I can’t keep quiet any longer. I walk toward them, projecting myself in between them and nudging them back a few steps. “Dane, I think Coop has a point, and maybe you need to broaden your mind on this occasion.”
“Thank you! At least one of my brothers can listen to reason.” Cooper rolls his eyes.
“And you need to stop goading the boyfriend,” I say, stabbing him with a disapproving look. “It’s not helping the situation.”
“Can’t help it. The guy’s a schmuck, and he was all over her last night. It was inappropriate, and someone needed to teach him a lesson. Besides, I’m doing her a favor.”
Oh, this I gotta hear. “Do tell.” I fight a smirk.
“She’s going to have to cut him loose, and I’m helping nudge things in the right direction.”
“You’re pissing her the hell off,” Dane snaps. “And drawing way too much attention.”
“I think that ship sailed,” Beckett calls out, still not looking up. He’s tapping away furiously on the keypad. “And we’re entirely to blame. Our presence has made things more complicated.”
“Because the dynamic is changing in ways we didn’t know. In ways the prophecy didn’t predict,” Cooper cuts in, never missing an opportunity to drill his point home. I’m two seconds away from smashing my fist in his face.
“Try it, I dare you,” Coop says, answering my thought.
“Don’t fucking tempt me. You two are driving me and Beckett insane. This ends now. I say we put it to a vote.”
“I’ll be the judge of that.” Dane drills me with a censorious glare.
“I’m with Maddox,” Beckett says, finally getting up and walking away from his workstation. He rubs his hands together as he comes to join us. “No one is questioning your authority, Dane, nor your role. We deflect to you on decisions because you make the right ones for us as a team, but since we arrived here, all we’re doing is fighting, and we can’t have discord. Not when Alinthia is in imminent danger of being discovered. She needs a united, cohesive team behind her.”
“Did you find something? Has she been tracked, because I haven’t picked up on any incoming threats?” Dane asks, failing to mask his concern. Out of all of us, I’d say Dane is the one most disconnected from his feelings, but since we landed in Eaton Lake, he’s having difficulty disassociating himself from his emotions.
We all are.
The minute Alinthia’s birth DNA was resurrected, the bond kicked into hyperdrive, and we’re all grappling to deal with the extreme emotions she’s brought to the surface.
Beckett shakes his head. “No, the feeds are clear so far. But we all know it’s only a matter of time.”
“And we come full circle,” Cooper says, crossing his feet at the ankles. He sighs. “Look, Dane, I’m not arguing with you for the sake of arguing.”
I snort. Can’t help it. Cooper loves the sound of his own voice, and arguing is his second favorite hobby behind flirting.
“I heard that,” he says, scoffing. “And I’m a reformed flirt.” He shoves his middle finger up at me.
“So that wasn’t you pulling on Kylie’s hair at the game last night?” Beckett teases.
Cooper’s eye’s bug wide. “That, that,” he splutters, “was not flirting. I was just being friendly,” he protests.
Beckett shakes his head. “Yeah, whatever you say, Coop.”
“Don’t fucking piss me off, Beck. I’m the only one here who’s been honest about my feelings. You all know how I feel about her, so don’t try and throw my past in my face, because that doesn’t fucking matter now.”
Dane swings his gaze on Coop. “Chill. You’ve made your point, so zip it.”
“Dane, just call it, so we can move forward.” I fold my arms, leveling a knowing look at him. We all know this is the right decision. Dane knows it too, but Alinthia’s thrown him off his game, and he’s second-guessing everything.
“I am not second-guessing everything.” Dane extracts the thought straight from my head again.
“Would you all stop picking thoughts out of my head,” I snarl, familiar frustration brewing inside me.
“Stop projecting them then!” Dane snaps back.
“I would if I could!” I shout, using anger to deflect my frustration at his barb. Above everyone, Dane knows I struggle with issues of self-confidence thanks to the fact my mental abilities are much weaker than my brothers. Even Alinthia is showing significant skill in that area, and she hasn’t yet been trained.
He clamps a hand on my shoulder. “I’m sorry. That was uncalled for.” He looks at all of us in turn. “We’re freezing our asses off out here. Let’s head back to the house and continue this conversation over dinner.”
I rustle up a quick chili and rice, and once we’re sitting around the table chowing down, Dane directs the discussion to the hot topic of conversation. “Okay. I’m going to level with you guys, and this isn’t easy for me,” he says, clearing his throat. Beck and I exchange looks of surprise. “Coop is right.” I almost fall off my chair, both at the fact Dane has admitted that and the lack of smugness on Cooper’s face. Dane ignores my thought, continuing. “We have to bring her into our confidence now. I sense it’s the right course of action, and I have been stalling but only because I’m concerned about the changing dynamic, and I wanted to try and take a delicate approach with her, but I’m growing more and more uneasy. We can’t delay the inevitable any longer. We need to do this now.”
“A–fucking–men. Haven’t I been saying this all along, and you all dismissed me?” Coop says, gloating now.
“Shut the fuck up,” the three of us retort as one.
Coop makes a crude hand gesture before laughing, helping to keep the tone lighthearted.
“Man, Alinthia was so right about you last night. We deserve a fucking medal for living with you.” I shovel a spoonful of spicy meat into my mouth.
“At least I keep things entertaining.”
“No one could ever deny that,” Dane says, sharing a rare smile.
“So, we’re telling her?” Beckett asks, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose.
“Yes. We’re telling her, but not everything at once.” Dane puts down his fork, eyeballing us with a serious expression. “She hasn’t been preparing for this her whole life like we have. Up until a week ago, she believed she was human. She probably still does, even if she’s questioning what happened with the car earlier and all the other random stuff that’s happening to her, so this is going to hit her hard.” He skims his gaze over each of us. “We can tell her who she is without being specific. We can train her to use her abilities without going into the details of why she needs to learn fast. Once she’s learned to deal with that, we’ll tell her the rest.”
He leans back in his chair, folding his arms as he surveys us. “That’s my decision. If you’ve any issue with it, now’s the time to speak up.”
“I support it,” I confirm.
“And I second it,” Beck adds, and we swing our collective gaze on Cooper. He’s been the most insistent from the start, so he’s the one that needs to buy into this.
“What about the connection and how we all feel about her? What do we tell her about that?” he asks.
“We can mention the connection without going into detail. Besides, it’s the one part of the prophecy that isn’t specific,” Dane adds.
“I told you it could be interpreted several ways,” Beck supplies. He’s so protective of the prophecy you’d swear he wrote it himself.
“It’s our legacy, Maddox. It should be treated reverentially.”
I roll my eyes but say nothing, determined we’re going to have one conversation this week that doesn’t end in disagreement.
Dane drums his fingers off the top of the table, and we all focus on him. He lifts his head a second later. “Until we understand this mutual attraction, and how it’s going to affect our team dynamic, I think we say nothing about that aspect for now.”
Cooper pouts but wisely stays quiet.<
br />
“However,” Dane adds. “If she raises the subject, if she asks, then she must be told the truth. The one hard and fast rule is no one is to outwardly lie to her. We must never forget who she is, and show her the utmost respect, at all times. Especially you.” He looks pointedly at Cooper.
“I respect her enormously, and I haven’t lied to her about anything.”
“Keep it that way, and lay off the boyfriend. One way or another, he’s not going to be in the picture much longer. We have a job to do. We focus on protecting Alinthia, we keep our heads on straight, and there can be no distractions of any kind.”
“Agreed,” we repeat one by one.
“I guess we’re going partying,” Cooper says a second later with obvious glee in his tone.
We all stand up, silently acknowledging the enormity of the moment.
This is it.
The moment we’ve waited for since the day we were born and torn from our leading light.
The moment when four become five again.
Chapter 21
Tori
Jensen wanted to cancel our plans for tonight after our earlier near miss, but the snow has stopped falling, and the roads have been deemed safe to travel, so there’s no reason why we can’t attend Zara’s party after all. Besides, I’m figuring the Roth brothers will be there, and it might be the perfect opportunity to talk to them.
Zara’s parents are out of town for the weekend, and she invited half the school to come over. Mom thinks we’re watching a movie with our friends, so I had to beg to be allowed stay out beyond my normal curfew.
The party is rocking by the time we arrive, music spilling out of the open windows. It’s a good thing Zara lives in a secluded part of town and that her nearest neighbor is a mile away. Her dad runs a very successful technology company out of Chicago, and their house is incredible. Set over two sprawling floors, the property houses seven en suite bedrooms, a private theater, indoor swimming pool, and a massive basement room with a pool table, private bar, and top-of-the-line music system.
Not that you’d ever guess Zara had this much money by looking at her. She sports quite a grungy style, and jeans, dark tops, and heavy boots are her preferred clothing of choice. I love that about my friend and the fact she isn’t flash with her cash.
Zara throws her hands in the air, screaming as we step foot into the house. She flings herself at me, grabbing me into a big hug. She’s already buzzing. “Yay, so glad you’re here.” She looks over her shoulder at Jensen. “The boys are downstairs. I’m borrowing your girl for a minute.”
He kisses the side of my head before sauntering off. Zara ushers me up the stairs, stopping a few feet away from her bedroom. “I need your help with Kenzie.”
“Why? What’s up? Is she okay?”
She points at her bedroom door. “She’s in there with Jack.”
“What?” I shriek, getting ready to barge my way in there. “I thought she was going out with Fletcher tonight?”
“He bailed on her, and she was really upset when she arrived. Then Jack showed up, instantly ditching his date and dragging Kenzie up here. We can’t let her fall back into his arms.”
“Damn right. The guy’s a sleaze.” She quirks an inquisitive brow. “I’ll tell you about it in a bit. Let’s extract Kenzie from this mess first.”
Zara busts into the room without knocking. Kenzie is sitting on the end of the bed, looking heartsick and upset. Kylie has her arm around her. “Where is he?” I ask, looking all around.
“Downstairs somewhere, I presume,” Kylie says, giving me a funny look.
I sit down on the other side of Kenzie. “Are you all right? What’s going on?”
She tips her chin up, piercing me with a sharp look. “I don’t know. You tell me.”
My brows knit together. “I don’t know what you mean.” I look to Kylie, and she sends me another funny look. “Just spit it out. I’m guessing this is something to do with Jack and what happened Tuesday after practice?”
Kenzie rears back. “You’re not even going to deny it?”
“That all depends on what he said, and I’m willing to bet he didn’t tell you the truth.”
“He said he saw you with Maddox and Dane Roth and you looked very cozy.”
“Maddox was my running partner at the session, and Dane was there after I came out of the locker room, but he only showed up looking for his brother. Nothing happened if that’s what he implied.” I bite my tongue before saying anything else. I don’t want to tell her he hit on me unless I’m forced to tell the truth.
“See? I told you,” Kylie says, looking a little more relaxed.
Kenzie examines my face, and I look her direct in the eye. When it comes to this, I haven’t betrayed the girl code.
“He also said you tried to kiss him and that you told him you’d always had a thing for him, that you’d dump Jensen in a heartbeat if he wanted you.”
My hands ball up at my sides. “That is not the way it went down.” My expression softens. “The only reason I didn’t tell you this is because I knew it would hurt you, and you were finally forgetting the asshole and moving on. I didn’t want this to set you back.”
“Let’s hear it.” She tips her chin up. “Tell me your version of events.”
So, I do, explaining how Jack was the one to hit on me and that Dane kinda came to the rescue. I decide there’s no point holding anything back now, so I tell her how he’s been coming on to me for weeks, I hadn’t told her because I thought he’d give up and leave me alone, and I didn’t want to upset her.
She’s as quiet as a mouse after I finish speaking, hanging her head and not talking. Kylie, Zara, and I trade concerned looks.
“I’m sorry, Kenzie. I really am, but the truth is, you were always far too good for Jack. Any guy in school would kill to go out with you, and they’d treat you a hell of a lot better than he did. The fact he is up here lying to you only proves what a devious snake in the grass he is. He knew you’d come to me with this, and he didn’t care if it hurt you or not.” Anger simmers to the surface. “I’m going to kick his slimeball ass all over the place when I find him.”
Kenzie gulps, lifting her head up. My heart aches for her when I spot the tears in her eyes. “Did I ever mean anything to him? I gave him three years of my life. I gave him my virginity. I thought we’d be together forever, and the whole time he was lusting after you.”
I shake my head. “I don’t think it was like that at all. He never gave me any indication while you two were together that he’d any interest in me. It’s only a recent thing. And judging by the way he was with you, I’m sure he did care, Kenzie. If his head wasn’t in the game, that’s all on him. Not you.” I pull her in for a hug, glad when she doesn’t shove me away. “Please say you believe me.”
She sniffles, nodding. “I knew it sounded fishy when he said it, but I still had to ask.” She tosses her long wavy blonde hair over her shoulder. “I never really doubted you, but the rumors are flying all over school, and those guys are staring at you all the time, so it made me wonder.”
Speaking of, that little shiver of awareness ghosts over my skin, announcing their arrival. I need to get back downstairs before Cooper and Jensen kick off.
I stand up. “I better get back to Jensen. If the Roth brothers arrive and I’m not there to chaperone, all hell will break loose.”
“What is it with you and them?” Zara asks.
I shrug. “There’s nothing with me and them, and it’s not like I asked for their attention. I wish they’d leave me alone.”
“Cooper has the hots for you, big time.”
“Whether he has or hasn’t doesn’t matter. I’m Jensen’s girl.”
We trek back downstairs, and the crowd has swelled in our absence. “Shit,” Zara exclaims, watching more bodies stream through the front door. “Guess the word has spread.”
Ethan appears at the bottom of the stairs. “Your brother’s here, and he’s brought a bunch of college buddies with
him,” he explains.
Zara pushes through the mob in the hall, taking hold of her boyfriend’s arm. “That giant bag of dicks said he wasn’t coming home this weekend.” She is seething. “He doesn’t get to turn up and hijack my party. I’m going to kick his annoying ass all over town. Where is he?”
They storm off and I head to the basement room with Kylie and Kenzie in tow. Sweat, smoke, and a pungent earthy smell slap me in the face as we descend the teeming basement. “Ethan wasn’t kidding,” I shout, stretching up and scanning the overcrowded space. My stomach drops when I spy Jensen over by the pool table with Hunter. Jack is in his ear, saying God knows what, gesticulating wildly with his hands.
“Damn it.” I start pushing through the crowd, most of them strangers, ignoring the abuse shouted at me as I fight a path to my boyfriend. That same heightened sensation is throwing a party inside me as we pass by the Roths. All four of them are leaning against the wall near the pool table, watching Jensen with sharp eyes. Maddox and Cooper are holding bottles of beers, Beckett has a red cup in his hand, and Dane has his hands shoved in his pockets. He locks eyes with me, nodding a greeting. A tiny redhead is pressed up against Cooper, her hands snaking up his chest as she tries to capture his attention, but his gaze is secured on me. We stare at one another for an intense moment as the redhead’s hands creep around his neck. A snarl builds at the back of my throat, but I manage to contain it. The strength of my jealousy shocks me, but I ignore it, making a beeline for Jensen.
His arms are folded across his chest, and a muscle ticks in his jaw as he listens to whatever the asshat is saying. Jack sees us coming, and he flashes me a smug grin, one which I instantly want to knock off his face.
“Spreading more of your lies?” I inquire, coming to a stop in front of him. My glare is laced with venom.
Jack holds up his palms, feigning innocence. “Don’t shoot the messenger. It’s about time Jensen knew who his girlfriend really is. I’m just helping a brother out.”
My hands are clenched into fists at my side, and I’d love to knock that smug, condescending grin off his face, but I force myself to respond in a dignified manner. “No one is buying this bullshit, Jack, and you’re not part of our squad anymore, so it’s best you leave before Zara kicks your lying ass out the door.”
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