An image flashes in my mind of a smaller pill, a softer mouth, and…my hand placing the pill inside. The brown eyes staring up at me are resigned but grateful as I place the tiny pill on her tongue. Aurelia swallows it down, and the image is replaced by another.
She’s now passed out in Khalil’s bed, and I’m standing over her. She sleeps so soundly and peacefully while looking like she’s been through hell.
The memory fades, and I’m left reeling. What the hell was that about?
Thorin hands me the glass of water, and I drink it because I know he won’t stop watching me like a hawk until I do. When the glass is empty, he takes it from me and collapses next to me. I tap Khalil’s hand, and he lets me go.
“She was in the plane crash, wasn’t she?” I say, and they both stiffen. When neither of them respond, I growl out, “Wasn’t she?”
“I thought you didn’t remember anything?”
I shake my head that already feels heavy and let the lie leave my lips. “Nothing after finding her in Khalil’s bed. Now stop dodging the question and answer me.”
“Yes,” Thorin answers.
“Isaac?”
Thorin shakes his head. “She’s not with him. Far from it.”
“Aurelia’s a singer. A really good one,” Khalil gushes, and I’m once again questioning if I’ve entered an alternate reality. “You should hear her sing sometime. She—”
“It’s been two months,” I interrupt. “If Aurelia was in that crash, why is she still here?”
They both fall quiet, and my heart plummets like a deadweight into the pit of my stomach.
I remember the morning she arrived.
We’d been in the middle of an argument that had nearly torn us apart when I caught sight of her plane engulfed in flames and flying dangerously low over our cabin like a shooting star.
And the argumentAureliahad unknowingly interrupted?
It was whether it was finally safe for us to go into town and find some local girls to seduce.
Seduce, notkidnap.
We definitely would have never brought them here. This cabin, these wilds, and this life were supposed to be ours and ours alone. Finding a woman for each of us would have been about fulfilling a need and nothing more. Nothing as serious or fucked-up as whatever the hell is happening with this singer who makes Khalil Poverlygush.
Staring at my brothers and wondering if I ever knew them at all, I scramble to my feet and back away with my hands clutching my hair and my vision blurring when they stand too. “What did you guys do?” I shout when my mind taunts me with horrifying possibilities. “What thefuckdid you do?”
That argument ended with two against one and thensheappeared, forcing us to shelve the discussion for now.
Or so I thought.
Only one thing is absolutely clear…
That poor girl’s timing could not have been worse.
“Zeke—”
Thorin sighs. “Let’s face it. We are never leaving this mountain. This is our home now. This is our life. This is how we stay together and keep each other safe.”
Nothing of what he says surprises me because even though we’ve talked about leaving one day, none of us have ever believed it. “What the fuck does that have to do with her?”
“Everything,” Khalil answers. “We finally have everything we’ve been needing.”
My eyes rapidly flick between the two of them, and then I swear viciously. “What the fuck does that mean?”
“She’s ours, Zeke.”
