“Wait, I think I know where he was trying to go with this,” Sam speaks up, crossing his arms. “In the forest, if you see a bear, you’re supposed to make yourself seem as big as possible to scare them off. The opposite of making yourself big is—”
“Small.” I roll my eyes. “That’s what I said.”
I turn back to Mabel, ready to convince her yet again that I’m as docile as a baby lamb, but when I look at her face, her hand is thrown over her mouth, and she’s holding in a gasping sound…oh,fuck, did I make hercry?
Shit,shit!
Dammit, if making myself small made her cry, do I…do I need to make myself…big? That’s… counter-intuitive.
But…maybe the fact that Mabel is the opposite of a bear is enough to change the equation, and making myself the opposite of big was like multiplying two negatives together to get the same result.
That’s math, right?
A weird sound leaves Mabel, and I fucking panic. With my heart pounding in my ears and a noise of distress, I leap onto the bed and lift my hands up as high as I can. “No! I’m big! So, so, big!”
“Hayden!” Jo lets out a shocked laugh. “Nowwhat are you doin’?”
My eyes dart to Mabel, who is now doubled over, and I fall to the nest in defeat. “I don’t fucking know, Fireball. It’s been years since I’ve done math.”
But then…I look back to Mabel and realize she’s not crying. She’s…laughing.
There may be tears running down her face now, but the sound that’s leaving her is pure laughter.
I sit, dumbstruck, as the little omega laughs her ass off, and Jo giggles while Sam sighs, shaking his head.
“I’m so sorry,” Mabel chokes out between gasps. “The shock of you droppin’ to the floor…after the adrenaline of your raised hand…holy moly. Plus, I haven’t been sleepin’ well the last couple of nights…” She stands, wiping the tears from her eyes. “I needed that laugh, Hayden, thank you.”
I wasn’t trying to make herlaugh, I was trying to make her not afraid.
“The flinchin’...I don’t know when it’ll go away, but it’s a reflex at this point.” She gives me a sad smile. “It’s not a reflection on what I think of you.”
I suppose I can’t complain about that. “Well, whenever you need a laugh, I’m here. One of my self-appointed duties as your newly-acquired big brother.”
A small smile tilts at her lips. “I s’pose I got quite a few of those now, don’t I?”
“And we won’t let anyone—no matter who it is—take your decisions away again.” Sam’s voice is surprisingly solemn as hegives her a nod, and Jo looks up at him with hearts for eyes. I wonder if he’s referring to Declan’s pack when he says that.
“That’s right.” Jo agrees, then turns to me. “What’s with the scowl, Darlin’?”
I give a dramatic sigh as I get off the bed and head for the door. “Just remembering when you used to look atmelike that.” One of my feet ends up in the hallway before a petite hand grabs mine.
Looking back at Jo, I shoot her a wink. “I’m just playing, Fireball.”
“I know.” She squeezes my hand. “Which is why I have Sam’s hand too.” I look up behind her to see Daddy-O himself, his eyes on our girl, looking at her like she hung the moon. “Come on, Mabel-cakes! I’ll walk you to the front door!”
I look around Sam to make sure Mabel is following us, and she is, with a small smile on her face.
Maybe Iamcut out for this whole big brother thing after all.
fourteen
Jo
“Handsoff, Vasiliev,” Sam growls at Illya, who had been trying to fix a strand of my hair.
“Oh, hush,” I admonish him, shifting myself in the seat of the towncar. I’m shoved between the twins, smack in the middle of the bench. It’s a tight fit, but we have no choice, seeing as the back only has three seats, and if Mikhail witnesses one of us sitting up front, it could jeopardize our cover.
Kole, West, and Hayden are following behind us in the Mission Im-pizza-ble van, which will serve as our getaway in case things go to shit.
