Yuliang woke in his hospital bed once more, feeling contented and warm with the smell of apples in the air. He could feel the warmth of his brother curled up beside him under the covers, and Yuliang's chest felt tight as he pulled the other omega closer.
The digital clock screen on the wall shockingly informed him that it was 3 am the day after. Whi h meant that he had been unconscious for less than a day this time. Maybe even a couple of hours, considering it was dark outside when he finally collapsed from exhaustion. The time he took to recover from the process kept getting shorter and shorter each time he performed it.
First, about a month. Then, a week. Now, a day.
Did that mean that if he kept doing it, there would be a point where he would stop collapsing afterward?
Will he be able to have full control of the process?
Yuliang frowned and rubbed at his eyes.
He didn't want to think about it.
He would prefer if he never had to do it ever again. He hated the lack of control that came from performing Energy Transcendence.
It also didn't help that he attracted more and more attention on him every time he performed it. Yuliang groaned, belatedly making the connection between the flashing lights and cameras. That wasn't good.
How had things gone so wrong?
He had just wanted to spend one night with Eric and...
Yuliang felt pain in his chest again.
Eric.
Eric, who was now a fucking pine tree in Parliament Hill Gardens because of those Ebrenian fuckers.
It seemed that taking away their parents hadn't been enough. They had to take his packmate too.
Who was next, Elys?
Yukio?
Yuliang tightened the grip he had on his brother, feeling his eyes tingle as they usually did when they changed color from amber to gold. He buried his face in Yukio's scent glands, scenting him and taking deep, calming breaths, and felt the tension in his eyes fade away.
No.
No way in hell would Yuliang ever allow anything to happen to his brother.
Fuck Belmont.
Fuck this war.
Fuck his Certification.
He never really cared for that stupid piece of paper, to begin with. The only reason he had was because it assured him a guaranteed source of income from the government and allowed him to stay with his brother a little longer.
Yukio's dreams were far too big to keep him contained in their small town, and Yuliang had always felt like the leash holding him back, but he had wanted to earn enough money to help make his brother's dreams come true.
Making clothing for a living was an expensive endeavor, and Yuliang had wanted to make Yukio's pathway to success was as smooth as could be.
Yukio made a small sound of distress, and Yuliang immediately ran a hand over his back and made soothing noises, pressing his twin's face into his own scent gland.
It had the desired effect, and Yuliang sighed.
He hated to be the one to clip his brother's wings, but things were getting far too dangerous for them to stay.