Chapter 13 Aiden #2
“I apologized to Skye, and she forgave me.” I said, feeling my arms heat slightly.
“You should fucking try it, Wyatt. You keep making stupid excuses for how you acted and continue to act. Zephyr is nice enough to let you into his home, and you continue being a dick to him. He could easily send you away and only allow you to be here while Skye is around. Why are you provoking him?”
Rafe chuckled next to me, but I didn’t miss how he shuffled away from me slightly as my arms began to grow warmer.
“Not to mention,” I continued. “You still owe me a fucking apology. You knew Skye was our Key and you hid that from me!”
“Are you kidding?” Zephyr said lowly, looking back at Wyatt with new disgust. “Do you have any idea how important this family Chain could be for her?”
The temperature in the room dropped. Rafe shifted uncomfortably from beside me again.
“You see how we live. You know what happened to our parents–”
Wyatt was shaking his head before Zephyr finished. “No, I don’t, Zephyr. None of us know any of that because she won’t tell us anything. I know they’ve passed, but that’s all.”
“Our parents were killed in the Gulf Capitol Massacre,” Zephyr said.
“Skye was with them. The bombs went off, and Skye’s affinity protected her, but not them.
She saw them dead, mangled, and impaled before I got to her and told her to close her eyes.
The bombs blew out her eardrums. She can’t handle anything loud, even to this day.
She has to sleep with earbuds in to keep the nightmares away. ”
I let out a shaky breath.
That was…fucking awful.
I look down at my hands, catching Rafe in my periphery. He wiped at his face quickly, clearly having been moved to tears. Wyatt had turned away sharply, trying to hide how the story had affected him, too.
“I didn’t know,” Wyatt said softly.
“It doesn’t matter, does it?” Zephyr said. “You owe her a fucking explanation for why you’re acting the way you’re acting. You keep this up and I’ll tell her it was your fucking dad who defended the witch who killed our parents.”
Wyatt’s head jerked up, and Rafe closed his eyes in disbelief.
“I’m sorry, what?” I said, my gaze darting back and forth between everyone. “What does that mean?”
“His big-shot lawyer daddy defended Regina Wilson,” Zephyr said. “You look just like him, Wyatt. Did you really think I wouldn’t recognize you eventually?”
“I have nothing to do with that,” Wyatt said quietly. “I don’t approve of anything my father does.”
“He really doesn’t,” Rafe said, defending Wyatt for the first time. “No one supports Wilson, not even Richard. He was just in it for the money.”
“How admirable,” Zephyr said dryly. “I can’t believe no one’s stopped you around here. They hate that flower-wielding weirdo.”
I snorted, and Wyatt pursed his lips. “He does more than just earth,” he muttered, referring to his dad.
“Don’t care,” Zephyr sing-songed.
“That’s to be expected,” Wyatt drawled. “Family of air affinates? Isn’t that what you tried to tell the agent after the storm?”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Zephyr asked, narrowing his eyes.
Wyatt snorted. “It’s a little weird to be insulting affinities when you only have one, isn’t it?”
Zephyr raised his eyebrows, and then his lips curled into a slow, menacing smile. “She hasn’t told you.”
Wyatt blinked. “Told me what?”
“Aiden,” Zephyr called before turning to look at me. “Has she told you?”
I blinked a few times, trying to think back on what I knew about Zephyr. Skye had never mentioned his affinities to me before, at least not in a way that explained the maniacal grin he was sporting. He was a Healer, but I’d also seen him use some air.
I shook my head slowly, opening my mouth to speak, and then Zephyr disappeared.
In a blink, he was just…gone.
Rafe jumped to his feet and barked a laugh. “Oh, hell yeah.”
“What…what the fuck?” Wyatt sputtered. “They… they both teleport?!”
That didn’t seem right to me, but…
But Zephyr’d just done it.
He was gone.
I laughed, and Zephyr reappeared next to Wyatt, shoving him almost hard enough to be considered a punch.
“Listen to me, all of you.” He looked at each of us.
“Skye didn’t want a Chain. Our upbringing was fucked.
I had to convince her to even go get laid, and she never did.
Then you come along and ignite something in her, only to run away like a little bitch.
I’m glad she rejected you. She deserves much fucking better.
” Zephyr shoved Wyatt again, and this time he lost his balance, tumbling into the wall.
“Don’t mistake my easy-going attitude for weakness.
The only reason you’re not a bloody pulp right now is because my sister hasn’t given me the go-ahead to kick your ass.
Remember that while you’re in my fucking home. ”
“Noted,” Wyatt wheezed.
Zephyr turned back to face Rafe and I, and his pale eyes caught on how Rafe stood between us, almost protectively. He shook his head before stalking back to the bouquet of flowers.
“She should have been back by now,” Zephyr murmured, glancing toward the sun through the window.
“If Wyatt’s life is no longer in immediate danger,” Rafe drawled like watching Wyatt get rocked hadn’t bothered him at all, “Then maybe I could go fetch the little wisp.”
“Open up for me and I can show you where she is,” Zephyr said easily. I raised my eyebrows at the same time Wyatt did, both of us surprised to see Zephyr trusting Rafe inside his brain so easily.
“I’m not worried,” Zephyr said when he caught the alarm on my face. “If Prince boy values his sanity, he’ll only look at what I show him.”
“Oh, Zephyr.” Rafe sighed, his eyebrows raised nearly to his hairline. “One day, we’re going to talk about what exactly you mean by that.”