I stared at Hunter. “Hunter’s not your real name?”
“What?” Sin’s eyes went wide. “She didn’t know? Oh, Serena, there is so much I could tell you.”
The muscle in Hunter’s cheek went crazy. “That is the only name I answer to.”
My gaze dropped to Sin’s still outstretched hand. Human manners dictated that I take his offer, but I had to force my hand toward his. When his fingers wrapped around mine, a small charge passed between us. Out of the corner of my eyes, I saw Hunter move forward. His brother let go, his fingers gliding over my palm.
Sin turned to his brother. “So this is why you’ve been too busy to call, email, or even write?”
Hunter now stood off to the side of me and folded his arms across his chest. “I haven’t wanted to get in contact with you. And right now, I’m really not feeling up to this.”
“Ouch.” Sin didn’t look affected at all. He sat on the edge of the couch, stretching out long legs. His gaze flickered between the two of us before finally leveling on his brother. “You look a little pale, Hunter. Have you been taking care of yourself? Eating well?”
On top of feeling like I was being visually molested by Sin, I so knew what he was referencing.
Hunter’s spine stiffened. “That’s enough, Sin.”
He chuckled as he glanced at me. “My brother is a prickly bastard, isn’t he? It’s all about the diet, I keep telling him. If he…fed better, he’d be in a better mood. What do they say about food?”
“You are what you eat?” I suggested, brows rising.
“Ah! Yes.” Sin clapped his hands down on his thighs. “You are what you eat, Hunter.”
“That’s what I hear.” Hunter unfolded his arms slowly.
Sin arched a brow. “Have you heard from Lore at all? I can’t seem to…find him.”
“Lore?” I asked before I could stop myself.
“Lore is our brother,” Sin replied. “We’re triplets.”
I turned to Hunter. “Huh…?”
“I only have one brother that I claim.” Hunter smirked. “I’m sure everyone here can guess which brother that isn’t.”
Yep, I had a good idea.
In the silence that followed, something passed between the two brothers. I didn’t know what, but I had the distinct feeling that they were seconds away from ripping into each other.
Sin’s smile didn’t slip. “Perhaps we should continue this conversation outside? It’s such a lovely day for a walk.”
It looked like it was about to start raining.
Hunter nodded curtly. “I agree.”
Both brothers headed toward the door, but Hunter stopped, sending me a long look that promised trouble later. I wasn’t concerned with that. Instead, I wondered if either of them would return from their “walk.”
Chapter 15
Outside in the damp morning air and among the ancient trees, I glared at the back of my brother’s head. Of all the moments for Sin to decide to show up, it had to be now.
Sin tipped his head back and laughed. “That’s a pretty little piece of ass you got there. Are you sharing—?”
I snapped my brother’s neck.
Just like that—two hands on either side of the head and then twist, crack, crackle, pop, and all that jazz. Sin hit the ground, reduced to nothing more than a twitching heap.
In the few blissful seconds of silence, I leaned against the tree, and while I waited, I tried to remember the exact number of times I’d broken Sin’s neck. Twenty or more? Definitely more.
Sin’s body began to blur and darken as it lost all shape. Dark essence swirled over the ground, rising up. Thick tendrils of smoke spread out, reaching the lower branches. As they came into contact, the leaves withered to a lifeless brown.
Show-off.
The hazy smoke receded, revealing my brother’s true form for a moment. As Sin turned, the liquidlike movement hid the predator beneath the grace.
Then Sin slipped into his human skin. “What. The. Fuck. Hunter?”
“I can’t help myself whenever I’m around you. It’s like a habit.”
“Well, break the fucking habit, because that hurts. Jesus.” Sin took a step back, straightening his shirt. “If you weren’t my brother…”
“You’d what? Annoy me to death?” I pushed off the tree, getting right up in his face. “Or do you think you can actually take me?”
Sin laughed. “Do you think you can take me? You don’t feed on Luxen anymore. You are weak. I could kick your ass clear across this godforsaken planet.”
“Oh, is that what you think?”
“It’s what I know. You’ve become nothing but the DOD’s little bitch boy. Doing their favors while the Luxen continue to thrive! Is that why that woman’s in your cabin? I bet it does have something to do with them. The DOD says jump and what does Hunter say?”
I twisted halfway, laughing under my breath, and then whirled back. Grabbing Sin by the neck, I flipped him over. His heavy body hit the tree with such force several branches fell to the ground.
I flew into Sin’s face, digging my fingers deep into his throat. “Hunter says kiss my ass.”
Sin held up his hands, choking out a laugh. “Oh, so Hunter has fed recently, hasn’t he? I doubt that female could give you that kind of power. If so, can I have a taste—just a little, and while I’m at it, can I fuck her?”
I slammed Sin’s head back against the tree hard enough to crack a skull, but my goddamn brother just laughed. “You never knew when to shut up.”
“And you never had the balls to do what’s right,” Sin spat back.
Letting go, I took a step back before I did something I regretted. There were times when I wanted to kill my brother—this was one of them—but Sin was my family. We shared the same blood, the same history.
“It has nothing to do with balls,” I said. “Our sister is dead because of this war—no, don’t you fucking look away from me.”
But Sin did.
Shooting forward, I grasped his chin, forcing Sin to look at me. “Our sister is dead. Lore almost died because of a war our ancestors fought—a war that no one will win, especially not here, not on this planet.”
“We will win.” Rage filled Sin’s eyes. “We will pay them back tenfold for what they did to our people.”
“Yeah, you do that.” I let him go. “You and every other Arum out there that wants to avenge their fallen ancestors are going to get yourselves killed. Maybe some other planet, but here, with the humans, you’ll lose, because they will support the Luxen—they already are. They will follow right behind them, right to their deaths. And in the meantime, they’ll help the Luxen exterminate every one of us. So screw me that I’m not drinking that bullshit Kool-Aid anymore.”
Disgust filled Sin’s expression. “How dare you turn your back on us.”
“This has nothing to do with us, Sin. This has to do with our family. I’m not going to bury another sibling for a cause they had no part in!”
“But we do have a part in it, Hunter. We were created to do what we are trying to do. Born and raised to destroy the Luxen. We’re the only thing that can stop them from dominating another world.”
That part was true, but everything else was full of so much shit that I needed a damn shovel. “So what do you think we should do? Let the Luxen be? Just let it all go?” My brother’s lip curled in disgust. “Hell, soon you’ll think it’s okay to mix the two races.”
Now he was just being stupid. “I’m not saying that we should hold hands and sing Kumbay-fucking-ya with them. I’m not saying they should even be hands off.”
Sin shook his head. “Then what are you saying?”
“I’m saying move on. Let it go.”
He smirked. “Like you and Lore have. Where is Lore by the way?”
“He doesn’t want anything to do with you, Sin.”
Sin turned his cheek, pressing his lips together. “I think I know what the problem is with you two. I think you both are scared.”
“I’m too old to be goaded into that shit.”
“You and Lore,” Sin continued, swaggering up to me. “Fucking pussies.”
I smirked. “Rather be fucking pussies…”
“Funny. You tell Lore he can’t hide from me forever and, just like you, he needs to face his duty.”
Anger rippled over me so deep and so hot that it was hard to hold my human form. “It’s not my duty or his to fight a war we don’t even believe in.” I paused. “Take care of yourself, but get lost. I really don’t have the time for this shit.”
Sin’s eyes darkened until they were nothing but pitch-black pupils. “Sooner or later, you’re going to need to get back into the game, brother. And if anything or anyone is preventing you from making the right decision, I will personally, happily, remove that obstacle.”
“Are you threatening me or what is mine?” Whoa, wait. Did I just say mine? Fuck it. “Sin?”
My brother’s gaze slid beyond me to the cabin. “There are some obstacles I’ll have a hell of a lot more fun removing.”
After Sin slinked off, I had traveled the heavily wooded area around the community in my true form for hours, until night had fallen, making sure Sin had left the region. He hadn’t left immediately. Oh fuck no, the bastard lingered, testing me. He’d kept circling back near the cabin, near Serena.
Mine.
What in the fuckadeefuck had I meant by that? Mine? I stamped a claim on her after coming within seconds of killing her last night? Smooth. That wasn’t even the most fucked-up part. It was the fact that it felt right. Like not taking the shit back kind of right. Weird. I knew I needed to stay away from her, but I didn’t want to.
I also knew I wouldn’t.
Perhaps I just needed to get her out of my system. Scratch that itch and what not. I just needed to do it without killing her.
When I returned to the cabin, I found Serena waiting on the couch. She jumped to her feet when she spotted me in the doorway. “Okay. Before you start yelling at me, I just want to say that I thought you were dead. You’ve been gone all day.”
“I’m obviously not dead.” I stopped a few feet from her. “Are you incapable of listening to the simplest instructions? It makes me wonder how in the hell you’re still alive.”
Crossing her arms, her chin went up a notch. Cute. “I don’t like being bossed around.”
“You like it when I tell you to open your legs for me,” I pointed out, and was rewarded with a fierce stain that rushed across her cheeks. “Why can you listen then and not any other time?”
“Because I like to know what is going on, you giant dickhead,” she said.
“Dickhead?”
“You forget that my entire life has been uprooted and I’m here with you, waiting for the officers to come back. So I thought maybe that was who was at the door. You shouldn’t try to keep me in the dark.”
“Do you ever stop and think it was to protect you?” Stalking past her, I grabbed the remote and turned the TV off. “No. That would make too much sense.”
She twisted toward me. “I get that you’re trying to keep me safe, but this isn’t easy.”
“Really?” I liked her like this, I decided. All pissed off, fiery like the sun.
Unfolding her arms, her hands balled into little fists, she raged, “Have you ever had to rely on someone? Ever have to put your entire life in someone else’s hands and hope they come through?”
The question struck me as funny. “No. Of course not.”
“Exactly!” She threw up her hands. “You couldn’t do that. So why do you expect me to?”
I opened my mouth to respond, but then wisely closed it. None of my immediate responses would rectify the situation.
“I just don’t— Never mind.” Serena stared at me and then shook her head as she turned away, heading for the stairs.
“Don’t what?” I followed her around the couch, keeping a distance.
Serena stopped at the bottom of the steps and faced me. “I don’t get you.”
“Most people don’t.” I smiled. “We don’t have the same social norms that you do. Probably because I’m—”
“Yeah, you’re an alien. I haven’t forgotten that. But you’ve been on Earth for how long? Since you were a kid? And yet you haven’t picked up on any social norm out there.”
I said nothing because, really, I’d rather stay quiet instead of lie.
She exhaled loudly. “I told you about my mom and you said your parents were dead. Why didn’t you mention that you had a brother?”
“Because I don’t count Sin as a brother.”
“That’s kind of harsh, don’t you think?” she said.
“You met him. What do you think?”
Placing her hand on the banister, she seemed to debate what she was going to say next. “What about the other brother?”
My smile grew tight. “I don’t talk to him about Lore. I won’t talk to you.”
“Forget it.” Spinning around, she headed up the stairs.
I knew I should let her go. Either it was my anger driving me forward or something much deeper, I wasn’t sure. Two seconds later, I joined her on the landing upstairs.
Startled, she took a step back. “Stop doing that!”
“Have you eaten yet?” I started toward her, and the dark part of me growled its appreciation when she took another step back from me. “Serena?”
“Yes. I’ve eaten. Thank you.”
“I haven’t,” I growled, my gaze dropping over her.
“Pervert,” she muttered as she kept walking backward until she hit the railing on the stairs to my loft. She started to head toward the hall that led to her room, but I blocked her. Her chest rose sharply. “What do you want, Hunter?”
Oh, that was a loaded question I couldn’t even begin to answer. I stared at her a long moment and the next shit that came out of my mouth even surprised me. “I had a sister.”
Serena blinked. “You…you had a sister?”
“Yes.” Might as well put it all out there. “She was killed four years ago.”
Almost immediately sympathy filled her gaze. She didn’t say anything right away. “How?”
“Come with me.”
Her brows knitted and she didn’t move.
“Come with me and I’ll tell you how.” I extended a hand to her. She still didn’t move. “Come to my loft with me,” I added in a softer voice.
She glanced over her shoulder and then to me. An incredulous look marked her features. Her eyes met mine and then she put her hand in mine. My fingers immediately swallowed hers. I led her up the stairs. She came willingly, but she was also throwing off a nervous vibe.
I could relax her by saying something, reassure her, but I said nothing, because I couldn’t reassure her when I wasn’t sure she’d ever walk back down these stairs.
Chapter 16
My loft was spacious and, like most of the house, very minimalistic. Bed. Dressers. A couch and some chairs. There were a few other necessities, but nothing really personal.
I left her by the bed. “Make yourself comfortable.”
Looking around, Serena smoothed her hands down her thighs. “It’s a very nice room.”
“It is.” I kicked off my shoes and sat in the chair nearest the balcony doors. “Sit.”
She looked around and sighed as she sat on the edge of my bed. Her knees were pressed together, hands folded in her lap. Very prim. Very proper. Made me want to dirty her up.
I leaned into the chair and tipped my head back. Closing my eyes, I sighed. “My sister was different. Out of all of us, she adapted to the human world a lot better. So much so that she was basically human in all the ways you’d expect from me. She didn’t hunt Luxen and wanted no part in fighting them.”
“Did she feed off them?”
My lips twisted into a wry smile. “If we don’t feed, we are weak as a human is. I’m not trying to be insulting by that, but if we don’t feed or have something we can substitute, we can’t protect o
urselves.”
There was a pause and then, “Substitute?”
“We can feed off humans, obviously, but they don’t make us as strong as feeding off a Luxen. My sister chose not to feed off Luxen or humans. So she was very vulnerable.”
“What happened to her?” she asked in a quiet voice.
“She was doing okay, but living among others of our kind was hard. We didn’t understand why she wouldn’t feed because it was so dangerous for her.” I paused, opening my eyes. Fucking staring at the ceiling. “Anyway, she withdrew from us, ended up blending in with the humans. I stayed near her. So did Lore. She went to college and all that. She met someone and…she was happy.”
“Met someone? A human?”
“Yep.” I laughed, but it was cold and flat. “She was with this male when she ran into some Luxen. And even though she hadn’t fed from one of them in years, the Luxen saw her as a threat—their enemy. And the reason why? Because we’d attacked a cluster of Luxen a week before. She didn’t have anything to do with that. We did. But it didn’t matter. She wasn’t strong enough to defend herself and neither was the male. They killed her and the human. Left their bodies out in a field like trash for us to find.”
“Oh my God,” Serena whispered.
I didn’t say anything. There was no room for a God in any of this. My sister was killed because of how our two kinds warred against each other. There was no other reason. She would’ve never hurt them. And maybe they wouldn’t have hurt her if it hadn’t been for what we had done. It was my fault. It was Sin’s fault and Lore’s. We’d brought death to our sister.
Oddly, I didn’t hear or see Serena move, but her hand was on my arm as she knelt in front of me. Tears made her eyes shine. I stared down at her, at once angry and itchy to get out of here. I don’t even know why I told her any of this.
I started to stand, but then she did the un-fucking-believable. She placed her head on my knee.
Her head was on my knee.
I froze. I stopped breathing and I just stared at her. Her eyes were closed like she’d fallen asleep or was praying. I doubted she was doing either.
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