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Chapter 23
Kaden and Theo got to the apartment within minutes of each other, panting and apologizing for how long it took them to get to me.
“It’s okay,” I assured them for the fifth time. “I didn’t end up shifting. Sai talked me through the process, so I’m not freaking out about it anymore.”
Kaden sat in front of me on the coffee table, and Theo plopped down to my left, where Niall had been.
“So where is he now?” Theo asked.
I dropped my head into my hands. “I messed up.”
“I sincerely doubt that. Tell us what happened,” Kaden pleaded.
“He went into his room, and Niall sat next to me. I needed to be close to someone. I needed to feel . . .I’m not sure. Connection? Safety? Anyway, I thanked him for getting me out of class before things got bad, and I kissed him. It was barely a peck, but Sai walked in and saw and freaked out before storming off. Niall went after him.”
Theo sighed, and I peeked over to see him rubbing his jaw.
“What?” Kaden asked.
“Nothing. I mean, nothing that I should say. Sai needs to speak up for himself.”
Well, that didn’t help the pit forming in my stomach. “I want to talk to him. To explain, but if he needs space, I don’t want to push him.”
“No.” Kaden pulled out his phone and typed quickly. “That’s not how this works. If we have any chance of a happy life together, we need to stop running and dodging. We need to communicate. It’s the one thing you asked of us.”
He was right, but I couldn’t force Sai to talk to me if he wasn’t ready.
“His feelings are probably just hurt,” Theo mumbled.
“Don’t speak for him,” Kaden stood and began pacing, watching the door.
We fell into silence like we were all waiting for something, but I wasn’t sure Sai would come back willingly so soon.
Kaden was right though. We all needed to work harder at being a unit. A family.
I was working on accepting them, and I needed them to do the same. We were all sacrificing, learning, and struggling. Leaving every time things got hard couldn’t be an option.
Family didn’t walk out on each other.
I yearned for mine more than ever. Tonight. Oh, no. Tonight was Halloween, and I didn’t call to see Aiden or Brielle.
Wait. Halloween at a supernatural academy and nothing was happening? I didn’t hear any mentions of costumes or parties.
“Is Halloween not a thing here?”
Kaden and Theo shared a look, both confused.
“You mean that creepy thing humans do? When they put on masks and go to strangers’ homes and beg for food?” Kaden asked.
I giggled at the oversimplification. “I’m going to take that as a no.”
He shook his head. “Samhain, the pagan holiday that humans butchered, was created hundreds of years after our kind settled in Europe.”
“What about Thanksgiving?” I asked Theo.
His eyebrows rose. “You mean the celebration of stealing and murdering? No, our kind doesn’t approve or recognize that day either.”
I pursed my lips, unsure if I even wanted to ask my last question. “So no Christmas?”
