Page 59 of Wind with a Chance of Wolfsbane

Kellan snorted and nodded. “Yeah. And then some. Was he always that way?”

“Yes and no,” returned Jonathan. “And we’re not the same age. He’s nearly twenty years older than me.”

“No offense, but aren’t you two like nearing two hundred or something now?” asked Kellan.

Jonathan thought about his age and faltered in his step. Hewasnearly a hundred and seventy years old, even though he didn’t look much older than his late thirties or early forties. “Uh, closer to it than not,” he admitted.

“Don’t tell me your age snuck up on you,” said Kellan.

“Honestly, I haven’t thought much about it in almost a century,” admitted Jonathan.

Kellan grew quiet for a moment. “Do you think the rest of us will live as long as you have?”

So far, none had. “I don’t honestly know.”

“I was looking through some of the information in the Van Helsing vaults with Elis the other day, and I saw a family tree for us there. It goes back to your great-great-grandfather.”

“Really?” asked Jonathan. He wasn’t aware such a thing existed in the vault.

Kellan nodded and then cleared his throat. “It shows your brothers and has notations next to both names with their date of death and stuff.”

“Stuff?” asked Jonathan, his throat tightening.

Kellan licked his lips. “Yes. It mentioned Myron. Was that his name?”

“Yes,” said Jonathan. “Did it state he took his own life?”

“Yeah,” whispered Kellan. “I’m sorry. That had to have been hard on you and your family.”

“It was,” admitted Jonathan. “It was especially hard on his wife and children.”

Kellan ran a hand through his brown hair. “I can see that.”

“What did it say about Digby?” questioned Jonathan.

Kellan took an abnormal interest in his shoes. It was evident he wasn’t sure how to broach the subject best. “Not much.”

Jonathan didn’t need to rely on his supernatural senses to spot the lie. It was that obvious. He continued to walk next to the young shifter, knowing Kellan would disclose what he’d learned without being prompted.

Kellan slowed before coming to a stop and adjusting the strap of his backpack on his shoulder. “Jonathan, it saidyoukilled him. Is that true?”

Jonathan kept an even façade. “It is.”

“Why?” asked Kellan, pain in his voice. “Why would you hunt and kill your own brother? One of your pack?”

The unspoken question of “will you hunt me someday?” hung in the air. Jonathan took a second, considering how to respond best.

“I take it the family tree neglected to mention Digby aligning with The Order and killing innocent?” asked Jonathan. “That he ended up cracking mentally, losing himself to the darkness that lives in all of us? That in the end, he was so deadly and so dangerous that I was the only person who was able to stop him, and that killing him was a last resort?”

Surprise lit up Kellan’s eyes. “None of that was mentioned.”

“Of course not,” murmured Jonathan, making a mental note to see to it that the archives were updated with that tidbit to prevent something like this from happening again in the future.

“He really was that bad at the end?” asked Kellan.

Jonathan nodded. “Yes. He didn’t take to having the wolf. In all honesty, part of me regrets ever turning my brothers, but had I not, you and the rest of the Harker line wouldn’t be here today.”

“Why did you turn them to start with?” questioned Kellan, his gaze sliding to one of the many gargoyle statues that adorned the campus. “So that they’d be like you? So that you wouldn’t be alone?”

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