My twin shrugged again. “Jay gets a mother. Hockey practice on the mainland has kicked my ass, getting him back and forth?—”
“Shit, Korrad, if you just need another driver, I can?—”
But he cut me off with a shake of his head. “This has been a long time coming. Jay has wanted a mother for years and talks about Milo as if they’re already brothers. I know they’ve never met in person, but he’s a good kid, and they were already planning a trip out here this summer anyhow.” He shrugged again. “We’ll just make it official.”
Fuck me.
Fuckhim.
“Marrying her,” I grumbled, crushing the can. “Tying yourself down. For what?”
“For the chance at stability.” My brother’s tone was even. Serious. When I looked up at him, he was watching me intently. “Jay needs that.Ineed that. It’ll be good for us.”
Good. Right. I snorted. “Marriage isn’t the same as Mating, Kor. If you marry her, you’re giving up the chance?—”
I bit down on the words before they could escape, but judging from the flare of triumph in my twin’s eyes, it was too late.
“Giving up the chance to find my Mate? You know I only got one shot at that.” He rolled his can between his palms, even as he grinned at me. “Besides, I thought you didn’t believe in Mating, Brak.”
“I don’t.”I don’t. I tossed my can overhand into the recycling bin. “Hunt. Catch. Fuck. Serves me just fine.”
“Sure,” he snorted softly. “I’m not as shortsighted as you.”
I swallowed down the urge to throw a punch at him, and stomped out of the kitchen instead.
Shortsighted? Hah! I wasn’t shortsighted, I just knew what I liked. I didn’t need attachments, didn’t needcommitments. One and done, that was my thing; it was easier that way, for everyone involved. I didn’t need to get tangled up infeelingsand shit, and she didn’t need to deal with an asshole like me.
That’s why I liked MonsterSmash so much. There’d been plenty of females out in Colorado who were fine with my terms; some of them I even met up with more than once. I made sure they had no complaints about our hookups, and I was the one to leave in the morning.
Not last time.
No, not last time, and I suspected that was why I’d been dealing with this itchy irritation in my chest since the morning I’d woken in that hotel room to find my arms empty and the ghostly scent of Jocelyn all over.
She’d leftme.
Why the shit are you complaining? You leave her, she leaves you, what does it matter? It’s over and done, and it’s not like you weren’t satisfied.
Hells yes, I’d been satisfied. Over and over again, even when I hadn’t come. Just watching—feeling—Joss coming apart on my fingers, my tongue, my cock…it had been fuckingmagnificent, and I guessed that’s what was pissing me off so much; I wanted to experience that again and again.
So maybeone and donehadn’t been the truth here, huh?
Shortsighted.
MyKteerwas rumbling as I jammed my feet into my shoes and scooped my keys off the hook by the front door. It wasn’t until I straightened that I felt the pain in my chest: My claws were digging into the thin cotton of my shirt like I could rip my ribcage out.
“You’re leaving, Uncle Brak?”
I whirled around to see my nephew staring up at me. When did he learn to move so quietly? “Yeah, kid, lots to do at home,” I managed, reaching out to ruffle his hair. “Damn, you still haven’t stopped growing? What’s your dad feeding you?”
“Mainly pizza,” Korrad said lightly as he leaned againstthe doorjamb to the kitchen. “Although he has to eat a carrot with every slice.”
“Oh, yeah, that’ll fix all the nutritional problems there,” I deadpanned, not looking at my brother. Not knowing if I wanted to. He wasgetting married? Idiot. “I hear you’re getting a brother, Jay.”
And just like that, the kid’s facelit up. He’d turned twelve a few months back, and I remembered that there’d been a handful of kids from his class at the party. It wasn’t like he was lonely, yeah? So why did this Milo matter so much to him?
“Milo’s a year younger than me, but he’ll be in fourth grade. He’s my best friend, and now we’re going to be brothers! How cool is that?”
My throat closed up, thinking of all the shit I’d been through with Korrad and Kardok over the last decade and a half.
