Endearment From A Wolf's Heart

The Mark

I'm woken up to a knock on my front door. I regret not asking Mr. Harps what time Aaron's mother planned on sending someone to my place, but I had assumed it would be at a decent hour since Pittsburgh is a good four hour drive. I sit up slowly, rubbing my tired eyes and glancing at my bedside clock. It reads just after six.

"What the f**k?" I mutter, kicking off the blankets and rolling out of bed. Being sixteen weeks pregnant has really made a mess of my sleeping schedule. I just feel exhausted all the time. Then, of course, this matter doesn't help. "Has no one heard of sleep?"

Walking out to the living room in just my baggy pajamas and bare feet, I definitely regret not putting a time in place for this meeting. Then maybe I wouldn't be having someone show up at my front door at six in the morning. At this point, whoever it is will just have to take me as they see me. I feel no motivation to doll myself up by any means. Before I make my way down the steps to the front door of the apartment, I stop to look at myself in a nearby mirror, trying to fix my bedhead, just as another knock comes.

"Just a moment!" I call out irritably, then proceed to descend the stairs. I open my mouth just as I yank open the door. I'm fully prepared to give this person a lecture about what it means to be patient when I suddenly stop in my tracks at who I see standing on my doorstep.

His hazel eyes lock on to mine, and my breath is instantly taken away.

He looks the same as he did when I last saw him. He still has the same dark brown hair and a little bit of facial hair to match. Also, he's still perfectly fit and looking healthy as ever (odd considering he died two months ago). The only difference to him now is that he sports a small scar right above his eyebrow, something that he's never had before.

"Aaron?" I ask, my voice coming out shakier than I wanted, but if your dead boyfriend just randomly shows up on your doorstep, your voice would probably be shaking too. At the same time this happens, my crescent scar begins to burn, and it honestly hasn't felt this intense in a very long time.

Aaron lifts his gaze, meeting my eyes and then his eyes widen. We stand there staring at each other in awe. My stare is laced with fear, while his stare seems to be laced with something strange that I've never seen before, a glazed over look with lust, maybe? My brain seems to have trouble processing exactly what I'm seeing before me, not allowing my mouth to speak a single word. I open my mouth, but nothing comes out. Then, in a matter of seconds, Aaron shakes his head and his eyes begin to focus on my face again, as if he's actually seeing me for the first time now.

"No," he says, his voice just slightly darker than I remember. "I'm not Aaron."

I gape at him, my brows coming together in both confusion and annoyance. I know what I'm seeing. I'm not going crazy. "What do you mean you're not Aaron?"

"Aaron was my brother, my name is Adam."

I shake my head at Aaron, Adam, whoever he is. My mouth still hangs slightly open, while my brain struggles to understand.

"You never–um, Aaron never told me he had a brother."

Adam shrugs, now refusing to meet my gaze but instead staring at my mouth blankly. At this, I bite at my lips anxiously, which seems to do something to the man before me. He lets out a frustrated noise, moving his eyes to the wall on our right.

"Are you Kendra?" he asks, his voice coming out with a hint of irritation.

I nod, still not willing to speak.

"Are you going to let me come inside or are we just going to stand here?" He snaps. This is all so weird to me. Aaron had never used this tone of voice towards me before. Ever. So to hear it coming from this man that looks exactly like him....a part of me is beginning to finally believe that I really am looking at my boyfriend's twin brother.

I guess that would explain the pregnancy.

Without a word, I nervously turn to go back up the stairs, leaving my front door open. Adam takes the hint and follows me up into the apartment. At the top of the steps, his eyes glance around the place once while I begin to play with the hem of my pajama shirt. Now I really regret not having gotten changed before answering the door. I must be a sight to see.

When Adam's eyes make their way back to me, I c**k my head at him, continuing to notice the similarities in appearance between him and Aaron.

"Aaron's things?" he grumbles, not fully meeting my gaze.

I gesture towards the loft, staring away from Adam so that I don't need to meet his gaze again.

"Up there," I murmur softly.

Wordlessly, Adam moves past me and makes his way up towards the loft, getting to work finding his family's heirloom. I roll my eyes, definitely seeing now just how different this man is from his brother. They may look exactly alike, but Aaron was never this rude.

An hour goes by and by now I have changed out of my baggy clothes and made myself look more presentable. I skipped the makeup, but I did end up curling my hair like I do everyday. Well, every day that I'm not lying in bed all day, that is. I'll admit, depression has gotten the best of me lately.

While Adam continues to silently work in the loft, I begin to cook breakfast. I also put on a pot of coffee, despite the doctors recommending that I not drink it. The problem with that; I'm not used to being up this early. I'm standing in my kitchen and about four sips into my coffee when I hear an angry growl–yes, an actual growl–come from above me. I look up to see Adam coming down from the loft. The look on his face says "don't talk to me", so I don't say a word. He passes by me without glancing my way, so I sip my coffee again, quietly keeping to myself. Whatever he's upset about, I don't know that I want any part of it.

Adam pulls his cell phone out of his back pocket as he makes his way down to the front door. I can just make out hearing him say "I don't think it's here," into the phone before he's just out of earshot. From then, I get about ten minutes of quietness in the apartment before Adam comes back up. I have my back towards him, scrambling up my eggs in the kitchen, when I hear him approach me from behind.

"Did Aaron have another place where he kept his stuff?" Adam asks, his voice clearly still carrying a bit of anger with it. Without turning around, I shake my head at him. Then I hear a frustrated groan.

"Do you know if he has a safe? Or a lockbox? Something at the bank maybe?"

Again, I continue cooking but I say to him in a small voice, "No. Not that I'm aware of."

"Of course not," Adam says bitterly, and then I hear him give a humorless chuckle. "This is just great."

He walks away and I take this moment to turn around. I'm still getting used to the fact that this is Adam, and not Aaron, who's talking to me.

"Are you looking for something specific?" I ask hesitantly. Adam is now pacing back and forth in the living room, his hands locked together behind his head in frustration. "Maybe I can help you find it."

He shakes his head at me without looking my way. "No," he snaps. "You can't help me."

With a roll of my eyes and a small smirk, I say, "I'm just trying to help."

Still pacing, Adam mutters, "I don't need your help." It's just loud enough that I could barely hear it, but I did.

The smile instantly drops from my face now. I narrow my eyes at the guy, allowing my displeased feelings towards him to finally be written all over my face. There's no use pretending anymore. From the moment Adam showed up, I've been trying to play nice, merely for the fact that I love the man who looks just like this jerk. Now I'm done letting this guy give me an attitude. Who does he think he is?

"What is your problem?" I ask, crossing my arms over my chest. Adam, who had still been pacing, stops and turns his attention towards me. He opens his mouth to say something. I'm sure it was going to be something remarkably bitter and mean, but before he can get anything out, his eyes dart to my stomach, and what he sees stops him in his tracks.

I follow his gaze, realizing now just how big my stomach looks in the shirt I decided to put on, even with only being sixteen weeks along. I hadn't thought anything of it, but now I'm starting to understand how much of a mistake that might have been.

Adam narrows his eyes, his stare going from my stomach back up to my face.

"Are you pregnant?"

I don't answer. I can't, because every fiber in my body is almost frozen from the look Adam is giving me. Meanwhile, I'm biting at my lip so anxiously that it pretty much gives him the answer he was looking for.

With me standing in place, Adam starts towards me. My heart begins to race as he approaches, but I stand perfectly still. When he's right in front of me, no more than a foot away, his eyes move back down towards my stomach. With a nod of his head, it's been confirmed to him. When he meets my gaze again, something else catches his eye. Some of the curls from my long brown hair were misplaced and hanging forward, resting against my collar bone. To me, nothing really seems unusual, but I watch nervously as Adam reaches up to move the curly hair off my chest.

That's when his eyes widen even more, and I know exactly what he's looking at, but I can't understand what the big deal is about it. The crescent scar, which has been burning so painfully since the moment I laid eyes on Adam, is right in his line of sight. The shirt I picked out gave a pretty decent view of my chest, because again it wasn't anything I thought was going to cause an issue. I guess I was wrong about that one too.

"He marked you," Adam whispers, his eyes still locked on my scar.

"What?" I ask, not entirely sure I heard him correctly. Instead of answering, Adam lifts his hand again, bringing his fingers to my collar bone. The moment his skin touches mine, I let out the most painful cry. The burning on the scar increases so much and so fast that it becomes unbearable. Everything from then on is a blurred mess. I feel myself falling forward, and just as I think I'm going to hit the ground, I feel Adam's arms around me. He holds me up while the pain in my chest begins to die away. I catch my breath, almost as fast as I lost it and that's when I can start to see clearly again.

"What...what just happened," I ask, still feeling out of breath. I'm able to lift my head weakly, and that's when I see Adam giving me the same look he gave when he first saw me. Something about his gaze makes me nervous, but that's not what I'm going to focus on right now. I'm just trying to get back enough energy to stand on my own.

"Adam?" When he doesn't respond, I try to step away from him, only to stumble and end up right back in his grasp again. Being like this, it almost feels like I'm in Aaron's arms again. It takes everything in me to not throw myself at the guy, wanting to feel his lips on mine one last time.

"You need to sit down," Adam says, this time more gently than he's ever spoken to me before. Now he almost sounds like Aaron. "Here, I'll help you."

Adam moves me over to the couch in the living room. Once he's got me to where he knows I'm not going to fall off, he returns to the kitchen and turns off the stove. Then he begins searching the cabinets until he finds a glass cup. He returns to me with water, and I take the glass gratefully.

"Thank you," I say, before taking a steady sip. Adam only nods and we fall into silence as I continue drinking the water. It isn't until I put the glass on the coffee table, that Adam breaks the silence.

"How far along?" He asks in a very serious tone.

I could probably sit there and try to act like I don't know what he's talking about, but it's clear to me that he isn't in the mood for playing dumb. Instead, I swallow hard and say, "Sixteen weeks."

Another moment of silence passes, and then Adam speaks again.

"Did he know?"

I look up, letting my eyes meet Adam's hazel ones. It makes me wish it was Aaron in front of me now, finding out about the pregnancy, and not Adam. Somehow, none of this feels right to me. I can feel myself starting to choke up.

I shake my head, and then quietly I say, "Neither of us knew when it happened."

Adam nods, staring ahead as if thinking to himself before saying, "And I'm assuming my parents don't know."

"No, and they don't need to know," I say, a little harsher than I meant to. At this, Adam raises an eyebrow, while giving me a hard look.

"Actually, they do."

"And why's that?" I ask bitterly.

"Because it seems that my brother failed to mention our family genes to you before getting you knocked up. Otherwise you might have thought twice about staying with my brother."

I shake my head, not understanding what the Hell he's going on about. "What does that mean?"

"It means that the baby," he starts, pointing a finger to my stomach. "...comes from a family line you're not going to understand unless you come back to Pittsburgh with me."

"Babies," I say quickly, not thinking before opening my mouth.

"What?"

"It's babies." I pause, clearing my throat. "There are two of them."

Adam narrows his eyes again. "Twins?"

I nod.

"Of course there are. Even better."

I then begin to think about what Adam just said. "Wait, I...I can't go to Pittsburgh."

"Yeah. Well, you don't really have a choice."

Now it's my turn to give Adam the hard look. "Of course I do! I'm not just up and leaving. I do have to work, you know."

"So quit."

"What?"

"You heard me, quit your job."

I shake my head at him in confusion. "Quit my job so I can come with you to Pittsburgh for a couple days? Tell me how that makes sense."

"It doesn't, because you won't be coming for a couple days. You'll be staying down there."

"Excuse me?" I quickly stand up, closing in the proximity of us. "Are you insane? I cannot just drop everything I have. My whole life is here." I start counting out fingers. "My family, my friends, my job..."

"Will all be nothing in the end if this all turns out bad." Adam towers over me, so even as I try standing up to him, I can't bring myself to look as intimidating as him. It must be the way he carries himself. He puts off this tough guy act, and I can't help but again, compare how different the brothers are. Or were.

"Okay, so explain it to me," I snap, resting my hands on my waist. "Tell me what awful thing is going to happen if I don't come with you to Pittsburgh."

Adam opens his mouth, hesitating before saying, "I can't."

"Seriously?" I roll my eyes.

"It's not my secret to tell." Adam shakes his head and rubs a hand over his face. "I mean technically it is, but–"

"But nothing. I'm not going."

"Yes." Adam stands up straighter, taking a step towards me. "You are."

"Are you going to make me?"

"I will if I have to." Adam looks deep into my eyes, giving everything he has into this stare off. A few seconds of this and the guy finally says, "Don't make me have to."