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“Brennan’s gone.”
‘I’m not talking about Brennan.”
“I’m no fan of Stone’s at the moment,” I reminded him. At least, my mind wasn’t. My body had very questionable taste in men.
“And yet here we are,” Aiden said lightly. “On his territory.”
“Just be careful,” I asked him again. “I need my little brother.”
“For all the help I’ve given you,” he muttered, and he touched the scar on his forehead absently. I didn’t think he even realized what he was doing.
I stopped him with a hand on his arm. He turned to me, looking perplexed.
“You helped me hang on to hope, Aiden. That waseverything.”
He swallowed hard, then gave a brief nod before he started down the path again.
For the rest of our walk, we were quiet.
* * *
The days passed.I went out running with Cole one morning and on our way back, I watched Rose as she was training with the other cubs.
She and another teenager stepped forward to spar. The other teenagers had formed a ring, and Teresa was looking after them all watchfully.
When Rose stepped into the ring, her opponent feinted to the left, then rushed in on the right. Rose was ready for her Her foot lifted off the ground as she bent to the side and dodged the strike. She spun around as she did, no doubt wanting to get a kick in, but the other girl was too wily for her. She dodged the kick. Then Rose found herself with her back to her opponent and the other girl's fist about to hammer into her kidney.
I watched anxiously as Rose rolled out of the way. They traded blows until suddenly, Rose lunged and drove them both to the ground. They landed hard, and Rose immediately tried to roll away and up to her feet, but the other girl swept her leg expertly. Rose slammed into the grass beside her.
Once she was on the ground, the other girl leapt to pin her to the ground. She launched a volley of blows, slamming her fist into Rose's stomach. Rose gritted her teeth and kept fighting, trying to pop her hips and throw the girl off her.
I took a step forward, but Cole stopped me with a hand on my shoulder and a quick shake of his head.
"Corners," Teresa called, striding toward them, and Rose's opponent immediately climbed off Rose. "Jasmin, you definitely won that round. Sloppy letting her take you to the ground. You need to work on your blocks. But good overall. Quick thinking."
Jasmin nodded, extending a hand out to Rose. Rose looked up at her, and I gasped at the sight of blood streaming down Rose's face from her nose.
Then Rose grabbed Jasmin's wrist and let Jasmin pull her up.
Rose got up with a bloody nose. At first, she looked pissed.
"I'm proud of your grit.” Teresa clapped her shoulder, the movement so like the way Stone encouraged people that I was sure she'd gotten it from him--or maybe he'd gotten it from her.
A bright smile that lit up her whole face when Teresa praised her for her quick learning and grit.
Jasmin, too, looked proud of Rose. "You're a quick learner."
"Let's go," Cole teased me. "It's time for you to get your morning ass-kicking underway now that you've watched your sister's."
I just grinned at him.
If my brother and sister were happy here… this place would really feel like home.
* * *
The days kept passing.Stone was obviously as worried as I was, though it just made him curt. As I read each day, working my way through the books as quickly as I could, Cole or Liam or even Stone came and sat with me, though Stone wasn’t talkative. Teresa also often came to work through a book, and I found us sitting together in quiet comradery.
“Your sister is turning into a little badass like you,” she told me one day, startling me out of my reverie.
