Page 66 of Obsessions of the Heart

Roux and I looked at each other, all of us knowing what that meant. Foedus or…

Roux finished my thought. “Uncle.” He turned away, running a hand through his hair and tugging on the ends as he bellowed. Ravi was cursing up a storm, but I just sat down, gripping my legs while I slowly inhaled. We needed to keep our heads on straight. We needed to take care of Rin first, then we could plan.

“Is she hurt?” Roux stopped pacing, waiting for Ravi’s answer to my question.

“I don’t think so.” His hesitation made my blood pump in my ears. “I didn't see any blood, but you know that doesn’t mean anything. We should examine her at the house.”

He was right. The hospitals and cops had strategically placed Foedus employees to take care of incidents like this.

Ravi’s voice lowered. “Should we take her down to the basement?”

Roux scoffed, a cynical smile on his hopeless face. “The basement? Are you planning on telling her everything? We all know she’s not ready for that. She’s not in deep enough yet.”

I knew he was right. She was getting there slowly. Starting to get attached, starting to like us more and more. It was all great progress and much faster than I had anticipated, but she wasn't fully there yet. Once we let her into this world, there would be no return. We needed more time. We needed her to be so in love with us that she didn't care about the unsavory stuff we did.

“Roux is right. Not yet. It's not the right time yet, so we’ll go down, get some supplies, and meet you upstairs in Roux’s room.” His face snapped to mine in question.

“Your room is the only one ready to use. All the basic needs are there for minor wounds and recovery.” His eyes widened before he flicked his gaze to my closet, then back at me, with an expectant look.

I didn't have time for his stupid insecurities. “Once she started to come over, didn’t you put that all away and lock it up?” He gave a slight nod, opening his mouth to counter, but I beat him to it. “If you need to take something out for her, then do it now. Make sure it's locked up tight.”

A pulsing pain shot through the sides of my head, and I lifted two fingers to massage it as I mumbled, more to myself, “If you don't think she’s ready for the basement, she is a hundred percent not ready for your closet.”

His mouth pinched as he exhaled from his nose, reminding me of an angry bull, before he stomped off. “How far away are you?”

“Five minutes.”

Sighing, I got up and went downstairs. “Meet you outside.”

I had to see her. My mind, my body, were unable to do anything else until I got my eyes on her and could see for myself that she wasn't harmed. Then my brothers and I had a lot of work to do.

As I opened the passenger door, my breathing stopped. Even in this state, she was gorgeous. The sunlight caught on her hair, turning those chestnut locks into burnt copper. I could stare at her hair for hours and still come up with different shades and colors.

Crouching down, I looked her over, trying to keep it professional even when my eyes snagged on the creamy column of her neck. My fingers shook with the need to explore her, but I kept myself in check, only touching her when necessary. Ravi had gotten out of the car and was already at my back. “Looks like she doesn't have any damage other than the scapes and bumps from falling to the side.”

“Yeah, but we still need to give her a better check. I slammed into her so hard.” Pain and regret filled his voice, but I wouldn't let my brother do that.

“It's better if she has some scrapes and bruises from that instead of being hit by a car.”

With the utmost care, I picked her up, softly cradling her in my arms. My brother stood there, his whole body clenched up so tight, shaking with fury, he looked like he could snap in two.

“You did the right thing. You saved her life. Don’t regret that.”

My normally fun-loving, silly brother stared back at me with a twisted look, the wrathful oblivion in his eyes needing its pound of flesh. “They tried to kill her. They. Tried. To. Kill. Her.”

I’d never seen him this way before, raw and ruined, so far lost in his anger he wasn't able to bring himself back. I looked down at our angel in my arms, and I knew that while she was the reason for these feelings, she was also the only one who could soothe them.

Lifting her up, I pushed her into him, causing his arms to gentle themselves so he could cradle her. All those dangerous feelings melted away from him as I said, “Take her to Roux’s room.” Not taking his eyes off her, he nodded, gazing at her with the reverence of a religious cultist.

She was our guiding center, our shrine, our altar to worship, and someone had just tried to take her from us. My fists clenched as I watched him take her into the house. They don't know how devout her worshipers are, but they will.

Going after them, I jogged up the stairs and to the right. With the door to Roux's room propped open, I could see he had the room set up for her. Fresh sheets, clean room, and his homemade trolley with everything you could need for minor injuries.

Ravi knelt beside her, combing her hair with his hands while murmuring all the promises he hadn’t spoken to her yet. Roux reached around him, cleaning up the scrapes and blood before putting on some healing cream and bandaged her scrapes.

Looking on while my brothers took care of our girl, I knew what we had to do. It was the only way to make sure this didn’t happen again. The only way we could effectively keep her safe. Everything else could be adjusted, changed, but we could never get a new Layrin Smith. She was our north star, our light in the dark. The only one to tame our darkness.

“I think she should move in with us.” The whole room went so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

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