Chapter Thirteen
THORIN
Ugh!” Aurelia shouts. “This is useless. I’m never going to catch anything.”
It’s just before sunrise, and the three of us—Zeke, Aurelia, and me—are standing in the shallow waters of a wide river, waders on, fishing rod in hand, and net at the ready. “Because you lack patience,” I tell her.
“Exactly,” my wolf agrees. She then sends me an accusatory look. “I thought you said fishing was fun?”
I sigh. “Only if you have patience.”
Aurelia grumbles but doesn’t bother arguing.
She knows herself and owns up to it, one of the many qualities I admire about her.
Instead, her gaze travels over to Zeke, who is standing as far away from us as he can get.
“Why do you think he came?” Her tone suggests she’s not bothered by it. She’s curious.
“To keep an eye on us probably.”
“But why is he so far away if he wants to babysit us?”
“Don’t know. Could be that he’s worried your incessant complaining will scare the trout away.”
“Is that your way of telling me to shut up?”
“Is that the way you heard it, wolf?”
Aurelia responds by letting out a roar. She runs forward with her arms up, stomping through the shallow water. She makes a few circles around me for good measure before ending her petty rampage with a beaming smile.
“There you go. I got them riled up for you. Gooooo trout!” She pumps her arm in the air like a cheerleader before sauntering past me.
My hand is moving before I can even think about it, and I put everything I have into the strike, ensuring she feels it even through the Gore-Tex of her waders.
“Ow!” Aurelia yelps before rubbing the sting from her ass.
“Brat.”
“Creep,” she volleys back.
I watch her go to make sure she makes it to the riverbank safely despite it only being ten feet away, and then I wade over to Zeke since my spot is blown.
“What was that about?” he asks the moment I’m within earshot.
“She wants to be fucked,” I answer plainly. “And soon.”
“Odd way to go about it.”
I feel my smile when I answer, “Not the way we do it.”
Zeke doesn’t respond, and I recast my line. Within minutes, I have a bite and use my net to secure it before releasing the fat trout from the line. Feeling smug, I look back toward the riverbank to show Aurelia and find it empty.
“What the fuck? Where the fuck did she go?”
“Who?” Zeke asks absently as he secures his own catch.
“The tooth fairy, Zeke. Who else?” I wade back to the bank and toss my trout into the cooler full of ice with the others before peering through the trees. “Aurelia!”
“She left these behind.” I didn’t even realize Zeke had followed me out of the river. I follow his voice and see him holding up Aurelia’s waders. “Maybe nature called.”
“Her pack and bow are gone.”
Zeke tries to act like he’s not interested in where she could have gone or why, but in the end, his curiosity and distrust of Aurelia win him over. “Well, you’re a hunter, aren’t you? So hunt. We can come back for this shit later.” He drops the waders, sheds his own, and then grabs his pack.
I do the same, and then we’re off, but we don’t make it more than a few feet before I stop and swear viciously.
“Problem?”
“Aurelia’s hidden her tracks.”
Zeke’s brows shoot up. “She can do that?”
“I’ve been teaching her,” I say through gritted teeth.
“Yeah, seems like a good idea.”
“Can you not be a dick about this for two seconds?”
“Maybe you should ask yourself why you don’t like being reminded that she could be playing you.”
I grab Zeke’s shirt and shove him against the nearest tree, keeping him pinned there with my forearm against his throat. “Because I don’t fucking appreciate another man trying to tell me about my girl. Make this the last time I warn you, Ezekiel.”
“But she’s not just yours, is she? She’s Khalil’s too, and judging by the way she pines for me day and night, I’m guessing I could have her if I wanted. She’s mine too, Thorin. I bet that’s what’s really eating you. I don’t even have to want her and she’ll crawl for me.”
“What the hell is wrong with you?” I roar in his face.
Zeke shoves me off him, and it’s equal parts reflex and rage that makes me swing.
My fist connects with his jaw, snapping his head to the side and sending spit and blood flying.
Zeke recovers quickly and throws one of his own that barely grazes my chin before he tackles me to the ground.
He punches my temple at the same time I throw a vicious jab into his ribs.
We roll and then he’s on the bottom but the fucker bites me and then we’re rolling again, striking wherever we can as we roll and roll and roll.
I’m on top when I hear a throat clearing.
The sound stops me mid-punch, and I look up to see Aurelia standing ten feet away with her hands on her hips. “The game was for you both to find me, not fight over me. You’re playing it wrong.”
Zeke and I shove away from each other and stand. The genuinely ruffled look on Zeke’s face at being caught coming undone is a thousand times more satisfying than any punch I could throw.
He scoffs as if the notion is ridiculous. “We weren’t fighting over you.”
Aurelia gives him one of those slow withering looks that starts from his feet and ends when her gaze meets his. I don’t even try to hide my grin. “Looked like it. Sounded like it too.”
“What did you hear?”
Her now blank gaze remains on Zeke when she answers, “Enough.”
For a moment he actually looks like he wants to apologize, but his stubbornness gets the best of him and he closes his mouth at the last moment and looks away. It’s Aurelia’s turn to scoff, and when she takes a step forward, she winces. It’s the first time I notice she has a skinned knee.
“What happened? Where did you go?”
“Up there.” She points to a large tree with a thick trunk. None of the branches are low-hanging and are pretty far apart, meaning it would have taken incredible skill to get up there. It’s also the tree I shoved Zeke against before our fight.
“Impressive.”
“I know.”
“Come here, songbird. Let me look at that knee.” I direct her over to one of the fallen logs, and she takes a seat while I crouch in front of her and dig through my bag.
“Exactly how many pet names does one person need?” Zeke grumbles.
“Why do you ask?” Aurelia immediately retorts with a narrowed gaze. “Jealous you missed out on all the good ones or upset that you’re not man enough to use yours around your friends?”
“Shrew?”
Aurelia tosses back her head and laughs. “Nice. Very nice. Did you come up with that on your own or did you have help?” She lifts a brow.
Zeke is too stunned to respond when he realizes she means Seth, and I know it’s because Khalil and I have always treated his DID with kid gloves. But not Aurelia. That’s when I realize that something’s shifted between them.
Aurelia is no longer playing nice.
Neither of them are.
It’s…interesting.
Mostly I’m just happy as fuck to watch Zeke look like he’s been hit in the face with a fucking blender. He’s been acting like a real bastard lately, and my patience is wearing thin.
Apparently, I’m not the only one, since Aurelia is baring her claws once again.
I cough to cover up my laugh, but I lose control of it and a snarl directed at me rips from Zeke’s throat.
“Don’t,” he snaps before storming off into the thicker copse of trees.
Aurelia watches him go until he disappears from sight, and then her nose wrinkles like it always does when she’s deeply frustrated. “What’s his problem? He started it.”
“And you finished it,” I remind her gently.
I’m proud of Aurelia for holding her own, even though it’s probably driven this tenuous tolerance they have of each other a few bars lower.
“Just… Try not to take it too personally. He can’t help but look at you and see Tatum.
He thinks he’s protecting Khalil and me. And you…believe it or not.”
Because Zeke isn’t just afraid of whatever Aurelia might be plotting. He’s also afraid of our reaction if it turns out to be true. Khalil and I don’t carry that fear because we know her feelings are as real as ours.
Aurelia sighs, and her shoulders drop as she deflates. “Yeah, I know,” she says remorsefully and then in a blink, her claws are back. “But just so you both know… That Tatum excuse is getting really old, don’t you think?”
Pulling out my first aid kit, I pop it open and sigh with a nod. “Yeah. I do.”
Aurelia is quiet as I clean and bandage her cut, and though I can feel the weight of her thoughts growing, I patiently wait until she’s ready to voice them.
“How can you be sure he’ll come around? And what if he doesn’t?
This is where he feels safe, Thorin. I…I can’t help but wonder if I’ve taken that away from him.
I’ve done a lot that I regret, but sometimes, I feel like being here and falling in love with Zeke’s friends and his alter is the most monstrous thing I’ve done. ”
“She finally admits it,” I grumble.
“What?” Aurelia sniffs and blinks down at me in confusion, and it’s clear she doesn’t even realize all of what she confessed.
“I said Zeke fell in love with you once, wolf. He can do it again.”
Aurelia huffs a breath. “That was Seth. You said they’re not the same.”
“In a way, they are. To some degree Seth, Zeke, and Bane are one and the same. The alters manifested because Zeke needed a way to cope with what was happening to him without causing further damage, right?”
“Uh…yes?”
“He doesn’t just use Seth and Bane to escape further trauma. He also uses them to compartmentalize his emotions. There’s a reason Seth doesn’t ever really get sad or angry. It’s because those aren’t emotions he’s familiar with.”
“Before Seth and I were ambushed in the dell, he thought I was running and he got really upset but his voice… It didn’t sound like him.”