Pricolici (14 page)

Chapter Thirteen

“That isn’t me.” It clearly wasn’t Tucker in the picture, but he felt the need to say it wasn’t, because there was no doubt that whoever it actually was had to be related to him. Closely related. Like a brother. And unless the picture was old, he was the same age as Tucker.

A twin?

Tucker’s mind was stuck on the fact that he wasn’t alone in the world. He had family. What had happened when he was young, that his parents would’ve split them up? Did Shane know about this? “That isn’t me.” Other than the color of the eyes, it could’ve been, though. Even their hair was the same. It was eerie. They weren’t identical, but there could be no doubt.

“We think he’s your brother.”

Well, duh. Tucker shook his head.

“I know it’s hard to accept, Tucker, but it seems that you have a brother who was living with Phell. He looks just like you. Who else could he be?” Stelian said.

Like Tucker hadn’t already figured all of that out. Did they really think they had to tell him? “I know that.”

Stelian stood up. “You knew you had a brother?”

“No! But all I had to do was see this”—Tucker smacked the picture—“and it’s pretty damn obvious I do, don’t you think?” He looked up at Stelian’s betas. “Where is he? Did you see him? Did you bring him here?” Tucker bolted to his feet, his stomach churning.

“Did Phell hurt him?”

Calos hesitated, looking at Stelian. Oh, god, what had been done to him? Stelian couldn’t protect him from this—if Phell had somehow found his brother, the crazy bastard could’ve done anything to him in his search for revenge.

“
Tell me
,” Tucker demanded, squaring his shoulders. He had to know.

“There were a lot of scents in Phell’s house, but only two strong enough to live there. One was Phell’s and the other didn’t belong to any of his betas who attacked us. The second person had free run of the house, and a separate bedroom upstairs. As far as we could tell, he wasn’t a prisoner.”

“No. No way would anyone help that lupe voluntarily. Phell was a psychopath. He tried to force mate me, raving about taking over the world and putting humans in their place once and for all. He wanted power. If I have a twin, he’d be like me, right?” Tucker turned to Stelian.

“Probably. But if he’s a hultan, why did Phell want you?”

“Other than to hurt you?”

Stelian took a deep breath. “Phell hated me, but for a hundred years he wasn’t a threat. Even before you showed up, he’d grown increasingly hostile and invaded my territory in small raids. Something, or someone, was goading him.”

“And you think it was my brother?” Tucker asked incredulously.

“Do you remember what you smelled like before you came here? How your pheromones attracted lupes and humans alike?” Stelian asked.

“What the hell does that have to do with anything?” Tucker threw up his hands, pacing to the fireplace and back.

“Your scent was warm, appealing. It drew everyone in, making them want you. It was so strong, even I had a hard time restraining myself before our auras blended and your magic settled. I nearly bent you over the bar, right there in front of everyone in the club.” Stelian’s eyes glowed. They stared at each other, and one of the betas groaned. “Even now, your pheromones are strong enough to force a reaction from my men—and only Gunther’s gay.”

Tucker couldn’t have stopped himself from looking, even if he wanted to. Stelian growled. “You mentioned it; so sue me for looking!” Tucker snapped. “And I still don’t see what the hell this has to do with the fact you think someone related to me could possibly help that madman.”

“His scent—whoever he is—is foul. Dark, and so tainted, even I can still smell it on them. Tucker, whoever he is, he’s not a good guy.”

The idea that Tucker would learn he had a brother, and learn he’d been helping in some crazy plot to take over the world, on the same day? Unthinkable.

“Well I can’t. I want to see this house. We’ll go today.” Tucker crossed his arms over his chest, daring Stelian to argue with him.

“I do need to go check out Phell’s territory, as leader of the Pricolici and the Hunters, but you’re not coming.” Stelian mirrored Tucker’s stance, crossing his arms, too. “And we can’t go straight there. Anyone could be watching.”

“I am going. I’m not some weak submissive. And I may not have control of my magic, but there are some things I can do.” Tucker drew on the pool of energy inside him, letting it crackle along his skin. He watched the hair on the arms of all the males in the room stiffen. “Want to touch me?”

Stelian scowled. “Tucker—”

“Don’t. This is a chance to find out about my family. I didn’t think I had any. Do you know what it’s like, growing up in a house where you don’t belong?” Tucker shook his head. “I’m going to pack a bag.”

Sighing, Stelian said, “Grab mine, too, please. I keep a bag packed in the closet, and I have a dopp kit under the bathroom sink.”

“Handy.” Tucker left Stelian to make their plans. He didn’t care where they were going or how they got there, as long as they went.

“This is it?” Phell liked ostentatious. His house didn’t look like an old-fashioned colonial, like Stelian’s. Nope, it was a straight up nouveau riche McMansion. And a fucking tacky one at that.

“You guys have too much money,” Tucker muttered when one of the betas nodded.

“You live as long as we do, you gain some assets.” Stelian shrugged.

“And he just couldn’t think of a better ways to spend it? Jeez, this is ugly.”

“It stinks worse than it looks,” Marevin complained.

“I don’t care. I have to take a piss.” They’d driven for two days, stopping here and there to ‘visit’ three different alphas in order to hide the true intent of their travel. Every time they stopped, Tucker could see the fear and hate in the other’s eyes and the chilly hospitality the Hunters were offered while being watched incessantly. Someone even followed them to the edge of each haitas’ property—though Tucker didn’t notice until Stelian pointed it out to him. They were much better at it than Phell’s spy had been. Tucker had noticed him right away.

It didn’t surprise him that the members of the Pricolici haitas—even those not in the Hunters—were regarded with animosity. It did give Tucker a new perspective on the difficult place they held in lupe society when it was focused on him, though. He was ashamed about the way he accused Stelian and his men when they first met, keeping him restless and unable to sleep. Tucker finally managed to doze off in the early morning hours, using Stelian’s shoulder as a pillow. He woke up with his bladder about to burst as they slowed down to stop in front of Phell’s atrocious idea of a home.

“Something that big has to have a bathroom or ten.” He went up the long concrete pathway sloping up to the front doors. Two of the Hunters stood beside the doors. One reached out and opened the front door when Tucker approached. “Thanks.”

Stepping inside, Tucker wrinkled his nose. The inside was worse than the outside. “A giant chandelier in the hallway? Really? You could drive a car into that thing.”

“It’s a foyer. Phell always did like things big.” Stelian stood beside Tucker, grimacing. His shallow breaths made Tucker glad for his weaker senses. Even he could smell it, though. A sickly sweet stench, like rotting flesh and dried blood, hung in the still air.

Tucker suppressed a gag, breathing through his mouth. “Phew. Shoulda brought some menthol rub.”

“Dulling your senses is dangerous in enemy territory.”

“So is puking up your toenails.” Tucker strode forward. “Bathroom, bathroom, where’s the damn bathroom?” He took a guess at the doors in the corridor under the stairs leading into the kitchen area. The ones under the stairs were closets, but he hit the jackpot on the opposite wall.

The entire thing was done in white marble with gold accents. “Must be a bitch to clean.” He found the toilet behind a pocket door closing it off from the rest of the room. He started to close the door.

“
Don’t shut that
,” Stelian barked. He was standing at the ready, watching Tucker, while Calos stood in the bathroom door with his back to them.

Tucker stared at him. “Seriously? Who the fuck is going to get me in here? It’s a tiny little closet with a toilet in it. Your men are all over this place, and have been for two days. You really think they missed some assassin lying in wait in the toilet?” Tucker rolled his eyes.

“I thought you had to pee.”

He did. Fuck it. Peeing with the door open wasn’t any worse than standing in a bathroom with open urinals. Tucker ignored Stelian and Calos, did his business, and flushed. He walked over to the sink. “Can I wash my hands, or do you think there’s some poison in the soap dispenser I should be worried about?”

They were there to learn more about Tucker’s brother. Phell’s core circle had been taken out completely; who did they think was going to come at them? “You are so damn paranoid.”

“And I’ve lived this long because of it. I let you come, Tucker. Please just do as I say so I know you’re safe, all right?”

Tucker sighed. “Fine. I’ll walk surrounded by your betas and stay in sight at all times. But can the “let me come” bullshit. I’m not weak; I wasn’t, even when I thought I was a submissive wolf. And if I have to stay safe, so do you. You really think I’d be the first target if Phell did have contingency plans and attack squads lying in wait?”

He hadn’t been asleep the whole time he had his eyes shut. Stelian had done a lot of strategizing with Marevin and Calos, coordinating with Gunther and Demetrios over the phone. The other two betas had traveled in the SUV behind them. Tucker stared at Stelian in the mirror.

“Your power may or may not still be a secret. Too many people might know. What if even one of Phell’s men got away? Especially if they saw you call the lightning? In terms of danger to them—you’re definitely a bigger target.” Stelian crossed his arms over his chest.

Arguing about it wasn’t going to help them find any answers. “Fine,” Tucker said, “but I meant it. If I stay in the middle of the guards, so do you. We stay together.” That part was important. He dried his hands. “Let’s go.”

Tucker didn’t like it, but he had to agree with the beta’s assessment. Whoever made that stench had free run of the house. Phell had smelled wrong, but not like this, not like something decaying from the inside out.

That didn’t mean the source of the smell was Tucker’s brother, Tucker kept reminding himself. At least, until they reached the room Calos said was his.

Gagging, Tucker stumbled toward the balcony doors. It wasn’t just the smell—it was the picture beside the bed he saw the second he walked in. He fumbled with the locks, desperately turning them and shoving the doors open. He staggered to the corner, holding on the railing and puking until his abs ached like fire, vomit bitter and vile in his mouth, tears streaming down his face.

Stelian rubbed his back, trying to calm him down. “It’s okay, Tucker. Let it out.”

Gradually the cool air and the fact Tucker didn’t have anything but dry heaves left in him slowed the spasms. Tucker stood up, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand and scrubbing the tears off his cheeks. He refused to look at Stelian.

“It was the picture, wasn’t it? That’s the same one you have.” Tucker had set it up on the nightstand on his side of their bed. It was one of the few things he had from before his parents died. Printed in sepia, with an old-fashioned frame, he’d always thought the baby in the picture was him.

But was it?

He had no way of knowing. What he could no longer deny was that room was his brother’s, and that the source of that smell—one that raised the hair on the back of his neck with its utter wrongness—had to be him.

Tucker nodded.

“I’m sorry,” Stelian said. He wrapped his arms around Tucker and held him tight. Tucker leaned into him, resting his head against Stelian’s shoulder, inhaling his clean scent and trying to wrap his brain around everything.

“I don’t know what to do.”

“We’ll figure it out. Together. You’re not alone anymore, remember?” Stelian nuzzled the side of Tucker’s head. “Can you go back in there?”

“Yeah. I have to.”

They turned to go back inside; Tucker had just entered, breathing shallowly to avoid the stench, when Stelian made a strange sound. Tucker turned, concerned by the deep grunt, and then he shouted.

Stelian held a small barb in his hand. His skin was ashy, and his hands trembled. “T-tuck—” He gagged and stumbled back, too close to the edge of the balcony and the low railing.

“Stelian!” Tucker rushed forward, desperate to catch him. Stelian lifted one hand, reaching for him, his whole arm trembling now. “T-t-t.” Stelian’s eyes rolled back until all Tucker could see was white, and then he collapsed.

Tucker’s breath froze in his lungs; he knew he wouldn’t get there in time. Stelian would hit his head, or go over the railing, and there was nothing Tucker could do to stop it. Wind swirled around them, and the balcony doors slammed shut, but there wasn’t enough force to stop Stelian’s plummet as he toppled over the iron railing. “No!” Tucker cried.

He rushed forward, screaming for the guards outside to help, praying one of them was close enough below them to stop Stelian’s fall. Tucker goggled at the sight of Stelian hovering in mid-air, his eyes closed. He wasn’t trembling; he was still, but it was too still. Tucker couldn’t tell if he was breathing.