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Brooks shoots me a look as he takes up the slack. It’s his usual, “Why did the gods curse me with younger brothers” look,but it’s tinged with something else. Something that kinda looks like guilt.
As we start moving again, I take a deep breath to bring the conversation back to Orion. My limbs scream as I haul his body up a steep slope. “We have Orion’s condition under control. Mostly.”
“I can see that.”
“I swear, it’s not normally like this. We’ve built a couple of safe houses—one on each coast. When the full moon approaches, we leave whatever job we’re on and go back to the closest one. We lock Orion inside with some food and water and wait it out. And Brooks has that serum, just in case…”
…in case what happened today happens…
“But how long before you lose control of him?” Daisy asks. “How long until you can’t get him to a safe house on time? He’s only a baby werewolf. He’ll get stronger and harder to control every year. If Brooks hadn’t stopped him, everyone in the hotel would’ve been dead meat. I love Orion as much as you both, but you get that this is crazy, right?”
She’s asking the same questions that play over and over in my head every month, when I’m standing guard over my twin while he rages and snarls and turns monstrous on the other side of a thick steel wall.
Beside me, tension rolls off Brooks in waves.
“We have it under control,” Brooks snaps. “We’re dropping this subject.”
We trudge along in stony silence. Brooks stops when he sees an animal trap on the side of the path. A tiny rabbit has his foot caught. He’s alive, but only just, and his little rabbit eyes swim with pain. Brooks frees the rabbit’s foot, uses a handful of ice to staunch the bleeding, and nestles the little guy into the pocket of his hoodie, before we keep going.
Lily coos over his floppy ears, and it makes my heart hurt because that’s what she would have done five years ago.
But Lily doesn’t understand yet why we need the rabbit.
“Is that the cabin up ahead?” Brooks grunts out, his body sagging under Orion’s weight.
I don’t have the strength left to reply, but it’s obvious as we approach the clearing that it’s where we’re taking Orion. The work we did last night has made the place into a fortress. All the windows have been boarded up, and thick wooden logs wait in a stack beside the door, ready to bar it once we have Orion safely inside.
Brooks and I half lift, half drag Orion up the steps and set him down on the sofa. Without another word, Brooks drops the rabbit on the floor near Orion, whirls on his heel, and stalks off into the woods. Lily moves beside me as I stare down at my sleeping brother, his clothes torn around his wolfish limbs and his face nearly completely transformed.
Her fingers seek mine. She squeezes my hand, sending a bolt of fire up my arm.
“He’ll come back to us, Jackson. He’s not lost forever.”
“I know.” My voice chokes as I pull her away. We don’t know how much longer we have before the serum wears off. “Sleep well, brother. I’ll catch you on the flip side.”
As Lily holds the logs over the door frame and I screw them into place, my body jerks back as a great howl shakes the whole cabin. Moments later, my brother flings his bulk at the door, barking and clawing for release.
“Orion!” Lily cries as she listens to his horrible growls. “The rabbit…”
I just pray that tiny animal will be the only thing on the menu tonight.
28
TWENTY-EIGHT: LILY
The sounds from the cabin rend my soul. That’s Orion in there—sweet, soulful Orion, snarling and howling and tearing the place apart.
Jackson and I lean against the porch, our fingers laced together, waiting out this horror while Brooks stalks around in the woods doing fuck knows what.
I wince as something heavy hits the wall behind our backs. The entire cabin shakes.
“I hope you and Brooks didn’t want to use those cozy bunks,” Jackson says flatly. “Because I think Orion just destroyed them.”
My cheeks flare with heat at the hurt dripping from Jackson’s voice. The last thing I ever want to do is hurt Jackson, but I’m also not going to apologize for sleeping with Brooks. It was exactly what I needed, and something I’d definitely do again if we get out of this alive. Which is a big if.
Instead, I change the subject. I meet Jackson’s eyes, taking in the fear there as his brother slams his body into the wall behind us. “Does one of you always wait with Orion?”
“Always.” Brooks emerges from the trees, his grim expression matching Jackson’s.
