I’m not sure if he believed me when I told him that he isn’t an outcast, but I do know that sometimes actions speak louder than words. He just needs time to see how he fits in and that he is accepted, after spending years unattached to his own thoughts and emotions.
My curiosity is insatiable, tugging hard at my feet, and before I can talk myself out of it, my steps carry me toward the door.
The closer I get, the more ridiculous it feels to be sneaking up on them like this, but my need to see the scene for myself digs its claws in too deep to shake loose. I rest my hand lightly against the doorknob, waiting for some sound inside to betray that they’re awake enough to notice if I slip in, but the silence stretches, now thick with steady breathing.
Just as I twist the knob, I falter and nibble on my bottom lip, indecision surging up.
I know I can get in quickly and unnoticed with my speed and agility, but I have no clue if there’s a shadowed corner for meto hide in quickly enough if by some chance they do wake up to hear me.
What am I supposed to say then…hello?
Still, the thought of them in a pile of snuggles is something I can’t bear to give up seeing and I quickly turn the handle to unlatch it fully. I glide in slowly and carefully before closing the door with the faintest click. My body moves with the unnatural stillness threaded into my vampiric blood. Every step is light enough that my footfalls can’t echo against the stone and I don’t dare to breathe as my eyes quickly scan for a dark shadow to take me into its embrace.
Directly to my left is the perfect spot, my eyes quickly snagging on a swath of shadows nestled next to the large, wooden wardrobe.
I’m through the door and in my hiding place all within ten seconds.
I allow myself to take a small breath finally as I let my eyes adjust to the small bits of light coming in through the window.
And there they are.
Callum and Elias sprawled together on the massive bed, the blankets tangled around their limbs, both of them flat on their backs like they’d fought for space and then gave up at the same time. Cal’s mouth hangs open in sleep, the faintest rasp of a snore escaping as his chest rises and falls. Elias, even unconscious, looks like he’s fighting someone with his brows drawn tight and his jaw clenched.
In the corner opposite of me, nearest the window is Dante stretched out on the large chaise. His long frame is curled slightly, one small, decorative pillow tucked under his head. Though I don’t know the dynamic fully between the three of them, I do know that Elias and Callum wouldn’t refuse to give him one of the many real pillows at the top of their bed.
It hits me then, that he must have come in a bit after Cal did. One by one, they’d likely crept into Elias’s room, and the thought brings a feral grin to my face.
I can already hear Elias’s annoyed groan.
My eyes continue to track Dante’s body, finding it hard to look away with the soft moonlight falling onto him. His breathing is deep and steady, but his body still looks taut, like rest doesn’t come easily to him.
Maybe none of us could sleep well.
They’re all here, piled into one room, seeking each other out just as much as I am, apparently.
The realization unsettles me as the strange sense of belonging hums in my bones.
Dante rolls back slightly and my breath stumbles when I realize his eyes are open and on me.
For a moment, I freeze, embarrassment hot and thick in my veins at being caught. Instead of calling me out or breaking the silence, though, his gaze softens. He lifts his hand from the chaise and crooks his fingers in a small, unmistakable motion.
Come.
It shouldn’t surprise me–he already told me what he and his cousins want–yet it knocks my breath loose.
What unsettles me is the simplicity of it. There’s no desire blazing in his eyes, no yelled demand, and no question of why I’m here. Just space made for me, wordlessly and patiently, like it’s what he expected.
For a moment, my feet stay rooted, but the longer his hand lingers in the air, steady and sure, the more my body answers before my mind can resist.
I step out of the shadows and move toward him.
My steps are soundless as I cross the room, but the thrum of my pulse is so loud in my ears I half expect it to wake the brothers. I keep darting my eyes between them and Dante,anticipating their eyes opening any moment as I walk past the foot of the bed.
I don’t know why I let curiosity carry me here.
Even worse, I don’t know why I’m slipping into their space in the middle of the night like Ibelonghere.
These are the same three humans I once swore I would never forgive, the same trio of boys whose faces were burned into my nightmares as I screamed.
