Sapphire Bones

Sapphires

"I do not look like a yeti."

"You look like one of those guys in fashion shows whose hair is messed up on purpose," Ethel called from the hallway. Damien huffed in a laugh from beside me, his shoulder pressed to the doorframe. I shot him a glare before shaking my head.

"You at least brought me coffee, right?" I hoped a mug materialized behind his back but alas he shook his head with empty hands in full view.

"Sorry bud, you have to get that yourself." He said with a grin and made his way to the door. I finished the knot on my shoe and hurried to catch up to him. "We charge extra for room service." I sighed my eyes and went back to the mirror for one more glance to make sure the gel held in my hair before chasing after him.

"How hard is it to get good service around here?" I said with a grin. Damien's head shook ahead of me as I fought to catch him before he headed down the hidden stairwell hiding the Alpha floor from plain view.

"Have you heard from mom?" I asked as we made our way down the hallway together. Our mother, Penelope, left soon after her arrival back at Emerald. The reintroduction proved too much for her so she retreated down to one of my family's homes in Florida with her second-chance mate, Andy. I hadn't met him yet but my siblings mutually agreed he was a good choice for her. That, and if he rejected her our mother would be left on a suicidal path due to being rejected twice by both of her chances at happiness.

"She and Andy are having fun, that's all I know," He shrugged. "She needed a break."

"I still don't know about him. He came out of nowhere and swept her off her feet." I hissed and crossed my arms, the fabric on the shirt tightening around my biceps.

"He's her second chance, Corvo."

"He's human, and he doesn't know about our kind," I warned.

"And? Your mate is basically human." Damien said. "Not all humans are ignorant to 'other'. He may be accepting but we'll never know if you show up and puff your chest out like a big bad wolf and scare him off."

"Don't bring her up." I bit back a growl, Zane in my head biting at the seams to get out. "You and I agreed both L and Allison are off the table for discussion."

Why are you letting him talk about L like that? Zane barked.

Chill, Z. It's not worth it. I'm just getting my relationship back with my family.

Doesn't mean they can insult her, he growled.

I closed the connection between Zane and I and came back to the surface of my mind to be met with Damien still talking about something I'd zoned out on earlier.

"What?" I tossed the words out before I could think and Damien let out a huff before speeding up toward the stairs. He stopped at the landing and cast a glare, his foot hovering over the first stair.

"If Zane wants to fight me he can come out himself." He spat. "You and I may tolerate each other but what you did to dad..."

"I know," I let out a breath and followed Damien downstairs. The sour topic came up at least once a day, and each time I played it off with an apologetic look in hopes to ease the conversation before it headed south. The aftermath following our father's death led Damien and Ethel to distance themselves from me. I didn't blame them. I would've done the same. But now that Emerald began to settle back into an order I needed every opportunity to come clean and make up with my siblings the best I could.

I split off from Damien once we reached the second floor. He headed downstairs to find our sister or Allison, and I retreated into the Alpha office - my office. It still stung thinking the room no longer belonged to my father. His old belongings were long since gone but there were times I still saw the enormous portrait of Claire hanging above one of the couches in the room. The portrait disgusted me, the first to go of many things. But I never truly made the room mine. Just a blank slate with my father's desk, chair, and a couple of green velvet couches that matched the ones downstairs in the living room. Books lined the walls on shelves that hadn't been dusted in months, however, I didn't bother calling anyone up to clean.