Page 78 of Always Watching

Which is why I’m sitting around our apartment with Wylder, who isstillin the city for some reason. I’m used to him blowing in and out like some kind of wild storm, maybe breaking a few trees and destroying a few neighborhoods in the process, but leaving just as quickly as he’d shown up.

Now, he’s on the couch across from me drinking a beer like it’s a normal thing, his eyes idly on whatever he’s watching on his phone.

If I didn’t know any better, I’d say he was sticking around to make sure Ranen and I don’t get into any trouble.

If I didn’t know any better, I’dsayhe was sticking around to see how Ranen and I work so well to begin with… because we really do. I’ve never felt so content before. It hasn’t magically cured me of my desire to kill, by any means, but I haven’t had to rush off to do it either. That urge isn’t a pressing, burning need, living and breathing and demanding in my chest.

Of course, being with Ranenhasfed it twice. Maybe it just knows he’ll bring more opportunities. I’m more than willing to change my agenda to taking out anyone who remotely looks at him funny.

It sounds like an excellent motive, even if Dad, Wylder, and probably Ranen wouldn’t actually approve.

“Do you always look like you’re ready to kill someone when your kitty goes on a play date?” Wylder asks, interrupting my thoughts. My eyes snap up to him, and I frown.

“I’m not ready to kill anyone except foryouif you keep calling him kitty.” The threat doesn’t mean a damn thing since he starts laughing the second the scowl crosses my face.

“Listen, you’re the one who picked a man who looks like he’d purr if you pet him.”

Hedid, but that wasn’t the point.

“It’s okay to be jealous, Wylder.” I plaster a friendly smile across my features and sit back in the chair, forcing some of the tension I’m carrying out of my shoulders. “I know you’re bad at making friends. I’m sure the dating scene can’t be easy for you.”

“I already told you, North. People like us aren’t made to date, orcareabout other people. I don’t know what universal law youbroke or what god you bargained with to get Ranen, but it’s not normal.”

At least he isn’t telling me I shouldn’t be with him this time. Now he’s just saying it’s denying the laws of the universe.

That’s an improvement.

But anyone who meets Ranen would have to know just by looking at him he belongs to me, that he wasmadejust for me. There’s no world where I wouldn’t have found him. I have to believe that.

When I’m silent for a few more minutes, Wylder runs his fingers through the long strands of his hair to get it out of his face, and he glances down as he asks me his next question. “You really love him, though, don’t you?”

Maybe I’m imagining it, but there’s almost an edge oflongingin his voice. I’ve never really asked my brother about his love life, because he’s made it clear from the beginning that he doesn’t believe in that kind of shit… but maybe I should have looked a little deeper. I really haven’t talked to him enough since he moved away.

“I do.” I answer it without hesitation, without worrying about what the words mean. “I know it’s hard to understand, but Ranen… he makes things make sense. He makes things feeldifferent.” I trace the pattern on the chair I’m in and frown. “It’s not like things were bad before. I was happy. I’ve always been happy. But Ranen… it’s like I’ve actually opened my eyes for the first time, Wylder. It’s like I can finally see the world, and the entire thing is the same shade ashiseyes. It’s… different.” I look up at him, at the frown twisting his mouth and the streak of pain that flickers across his face. “It’s good.”

The silence permeating the air only lasts for a second before his lips quirk. “Sounds like it’s a liability to me. Caring about someone that much makes you make mistakes. Like… I don’t know… killing a man without a proper setup and leaving a deadbody in an apartment?” He’s back to joking again, but there’s something in his tone that tells me I got to him. “Also, you could havewarnedme I wasn’t cleaning up Mr. Barlowe’s blood.”

He’s teasing me, and I almost feel guilty that he obviously had to clean up the aftermath of me fucking Ranen, but it was practically part of the crime scene at that point. And I’m too focused on the little glimpses of emotion I saw on his face to let it go.

“Haven’t you ever cared about anyone?”

“No.” He answers too quickly, then shrugs. “It’s a waste of time. Also, there’s no person in this world built to take on my brand of psychopath. You lucked out picking up your kitty cat, North. I don’t think anyone else could look at what we do and be okay with it.”

“You know, maybe you’re wrong, Wylder. I’m sure there’s someone out there built to match your kind of crazy.”

“Trust me, I’ve tr—” Wylder cuts off as he glances down at his phone. I know something’s wrong the instant the expression he usually wears drains from his features and his smile fades into something dark and dangerous—the brother onlyI’veseen, the face he wears when he’s ready to kill someone.

“What is it?”

“North, I need you to be calm.” Something in my chest constricts, because there’s no reason for him to say that unless something iswrong.

There are exactly three people I care about in this world, and one of them is in the room with me. Which means it’s either Dad or…

“Who?”

“I had my connection run Ranen’s subscriber list, to make sure we got all the accounts related to the man we dismembered yesterday. The problem is, he only had one.”

“Why is that a—”

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