When he finally spoke, the words fell like shrapnel.
“Said she loved me.”
Brumous’ tail thumped uncertainly against the fridge. Koa’s grip tightened. My ribs felt full of static electricity. I pulled back just enough to see Cas’ face. Raw anguish twisted features normally carved from marble.
“Say that again.” Ko’s eyes went darker than a starless sky.
“She said, ‘I love you, Simmy.’ While she…” Cas straightened slowly and swallowed hard, the apple in his throat bobbing like a buoy in storm waves. “While she was falling asleep.”
“You realize she shouldn’t be capable ofsayingthat yet, right?” I demanded. “Let alonefeelingit? After what those bitches did to her—”
“I know.” His jaw muscle jumped. “Which is why it doesn’t count. Delirium speaks louder than truth.” Defeat clung to him like swamp rot. “Doesn’t matter.”
Koa moved faster than a bloodhound spotting prey. His palm cracked against the back of Cas’ skull with a sound like a watermelon splitting.
“You dense fang-rotted fucker! She looks at you with stars in her eyes! And you—”
“Whoa!” I wedged myself between them, Brumous diving under the counter with anxious whines. “Violence isn’t the answer unless it’s really funny. Which this isn’t.”
Cas rubbed his head, glaring at both of us, and I grabbed Koa’s wrist before he could land another blow.
“But yeah, Cas. You realize what this means?” My pulse thundered in my ears as Ko yanked free of my hold. “First person she’s trusted since her dad croaked. First person she’s let close enough to hurt her. And she handsyouthat.”
Cas sank onto a barstool, elbows on knees.
“Don’t deserve it,” he rasped. “Her trust is fragile. Like moth wings. If I crush—”
“Mahalo,” Ko growled, yanking open the freezer. Ice cubes clattered into a dish towel. “Gratitude. You should be choking on it. That girl looked into your abyss and planted roses.”
“Since when do you garden?” I snorted.
“Since Arabesque tried to turn her into compost!” He slapped the makeshift cold compress into Cas’ hand, but Cas didn’t apply it to his head. Instead, his gaze drifted toward the living room.
“She deserves better than us,” he whispered.
“Cruor! You think we don’tknowthat?” Koa slumped onto a barstool with his head in his hands.
I pulled my hood up to hide the burn in my eyes.
“We aren’t worthy of her.” His admission came out raw, scraped from somewhere deep. “Butsanguine mortis, I want to be.”
Koa’s head snapped up.
“Finally. Some sense.” He stalked over, gripping Cas’ shoulder hard enough to bruise a mortal. “We were raised by monsters to be monsters to kill monsters. ButSeri?” His free hand gestured wildly toward the door. “She’s life insisting on blooming through concrete. So yes, you’ll feel unworthy. Weallwill. Now shut up and let her love us, anyway!”
Brumous, who had been quietly observing from under the counter, suddenly let out a high-pitched bark, and we all turned to look at him. Walkies excepted, he usually didn’t engage with ustoomuch when Seri wasn’t around. It was like all of his confidence stemmed from her. Now, though, his blue eyes stared into our fang-rotted souls as if willing us to understand something.
“You know, I think he’s agreeing with you, Ko,” I murmured.
And when Brumous nodded his head in a violent sneeze, I was sure of it, no matter how much Cas insisted the wolf was too fractured to hold a thought in his scrambled brain.
20. Storm of Determination
Koa
The sun was bright, the sky pure blue and dotted with cotton ball clouds, and the April air held just a hint of chill.
A perfect spring day, and a perfect day to take Seri around the estate.
