Chapter 37
Devlin
“You’re really Arson’s brother?” the wraith whispers, and I hate him even more for it. For whispering the information like it’s a dirty little secret.
“I haven’t exactly confronted him yet, so I’d appreciate it if you kept that between us.”
“What about Myles?” he asks, gripping his knife like he’s still debating driving it into my heart, and I frown in confusion.
“Who the fuck is Myles?”
My beautiful mate offers a sympathetic look that raises my hackles, bracing myself for the inevitable blow. “Your other brother,” she says gently. “He’s the reason Arson left the Shadow Knights, and now they’re both mated to my friend, Ever.”
I feel like I’ve been punched in the chest, all the air rushing from my lungs. My voice is a guttural croak. “They had another baby?”
Havoc watches me warily, dipping his head in a shallow nod. “Traded him away as a newborn, so he didn’t have to live with your parents for long. Was raised by a couple that love and adore him, and they’ve embraced Arson with open arms as well. I’m sure they’d be thrilled to meet you.”
Vision going spotty, I fist my hair, sucking in ragged breaths and murmur, “Why would they? Arson is their son in law, while I’m nothing. Never good enough. Always forgotten.”
Kiara’s face falls. “Devlin-” but I can’t face her disappointment too.
“I have to go,” I mutter before disappearing into the nearest wall. Out of sight, out of mind, like always.
The frigid wind bites at my face, yet I can’t bring myself to move from my perch.
The edge of the rooftop is making my legs numb, but it offers the perfect view of my brothers’ house across the street.
It’s better than I dreamed, and equally devastating, seeing Arson again.
He’s hardly recognizable from the toddler I remember, and Myles is a curveball I never saw coming.
But they’re both so… so happy. Clearly in love with their mate, and completely unfazed at my absence from their lives.
Eventually, Havoc mists into the space beside me, but I can’t bring myself to react, much less care. So he kills me; so what? Who would even miss me if he did? My brothers? They don’t even know that I exist.
“You should talk to them,” he says after some time, and I chuckle humorlessly.
“What would I even say? ‘Hey, nice to meet you. I’m your big brother you obviously haven’t missed and have clearly forgotten about.’ I’m sure that’ll go over swimmingly.”
When he says nothing, I turn to face the man that’s given me more of a purpose in life than I want to admit.
“Arson was a toddler when I was kicked out of the house. He doesn’t remember that I read him stories in the middle of the night when he had nightmares because our parents couldn’t be bothered.
Or that I always added a few drops of vanilla into his bottles before bed so he’d finish them, otherwise he slept like shit.
Once I was kicked out, he just…forgot me.
And by the time I was old enough to take care of him on my own, you’d already taken him away.
He was safe, and loved, and… didn’t need me anymore. ”
I swallow the lump in my throat. “You stole my brother and gave him a life better than I ever could have provided back then. But you don’t get to steal my mate away, too. I can take care of her, now. I have money saved up, and whatever she needs that I don’t have, I’ll find a way to get.”
Angrily swiping at my eyes, I snap, “You can’t take her away from me. She’s mine.” Sucking down a few ragged breaths, I stare off into the setting sun. “I need her.”
After a weighted moment, Havoc eventually makes a humming sound under his breath and stares off into the sunset beside me. “I don’t want to take her away from you, I only want to make sure she has everything she wants and needs.”
Asshole.
It takes longer than I want to admit before I get control of my wild emotions and sigh in defeat. “What she needs is you. Everyone else in her life has let her down; she needs us to be better than that. To have her back when shit gets tough.” I glance at him from the corner of my eye. “You all in?”
He doesn’t hesitate a single second. “Always.” But I’m not willing to accept his answer so easily.
“I mean it. If the guild is attacked, where does your allegiance lie? The front lines defending your legacy, or at your mate’s side?
Because she’s spent her entire life on the backburner, Knight.
She can’t have her mates casting her aside for other priorities.
She needs to come first; always. If you can't do that? Do the humane thing and walk away now while she can still hate you.”
I hate that I respect him for taking time to think over his answer before responding.
“I’ve accomplished more in my life than I ever dreamed, but it’s always been for someone else.
” He rests back on his hands, staring up at the night rapidly spreading across the sky above us.
“I loved my time as guild master. I was able to give people that desperately needed it a home, and guide an entire generation into putting their skills to good use. Gave them a purpose and a family they could count on when times got tough. I raised Arson as my own son. But now?” He glances at me, scanning my face before his lips curve in the barest shadow of a smile.
“I want to be selfish for once. If that means I step down from my position? I’m happy to do it. ”
Sighing, he tracks the shooting star that races across the sky.
“If I’d known you were out there, I would have taken you in, too, you know.
I’m sorry I wasn’t there when you needed me, but I’m asking that you let me be there for you now.
Because we have a mate that’s far too fucking good for this world that needs us to stand between her and everyone that wouldn’t hesitate to take advantage of her. ”
Extending a hand, he sucks in a deep breath. “I love her more than I hate you. Truce?”
Pretty sure I can manage both.
Fighting my instincts, I take his hand, discreetly attempting to break a couple of bones. Or at least fracture them; I’m not picky.
“For now.”
Unless he hurts my girl again. Kiara’s basilisk? He and I have an understanding, and he’ll be fully grown in less than a year. That’s plenty of time for Havoc to show his true colors, and an easy way to dispose of any mates that prove to be dead weight.