Chapter 5
Chapter
Five
brENTON
Teddy had to peel the twins from my arms. I wasn’t ready to leave them and wanted to hold them a little longer, but it was only fair for their father to have a chance to say goodbye, too.
“Will you be gone for a long time?” Victoria asked, her pretty green eyes shimmering as she peered up at the male who’d become her father.
Elias set her small body on the ground before he turned to scoop up Caspian and Zayne.
“I don’t know,” Elias said. “But we’ll be back as soon as we can.”
Eleven-year-old Jasmine crossed her arms, shooting an angry glare at Javier that I was certain Javier couldn’t see through the thick darkness that covered Elias’s yard.
Morning was coming, but her resentment hadn’t faded with the night.
Javier had moved out of their home a long time ago, and Jasmine still held it against him.
I understood, kind of. She felt abandoned by the big brother who’d looked after her when their parents couldn’t.
Thankfully, she didn’t know the reason he stayed away, but he tried to make up for it by taking the girls out as often as his duties permitted him.
At least he’d quickly taken back his demand that George stop spending time with the girls before they’d had a chance to question his sudden disappearance too.
“It’s not fair. Why does Javier get to go on adventures while we’re stuck here?” Jasmine said.
George ruffled the top of her dark hair, which she’d cut short on her very own, leaving a zigzagged mess a hair designer had to fix. But according to her, she was too old for braids or flowers in her hair, so Teddy had agreed for her to get a more sophisticated cut.
I’d never tell her, but I thought the new cut made her look even more adorable, like a sweet little cherub.
“I wasn’t chosen for this adventure either.” George grimaced. “You and I can find our own adventure.”
“Me too?” Juanita, the youngest of the three girls, asked.
Javier took that moment to walk to us. Elias stiffened at his approach, putting his sons on the ground so he could wrap an arm around Teddy’s shoulders to bring her closer to him.
If Javier hurt her, I’d struggle to rein in my own anger toward him. Surely, he could forgive Teddy and Elias by now.
While I thought he’d stop to talk to the girls, he simply tousled Juanita’s hair as he walked past her. He cleared his throat when he stopped in front of Teddy.
“Can I talk to you?” he asked, running a hand over the back of his head to his neck. It came out careful and timid, like the youngling I’d met back in their human realm.
“Of course, yes,” she said.
Elias kissed her cheek, nodding at Javier, before ushering the younglings away. I turned to Luana, who sat patiently at my feet, and knelt beside her. While I wanted to give them privacy, I stayed close, just in case.
“I, uh, Delaney broke up with me last night.” His voice was thick with hurt. “After the movie, when I walked her home.”
“Oh, Javi, I’m so sorry,” Teddy said.
Although I wasn’t looking at them, I heard Javier when he shuffled his feet.
“A couple of weeks ago, she met her soul-bound mate,” he said.
“Two weeks ago?” Teddy asked, her tone a little high-pitched.
Through the sibling bond we shared, I felt her irritation as it rose.
“Did you know about him before last night?” she asked.
“No.” That single word came out resigned and defeated. “She wasn’t sure what she was going to do. She said she still loves me, but . . .”
It was that but that hurt. No doubt Delaney loved him just as I’ve felt the affection Finley held for me.
“He’s a shifter still living in the human realm,” he said, his tone hitching and breaking. “She, uh . . .”
“Can I give you a hug?” Teddy asked.
I didn’t hear Javier’s reply, but I heard her feet move and sensed it through our bond when she embraced him. There was a mixture of relief and pain. Guilt curled my stomach, knowing I shouldn’t be intruding or eavesdropping on this moment.
“It hurts,” he whispered.
“I know it does, sweetheart,” she said just as low.
“I love her. I love her and—” He sniffled. “Why do I keep losing people I love?”
“Life isn’t fair,” she said, which honestly was such an understatement. “It can be cruel and filled with more heartbreak than we think we can bear. Your heart has been broken countless times, yet you keep getting back up and finding the good life has to offer.”
“I’m tired, though, Teddy. Everything hurts.”
“The alternative is to lock yourself away and cage your heart so you can’t get hurt again,” I said, giving them a sheepish smile.
Teddy glared at me, her lips thinned in frustration over my intrusion.
“I was eavesdropping, and I’m not sorry about it.
” On a sigh, I dropped my smile. “I know heartbreak. I have a lifetime of it, and I’ll tell you this, Javi.
I’d rather my heart break an infinite number of times than shield love and leave my heart empty.
” Giving Luana a final pat, I rose. “You’re hurt and tired.
I understand that. Having someone you love walk away from you is a pain akin to death.
Learning to breathe and function without them is an ongoing pain I don’t wish upon anyone.
Sometimes I think the heart wasn’t built to be broken.
If you were to cut my skin, I’d bleed but eventually heal.
A wound to the heart?” I placed my fisted hand against my chest, where my heart echoed with the years of pain it’d endured thus far.
“It can last a lifetime. This isn’t the end of your story, though.
Feel the pain, acknowledge it, and then rise again and again until rising isn’t as exhausting because the broken can still live and enjoy life.
Delaney’s part in your story may be over, but you still have so many chapters left unwritten.
You’re going to find the forever kind of love.
” I gave him a faint smile, one that carried more truth than comfort.
“The pain may never vanish completely, but it’ll make the joy sharper when it comes. And it will come.”
He leaned into Teddy’s side, as if he were seeking her strength, in the same way he once did before their relationship fell apart. He wouldn’t see this heartbreak as a good thing. Neither would Teddy. But maybe it’d be what would bring them back together.
“Or maybe I ramble too much.” My grin came easily while the hope for them surged.
“A little ramble-y,” Teddy teased. “But still good advice.”
I tugged the length of Teddy’s red hair before I finally turned to give them space. Luana stayed close to my side, stopping when I stopped.
My instincts prickled at the base of my neck and crawled down to my spine. I snapped my head around and, in an instant, the rest of the world faded away until there was only Finley walking toward us.
Her smile was small and hesitant, her silver eyes sweeping over the group before stopping just outside the circle we’d formed. I nearly closed the space between us without thinking, but forced my feet to stay put. I couldn’t start this mission tripping over myself to reach her.
But then I saw the puffiness around her crimson-rimmed eyes, the faint splotch of red along her neck.
Heat surged through me. My boots struck hard against the ground as I stalked toward Etienne, my hand fisting his collar and yanking him forward until we were eye to eye.
“Why was my—your intended crying?” My voice came out low, but the muscles in my arms trembled with restraint.
Rather than answer me, Etienne’s eyes landed on Finley. I followed it in time to see her press a trembling hand to her mouth. Her features smoothed a beat later, but the blaze in her silver eyes found me.
“Etienne would never—”
“Why don’t you tell her, Brenton?” Etienne interrupted, urgency edging his words.
Eyes narrowed, Finley shook her head. With her black hair tied in a neat bun, the fury that shone behind her eyes was that much more evident.
“Don’t,” she warned Etienne.
Still watching her, he told me, “Tell your soul-bound mate the ways you would make me suffer if I hurt her. Tell her the things you would do to protect her. The things I wouldn’t do in her name.”
My soul-bound mate. Not his intended.
The words were a spark against dry tinder, but underneath the flare of possessiveness was confusion. What was I missing here?
The fissures in my chest split wider when Finley’s gaze hardened further. “You have no right, Etienne. No right.”
His frown deepened. “I have every right.” His words came out with something I couldn’t place. A plea? A warning?
Finley flinched, seeming to struggle with the hidden meaning behind Etienne’s words.
“You have every right, Finny.” His words drew a shadow of agony across his face.
Pain settled in the back of my throat, but not hard enough to distract me from the torment in my chest. “She doesn’t need those promises when she can protect herself.” My voice was rough, and I didn’t look at either of them.
I turned and walked away from them before the pull in my chest dragged me deeper, before I got caught in the silent war passing between them. I didn’t understand it. Wasn’t sure I wanted to when it left me feeling like an outsider in my own bond.
Instead, I turned my attention to Luana, who looked at me with all the puppy love she carried in her big, sweet heart.
At least I could count on her to never break my heart.
When I crouched down to her level, she pushed her big head against my stomach, wiggling her entire body as she tried to get closer to me.
“I’m sorry, my sweet girl, but you can’t come with me on this adventure,” I told her, giving the top of her head a loud kiss. “Your auntie Teddy will take care of you, though.”
Was it foolish how much I’d miss my dog?
Teddy put her hand on my shoulder and knelt beside me. “I’ll give her extra treats and belly rubs.”
“Are you okay?” I asked. “After Javier . . .”