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“I know.”
That sucked the wind right out of her sails; her suspicion was palpable. “Just like that?”
“Just like that, pup.”
Her grin was slow, but I wanted to yank her back into the bed when she pointed it at me.
Instead, I finished buttoning up the front of my shirt as she sashayed up to me, leaning onto her tiptoes to press a soft kiss to my cheek. “Good.”
Another kiss. “You two need each other now more than ever.”
She’d been this way ever since she talked to Rebecca. A reminder that she had family out in the world waiting for her had lit a new fire in her; I could only imagine what she would accomplish now.
“You were being kinda unreasonable, to be honest,” she teased, scampering backward when I reached out to tickle her in retaliation.
I felt amazing like everything was finally going to be okay. I didn’t know what had changed, exactly, but I was content with not knowing as long as the feeling stayed. “Probably, but can you blame me?”
“Oh, absolutely.”
She laughed as I lurched forward, letting out a playful growl. I didn’t have time to marvel at her squealing before she bolted out the door with a hurried goodbye.
It’s incredible how so much had changed from when we met; I marveled at those changes as I let my feet guide me toward Auren’s.
I’d never been in his apartment, but Aria had pointed it out to me on our walks. It sat away from most of the other houses, off in its own little world, and when I was finally standing on the porch, all my warm feelings evaporated.
The anxiety of having to deal with my brother sucked the joy right out of me, replacing it with dread. Fuck.
As if he’d sensed me there, the door opened before I got the opportunity to knock.
My brother was clad in his usual leather and shades—remembering the scarring beneath those black lenses made me nauseous—but somehow, I could still see his surprise to find me there.
“We need to talk,” I said.
His cheek jumped, and then he stepped back into his living room, waving me in.
He cleared his throat, obviously as uncomfortable as I was. “Want water? A beer?”
“It’s not even noon yet.”
I couldn’t help but smirk when he swiped a hand over his buzzed hair and grumbled out something inaudible.
My pride reared its ugly head as I tried to find the right words to let him know I was sorry about how our first meeting went. It shouldn’t have been shrouded in my anger and disbelief—my brother was alive, and instead of being relieved and happy to see him, I’d lost my cool like a hormonal teenager.
“I’m sorry.” The words tried to strangle me on the way out. “About… how I reacted. I’m glad you’re alive, Auren, I just—”
I blew out a breath.
“I get it. I let you think I was dead, and then everything that happened after… I’m sorry I never told you, Sariel. Honestly, I didn’t know how, but I was always going to. Someday.”
That was a bit reassuring. At least I wouldn’t have lived my entire hybrid lifetime thinking my brother had died because of our batshit father’s hare-brained schemes.
I don’t really know what else to say, so I say nothing. Instead, I hesitantly approached him.
Auren was understandably tense when I pulled him into a hug, to which he returned with a sigh. The tension that was always present in my little brother leaked out like a popped balloon.
“I missed you, brother.”
If anyone asked, I would deny that Auren shuddered and sniffled into my shoulder, just like I’d deny that I did the same.
