Fated To The Lycan Brothers
Chapter 40

Devon

Wolfe

Days like these are my favorite, but at the same time, they are also my most disliked.

It's my favorite because we get to go wild. We get to allow the beasts inside of us to let loose without-much-consequences and there is nothing better than that when you're forced to hide who and what you truly are for most of your life, because people wouldn't

understand.

But I also hate it when we have these days because of our reason for them.

We call this our sabbatical hunt. It's when we take a few days off no matter what is happening in our lives and whatever or whoever it is that we are leaving behind for the moment. Our whole life takes a pause as we focus on this, on us, my brothers and I. It only happens when there is an instance in our lives that is too much and we all need to somewhat regroup before s hit really hits the fan and none of us can fix it. Nothing ever good happens when we realize it's too late and usually, or most of the time, it's our father that has to do the damage control, and as much as possible, we really don't want that.

"It was supposed to be my turn to pick the location!" Wes said in our mindlink as he traipsed around sad-looking puddles along the area that have been created by a recent storm that passed the town we were in.

About nine hours from Los Altos, seven without the horrendous traffic, we decided to do our sabbatical here in a town called Mudwaters. You can only imagine what it looks like from the name, which is why Wes is having a hissy fit over it, because the location he is whining about was supposed to be Calico Seas, which was a two-day drive but absolutely well worth it for the gorgeous sea and forest combination.

Unfortunately, we didn't expect to go on this thing so soon so we weren't able to plan accordingly. Mudwaters was the only town closest and safest to run around in our full form without the fear of getting caught.

Plus, as shitty as the place is, they had some good wildlife and that's really all I could ask for. Clearly, Wes did not share the same sentiment as I did.

"Hey, don't look at me. It's Atlas' fault for suddenly having a meltdown. We needed to get out of the house before morning came and you know that." I reasoned out to Wes who was shooting me daggers with his piercing gold-yellow eyes.

Jackal, Wes' wolf, is a rare golden beauty with eyes and fur the same color as the precious metal. He looks like he could be part of a museum especially under the sun when his fur shines at every angle and I mean it shines, like he's blinding you with how bright he is but you're Icarus and you just can't look away from the sun.

Though he doesn't like being called the golden beauty. He prefers to call himself, and I quote, "the golden ticket to Willy Wonka's factory", and I don't even want to get into details about which 'willy' he actually means.

My brother is a freaking i di o t, but I love him all the same.

My wolf, on the other hand, was a mix of two colors, ice blue and orange-red. My brothers say it's like being in front of the water and looking at the sunset at exactly five forty-five o'clock because that's when all the colors are bursting and molding into one with the blue of the sea.

His name is Blaze, and in a lot of ways, it feels like he is a fire blazing. My wolf is the stronger version of me, the one that is unapologetic and doesn't shy away because he's scared of being too much or not enough. There was no in between.

"Are you guys talking shit about me?" Atlas, or Titan, appears from the tall trees with a string of rabbits right behind me.

Jesus, that's a lot, but my mouth is drooling at it, and I know it's weird for humans, but we're animals too, so what can we do? This is our appetite.

Jackal is quick to run to the food and with his speed, it takes him merely a second to get there. He scowls at Titan, probably because he still hates the location but I know that he's also thankful for him because he's bringing us food. Especially when Jackal is too lazy to move his ass and just wants to run and bathe in the sun every chance he gets.

"Wes is complaining that we should be at Calico staring at girls in bikinis and howling on picturesque high cliffs." I told Atlas and he shakes his head with a grin on his face.

Even in wolf form, somehow, he still looks like himself as a human, though I guess you could say darker.

His fur is the darkest shade of black you could think of. If you close your eyes and see nothing, that's pretty much the color which is why he is the best at staying hidden, in moving around unnoticed, and like a goddamn assassin when he needs to be. His almost white-like gray eyes can see everything in the dark, and I mean everything. It's one of his heightened skills.

He was also the biggest amongst us. Jackal and Blaze were huge, yes, but while we're great white sharks, Titan is a bloody basking shark. Except he definitely eats more like a great white.

"He can get it on the next sabbatical, but I'll push him off the cliff if he does some stupid s hit again." Atlas sneers at Wes who's too busy devouring his lunch to actually give a crap. Meanwhile, I still don't understand what his problem really is.

All of it started a day ago, the night we got back home from Raquel's party and how we almost got caught by our own house staff.

Well, not almost because we are used to this and we can come up with an excuse and make them think they were just imagining it, but still, it was this close because Atlas couldn't control his anger and shifted carelessly to release it.

I don't know what the actual hell happened when we were separated after we had that talk at the party, but it's obvious he didn't like something he saw or heard or I don't f*****g know, something, and it was a unanimous decision for us to do this together, all three of us, like we always do.

Blood comes first. No matter what.

"If you two don't get here to claim your half then I'm finishing all of it." Wes linked and I groaned at my freaking brother's insatiable appetite.

"Talk later." I said to Atlas and he turned around like our conversation meant nothing to him. He is such a hard a s s.

Even more ever since she arrived.

Ever since Suri Nightingale came into our lives.

The first time I saw her, I didn't know what to feel. It was because she only seemed like the girl from our father's stories. She only felt like a story. Something not entirely real. She was just the girl our father constantly talked about as someone that was deeply important to him and who he really wanted to take care of.

I didn't care much about her then. I guess I cared as much as a person would when they felt bad for someone who has lived a hard life, but the moment I saw Suri with my own two eyes...

I knew I was going to have a hard time staying away from her.

She had that something in her. That spark. That look in her eyes. That pep in her step. That undefinable movement in her body that makes it hard to look away even when she's already far enough. And that smile.

That goddamn smile that she gave to me for the first time when we were in the garage that's been engraved in my mind ever since and I don't think it's ever coming off.

I couldn't get her out of my head after I spent that day with her at the mall. Even when I was with Destiny, she was all I could think about, and I knew I had to stop. I tried to keep busy with Destiny, with my schoolwork, with every other thing in my life, but in the end, my mind just kept coming back to her.

And when she kissed Atlas during that night because of the dare... I've never been so jealous in all my life.

And to think Atlas kept saying she was bad news. The kind that you wouldn't even know was creeping up on you until it'd been done and there was nothing else you could do. He said we couldn't trust her.

But the thing is... Atlas didn't believe in trusting anyone because of what we went through. What he went through.

And I know that he was only saying those things to try and protect us, but sometimes there are also things in life that aren't just black and white.

Suri was one of those.

-

We spent our days in Mudwaters just running around and hunting. Jackal was mostly lounging around like the lazy f**k Wes was, but he was useful when it came to hunting faster animals because he was our speed guy.

I'm better at sounds. Blaze hears things even more than my brothers so that says a lot because they could practically hear a whisper from a mile away.

Atlas says my wolf skill translates from my human skill which is intuition. I'm good at feeling everything around me, which is why I'm mostly the middle ground between Atlas and Wes when they're close to ripping each other's heads off.

Titan is our eyes. He can see in pitch black and far away places even better than binoculars. It's like having a telescope for eyes. You see everything, even things you don't want to see.

"f**k this feels so damn good!" Wes howls into the night as we're on our, I don't know, fiftieth round around the grounds.

The air is cool against our fur and we've had more than enough meat in our stomachs because of our usual top notch teamwork.

All three of us stop at the edge of a cliff, though not as picturesque as Calico, and howl into the night.

This is just what we needed, and I'm really hoping we'll all be better when we're back.

The last time we had our sabbatical was nearing Fall break of Junior year when Wes had a fight with the boyfriend and his gang of a girl he banged. Wes may be some kind of s ex addict, but he never goes for girls that are taken. Believe it or not, he actually does have a set of rules for his... adventures.

One is never to be a homewrecker. The girl didn't say she was already taken.

Wes didn't like being challenged. It stems from his own insecurities, the demons hiding under his bed. We all have our own and we try our best to fight it, to find a distraction from them.

It's why he does what he does, all the sex stuff. He doesn't do it just for pleasure. He does it to feel wanted, craved, desired. Without it, Atlas and I think he won't be able to get out of bed and look at himself in the mirror because of how much he'll hate himself for not being good enough.

All three of us are really pretty much the same.

We all just want to be good enough. Or at least, feel that we are.

It was just a matter of how we channeled that demon in us.

Wes isn't the confrontational type. It's not that he dislikes violence, it's just that, unlike Atlas, he likes to keep his pretty face and knuckles blood-free.

But that night, he almost landed eight guys from that gang in the emergency room because they talked s hit about him. They said he was just desperate to be coddled like a little boy because he didn't get enough attention from our dead mother.

Did I mention the woman he had an affair with was fifteen years his senior? Yeah, we have major problems.

If Atlas and I had not arrived on time, he might have had murder on his record. Fortunately, we did, and he just landed three of the fuckers in the ICU.

Atlas was also furious about the whole thing that his eyes were almost turning red, something that only happens when Lycans are really out for blood.

We knew we needed to get out of Thorne for a few days to recuperate.

Like I said, the reason why we do this is why I hate it.

But while we're here? I f*****g love it.

I love that we don't even have to bother shifting back into human form because we pick the most deserted places, the ones we're sure not a single soul goes to.

I love that the three of us don't care about anything or anyone when we're here and we remember that all we really have is each other and whatever s hit that happened before, that's just it, it's in the past now. What matters is us. It will always just be us.

But as we ran and ran for hours that turned into days and we were nearing our time to get back and face our life in the human world again, a sudden realization dawned on me that maybe...

It won't always just be us.

That there was somebody else that could matter in our lives, too.

I just wasn't sure if Atlas or Wes could accept that.

Or maybe they already have but they're just doing their damn best to deny it.

Either way, I'm certain their walls are going to break down soon, and as for me, I need to figure out what the hell I'm supposed to do with myself when I can't even go a day without wishing it was just me Suri had kissed instead of Atlas. Fuck.

This has gotten so much more complicated, but then again... when has our life ever not been?