After a good night’s rest, Severn leaned on the counter with his elbows, tapping his fingers on his arm and staring at everyone else in the room. The girls and Thomas on the couch, Rune and Hyde next to each other at the table.

There were still a lot of unanswered questions. How did Rune get involved with the gang? Why did they send him away? Were they going to make a move again? What the hell were social services thinking, keeping his kids away from their grandad?

“Why are you staring?”

Severn flinched at Rune.

“You look like a psycho.”

Severn sighed. “There’s a lot going through my head.”

Rune leaned his arm on the back of his chair. “Like what?”

“How did you get involved with the gang?”

Rune frowned. “Oh, that.” He gestured at the chair in front of him. “You should sit down, it’s a pretty long story.”

Severn pushed off the counter and approached the table. He pulled the chair backwards and sat across Rune.

“After we left the orphanage, I needed a job. But all I could get was a minimum wage one, and even with Lullaby working too, we couldn’t provide for us all.”

“Who?”

“The friend from the orphanage. I’ll get to her. After we were struggling for a year, some people approached me, offering me a job that could provide for them. I was desperate and agreed. But then, they told me I had to travel around the continent and steal whatever they wanted me to. I tried to back out, I didn’t want to leave and get a criminal record. But they threatened everyone I cared about if I didn’t do it, so I left and was gone for five years. Until a few months ago.”

Severn let out an angry grunt. “Of course they targeted you at your most desperate. Did you get out?”

Rune tilted his head and squinted. “Sort of?”

“How?”

Rune glanced at Hyde. “You know that rule they have, when you’re in custody for more than forty-eight hours, they fire you, because you’re too much of a liability?”

“Yeah. We always thought it was too risky to make use of it.”

“I thought so too, but then I was arrested by someone who didn’t actually have the power to put me in prison.”

Severn raised his eyebrow. “How?”

Rune smiled and laid his head on Hyde’s shoulder. “He arrested me.”

Severn looked at Hyde. “How does that work?”

“It was a tiny village,” Hyde began. “They wanted someone to act like a cop, but no one actually had the power to do anything. Usually, all that happened there, were small things that wouldn’t warrant prison. But then, he started breaking into people’s houses and stealing things, so of course, the people wanted me to do something. I managed to catch him, and he told me everything that was going on and about that rule. Then I told him that I don’t actually have the power to lock him away, but they don’t know that. So, we agreed to keep him in a holding cell for two days, which ended up being three days.”

Severn nodded with an impressed look. “How cheeky of you. Did it work?”

Rune pushed himself off Hyde with a frown. “It seemed like it did, at first.”

“Also, what a way to meet your partner,” Severn added as an afterthought.

Rune snorted. “Yeah.”

“But it didn’t keep working?” Severn got serious again. “They killed your friend or something, right?”

Rune sighed and nodded. “Lullaby. And they killed me first, too. I don’t know if they’ll try something again.”

Severn glanced away in thought. They shouldn’t wait for them to strike first. “Do you know why they sent you away? They let us stay here.”

Rune shook his head. “Maybe that was the job they needed?”

Severn hummed. “Perhaps. Who was your friend? Lullaby?”

“We met her when we arrived at the orphanage. She helped a lot with getting used to the place and routines and such. She helped distract the girls when I wanted to be alone.”

Severn massaged the bridge of his nose. “Jeez, you were already co-parenting at thirteen?”

Rune chuckled. “I guess so.” He glanced at the piano. “And she taught me how to play piano, after I told her I wanted to because you did.”

Severn gave him a sad smile. “It sounded like she taught you well, last night.”

Rune shyly scratched his cheek. “I’m nowhere near your level.”

“I wasn’t always amazing, either. You’ll get there. Especially now that I’m here to help you,” Severn grinned.

Rune smiled.

Severn turned around in his chair to the couch and looked at his dad. He wanted one more question answered. He looked back at Rune. “Did you have any questions, or…”

Rune shook no.

“Okay, great.” Severn stood up and went to the couch. The couch was unfortunately full, so he leaned on the back of the couch instead, beside Thomas. “Dad.”

Thomas turned his head up at him with a hum.

“What the hell happened with social services?”

Thomas’s eyes widened as he tensed up. “Oh, yeah. That.” He closed his book with an angry frown. “I hadn’t been that angry in a very, very long time.”

“Since your knee?”

“Before that, even.”

“Should I move?” Moon asked from the middle of the couch, looking up at Severn. “So you can sit?”

“Oh.” Severn smiled. “You don’t have to.”

“No, it’s fine. I’ll move to the table.”

Before Severn could protest, Moon stood up and left towards the table. Severn shrugged and walked around the couch, then sat in her place between Thomas and Night.

“So, what happened?”

“I got a notice, telling me to come to their office first to get permission to take them from the orphanage. So, I went there, thinking it wouldn’t take too long. But they only gave me permission to take Rune, and they wanted me to sign off on a form to give permission for the girls to be adopted by some other family that they hadn’t even found yet.”

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

“What?” Severn interrupted. “Why would they want to search for a new family if they still have living relatives?”

Thomas gave him an exasperated shrug. “They’d done a background check on me and found my medical records, and decided I wasn’t fit to raise them solely based on that.”

“Did you sign off on it?”

“Obviously not, they’re still here.”

Severn looked next to him at Night, Night eyed him. “Right, yeah.”

“They said I was being unreasonable and that I should put their wellbeing first, and”—Thomas took a sharp, angry breath as he clenched his fists—“the hypocrisy! Oh, I should think about their wellbeing? I’m not the one removing them from their home and separating them from their remaining family, right after they lost their parents! If I had let them be adopted, they wouldn’t have just lived with other people, I would’ve lost all rights over them, including visitation. If I had gone along with their plan, Rune and I might’ve never seen them again! They might’ve never even seen each other, how likely is it they’d be adopted together?”

“What did they do after you refused?”

“They said they’d have to stay at the orphanage their whole childhoods, then. Or at least until Rune was eighteen and could take them in, because apparently an eighteen-year-old is good enough to raise them on his own!”

Severn frowned. Judging by how angry it made him to talk about it years later, he couldn’t imagine how pissed off he must’ve been as it was happening.

“I could’ve taken Rune,” Thomas continued. “But leaving the girls on their own there didn’t feel right, either. So, I asked him what he wanted. He could come live with me and leave them there, and we’d visit them as often as we could; or he could stay there with them and I’d visit as often as I could. He didn’t want to leave them on their own.

“So, I decided I had to be patient. Social services had already said Rune could take them when he turned eighteen, so I had to wait five years. I told myself it would be fine eventually, as long as no one else took them. I tried to appeal their decision every year after their birthday, arguing they’re older now, I wouldn’t need two working knees as much. They never changed their minds.”

Severn let out an angry sigh. Not only did the gang break their family apart, the systems that were supposed to protect them broke them apart even more. “How often could you visit?”

“Friday and Saturday were the only visitation days, but they were pretty lenient there, thankfully. They never checked if anyone actually left from Friday to Saturday, so I stayed the night every week.”

“Weird an orphanage even has visitation days. You’d think, if the kid has anyone to visit them, they should live with them.”

Thomas shrugged. “I guess we weren’t the only ones in that situation.” He glanced past Severn at Night. “Would you have wanted me to handle it differently?”

Night looked up from her book, a little startled. “Oh, well—uh, no? The only other option would’ve been a whole different family, right?”

Thomas nodded with a frown.

“I wouldn’t have wanted to be taken away from you and my brother and sister, no matter how loving that other family might’ve been.” She leaned on Severn’s shoulder and reached out to grab Thomas’s hand. “You did what you could, and everything’s okay now.”

Thomas smiled sadly and rubbed his thumb over her hand.

“You know, I don’t think I had told any of you this,” Thomas realised. “But, there was one more thing that I tried.”

Severn raised his eyebrow. “What?”

“They told me I couldn’t raise them by myself, so I thought, Okay, what if I wasn’t by myself?”

“Please don’t tell me—”

Thomas bit his cheek and nodded. “I asked if I’d get custody if their grandmother helped me. They wanted to do a background check on her, first. They deemed her too mentally unstable, without even meeting her. So, that didn’t go anywhere.”

Severn chuckled. “No surprises there.”

“I never told her I tried that.”

“Do you still talk to her?”

Thomas shook his head. “I haven’t spoken to her since a week after you died.”

“Good.”

----------------------------------------

Rune and Hyde wanted some space to talk, alone. They decided to take a walk through town in the evening. The neighbourhood they walked through was quiet and empty. They both wore a winter coat, the autumn cold had begun, after all.

“So,” Hyde began, “your dad. Is he the same as you remember?”

“Pretty much.” Rune rubbed his chin. “But it seems like he’s hiding less. Probably because I’m an adult now.”

Hyde raised his eyebrow. “Hiding? What was he hiding before?”

“His anger and frustration. Before, he must’ve put a filter on himself around his kids, but now that we’re all—almost—adults, he seems to have gotten rid of that.”

“How can you tell the difference?”

“He swears more and doesn’t seem to be holding back any of his thoughts.” Rune shrugged. “Or there’s a lot to be angry about right now. But, what do you think of him?”

“Uh.” Hyde squinted his eyes in thought. “He seems okay? He clearly loves you. But I don’t think I can judge what type of person he is already.”

Rune nodded. “Yeah, fair.”

“While we’re on the topic, what did you think of my parents?”

“Um, your mum is friendly, a little overly friendly.”

Hyde chuckled. “She’s pretty aware of that. She knows she can spook people sometimes. She even asked if she spooked you.”

Rune snorted. “Well, maybe a little bit.”

“What did you think of my dad?”

“He’s… quiet. I hadn’t really talked to him. He doesn’t give off a vibe that he wants to talk, you know?”

“I know he can seem cold at first, but he’s not. He needs time to get comfortable with someone.”

“Why? How can you get comfortable with someone if you don’t talk to them?”

Hyde shrugged. “He has his reasons. It’s more that he needs to get used to your presence.”

Rune hummed.

Someone approached them, walking in the opposite direction. Rune thought nothing of it. “How did those two even end up together? They’re polar opposites.”

The person walked past them.

Hyde chuckled. “Yeah, they—” Hyde screamed and arched his back. Rune jumped around, the person ran away. Rune turned to Hyde, his eyes widened in fear. A knife stuck out between his shoulder blades. A piece of paper was attached to it. Hyde was frozen and stared down as his body shook. Rune searched around, there was no one.

He grabbed Hyde’s hand and pulled him into an alleyway, Hyde gritted his teeth and held a scream in as he had to move. Rune helped him sit on the ground. He stared at Hyde sitting there, leaning forward, not moving. Rune’s breathing quickened. What should he do?

“Are you okay?” he stupidly asked.

Hyde glared up at him. He gave him a fake smile. “Never better.”

“Really?”

“There’s a knife in my back, what do you think?!”

“Right, sorry.” Rune kneeled behind him. “At least you’re conscious enough to be snarky.” He inspected the knife. It wasn’t in the middle, it was more to the right. “I don’t think it hit your heart.”

“I’d be dead already if it did,” Hyde wheezed. He violently coughed into his hand.

“Are you coughing up blood?” Rune asked, concerned.

Hyde showed his hand and nodded. There were blood splatters on it. Rune’s heart sank. “It must’ve pierced your lung, then.” He moved to sit on his knees in front of Hyde. He didn’t know what to do. Pulling the knife out would make it worse. What could a hospital do at this point? If they could even make it that far.

Hyde leaned forward to rest his forehead on Rune’s shoulder. “Everything’s fading,” he whispered. Rune began to shake as the fear grew.

No no no no no no no.

He knew that feeling. He won’t let that happen. But how?

He thought to Lullaby dying in his arms.

It will not happen again!

He considered the option he had offered her, which couldn’t save her. But it could save him. He didn’t know how it affected werewolves, but surely it was better than death.

He grabbed Hyde’s head and made him look at him. “Hyde.”

Hyde gave him a tired hum, eyes barely open.

“I’m going to try something. And if it works, it will result in a big change for you. Okay?”

Hyde weakly nodded.

Rune glanced at his neck. He recalled all the steps. His dad had told him how to do it once, when he told him about how he turned his mum. He hoped he still remembered everything correctly. He moved one hand to Hyde’s shoulder and sunk his teeth into his neck. He began drinking as he recalled his dad’s words.

Drink as much of their blood as you can, until you’re completely full.

Rune pulled away after a few minutes and let Hyde rest on his shoulder again. Hyde was limp in his arms. He was pale, almost lifeless.

Rune brought his hand up to his mouth and tried to make a cut across his wrist with his fang. He whimpered in pain, but continued. He needed to bleed.

Make yourself bleed—

Rune managed to slice his skin open. He pushed his bleeding wrist against Hyde’s lips.

—and let your blood drip into their mouth—

Rune turned Hyde to lay with his face up in his arms and let gravity do the work with his blood as he squeezed the wound.

—as much as possible until the wound closes.

Rune pulled his wrist back, the wound had healed. He sat still and stared at Hyde. He let himself breathe for a moment. That should do it. He pushed his fingers against Hyde’s neck to check his heartbeat. It was slow, but still there.

Should he pull the knife out? He’d have to eventually. But was it too soon? Should he wait for it to take effect? That would take hours, though. They couldn’t stay here in the alley all that time. How was he going to get him home? He wasn’t strong enough to carry him. And dragging him around in the streets would look weird and suspicious.

He turned Hyde to rest his head on his shoulder again and pulled the knife out. He saw the piece of paper again. He pulled it off the knife and unfolded it.

Good riddance.

Rune held his breath. What? How long had they wanted Hyde dead? Since they killed him? They were planning on killing him, too. Was it because Hyde killed one of theirs? Or because he helped Rune get away from them? Because he made it so much harder for them to sneak up on Rune? Because they couldn’t get to his sisters because of him? Because he brought Rune’s dead body to Selene which resulted in his return? Did they even know how Selene brought him back? If he had actually died at all?

They had to go home. He could drag him through the back alleys. Rune hooked his arms under Hyde’s armpits and stood up. He went deeper into the alley, dragging Hyde with him, and went on his way home.