his broken love

Chapter Seven

 Lucious' Pov

I woke up with a pain in my gut. I tried to sit up but it hurt too much to move. I know that I'm on the cot but I don't know where I am there's just a curtain and a wall that I can see. "Hello, can I get a little help here? I think I have to go to the bathroom." I said my voice thick with sarcasm.

Luka walked around the curtain and started to cry. "I thought you were dead big brother. Momma even had Maria and David come home because you got hurt real bad."

I had to pet him long enough for him to calm down before I could get a word in. "Luka, it's okay, I'm not gonna die anytime soon. I promise that I will be up and moving before you know it." I even put a big grim on my face just to bring up his spirits. "Now where is Papa? I need his help to get sitting up."

"Papa is over there checking on Angie's ouchy. Can I help you?" He is such a cute kid.

"You can try, but I'm not sure that you will be able to lift me." I replied happy that my little brother wants to help.

He got under my shoulder and lifted as far as he could before he climbed onto the cot and lifted me up the rest of the way. I didn't expect him to be so strong at 4. "Wow little buddy you got strong fast, now didn't you." I said laughing.

He smiled back and said, "I had to because Livy keeps beating me up. Do you think that I can win now?" He knows that he can't let her win forever, but he also knows that he's not allowed to hurt her too bad.

"You just might win a few now. Just don't over do it. Girls can't take a beating like us men can." I said playfully.

"You always cried when Angie beat you growing up." My father said as he walked around the curtain. "Now we can't keep you in here. Zera won't be comfortable knowing that you're in here too. You think you're up for a walk to your room?" He asked casually.

"Yeah, we can try to get me there in one piece. I just have one request." I said and my smile faultered.

"And what's that?" Luka and my father asked at nearly the same time.

"I want a big breakfast with all the fixins. Before I am confined to my room of course." I said as my stomach growled.

"Well of course. Lets get you to the dining room." My father said rolling his eyes.

Luka was on my right side and my father was on my left. Since little Luka was too short to help carry me I rested my hand on his head and kept calling him my cane. Laughing hurt a little, but I did't want him to see me as weak. Besides it was only a small knife that I was stabbed with so the damage can't be that bad.

When we made it to the dining room my mother was cooking and my older sister was at the table with Livy and Zera. When I looked at her the smile I saw was so beautiful my heart nearly stopped. It stayed on her face until she noticed my father and I had entered the room. After that she averted her eyes to the floor and frowned a little. Livy ran over and took Luka by the hand dragging him to meet Zera.

Zera's Pov

I was talking to Maria and smiling more than I ever had before when I noticed a couple of males in the room. My smile faltered and I couldn't bare to look at them. Next thing I know there's a little boy being dragged up to me by Livy. "This is Luka. He's my twin brother, even though he looks like a boy he's really a little baby." She said pushing him right up to me.

"Oliviette! That wasn't nice and I want you to apologize right this instant." The older man said. He was staring at Livy with the look of a parent reprimanding their child.

"But Papa it's the truth. He is a baby." She whined back.

"Oliviette Danielle Richards, I said apologize now and after I get your brother settled in a chair you and I are going into the kitchen where your mother and I can have a talk with you about you bullying your brother." He said to her before turning his attention to me. "I'm sorry about that. My name is Micheal but you can call me whatever you would like."

He got Lucious sitting in a chair and Livy followed him to the kitchen. I wasn't sure what to say to Lucious so I just focused on Luka. "Hi Luka, I'm Zera. I hope she wasn't right about you being a baby. You look like a very big boy to me." I said trying to ignore my uneasy feeling with Lucious sitting accross from me.

"I am a big boy. I even helped big brother sit up this morning." He said with a triumphant grin.

"You must be really strong to do that." I said stealing a glance at Lucious.

"He did too. If it weren't for him I would still be on that cot. Who knows if I would have gotten anything to eat without his help." Luka said praising his little brother. "How are you feeling today?" He asked me in a low almost shy voice.

"Oh, I'm doing better but not great." I replied not looking at him. "And what happened to you?" I asked.

"I was out back playing with the kids and fell out of the tree is all caught a sharp stick in my gut and mom had to remove it is all." I could tell he wasn't telling me the whole truth, but I wasn't going to pry it out of him.

The food finally started to come in and I noticed that Angelica wasn't down here yet. "Where is Angelica?" I asked Izzy.

"She's still napping. A hunter missed his doe with is cross bow and she got hit in the hip. But we got her all stitched up and resting. She will be down around supper time." She said almost too calmly. "So I was wondering if you would like to go for a walk with Maria and I after we finish up eating?"

I wasn't sure what to say but I decided it would be best to get away from the older males in the house. "Sure where are we going to walk to?" I replied.

"Just walking through the woods to the pond, and maybe even the caves. I was hoping to see if we could find out what your animal is for sure." She said that like it was something normal. Then again it probably was normal for them.

"I wanna come too please Momma. You might need some protection out there." Luka said holding up his arms as to show off some muscle.

"If it's okay with Zera then it's okay with me." She told him as she dished out his plate.

"I wanna go too." Livy whined from her seat.

"You can't because of how you treated your brother young lady. And you know that I don't budge when it comes to punishments." Izzy was on a role, but I still felt bad that Livy had to sit out.

"I'm okay with Luka coming along. And I'm sorry Livy, But your mom is right you were too mean to him." I said quietly.

When I got my plate it was piled so high that I didn't think that I would be able to finish even 1/16th of what I was given. And I was even more surprised when I asked for seconds. I have never had such good food let alone that much.

"That's your animal from being starved for so long." Izzy whispered in my ear as she took my plate to fill it back up. "Now eat up you need to have lots of energy for the day." She looked at Micheal and said, "Take a plate up to Angie before you go to your office. And Lucious you better go straight to bed, no stops along the way, as soon as you are done eating." She took her plate along with Luka's and Livy's to the kitchen.

Maria decided that she needed to speak now that the room fell silent. "Are those clothes natural fibers?" she asked me. After I shrugged she went on to say, "If they aren't they will not shift with you. When you're done eating we will go to my closet and find you one of my jogging suits, I know those are 100% natural."