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Shit, shit, shit.
He must have felt himself slipping. But he wouldn’t have said anything because he doesn’t want to be a burden. Orion hates what he is. He’s always believed himself to be the weakest of us. Just last month, while we were waiting with him at our safe house, he tried to make us leave him behind.
“I’m a noose around your necks,” he said. “How long until we make a mistake and I attack one of you? I can’t bear living, knowing that I could hurt you. You should leave me here and go on without me.”
It drives me crazy when he talks like that. Orion doesn’t seem to understand that he’s the best of us. He may not have Brooks’s brawn or my charm, but he is our heart. I’m not leaving him behind.
I collapse on the couch, staring down at my twin. His chest rises and falls evenly. “We’re lucky you had the serum on you. He could have torn this entire hotel apart.”
“After that incident in Baltimore, I’m never without the stuff.”
The Vault’s orders on werewolves are absolute—if you find one, kill it on sight. But Brooks and I stole a secret serum they developed, which can put a werewolf to sleep for a few hours.
“We need to get him down to this cabin you found right now. You’d better do it. I’m not leaving Lily.”
“It’s six miles down a steep mountain trail,” I say. “The ‘Stang won’t make it, and I’m not strong enough to carry him all that way on my own.”
“And Lily is not some damsel in distress.” Daisy pipes up. The color has come back to her cheeks, but she can’t tear her eyes away from Orion’s half-shifted form. “I’m coming with you.”
“Fucking hell,” Brooks sighs as he starts pulling on his jacket. “I guess we’re all going.”
“Okay,you two, we’re walking now,” Daisy snaps as she follows Brooks and me up the winding, snow-dusted path. The two of us have Orion’s monstrous front paws slung over our shoulders, and even though we’re both tall, his hind legs and tail drag behind us. “There’s not a single soul in these woods apart from us. You’d better start explaining to me what the fuck is going on because I’ve had enough of Bellua secrets.”
“Orion’s a werewolf,” Brooks mutters as he trips over a loose stone. He manages to right himself before he drags all of us over.
“Duh. Thank you, Captain Obvious. I figured that out. What I need to know ishow?Did he get bitten on one of your jobs? This can’t be from prom night, because otherwise, he’d be dead by now.”
She’s not stupid. She’s already figured out most of our secret, and she knows enough about the Vault and their rules to understand that if they knew about Orion, they’d have him euthanized.
Brooks opens his mouth to speak, then slams it shut. We’ve gone too long not talking about it to start now. As much as I love Daisy, I don’t know the new her that well. I don’t believe she’ll ever turn on Orion, no matter how pissed she is at us, but doubt creeps in regardless—a product, I’m sure, of keeping this a secret for so damn long. I don’t trust anybody.
Behind us, Daisy’s eyes bore into me.
“Well, well, well,” she says with a grin in her voice. “So the Bellua brothers—the pride and joy of the Vault—have gone rogue. Welcome to the club.”
“We haven’t gone rogue,” Brooks growls.
“Riiiiiiight. Working with the Shadow, harboring a secret werewolf… I’d say those are roguish activities, wouldn’t you? And what would happen if the Vault were to find out about Orion’s moonlit activities?”
“You know exactly what would happen. They’d kill him, and us too, for not killing him first. And if you know what’s good for you, you’ll keep your mouth shut about it, or else.”
“Oooh, Brooks, are you going to spank me?” Lily’s laugh startles me. It’s so unexpected, and so lovely. “Be careful. I might just enjoy it.”
Brooks trips again. This time he does fall, his knees landing in a snowdrift, sending Orion and me pitching over.
“Sorry,” Brooks mumbles. He shoves Orion’s paw back around my shoulder, forcing me to bear all the weight while he rounds back on Lily. “I knew it was a bad idea to bring you up here.”
“Everything about me is a bad idea, so you keep saying, but that didn’t stop you from—”
“Could you two maybe try not to jump each other’s bones until we get up the hill?” I growl. “Because Orion is heavy, and if Brooks doesn’t take his half of the weight right now, I am kicking him off this mountain.”
Their bickering cuts like a knife, because I can see through the charade they’re both putting on. The way Brooks’s gaze keeps falling to her, the way Daisy licks her lips.
I squeeze my eyes shut, but that’s a bit dangerous on the trail, so I open them again. Anyway, it’s not the sight of the two of them trying not to throw down and fuck in front of me, but the memory of Lily’s moans from last night.
Those sounds Brooks drew from her…
I wish it were me.
