Chapter 41 - Friendly Brotherly Advice

“Matias?”

Matias sat in the dark in an empty black chair in his room. The moonlight shone onto his face, bringing his familiar characteristics to light. Not that it was needed though, with him releasing his energy it was easy for Kai to identify him.

He sat there like he owned the place with one leg drawn up over the other.

“Back late again Kaiden?”

“What are you doing here?” Kai asked annoyed.

Kai’s tone instantly riled him and he uncrossed his legs and slowly rose to his feet.
“Is there somewhere in this palace that the first alpha can’t go?” He asked sceptically.

Kai was struggling to contain his annoyance. Matias was always looking for an excuse to fight with him, but with Matias as the first alpha of the Blue Moon pack, he outranked him in both authority and power. A fight with him would have serious repercussions.

“What do you want?” Kai eyed him cautiously as Matias started to make himself more at home in his space.

“To talk...” Matias flicked on a lamp which lit up the dark room. He started fiddling with some of the books on his bookcase.

“So…” Matias started again. “Where have you been? I’ve been noticing your presence less and less in the palace recently. I thought father would have spoken to you about that by now.”

“I didn’t think my presence would be so sorely missed by you brother” Kai responded back sarcastically.

Matias raised an eye and smirked at Kai’s snide remark. “Someone needs to make sure that our pack is behaving on father’s behalf.”

“I didn’t think father would need any help in that regard.”

“Anything I can do to alleviate the pressure on him is simply the act of a dutiful son. Especially with the sorry state he’s now left in thanks to your whore of a mother,” he added.

Kai had to bite his tongue at his last comment about his birth mother. He was clearly trying to goad him in to a fight.

“Here’s an interesting story” Matias continued. He put down the book he was flicking through and then picked up another. “The other night I thought I had picked up something unusual emanating from underground. As faint as it was, I could have sworn that I felt someone flooding the area with dominant energy. On royal grounds no less.” Matias began to casually flick through a few pages in feigned interest.

“As strange as it was, I thought it must have been my imagination. Surely nobody would have the audacity to do such a thing. Anyone that may have felt that would have naturally assumed that someone was attempting to challenge my authority by doing that on my home turf. Especially in the presence of others. That’s a punishable offence. You know that right?” Matias looked up from the book at Kai to gauge his reaction.

Matias wasn’t wrong. Anyone flouting dominant energy in front of their superiors was considered as an act of aggression and would not be tolerated, especially if felt by an alpha. The absence of action by an alpha could be mistaken as an act of weakness on their part.

Even though the incident in the interrogation room wasn’t intentional on Kai’s part, it was still punishable, which is why Elias was so quick to stop it when he lost control. Only Matias, as the first alpha of Blue Moon and his father, the king would be able to display their dominant energy so excessively in the palace.

“So a little birdie tells me that the location of the said indiscretion was down in the interrogation room. I took a little visit down there and discovered the remains of that shifter you brought back with you, and guess whose scent is all over that room?” He asked quite clearly already knowing the answer to the question.

Kai was losing patience with his story telling. “Get to the point!” Kai knew that he already knew about it and was getting fed up with the elaborate story.

Matias snapped shut the book he was pretending to read and put it back on the side.

“Oh, don’t worry, I will…” Matias was suddenly on Kai before he could even detect that he had moved. Matias slammed him by the throat in to the back wall knocking the wind out of him. Before he could collect his thoughts, Matias held him up single-handedly by the neck. His eyes were jet black.

“Quite clearly you need *correcting* to remind you of how best to carry yourself in the palace.” Matias continued. His energy was now flooding out and Kai gasped as he tried to ease the tension around his throat.

The wave of energy Matias was emitting could be was felt by anybody nearby. “Cut the bullshit Mati,” Kai squeezed out through his tightened throat. “You’re just looking for any reason for a fight.”

Matias' mouth twitched in annoyance. Even though Kai wasn’t fighting back his words was showing defiance which only annoyed him more. Matias gripped his free hand on to Kai’s chest, against his rib cage. He squeezed until he felt bones starting to shift under his skin. Kai’s face contorted to the pain but he held back any noise in fierce determination to not give him any satisfaction. This only further infuriated him and he continued to squeeze barehanded until one of Kai’s ribs suddenly gave way. Kai screamed into his clenched mouth as he desperately tried to bite back against the pain that welled up.

“Matias!” Elias shouted from the doorway.

Matias looked at Elias from the corner of his eyes and he released his hand from Kai’s chest. He continued to hold him up by his throat. “Let me guess, Kai’s mutt sent for you?” He queried. He spotted Arrow a few paces behind Elias in the doorway.

Arrow who was nearby had felt Matias’ energy coming from Kai’s quarters and had contacted Elias to let him know. Arrow had seen Kai be the victim of Matias’ brutality one time too many and knew that if Matias was emitting energy like that around him, it could only mean trouble.

“Kai and I are just having a little talk,” Matias elaborated. “He’s broken some house rules so I kindly offered him some re-education. I can’t be seen to be acting soft with members of my own pack who break the rules. Family included.”

Kai was trying to breathe through the pain in short breaths but Matias’s hand around his throat was making it difficult.

“What rules has he broken?” Elias added as he stepped further in to the room. He had a pretty good idea but he didn’t want to want to drop Kai in it by incorrectly guessing what Matias was pissed off about. When it came to Kaiden, Matias always had something to be pissed off about.

“You know damn well Elias! Don’t think I didn’t scent your presence in that interrogation room as well. You know him flouting his dominant waves in the palace is a disciplinary offence.” Matias continued to look at Kai writhing whilst he spoke to Elias.

“Yes, I was with him, but I didn’t witness any of what you’re talking about. Maybe it was the prisoner that you felt.”

Matias laughed a little at Elias suggestion. “You’re seriously trying to have me believe that the energy that I sensed was from that low level Sirran soldier you captured? You must really think little of me Elias.” He growled at the end of his words.

“Either way, without a direct witness to it, you know you have no grounds to be doing what you’re doing.” Elias added.

Matias sighed and rolled his eyes. “Tell me, why is everyone so insistent on covering for this bastard dog.”

Kai’s eyes turned red at his 'bastard' comment and everyone looked back at him as he invoked Pax and shifted his hands.

“Kai!” Elias warned. If he attacked Matias there wouldn’t be anything Elias could do to stop him. Matias would have full right to kill him.

Matias smirked at his little action. He leant in to his ear and whispered. “Do it demon dog. Attack me. Give me the excuse I need to end your sorry existence.” Kai flexed his claws at his provocation.

“KAI DON’T!” Elias warned him again.

Matias squeezed a bit tighter on Kai’s throat in annoyance at the interference.

“Matias, that’s enough. You know you don’t have grounds for this. Let him down.” Elias warned again.

Matias knew that Elias was right. By law he’d need a direct witness to be able to discipline him in such a fashion. Matias huffed then released Kai’s neck from his grip and he dropped to the floor. Kai remained on his feet but he held on to his chest at the pain of his fractured rib. With Pax still invoked, his broken rib was already starting to heal but it still hurt like hell. He released Pax and his eyes turned back to blue.

Matias looked down at Kai. “Let me give you some friendly brotherly advice Kaiden. You won’t always have someone else to cover for you.” Matias leaned in to Kai’s ear again. “You need to start watching your back more before someone ends up a sticking a knife in it.” Matias headed out of the room and gave Elias a a glance out of the corner of his eyes before he left. “He’s gonna have to learn one way or another,” he mouthed just as he left.

Elias looked as his little brother on the floor. All things considered he had gotten off pretty lightly.

Elias looked back at Arrow who was still hovering behind him. “Arrow go hold him down, we’re gonna have to reset that fracture back in to place before it fully heals.”