Across the Vanishing Sky (Starlight Grove, #1)(79)

He might think I was a blend of the light and the dark, but I was feeling a hell of a lot darker lately. “I’ll check in later when I’ve sent everything over.”

“Dex?”

“Yeah?”

“Watch your fuckin’ back, okay? I really don’t want you getting dead.”

One corner of my mouth kicked up. “I’ll do my best.”

Anson hung up without a goodbye, like he always did, and I headed back inside. It was only to find a blustering Sheriff Miller in the middle of the living room.

“Why the hell are there civilians at my crime scene?” he snarled. “All of you get the hell out of here.”

Waylon’s chest puffed as he straightened his shoulders. “Oh no you don’t. She’s got no family around these parts, so I’m stepping in. Brae’s my family now. So back off, you blowhard.”

Miller’s face turned tomato red. “You can’t just make someone your family.”

“The hell I can’t. Family isn’t always blood. Sometimes, it’s a choice and showing up time and again. You’d know that if anyone but your blood kin could stand being in the same room with you for more than five minutes,” Waylon snapped.

“He’s gonna get himself arrested,” Wylder mumbled.

“You watch your tone with me, you—”

“Hey, Sheriff,” a younger officer cut in at the door. “Just got a call that the Lerners’ cows got loose again. They’re blocking traffic on the highway.”

“Goddammit,” Miller swore, glaring at all of us. But he stalked out the front door to deal with his new crisis.

“He’s a no-show, no-answer on the radio for hours and then shows up just to throw his weight around,” Travis muttered.

Waylon let out a huff. “Sounds just like the asswipe.”

Brae looked up at Waylon, her eyes glittering. She hadn’t let a single tear fall since I’d gotten to the cabin. Her voice and body had trembled, but she’d never given in to the tears until now.

“No one…” She swallowed and tried again. “No one has ever claimed me before. I never…I never felt like I belonged. Not with anyone but Nova.”

Fuck me. Brae sliced me to the bone: with her pain, her bravery, her pure honesty. And I couldn’t hold myself back from her.

I moved right to the spot I’d vacated, wrapping an arm around her shoulders again and pulling her into my side. “We’re claiming you, Hellion. You belong with us now.”

And, God, I wanted her as more than family. I wanted all of her. And it fucking terrified me.





32





BRAEDYN





I straightened from the couch, taking a moment to twist and crack my back. There’d been far too much sitting today, and my back was paying the price.

Owen looked up from his spot on the floor, where he was currently using Yeti as a bean bag chair. “You should do some of Supernova’s stretches.”

An innocent suggestion and a brutal blow all at once. But he wasn’t wrong. And it was a gift that he still remembered. Nova used to talk him into doing all sorts of yoga poses with her. She’d make up funny names that would make him giggle.

“Gonna downward dog with me?” I challenged.

“Naw, bruh. I’m cozy.”

A soft laugh left my lips, and I held on to the vibrations and warmth. Because I would need it.

At least all the law enforcement people had left. Wylder had finally gone into the Boot to check on things after leaving Fiona in charge that morning. Waylon had to go feed the alpacas and goats, and Maverick had offered to help. Kol took off to work on submitting all the recent discoveries via a mountain of paperwork. But Dex? Dex had stayed.

It both surprised me and didn’t. But that was Dex—all sorts of opposites and juxtapositions. He’d gone back and forth between taking calls and playing with Owen. He’d made us amazing BLTs for lunch, even though I’d only managed to swallow a quarter of mine.

As if responding to the lack of food, my stomach growled.

Owen laughed, his eyes on his video game. “Your stomach sounds like a monster.”

I bent over and tickled his sides. “The stomach monster’s gonna get you.”

He twisted and squealed. “Don’t make me lose!”

“Heaven forbid a life be lost on the planes of fantastical battle.”

Owen righted himself as I stopped tickling and punched a few keys. “You’re lucky I’ve got Superman reflexes.”

“I guess I am.” I looked out onto the back deck. Dex paced with his phone pressed to his ear. The sun was hanging low in the sky now, casting him in a golden glow he was made for. He tugged off his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose, wincing like a headache was brewing. Then he straightened, shoving his glasses back into place and looking like nothing was wrong at all.

The sun slipped a little deeper into the horizon, and a shiver ran through me as the image of the masked man flashed in my mind. We had an alarm. Dex was right next door. Roger had promised there would be drive-bys.

But still, I didn’t feel safe in my own home. And that pissed me the hell off.

It was nearly impossible to hold on to the mad when I was this tired, though. It was a bone-deep weariness completely at odds with the fact that I’d spent most of the day on the couch.