Page 10 of Blood and Magic
“Two months, huh?” He whistled. “You gonna be okay that long on Vanderbilt territory?”
“I’ve done it before,” I said.
“Yeah, but that was then.” He raised his eyebrows as if to add, “Before we knew about Sol and Guin.”
Technically, I had known about Guin the whole time, but he didn’t know that.
“Don’t piss off Moose,” I said. “And don’t go running off with Kai and Nix and get into all kinds of stupid, okay?”
Those two idiots were the ringleaders of Caelum’s age group. Kai had been born with the scent of an alpha on him, and one day, he’d branch off to form his own pack, possibly taking some of his age group with him. Kodiak would never begrudge him such a thing. It was the natural order. If he didn’t, we’d grow too large to contain everyone, and an overcrowded pack was a powder keg waiting to explode.
Caelum rolled his eyes. “Like you’re the one to talk. Don’t go dying on us again, okay?”
I tsked through my teeth and rubbed a hand over his messy hair, ignoring his fraternal jape. Then I nodded toward the door. “So you and Lyra, huh?”
“Shhhhh.” He glanced around to make sure no one else had heard me. “Keep that to yourself, brother. It’s not like that.”
“Oh?” I bit back my surprise. “I thought you two hated each other. I thought the three days you spent stuck in a cave together were the worst time of your life.”
He blew out a disbelieving breath and shook his head. “It was.”
“It doesn’t smell like it.”
Objectively, Caelum had always been a good-looking kid. The women flocked to him, especially because he was a wolf and came from a dominant bloodline.
“She’s not my mate, if that’s what you’re getting at.”
I held my hands up to say I meant nothing by it. “Just play it safe, Cael.”
He nodded and grinned. “Yeah, you too, Mill.”
“Alright, I’m heading out.” I gave him one more swat on the head before he turned back to his dorm and, smiling, closed the door behind him.
Gods, it was like looking in a fucked-up twisted mirror. Charming, hilarious, happy—Caelum was everything I used to be. We were two chips off the same block, once upon a time. And now… I took a deep breath and calmed the rage of injustice in my gut. It would do no good to wonder why this had happened to me or how I could start feeling something…anything…again.
CHAPTER 3
Maeve
“You’re sure…like doubley-triplely sure, you want to marry him?” Ava asked Sol, who stood at the full-length mirror, fussing with the corset on her gown. “Time’s a ticking, and there’s a getaway car out back.”
Sol laughed and glanced at my twin with shimmering eyes, the ones that were suddenly so different than how I’d remembered them growing up. “Of course.”
“But he’s…” She trailed off, unsure of how to word it delicately.
“Evil?” I cut in, my hands on my hips. “Rotten? Our family’s worst enemy in human form?”
“Evil and rotten?” Guin announced as she walked into the bridal suite. “You’re not talking about little ole me, are you?”
“They’re trying to talk me out of marrying Orion…again.” Sol shook her head, her ginger hair swaying with the movement.
“The ship’s already sailed on that, I’m afraid.” Guin sighed in dramatic exasperation. “Okay. Let’s get this show on the road. We’re already fashionably fifteen minutes late, and if we wait any longer, we’ll rile up the president. As much as that normally thrills me, I’d prefer not to converse with him today of all days.”
Sol rolled her eyes and grinned, but I looked at Ava, who wore the same expression of disbelief as I did. We still hadn’t discovered their secret, but they would likely let it slip sooner or later. Sol, especially, had never been very good about hiding things.
We followed them through the corridor and down the grand staircase of the Vanderbilt mansion. When we stood at the French doors at the back of the house, Sol hid behind the curtains so the groom didn’t see her before he was meant to. We took our spaces, Ava and me at the head of the line with Guin just before Sol. She didn’t have a maid of honor because she said she couldn’t choose between us. Our youngest brother, Galahad, and our eldest brother, Liam, stood ready to walk our sister down the aisle.
“You look wonderful,” Liam said, grinning as he took one of Sol’s elbows. “A vision.”
