Heidi Holmes is a survivor. The bite on her body is not the only proof of her strength and fortitude, and yeah, I’m making huge ass assumptions, but I think despite the battering of shock and surprise we’re going to dump on her, she’ll survive this too.
Ramses is nowhere in sight, but his lingering anxiety in the air feels like mosquitos on a summer night. He’s done what I asked and got a good pile of pillows and blankets outside on the back deck.
Kai follows behind me carrying a large wicker papasan style seat. The cream cushion is new, the rest of it has been in the family for a long time, not that she needs to know that right now.
“Here you go,” I warn, before depositing her into the chair and taking a step away.
And without asking, I proceed to tuck pillow after pillow after pillow into all the spaces around her, covering her feet under a mountain made of blankets and hoodies. Pretty much whatever Ramses found in our rooms.
Rolling over one of the old tree stumps, I place it in front of her before dropping my ass down.
Not waiting for her to unbury herself, I start.
“Pack Alastor is real.”
Her head pokes out of all the blankets I piled on top of her, and she looks a little wild, but I prefer this than the stark panic I just witnessed. The fire in her eyes makes her lips pull down and her scent gets an icy snap to it. Like her voice.
“Strange, because the information I was given including full bios, health records, and photos does not include you or whoever the other person is that looks like you.”
“Identical triplets tend to look the same. Ramses was the other one you saw, and he is the eldest out of us. Kai is the youngest.”
“Why lie?” She drives straight to what is the most important to her. Sadly bypassing my name.
“Out of necessity. And it was a lie that was not started by us.”
She laughs as coldly as her scent continues to get bitter.
“People lie all the time,” I offer calmly.
“Yeah, well newsflash, for me lying is right up there on my yeah-no-fucking-way metre right alongside cheating,” she spits the words out decisively.
“What about lying to protect people?” I ask. Not to taunt her, to find out if we’ve got a hope in explaining or if this is a done deal before we even get the chance. Which is not fair, and that’s not me being dismissive of her feelings. That’s me being fucking honest.
Heidi scoffs and shakes her head slowly at the same time. “It’s an excuse.”
“It is. And I won’t apologise for it. Because like I said, this started way before you and I even knew how to walk.”
“Super,” she bitches.
“Isn’t it?” I agree whole-heartedly with her snide bites. But we all need to chill out, and dropping my hand on top of the blankets helps her as much as it soothes a need inside me. If she gives me a couple of minutes, I’m hoping she’ll see our lying is warranted.
Heidi goes to say something, but I interrupt. “I’m not being a dick but I think you should hush up and listen to what I have to say. Otherwise, each time you yap like a little Chihuahua all we’re going to achieve is wasting time, which will have you feeling more anxious and stressed.”
She lets her eyes do the talking then. She stares right through me and completely ignores the smirk on my lips. And fucking hell wrong time, wrong place but the ice in her eyes is a right fucking turn on.
Trying to alleviate some of the rising tension she’s pulling out of me, like a fucking magician, I crack my neck. Her dead-eyed stare tracks every movement making me feel like prey. The longer she glares, the harder her scent becomes; now it’s like bittersweet. And I get an urge to eat about a dozen burnt caramel apples.
I have to look away from her, because all I can see is me hanging her over the edge of the papasan so I can bite on her ass. I blow out an exhale. “Sorry about the Chihuahua reference, but you catch my drift.”
She doesn’t say a word and the little vixen waits until I look back at her. A devil may die smile gives me the shivers and I watch on helplessly as she mimics me perfectly. “Sorry about calling you an asswipe in my head, but you catch my drift.”
I bark out a laugh at her snark, making her nearly jump a foot in the air, earning me another icy scowl. But with it comes the barest tip to her lips and a softening of her tarty scent. “Anyway, this weekend is meant to be about fun and getting to know each other but I can’t have you freaking out because we didn’t talk first.”
She waves her hand around signalling me to keep going.
“Two main issues. The first is why on the pack forms we look different to how we look in person.”
Kai comes outside at that point and he hands her an unopened bottle of water plus some cut-up fruit, and a strip of Tylenol. She puts it all in her lap and returns to studying me.
