The thought of her living for thousands of years after he and Blade died sat in his brain like a tumor, metastasizing more on every passing birthday. One day, the malignant mass would consume him, and he had no idea what he’d do then.
“You need to tell me what happened,” Talon said as he guided Mace to an exam room, and none too gently, either. “Instead of cussing me out under your breath. I have excellent hearing, you know.”
“Obviously, not that excellent,” Mace growled. “It wasn’t aimed atyou. Not everything is about you. I was cursing at the situation.”
“Uh-huh.” Talon gestured to the exam table. “Hop up. Do you need help?”
“I’m fine.” Mace shrugged out of his brother’s grip and hauled himself up onto the paper-covered pad. It hurt like hell, but he bit his tongue. No way was he showing weakness in front of Talon.
As Mace leaned back, Talon palpated his leg. “You going to tell me how this happened?”
Mace explained, mostly through clenched teeth, as Talon poked, prodded, and channeled his excruciating power into the spreading black flesh. It was nearly to his knee now, the dark veins stretching into healthy flesh all the way to his hip.
He hadn’t truly been worried before, but the way Talon’s mouth tightened into a grim slash was starting to freak him out.
“This is magic damage,” Talon said. “You need a specialist. Stay here. I’ll be right back.”
Where the hell did Talon think Mace was gonna go?
Shaking his head at his jerk of a half-brother, Mace glanced down at his wrist comms. He tried pinging Scotty and Blade, but naturally, there was no signal coming from their units. Then he groaned as an avalanche of pain roared down his leg.
“You okay?” Talon’s voice pierced the bubble of agony.
“No,” he admitted. Begrudgingly. “Where’s that specialist?”
“Coming. I sent for your dad, too.”
“Which one?” Normally, when Mace said something like that, it was to get under Talon’s skin. He hated reminders that they shared a biological father. But this time, Mace was genuinely curious. Hoping for Lore.
It wasn’t that Mace didn’t love Wraith. He did. Blade claimed Mace hero-worshiped him a little, and Mace denied that shit, but Blade was probably right. Mace and Wraith were so alike—more so than Talon and Wraith. More so than Mace and Lore.
But Lore had always been Mace’sdad. Wraith was Wraith. Lore was Dad.
Talon’s movements were a little jerky as he prepared a surgical tray. “Don’t be a dick.”
“Whatever, Stewie,” Mace muttered, using Talon’s childhood nickname, which usually annoyed the shit out of him.
Clenching his jaw tight, Talon tossed some scissors onto the tray. Then some syringes. And what was that one wicked-looking thing?Forceps? Catheter? A speculum, maybe? He’d heard those terms bandied about, but he’d never cared to learn medical terminology or how to use anything more complicated than a Band-Aid.
Mace relaxed as much as he could and tried to concentrate on anything but the pain. “Remember that time I crashed my bike, and you stitched me up with your mom’s sewing needle and bright pink thread?”
A rare, faint smile curved Talon’s mouth. “You were afraid you’d get in trouble because you were grounded. We both ended up in hot water. Eidolon thought I did a great job, though.”
“His opinion was all that mattered to you back then,” Mace murmured.
“And Wraith’s was all that mattered to you.”
That was fair, but there was more to it. Mace wasn’t sure why—maybe it was the pain, or maybe it was the faintest tingle of fear that he wouldn’t make it out of here alive—but he wanted Talon to know how he’d felt back then.
“Your opinion mattered,” he said.
Talon’s surprised gaze flicked up to Mace, but how could he be shocked? Mace had toddled after his big brother since the day his parents sat him down and explained how he’d come about. Lore was sterile, the result of human-Seminus DNA gone wrong, and all three of his brothers had donated genetic material to create Idess’s pregnancy. When Mace was born, Wraith’s symbol at the top of hisdermoirehad revealed the father’s identity.
Mace had been thrilled to have another dad and a brother. But Talon hadn’t been as enamored with the idea, and nothing Mace did ever won him over.
Talon started to say something, but was interrupted when Idess swept into the room, just ahead of Lore, and smothered him in a hug.
“Hi, Mom.”
