[NOUR]
Seeing Delbert be protective of Alanor was new, given Alanor Wynter was always the one protecting his friends but then the man had just claimed that Alanor was his brother.
It didn't make sense, because everyone in the midlands knew that the young Wynter was an orphan of the house Wynter. His parents had been murdered by the evil lycan king and everything else had been a blur.
Right now, there wasn't a thing that they could do to make shit sensible. At least they both knew that.
"That's a nice little speech, but you try pushing me from him again and I will have your head on the Acrod bars," Nour said confidently, the omega voice he had been using in the past few days and even years long gone.
In its place was the tone of a powerful man who was fed up, one on a mission, and a man who didn't want to imagine a life in which Alanor wasn't there. Funnily enough, that shit wasn't even surprising to Delbert.
Instead, the junior warrior just let out a chuckle.
"Fine, you fix him up and let's see if he makes up, alright?" Delbert said in amusement.
It was like he knew something that Nour didn't.
Of course, Nour was a werewolf and while he was in the know for Alanor, there were just some things that required stronger bonds. The bonds of life, bonds that were forever, and bonds that wouldn't easily be broken no matter what the universe sent their way.
"You have five minutes," Delbert said and Nour just rolled his eyes at the man, before he started calling out to his best friend.
He had known Alanor for so many years now and while they may have been living in different parts of the world, if ever Nour was in trouble he could simply call out to Alanor and the young Wynter would always show up for him.
Maybe that's why his heart was shattered, five minutes later when he wasn't able to do anything for the man who had always been there for him.
He wanted to believe that Alanor was sleeping but he knew that the mating festival was a long sensitive trigger for so many things. He knew that it would warrant a dig into the memories Alanor had world long and hard to keep away.
But as always, they couldn't always run from their fate.
"Your time is up. Now it's my turn," Delbert said as he looked at Nour who had grown helpless. They could both hear the fiasco at the ball. The people were screaming and there was a chance that the lycan king was trying to do damage control.
That didn't matter to the duo that was here.
The only thing that they cared about was the man who was stripped in his clothes here. He looked so tired and heartbroken and they both understood him. Oh but if only they could go back to the ball and drag King Eddy by the balls, then they would have.
Once again, this wasn't the time for that.
"Come on, brother… wake up, Mira," Delbert whispered desperately as he held his hands onto Alanor's right hand.
He was trying to initiate a bond and while it was always dangerous to do that when the other was unconscious, Delbert was determined to make sure that Alanor was okay and that everything would soon be fine. If only.
"I'm sorry about this," Delbert whispered before he sliced Alanor's palm and then he sliced his too, making sure to bind both openings before they exhaled faster, thanks to their super abilities.
Nour, who was watching had a feeling that he knew what this was, but then that raised even more questions about what the fuck Delbert Cornell was doing in Acrod. It made Nour wonder what had happened for the both of them to be separated all this while.
"You're his twin?" Nour asked softly when he realized that Delbert was using the twin bond to make Alanor feel better and it was working, confirming Nour's suspicions.
He knew his best friend, and he knew that Alanor Wynetr would always be ready to reject any foreign things in his body and blood was too intimate a bond.
The fact that his system had accepted the blood of the warrior instead of rejecting it, made Nour wonder what else Delbert Cornell was hiding.
"No shit, Sherlock," Delbert said, as he looked at his brother who was slowly healing.
Alanor had hurt himself really badly and it was something that took so much energy from him. Delbert's blood was coursing through Alanor's system and was fixing him up real quick, thankfully.
"But you never told him that you are his twin?" Nour asked again and before Delbert could answer him, they heard footsteps.
In that moment, Delbert cast an invisibility spell on him and Nour and made sure to mask off their scents and to make it seem like Alanor was the only one there.
He wanted to reach out to his brother and hug him, he wanted to tell the young Wynter that he was never going to be alone, but then they had no time at the moment to even figure out who the fuck knew that the young Wynter would be on this side.
"I know you're his best friend, prince Burda, but if you tell him about me being his twin, then my brother will have to bury a friend. Your choice. Don't even think of screwing me over," Delbert whispered into Nour's ears, the warning so clear.
"The Hound and the Vampire of Asteta? What the fuck are they doing here?" Delbert asked as he watched Zelina and Ulrike rough to where Alanor was. He had never thought that these two would be on Alanor's side.
"For someone who even knows who I am, you sure have no clue about the people around your brother, huh?" Nour asked as he looked at the sight before them. But then something dawned on him, a little too fast before he realized he had been fooled.
"You didn't know nothing and yet you— I could out you right now, you know, and let the hound deal with you. How the fuck should I even know that you mean well for him?" Nour asked, his voice rising.
Delbert had to portal them, in their invisible forms back to the mating ball. There were just some questions he couldn't answer at the moment and he wasn't ready to face that with someone who was close to his brother.
"You have got to be fucking kidding me. What the fuck was that for? Why won't you tell him that the both of you are siblings? "What are you hiding Delbert? Is that even your real name?" Nour asked furiously when he found himself back at the mating ball.
This wasn't what he had been expecting when he came to the ball, but then as it was, he hadn't expected that Alanor would be hurt too.
"It's none of your business. Go find your mate. He is there, alright," Delbert said as he pointed towards Grant.
"What?" a shocked Nour voiced emptily.
"Congratulations, Nour," Delbert said calmly, though there was something in his tone...
Something that told Nour that this was just the beginning.
"No... impossible..." Nour trailed off, his denial and disgust obvious.
However, Delbert was long gone, leaving an angry, bitter scent behind.
And in that moment, Nour knew that nothing would ever be the same.
Nothing.