Page 32 of Fated for Flames

“So,” I panted, turning to Chad, “how’d you get so good at this?”

He shrugged, an easy smile playing on his lips. “With an older brother like Ryker, I didn’t have much of a choice.”

I choked on my water mid-sip spraying droplets from my mouth.

“Wait,” I spluttered, wiping my mouth with the back of my hand. “The big, silent, scary ass is your brother?”

Chad let out a bark of laughter at my expression. “Half brother,” he corrected me, still chuckling. “Same mother but different fathers.”

I blinked in surprise. The idea of Chad and Ryker sharing any sort of familial bond was baffling to me. They were polar opposites, Chad with his sunny disposition and Ryker with his icy stares.

“So,” I started slowly, trying to wrap my head around this revelation. “You guys grew up together?”

Chad nodded, plucking a blade of grass and twirling it between his fingers. His expression softened as he stared into the distance, no doubt lost in memories of his past.

“Yes,” he said softly. “Despite our differences, we had each other’s backs growing up. Thad and Brad, too—they’re younger. Thad will start at the academy next year.”

Then he added, looking at me, “Ryker may be an ass sometimes, but he’s still family.”

I found myself thinking about that. Family. My mom and dad were gone. My new family, the one I would have given anything to, had betrayed me. I guessed having a silent, scary-ass shifter as a brother would have been better than nothing.

“Well,” I finally said after a long pause, “I suppose I should thank him for your training skills.”

Chad laughed again, the sound warm and infectious. “I’ll let him know. He’ll be thrilled.”

I laughed.The puppy did understand sarcasm.

“So what kind of shifter is Ryker?”

Chad froze mid-laugh, his expression going from jovial to shocked in a split second. He looked at me as if I’d just sprouted another head. “Little witch, you can’t just ask someone that. That’s like asking how big someone’s cock is.”

“What?” I said, feeling confused. “Why?”

Picking at the grass again, he began, “It wasn’t always like this. Back in the day, shifters were more open about their animals. Some would even let them out for everyone to see. Some still do, the lesser ones, and the wolves that are just too stupid for common sense. But now…” He trailed off, staring at the horizon with a far-off look in his eyes.

“Now what?” I prompted.

“Now things have changed.” His voice was barely a whisper, tinged with sadness. “Especially for us…the apex predators and the morepotentshifters.”

“What do you mean?” My heart ached at seeing him like this.

He faced me, his bright eyes shadowed with an emotion I couldn’t quite place. “Some of us…we go missing.”

“Missing? But why?”

Chad shrugged. “Nobody knows for sure. But it always happens to those who are…stronger.” He hesitated before adding softly, “Like my mom.”

“Your mom?” I echoed, my mind reeling with this new information.

He nodded, his expression grave. “She was a powerful shifter—one of the strongest. But one day…she just vanished. They found her a week later, already…” His voice choked off, and he couldn’t finish the sentence.

I sat there, stunned.

My mind raced with questions, but I knew better than to ask them now.

It hit me: I knew nothing of the supernatural worlds beyond what my witch-centric classes taught and what the elders and the matriarch had told us. I had been living in a bubble, never questioning, just blindly following.

That is going tochange.

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