Aurelia tosses back her head and laughs. “Nice. Very nice. Did you come up with that on your own or did you have help?” She lifts a brow.
Zeke is too stunned to respond when he realizes she means Seth, and I know it’s because Khalil and I have always treated his DID with kid gloves. But not Aurelia. That’s when I realize that something’s shifted between them.
Aurelia is no longer playing nice.
Neither of them are.
It’s…interesting.
Mostly I’m just happy as fuck to watch Zeke look like he’s been hit in the face with a fucking blender. He’s been acting like a real bastard lately, and my patience is wearing thin.
Apparently, I’m not the only one, since Aurelia is baring her claws once again.
I cough to cover up my laugh, but I lose control of it and a snarl directed at me rips from Zeke’s throat.
“Don’t,” he snaps before storming off into the thicker copse of trees.
Aurelia watches him go until he disappears from sight, and then her nose wrinkles like it always does when she’s deeply frustrated. “What’s his problem? He started it.”
“And you finished it,” I remind her gently. I’m proud of Aurelia for holding her own, even though it’s probably driven this tenuous tolerance they have of each other a few bars lower. “Just… Try not to take it too personally. He can’t help but look at you and see Tatum. He thinks he’s protecting Khalil and me.And you…believe it or not.”
Because Zeke isn’t just afraid of whatever Aurelia might be plotting. He’s also afraid of our reaction if it turns out to be true. Khalil and I don’t carry that fear because we know her feelings are as real as ours.
Aurelia sighs, and her shoulders drop as she deflates. “Yeah, I know,” she says remorsefully and then in a blink, her claws are back. “But just so you both know… That Tatum excuse is getting really old, don’t you think?”
Pulling out my first aid kit, I pop it open and sigh with a nod. “Yeah. I do.”
Aurelia is quiet as I clean and bandage her cut, and though I can feel the weight of her thoughts growing, I patiently wait until she’s ready to voice them.
“How can you be sure he’ll come around? And what if he doesn’t? This is where he feels safe, Thorin. I…I can’t help but wonder if I’ve taken that away from him. I’ve done a lot that I regret, but sometimes, I feel like being here and falling in love with Zeke’s friendsandhis alter is the most monstrous thing I’ve done.”
“She finally admits it,” I grumble.
“What?” Aurelia sniffs and blinks down at me in confusion, and it’s clear she doesn’t even realize all of what she confessed.
“I said Zeke fell in love with you once, wolf. He can do it again.”
Aurelia huffs a breath. “That wasSeth. You said they’re not the same.”
“In a way, they are. To some degree Seth, Zeke, and Bane are one and the same. The alters manifested because Zeke needed a way to cope with what was happening to him without causing further damage, right?”
“Uh…yes?”
“He doesn’t just use Seth and Bane to escape further trauma. He also uses them to compartmentalize his emotions. There’s a reason Seth doesn’t ever really get sad or angry. It’s because those aren’t emotions he’s familiar with.”
“Before Seth and I were ambushed in the dell, he thought I was running and he got really upset but his voice… It didn’t sound like him.”
“Because it was Bane. Seth was losing control because he didn’t know how to handle his anger.” I don’t tell Aurelia that his fierce need to protect her was the only reason Seth was able to overcome those emotions and keep Bane at bay. I don’t want to risk giving Aurelia a false sense of security when it comes to Bane. Keeping him from manifesting is like stopping a runaway train. It can only end with derailing.
“What are you trying to say, Thorin?”
“It was Zeke who found you in our cabin. It was Zeke who saw you first. He could have woken either alter if he thought you were a real threat, but he chose Seth. Why?”
“I thought Zeke had to be in mortal danger for Bane to wake up?”
I shake my head. “That’s how he loses control of Bane, but he can wake him up at any moment, songbird.”
“Oh.” She seems to pale a little. “Well, then I don’t know why he didn’t,” she admits in a small voice.
