Page 135 of Mortis

That seemed to surprise Arlo, as his expression softened with hurt. “You were afraid of me?”

I smiled and shook my head.

“Of losing you.” His eyebrows rose towards his hairline. “I feared that if you knew what I was, you would no longer want me near you. Or Teddy.” I paused. “I didn’t want to lose my family.”

Arlo stared at me, then his face crumpled. “Oh, for fuck’s sake, you fucking vegetable.”

He marched forward, nudged Teddy out of the way, and wrapped his arms around my middle. I stiffened in surprise.

“You absolute idiot,” he mumbled into my chest. “You’re stuck with us now. Us Adler boys stick together.”

Warmth spread beneath my ribs. Carefully, I wrapped one arm around Arlo. Then Teddy joined us, squeezing himself between our bodies until the three of us were tangled together in an awkward, bloody embrace.

“Are you mad?” Teddy asked his friend nervously.

Arlo pulled back enough to look at him. “I’m a little mad,” he admitted, and Teddy’s face fell. “But mostly because you didn’t trust me enough to tell me.”

“I trust you with everything,” Teddy implored, squeezing Arlo tighter.

“Then no more secrets, okay?”

Teddy nodded immediately. “No more secrets.”

Arlo held out his little finger. Teddy looked at it, then smiled and hooked his own around it. “Promise.”

I stared at their joined fingers. “What does that mean?”

They both looked at me.

“It’s a pinkie promise,” Teddy explained, and I frowned.

“Is it binding?”

Arlo snorted. “More binding than whatever bullshit that bloke’s dad signed, apparently.”

Teddy barked out a laugh. It was tired and slightly hysterical, but hearing it loosened something inside me. I reached for their joined fingers and wrapped my own little finger around them.

“Then I promise as well.”

Teddy’s expression softened, and just for a moment, the three of us simply stood there, our little fingers entwined.

Eventually, Teddy looked around the cemetery again. His smile faded. “We still need to do something about . . .” He waved vaguely towards the carnage. “All that.”

Arlo groaned and raised a hand. “I vote we make it tomorrow’s problem.”

“It’ll probably be the police’s problem by tomorrow,” Teddy replied.

“Even better.”

Teddy turned to me, apparently expecting me to settle the matter. So I looked around, considering the blood soaking into the earth. “Perhaps the rain will wash it away.”

Teddy stared at me in silence, then burst out laughing. “That is absolutely not how crime scenes work.”

“I’ve spent most of my existence in Hell, a crypt, and a forest. I don’t know how crime scenes work.”

Teddy smiled and placed a warm kiss against my chest. “That’s fair.”

Arlo stepped away from our embrace and looked down at himself. He plucked at his blood-soaked shirt, grimaced, then glanced between us. “We’re gonna have to strip before we drive home.”