Kaiden is a stubborn bastard and holds out a solid three minutes before yanking his arm back and glaring at the handprint seared into his flesh like a bracelet. His eyes flash with his barely restrained anger, Kinsley putting a hand on his shoulder in a bid to diffuse the situation.
“You’re alright?” he confirms and I nod with a single jerk of my head.
“Where’s Kahl?”
“Looking for you,” Kaiden grits out, pulling out his phone to call our brother. “Since Eli refused to fucking crack.”
I feel a stab of guilt, but refuse to show it. We wait in tense silence and ever mounting tension until Kahl gets home. Sighing in relief, he pulls me into a hug that doesn’t hold a single spec of anger.
“We were worried sick, Ez. Why didn’t you take your phone with you?” he asks calmly, still not letting go.
“Forgot to grab it before they were dragging me to the hospital,” I mumble.
He nods, because I’m sure Elias filled them in on nearly everything they missed while they were lying unconscious in the backyard. “And they filled in the gaps from where Elias left off I assume?” I nod with his heavy sigh. “We just wanted you to be able to be happy for a little bit, Ez. We already lost our parents, the world was going to shit, and,” he trails off, pulling back so I can look him in the eye. “And I fucked up. I’m sorry.”
I swipe a hand over my face, my anger deflating as it always eventually does. Kaiden and I are like water and oil, but Kahl and Elias are always able to breach my defenses far too easily.
“Now what?”
Kahl furrows his brow. “Now you come home. Nothing’s changed, Ez; you’re just aware of it now. Date, pick your mates, and when it’s time to go to the sanctuary, we’ll make a plan.”
It feels so...anticlimactic after everything, but he’s right. I turn to Elias, whose expression is guarded and wary. I hate that more than this whole situation, despise the distance that’s already growing between us. We’ve been through everything together, we’re supposed to be stronger than this.
“You have a match in five days. If you aren’t going to finish that book report you keep putting off, you should be training.” I give him my best mom look, full of stern disapproval.
His lip twitches and he comes over to ruffle my hair. “Run drills with me?”
I lean my head on his shoulder, missing the boy that was small enough to sit on my hip, but proud of the person he’s becoming despite my nostalgia.
“Always.”
Chapter 11
Soren
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