Capture

Khan sat in the main hall sipping his wine. His mind ran amuck with the conversation he had just had with Neema knowing that his confession had only driven a deeper wedge between the two. He had ruined their mating. It had been doomed from the day they first met, hiding her siblings from her while she was recovering was never the smart thing to do but he reckoned the nail in the coffin was the moment he went ballistic on her for moving her siblings to the adjoining room.

Even now he knew his actions could never be justified, Neema would always have a scar on her beautiful body because of his lack of control.

The only good thing that came out of their mating was the baby she carried inside her womb. The heir to his rule but more importantly it was a little part of him and Neema. When annulled their mating he would always have a little reminder of what he had. Their child would be the evidence of the bond him and Neema had shared. In its briefness they had succeeded in cementing their bond with a new life. Their connection would always be there. The thrum of their connection would always run through their veins, it was the most he could ever hope for.

Perching his foot in his knee Khan strummed his fingers along the table top. His foot on the ground tapping as he perused the exits and entrance in impatience. His free hand grasped at at his glass of wine as he took another swig, the alcohol failing in its job.

He was not one to feel strong emotions other then rage, but Neema had got him good. She had hit him with all those flowery feelings of happiness. The biggest win for her was love. She had made him see that he could be a lover and not a fighter. She had changed the way he viewed his younger brother Carson, an understanding and respect growing between the two. She had altered his view on children.

Her siblings were not his heirs. They were not even his blood family yet he cared for those two little children as if he helped create them. He loved those kids and it was all because of Neema. She had challenged him right from the moment he had caught her and along the way she had captured his non-existent heart. What a tale to tell his future heir.

The sound of the creaking door opening shook him from his nostalgic musings. Flipping his now empty cup in the table he waited for the person to notice his presence. Patiently waiting for them to gain the courage and come closer.

Heaving a sigh, he threw his cup down on the table, his gaze rising to meet anxious ones.

Beady eyes were glazed over as he scoured the hall for any hidden people. His body stood stock still when he noticed Khan sitting by the table. It was just the two of them and it was about time they got this out in the open.

“I’ve been waiting for you,” grumbled Khan as he stared at the traitor before him.

“Khan what are you doing here?” his voice quivered as he watched his brother. The calmness Khan emanated was always scary. Especially when you had been caught out doing something you shouldn’t be. Khan could radiate anger from every fibre of his body without actually doing anything. Even when he wasn’t visibly angered, the atmosphere around him was charged with hostility. Leaving people fearful even when they had nothing to fear from his temper.

“You know why I am here,” his voice laced with derision and disgust. To think brothers could turn against one another all for a bit of power. His brother tripped over his words as he tried to fool Khan into believing his weak excuse. His hands hands ran through his short cut hair in nervousness as he attempted to justify his presence.

“Why did you do it? Hmm? Was the money not enough for you?” he growled out.

He was tired of waiting. He wanted to know how he could betray him like this. Sure they had never seen eye to eye, well not for a long time but they had shared a father. The same blood ran through their veins. Ryan had enough money given to him by his father and Khan saw that the amount never faded. Yet greed had turned him crazy.

“I-I I don’t know what your talking about Khan. I came early to dinner,” the excuse flying so rapidly from his mouth his tongue tumbled over his words. The garbled nonsense visibly angering Khan, His face molten with rage.

He had indefinitely messed up. The clock on the wall above the fireplace read 3 o’clock and dinner was always served at 6:30pm on the dot. Not a minute later. Pack members and their guests only began to enter the dining hall to converse after 5pm. His brother was 2 hours too early. He came with no book to read, and no Coms-device to entertain himself. He had nothing except the small dagger and a pouch sheathed at his waist. Khans brother had definitely messed up and he knew it.

Khan knew it as well. His brother’s brow began to dampen with sweat, the droplets trickling down his face and submerging into his black top. The crystalline droplets shimmering against his mahogany skin. The stench of fear his pores were emitting enticed khan’s feral thoughts, had him sneering at his brother. The feeble man before him was no match to him, never had been and never would be.

He amounted to nothing, he was a ponce who lived off the good graces of other people and the strength of his ancestry and family name. Blood ties meant everything in this world which was why his brother had gathered the warped notion that he was somebody important. He was nobody. The eldest son of the Regional Alpha had never strived to become somebody. Unlike his youngest brother who fought to gain the respect he had sorely been deprived of. His youngest brother was a man of admirable character, even when his fortunes had been down he had paved a future for himself.

His older brother was a weak man, in mind and in body. His soul so tortured by the rewards of this temporal life he had become half the man he was. Khan could vividly remember his brother in his youth, when they were both young pups before they reached their 50 year mark. Ryan had been a good older brother until he realised that the younger brother he had taught to be strong would one day be his superior.

The brother Khan remembered and cared for had withered away into this glutinous man. His brother was gone within the blink of an eye. Khan was not one to judge, everybody had their faults and no one knew it more than he did but to plot against one’s family, well that was an unforgivable offence.

“What is that in the pouch brother,” Khan’s head nodded towards the brown leathered pouch that hung on the belt loop of his trousers.

Ryan looked down at the pouch then looked at Khan, his face pulling into a tight grimace as he looked back down at the pouch. His hands subconsciously wrapping around the leather bag and pulling it closer towards his body. His face rose again to Khan as his eyes flashed with a made decision. The small glint in his eyes gave Khan an inkling as to what Ryan would do before his brother could even act.

Khan flew out of his seat, the chair scraping against the marble floor and skidding across the room. The clash of the chair smashing into a wall and smattering into small splints. His feet thundering on the ground as he ran across the room catching his brother around the neck as Ryan tried to make a hasty retreat.

He dug his nails into Ryan’s neck as he stirred him toward the table. Kicking at his knees as he forced his brother to take a seat in another chair. His fingers flexed around his brother’s sturdy neck as he tried to accept what he knew to be true.

“We are family. How can you think to betray me like this?”

Khan had never been on the receiving end of such treachery, such premeditated deceit and it was from his own blood. Though they had not gotten along for quite sometime he was always going to be his older brother who taught him how to hold a sword. And throw a punch and load a gun. There was so much that Ryan had done for him as a young man, that Khan struggled to deal with the deep level of betrayal he faced. Though they had become enemies through his brother’s resentment, those memories were something he could never forget.

Throwing his brothers head into the table he let go of his neck and began pacing along the fireplace.

“What would you gain from her lies?” Khan questioned.

His brother had remained quiet from the moment he had caught him trying to escape. His body was slumped in the chair as his head rested in his hands. No words of apologies, reproach or even an explanation were muttered from those conniving lips.

Ryan shot up in his seat when Khans fist smashed down on the table, the frame jumping with its force.

“You can speak freely among family. Tell me!” he croaked as emotion began to seep into his voice, there was only so much a man could take.

Ryan’s shoulders were shaking. His face was buried in his hands as his body trembled. Small muffles of noise slipped from his mouth as his body continued to quiver. The sniffling noise of him crying filled the air and stopped Khan dead in his tracks. His pacing ceased as his body swung in the direction of Ryan. He was astounded that his brother would crumble in such a way.

Noises trailed out of his mouth as his face rose from his hands, the tears trailing down his face a contrast to the wide grin plastered on his face.

“How could you fall for that,” he heckled, his sinister face gleaming with ridicule. “So gullible, did you think that I, first son of Nathaniel Manasseh, would cower in the face of his lowly second born,” he scoffed at the thought. Ryan had too much pride to cower at the foot of his little brother.

“You want to know what I gained brother?” his voice had reached a new octave as his words pierced through Khans skull. The screeching noise reverberating in his head.

Ryan had a crazed look on his face as he slowly climbed from his chair. His face a mask of villainous intent. Standing to his feet he leaned against the ledge of the table as his scheming eyes perused khans agitated form. Ryan derived such pleasure from seeing his brother in such an irate and crestfallen state. It was as if someone had taken away his favourite toy.

“She was just a distraction, she was only meant to lure you to her bed so I could get your lovely Neema against you,” his thick tongue flicked out to lick his lip as he mentioned her. His desirous urges for her evident in the way he paused before he stretched out the syllables that made up her name. As if the name Neema was a prayer he made to the gods.

“The bitch got greedy though she wanted you for herself, it was a good thing you issued her whipping. She had no loyalty.”

The irony. Ryan had no sense of what loyalty really was. If he did his plan to unseat his brother would have never been planned.

“I was going to poison your drink so you could die in front of your precious father, that’s what this pouch is for,” his long fingers patting along the withered leather dangling on his hip.

“That’s what a coward would do,” provoked Khan. The mention of the damned word sent Ryan into a tantrum.

“I’m no coward you’re the coward,” he screamed as his arms flapped about his face like a wild goose.

“You’re the one who won’t stop those lousy humans from forming a resistance. You’re the one who after he found his mate has only issued one hunt. And youuu,” He dragged out as he shot daggers at Khan “are the cowardly one who had his balls handed to him by a human. A female one nonetheless,” Ryan’s chest was heaving as he finished his long list of Khans failures.

His words were no lie, Khan had been somewhat remiss in his duty in the region. He had not gone on any hunts for humans since he had found Neema and he hadn’t bothered to find the Verum Resisentiam his brother spoke of but movements had been made. Since he had found Neema the urge to hunt had been satiated and so he had handed over the role to a male who had the hunger for it, the same male who had dared to question Khan on his failure to provide, Liam was a good hunter, he had found Neema’s sister and he had returned a few nights ago with more humans. What more could his brother want.

Khan had his paws in a number of rogue packs who sought vengeance on these very humans, moves had been made and as an Alpha he had felt no need to share it with his pack. Perhaps if he had this could have been avoided but it was too late for dwelling on what could have been.

Khan knew the truth though, none of those reasons were what drove his brother. No, Ryan Manasseh the first born was on a power trip and had attempted to stage his own coup.

“So what is the plan now that you have revealed all?” questioned Khan as he pulled out a chair and took a seat. All Ryan’s yapping about his motivation had given Khan a headache, his brother spoke more than Jana did and she was the worlds most frequent talker. He heaved a sigh as his brother continued his quiet rambling of his ill thought of plan.

“I should just stab you with this dagger, stick it in your worthless heart,” he growled out as he unsheathed the dagger from its holding. The silver knife glistening in his waving hand.

Khan snapped, he had enough of people waving weapons at him, Neema had done it twice and now his twerp of an older brother was. Was he not scary to people anymore. Khan removed the blade from Ryan’s hand with a small flick of his wrist, the blade staggered to the floor as he cracked his brother’s bones that he held in his hand.

“Don’t wave that thing in my face, it’s impolite,” he murmured releasing Ryan’s disfigured arm and pushing him away from him. Rising to his feet Khan gave his brother one final look over his shoulder as he made his way towards the door.

“Don’t look so relieved Ryan we have some visitors for you,” Khan chuckled as he opened the door and motioned in a few sentinels.

These wolves were specifically trained for the arrests of those who were due to be punished. Their bulky forms meant that even the strongest of wolves would have a struggle fighting them off, the number of them a huge deterrent to all guilty wolves. It would be hard for any fighter to break their hold regardless of their level of competency. To fight off full fledged punishment sentinels just wasn’t heard of.

Khan’s body was thrown back as a dagger careened into his shoulder blade. The knife finding its perchance in a chunky piece of flesh. Dislodging the offending weapon from his back Khan studied the blade that was coated in his blood. The Scarlett liquid dripped off the metal and spattered on the marble floor.

Spinning to face his brother, he used the momentum of the turn to send the knife cartwheeling into the air. The blade embedding itself into Ryan’s broken hand, the squelching noise of the knife sinking into his flesh let Khan no he had hit his mark.

As did Ryan’s god awful sounds of pain. He hunched over as he clutched his bleeding and disfigured hand to his chest, blood pooling around the wound and seeping into his clothes.

“I obviously did not break your hand enough if you’re still able to throw with it,” he grumbled as he sauntered back over to a whining and groaning Ryan.

Ripping the knife from his incoherent brother he crouched down and tilted his head to the side so he could look into his brother’s eyes. The same hazel eyes as his own. Placing the knife against his throat, Khan brought his lips to his ear as he murmured his final words.

Khan had killed men for lesser acts then what his brother had done. According to law he had the right to challenge his brother to a battle till death if he so wished it. Khan would have all the reason he needed to rip his brother to shreds in front of everybody. It was something he craved to do, he wouldn’t be able to sleep if he didn’t do it. Yet his little mate was the exact reason why he was ignoring his baser needs. Why Khan was prepared to abandon all that his race stood for when it came to redemption and revenge. He would do it for Neema and maybe she would never know but he wouldn’t be able to live with himself if he ended up killing him.

It always came down to her, but her love for family had shown him a different path. Most of his life Khan had never cared much for family and even friends, a couple of months ago he would of had no problem with killing his brother. He wouldn’t have batted an eyelash at slitting his neck and he surely wouldn’t have lost any sleep over it.

Two months with Neema had shown him the error in his ways. He expected loyalty from people due to the ties they had formed but loyalty wasn’t just given based off of titles. People became loyal because it was earned. Though there was an unbroken rule to never turn your back on one’s family, Khan had spent most of his life just doing that. It was no surprise Ryan was out to get him, Khan was only shocked that Carson wasn’t in on it too.

Neema had shown him that family exceeded all and for that he would let his brother live, even if he couldn’t stand the sight of his face. He would be punished though because that was the only way he would learn. Maybe he would feel more resentment towards his brother but Khan imagined with a little bit of responsibility given to Ryan he would mellow out over time.

He grumbled “The things I do for this woman,” as he trudged out the room. Leaving his brother in a heap on the floor and the sentinels closing in on him. Ryan would rue the day he tried to overthrow Khan, but he would live to tell the tale and that was all that mattered.