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Silence hung in the air, then Flint sighed.“You know, I don’t have anything against you personally.It’s just the principle.”
I blinked.“And what principle is that, exactly?”
“The most important thing is to keep each other safe.”He said it so quickly, so firmly, that I knew it was not a casual excuse.“I didn’t want Jasper to reach out to your father.I figured it would open a can of worms, and guess what, I was right.You show up here all gung-ho to prove that shifters are real, and instead of doing what we usually do—which is smile and say nothing and make sure they leave without seeing shit—my idiot brother transforms in front of you.”
“It was a surprise to me too.”
“See?It’s better if no one knows about us.”
“I agree.The knowledge of what you can do should never be out in the world.It would be terrible for you.And I would never do anything to jeopardize your safety here.”
The rising moon glinted off his skin as he cleared his throat.“Maybe I judged you too quickly.”
“Maybe.”
He stuffed his hands in his pockets.“I can be defensive of my family.They’re the most important thing in the world to me.”
“Uh-huh.”
“I have a tendency to jump to conclusions.And most of the time I’m right,” he said, pointing at me.“Jasper’s all about threading the needle to sew up a perfect solution, when most of the time a staple gun would do the trick.”
“I’m not sure I’m following that analogy, but okay.”
“My point is, there are a lot of things we could have done before it got to this point to help my mother, and we didn’t because of politics and privacy, and my mother’s bull-stubbornness.”I raised my eyebrow.Stubbornness was clearly a family trait.“I’m more angry about that than I was with you specifically.”
I raised my eyebrows.“Is this, like, an apology?”
“Don’t get used to it,” he said.It was, I realized, his version of a joke.
“I thought you wanted me to leave.”
“I just want what’s best for my mother.”His aura of menace had faded.“You know--”
“What are you doing here?”I automatically straightened when I heard Jasper’s voice.His steps on the gravel path sped up.I turned to him to explain, but he barely looked at me as he shouldered past to confront his brother.“If you’ve got something to say to Edie, you can say it to me.”
I sputtered a protest, but neither of them were paying attention to me.“I don’t need your permission to talk to her, bro.She’s not yours yet.”
My brain snagged on the word ‘yet,’ but Jasper charged forward.“I’ve put up with enough crap from you.I should have known you’d try to blame someone else—anyone else, for something you did.”
The anger that had drained from Flint came back full force.“Me?I’m not the one who is treating our mother like some sort of experiment.”
I opened my mouth to argue, but Jasper was already in Flint’s face.“If you hadn’t pushed so hard last night about her going to a hospital, she wouldn’t have tried a stunt like this.”
“You’re just mad that she didn’t tell you,” Flint taunted.“You always want to know everything.”
“Of course I’m mad she didn’t tell me.Maybe she would trust us more if you didn’t fight her on every goddamned thing.”
“Oh, I should just go along with whatever you and Mom decide?I should just fall in line and never question your bullshit?Well, I’ve got news for you, Jasper.Your hand-picked doctor, yourmate, thinks I’m right.She thinks mom should be in a hospital.”
“Don’t put words in my mouth,” I protested.“I did not say that your mom should be in a hospital.She needs to be treated by someone who knows she’s a shifter.Given how much she deteriorated today, the shift itself might be what is causing her illness.I just said...”Somehow, it was harder to say to Jasper than it was to Flint.“I said that maybe I should leave.”
“Why?”Jasper said.His hands found me in the dark with a sureness that made me tremble.“You can’t leave.We need you.”
“I’m not sure I’m up to this.”
“Mom trusts you,” he said.the moon was behind him, obscuring his face, but his warmth and solidity made me realize just how cold and off-kilter I’d felt.“She didn’t tell Dr.Barnes about not being able to shift because she thought it might get out to the clan.But she trusted you enough to tell you the truth.And we’re gonna need that sort of truth to figure out what is wrong with her.”
“Stars,” Flint said, “I’m not going to sit around and watch you bullshit her into changing her mind.”
I started to pull out of Jasper’s grasp, but he pulled me flush against his body in a protective gesture.“Go see Mom, Flint.She’ll tell you the same thing.”
“Idiots.You’re all idiots,” Flint said, and stormed away.
