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I was pretty sure I had just dreamed those words. Had Teresa really just called me a badass? “What?”
“She’s picking everything up fast. You should be proud of her.”
“I am.” I just hoped no one ever learned about her past. I didn’t know what that would do to these tentative bonds.
Teresa hesitated, then said, “You asked about Brennan.”
“Yeah. I like hearing about him.” I glanced away, feeling self-conscious, like I had to explain myself. “This is the only place where I’ve ever been able to talk about Brennan.”
“Stone was my best friend growing up,” she said quietly. “And Brennan was like… my big brother. Like, the perfect big brother, the kind everyone wishes they had? Stone and I were angry kids. Brennan was somehow… untouchable. Everything around us was broken, and it made us broken too, and there he was, so damnedgood.And he always believed in the two of us.”
I thought of Brennan’s easy grin, and that was easy to believe.
“Losing him felt like…” She shook her head. “I’m not their kin. I know that. But they mean a lot to me.”
“I understand that.” There was something special about the King family.
“Yeah? That’s nice of you to see. Because I’m pretty sure you can guess that’s why I’ve been such a bitch.” Her lips pursed ruefully, although her tone was light. “From the moment Stone saw you, things were different, and I didn’t want to be… left out.”
“I don’t want you to be left out either.”
She let out a soft huff of a laugh. “Well, fuck.”
That surprised me, and I stared at her across the table as she put her hand over her mouth as if she were trying to hold back more laughter.
“You’re a better person than me. Because I’d push you out of the boat in a minute.” She finally explained. “No wonder Brennan liked you. Two perfect little peas in the pod.”
“I’m definitely not perfect.” I pulled my legs up in front of me so I could rest my chin on my knees. Teresa’s habit of making herself comfortable everywhere was contagious. “And that was a long time ago. I’m a different person now. Brennan would probably be disappointed.”
“I don’t fucking think so, Amelia, but the displaced modesty is on-brand adorable,” she said. “You protected Dylan. You protected Rose. You made Shaw grow up. You brought Liam back to sanity. And you brought Stone to his knees.”
The words shocked me. She’d rattled it all off so confidently that it sounded… true.
It sound like I was powerful.
She shrugged. “So, like I said. Pretty badass. Ready for dinner?”
I stared at her like I had emotional whiplash, which was how it felt. But she was already pushing back her chair, the legs scraping across the wooden floor loudly in the quiet of the library. So I got up too, gathering my things.
I didn’t quite believe what Teresa had said.
But it still meant a lot that she had.
CHAPTER37
Cole
That night,Aiden and Rose joined us for family dinner again. The table felt too quiet without Shaw. There was usually one or another of us missing, but it was different when it was for dangerous reasons.
I’d asked if I could go with Shaw. He’d told me he felt better when I was here, watching over Amelia and Dylan.
“How was the library?” I asked Amelia. “Sorry I couldn’t stay.”
Shaw had called us that he had found the Weston pack’s second, and he was ready to bring him in. I’d sent a team out to back up Shaw, ready to extract him if things turned to shit.
Stone’s tension was in the taut line of his shoulders, the hardness of his jaw; he was more curt than usual. He wanted to be there with his brother, not commanding our war against two packs from our own territory.
He’d grown into a good leader, but his desire was still to be a soldier, not a general.
