Since I knew that Brody was going to be gone all day, I went back to my grandparents place to see my family. I talked to my grandparents and explained to them everything that happened, feeling a bit bad that I hadn't seen them a lot the past week or so.
I spent time with the four of them before the two of them got called in for some pack related stuff. I didn't dare question it.
I spent some more time with my brothers. We talked a bit about what happened with Brody and I's argument, to which they told me that they don't blame me. As good older brothers should. And we talked a bit of back home.
Apparently dad had called them and gave a little update with the Artrac's. They were moving further west for the time being, meaning they were down by New York and going more towards Ohio.
Amen to that.
He also demanded to know when they were coming home. That they shouldn't be there any longer than they have already. To which they replied that they would stay here as long as they wanted.
Gotta love my older brothers.
I didn't go back to Brody's place that night. I slept in the living room with my brothers. We fell asleep watching movies. But I still didn't get a text or anything from Brody asking if I was coming over.
I'll admit that it hurt.
Of course there was a small part of me hoping that he just was in the office all night. But I knew that it wasn't true.
I told my brothers about the dinner, told them to be there at six like Brody mentioned. I went there a little bit before, hoping that we could maybe make up a little bit before they got there so it wouldn't be so awkward.
I was actually hesitant as I held a hand up to his door. I was a little nervous, even if I didn't want to admit it. Who knew if he was still annoyed with me?
I can understand if he was, I put his pack in danger. If it was just because I didn't tell him that I was a princess, yeah I didn't mention it but it wouldn't have been that important. But for the fact that I put the pack in danger because of it, that's the most important part.
I huff out a soft breath and quickly knock on the door. I vaguely hear some shuffling and then knew that he was coming to the door.
A few seconds later the door swings open, revealing my mate standing there. I'll have to admit, even though we were in a bit of an argument right now, he looked insanely gorgeous.
He had dressed up a bit for the dinner, as did I. I didn't do a lot. But I at least figured that we would dress a bit nice for my brothers.
And he was breathtaking.
He had on a pale pink button up shirt, with the sleeves buttoned up to his elbows. He was wearing tan khaki pants, along with dark brown shoes. That with his brown hair, caramel eyes, and slight stubble, he makes me want to faint.
I felt like I was suddenly lightheaded as soon as I looked at him.
"Hi," I whisper softly. I felt like I couldn't speak.
"Hi," he whispers back. "Come in."
He opens the door and lets me come inside, to which I take my coat off, along with my hat, and place them nicely on the coat rack by the front door.
I fluff up my hair again and turn back around after taking my shoes off. I was about to ask if he needed help with dinner, but he was staring at me. His eyes were soft and yet also firm as he looked at me.
Apparently I had the same effect as his outfit did. Because as soon as his eyes zeroed in on me, I noticed his jaw clench up and he swallowed softly.
Oh god. I'm gonna pass out.
The way he's looking at me tells me he was completely fine, and definitely not pissed off at me.
My outfit isn't all that great. I was wearing jeans, along with a black blouse that went off my shoulders, with ruffles at the ends of the sleeves by my hands. My hair was curled as well, seeing as I had all the time in the world to do it. I never liked wearing any makeup, in fact I never wore any. But I made an exception this time and was wearing mascara.
My brothers always told me it made my eyes pop.
You'd think his staring would make me uncomfortable, but I honestly found it flattering. If he was some other guy, then yeah it would be a bit weird.
"Brody?" I whisper.
It seems he forgot how to speak because he quickly swallows and takes in a soft breath. "Sorry," he says lowly.
My insides just churned. I'm gonna pass out, I swear it.
"It's okay," I whisper back. "Uh, do you need any help with dinner?"
I noticed that it smelled lovely as soon as I walked into the house. But I wasn't really focused on that after I saw Brody. How could I have been?
"No," Brody softly shakes his head. He starts walking towards the kitchen and I quickly follow after him. "I made lasagna. I hope that's alright."
I can't help but smile as I get to the island. Brody made my favorite even when he was annoyed with me. God I do love him. I still haven't properly told him that. Every single time I have tried so far I've been interrupted.
"That's fine," I managed to answer.
He did a quick check on it in the oven, and I can't help but notice that it should be done around when they get here. Man he really planned ahead. He must have started making this an hour or so ago. Meanwhile I was at home moping.
As I was lost in my train of thought, he places a bottle of apple juice in front of me, making my eyes soften at him.
As soon as I look up at him, he sort of sheepishly rubs the back of his neck. "I bought a case of them when I found out it was your favorite drink."
Okay, he's trying to kill me.
My heart is going to explode.
"Thank you," I whisper softly.
He nods a little bit and gestures towards the balcony off of the living room. "Would you like to come outside with me?"
I nod softly and follow after him, after running and grabbing my boots. I quickly shoved them back on, not even bothering to fix them.
As I get to the doors, Brody turns and hands me one of his sweatshirts. I smile softly at the gesture and take it from him, quickly putting it on. I may not be able to get his werewolf scent directly. But I know what his cologne smells like. Cedar wood mahogany. And I love it dearly.
I gently close the door behind me after I adjust my hair in the hoodie. I look and see that Brody was leaning against the balcony, overlooking a part of the treeline of the territory.
There wasn't any snowfall on the balcony, there was a small overhang above it, and what little snow got on it I'm sure Brody shoveled off or something.
The two of us don't say anything for a short while. I just breathe in the clean, cold air, the smell of the wilderness filling my nostrils.
Brody suddenly breaks the silence, his voice cutting through like a knife.
"You didn't come home last night."
Home.
He said home.
I've barely even been to his house and yet he's calling it home for me.
My breath catches in my throat as I look over at him. He was staring out at the scenery still, not looking at me.
His hands were clasped together out in front of him in front of the railing, since his forearms were leaning on the railing. He was slouched slightly, and it was very hard not to look at how good his butt looked in those pants. Very hard.
"I didn't think you'd want to see me," I tell him honestly. And that was the truth. For how annoyed he was with me yesterday, I'm surprised if he did.
"Darling," he murmurs and sighs for a second. He then turns his gaze to me, my eyes immediately transfixed on his caramel brown ones. "I'm still a little annoyed with you. But I'm not totally infuriated that I wouldn't want to see you."
"You're not?" I whisper quietly, hope filling my chest.
"No," Brody gives me a sad smile. "Of course not." He comes over to me and sits down on the small cushioned bench that I was sitting on. He wraps an arm around me, making me quickly lean into him and wrap my arm around his waist.
He huffs a little and plants a small kiss to the top of my head, making me smile as I lean into him further. "You still should have told me though."
"I know," I push myself out of his chest and give him a sad look. "It's my fault. I should have told you and you would have been better prepared and-"
"Hey, hey," he holds a hand out and gently grabs mine, making me stop talking. "It's not your fault. If I even insinuated it, then that's my fault. Because I do not blame you for what happened. Okay? I don't blame you. That pack does its own thing, you do not control them."
"No but they were more than likely after me," I huff.
"That doesn't matter," Brody grumbles. "It's not on you. The only thing is you not telling me. But I'm at fault with something like that too."
He sees my peculiar look and he smiles before he answers, "Baby, I don't know if you remember. But I sort of didn't mention to you that I was the alpha."
Oh.
That's what he was talking about.
Yeah, that's kind of an important thing to know for how I fit into the pack.
If he were just a regular wolf in the pack and I came along, I would just have to go through this ceremony to introduce me into the pack. But since I'm a higher ranking member, much less an Alpha, there's a lot more steps that are involved. Not only do I have to be introduced into the pack, but I have to prove that I am worthy to be a Luna for them.
And I definitely don't know if that's possible.
"That's okay," I murmur. "You were just trying to introduce me to everything gently. It would have been a lot if you had just blurted out that I'm a werewolf and an alpha."
"You're so understanding," Brody mutters.
I shrug a little bit, giving a warm closed mouth smile. "I just know what it's like to want to ease into telling someone something."
Brody sighs, believing he knew the reasoning as to why I said that. But he has no idea. Absolutely no idea.
This whole conversation, this entire situation as a whole has just made me realize how much I was truly going to hurt him. He was going to probably be devastated when I told him who I really was.
If he was this upset over me not telling him that I was a princess, royalty, or whatever, then he was going to be absolutely heart broken when I told him that I also was a werewolf.
"I didn't want you to feel like you couldn't tell me something like that. But I don't care if you are, if that bothers you at all. I don't care who you are. You're you, and that's all there is to it."
I smile softly at the comment. God he is such a smooth talker. "You know, you're pretty amazing yourself, Mr. Castellano."
A smile snakes its way on his face and he leans forward a little bit. "Oh yeah?"
"Yeah," I whisper.
"Thank you," Brody chuckles. I giggle a little bit as he comes towards me, softly capturing my lips in his. And just like before, sparks fly everywhere, making me melt into him.
I think I'm really starting to love this boy. So I don't understand how I could just keep this from him. How could I hide my true self from him?
Easy, I didn't want to. But sharing something like this is a hell of a lot harder than you'd think.
~
My brothers got there a bit later, thankfully the lasagna was almost done cooking by then. I was a bit nervous, I'll have to admit, so as soon as the doorbell rang, I practically ran over to open the door first.
Both my brothers looked dashing, as they normally do. Konan wearing black jeans and a light blue button up, and Roman wearing blue jeans with a gray button up.
"Hi baby sis," Konan says politely. He leans forward and plants a kiss on my cheek, me doing the same thing as we hug.
Roman smiles and leans down after I hug Konan. "Hi," he whispers, repeating the same thing as Konan and giving my cheek a kiss.
"Hi," I whisper to the two of them. After I pull back, I give them a polite grin. "I'm glad you guys are here. I'm excited you guys get to actually meet now."
"Us too," Roman nods.
"Come on," I smile and start walking towards the kitchen, where Brody was now taking the lasagna out of the oven. "Brody," I hum softly.
"Give me one second, darling," he mutters. He uses some pot holders and gently takes the lasagna pan out of the oven. He sets it on top of the stove, then tosses the pot holders out of the way.
He turns to look at us, then sees my brothers standing next to me. "Oh," he smiles and walks over to them. He sticks his hand out to Roman, him being the closest to him. "It's a pleasure to meet you...Roman, right?"
"Indeed I am. Roman Asher Nobell at your service," Roman nods softly as he shakes Brody's hand. "I've heard a lot about you."
"Likewise," Brody smiles at him. He then turns his gaze to Konan and sticks his hand out. "That would make you Konan."
"Yes, it would," Konan mutters softly. He reaches a hand out to shake Brody's as well, but this time was a little different. He pulled Brody close to him and dropped his voice an octave. "Our baby sister means the world to us. If you don't treat her right you will see a side of me that you don't want to."
I huff and quickly pull Konan back from Brody's grip. "Stop it, don't threaten him."
Fortunately, since Brody was an alpha, he didn't waver away from a threat or a glare all that easily. He just kept a straight face and nodded towards him, "I would never."
My heart swooned a little bit, making me smile at Brody before turning back to my brothers. "We'll get the food for you so you can go sit in the dining room."
Both of my brothers nod and start to go over there, while I huff and give them a pleading look. "You said you were going to be nice."
"That was me being nice," Konan says, in total honesty.
Oh good grief.
I glare at him a little bit and shove him towards the dining room, Roman following along behind him.
I go over to Brody, who was getting ready to grab the pan full of lasagna. "I'm sorry," I whisper as I grab two bowls. One that had breadsticks in it and one that had a salad. "I told them not to be mean-"
"Shh, love," Brody whispers and plants a soft kiss to my lips. "They're your older brothers, they're just doing what is needed to protect you. I take no offense to what they say. It shows how much they love you."
I feel my stomach swirl with pure adoration and I couldn't help but smile warmly at him. "Thank you."
"Of course," he says and plants another kiss on my temple. "Let's go."
I smile and go over to the dining table, where my brothers were already sitting, next to each other on the side where the windows are. Me and Brody sitting on the side of the kitchen.
I start dishing food out to all of us, passing the items around so that we could all get some. After getting them some drinks, we all finally relax and start talking about things. The boys asking Brody about some of the alpha things he has to do, him asking my brothers what it's like growing up with a lot of siblings and vice versa.
As Brody starts talking with them, he grabs my free hand from under the table and places it on my leg, so his hand was holding my hand down, while also holding my leg, rubbing his thumb over my thigh.
I would kiss him if I weren't with my brothers.
All I know, is that I am happy. Happier than I've been in a long time. But it felt like I was just pretending because I know as soon as I tell Brody it's not going to be happy. I am not going to be happy.
~
The boys are putting their winter jackets back on after dinner, getting ready to leave. They had helped us put dishes and food away, even though we told them that they didn't have to.
"Thank you for having us," Konan says as he shrugs his jacket on over his shirt.
I noticed that they had driven grandma's car over, since it was a decent bit to walk from sort of one end of the pack to the other.
"Thank you for coming by," Brody smiles politely at the two of them. "It was nice being able to meet you and talk to you properly."
"Yeah, it was nice to know who our little sister's mate is," Roman adds. "You're a good guy."
I could tell that Brody actually liked hearing that. His body relaxed a little bit and he grinned even more. "Thanks you guys. You are too. But I already knew that."
Brody gives both of them a quick handshake, and I can't help but feel a little happy knowing that they were getting along. I've always wanted my brothers to meet my mate. Maybe not in the situation we were in, but still the same nonetheless.
"I'll walk them out," I whisper and give Brody's cheek a quick kiss.
He nods, "I'll be out on the balcony."
I don't know what his obsession is with that balcony, or maybe I do. Because looking out at the snow and treeline is absolutely gorgeous.
Brody plants a quick kiss to my temple before he leaves the three of us alone, him going outside.
"So," Roman smirks a little bit. I blush and cross my arms, but he still laughs at my reaction, as does Konan.
"Shut it," I grumble and take a few steps towards the door. "So really, what did you think?"
"He seems like a very nice person," Konan answers truthfully.
"Very nice," Roman repeats. "I don't think you'll have a problem talking to him about you. I really don't."
"I hope so," I grumble. "When are you leaving?"
"Sometime at the end of the week," Konan answers.
It was Tuesday. Christmas was next Monday. Oh god I really hope that they don't leave before I tell Brody. Just in case he rejects my ass and I can go back home with the boys. Because there is no way in hell that I am staying here with Brody's pack if he rejects me.
There's no freakin way.
"I might stay here for the night," I inform them. "So if I don't come home, don't worry. I'll hang out a bit before you have to go home. Hell, you might be taking me with you."
Roman rolls his eyes, his hand on the handle of the door. "Sis, don't worry about it. We won't be taking you with us. He'll understand. He's your mate."
"I hope so," I grumble softly.
"We love you and we'll see you later," Konan says and leans down to plant a kiss on my cheek.
"Love you too," I mutter and do the same thing back. Before then turning and doing the same thing to Roman. "Love you Ro."
"Love you baby sis," Roman replies back before he swings the door open. "We'll see you sometime tomorrow. Keep your pants on."
"Roman!" I gasp, putting a hand over my mouth in shock to hide some of my red cheeks.
Konan just laughs a few steps below him while Roman continues, all smiling and joking, but I knew he was semi serious as well. "I mean it, tell Brodster to keep his hands to himself. No mating yet. Got it?"
"Leave!"
Roman laughs more and waves me goodbye, me rolling my eyes as I wave after them. I wait until they walk down the full four steps to get to the car, giving them another wave before I close the door behind me.
I can't help but huff a little bit as I lean against the back of the door. I was happy that they came here and met him, don't get me wrong. But now I have to go and tell him something that could make or break my entire life.
Brody was yet again, leaning against the railing like he was before my brothers got here. He had his sleeves rolled up still, and I can't help but notice how hot he still looked. Even after dealing with my brothers and having dinner with them for a few hours he still looked just as good.
Ugh, I hate to bring his good mood down. Better take it in while I can.
I gently closed the door behind me and walked outside, now sporting a blanket wrapped around me. I move up next to him by the railing, making him turn to look at me.
"My brothers had a great time, thank you for meeting them."
"Thank you for bringing them, darling," Brody whispers. He leans over and gently kisses my lips, making me smile and lean into him.
Brody kisses me for a few seconds before he pulls away and gently leans his forehead on my own. "You amaze me every single day."
"I amaze you?" I mutter and furrow my eyes a little bit.
He huffs and gently moves his forehead off of mine. He softly moves the blanket from around my right chest area, which at first confuses me.
His fingers lightly trace over the gauze that was over my wound. And that's when I notice the sad look in his eyes. He was thinking about when I got hurt. Oh great, because that doesn't make me feel like total crap.
"You can go from literally two days ago being shot, and now you wanted me to meet your brothers," Brody chuckles softly. "I don't understand how you can be so strong. You're a lot stronger than I am. With having to deal with all of this after moving here. Sometimes I feel bad realizing that I pulled you into this just based on who I am."
I'm so locked in a trance that I don't say anything. But none of it was his fault, in fact it was probably all my fault. And here he was blaming himself, blaming because of who he is that I was in danger. And I'm going to be doing the same thing.
We are so much more alike than how I thought we were.
"I'm sorry," he whispers.
"Don't be," I whisper and bring a hand up to lightly trace the stubble underneath his chin.
He sucks in a small breath and closes his eyes, gently laying his cheek against my hand. Almost like he needed the contact. Almost like he was desperate to cling onto me, or desperate to have me with him.
I don't want to ruin this moment with anything. Something's going on through his head, otherwise he wouldn't be thinking about stuff like that. Blaming himself on everything is definitely not his style.
"I need to talk to you about something," Brody whispers softly.
I see him quickly open his eyes and pull away from my hand. I want to hold his hand or something, to comfort him from how sad he looks. But he doesn't look like he wants to, and I didn't want to push something.
"What is it?" I whisper back.
He suddenly has a far away look in his eyes and he turns away to look back out at the scenery. I quickly wrap the blanket further around myself in order to keep myself from getting cold. I only had my blouse on and even though I was a wolf, I knew it would still be cold.
I sit there in silence as I stand next to Brody. He wanted to talk about something and I didn't want to rush him. Especially if I knew he wanted to talk about it. He's not one to share things with me, obviously since he hadn't even told me he was Alpha yet.
But I'm not one to judge about taking time to tell people things. He can take all the time in the world. I'll be here waiting for him.
"I know you've noticed that I don't like to talk about my family much," Brody finally speaks up a few minutes later.
I glance over at Brody and see he was leaning on the railing, looking out at the night sky. I didn't even want to speak just to agree with him. But I knew he wouldn't keep going if I didn't.
I was just honestly a little surprised since he never talked about his family to me. Though I supposed that being here and talking with my brothers sparked some feelings inside him. I just didn't want him to feel pressured to tell me this stuff.
"I figure that you'll talk at your own pace," I whisper.
Brody turns to smile at me, but I was frowning. There was a sad glint in his eye that I didn't like.
"I don't like to talk about them because it makes me think about someone else. Someone that I miss. Someone that I haven't seen in a while."
At first I was confused about what he meant. Because I know that he still has both of his parents and he loves talking about his sister.
But then suddenly all of the past conversations that I've had with him make sense. All the times he's had me talk about my older brother's, when I asked about siblings, when he got defensive about certain topics with my brothers. Now it all came together and I felt like an idiot that I didn't realize sooner.
"You had an older brother," I whisper.
Brody smiles and looks back at the tree line, a sad look that had crossed over his face that I'm sure he didn't think I saw.
I frown and go forward so that I could lay my head on his shoulder. My heart was practically hurting for him. I couldn't even imagine losing one of my brothers. They mean everything to me, even Alexander. And losing one of them would be devastating to me.
"We lost him when I was fourteen, he was seventeen," Brody starts off softly. He suddenly has a faraway look again. And I know not to interrupt him unless he asks me to.
"There was some rogue attack, I don't remember. I wasn't allowed to fight yet obviously. The Alpha's son wasn't allowed out when he wasn't old enough. I wasn't as strong back then obviously so I knew that I was going to have to stay put.
"My brother wasn't quite eighteen, which for the most part was the age that wolves were allowed to fight in our pack. My father was thinking about stepping down soon, meaning that my brother would get the rightful heir to the title of Alpha. Only if he could prove himself.
"Father thought he would have him go out and battle with them. He thought it would be a good test to prove that he was ready." Brody pauses as his voice shakes a little bit, "Prove that he was ready to be an alpha."
"Brody," I whisper sadly as I tightly squeeze his arm.
"Everyone and I mean everyone told him it was too soon. All of the guards said it, the warriors, the trainers, especially the trainers," Brody chokes out, again with a wavering voice. "Even my dad's Beta went against my dad and told him he should wait a bit longer. It wasn't just a few rogues that they were fighting, it was a pack of them.
"My dad did it anyway," Brody chuckles up and puts his hand up to his mouth. His hand clenched into a fist for a moment, with it shaking slightly. Which is where I could tell that he started crying.
"My dad and a bunch of his men were near the waterfall at the end of the pack territory, fighting off a bunch of the rogues. They saw my brother fighting one of them, another one stabbed him with a silver blade. Straight through the heart."
"Oh my god," I whisper. I felt like my own heart was breaking. Breaking for what both he and his family had to go through. I couldn't even imagine losing one of my brothers. The mere thought of it makes me want to throw up. I could never possibly fathom what he had to go through.
"The bastard even taunted my father as Augustus was bleeding out. He was coughing up blood and everything. My father got a last little goodbye to him as he died. Then more rogues were attacking and they had to keep going. My brother's lifeless body was just there and more and more rogues kept coming so he got knocked off the cliffs."
Augustus. That was the name Brody's father said when I was hurt a few days ago.
I wrap myself tighter into his side, his free hand going and pulling me into his side.
"My father and ten other pack members had to see my brother die. And they tried to find his body afterwards to give him a proper goodbye, but all my dad could find were the dogtags my brother wore."
"Your brother was in the military?" I question. That couldn't be right. Brody said he was only seventeen.
"No," Brody shakes his head. "His mate was. She was six years older than Augustus. He met her on one of her times state side. She died around the time he turned seventeen on deployment. After a few months of searching for my brother's killer, my dad left. He left me in charge and I was then crowned alpha of the pack at fifteen years old."
My heart felt like it shattered for a second. Most up and coming Alphas, aka ones that were still being trained, would have no knowledge of what to do at fifteen years old, much less run an entire pack.
"You were only fifteen," I mutter quietly.
"Didn't matter to him," Brody answers. "He wanted to leave in search of that pack and what they did. I may have understood it a little, but he couldn't have sent some of his men to go off and do it? I was only fifteen!"
I huff a little and squeeze his arm to show that I supported him. "Why didn't he stay as alpha but still go around and look for what happened with your brother? Couldn't he do that?"
"No," Brody softly shook his head. He wiped away a tear that had fallen down his cheek and huffed out, "The council decided that since he was leaving for so long he were to claim a new alpha in. That it had to be done. And so he did. He got to choose his successor and I wish, god," Brody scoffs and slowly licks his lips, chin trembling a little bit as he did so. "I wish that he hadn't picked me."
I softly bite my own lip and watch him, not knowing what to say. Because what in the world would you say to something like that?
"I wish he would have chosen someone like his beta, or his gamma, they were meant for this stuff. Hell, even one of his top warriors would have been better than me!"
"Baby," I mutter and lightly place a kiss in the nape of his neck. "You're doing a wonderful job."
"That's not the point," he grumbles. "I shouldn't have been given all that responsibility at the small age of fifteen. I barely knew how to fight at that point. I didn't know how to make any decisions for a pack. Along with me being alpha, I had to choose my own beta, gamma and delta. I had to start formal training around the clock, I had to learn names of my pack members that I didn't know, make deals, sign treaties, go and meet and all with packs, defend all of them and make all these decisions, all of these decisions that I should have never had to make."
He chokes up for a second and bites his lip to stop himself from crying. "A-And to make it worse? I was still grieving over losing Augustus."
I sigh and lay my head back on his shoulder, hugging into him again. "Baby, I'm so sorry."
"And I was still trying to look after Madeline and help keep my mother safe, while she was doing her own grieving. Both for losing her son and for my father leaving."
"I'm sorry you had to go through all of that," I say honestly. And I truly am, I only wish that I could have been there for him.
He huffs a little bit and turns to look at me, making me feel my heart practically break when I see that he had even more tears in his eyes.
"It's made me a stronger man," Brody whispers. "It's made me braver, and hopefully a better person for you, darling." Brody carefully takes my hand in his, bringing it up to his mouth and lightly planting a kiss there.
"You already are a great person," I whisper to avoid myself turning into putty. "And you're a great alpha. I've seen what you do for your people in just the few days that I've known you to be alpha. You're amazing at what you do."
"Thank you," he smiles warmly at me.
"I am sorry about Augustus," I whisper next. His face falls down and he turns to look back at the tree line, showing how hurt he still was about it. "He sounds like he was a great person. He was very special."
"He was," Brody agrees with me. "I only wish the moon goddess thought he was special enough to keep him around."
I sigh and lean into Brody, just wanting to do whatever I could to be there for him. Though I know nothing I did or said could take away the pain, I still had to try.
Brody hums softly and leans his head against mine, sighing softly as he relaxes against me. "Thank you, my love, for being here with me."
"Always," I whisper back, my anxious tone ringing in the back of my head. One that I choose to ignore.
~