Brother’s Best Friends Are My Mates novel Chapter 167

Rain

I didn’t mean to call Matt crazy. He was angry at me for a while, and then we ended up hearing someone outside. When we investigated, it turned out to be someone from Matt’s old pack!

His old pack were a bunch of assholes. I hated to put it like that, but they were. Whenever we had to visit Matt at his house, I remember feeling so uncomfortable. They always were judgmental and acted like they didn’t even like Matt!

I would never treat any of my children like that. One day, Lia and I would have pups of our own, and I was going to treat them like they were the most amazing thing in the world.

But having children was going to wait. I was in the middle of training, something we had to do.

Training wasn’t my favorite thing to do, but I had no choice. We had been through so much bullshit over the past few years that it was impossible for us to just sit around and not train. By training, we were able to ensure that we’d be able to be ready for whatever threat came next.

And given that someone was sitting out there last night, I realized we were going to have to train even harder. What I wouldn’t give to be able to just sit around and sleep. I had a long day of training kids, so I was pretty tired.

But Jesse insisted that we train. Matt and I were training together, trying to make sure we were ready for any threats that might come about.

We were halfway through drills in the backyard when it happened.

“Alright, again,” I said, tossing Matt the practice knife. “You lead this time.”

He caught it and spun it once in his hand, smirking. “You sure? You’re already sweating.” Training with knives wasn’t fun. It was dangerous and made me sweaty. As well as tired.

Matt kept looking at me, obviously waiting for me to do something. I huffed and threw another knife, but he caught it without so much as a flinch.

“It’s called training, genius. Not everyone’s naturally annoying.” “Lucky for me, huh?”

He lunged. I blocked, twisted, and countered. We were fast, but clean. No real heat yet. Just muscle memory and banter. Then I felt it-this sharp sting at my forearm. Like a wasp, but sharper. Burning.

Okay, that wasn’t normal. I looked at my arm, wincing.

Something was going on. Matt was staring at me funny, giving me a strange look I smiled at him, but then I looked at my arm and realized there was something seriously wrong.

“Shit,” I hissed, stumbling back “Something got me.” Matt’s smirk dropped instantly. “What? Where?”

I looked down. Tiny cut. Barely anything. But the skin around it was already going red. Swelling. Throbbing. Okay, that wasn’t good.

It wasn’t good.

What the hell was going on?

I wanted to faint, but I forced myself to stand.

“It’s not deep,” I muttered, trying to shake it off. “I probably clipped a thorn.” Matt crouched next to the spot, frowning hard. “Rain. That wasn’t here yesterday.” “What wasn’t?”

He pointed. A cluster of tall grass-dead center. Something sharp was sticking out.Just barely. A glint of metal. I leaned closer. My stomach turned. “Is that… a fucking dart?”

He didn’t answer. Just reached into his jacket, pulled a cloth from his pocket, and carefully picked it up. Looks coated. Greenish tint.”

I backed up fast. “No, no, no. That’s-” I staggered, legs suddenly shaky. Fuck.

I think I was poisoned.

Poisoned.

What was I in an Indiana Jones movie or something? Hard to believe someone had thrown a poisoned dart at me. It didn’t seem possible, but what could I do?

I blinked slowly, staring up at Matt. Or was I staring at him?

He was watching me with obvious concern. I grinned slightly, feeling shaky. “Rain!” Matt grabbed my arm, steadying me. “Hey. Hey, breathe. Don’t panic.”

I don’t think I was panicking. Grinning, I felt my eyes starting to cloud over. No, I wasn’t scared. Or was I?

My mind felt like it was filled with rocks while my mouth felt like it was full of cotton. This was so not good. What the fuck

was happening to me right now.

“It burns. Like-inside. It’s-” My heart was pounding too fast. I couldn’t finish the sentence. Matt’s voice went clipped, focused. “Sit down. Right now.”

I dropped to the ground, heart hammering. “Shit. Shit. If that’s poison, and it’s tailored-” Matt cut me off. “I’ve got antidotes. Hold still.”

I blinked at him. “You have antidotes?” Why the fuck did he have antidotes?

Matt nodded. “Yeah. Which means they’re either bold or dumb.” “Or both.”

We sat in silence again, me trying not to pass out, him still holding the dart like it was a puzzle he could solve with his mind alone.

Then he said, quietly, “This wasn’t random.” “No,” I agreed. “This was aimed. At me.”

He looked at the yard. The tree line. The fence. “Which means we’re done pretending it’s in my head.”

“Yeah,” I said, grimacing as I flexed my hand. “We’re way past that now.” “Also, I think they wanted to kill me,” Matt said after a while.

I blinked as he helped me to my feet. “Are you sure?”

“Yes. It still smells like my pack is around. My old pack, I mean.” “Why didn’t you go after them?!”

Matt gave me the strangest look “Are you crazy, Rain? You were hit with a poisonous dart, and then you fell over, looking like you were going to die. Did you want me to leave you to die'”

“No, not at all,” I muttered, throwing my arms around him and hugging Matt tightly.

There were tears in my eyes now. I was crying, but it had been a very tough day. Or a tough few hours. I mean, I almost died!

“Should we tell Lia and the others?” I whispered, causing Matt to shake his head. “Matt, do you not want to tell them? I think it’s a bad idea not to tell them. They should know that you’re being attacked, and I almost died.

Matt again shook his head. “They are busy trying to make the world a better place. This has to do with me, so I want to try to deal with it on my own.”

“On our own,” I corrected firmly.

There was no way I was going to let Matt do this alone. I know I wasn’t the smartest guy out there, but I was going to do my absolute best to take care of him.

And myself, because you know I almost died.

“We’ll figure it out then,” Matt told me with a grin. “But Jam the one who is going to take the lead. You might lead me to certain death.”