Page 95 of This Blood that Bonds Us

“Stop. You’re not allowed to use that word. You’re so important.”

“You’re lying to make me feel better.”

“No.” I pulled away to stare him directly in the eyes. I didn’t even care I was about to say the cheesiest thing I’d ever said. “We’ve always needed you. Just you and that humor that gets on my last nerve. You just being you is enough. You don’t have to do anything special. You’re important right now. Hell, I’d die for you in a heartbeat.”

“Don’t. Don’t die.” He squeezed me hard, but his tears were finally slowing.

“I’ll make sure you’re always taken care of.”

Call it wishful thinking, but I meant it. Somehow, I would make this impossible thing possible. I would save my older brothers and make sure the two people I’d sworn to protect made it out too. No one would end up alone, and I wouldn’t get taken out because some stars in the sky told me so.

As I stared at my teary-eyed brother and held out my hand for him, I realized Presley and I never had that relationship before, but he needed me to step in and give him strength, and I was ready. Just as Luke had said in his last words to me—I was ready to protect them and be the one who kept going and believed in a better future, even when everything was so dark. I once hid in my room from the horrors we faced, but with each passing day, I didn’t want to run. I didn’t want to hide. I wanted to fight. To pluck my brothers from the hands of The Family once and for all. I wanted it to end.

It was a strange sensation, like fire in my blood. It urged me forward with an undying optimism. If fate was waiting, I’d happily meet it face-to-face.

Presley placed his hand on top of palm, and I smothered it with my other hand.

“Can we not talk about how embarrassing I’ve been lately? When we scrapbook and journal about this one day, let’s leave this part out.”

I ruffled his hair, which I knew he’d hate. “Sure.”

“Can I still come and help?”

“I’d like that. But first, we need to bring this stuff to Kilian. We need to tell him everything tonight.”

“He’s going to be so mad.” He groaned.

“No, I don’t think so. And if he is, I’ll protect you.”

Forty-One

Presley

I keptonephoto—the most important one.

I wished I’d never seen it.

It was just a photo, and one little secret wouldn’t hurt anyone.

Forty-Two

Aaron

“How is he?” Kimberly asked while folding clothes on the dresser.

The cabin was aglow with warmth and the smell of the fire burning.

I took a moment to admire it—the mundane—and how I was the luckiest person in the world to get to see Kimberly Burns foldingourclothes. Our shirts were mingled in one basket, alongwith our underwear and socks. I’d have killed for that moment a year ago. Back when she was a stranger who I couldn’t have feelings for, but I did. I had a lot of feelings, and mostly, I wondered what Kimberly did behind closed doors. Now I didn’t have to guess. It was our room. Our life. I liked her things with my things. Her hair pins on the dresser and her socks in our bed. Makeup smudges on the bathroom mirror.

“Yeah, he’s okay. He really perked up on the car ride back.”

I’d put her on speakerphone while I helped Presley tell Kilian his story. We sat in Kilian’s living room, and Presley took the seat closest to the door because he was sure Kilian would flip out.

“Kilian really wasn’t mad?”

“You know how he is.” Kilian was actually excited The Family was attempting to lure us. It opened a new avenue for him to access them and incorporate it into his battle plan. He didn’t seem to have any real concern about them taking us against our will. He got that faraway look in his eye when we went to leave, and that meant he’d be retreating to his study to draw it all out. I was looking forward to helping with it, but first, I had other things on my mind.

She wasn’t facing me, but I saw the muscles in her jaw flex into a smile while she folded my socks into little squares. My mouth salivated when I tuned into the soft thrum of her heartbeat.