Fate Succumbs (9 page)

That’s right. Ceramic dolls. Hundreds of
them staring at you from every available surface.

There was a reason Talley and I chose to sit
on the porch instead of inside on the couch.

“
I really should do the
selfless thing and leave, but I can’t seem to make myself do it,” I
said. Even though the house was seriously isolated and Talley
assured me no one other than her trusted Aunt Della would ever know
we were there, I kept thinking about what would happen if someone
found Jase and Talley with me. I was a dangerous person to be
around.

Talley patted my leg. “Stop worrying so
much. Liam wouldn’t have brought you to the meet-up point if he
thought there was any chance of danger. He’s had every contingency
planned out for this meeting since July.”

My teeth ground together. “Of course he
has.”

“
How is life with Liam?”
She asked cautiously. She was still cuddled against my chest, so
there is no way she missed my growl.

“
Stubborn, self-important
ass.” I was taking what Charlie said into consideration, but
trusting Liam didn’t mean I had to like him.

Talley jerked up, scandalized. “Scout! You
shouldn’t say that.”

“
I’m just stating facts,
Tal. Honestly, this is the watered down,
if-you-can’t-say-something-nice-don’t-say-anything-at-all version.
Would you like to hear what I really think of him?”

“
He’s not that
bad.”

At that moment he was
telling Jase how to hold a wrench, and even more annoying than
that, Jase was
letting
Liam tell him how to hold a wrench.

“
Oh, you’re right, Tal.
He’s a peach. Always so happy and warm to be near. And the way he’s
so open and honest, and how he never tries to boss anyone around. A
diamond in the rough, that one.”

“
Shhh! Library voices,”
Talley said, digging an elbow into my ribs.

“
Why?” I said a little too
loudly. “I don’t care what he thinks.”

“
Scout, please don’t
provoke the extremely Dominant Shifter who is very angry with you
at the moment.”

“
The moment? Try ‘the
life’.” I scowled towards where the boys were now removing some
part of the car which was probably necessary for it to operate. I
hoped they knew what they were doing. “And I’m the one who has a
right to be angry here. How could he not tell me that Jase was only
following his orders? Do you have idea what it was like for me to
stand there and hear him say those things? To think that he didn’t
care they were going to kill me?” I wanted to cry so I screamed
instead. “And your mother. God, Talley. I mean, it was like she
hated me.”

Talley’s head jerked down and her fingers
immediately went to her hair.

“
Talley, your mom was just
putting on a show, right? Like Jase? It’s all part of Liam’s
Let’s Torture Scout
Plan?”

“
You have to understand,”
Talley said in a small voice, “my mother was raised with some very
strong beliefs. And with my dad being so close, close enough to
prod and provoke…”

“
She wasn’t
acting.”

“
She was doing what she
thought was right--”

Betrayal hurts just as much the second time
around. “How could she? She’s your mom. She taught me how to skip
and play hop-scotch…”

Talley’s eyes were
overflowing. “I know. I
know.
I’ve tried to talk to her, but I’ve got to play
the part of a good little Alpha Potential, and…” A sniffle and lots
of rubbing of the cheeks. “I’m sorry, Scout. So, so
sorry.”

I wasn’t going to cry again. I refused.
Anyway, Talley was shedding enough tears for the two of us.

“
It’s not your fault,” I
said, meaning it. Like we have any control over our parents. I
mean, mine are pretty great most of the time, but when your dad is
the superintendent for the school? There are lots of times you have
to apologize to your friends for things he does. Sure, he never
tried to get any of them killed, but he did make us switch to a
schedule that made our summers super-short. When you’re thirteen,
two weeks less summer vacation feels like someone is trying to kill
you. “I don’t blame you. I would never blame you.”

A wrench or socket or some such thing landed
with a thunk on the porch. “Just me, right?” Jase said, squinting
against the afternoon sun.

“
What are you talking
about? I don’t blame you for Mrs. Matthews’ turning me over to the
Alphas.”

His jaw muscles twitched. “You sure? I mean,
why not? You believed I would willingly stand there and let them
take you.”

Well, it looked like we were going to do
this now.

“
I overheard you talking to
Sarvarna,” I said, sounding way more aloof than I actually felt.
“She offered you a way out of being mated and a position in the
Pack. It was a good bargain.”

“
A good bargain?” Jase’s
voice was about two notches louder than necessary. “Seriously? My
sister’s life in exchange for a place in their corrupt ranks? You
thought I would want that?”

There may have been a time
when I would have apologized, quelled at his anger. Jase always had
the stronger personality of the two of us. He led, I followed. But
no more. Things had changed.
I
had changed.

“
How was I supposed to know
any different? Did you send me a message?” I turned to Talley. “Or
you? Did you try to send me a brain note saying, ‘Don’t worry about
Jase. We have a plan.’?” Now I was getting loud.

“
Do
not
yell at Talley.”

“
You let me sit in that
cell and think you didn’t care.”

“
I was trying to save
you!”

“
You didn’t come to see
me!”

“
I had a role to
play!”

“
But you didn’t come see
me! You left me! Alone!” I swiped away a single escaped tear. “What
kind of brother doesn’t even come and say goodbye? Even Sarvarna
would have understood the need for closure. But you didn’t come. It
could have all went wrong. I could have died, and you would have
never said goodbye.”

“
How could I?” He was
practically whispering now. “How could I go down there, look at you
in that cage, knowing you might die, and not show them how much I
love you? You’ve been my best friend since I was six months old.
Almost every single one of my happiest memories has you at its
center. Just the thought of losing you makes me literally sick to
my stomach. How could you not know that?”

Emotional conversations are not commonplace
in my family. Yes, we love each other, but we don’t normally feel
the need to say it. Maybe we should more often, though, because
hearing how much my brother cared for me was enough to start
repairing some of the fissures in my soul.

I bolted towards him, arms wide, and he
caught me in a bear hug. I squeezed back with all I was worth. He
saw it as a personal challenge, and squeezed harder, making my ribs
scream in protest.

“
I love you, too, you
know?”

“
Damn straight you
do.”

I rested my cheek on his shoulder. “Now that
we’ve got this settled, can we kick Liam’s ass?”

Jase laughed. “Doubt it. Have you sparred
with him yet?”

I shook my head. “He’s too busy making me
run around in circles and do push-ups to actually let me do
something fun.”

“
Dude, I have, and I
promise ‘fun’ is not a word I would use.”

I tried not to be annoyed at Jase and Liam’s
obviously close relationship, but failed miserably.

“
You’ve never sparred?”
Talley asked.

“
Nope.”

“
No physical altercations
of any sort?”

“
Since you stopped me
earlier today, no.”

Jase was working on something in his head. I
could tell by his scrunched-up face and the way his finger hovered
in the air, periodically following an imaginary trail.

“
No punching?” he
asked.

“
No.”

“
No kicking?”

“
No.”

“
How about arm
wrestling?”

“
No. And before you ask,
we’ve avoided Slug Bug, Slap Bets, and any and all
Dance-Offs.”

Jase rubbed his chin. “And in wolf
form?”

I shrugged. “We rolled around a bit.” My
cheeks heated slightly as I said it. For some reason, talking about
it felt akin to divulging intimate details I would rather not share
with my brother. “So, what’s the deal here? You seemed surprised
that one of us hasn’t tried to kill the other yet.”

Actually, once I thought about it, it was
kind of miraculous.

“
It’s just not normal for
two Shifters to not try to determine a hierarchy,” Talley said.
“Usually, when two Dominant Shifters like you and Liam are around
each other, it takes less than an hour for a brawl to break
out.”

“
Maybe it’s because I’m a
girl,” I pontificated. “There really isn’t much use in getting into
a pissing contest since I have to sit down to pee
anyway.”

Jase made a choking noise. “Wow, Scout, that
was unbelievably crass.”

“
And a lie,” Liam said as
he walked up the porch steps. “If she would have sat down to pee at
half the places we’ve been to lately, she would have gotten a
disease or worse by now.”

“
And that,” Jase said, “was
unbelievably crass
and
gross.”

Liam collapsed into an old rocking chair,
which considered giving way under his weight. “Sorry, man. I didn’t
mean to offend your mate.”

I was about to correct him over the whole
“mate” thing when something caught my attention. I don’t know how I
missed it up until that moment.

Jase and Talley were holding hands.

“
Wait. What?” I couldn’t
seem to pull my eyes off their clasped hands. “Okay, someone needs
to start talking now, and I choose…” I looked from one to the
other. Jase was smiling at Talley who was looking at her
bellybutton and flushing bright red. “Jase. Spill it.”

“
The ceremony hasn’t been
completed yet, but we plan to do it in the spring.”

“
You’re getting married. In
the spring. To Talley.” The world officially no longer made
sense.

“
Not married,” Talley said.
“We’re just completing the mating ceremony then. We’re going to
wait until we finish school to get married.”

Very sensible and Talley-like. Only one
problem… “You guys don’t want to be mates and get married.”

Jase finally looked away from Talley and at
me. “Says who?”

“
You. There was yelling
involved. Yelling and pouting and lots of anger. All of it directed
at me."

“
Did I ever actually say I
didn’t want Talley to be my mate?”

“
You know, quite a bit has
happened between then and now--”

“
No. I never said I didn’t
want her.”

“
But there was
yelling.”

Jase brought Talley’s hand, which was still
entwined with his, up to his mouth and gently kissed her knuckles.
The look on Talley’s face said she was imagining little frolicking
birds and butterflies dancing around their heads.

My brain was beginning to hurt from trying
to wrap itself around this new development.

“
I was angry at you for
forcing Talley into being with me when she deserves so much
better.” His smile was all Jase. “Now she’s made that decision for
herself, I’m more comfortable with the situation.”

“
So you like Talley?
Like,
like
like
Talley?”

“
I love Talley.”

I looked at my best friend, who was still
seeing those animated critters. “And you?”

“
Head over heels,” she
replied.

Liam watched the entire exchange with
amusement. “How long have you known this?” I asked him.

“
Me? May.”

“
May?” I narrowed my eyes
at the traitorous couple. “You confided in
Liam
and not me? What the Hades is up
with that!”

Jase’s hands flew up in a defensive pose.
“Calm down, Anger Monkey. I don’t know what he’s talking about. Tal
and I didn’t figure it out until September.”

I took a deep breath to calm my nerves and
reminded myself that everything wasn’t about me. What I really
needed to focus on here was Talley. I love my best friend, but
she’s one of those people who only see the sunshine and rainbows.
The problem was, Jase can be a lot like sunshine and rainbows. When
he’s shining, there is truly nothing better. When all of his smiles
and attention are just for you, the world is a brighter, happier
place. But like sunshine and rainbows, he has a tendency to
disappear without warning and stay gone for a very long time. Being
his sister shielded me from a lot of his darker days, but I’ve seen
him drop girlfriends and friends on a whim and never so much as
think about looking back. It’s not that he’s cruel; he just doesn’t
realize what he’s doing. When it comes to relationships, he’s got a
bit of an AD/HD problem.

Sure, he seemed genuinely into Talley at the
moment, but what about next week or next month? What would happen
when the cute girl in his English 101 asks him to a party? Or when
things started getting complicated with Talley? How would Talley,
who never put anything less than her whole heart into anything,
survive the aftermath?