Page 192 of Bliss & Her Idols

“I couldn’t find him. I thought that he may be in his room, recovering from his discipline by the twins. But he wasn’t there. Possibly, their punishment was more extensive.”

Jin looks genuinely alarmed.

I twist my hands in my lap.

Remembering Piper and Chase, makes uneasiness sit heavy in my gut about Rory.

“Do you think that you could forgive Rory?” I whisper.

Torin glances at Jin, and his gaze becomes frostier. “The asshole doesn’t deserve it. But now, when I see how he’s treated by the rest of the family again, I realize that I may already have forgiven him. Aren’t I betraying Jin? Myself?”

“I can’t tell you what to do or how to feel,” I say, quietly. “If you talk to him, however, maybe you’ll discover that there’s more to what happened than you know. Your brother does seem sorry.”

“Sorry doesn’t fix everything, does it? It doesn’t return those five years to me. It doesn’t take back a single moment that I spent in Dublin.”

“But it’s a start.” I look down, trying to explain. “In my job, I’ve seen a lot of Alphaholes who’ve hurt their partners or pack. Rory isn’t acting like they did. None of them showed genuine remorse, where they took responsibility for their actions. Even if you don’t forgive Rory, we could help him.”

“I forgive him,” Jin says, softly.

I look up, surprised.

Torin’s expression becomes icy. “You shouldn’t.”

Jin shrugs with an easy grin. “Still, it’s my choice. Your family is another kind of fucked up, yeah? And Rory didn’t have the support of the Idols like you had back then. He made one screwed up miscalculation. But please don’t throw away your relationship with your brother forever over that…or me. You have me now, and Rory…”

“Enough.” Torin takes a deep swig of wine. “Or we may all start holding hands and singing “Kumbaya”.”

“Ah, can we? Please?” Jin asks with fake enthusiasm.

Cricket laughs.

“I can sing something.” Torin clambers out of the pillow fort.

My brow furrows, as I watch him.

Nerves tremble through the bond, as well as a type of shyness that normally only radiates off Cricket.

Then Torin appears at the entrance to the fort with his battered guitar slung over his shoulder. He settles cross-legged, tuning the guitar.

Jin arches his eyebrow, glancing at me like I know what’s happening.

“Are we really going to sing “Kumbaya”?” Jin blinks.

“Actually, I’m going to give you three my bonding gift.” Torin’s dominant gaze slides across the new bonded members of his pack.

When all three of us simultaneously reach to touch our bond bites, he smirks.

“You don’t have to give us anything,” Jin says, cautiously. “We’re stuck on this fucking estate, and your brothers and sisters have taken all the family bonding heirlooms. It’s okay that you don’t have anything to gift us because you’ve already given yourself.”

Torin’s eyes glitter in the dark. “I always knew that as the youngest son, I wouldn’t have anything meaningful to give my bonded pack as a courting or bonding gift. I don’t own jewellery from Mom because I don’t have anything that belonged to her. I don’t even possess a photo. But despite being kept on a tight leash for years in Ireland without an allowance, I still courted Jin through the songs that I wrote. So, I composed a bonding gift for you all, while you were sleeping.”

I remember waking up to Torin sitting on the floor, concentrating harder than I’d seen him before with his guitar.

Composingour bonding gift.

“It does mean more to me,” I say, “than anything you could buy.”

Jin and Cricket nod.

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