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She is very sweet to try and include me, but I shake my head slowly.
It is not entirely true, but I doubt she wants to read one of the many tales Scar told us as children to teach us something. There are too many to choose from, anyway. I would not know which one to pick.
Scar glances at me before he starts writing something down.
I might as well not be here. Perhaps I should go and look for Snake and Fox.
They’ve been gone a little longer than they should have been.
They could be out there getting into all kinds of trouble.
Especially now, when the sun has risen, and the shifters of Nightshade are going about their daily lives. I am about to make this point to Scar when he turns the page and shows his answer to Lita.
“I am telling her how much you loved to hear the story of how you saved Fox when he was abandoned outside the portal. You were too young to remember it, but Fox has always known it was you who saved him, not me.”
“That is only because you taught me to be careful and check around when I could hear something strange. I would not have known otherwise.”
“Scratch, you learned everything so quickly. You were always noticing things I missed. You saved our lives many times over the years because of your keen eye and your fast responses.”
“I … I don’t think I have ever heard you talk like this.”
It is true when I think about it, but I don’t know what this feeling is inside me at the pride in his words. There is something bitter-sweet about it.
Scar looks at me and it is as if he is really seeing me for the first time in a long time.
“I am so sorry, my brother. I did not know it was important to you to hear such things. I should have realized. I thought you knew.”
“I … I have always felt the need to be useful,” I admit. “I do not know what my life is worth if I am not fighting to hold on to it. I believe that is why I am feeling strange now. I do not know what my life is if I am not going to have to fight to survive anymore.”
“Your life is worth fighting for, Scratch, and we have many battles ahead of us. They will just be very different from the battles we are used to fighting.”
He is right, but I still do not see a connection to our mate, and I do not know how to make one.
It is too embarrassing to admit to this, so I nod and let it go.
Scar deserves to enjoy this time with our mate.
I will not try to ruin it.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Scar
Itfeelsgoodtoget to know my mate better, but I did not expect to realize one of my brothers is not entirely comfortable with the thought of our new life outside of the prison we grew up in. Scratch has always been more serious than Snake and Fox. He is cautious, thoughtful and patient. These qualities have made him a fine hunter, and they have helped to keep our younger brothers safe.
I never considered that the traits that helped him survive so well in The Abyss might be the very same ones to make him wary of a life outside of that place.
We have much work to do before we can settle well in Nightshade, and now I know Scratch needs help to accept this new life. Finding common ground with our mate will make it easier.
I turn the page on the pad and start writing.
Fortunately, I can reveal a little of how my brother is feeling to Lita while he cannot tell what I am writing, and I am hopeful that it will help him if she can tell us about a time when she was afraid about something when she should not have been.
It would be easy for me to reassure him myself, but that is not what he needs right now.
When I finish writing, I pass the pad back to Lita.
She reads my words and glances at Scratch before she puts the pad down and nods slowly.
