"Elian," I exclaimed.
Before my mind could catch up, my legs started to move. My heart thumping against my ribs, I walked barefoot across the gravel path. With his hoodie ripped and blood seeping through the front, my brother stood swaying in the spotlight.
He raised his head a little. "Maris?"
I grabbed him before he fell.
"Elian!" I yelled and gently lowered him to the floor.
He had extremely cold skin. He had a quick but shallow pulse. His wrist bore the same mark as mine, but instead of pulsing silver, it was pulsing red. Furious. corrupted.
Rowan was crouching next to me, already looking for injuries.
Rowan whispered, "He's been branded." "But it's not stable."
I brushed Elian's wet hair off his forehead. "What is meant by that?"
"It indicates that someone attempted to impose the bond—without permission or foretelling."
My stomach turned over. "Blackwood."
Rowan gave a somber nod. "Or someone who works for him."
"Are you able to assist him?"
Rowan paused.
"Rowan."
He said, "I can try." "However, if his heart is affected by the brand backlash—"
"No," I yelled. "He will be saved by you. All I have left is him.
Rowan remained silent. Scooping Elian into his arms, he carried him toward the lower medical wing while snarling commands to his men.
Numbly, I followed.
________________________________________
Beneath the estate was a sterile medical ward that hummed with low energy fields and embedded sensors, more akin to a tech lab. As two healers hurried in, Rowan placed Elian on the central diagnostic table.
Instantaneously, monitors illuminated, projecting maps of internal damage and scanning vital signs.
One said, "His nervous system is shorting out."
"Mark infection." spreading via neural pathways.
"A counter-agent?"
"A corrupted crescent has nothing on file."
Rowan looked over at me. Did he interact with other wolves in any way? Did he say that he was taken?
I paced and said, "I don't know." "I believed he had passed away."
Rowan's mouth clenched. "Then someone wanted you to believe that."
Lips quivering, Elian stirred feebly.
"Maris," he muttered. "They took her."
"Who is she?" I bent over him. "Look at me, Eliana. What were they doing?
His eyelids fluttered. "Not real, not me."
Rowan drew me away. His thoughts are collapsing. If his brainstem is affected by the mark rejection—
"Then take it out!"
"I am unable to. After being branded, the crescent merges with the soul.
I looked to the healer. "How about a blood transfer? He is my identical twin. My blood is steady. What if I give mine to him?
"That's not safe," she uttered hastily. "You might also destabilize."
"I don't give a damn!"
Rowan drew me away. "This whole thing falls apart if you die."
"Whatever—you allowed him to decay?!"
"No," he snarled. "I do it my way."
He snatched up a scalpel and made a thin line across his own palm before I could inquire what that meant. Unnaturally, silver blood sparkled as it welled up.
"What are you—"
"Temporary stabilization is bound by alpha blood."
He touched Elian's mark with his bleeding palm.
Nothing at first.
The mark then sizzled. Amber replaced the red pulse. With a gasp, Elian arched once and then stopped.
Inhaling.
alive.
The machines stabilized.
Shaking, I fell onto the bench.
With his eyes dark and his hand still bleeding, Rowan stood on the other side of the room.
I muttered, "You didn't have to do that."
"I understand," he said. "However, I will not allow you to lose everything."
________________________________________
I sat by Elian's bedside later that evening.
His skin was no longer burning as he slept. He had obviously been gone longer than I had anticipated because his body appeared thin and malnourished. Months, perhaps. The entire time, perhaps.
In his sleep, he mumbled. A fire-related topic. concerning machines.
Silently, Rowan stood at the door.
I told him, "He said something." Just before he fainted. "Not me... not real."
Rowan gave a nod. "I've heard rumors. They were creating doppelgänger prototypes in Blackwood's labs. DNA-programmable wolves. flawless replicas.
I took a deep breath. "Are you implying that they created a different version of him?"
Rowan took a step forward. "I'm saying that Elian might not be the boy you saw in that surveillance feed—the one being trained as an heir."
"So, who is he?"
"His twin," Rowan uttered. "Constructed in a laboratory."
I felt sick to my stomach.
However, Elian didn't have a twin.
Rowan gave me a look.
"Yes," he muttered. "He did."
________________________________________
He opened a secure file from his encrypted archive back in Rowan's private study. A hazy ultrasound image appeared on the screen as it flickered to life.
A pair of heartbeats. A pair of spines.
He clarified, "Your mother participated in the Blackwood Genetics Program twenty-one years ago." Two womb-bonded twins, one natural and one engineered, were being tested. Before the second was born, your mother ran away.
I gave a headshake. "No... No, she claimed that something went wrong and that Elian was born prematurely. She didn't say—
Rowan said, "She lied." "To keep you safe. as well as him.
I moved away from the desk.
"Now what?" "I said." "The real Elian is here, broken and scarred, and Blackwood has a perfect replica claiming the heir title."
Rowan declared, "He's not broken." He has survived. We now possess a portion of their strategy.
I gave him a look. "You believe we can make use of Elian?"
"No," he replied. "I believe we can save him." However, only if you're prepared to accept who you are.
I scowled. "Who am I?"
Rowan moved in close. gently pressed his thumb against my crescent.
The final member of the bloodline. The Vault's key. and the uncontrollable weapon.
A fresh alarm went off from the medical wing before I could respond.
Elian's bed was empty when we returned after running.
The glass broke.
The floor was covered in blood.
And the words "HE IS A LIE" were inscribed in sharp claw marks all over the wall.