Chapter 10: Lit Fuse
*Blackjacks POV*
"You two, you are my brothers," I said in shock. They were identical twins one year older than I was. I even remembered one from the other. Byron tackled me off of Haze and hugged me. Haze then piled on top of him.
"Blackjack, you remember us," they said simoulataneously.
"Yea, yea I remember," I said happily huggin them back. I honestly remembered them, I was so happy I could have cried.
"Blackjack, you have no idea how long we've been searching for you," Haze said so excitedly he was practically shaking. Then something occured to me, he ran from me, then again I did pounce at him and chase him down.
"Well, if that's true then why did you run when I chased you, why didn't you stop and explain," I asked. Their smiles faded and they looked down guiltily.
"Well, there's a couple reasons. When we finally found you, we overheard you saying that you couldn't remember anything, and so we were afraid to approach you," Byron started and Haze continued him.
"Plus once we found out he was after you, we thought it was best to stay back and keep you safe, at least until your memory came back,"
"Wow wait a second, who's he," I asked in confusion. The sheer emphasis of the word meant it was someone I must have known, but had forgotten.
"Oh, yea, you don't know that yet," Byron said shrugging uneasily.
"Know what," I asked growing more and more confused.
"Listen Blackjack, all you need to know is that someone is trying to get revenge on you for a completely justifiable action you committed," Haze studdered, hoping I would accept the answer, but I wouldn't.
"Ok, who is out to get me, and what did I do to make him so mad," I asked starting to get irritated. They just looked back and forth from one another to me for a minute, as if trying to come up with an excuse.
"Blackjack, some things are just meant to be forgotten. You probably wouldn't even believe us if we told you. Trust us, you really don't want to know," Byron said sternly.
"Please, I want to know how I got here, I want to know everything about my past," I argued.
"Some things are better left untold, now please, let it go," they both said raising their voices. I started to tear up, my own brothers were keeping things from me. Things that I needed to know.
"Isn't there anything at all you will tell me," I begged. They sighed and shook their heads.
"Your past is full of pain, pain that consumed you, pain you don't want to relive, please Blackjack, we're begging you, just let it go," Byron said softly, and sadly. It didn't make sense, why were they keeping this from me, what harm could it possibly do?
"Fine," I huffed and then walked off. I felt a little guilty walking away like that, but it made me angry.
"Blackjack please don't be mad at us, we're just trying to keep you safe," Haze said as he ran up beside me.
"Safe from what, my own memories," I shouted in anger.
"Blackjack, you did something that was terrible, but you had a right to do it. You wouldn't be able to live with yourself if you knew," he said, in a lower tone. It must have hurt him to hear me angry at him.
"So you're saying I'm better off without my memories, without knowing anything about who I am or where I'm from," I yelled, my anger was starting to get the better of me.
"Calm down, please, if we tell you anything at all it could jolt back your entire memory. Even the smallest detail could bring back everything," Byron said as he caught up with us, apparently alerted by my shouts.
"Maybe I want to know everything," I said turning away from them.
"Blackjack, we're sorry, but we just want you to suffer like you did before, just trust us," Haze pleaded. My anger finally flared, and I snapped.
"Trust you, why should I trust you, you've been staying hidden from me ever since I've been here, you ran from me when I tried to find out who you were, and you won't tell me a single thing about me. So why the hell should I trust you," I yelled. Haze broke into tears and ran off leaving me to face Byron alone, who wasn't too happy about my comment.
"Because we're your brothers, and we care about you. Maybe that hit on the head made you forget that," Byron said scornfully as he rushed off after Haze. I finally began to remember Haze as the more emotionally sensitive of the two, and realized that I shouldn't have raised my voice to him like that.
"Wow, I feel really bad right now," I said to myself.
"You should," I heard a beautiful and melodious voice call from behind me. It was Amber, and she didn't sound happy.
*Byron's POV*
"It's alright Haze, I gotcha," I told the poor sniveling lump under me. Haze never could take a comment like that light-heartedly. Out of the two of us, he was the more emotional, which made him pretty sensitive to stuff like that..
"Why can't we just tell him Byron, we both know he's in pain," Haze cried.
"Because he'd never be able to live with himself if he knew that he wiped out an entire pack and left the pups to die," I explained, still keeping my soft tone.
"Blackjack did what," semi-shouted a voice from the bushes. Haze jumped up and started to run but I stopped him. There was no use in hiding anymore, Blackjack would have exposed us anyway. I looked over to see the one they called Garth in pure shock.
"You heard me Garth," I said, trying to make it obvious that I knew he was there.
"How do you know my name," he asked nervously.
"You don't just stay around your little brother 24/7 and expect not to learn names," I replied smartly.
"Wait you're Blackjack's brothers," this was starting to feel like 20 questions.
"Yea, I'm Byron and this is my twin Haze," I introduced.
"Well, it's nice to meet you but, what were you saying about Blackjack killing an entire pack, he doesn't seem like the kind of wolf that would do that," Garth said as he finally approached us. I sighed and took a deep breath knowing he might not like the answer.
"A couple years ago, before he was moved here, Blackjack lived with a pack down south. He fell in love there with a wolf named Alexa, and they were about to become mates, but the entire pack was jumped by a group of rougue alphas. They killed everyone, and made Blackjack watch while they raped her, and then killed her. He was mortified, and just wondered aimlessly for days, until he came across the rougue alphas," I stopped knowing Haze would continue me.
"When he found them, he was so caught up in rage that he killed them all. What he didn't know, was that there were pups in that pack. Only one of them lived, and his name, was Lexus. Lexus is out to get revenge on Blackjack for killing his father, and for the past couple of days, we've been trying to run him out, but he is to determined to get revenge," Haze said. Garth's expression was mixed, it was confused, and sympathetic at the same time.
"So, you mean to tell me that Blackjack is being hunted by a wolf named Lexus, because he killed Lexu's entire pack," Garth asked with a tone that made me think he wasn't believing it.
"I know it sounds pretty rediculous for someone like Blackjack, but it's true. He did it to avenge his mate, that's all," I said, trying to keep him from getting the wrong idea.
"Garth have you found him yet," I heard a voice call through the forrest. Garth looked back nervously.
"Not yet Kate, I'll be back in a second," he called out. He looked to us and tryed to form an explanation, but I stopped him.
"Just go, we'll find Blackjack and explain the rest later," I said. Garth nodded and ran back the way he came. I looked at Haze and he had a disgusted look on his face.
"What's wrong," I asked.
"We just told him everything Blackjack wanted to know, and didn't even try to hold back anything," he said in a semi-angry tone.
"Look, we didn't want him to think Blackjack is a cold blooded murderer. They'd kick him out for sure, and probably even let Hutch get him," I explained trying to keep him calm.
"Why can't we just take him home already, like we're supposed to," he asked. I just sighed and thought about the question for a second.
"Because he likes it here, and unless I think he truely needs to come back, he can stay here,"
*Candu's POV*
I yawned widely as the sun rolled into my den and woke me up. I was so late for my alpha duties it wasn't even funny, and I had a sense of humor. I jumped up and quickly stretched my legs. My sides felt a million times better than they had before since the attack. I just wanted to go back and hang out with my friends during my duties.
Hunting was first, as always. I made my way down to the grounds to find both Kate and Garth sitting down looking worried sick, but there was no sign of Blackjack. Tat was what concerned me the most. He had never been late before, and one time could be all it took to mess things up.
"Guys, where's Blackjack," I asked worridly.
"I don't know, he told me he was comming right over here, but when I got here, it didn't look like anyone had been here," Kate replied. Her voice was extremely shakey, the fear was still building inside of her and was about to explode.
"I haven't seen him either, not a single sign of him," Garth added, but something was different about the way he spoke. His ever so confident ovice had faltered, and he sounded more suspicious. He knew something, and he wasn't about to tell us.
"Don't worry, we'll find him," I encouraged.
"We'll just hunt when we get back," Garth added trying to make Kate feel better. She smiled and nodded.
"Right, let's go," she said still a little shakily. One way or another I would get Garth to tell me what he was hiding, and that was a promise.