Page 112 of Beast

Jesus. He’s mentally unstable.

Drawing in a ragged breath and doing my best to ignore the pain in my arm, I lunged to my feet.

Damien and I circled each other slowly, him wielding the knife and grinning sadistically, me bleeding all over the place and trying to get into the right mindset to take him out. When I looked at him, I saw my baby brother. But when he opened his mouth and spoke those horrible things, he was a complete stranger. A deranged lunatic. I didn’t know him at all.

My heart pinched with the reminder that he was this waybecause I’d left him.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered, attempting to talk him down one last time. I really didn’t want to kill him. “You don’t know what really happened that night, Damien. I wasn’t lying when I said Papa sold me. I spent two years in a cage and was only allowed out long enough to perform on stage in a freak show. It was horrifying. Once I got away, I had to survive on the streets, and that was another horror of its own. I was starving, digging through garbage dumpsters for food, getting picked on by punks who were bigger than me. That was no life for a small boy, Damien. I could barely take care of myself, let alone you, too. When I finally got a job with the Popovs, it was for you. I was just getting on my feet, I’d bought us a car, and an apartment, and I was going back for you that weekend, but then I learned the house burned down and I was told you were dead. I had no reason to believe otherwise.I didn’t know, Damien. If I’d known you were still alive, I would have looked for you. I thought Mom would take good care of you until I got us a place. She loved you.”

He huffed, waving the knife at me. “Right.Mom lost her mind after you left. She didn’t even know who I was half the time, calling meAdrik. That pissed me off. Couldn’t she see I wasn’t ugly and deformed like you? I hated Mom. Ihatedhow weak and pathetic she was, letting Papa beat on her and not even trying to defend herself. Nice little sob story, by the way, but I don’t buy it.” He gave a shake of his head, his lips twisting in a sneer. “You thought you went through hell? With you gone and Mom losing her mind, he started beating up on me! Night after night after night!Ibecame his punching bag!Me!The lowly wolf pup had to take all the abuse! Because my big brother wasn’t there toprotectme!” He spat out that last sentence, a wild, maniacal glint in his eyes.

Pain zipped through my chest, a sharp, vicious sting. I hadn’t known. Papa had always favored Damien, and he’d never struck him before. I’d never thought Papa would hurt him.

“I’m so sorry, Damien,” I choked out. “I didn’t know. You were always Papa’s favorite. I never thought he would hurt you. I swear I never meant to leave you.”

Damien scowled. “Well, youdid, brother. You left me with myworst nightmare. I don’t care what your excuse is.You left me!I took his abuse until I wasn’t the weakest wolf anymore. Until I grew stronger than him and put him in his place.” His face twisted in a sneer. “He might have escaped the fire, but I killed him later. I did whatyoushould have done years ago. I gutted him like the pig that he is. NowI’mthe alpha, the pack leader. Except there’sno fucking pack to lead anymore!”

He lunged at me, the knife arcing out. I danced to the side, my injured leg quaking from the effort, but I managed to remain upright.

In a whirl, he spun around, and came back at me.

Balancing on my good leg, I kicked out at his hand with my injured leg, knocking the knife aside.

With a roar, he tackled me backwards.

We grappled across the ground for several minutes, throwing punches and strikes to vulnerable areas.

A worthy opponent, Damien was strong. Focused. Calculated. A skilled fighter.

Who had taught him? Certainly not Papa. Though we were evenly matched, our motivations were much different.

He was hell-bent on revenge. Onpunishingme for leaving him. A part of me didn’t blame him. I was guilty as charged. And sadly, there was no way to make it up to him.

I, on the other hand, was simply trying to save the woman I loved and keep from losing my brother in the process. An improbability.

Knowing what he’d gone throughbecause I’d left himripped out a piece of my soul and trampled it into the ground until it was nothing but dust. He’d sufferedbecause of me. Even if it hadn’t been my fault.

I couldn’t kill him. I justcouldn’t. Taking his life would break me. I wouldn’t be able to come back from something like that. I knew I wouldn’t. He was my baby brother.

A soft gasp had me jerking my head up, my gaze landing on Annika in the small shed behind Damien. Her eyes were open and focused on me.

“Adrik!” she cried, her voice raspy.

And suddenly, I had no choice but to burrow deep and find the strength I needed to do this.

I was fighting forher.

For Annika.

Because I loved her.

If I lost this battle, Damien would kill her.

I simply couldn’t lose.

It was the hardest thing I’d ever done. But in that moment, I shut my feelings off. I pushed my humanity aside. And I did what I didn’t want to do.

I forced myself to take out the threat.

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