Chapter 307

Kerry was sitting against the bathroom wall which was completely pulverized and he had tears streaming down his cheeks, he then looked at Colin who was kneeling next to a man that Derek wouldn’t let him see and who looked hurt and Colin then said with a frown: “Well, I wish I knew too.”

He looked at Derek who was clinging to Connor as if his life depended on it and he patted him on the shoulder before telling him: “It’s okay, he’s fine don’t worry.”

Derek then looked at Kerry and he really wanted to keep yelling at him but when he saw the tears on his cheeks he swallowed what he had wanted to say and he finally said to him: “I’m sorry, I should have been more careful, I should have known you’d react like that and stop you… I almost fucking broke the one and only promise Connor never asked me to keep.”

Colin immediately understood what had happened and he looked at Kerry and then at Solomon who had frozen in place at the mention of his uncle’s name and so he motioned for him to come closer.

When Solomon approched and finally saw that it was Connor in Derek’s arms and that he was in a pool of blood, his eyes widened and Colin said to him : “It’s really your uncle, he was saved by the men of the God of War, Derek knows the whole truth so you can both ask him.”

Solomon then asked when he saw that Colin was already getting ready to leave: “Wait! How is that possible, we all saw his body and buried him 17 years ago… How… Why ?”

Colin smiled at him and said: “Whether it was Cassandra or Lilith who was behind his kidnapping, those two goddesses can use a lot of means to do it, a simple illusion that would have made everyone think you buried him, they could have sacrificed a chameleon so he could take his place but given the love Derek and Connor share I don’t think they used that means because he would have found out right away that it wasn’t Connor…”

Colin sighed and said to them: “The how, I don’t know, but it doesn’t really matter, does it ? Your uncle is alive and back with you. He’s going to need you, you’re going to have to support him.”

When he saw Solomon nod he was reassured and then he heard Kerry say in a weak voice: “Why ? Why our uncle ?”

Colin opened a portal to go back and check on Ian and before leaving he said to them : “Mykael told me that Kevin thought your uncle might know something about the Acrium, but we aren’t sure yet, after all only Connor could help us to understand. Let me know if you need my help, and don’t hurt him again, your uncle has been tortured for the past 17 years, he needs rest and a lot of love.”

Once Colin had left Kerry then said: “Derek… I’m so sorry, so sorry…”

Derek looked at him and he waved him over, he waved Solomon over too, and while he was still holding Connor, he said to them when Kerry and Solomon finally joined him and Connor : “My boys, it’s really him, but your uncle isn’t really himself anymore, he’s still struggling to accept the fact that he’s back with us, and sometimes he still thinks he’s in that prison.”

He looked at Kerry and he said to him: “When you knocked on the door and woke him up, he woke up with a start and he curled up in the corner of the room… The trauma he’s been through will take a while to go away so don’t judge him too harshly, it will probably take a while for him to get back to being the man you so admired.”

Kerry shook his head helplessly and he said to him: “And to think I thought you had finally moved on and found someone else…”

Derek smiled sadly and said looking at Connor who was still unconscious: “I don’t know how many times I have to tell you that but I never loved anyone but your uncle and my heart never beat for anyone else… Never.

Kerry I’m sorry… If your uncle hadn’t found the strength to come between the two of us, I…”

Derek didn’t want to say that sentence because even he still couldn’t believe what he had done, he could have killed Kerry, so he finally said : “I have a favor to ask you…”

Solomon shook his head and saidto him : “No, there’s no point in asking us for that, we won’t do it… We will never kill you, you’re our uncle too, if anything happens to him again, but I promise you that this time nothing will happen to him, we’ll be there for you, we’re your family and we’re not kids anymore, you can count on us.”

Connor began to move and whisper Derek’s name over and over again and Derek swore as Connor’s body spasmed again.

Derek managed to calm him down by talking to him gently and after a few minutes Connor finally opened his eyes.

He felt immediately that he was still in Derek’s arms and he breathed a sigh of relief when he realized that this wasn’t a dream.

The sensation of Kerry’s sword blade as it passed through his body had been very real, but fortunately, at the last moment, he had managed to move slightly to the side and his blade had missed his heart by inches.

He then looked around and put a hand on Derek’s cheek to reassure him and when he helped him to sit down he said when he saw the tear tracks on Kerry’s cheeks : “Well, my dear nephew, I didn’t expect this kind of welcome, but I’m glad because deep down you wanted to protect Derek. Come here !”

Kerry still had a hard time believing it, but even though Colin wouldn’t have stepped in and assured them it was their uncle, after what had happened and what Connor had said, he knew it was him.

He remembered that shortly before his uncle’s presumed death he had overheard a conservation between him and Derek and he remembered that their uncle had told him exactly the same thing, he had told Derek that they might make mistakes because they were only children but that he should never take it out on them, he had made him promise to guide them, love them and protect them no matter what happened.

He said with tears rolling down his cheeks again: “I’m sorry uncle, so sorry, so sorry…”

But Connor laughed and said before hugging him: “You’ve grown up well, you’ve become very strong, I’m proud of you.”