Page 33 of Forget Me Not (The Shifters of Timberfall #1)

Bastien

Mountains of food were piled high, covering the entire counter. Soriah and Del worked quickly, setting out paper plates and napkins for the last-minute party they decided to throw.

Okay, so Cyrus had decided they were having a party—and when he unloaded a trunk full of groceries, no one argued. Especially when he suggested they invite the girls.

Bastien was starting to think his mother and sister liked Syve more than him—though honestly, he couldn’t blame them.

Not that he had the brain capacity to do much of anything since he left her place a few nights ago .

She kissed him, closed the door, then turned the porch light off.

It had taken him a two-hour run and a very long, very cold, shower every night since before sleep was even an option. When he finally was able to drift off, he dreamt of her and those damned teeth scraping against his—

“Hey, Pup! You gonna stand there all night or are you gonna come out here and help me start this fucking fire?”

Fire ?

“Fire? What do you mean, fire ? Cyrus? What do you mean, fire—there’s no fire pit out there!”

Bastien was right—there wasn’t a fire pit. But he was also wrong, because by the time he stumbled out onto the deck, there was a giant hole right in the middle of the yard. Perfect, he dug his own grave.

“Great, now that you’re out here, you can pour the kerosene.” Cyrus wiped his forehead with the back of his hand, leaning his weight against a shovel.

Where the hell did he get kerosene?

Flames licked at the sky as they danced across a mound of scrap wood and dried branches. Though he was loath to admit it, Cyrus had crafted a really nice fire pit. The depth of the pit paired with the large ring of stones had seemed excessive at first, but it did safely contain the entire bonfire .

Thankfully, the girls arrived just as Cyrus struck the match, so there were other witnesses when the idiot lit his pants on fire.

He managed to drop his pants in time to avoid any serious burns, the denim continued to burn on the grass and had to be stomped out.

Aimi, of all people, volunteered to help Cyrus inside to clean up and tend to his minor burns.

There must have been a decent number because they were gone for quite a while.

Syve had been in his house, in his line of sight even, for twenty whole minutes before he even got the chance to talk to her.

The second she stepped through the door his mother and sister pounced.

It didn’t seem to bother Syve in the slightest, however, she smiled happily, listening to every word they had thrown at her.

At least, almost every word—there were a few times he caught her staring at him and when she would turn back to the others, he was almost positive she was asking them to repeat themselves.

When she was finally standing next to him, hands stretched out toward the fire, she asked, “How did you guys manage to get the pit put in so fast?”

“You’d have to ask Mr. Flammable about that,” he joked.

“Somehow, I had a feeling he was responsible.”

“I hate to admit, but it was a good idea.”

“The fire? Or the party?”

“Yes,” he answered with a smirk.

Syve laughed, reaching out to trail a hand up his arm .

“I can’t believe I’ve never asked you about this before,” she said, thumb ghosting over black ink—a crescent moon full of stars atop three stone-tipped arrows crossed at the middle covered the underside of his left forearm.

“It’s the symbol of Artemis—or a variation of it, at least. Dez had one too, except his was the symbol of Apollo and had the sun instead of the moon.

These stars make up the constellation Canis Major.

That was Dez’ idea, he thought that would be funny.

” He raised his arm up as he spoke, and she traced the lines with her fingers.

They were close enough that all three of his arrows, though not parallel, pointed only at her.

Glass shattering came from inside the house, startling them both. Yelling followed and they shared a quick glance before running up the back steps.

“You can’t keep me here, Mama!” Del screamed, tears running down her face while she shook a ripped piece of paper in the air. There were glass shards covering the floor at her feet.

“ Mija , I am your mother . I can do as I please!” Soriah stood in front of the doorway, blocking his sister in the kitchen, punctuating each of her words with her own torn sheet of paper.

“Whoa, Mama! Del! What’s going on here?” Bas demanded, resting his hands on his mother’s shoulders so he could step past her to stand between them .

“Go on, Delanira, tell your brother what’s going on here,” Soriah spat.

“Del?” He turned toward his sister who deflated, lip quivering.

“I got in.”

She got in .

Six months of busting her ass and applying to colleges in secret had paid off. Bas stomped over and scooped the girl up, hugging her tightly and spinning her around.

“You got in!” He planted a loud kiss to her temple.

“You knew ?!” Soriah seethed, interrupting their moment with her vitriol now aimed at him.

“Mama—”

“No!” She threw the paper she had been holding on the floor then pointed a finger in his face. “ No .” Then she spun on her heel so fast her braid whipped into the wall with a crack as she stormed off.

Cyrus held up a hand to stop Bas from following. “I’ve got Mama. She needs you more,” he gestured to Del with a tilt of his head, and Bas relented. Cy disappeared around the corner.

“Why don’t you guys go out and sit by the fire? Aimi and I can clean up,” Syve said with a soft smile, ushering them out while Aimi crouched to pick up the larger pieces of the punch bowl.

“Thank God this shit was empty—you ever try to get fruit punch off tile? PSA, it stains,” the barista griped .

Bas shook his head with a smile as he led Del out the back door.

Once again, he sat before the fire. He dragged a second folding chair over with his foot and motioned for Del to sit. The fire, now burning low on fuel, cast more shadows than light across his sister’s hunched form.

“So, which one did you get into?”

Del sighed. “Actually? All of them.”

“All of them?!” He turned toward her. “How long have you known? Why didn’t you tell me?” He couldn’t mask the hurt in his voice.

“I only started getting the letters this week—I wasn’t hiding it!

I just wanted to wait until the last one came in to show you…

I was hoping you would help me look at them and pick one?

I got distracted today with the party and didn’t check the mail before Mama got to it.

She was reading the letter from Cornell when I went in to refill the punch. ” Her voice was low, defeated.

Carefully, he pulled her chair closer so he could wrap his arm around her shoulders.

“I’m sorry, Sis. It’s not fair to you. She has her own shit she’s never worked through, and that’s not your fault. I hope you know how proud I am of you though, and I know in my soul, Dez is somewhere watching over us right now and he’s proud as hell too.”

Del sobbed into his shoulder.

“I want you to do what makes you happy—what makes you feel fulfilled. If you want to go to college in California, or New York, or Colorado, I don’t care. Just please, don’t worry about Mama, be true to you, Bug—Mama will be fine. I’ll make sure of it, okay?”

Sniffling, Del leaned back and wiped her eyes with her sleeve. “Thanks for always being there for me.”

Bas nudged her shoulder with his. “What are brothers for? I can’t just pick on you all the time.” That earned him a real laugh.

“You know, I’ve missed this. I like seeing you smile again,” she said.

He chuffed, one corner of his mouth curving up slightly while his eyes drifted to the house.

“I like her. A lot,” she admitted, her tone leaving no room for doubt. With his eyebrows in his hairline, he turned to look at her again.

“Just saying, if I had to pick between you two…It would be really hard.” She shrugged one shoulder, doing a poor job of hiding her smile.

Laughing loudly, he pushed her chair over.