Page 3 of Taming Raptor

We had parted ways and I was airevac’d first to Landstuhl for the initial surgery, then back to the states. Though I shouldn’t have been, I was shocked when my father walked into my room at Walter Reed Army Medical Center after I woke up from the second surgery. The nurse was documenting on the computer when he introduced himself as my surgeon.

The moment she left, he closed the door and rounded on me.

“Do you know how lucky you were that I was able to get into that OR with your cousins? I called in a shitload of favors to get proper credentials to access a government system.” My father’s harsh whisper hit me with guilt so heavy it was suffocating me. I’d jeopardized my entire family and I damn well knew it.

There was a reason the majority of the people in my family became general practitioners and surgeons. Others became OR techs, nurses, or whatever were the needs of the kettle—our clan. It protected our secrets.

“I’m sorry, Dad.” And I was—debilitatingly so.

“You need to come home—it’s time,” he insisted as he jerked the fake hospital badge from his scrubs.

“Dad,” I started.

“No. Adrien, it’s past time. Your family is there.” My father was pacing in agitation.

“I’m a grown-ass man. You can’t dictate what I can and can’t do,” I snapped.

“Well, the fact that your cousins and I had to do a mock surgery in a goddamn military hospital to protect our secrets says otherwise. This was a stupid move on your part.” He stopped to stare out the window as he ran a hand through his graying hair.

“I needed to do this. For me. For my sons. You knew I never wanted to be a surgeon.”

He spun to face me, anger and resignation warred in his golden eyes, darkening them to near obsidian. “You didn’t have to be a surgeon! You could’ve been any number of things that benefit our community. You could’ve led the watch.”

“What if I didn’t want that? Initially, I signed on the dotted line to provide for my wife and pending child—without relying on my family’s money. It was about being a man and standing on my own two feet. Then I realized I wanted to make a difference to the country—to the world.”

“Adrien.” He sighed. “You’re only one man.”

“But it has to start somewhere, right? If no one stands up for those that live in tyranny who are held under the thumb of a dictatorship, then how can we ever think anything will change? If we all expect ‘someone else’ to step up to protect our country but no one does, what’s to stop that evil from bleeding over and happening here? Then where will our people be?”

“I understand that, but you are my only son.” The crack in his voice hurt and I had to glance away. The loss of my brother would forever be etched in my soul. I’d looked up to him. He was the one set to follow in our father’s footsteps. It was never supposed to be me.

“If I promise you that I won’t let anyone find out our secret, would you let me live my life?”

His eyes were hard, and a muscle jumped in his jaw when his gaze clashed with mine. Finally, he gave a curt nod and walked to the door. With his skilled fingers curled around the handle, he paused and looked over his shoulder. “I don’t think I can survive if you die, Adrien.”

“I won’t.”

It was a promise we both knew I couldn’t guarantee, but I would do everything in my power to stay safe. Once my time in the Army was done, I’d make everyone happy and move home with my family.

After I was discharged from Walter Reed, they flew me back to Ft. Lewis. Falina and the boys were in Texas with her family, so I planned to use some of my leave to drive down there with my truck and pick them up. That way they didn’t need to travel back to Washington alone.

Except when I walked in my front door, my footsteps echoed in the empty house. Disbelief made me check the house room by room. The only thing left behind were my clothes in the closet—and me. Everything I had in the dresser was tossed in a single, square box sitting in the middle of the bedroom floor.

With a scowl, I pulled out my phone and called Falina. My blood was boiling.

“I’m sorry, but the number you have called has been disconnected or is no longer in service.”

“What the fuck?” I had talked to her as I was being discharged from Walter Reed and again before I got on the plane that would bring me back to Fort Lewis. Though she had seemed distant, I suspected nothing. Now her phone was disconnected?

Though I was stunned, the greatest shock of all was what I found when I got to Texas.

“The Little Things Give You Away”—Linkin Park

Five years later….

Beer rained down over my head and onto my cut amidst whooping shouts and cheers. Every patched member hugged me and welcomed me to the club.

“Congrats, bro. I knew you could do it. You’re going to be one helluva brother and member of the club,” Venom said to me with a huge grin. It was because of him that I was being patched in today.

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