regular abode. So I opted out of the gloves and laced them on a shelve inside my bedside drawer. I had a feeling I wouldn't be needing them as much in this world.

When I went into the main house for a water bottle and an energy bar, the house was silent and I figured since it was the weekend, everyone else was sleeping in, even Jason because he always took the weekend off.

After a quick run through the woods and down a kind of familiar trail, I headed to the gym which was located outside the main house and near the cottages, figuring I could get in at least thirty minutes of weight training.

Exercising was one of the only ways I got my head to check off for a while so I had forgotten most of my troubles until I walked into the gym, and straight into a scene I couldn't un-see. I wasn't sure if I actually wanted to, but it might have been better for me if I had. Aleks was in the boxing ring looking so cold and ethereally lethal I shivered despite the sweat pouring out of my body, and so sexy I feared she had ruined any lust I could ever have for anyone else