Marked

Chapter 37: A Dark Past

Trigger warning: This chapter contains mentions of abuse and death, please read carefully or skip if needed.

 Kane's words rang in my ears.

Bryce used to cut Krystal with a silver knife to punish me.

"What?" I asked, turning to face him. He wasn't looking at me. He was still on the bed, staring up at the ceiling.

"If I ever got upset, or made a sound, or complained, or... Felt anything he thought was too much, he'd cut her," he said, swallowing hard. "And he'd make me watch. And he'd tell me it was my fault. I was hurting her because I was too weak. Her screams were my fault for not trying hard enough, for not being enough."

"Kane," I breathed, crawling over to him.

"It was mom first," he said, still not moving. "He used to cut mom to motivate me to push harder. Then he got angry with her for having Krystal and he got her killed by rogues. I didn't know for sure she had Krystal until four years later. He told me she lost the baby," he said, shaking his head. "He told me Krystal died before she was born. I felt a connection to her but never saw her. He told me I felt a bond that was severed, that I could still feel her soul even though she was gone. I'm not sure I ever really believed him but I had no evidence of otherwise, so that's the story I knew until I came across her in the cells. Cells that are right down below us in the basement of this house," he said, his voice getting quiet. "After I found her, he started cutting her since mom wasn't there to cut anymore. At four fucking years old, he was hurting her."

I didn't know what to say. I just set my hand on his chest and cuddled close to him. He wasn't done. I knew he wasn't done. So I waited even though that silence was deafening.

"I was not even two years older than her," he whispered. "She lived to barely eighteen and it was all pure suffering. I stopped trying to break her out when I was young because I could never pull it off and every time I tried he'd..." he trailed off and that pain through our bond hit me so hard I had to focus on breathing. "He'd hurt her. He always used them to punish me. He knew I could take the pain myself, but I couldn't take theirs. I couldn't take watching them hurt because of me."

I could've easily cried. Thinking about what that must've been like for him felt unimaginable, and the pain I felt in the bond told me it was still very much fresh for him, as much as he tried to act like it wasn't. I could've cried, but he needed me to be strong. He'd been strong enough.

"I went to the Elders," he whispered. Oh, Goddess. I knew this next part would hurt. "I went to the Elders and I told them what he was doing to her, to our pack, and they did nothing. They said they would talk to him. Nothing changed. They did nothing. I went to them twice and they did nothing. They knew she was down there, that Zach and Vanessa were down there, that he was hurting other people. They knew what he was doing and... They didn't do a single fucking thing."

His words sent me back to that day in Atlanta. In the meeting when he said they were too chicken shit to say anything. I took that as pride but that wasn't it. That wasn't it at all. He knew they were chicken shit because he suffered from them being that way.

He rolled on his side to face me and wrapped his arms around me, burying his face in my neck and hair. "I started going numb early, Tess. I'm sorry I'm not better at this."

"Don't be," I murmured, kissing his head. "I just... I don't want to set you off. I can't do that if I don't know what it is that sets you off. You can trust me, baby, I'm here for you and your past isn't going to scare me off, I promise."

He sighed and his arms tightened around me. "I'm not weak," he muttered.

"I don't think you are," I assured. "I think you're incredibly strong."