Chapter 92

(**Sebastion**)

The sound of Treadstone’s screams follows me as I usher Irina up to where Pavel is. His screams echo off the stone walls as we climb the stairs. Ater Monroe transformed back to his human form, he told us he would get everything we needed from Treadstone. The way his eyes stayed red made me take Irina and leave.

Monroe is the goddamn Lycan King. Holy shit. He hid his true nature so well. Here I was thinking he was the Alpha King of werewolves. Turns out he is something for greater than that.

Lycans are immortal but there are far less of them in the world now than there are werewolves. They were once hunted, beheaded, then burned. That was when they outnumbered werewolves about a century ago.

No wonder Monroe kept his true self hidden for so long. I read that some of the strongest lycans had the ability to hide their lycan nature from other werewolves. Thus giving the ability to blend with werewolves. It explains why I thought he was one.

“What the hell are you people doing down there?” Pavel demands.

His voice brings me out of my thoughts as we get up to the floor he is on. Flint closes the door behind us, and it cuts off about ninety percent of the noise. I turn my attention to the man in the cage. He is thinner than he was when I put him in here.

“We are getting our answers.” Irina snaps at him.

I glance over at her. A thoughtful look crosses her face, then she looks at me. Something about the way she looks at Pavel tells me she has an idea.

*What are you thinking, my love?*

*Either bringing Gustav here to see Pavel or taking him to see Gustav.*

As much as I hate her brother, I don’t want Gustav down here. However, the three of them really need to have a conversation. The logical thing is to wait until Gustav is better for that to happen, but I know the sooner it gets done, the quicker they can all move on with their lives.

*We take him to Gustav. Do you want to do that now?*

*Might as well get it over with.*

“Flint, grab the silver-lined cuffs. Pavel here is going for a little walk.”

Pavel looks confused at my statement but watches with wary eyes as Flint walks to the storage cabinet near the door that leads the stairs that go up to the surface. He backs away from the cell door as Flint walks toward me to hand me the cuffs.

They are made of thick steel, five inches thick on all sides, then lined with silver. I take the cuffs, careful not to touch the silver, then walk towards the cell. There is no way I am going to let him walk free in my pack any time soon. Not when he is hell bent on killing my mate.

His own fucking sister.

“Where are you taking me?”

“There is someone you may want to see.” Irina says.

“I doubt that. There is no one in this pack I want to talk to. I hate every single one of you.”

“Even Kitty Kat?”

Pavel’s face pales when she says this. “Kat is here? How?”

All the anger in his body seems to just vanish as he asks about Kat. I can see that he is shocked, yet hopeful. After everything they have all lived through, I can understand his reaction. He did his best that day to get his siblings to safety. I can’t fault him for that.

“She is with Papa and Oleg right now.”

“Please, Rina, let me see her.”

Tears slip from his eyes as he holds his arms out for me to put the cuffs on. All the fight in him is gone. I don’t trust this suddenly docile version of him, so I put the cuffs on him. He hisses in pain as the silver touches his skin but keeps silent.

“I will let you see her after we go to the clinic. There is someone else that you should see first.” Irina says.

I can tell she is struggling now. She feels for her brother. Even though he hates her and wants her dead, she still loves him. It is hard not to love your siblings even after they do horrible things to you. I am grateful that Arianna never didn’t anything close to what Pavel did to Irina.

“Who? Did papa or Oleg get injured during the battle?”

“You will find out who it is when we get there. Come.”

Pavel glares at her, then motions with his hands for her to lead the way. He hisses as the silver rubs against his skin. I follow behind them as she leads the way up the stairs. Flint falls into step beside me as we walk.

*What are you going to do about him after today? Are you going to keep him locked up?* Flint asks.

*Honestly, that really all depends on how he reacts to Gustav and how this confrontation goes. Head home to your mate. I will call Justin or Wade if there is any trouble. Go be with your mate and pup.*

Without a word, Flint falls out of step to do as I suggest. I rely on him for so much. It is time for him and all our warriors to have a much-needed rest. A celebration in the next few days would be a great way to show them how much I appreciate their dedication during the last four months.

I will speak to my mom, Arianna, and Irina later tonight about it.

“Why are you bringing me to the clinic rather than bringing whoever I must see to the cells?” Pavel asks as we step up to the clinic’s outer door.

“Consider yourself lucky that I am even doing this. I just want to make something crystal clear before we go in there.”

Pavel glares at her. “Lucky? How is being allowed out of that cell in silver cuffs lucky?”

Irina rounds on him so fast that he didn’t have time to process it. She gripped her hand around his throat, then presses her face close to his. The fire in her eyes makes me happy that I am not in his shoes. My mate can be fucking scary.

“I could have let Sebastion kill you or I could have just killed you myself for your betrayals. Not just the ones you willingly committed against me, but the way you betrayed our family for Treadstone. He was never going to spare father’s life.” She squeezes his throat tighter and tighter as she speaks. Pavel’s face turns blue before she lets go and steps back. “Now, do you want to go see who is waiting for you, or do you want to turn around and go back to that cell?”

Pavel gasps for breath, then breathes deep for a few moments before looking at her. I see fear in his eyes for the first time as he looks at her. I have a feeling he has never seen this side of her before. It is about time she shows him that she is not the weakling he thought she was.

“You are stronger than you look.” He says after he regains his breath.

Irina ignores him, then walks into the clinic. She walks straight to the slightly open door of exam room two. He growls in frustration before he steps into the clinic’s foyer. The way his entire body stiffens and his head whips towards the door lets me know he has figured out who he is here to see.

I follow him inside, then walk around him to Irina’s side. The look of complete shock on Pavel’s face makes me feel slightly sympathetic to how he must be feeling right now. Irina slips her hand in mine and glances up at me.

*Do you want me to take his cuffs off for this? I don’t think he will try to hurt you now that he knows you are so much stronger than he knew you were.*

*No. Keep him cuffed for now. He needs to earn his freedom.*

Pavel rushes to the door but stops in his tracks in the open doorway. The tension in the air suddenly feels oppressive as he just stares at Gustav. Irina lets go of my hand to shove her brother into the room. I guess she is done with waiting.

“As you can see for yourself, brother, Gustav is very much alive.”

He hisses in pain as the silver rubs his wrists. “Gus… “

Gustav narrows his eyes at Pavel, which surprises me. After learning the truth of their relationship, I thought this reunion would be what he wants. However, this is not the reaction I was expecting.

Pavel moves to the side of the bed with his arms outstretched. Gustav holds his hand up, signaling for him to stop. There is anger in his eyes directed at Pavel. Where is that anger coming from? I wonder? Is it because he regrets the way their relationship went?

Was Pavel’s love for Gustav one sided?

(**Irina**)

The angry coming from Gustav was not what I was expecting. Pavel recoils like someone has slapped him when Gustav holds his hand up to stop him from coming any closer. I feel like something odd is happening between them.

After I was told about the love they shared with each other, this is not how I thought their reunion would go. I expected Pavel to throw himself at Gustav and the two of them to embrace. What happened between them that last night before Treadstone attacked us?

“Did you really threaten to kill Irina? She is your sister, Pavel.” Gustav says.

The disgust in his voice makes me tilt my head to study his face. There isn’t a trace of love on his face as he stares at Pavel. All I see is hatred in his eyes. Interesting.

“I hate her for standing in our way. We could have been together if she was never your mate.”

Gustav glances over at me. His eyes show remorse and something else. Something that I don’t want to see in his eyes ever again. I feel Sebastion tense beside me, letting me know he sees it too. Gustav is still in love with me. Not my brother.

“I never loved you that way, Pavel. Yes, I thought I did once. That was before.”

“No, you told me you loved me. We talked about coming clean to Irina. Why are you denying the love we shared?”

Gustav takes a deep breath, then looks back to Pavel. Shame colors his cheeks pink as he stares at him. “You put so much pressure on me, Pavel. It was always about your wants, not mine. You never listened to me when I told you that what you felt for me was wrong.”

Pavel growls in anguish as Gustav breaks his heart. “That is not what you told me. You love me, Gus. Why are you lying to yourself? Is it because she is here? This is all her fault.”

He spins around to face me. The rage in his eyes makes me take a step back. Tears gather in my eyes as I look at the man who looks like my brother. Brief memories flash through my mind as I stare at him. How did I miss those hateful looks all those years? I see them now as my life plays through my mind like a terrible movie.

I lost my brother to his own demons on the day Gustav became my mate.

“No, Pavel, it isn’t. It is yours and mine. Mine for letting you pressure me into doubting myself. Yours for not respecting my wishes.”

“Tell me the truth, Gustav. All of it. From your point of view.” I ask him.

I move to the other side of the bed with Sebastion at my back. His hand is on the small of my back. I can feel the anger coursing through him. It doesn’t surprise me at all. I am angry too. Gustav, still being in love with me is a complication that I don’t accept. I need to make it clear to him that he has no place in my life.

“When we were younger, Pavel and I were awfully close, perhaps too close. I am bisexual and thought at one time Pavel would be my mate. At the time I could see that, and it didn’t make me sad. However, we never went further than a few kisses here and there.”

His eyes slide to me, then up to Sebastion. He quickly looks away but not before I catch to jealous look on his face. Sebastion removes his hand from my back and presses his body close to mine. This could turn ugly if Gustav doesn’t stop those looks.

“After I learned you were my mate, I was shocked, but elated. I told Pavel that I was committed to you, and he needed to move on. Yet, I was still drawn to him. In that way one is always drawn to their first love.”

“First and only. If you ever loved her, you would not have encouraged me.” Pavel growls.

“Yes, I may have given you the impression on a few occasions that I wanted more. That was my weakness. One you happily exploited. Yet, what did I tell you after Zasha was born? Tell Irina what I told you because I have a feeling you lied to her.”

Pavel growls loudly and looks at me like he would love nothing more than to jump over the bed and strangle me. This confirms what I now think happened. Gustav was attracted to him but was never in love with him. Pavel’s undying love was for a man who would have fucked him but would never truly love him the way he wanted.

Sadness for my brother swamps me as he opens his mouth to tell me what Gustav wants him to. I can see the broken look on his face while the hatred for me is clear in his eyes. I had no idea that while I was living blissfully with my mate, Pavel’s heart was breaking every day.

“I didn’t believe you. I knew you better than anyone else. You always came back to me.”

“The day my daughter was born, I told you no more. I told you to move on with your life. I even told you to leave the pack for a while until you came to terms with the fact that I was committed to my mate. The night before the attack, you called me into you house to talk. I assumed it was to finally tell me you accepted my stance on things.”

Gustav’s face clouds over with a look that I have seen before. On my face when I looked in the mirror after Treadstone was done with me. It was on my sister’s face last night. Tears slip from his eyes as he recoils from Pavel when he takes a step closer to the bed.

A different kind of anger flares through the bond between me and Sebastion. He followed my thoughts. He is no longer angry at Gustav, but the rage I feel from him is now directed fully at my brother.

“You wanted what happened between us that night,” Pavel says in a raw, broken voice.

“No, I didn’t. I fought you, but you got what you wanted.”

This time I don’t hold Sebastion back.