Oren did not wake for breakfast, and his forehead was cold and wet at the same time.
I shook his shoulder until his eyes opened halfway and slid shut again.
Oren: I am fine. Just tired. Just give me a minute.
The tin under the loose board was empty. The bait bucket was empty too.
There was nothing left in that shed but fish guts, and my brother was grey as the wall.
Aria: Shit. Shit, shit, shit.
I got my arms under him and lifted. He weighed nothing, which was the worst part.
The hill to the pack house was steep and wet, and I slipped twice on the stones.
Aria: Do not do this to me. I already buried two people. I am not burying a third.
Jarvis was at the gate with two others, and he grinned when he saw what I was carrying.
Jarvis: Well, look at this. The scrap rat is hauling her little freak up the hill.
Jarvis: Is he dying, or did he finally get tired of pretending to be a wolf?
Aria: Open the gate. He needs tonic, and he needs it now.
Jarvis: Say please, whore. Say it the way you say it on your back.
The two behind him laughed, and Oren's breath was wet against my neck.
Jarvis caught my braid near the scalp and hauled, and both my knees slammed into the stones.
Oren slid out of my arms and hit the cobbles, and I screamed at him like it was his fault.
Aria: You fucking bastard! He is sick, you stupid piece of shit!
Jarvis put his boot on Oren's shoulder and pushed him flat, then bent down to my ear.
Jarvis: You know the law for unlisted boys. A collar first. A grave behind the cannery after.
Jarvis: And you dig it, scrap. With those soft hands. Tonight.
I believed every word. My tongue stuck to the roof of my mouth and the wind cut through my jacket like paper.
I got his ankle and twisted, so he kicked me in the ribs.
Something in my side snapped hot, and I tasted blood.
Then the gate opened behind him and the yard went quiet the way it does when the Alpha walks out.
Galen: Take your boot off the boy and get off my step.
Jarvis moved fast. Galen had not even raised his voice.
Galen looked at Oren on the stones, then at me on my knees with blood on my mouth.
Galen: He has not had tonic in two days.
Aria: Four days. I was going to come at dark and beg you for it.
He picked Oren up like he weighed nothing and Oren's head fell against his coat.
Galen: Infirmary. You walk behind me and you keep your mouth shut.
I got up with my side burning and followed him into the house that drowned my family.
The infirmary smelled like iodine and cold ash. He laid Oren down and pulled the blanket to his chin.
Galen: Two vials now. One at midnight. If he seizes again, you come and get me.
Aria: Thank you.
Galen: Do not thank me yet.
He turned around and I stepped back before I could stop myself.
There was blood on his sleeve, and I could not tell if it was my brother's or mine.
Galen: He stays. Tonic, a bed, a fire. All of it.
Galen: And you sleep under my roof. Not the shed. Not the boat. My house.
Aria: For how long?
Galen: Until I say otherwise.
Aria: That is not a bargain. That is a cage with a nice smell.
Galen: It is the only one on the table, mate.
The bond woke under my skin, heavy and wrong, and my body swayed toward him without asking me first.
He saw it. He always saw it.
Galen: Say it out loud. Say where you sleep tonight.
Aria: Under your roof.
Galen: Say the rest of it.
Aria: In your rooms. Where you can watch me.
Galen: Where I can smell you. There is a difference.
Heat crawled up my neck. I wanted to hit him and I wanted to stay put, and both made me sick.
He reached out and dragged his thumb along my split lip.
His thumb pressed the cut and light ran up my spine, and my eyes burned gold before I could blink it back.
Galen: There it is. That is the only honest thing you have said all morning.
Aria: I hate you. I want that on the record.
Galen: Noted. Sit with your brother until the tonic works.
Galen: Then you come upstairs, and mate, you bring nothing.
Oren's hand found mine under the blanket, and I sat down on the cold floor.
Above me the stairs went up to his rooms, his door, his bed, and his roof over my brother's head.
I had traded one cage for a warmer one, and the bond was already pulling me toward the stairs.
Galen: Do not make me come down and get you.