My Brother's Keeper

"Great, just great! What next?" Aiden dropped his fork on his plate.

Kendrick, Meryn, and Ryuu winced. Asking a question like that invited more bad things to happen. Sometimes, higher powers had a twisted sense of humor.

Kendrick raised his chopsticks and took a bite of rice, then fish. "By the way, I'm joining the Alpha Unit." The men were silent as they each took him his announcement.

"You can't do that! That's not the way it works!" Aiden protested.

Kendrick just stared at him and took another bite.

"We have trainees. There is an order to this!" Aiden continued.

Kendrick stared.

"It doesn't work like that," Aiden grumbled.

"Give it up, Commander. I'll break it to Basil, I'm sure he'll understand, especially since Keelan and Kendrick are brothers," Colton said in a congenial manner.

"Wonderful. Now that we have that settled, do you have any of the necklaces that the ferals have been using?" Kendrick asked, continuing his breakfast.

Aiden frowned. "We had two; we broke one, and the council has the one that was given to Adam for study. After the last battle, Meryn and Rheia gathered the necklaces off the dead ferals in the courtyard. We kept five, and the rest were divided up and sent to the three other pillar cities for study."

"They are people!" Amelia said loudly. "They aren't just necklaces, they are people!"

Aiden turned to her, a sympathetic look on his face. "Amelia, we need to understand how these things are created."

Amelia shook her head. "It's inhumane not to set them free." Tears streamed down her cheeks.

Taking a deep breath, Kendrick laid a hand on her forearm. He let his magic gently seek out hers. As he had guessed, her empathy and earth magic were completely free. The box he had created for her magic when she was a child was now too small to keep it in check. Slowly, he began to construct the mental image of a hallway. On one side, he visualized a door etched with the symbol of mind magic; across the hall, he created another door with the symbol of earth magic emblazoned on it.

"Do you see the doors Amelia?" he asked.

"Yes, Athair."

"Good. Now very, very carefully start pulling your magic into those two rooms. Let them know that they won't be locked away forever, that you will come visit. Tell your magic that doors were created to be opened."

He monitored her progress, and when the last of her magic had been put behind the doors, he closed them firmly. As soon as the doors closed, she slumped against Darian.

Her mate looked at him, concern on his face. "Is she okay?"

Kendrick patted her on the arm gently. "She is now. Her magic, especially her empathy, was running unchecked; it can be draining. Whatever broke her bindings also allowed her magic to grow. I'll keep checking to make sure that all her new magic stays under control. Hopefully, we'll have everything settled in a week or so."

"Thank you, Athair. I didn't realize how out of control it was until you started to reel it in. I thought that my supply of magic would be exhausted after the battle, but there was so much of it. It's as if the battle never took place." Amelia leaned against Darian and yawned.

Kendrick kept a smile on his face. She was right. Her magic should have been nearly depleted, especially since his own anger had inadvertently channeled his magic through her. Yet when he looked inside her core, it was growing out of control like an untended garden. "You probably didn't use as much as you thought you did," he suggested smiling. There was no reason to share his concerns, especially when she couldn't do anything about it anyway.

She nodded and yawned again. "Does anyone need me for anything today? I'd like to go back to bed if I can."

Meryn and Rheia shook their heads. Elizabeth answered, "The only thing we had planned for today was to contact Anne. We have to tell her not only about our world, but also about what has happened to Keelan. Since she's a nurse, it makes sense that she would be the one to take care of him."

Kendrick looked at Elizabeth. "Why does it make sense that she would take care of him?"

Beth looked at him, then the other men. Gavriel cleared his throat. "Because Anne is Keelan's mate."

Kendrick felt his chopsticks slip from between his fingers. A mate! His brother had a mate! Smiling wide, he turned to Elizabeth. "I have a sister! Tell me about her."

Looking relieved at his reaction, Elizabeth smiled back. "I wasn't sure if you'd be upset, since Keelan hadn't told you."

Kendrick picked up his chopsticks. "Keelan always played his cards close to the vest, the more important something was to him, the closer he kept it."

Darian nodded. "He didn't tell anyone about the contents of his nightmares, either. The only thing he told Amelia was that he was having them, no details."

"Sounds like my little Kee."

Colton chuckled. "I can't wait to call him that."

Kendrick smiled at the wolf shifter. "You tease him, I'll break your legs." Still smiling, he took another bite of fish. Rheia was laughing as she consoled her mate. Kendrick ignored the pup and smiled at Elizabeth. "Tell me about my new sister."

Elizabeth smiled. "We don't know much. Keelan as you know, was very tight lipped about her. We do know that she's a nurse and she's just graduated."

"She's very pretty, like a doll. She and Keelan looked perfect together," Colton said.