I allow myself a moment to flail inwardly as I panic. Just a moment though, that’s all I give myself before pulling myself back together again. Even if I’m only a weak ray of sunshine, I’m still sunshine-y, dammit. I won’t give into despair.
“Brogan’s outside, and so are Leif and my sister. I’m sure they’re giving them hell and then they’ll come for us,” I say.
“Oh, yeah?”
“Yep, Jet’s a karma weaver, you should see what she’s done in the past to people that get on her bad side. She was pretty het up about Andrew taking you and Wren, so I can’t imagine how pissed she’s going to be once she realizes that he’s stuck her favorite sister in a cage. Hoo, she’s gonna besteamingmad.”
“Probably why the prick hasn’t made a reappearance yet. Sounds like he might be distracted,” Cam says.
It feels like the tension in the room grows tighter with her words and I find my stomach sinking. It’s only a matter of time before he comes down those stairs and does to us what he’s spent weeks doing to Wren.
“So what was the biggest and best thing your sister has done? I feel kinda like I’ve never stretched my karma powers to see what they can do, since things don’t really work that way in the garden.”
I wrack my brains for a good example, one that shows that Jet’s a good person who’s on our side but that’s also light-hearted since we really don’t need any more heaviness right about now.
“Okay, so one time…”
I launch into a story that happened maybe two years ago. We were staying at this crappy little apartment and our neighbor had a dog that’d bark and bark and whine for hours on end. And eventually, Jet must have reached the end of her tether. While most people would go over and complain, or write a letter or something, she… she set up a whole honey trapping situation where the guy got caught with his pants down and his relationship broke down and he ended up having to move.
After I’ve finished, they’re all staring at me, including Wren and I realize that maybe it wasn't such a light-hearted story after all.
Wren lets out a raspy chuckle. “And they say fate’s a fickle bitch. Sounds like karma is one, too.”
Cam shoots us both a look that’s halfway between being disturbed and envious and I feel an apology on the tip of my tongue, but then Soren shifts, his head turning where it’s laid in my lap. He looks up at me with a dozy, sleepy smile and mumbles into my thigh.
“I had a dream just like this.”
I snort and hear Cam do the same. Which part? The part where he wakes up in a cage, or where he’s been locked up by a crazed asshole or…
“Where I’d slept with my head in your lap.” This rumpled, bleary-eyed version of Soren is unfamiliar and so damncute. But as he looks around vaguely, like he can’t focus on any one thing, I grow concerned about the likelihood of him having a concussion. I run my fingers through his hair and gently brush my thumb over his cheek, and he snuggles closer.
“We were wearing fewer clothes in the dream, but I remember thinking that this was how I wanted to wake up, so that the first thing I saw in the morning was your face.”
There’s a brief stretch of silence after he speaks until Wren breaks it, her voice muffled.
“Who body-swapped Soren?”
Cam snorts and readjusts my coat where it lies over Wren’s curled up body.
“That’s what finding your mate does to you, apparently,” Cam says with a shudder.
“Mate?” Wren’s focus is back on me and she tries and fails to push herself up to sitting. It takes a long, painful few minutes for Cam to help maneuver her until they’re huddled together. “You and Soren are mates?”
Soren grins up at me, looking so happy and open that I grin right back at him.
“Yep,” I say. “Plus Finn and Brogan too.”
“You’ve got your hands full,” Cam says.
“How—how did that come about?” Wren croaks. She’s half smiling though, which I take as a good sign.
I lick my lips and readjust Soren’s head in my lap, stroking over his soft hair.
“Well, it turns out I’m the destiny weaver from your garden. It just took me a little while to find you, and them.”
“Runaway weaver,” Soren says with a loopy smile. Only when he’s concussed does he think it’s cute or funny that I shirked my responsibilities for so long.
But I love this version of Soren, just as much as I love the ice prince version or the sweet and supportive one.
