He's dead!

A few seconds after he shone away through a green portal, I heard some noises in Chris’ room. His door was just across mine, so I quickly got up and tried to open it. To my surprise, it was locked. Something he never does except when he has someone over. I knocked after hearing some chatting.

“Chris, is everything alright in there?”

“Help—” I heard Jeff’s voice being muffled.

“Jeff?!” I asked and he stopped talking. “Chris, what’s going on?”

I could’ve unlocked it and barged in myself, but I never invaded Chris’ personal space before.

“Chris, open up!” I banged my fist a couple of times and heard the door unlocking.

Jeff was sitting on the double bed with Chris hand simply covering his mouth. He wasn’t trying to escape him and I sensed the Puppet Strings between them. My boyf— Jeff was being held against his will, for sure. When he averted his eyes to me, he started shouting something in Chris’ hand.

“Chris, take him back. He doesn’t want to be here.”

“He was trying to break into the labs again.” He explained.

“It’s the rune.” I paused when I remembered the scene we must’ve left at the lab. “What did you do with Carl?”

“We cleaned up everything and left his body there.” He lowered his gaze when he saw my wanting-to-cry face. He left Carl alone and helpless. “I anon-called the police.” He answered my unspoken question, explaining himself.

The whole time I was looking at Jeff. His fiance and alpha had just died and he was lost. He wasn’t strong-muscle-rock-and-roll Jeff anymore. He was just a puppy without a tutor.

“Chris, let him speak.” He didn’t take his hand off and I looked at him annoyed. “Please.”

“You murderer!” He shouted at me.

I closed my eyes and took a step back. All I could do was think about Carl, his face close to mine while he prepared to kiss me. I opened my eyes again and summoned a black pen in my hand, giving it to Chris.

“You have to take him. I'm not able to do it.” I said.

“But, Michael, this isn’t right.” He took the pen. “He’ll not be himself once I forcefully take him.”

“Please, I–” I paused, watering my eyes. “Take him and release him. You’re better than me at this. I don’t want to use my powers on him. I’ll never stop thinking that he’s with me just because of the rune. If I’m feeling like a piece of shit right now, imagine how he feels inside. He's empty, that’s not my Jeff.”

“I’m not yours! I belong to Carl!” He barked at me again. “You killed him, you fucker! You killed him!” He trashed, trying to get out of Chris’ invisible grip, but my brother controlled him again.

“What’s going on?” Leon was at the door in his boxers.

He brushed his sleepy eyes with the back of his hand and analyzed the situation inside the room. Chris took Jeff’s right arm, exposing the beta tattoo up, with his right hand. Jeff's only resistance were his tensed biceps, the veins and nerves popping out under his skin. With his left hand, Chris started drawing on his own inner forearm, gulping and breathing hard to the touch of the pen.

When we want to mark someone with a rune, we do it with a simple pen and channel our magic into the ink. The result is that the tip of the pen keeps shining like a welding machine. It hurts to look directly into it and it burns our skin. A lot.

Chris’ breathing was hard, paced and deep when he let the pen drop to the ground. He held his own elbow, letting go of Jeff’s control. As soon as he realized he was free, he quickly launched and tackled me down to the carpet. He straddled on top of me, both his thighs keeping me pinned to the ground while I lost my breath with the strong impact. I laid there waiting for him to kick my ass. I deserved that physical pain and he deserved his ****. When his right fist was making its way down, Chris’ voice froze him in place.

“Get up.”

“He murdered Carl!” He vented, not wavering his eyes off me for a second.

“Carl killed himself, Jeff.” Chris took one last deep breath recovering from the pain in his arm and shook both of them, like preparing to take a swim. “He was jealous of you.”

“That’s not true. He loved me.” He slowly lowered his once closed fist.

“Will I ever lie to you, Jeff? I’m your alpha!” He grabbed Jeff’s left arm and made him stand up. “He loved Michael, Jeff. He did everything to fool you into his plan.” He brushed Jeff’s hair behind his ears softly. They stood face to face.

“No, that’s not—”

Leon helped me get back on my feet whispering, “You ok?”

I nodded yes.

“Jeff, I want you to remember all the good memories you have with Michael.” Chris was softly brushing his right hand on Jeff’s left arm, up and down.

“No! Carl said it was all lies.” He shook his head.

“Jeff, close your eyes.” He obeyed Chris’ trance voice. “Carl isn’t here anymore. Michael is the one you trust.”

“No, he—”

“Michael is the one that loves you. He gave up everything so you could propose to Carl, remember?”

“He—”

“Michael loves you, Jeff. He’ll do you no harm.” He paused. “Open your eyes and say it, Jeff. You know it’s true. He loves you”

“He loves me.” Jeff whispered.

“You want him.”

“I want you, Michael.” Jeff repeated to me, this time.

Chris agreed with his head and turned his whole body to face me.

“Forget what Carl did to you. Look at Michael. He has always been there for you two. He’s broken too, Jeff. You both feel his loss. But you’ll only find comfort in his arms. He needs someone to go through grief too, Jeff. You’re the one that knows how to talk to him about this.” He said next to his left ear. “Now, go with him and say how you feel.” He gave a little push for Jeff to come at me.

“I miss him, Michael.” He took two steps forward, put his right hand on the back of my neck and pulled me in for a quick peck, then hugged me. He was acting a little bit normal so I could breathe again. I surrounded his lower back with my left arm while I caressed his hair with my right hand for him to cry on my shoulder. That right there was my Jeff acting the way he should. His boyish manners were back, even his hair was waving like it was free. He was, once again, acting more like Jeff who looked like a muscle mountain, but cried like a baby.

I opened my eyes to thank my brother for this. He was the best magical bro someone could’ve asked for. But he was already out of the room.

“What the hell?!” I heard Leon whispering behind me.