King's Jewels

Three- Heartache

Kade-
  Today would be the first time leaving Rafael alone in my house. My Dad had to go to some sort of meeting about what we had found in the other pack, and I was supposed to tend to a situation on the outside of our pack soil's borders. I wasn't too sure when I would be back home. All I knew was that Rafael did not want to be left alone at all. There would be at least one of my family members in the house with him, but it was easy to tell that he didn't want me to leave him. He had been down about it since I'd told him, and now he was pouting into his pillows.
  "I have to go, Rafael. 'S why I told you so early. I have to go, I really do," he hid his face in his pillows, mumbling about something. I couldn't make it out through the muffled sounds. "If I could stay or bring you with me, I would. I don't want to leave you here, but these are my duties."
  "They scare me," he whispered, shaking his head. "And you're going, and you might not come back and then I'll be alone again. I'm scared of being alone again." I rubbed his back, sighing at his confession before leaning down against his shoulder blades. He tensed up for a moment and then relaxed.
  "Why would I not come back?" There was a moment of silence before he answered.
  "Might get hurt or you might find someone else or you might just not want to see me again." I took a moment, knowing that he would have seen it all happening in his old pack.
  "I've already got you, why would I want someone else?" he shrugged, not having an answer. "I don't want anyone else, I want you."
  "Might find another mate and they might hate me," he whispered, slowly sitting up. "Might choose them over me."
  "If that happened, do you really think I'd choose somebody cold enough to hate you over you?" he turned to face me, throwing his arms around my neck. I had twenty minutes left. "I know you don't want me to go, and you're scared I might not come back. I want you to look after something for me, though."
  I started to unclasp the necklace around my neck, usually hidden under my shirt to keep it away from dirt or blood, and watched him stare curiously. When I started to clasp it around his, he grinned and held the crystal on the chain.
  "It's supposed to be calming, and I got it from one of my brothers a few years ago. I want you to look after it for me." he nodded, holding the crystal in his hand still. It'd been a long time since I'd taken it off, so it felt strange to not feel it's presence on me. "I have to start getting ready in a few minutes."
  "Okay, you need to be safe."
  "I'll try. Sometimes it can be dangerous." he just nodded, before hugging me. I could tell it hurt him, but hadn't the heart to push him away, so held him closer instead. I could feel the necklace against my chest, and his heart beating. At the same rhythm as mine. Mine. After a moment I had to pull back, or I wouldn't have been going anyway.
  "I was comfy," he looked up and shifted in realisation. "Oh."
  "I didn't want to take it too far, and much longer I wouldn't have been going anywhere." he shrugged, but lay back down. "I'm going to get ready, I'll come here before I go."

   It was silent. Even when I onto their soil, it was deserted. Whatever the situation was, they were good at hiding. I could smell all of them, though. It didn't matter how good they were at hiding, I could smell them. We scanned the main area for a minute, finding almost nothing. It was what drove us mad. We could smell the blood and the terror that had lingered, and all of it seemed to get worse the further we walked in. We were walking into the trap, we knew it.
  "Which one of you is in control?" I finally heard from above us, laughter surrounding the voice I looked up. "Well?"
  "I am. I am Kade King, next Alpha in line of the pack land you've been trespassing on." there was more laughter, before two guys dropped to the ground, standing tall. They were identical. They were rogue wolves. There would be a fight today. Rogues usually enjoyed ending up in fights, it gave them a thrill they couldn't find anywhere else.
  "Kade?" it was my Dad first, he probably found five minutes to sneak away from meetings that my other Dad often took him to.
  "I'm okay. Not far from pack grounds."
  "We have a problem with your pack, you small thing. We will get what we wanted from this."
  "Kade, don't get any closer to them. Don't antagonise. Do not argue with them." he sounded urgent through the link. Too urgent. I started to back into my warriors, who had previously stood behind me.
  "What? Scared? Has Daddy finally figured out who we are and what we want?" before my team had the chance to step forward, one of the rogue men grabbed the front of my shirt and tugged me forward. I stepped with him, taking care of his loosening grip. When his grip was loose enough I tugged and turned around, punching him as hard as I could. The other tried grabbing my shirt as well, and as my team stepped forward, more began to fall from the trees. I heard footsteps that weren't any of my warriors or my beta, but ignored it and stepped forward to continue the fight.
  "We have a man willing to fight, don't we?" the other guy said. I tore my shirt, not giving him anymore room to grab at me. I punched the closest man to me again, this time breaking his nose. I would have to eventually get claws out.
  "You're on my packs land. What gives you any right to demand?" I questioned, not making a sound as claws ripped through my side. Instead, I pushed back and found the hand that did it, a tall woman with braided black hair. I tore back at her, shoving her to one side as I began to find myself trapped in between more and more.
  "Kade, stand down!" it was my Dads voice, but by the time he'd said it, I was already claws deep in someone's torso. I could see weapons drawing closer to me, and did my best to dodge the swings and jabs of cool metal. I barely managed to ignore the wolfsbane. "Kade, come on. Let me."
  "Yeah, Kade. Let Daddy take over. He's the actual Alpha of the pack. Not you. Carry on and you won't ever be." I hummed, though he was far more injured than I was. I stepped back, and as he let down his guard I lunged at him, taking him down to the ground with my teeth in his neck. I could feel the tension around him as he tried to move, but I had him pinned like he was just a pup in wolf form. Wolfsbane got into the claw marks on my side, but I ignored the searing pain of the poison to let one of my men keep the guy down. I still stood tall, blood dripping down my chin as his brother stared me down. He would be a lot harder to take.
  "We told you, small thing, that we had a problem with your pack. We will have what we want." he started to step back, and I laughed- peaking his interest.
  "What? You see him get pinned like a pup and start running away from a small thing like me? How cowardly of you." I knew I was provoking him now, and many of the people with him had begun to watch for his reaction. "Running away from your problems won't get you in the good books with whoever is in charge here. You started the fight, and now you're running away. What are you, five?"
  "Kade!" my Father yelled, and I felt claws digging into me, latching onto my skin. I pulled away, losing a lot of blood in the process. "Fuck!" I felt him stand with me, a lot bigger and with a lot more experience. He stood in front of me like I was a child, only angering me more. This was my fight, something I had been sent on. I pushed back in front, beginning to feel the effects of the wolfsbane now that I was missing a lot of blood. I threw myself at the guy, feeling his weak bite against my body as he tried to fight back. As the fight got bloodier, he shifted into his form. I couldn't, but I could still prove my point. It would bring them shame as rogues, pinned down by trainee Alpha King. I was on the ground for a minute, sinking my teeth into his front leg. I could feel the panic rise around me. My teeth sunk into the other leg, knocking him down slightly. I got from under him, letting him swipe at me before grabbing at his nape and dragging him, myself covered in bruises and blood, in front of all of their people. I crouched beside him, watching him look away as my canines came back through. Even stuck the way he was, everybody could see the blatant signs of submission. He didn't want to go down like his brother did.
  "You can try and take from my pack," I called out, knowing that they were all listening from the trees. "You can attack me and try your hardest to hurt me, but you should know that I will always win. I will tear each and every one of you apart, as you've witnessed today. Take this as a promise of what a small thing like me can do to you." I bit him, dragging him completely to the ground and watching him surrender completely. He didn't try to move when I let go, but kept his head down and body low to the ground. His brother struggled for a moment under my warrior, but a glance had him the same way as his brother. "You stay away from my land or I'll be eating rogue throat for dinner the next time I see you. Does wolfy understand?" they both nodded, and nobody moved as I turned my back and picked fur from my teeth.
  "Kade?" my Father said, once we were close enough to the house. I was heading straight to the infirmary. "Kade come on you can't walk right."
  "I'm fine. I have fur in my teeth."
  "You have a chunk missing from your side, claw marks left right and centre. Your Dads going to have a meltdown when he sees the state of you." I shrugged, stumbling over my own feet before I got inside. A long trail of blood followed behind me, and my Father caught me as I stumbled again. "I've got you. The wolfsbanes gonna be hard to deal with in this state. Okay?"

  I groaned as hospital lights hit my eyes, slowly sitting upright. My body ached, and I could still feel the wolfsbane in my bloodstream. My Dad was next to me, head down and hair a mess. Who knows how long I'd been here?
  It was a moment before I could muster the strength to say anything, everything so dry.
  "Dad?" I mumbled, throat sore. It must have been a few days. "Dad."
  He groaned and stirred, slowly sitting up and stretching. Once he saw I was awake, he was set on getting me to drink some water and have some food. He'd probably not had any himself. Always the caretaker, never taking care of himself.
  "I told you not to antagonise. Your Father told me what he saw. You antagonised!" I nodded, chewing the food he'd given me. "And you bit two rogues into submission. They won't like that."
  "Dad, I'm fine."
  "Bullshit! You nearly died from the amount of blood you lost, you have claw marks all over yourself, and you were poisoned with wolfsbane! You nearly died, so don't you dare tell me that you are fine." I nodded, pulling the rail on the side of the bed down when he started to mumble. "Can't lose another child, Kade. We thought you were going to die, and Rafael screamed about when you passed out. I thought-" he sat next to me, hugging me the best he could without hurting me.
  "I know it hurts to see me like this, but I didn't die." I could feel him crying against my arm, hating that I had caused this by proving a point. "I'm still here."
  "You've been in here for over a week. Nine days. Your Dad told me you couldn't even shift. You bit the one in wolf form, in your own human form."
  "I took him to the ground. I'm gonna get more sleep. I'm tired. Do you want to stay here?" he just nodded.
  The morning came and both my Dads were here with Rafael. I could only assume my Father had gone home to keep the house afloat. Rafael looked exhausted but was clinging to my Father's arm until I woke up properly.
  "You were dying." he whispered, climbing on top of me. I winced a little, but let him lay there. "It hurt so bad. Alpha Klaus sat with me. Couldn't sleep."
  "Well I'm here now, and I wasn't going to die. I think the wolfsbane they used just slowed down the healing process." I could already sense my Dad was going to scold me through link, but paid no mind as my words seemed to ease Rafael. "I told you I'd be back, didn't I?"
  "But you were hurt still."
  "I know. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have made things worse, but they were trying to provoke me and it worked. Then I kept thinking that if I let them take anything they wanted, they would come into the pack house and take a few important people. I got angrier at them."
  "Don't do it again. It's scary. Your Dads cried a lot."
  "I know. Next time I'll think more clearly. I want to tell you there won't be next time but there will be." he nodded, closing his eyes. I lay my head back, feeling the fatigue hit me all over again, and my heart rate began to spike for the wrong reasons.
  "Dad." I tried to link, not too sure if it worked.
  "I'm here. We're both here. Just get some rest, and we'll go from there." I nodded, though my anxieties were starting to get the better of me. Again. I shifted Rafael, who had already fallen to sleep, and moved off of the bed. It hurt like crazy to move like that, pulling at the IV bags until I was free. It was suffocating. I felt I couldn't breathe.
  "Klaus," was all I heard before I was on the floor between my Fathers legs, held from behind. "Okay."
  "I know when to catch him, Prez."
  "I know. I'm just stressed out."

|||Rafael|||
  The pain was hot, cold, and freezing all at once. I was convinced that I was actually dying for a moment. It didn't stop hurting, it only got worse, and I screamed. Probably louder than I've ever screamed before. It felt like my insides were torn, turned inside out, and tied into knots. There was nothing I could compare this to, nothing I'd ever been through that was worse.
  "Rafe?" Preston questions, sitting on the bed and lifting an arm. I collapsed onto him, trying to get as much air into my lungs as I could. "What's going on?"
  "It's him, it's Kade. Kade's hurt. Kade's hurt. It won't stop." I should have kept my mouth shut because when I looked up, I could see the panic on Preston's face. "It hurts, oh fuck it hurts so bad." I whispered.
  "He's dying, Rafe. He might not come home alive, okay?" I shook my head, hoping that the pain would stop. "I'm serious. You need to understand that he might not be coming home alive. He might already be dead. Okay?"
  "He can't be dying. It's not fair." he was dying.
  "If the pain stops, it can mean one of two things. Either he's dead, or they managed to get him to the room on time and he's still breathing. We won't know until Klaus tells me."
  "It hurts." he nodded, hugging me. I knew he was hugging me for himself too. It was his son. I'd only known him for a few days. Maybe a week. He looked at me, head on my shoulder.
  "He's been clawed up pretty bad, and there's wolfsbane in his system. Klaus said they've got him in the emergency room and they're doing what they can. Do you want to go to him?" I nodded, and Preston got up. "I'll probably stay there until he wakes up. If you want to stay for a bit, bring a couple things with you. A change of clothes, your toothbrush, soap."
  "How are you so calm?" I whispered.
  "I'm not. I'm just used to it. Klaus did it a few times were he nearly died, had surgery. One time he was hospitalised for six months. Kade will make it. It's okay to freak out about it."
  "It just hurts." he nodded, rubbing my back. "Is he in this much pain?"
  "He passed out. He'll be okay."

  I cried when I saw him. It broke me to see him in such a state. Alpha Klaus stood next to me as Preston took a seat, putting an arm around my shoulder. I didn't want to cry on him, but after a minute he just hugged me and I couldn't help it.
  "Prez? Are you hungry? I'm going to bring some food up."
  "No." he sounded upset, understandably.
  "Alright. I'll bring you some coffee. One or two?" he shrugged, putting his head down on the bed. "Come on, you sit in the wheelchair and we'll go together," he told me, and I nodded, going with him.
  "He was okay earlier," I whispered, about Preston.
  "He's just upset. He told you about our oldest son, didn't he?" I nodded, understanding better. "I think he's a bit angry with me too. I was supposed to get him out of there before it got serious."
  "'s not your fault, though."
  "We know. Sometimes it's hard to rationalise when things like this happen, and Prez, well, sometimes he doesn't think clearly when he's nervous." I nodded, waiting as he ordered a bunch of food and told them the room number.
  "He didn't want food." I whisper, confused at the order that was clearly Preston's.
  "He won't eat if I don't put it in front of him. If I leave it to him he won't eat anything at all." I nodded again, and he pointed at the fridge full of cold drinks. "Pick a few out. We'll be here for a while."