Bronwyn's Unkown

The lights were on. Why were the lights on? Gabriel and I had turned all the lights off hadn’t we? I was standing in the woods looking at the cottage with mixed ideas. It could be that Gabriel escaped and is in the cottage waiting for me, or whoever attacked us is in there, laying in wait. I dropped my bundle and lifted my nose to scent the air. It wasn’t Gabriel, of that I was sure, but there was a familiar scent in the air. I couldn’t place it but I knew it. I decided I should go in as a human and take my chances. So I changed, got dressed, and went to confront the strangers in my home.

There were three of them. One on the couch, another pacing in the kitchen while the third raided the fridge. They all looked up as I walked in the door. I stopped short when I saw the one who had been pacing. It was Brian. I couldn’t believe it. The one on the couch looked a little…well…like me. He had dark hair and eyes and the look of my father’s family. The third was a big burly man with graying brown hair and mustache, he was obviously not happy to see me.

“Bronwyn! Are you all right?” Brian said walking up to me.

I backpedaled and said, “Brian! What are you doing here? What the fuck is going on? Who’s that on my couch and in my fridge, and where in the hell is Zeus?”

“Now calm down Whinny. I’m here to help you, these are very important people and Zeus is locked in the bathroom sleeping.” Brian said.

“Don’t you dare call me Whinny after what you’ve done.” I yelled.

“What? What did I do?” he asked in confusion.

“You’ve lied to me all these years. You never told me what you really were or your feelings for me!” I yelled at him. He didn’t say anything at first, just hung his head. Then the man on the couch stood and spoke.

“I’m sorry he lied to you. He did so on my orders,” he said joining the crowd in the kitchen.

“And just who the hell are you?” I asked angrily.

“My name is Lucas. Lucas Ravenwolf, and I’m your half brother Bronwyn.”

“What?” I stammered.

“Before your father met your mother he fathered a child with a woman who happened to be two natured. He didn’t know nor could he ever because he was human so they went their separate ways and nine months later along I come,” Lucas said walking over to me.

“Bronwyn are you okay?” he asked.

“I have a brother?” I asked in amazement. “Wait, Brian was acting under your orders?”

“Yes, you see I’m ten years your senior and at ten I took over the family. You were born and some members of the pack decided to threaten you to get to me so I had to have you protected. At first it was just babysitters and neighbors but when Brian came to my attention I decided that you two should meet and you became friends. He was your protection all these years, although he did fail in that job on Friday it was only because he was reporting to me the appearance of Gabriel.”

“Why would they threaten me?” I asked. “I was just a human baby, our father was human, I meant nothing to you. What would they gain?”

“Bronwyn, family is very important to a werewolf, even though you are my half sister you are still part of my family therefore I am bound to care for and protect you until you find your match.”

“Well I’ve found him so you can leave now,” I said.

“Yes about that. I don’t know how to say this but Gabriel is scamming you Bronwyn. He is working for my enemies and is trying to turn you against me and the rest of the family.”

“You talk like you’re the werewolf mob.” I said nervously.

“Well I guess you can see it that way.” Luc said with a smile.

“Listen, Gabriel is my match, I’m sure. Now I think you need to leave because Gabriel will be here soon and he probably wont be happy to see you.”

“Oh I don’t think we need to worry about that. You see those wolves that attacked you work for me.”

“What do you mean?”

“They work for me, I pay them do what I tell them to.”

“No, before that. Why wont we have to worry about Gabriel.”

“Oh that! Well that’s because he’s dead,” he said coldly.

“No!” I wailed.

“He tried to fight back so the boys had to get a little ruff. Guess they got a little too ruff,” Luc said with a smile.

I just seemed to fold up and collapse right there on the kitchen floor. I lay down with my cheek against the tile and felt myself break into a million pieces. Brian kneeled at my side and tried to coax me up.

“Oh my god, Whinny are you okay? God Lucas I told you we shouldn’t tell her! Whinny talk to me,” Brian said taking me into his arms.

“Get away from me!” I yelled pushing him away. “You did this! Nobody could have led them here except you. You killed the man I love.”

“Now don’t blame him. He had no choice in the matter. He owed me a great deal and this was his way of paying me back. Be happy, he’s free of our debt and doesn’t need to be here but he stayed for you,” Said Luc.

“Get out of my house.” I said from the floor.

“I’m sorry dear I didn’t hear you.”

“Half brother or not get the fuck out of my house,” I said getting up from the floor.

“What are you going to do if I don’t?” asked Luc with a smirk.

“That’s simple, I kill you.” I said.

“You wouldn’t even if you could Bronwyn. You’re not the killing type.”

“Really? I’ve killed two of your boys already. You know the two that were supposed to push me towards the canyon.”

“You killed Sammy and Brett?” asked Brian.

“If they were a red head and a blonde, yes I did.”

“Well now sister, you have unexpected depths,” Luc said sounding pleased.

“I hear someone coming,” the man who’d been raiding my fridge said. “We should go now Mr. Ravenwolf.”

“Very well Doug, until next time sister. Come along Brian.” Luc said walking out the door into the darkness with Doug following.

“Whinny I’m not with him anymore, please remember that,” Brian said. Then he too turned and walked out.

I didn’t have long to think on things because I heard sticks breaking in the yard. Someone or something was coming. I decided I didn’t really care what it was; I was going to beat it to a bloody pulp. I grabbed one of the baseball bats next to the door and waited. A figure stumbled from the woods and into the yard. At first I didn’t know who it was, I couldn’t tell through all of the mud and blood but when it looked up I was looking into Gabriel’s eyes.

“Gabriel?” I mumbled. It felt like I was dreaming. “GABRIEL!” I yelled.

“Bronwyn? Bronwyn is that you or am I dreaming?” he said falling forward.

I rushed forward to catch him and we fell to the ground together.
“It’s me love. It’s me,” I whispered into his hair. We stayed there in the yard for what seemed liked a thousand lifetimes. An owl flying overhead brought us out of our frozen state. I helped Gabriel to his feet and we weaved our way into the house to the bathroom. He was already nude so I helped him into the tub and started the water. As the water raised it became more and more discolored with the dirt and the blood being washed from Gabriel’s body. Once most of the filth was washed off I drained the tub and filled it up again, this time to wash Gabriel thoroughly. He had no objections but not for the reason you might think. Not once during that bath did he get aroused or make any remark that he would become so. All he did was lay his head back and doze while I washed him.

He wasn’t as badly hurt as I first thought. A cut here a scratch there, nothing too serious just a lot of bruises and bite marks. After the bath was finished I helped him into a pair of sweats we bought for him at a store on the way up, and got him into bed.

“Gabriel love, are you okay?” I asked.

“Yes sweet, I’m okay.”

“Are you okay enough to discus a few things with me?”

“What are we going to discus sweet?”

“My brother Lucas.”

Gabriel sat up. “How do you know about Lucas?”

“Oh he was here. He left a few minutes before you made it here. He had some interesting things to say.”

“Like what?” Gabriel seemed to ask in fear.

“He said that Brian worked for him and that he was my protection. Also that you were just trying to turn me against him and ‘my’ family.”

“Do you believe him?” asked Gabriel looking down.

“Honestly I don’t know what to believe. This world is all so new to me. I know how I feel about you and I know damn well how I feel about my ‘brother’,” I said full of anger. “But now I’m not so sure who to trust.”

“Do you trust me Bronwyn?”

“I don’t know. All I know about you is that I don’t think I could spend the rest of my life without you.”

“Well that’s exactly how I feel about you so at least we’re on the same page concerning our feelings for each other.” Gabriel said with a sigh.

“It’s late, we should get some sleep.” I said getting up. I walked to the bathroom and I heard Gabriel call out to me.

“Where are you going?”

“I have to check on the other animal in my life,” I said as I opened the door to check on Zeus. He was there and he was fine just as Brian said. Maybe Brian had lied to me but we did grow up together, but there was still no way he was ever going to be on my good side again. I left the door ajar so Zeus could get out if need be and went back to the bedroom where Gabriel was.

“Let me guess, Zeus was in the bathroom?” he asked.

“Yep, but he’s fine,” I said going around to the other side of the bed.

“I’m starting to get a little jealous of him,” Gabriel joked.

“You should be, he was here before you were anywhere near me,” I said with a smile pulling back the covers and getting into bed.

“What are you doing?” he asked in confusion.

“I’m getting in bed because I’m tired.”

“With me?”

“This is the most comfortable bed in the house. Do you really think you were going to have it all to yourself?” I said laying on my side with my back to him.

“But I thought we weren’t going to be together until we were formally pronounced or married?”

“Gabriel we’re not having sex just sleeping in the same bed. Now go to sleep or I’ll make you cook breakfast in the morning.”

“Well if you put it that way,” He said lying down and turning the light off. I drifted off to sleep listening to Gabriel’s breathing and heartbeat as he dreamed.