"Kahn, I want you to look at me," I said.
He rolled his eyes up and breathed frantically. "Yes, I'll do anything you ask," he said.
"Right now, you are dying. We're the only ones who have the power to keep you alive. Do you understand that?"
"Yes, I do!" he cried.
I leaned over and examined his wounds. I didn't have the proper medical training for this. I was going to have to go off of what my father had taught me.
"If we save your life and you manage to hold down any infection, do you promise to help us?" I asked.
"His word is shit," Lucian said. "I say we let him die."
"He’s your brother," I said. "How many times do I have to remind you of that?"
"He lost that title a long time ago," Lucian growled. "He made his bed the moment he sided with my father."
Kahn sighed and started to tremble. "We couldn’t find him," he said. "Your father is still alive."
I held my breath and waited for him to continue. "Go on."
"We lost track of where we were," he groaned. "When Father realized we had no safe place to sleep, he took his anger out on me. Aiden heard my cries and ambushed us. We tried to fight back, but Aiden gunned me down. Father left me there to die."
"I don't believe him," Lucian said. "There’s no way he walked that path with that many bullets inside of him."
"I didn't walk. I took dad's ATV," he said. "I wrapped it in camouflage and parked it near the entrance. You have to believe me."
"Well, I don't," he said.
I didn't like the sound of what I was hearing. Lucian was clearly more concerned than I was, and I understood why. It was a tough decision, but I was going to have to man up and make it.
"Lucian, we're doing the surgery. He can help find my father," I said.
Lucian sighed but nodded his head. “Okay. We'll need more towels and supplies. Check the cabinets in the back."
I ran to the edge of the room and dug through the cabinets. Lucky for him, I found some disinfectant and a treasure trove of fast-acting antibiotics and sedatives to soothe his pain. "Here we go," I said, showing him the supply.
He laughed and brought a towel to his brother's forehead. "This is where my father must have gone all those nights," he said. "He wasn't visiting the city. He was visiting his lab. He must have known about the wall this whole fucking time."
Kahn shifted against the operating table and moaned. "The wall?" he asked.
"Shut the fuck up and sit still. This isn't going to be fun for you," Lucian said.
I searched lower and found an IV kit. "You know how to use any of this stuff?" I asked.
Lucian shook his head. "No," he said. "But I've operated on myself enough times to figure it out."
"Just do it," Kahn pleaded. "If I die—"
"If you die, that’s fate's way of telling you how much of bastard you are," Lucian said.
I set the kit on the table and grabbed a set of clean towels. "Enough," I muttered. "Let's just get this over with so we can all get a night's rest."
Lucian nodded, but he looked displeased. "I just hope you know what you're doing," he whispered.
I looked down at his brother's trembling body. He looked too weak to be of any threat to us in the near future. "Hopefully this is all part of the plan."
The operation was tiring on the body and mind. Lucian handled the surgical tools with surprising precision, but the amount of blood lost was unexpected. I was raised a hunter. I had skinned and cut off the heads of plenty of game of all sizes, but nothing prepared me for this experience.