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Cazar’s shoulders lost some of their tension. “You’re right. I apologize for my behavior, my mate. I should not have reacted so poorly. Your brother seeks the same things I do; your happiness and wellbeing.”
Evie cast a haughty look to her brother. “Tristan, do you have anything to say?” she asked.
“I apologize that no man or alien is good enough for you.”
Evie groaned. “That’s a shitty apology, and if you want to spend time with me while you’re here, Cazar is going to be around a lot, so you’ll need to get used to him. Maybe you should spend quality time with him, too, if only to convince yourself that he’s the one for me. Because he is.”
Tristan grumbled, running a hand down his face. “Do y’all drink around here? I’m going to need something to take the edge off if I plan to ‘spend quality time’ with the guy shacking up with you.”
“There is no shacking!”
Chapter 28
CazarandTristanwereseated in the kitchen back at the family mansion, empty bottles of corsna scattered across the table between them. Aside from the three of them, the rest of the house was empty, which was probably for the best while the two men begrudgingly got to know one another.
Evie was ever vigilant, and unfortunately sober, as Tristan and Cazar sized each other up over the course of the evening. So far, it hadn’t devolved into chaos, which was great. The last thing she wanted was her brother and mate getting into a fight. Tristan might have military training and be an overall badass, but Cazar wasn’t human. Even at his most gentle, she had a feeling he’d do what he needed to keep her safe, Toroq or no.
Not that it mattered; the two of them were behaving much better than they had before, which was just another reason to love the alcohol on Aragnok.
Tristan had calmed down almost immediately after his first sip of corsna, and Cazar had managed to not rise to whatever bait her brother tossed his way at random in an attempt to irritate and unsettle her mate. But the petty banter had all stopped after a few more drinks, when tensions lessened.
Now a few hours had passed and they’d gone from enemies to reluctant acquaintances. Tristan was surprisingly still conscious, given that he’d kicked back four corsnas. One could put Evie on her ass, but her brother clearly had a much stronger tolerance, the lucky duck.
Cazar had consumed just as many, if not more, than Tristan. Based on the deep gray flush of his cheeks and his glassy eyes, Evie was fairly confident he was just as drunk as her brother.
It was kind of adorable, really. She’d never seen Cazar so relaxed before in her life, or so focused on her, despite his drunkenness. No matter where she was in the kitchen, whether she was moving or sitting, his eyes kept locking onto her. He seemed happy to watch her, silently beckoning for her to come sit on his lap, which she hadn’t done yet.
Tristan might be drunk, but she didn’t want to tip the scales of his mood just yet, though he was currently entertaining Cazar with stories of his time on Earth, which her mate found fascinating.
She figured he would have forgotten all about this particular story, but apparently the trauma had stuck with him for the last ten years.
“So there we were, trapped in the trenches. People fighting on either side of me, screams echoing all around us. There was even a bright, white light shining overhead. I felt like I was close to death or would be wishing for it soon. For a minute, I didn’t think we were going to make it out of that hellhole.” Tristan pointed his corsna bottle at Cazar. “I thought we were done for, man.”
Evie rolled her eyes. Could Tristan be any more dramatic?
Cazar stared at him, wide-eyed as he took another hearty sip of his drink. Tristan followed suit, the two of them sitting in stunned silence before her mate spoke up. “What happened next?”
Tristan sat back in his seat, arms crossing over his chest. He was quiet for a moment, lost in thought. Shaking his head eventually, he sighed. “I did what I had to in order to survive. Things I’m not proud of. What man would be at a time like that?”
“Okay, that isenoughwith the theatrics,“ Evie chimed in. “I think we get that it was not a fun time for you.”
Cazar mirrored Tristan’s stance, except he actually narrowed his eyes at her.Her.The love of his life. “It sounds like a harrowing tale, Evadora. You should not speak so lightly of your brother’s struggles.”
Tristan nodded, sending a heart-filled glance at Cazar. “I really appreciate that, man. Thank you for understanding.”
Evie threw up her hands in exasperation.
“It wasn’t like he was actually in a warzone, Cazar. He took me dress shopping for prom!”
Tristan shuddered. “You made me go to a store that had every gown marked at fifty percent off. Those mothers were feral.”
“You were the one who shoved that angry mother into a rack of dresses when she tried to snatch one out of your hands,” Evie pointed out.
“Like I said, I’m not proud of the things I did that day. But I’ll be damned if you were going to show up to prom in rags. And youdidn’t,“ Tristan added smugly.
“I, too, have done odd things in the service of Evie,” Cazar told him somberly. “She was devoured whole by a tentacle mud monster, as she calls it. It sucked her into the ground in an instant. Luckily, my counterpart and I were able to recover her, but I’ve never crawled inside another living thing before.”
Tristan’s mouth dropped open in shock. “You did that for my sister?”
