Page 48 of Devotion

“You had a twin,” Alek said. It wasn’t a question so much as a statement of fact.

“A lifetime ago.”

“Why didn’t you ever mention him?” Alek asked. Out of the three of us, he seemed the most at a loss, which made sense to me. As a twin himself, he probably couldn’t comprehend not mentioning such a detail.

“I lost him when we were children. Barely ten years old.”

“Still, a twin is a pretty big detail to leave out,” Alek said.

“Not everyone feels the need to share every thought or feeling all the fecking time. Some things are so painful that the only way to survive is to bury them deep and never dwell on them again.”

“He’s dead?” Kingston surmised.

“Aye,” Caleb said with a heavy sigh. “Taken by the sea well before his time.”

My brows pulled together. “If he died when you were children, there’s no way this could be him.”

“But Caleb just said this box of trinkets wasn’t his. Who else would have access to these items? This photograph?” Alek pointed out.

“I’m telling you, he’s fecking dead.”

I hadn’t seen Caleb this angry since the time he held Kingston up against the wall during class when he thought he’d taken advantage of Sunday.

“You know for certain?” Alek pressed. “Did you ever find his body?”

Taking a shuddering breath, Caleb gathered himself before speaking. “I watched his coffin be lowered into the earth, listened to our priest pray over the grave. But no, there was no body to find. The sea doesn’t give up its victims so easily. It was my fault. All of it. Callum and I were inseparable as boys, and even though our ma told us to stay away from the waves, we loved to find shells to bring home as treasures. They were the best quality as the tide was going out. It was a competition between us, to see who could find the most beautiful one.

“I’d been ill with a fever and bedridden for days. Callum snuck out, promising me he’d find treasure for usboth. He never returned home. All that was left was his cap washed up on the shore. That’s all we had left to bury.”

It was the most I’d ever personally heard Caleb say about his family. Given the tragedy that shrouded his past, I understood why. Not only had he lost his parents and the rest of his siblings to a plague, but he’d lost his twin and carried the weight of that death on his already overburdened shoulders. His attraction to the priesthood made sense. Caleb was a man who grew up believing he had something to atone for.

That heavy stone of dread in my gut grew as I came to a conclusion Caleb wasn’t going to want to hear.

“Caleb, I think you might need to reconsider everything you know of what happened to Callum.”

“You can’t be suggesting Callum is alive and well.”

“I can. I think he’s very much alive and has a score to settle. How else could this impostor fool us all so easily? Sunday even let him feed from her.”

Caleb shook his head. “No. He was just a boy. This is ridiculous.”

Alek settled a hand on Caleb’s shoulder. “Answer my question again, Father Gallagher. The most important detail of your story. Did they ever find Callum’s body?”

Caleb’s dark eyes were haunted as he whispered, “No.”

“Well, padre, hope you’re ready for a family reunion,” Kingston said as he pushed off the dresser he’d been leaning against and strode toward the door. He was done waiting. As was I.

It was time to go get our mate.

Chapter

Eighteen

CALEB

There was no way Alek was right. The notion that my twin brother was here, had taken my wife hostage, and was also a vampire was so entirely preposterous I nearly laughed hysterically every time I thought about it. This wasn’t a fucking soap opera. It was my life.

Then again, my life did resemble a Shakespearean tragedy, so what the fuck did I know?

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