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Her eyes went huge.
“Then you have to come home! You have to come where it’s safe!” She said a bit louder than I liked.
“Shhh! It’s a secret for now, remember?”
“You have to come home to where we have guards!” she said, looking more like our mother with each word that tumbled out of her mouth.
“We’re safe here, kiddo. They have patrols too,” I said, reaching over to ruffle her hair.
She dodged my move and smoothed her hair out in case I messed any of it up.
“But---” she searched for words.
“But what, Salta? The baby needs to be somewhere that they can play in the grass and the sunlight. The baby will probably be a wolf shifter like Scott. Wolves need sunlight to be healthy and happy.”
“What about me?” she finally asked the question that was on her mind.
I wanted to tell her not to worry about anything. That I’d fix her up one of the bedrooms and that our mother would just have to deal with it. Only I couldn’t make that call. I tried to imagine our unborn child at her age and someone trying to take them away from me. I’d rip them asunder.
“I love you, kiddo. You are one of my favorite people in the whole universe and when you grow up you can come and stay with us full time if you want. That’s a promise you can sink your fangs into.”
“But what about now? It’ll be forever before I grow up,” she frowned and stared down at her half-drunk blood boba.
“You’ll visit just like this weekend. Maybe longer for the holidays, if it’s okay with mom.”
“It’s not fair,” she shook her head. “You’re my brother.”
“And you’re about to be an aunt.”
“I’m already an aunt. The old people have kids.”
“Yes, but this is my baby.”
“I’m your baby,” she said, and the words cut through my heart.
I fought off the urge to rub the bridge of my nose. She was right. In some ways, I quit being a kid the day she was born.
“You are my baby sister,” I finally settled on staying.
“Mom’s mean.”
“Mom loves you.”
“If she loved me, she’d just let me live with you. She’s always so busy with work and the little kids,” she said, her bottom lip trembling again.
“Have you told her that?” I asked.
“That she’s busy? She knows she’s busy! She’s always saying it.”
The kid was breaking my heart because I knew everything she said was true. What could I do, though?
“You’re really not coming back?” she asked, pushing away from the table.
“It’s not like that, Salta. Please sit back down.”
“EVERYONE MY BROTHER IS PREGNANT!” She shouted.
It was backwards, but also it was the whole truth at the same time.
