Page 254 of Barinov

“I hate this.”

“You’re breathing too loudly,” Sabine informs him, her dark eyes glittering with amusement.

He gapes at her. “I’m breathing the appropriate amount for someone being slowly strangled, Sabine.”

Celeste ignores his panic. She moves with a slow elegance, winding her shimmering scales around his forearm, shifting her weight until she’s climbing her way across his broad shoulders.

“Stop being a baby,” I whisper, leaning my head back against Lex’s shoulder. Lex lets out a low vibration of a chuckle that rumbles into my spine.

“Shut up,” Zeke snaps. His eyes dart sideways as Celeste’s belly glides right against the column of his neck.

“Let’s see what my girl finds,” Sabine coos, stepping closer.

Celeste flicks her tongue right against Zeke’s sweating cheek once. Her dark, unblinking eyes peer back at her owner. Sabine nods once. That quiet understanding between the two of them is still eerie as fuck no matter how many times I’ve seen it. The snake settles, looping comfortably against the side of Zeke’s neck and resting her small head on his collarbone as if she’s just found the world’s warmest heating pad.

Sabine smiles. “There.”

Zeke blinks up at her, barely moving his lips. “There… what?”

“The darkness is gone, chéri,” Sabine says, her long, pointed nails gently hooking beneath Celeste’s belly to lift her away from my panicked brother. “When a soul endures a great hardship, the shadow will sometimes stain it forever.”

“Your point?” Zeke grits out, practically bolting out of the chair the exact millisecond the scales clear his skin.

“Sometimes it doesn’t,” Sabine says, cradling the snake against her chest as she runs a thumb over its head. “My girl here reads the energy left behind. She can sense the darkness. The rot. But there is none inside you, child.”

I stand up, the soft fabric of Lex’s hoodie brushes against my thighs as I cross the small distance between me and my brother. I reach out and wrap my fingers around his forearm. His skin is hot, his pulse still racing from the adrenaline, but when his eyes find mine, the frantic edge in his gaze softens.

“Just like mine,” I say quietly as I squeeze his arm. “Our souls are clean, Zeke.”

“It’s over,” he whispers, pulling me in for a hug.

“It’s over,” I echo.

“Okay family,” Cade’s deep voice breaks the quiet. He leans over the kitchen island. “Tex and I haven’t been dying of heat stroke over a blazing stove and grill for the last two hours for nothing. Time to eat!”

We all move toward the table.

The guys went all out with Zeke and my favorites. Tex carries out a wooden platter, piled high with slow-smoked sticky ribs that have Zeke’s eye widening and Lex drooling. Cade sets down two glass bowls next to the ribs. One full of that garlic-parmesan pasta he knows I love. The other piled high with his famous crispy, lemon arugula salad.

Halfway through the meal, Zeke sets his fork down against the porcelain plate. The quick clink draws a few eyes, and a sudden, rare gravity settles over him. He looks across the table at Cade, then turns his gaze to Lex.

“I wanted to say something,” he says, his voice rough. “Thank you all. For pushing me when I needed it, and for becoming the family my sister deserved while I was stuck in the dark. I owe you all my life.”

Lex gives him a slow nod of respect. Cade just offers a warm, quiet smile. The kind that says everything it needs to.

“Well, you can start paying them back by helping us pack,” I interject, breaking the emotional tension before he starts overthinking again. “Because I think it’s time we move back into our own apartment.”

“Finally,” Lex says, leaning back in his chair beside me. “I can fuck the two of you in our own bed again.”

Nate instantly groans from across the table, tossing his crumpled napkin onto his plate. “Believe me, we all are ready for you to fuck them anywhere but in earshot of us.”

The table instantly erupts. Marisol hides her face in her hand laughing. Lex shakes his head and tosses a roll at Nate’s face.

Once the chaos subsides into quiet murmurs, Marisol leans forward. “Cade, when is this big interview everyone keeps talking about?”

“This coming Friday,” Cade answers, his expression shifting into that professional focus he gets.

“Oooh, we need to do something fun before then!” Marisol adds, her eyes flashing with excitement as she looks around the table. “A mini-vacation. Something wet and wild before you all go back to your normally boring lives of architecture, painting, and summer school.”