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“What Dad doesn’t know won’t hurt him.” Bhodi rolled his glacier blue eyes. “So don’t be a snitch.” He tossed a rope up to his brother Riot, missing the connection the first time, butgotit the second.
Their names needed to be reversed.Aunt Molly said sheshould’vetaken a few weeks to get to know them before she assigned the monikers. Riot was peaceful and easygoing, where Bhodi was loud and in constant motion.
Wren scrunched up her nose.“Have I ever told on you before? Why would I start now?”
She stalked farther into the clearing, joining the rest of her family where they lounged around theircampsite.
They’d been coming into the mountains on their last weekend of summer freedom for as long as she could remember. As the kids got older, the parents agreed to stay home.
Hadley had turned twenty that summer, and tomorrow she’d head back to college in Denver, taking Allison with her. Those two had been best friends since birth.
Oliver, Uncle Baze and Aunt Pen’s son, had beenWren’sneighbor her entire life. This would be her first year without him. He was officially a college freshman, leaving in a matter of days. Wren wouldn’t be alone though: Riot and Bhodi were seniors at St. Leasing, West a junior, Cooper and Chloe freshmen. They were all spaced outmore or lessa year apart.
“Those two going to survive whatever they’re planning,ordo I need to step in?” Oliver held his arm out, tucking her into his side. They were close. Not brother and sister, more like best friends. Objectively she knew he was gorgeous, so gorgeous she certainly couldn’t look at him like a sibling. He had dark hair like his dad, and he was broody like Uncle Baze.Brilliant like Aunt Pen,though.
She twisted her lips, staring upatthe mountain peak. “Not sure to be honest.”
West laughed, waving away their concern. “They’ll be fine. They always are.”
“Not true. Rememberwhen Bhodi broke his femur rappelling down the stone turret on campus?” Cooper had blond curls like his mother, blue eyes to match as well. He was helping West as they got tents set up for everyone. They’d drawn the short straws that year. “He was in that cast for weeks.”
Weeks, instead of months. He was a shifter,after all.
“Aunt Molly was so worried until she found out it was nothing more than a dare. Remember that?” Chloe, Cooper’s twin, who mirrored their fiery-haired father. “She made the doctor wrap his cast in bright pink. Then she drew hearts and flowers all over it.”
“He used it to his advantagethough.” Allison giggled, turning to watch both boys as they worked together. “He told all the girls at public school parties that he chose pink for his little cousin and then let her draw all over it.”
Chloe snorted. “When in truth, he wouldn’t let me near it with a pen because he said I’d mess up the aesthetic.”
Wren sipped her drink and watched as the people she loved laughed and talked, sharing memories of days gone by. She knew a lot of kids would feel trapped inside the boundaries of a small town and the mountains that formed it.
Not her.
She felt safe and protected.
She wasn’t naïve, and her father had never tried to hide who he was and what he did. He was a powerful man, respected and feared.
To her though, he was simplyDad. He tucked her in at night, he came to her dance recitals, he brought her flowers onValentine’sDay,and checked her closet for monsters every night for a solid month after West convinced her to sneak into a scary movie.
She was happy where she was.
Her family, though, they were slowly leaving, one by one.
First Hadley, then Allison, now Oliver.
Riot and Bhodi would be next. She had one year left with them.
She wasn’t sure what she would do when it was her turn. She couldn’t imagine a life outside of Haxton, Colorado.
“I’ll miss this.” Oliver sighed against her side, drawing her attentionback to the now.“This mountain, these nights under the stars. You.”
His words made her heart soar and ache at the same time. “I’ll miss you too.” She turned to face him, draping her legs over his thighs. “You’ll come home though, right? For breaks and the holidays? And then you’ll be back next summer.”
He shrugged. “I guess so.” He gestured to Hadley and Allie where they sat across the fire huddled together and laughing at some story West was telling. “They seem removed though, don’t they? More distant with every year that passes. Their life isn’t here anymore, only their family.”
“Okay, you guys ready?” Riot came into the clearing, clapping his hands together.
They all stopped, turning to the barest face of their mountain. They’d been talking about doing this for years, but hadn’t figured out how to accomplish ituntilBhodi and Riot got old enough to put their wicked minds together. Riot had a rope wrapped around his waistandgloves on his hands as he lowered his twin carefully down from the peak.
