As I slowed, the ache in my legs and overall fatigue grew stronger, and by the time I skated to the gate where Kenzo stood serious-faced and arms crossed, I could barely keep myself upright.
Food and water would have aided my healing, but since I’d brought nothing with me when I tore out of the house earlier, it would be a slow, painful process of repairing muscles.
“Brother,” Kenzo breathed, shaking his head as he looked me over. “You’re about to collapse. Get the hell off the ice.”
He unfurled his arms and reached out a hand toward me, which I had no option but to take if I wanted to stay on my feet. He grunted as he took the bulk of my weight, and I snorted. “You shouldn’t keep skipping arm day, bro. Or leg day.”
His hold on me tightened, and I barely suppressed a groan of pain. “You’re an idiot,” he said, shaking his head as he dragged me onto the mats. “How long have you been here? Fuck, I should have looked for you earlier.”
“Couple of hours,” I mumbled. “Got in about nine.”
The rumble of his chest surprised me; he wasn’t usually a rumbly shifter. “Nine this morning? Are you fucking kidding me. It’s six at night, you idiot. You’ve been skating for nine hours.”
Nine hours. Well, that was a new record.“Guess I lost track of time.”
Kenzo continued cursing me under his breath as he hauled my ass to the locker room. I’d have been annoyed to show another alpha any weakness like this, but it was Kenzo. He’d seen me at rock bottom many times, and was one of the two alphas I’d let myself crash in front of.
The other was dying in a bed back at our house.
Hunter and Slade were my brothers too, but they didn’t invite us to expose our weaknesses, while Kellan never judged.
I couldn’t live without Kellan and Kenzo, and if Kellan died from the witch magic, I would have to fight not to follow him. The only reason I’d stay was for Kenzo, who’d go down with me as well.
We were a fucked-up trio, far too dependent on each other, but such was life.
“Clean yourself up. I’ll find food and electrolytes,” Kenzo said, still sounding pissed as he left me in front of the showers.
It took a few minutes, but I got naked and under the water, which was hot enough to scorch my balls off. Not that it made a dent in the ice encasing my heart.
From the moment my brother was struck by magic, I’d been in a freefall of pain and misery, with skating doing very little to ease the frenzy inside me.
Perched against the wall, I must have dozed off for a few minutes, only startling awake when Kenzo returned. He held protein bars and an electrolyte drink, which he thrust toward me. “Eat and drink.”
Forcing myself to my full height, I downed the blue drink in three large gulps. My body screamed for more liquids, so I drank from the shower, uncaring it was gross. The protein bars were gone just as quickly, and I was relieved to find my strength returning. Within twenty minutes, I’d be ready for more sprints.
Or at least I would have been if Kenzo didn’t march my ass out of the shower, watch me like a hawk as I dressed, and then drag me to his rarely used Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI Tommi Makinen. Kenzo was a lover of Japanese-made cars, but he mostly drove with me, so his collection remained nicely preserved in his garage.
He must have been worried about me if he took hisred babyout this evening. She was for very special, rare rally days at our track.
“Come on, get your huge ass in the car,” he said, and he lifted his foot like he was going to kick my ass in to help. The Evo wasn’t modified to fit a shifter of my size, but I managed to squish myself into the passenger seat, after tossing my gear in the back.
When Kenzo was in the driver’s side, he locked all the doors, and I shot him a droll stare. “I’m not about to jump from a moving vehicle. For fuck’s sake, I had a breakdown, but I’m not ready to end it all.” Not that a jump from this car would do much more than scrape me up.
“I know, brother. And I’m here to make sure that you don’t reach that point again.”
We’d been here twice before, and both times he’d babysat me until I was stable again, and for that I’d forever owe him.
When Kenzo started the car, I fiddled with my phone and found myself once again opening the group chat.I’d had to ask Slade to add me back in because Kellan’s annoying ass wasn’t here to do it. I fucking hated that. I hated it more than I could express, even though I’d told him a million times to stop adding me. But that was my brother—he got off on ignoring my grumpy requests.
Now I had to figure out how to drag him back to the land of the living, because our pack needed him. I needed him. Even the omega needed him, and I couldn’t stand to see her morose expression for another day.
“How’s Emme?” Kenzo asked, as if he’d heard that thought.
I responded with a rumble from deep in my chest. “Our resident ice queen is the one responsible for Kellan being in a coma.” There was no heat in my words, and the ire was more from habit than any real anger. “Who fucking cares how she is?”
Kenzo shook his head, taking the corner fast enough that I had to brace against his door. “I find it ironic you call her ice queen as an insult, when you personally love the ice like it’s part of your soul. Could that name have a different meaning to what you believe, deep,deepdown in your psyche?”
I shook my head, pretty sure my brother had finally lost his mind. “I call her that because she has a heart of ice, unfeeling and frozen. No other reason. No need to examine my psyche, you weirdo.”
