Page 4 of The Human’s Heart

I took another breath, calming my emotions. “That’s how I feel about Zay.”

We shared a smile, and after a moment, he said, “I’m glad you two found each other.”

“Me too.”

“Honestly, I’m really happy Zay has you. He was always such a serious kid, always afraid of making a mistake, like he thought we’d send him back if he wasn’t perfect. I can’t even tell you how many times all of us had to tell him it was okay to make a mistake, that he could make a hundred billion mistakes—honestly, there’s no limit—and he’d still be a part of our family…” He cleared his throat. “Anyway, yeah, he was always really serious, and tends to be serious even now. So I’m glad he has someone who knows how to joke around and make him smile. He already seems lighter these days, and you’ve only been together for a few months. So… thank you for that.”

I shrugged, unsure of what to say to that. It was a lot of information about Zay as a kid, but also a really sweet sentiment. “I love him. He’s amazing, so I’m the lucky one.”

Sebastian sent me another smile. “That may be true. But, Hugo, he’s also lucky to have you.”

I sucked in a huge breath. “I… I, um, thank you.”

“It’s the truth.” He looked at the counter. “Now, we better make those ten extra sandwiches before everyone out there starves to death. In case you’re wondering, it’s Ailin who’s complaining and acting like he’ll die if he doesn’t eat soon.”

I snickered at his eye-roll, then made a face when I thought about how much food Zay’s little brother consumed every day, and I reassessed the sandwich pile. “Uh, I think we might need more than ten more.”

Sebastian laughed loudly and began helping me with the sandwiches since the sides were all finished.

It didn’t even surprise me when the back door opened a minute later and Zay walked inside. I should’ve known that my reassurances wouldn’t stop him from checking on me, especially after all the high emotions that’d come from my little chat with Sebastian.

Luckily for me, Sebastian had me laughing, so I wasn’t in an I’m-about-to-cry-over-my-sister-or-over-Sebastian’s-kindness mood.

Zaos took one look at me and let out a relieved sigh as he smiled. “Hey, mezelie.”

“Hey back, Zay.”

He grinned and walked over, kissing my cheek as he rested a hand on my hip.

I’d been surprised at his willingness to show physical affection in front of his family members, and I’d definitely felt weird about it at first. But Zay always kept the touches light and pretty PG, and I couldn’t deny that I liked the fact he didn’t feel the need to hide what we were to each other. Every time he touched me or kissed my cheek, I felt… loved and cared for.

It was a nice feeling. One I wasn’t used to, and definitely one I needed.

The pull I felt toward Zaos wasn’t something I could ignore. It wasn’t something I wanted to ignore. And having him give me all these sweet touches helped soothe the part of me that wanted to lock him away in our bedroom forever and ever and never let anyone else even look at him.

Zay said my viramore possessiveness wasn’t as strong as his since I was a human.

But I was pretty sure he was wrong about that.

Zay gave my hip a squeeze, then walked to the sink to wash his hands before he jumped in to help with the food. We got it done quickly, and soon we were carrying out what looked to be a billion sandwiches and a shit-ton of sides.

I heard a few cheers from the crew—they didn’t usually get served food like this on jobs, so they loved working here since we fed them every day—and after only a minute, the table was surrounded by hungry people scarfing everything down.

I was half convinced I’d have to go back inside to make even more sandwiches.

Zaos let out a small laugh and nudged me. “I think it’ll be fine, but if we run out, I’ll make more. You’ve done enough today.”

I shrugged. “I want to help, and this is pretty much the only thing I can do.”

Zay leaned in so his lips were right beside my ear. I knew he only did it to keep our conversation private, but I couldn’t help the shiver that ran down my spine when his breath hit the skin of my neck. His quiet chuckle proved he’d seen, but all he said was, “We hired a crew so we wouldn’t have to do any of the work at all, so there’s literally nothing you need to do. Trust me, we’re paying these guys well.”

I sighed because I knew it was true. Ailin and Sebastian were actually paying for the renovations, because apparently, that was what they did in their family—helped each other out with no strings attached at all.

It was so weird.

But also really lovely.

“Thanks, Zay.”