Page 97 of In the Light of the Moon

“What do you mean, ‘what do I mean’? You’ve shown up at our home with bags packed like you’re running away. Are you in trouble?” My brother’s gruff pressing made me flinch, an unforgivable crack in my facade.

By the widening of Sylvie’s eyes, she immediately noticed the shift in my expression. A moment later, Orion’s head cocked, certainly catching the change in my emotional scent, or some shit like that. I’d learned to school it around Mom, but I was so, so tired now.

Sylvie stepped forward, my nephew still suckling on her, and she brought her hand to cup my chin and raise my gaze to hers.

I felt the power coursing within her touch, her influence making my eyelids droop and my back relax. Held by her earth-brown eyes, my shoulders dropped and released much of the tension I’d been carrying since New York.

The tears that’d been collecting since then sprang and spilled down my cheeks. But I didn’t even have enough energy to sob.

I’d visited my brother and sister-in-law more and more over the years, becoming addicted to how different their home was to my parents’. To any that I could hope to forge on my own.

Sylvie’s black brows, as dark as mine, drew in knowing concern. “Oh, honey,” she whispered and held my cheek under her warm palm. I closed my eyes, basking in the simple gesture, and my lip trembled like a child’s. There was no telling what Sylvie was able to discern from me in this moment. Her powers were weird, but I’d never thought to question when she would see me upset and give me this.

“Mommy, why is Auntie Mona crying?”

I blinked, wet eyelashes clumping and sticking together, and Sylvie called down to her daughter without moving her eyes from my face. “Dahlia, would you get Auntie Mona some of the lemonade I made for you?”

Before the little girl could disappear into the house, I brought myself to snark, “And a shirt for your mommy.”

Sylvie didn’t drop her hand like I’d hoped, however. She pursed her lips and ran her thumb over my cheekbone. The sweet warmth that she was pushing into my body felt so nice, like hot apple cider for my cold, shivering mind, but I was afraid of growing too accustomed to the feeling.

“I don’t need a shirt, sweetheart, your auntie is teasing.” Sylvie finally let her hand fall, but she didn’t look any less concerned. I knew the bags under my eyes were heavy, that my clothes were rumpled and musty from my day of packing and travels.

Dahlia giggled and pointed at her mother, “Mommy’s boobies are out to feed Ollie!” Sylvie rolled her eyes toward the sky then to the side, where my brother was now absently touching his son’s fat little toes while he looked at me with a mixture of confusion and wariness.

When he met the eyes of his mate, though, he smirked, almost as if to convey—ew. That he liked Sylvie’s decision to go out shirtless.

Sylvie flashed a grin at him, and I looked away, already entirely uncomfortable by the intimacy they had together.

They turned their attention back to the wiggling girl at their feet, and Sylvie answered her daughter’s exclamation, “That’s right, sweetheart. Now, you remember what I asked you to get for your Auntie Mona?” Dahlia nodded happily, practically bouncing out of her baggy little dungarees. “Okay, and do you need Daddy’s help?” The little girl was already grabbing Orion’s hand with both of hers before Sylvie finished her question.

While the two of them disappeared through the front door to get lemonade, I reached out my hands, desperation creeping into my voice, “Can I hold him?” Ollie’d quit drinking at some point, and he was beginning to squirm in Sylvie’s arms.

“Sure, but you’ll have to burp him,” she transferred my nephew and a burp cloth from her back pocket to me. I threw the towel over my shoulder and settled the baby in my arms.

After Dahlia had been born, I’d felt like I was going to break her, convinced I was holding her wrong and going to snap her neck or something. But multiple visits and many hours of practice had me feeling an expert by the time they had Ollie three years later.

He was a shade or so paler than Dahlia and I, and his soft, black curls were the same pattern as my brother’s. A sweet and hefty boy, he was much quieter than his rambunctious sister. I bounced and pat his back, waiting for the belches to come.

Sylvie crossed her arms over her naked chest, and her own curls were springing out of her loose topknot. My brother seemed to be uncomfortable with any emotions that didn’t come from his mate or children, but Sylvie held no such reservations. While it terrified me, it was part of the reason I’d come here, right?

I tried to look everywhere but in her eyes, but, just like my brother, Sylvie cut to the chase. “We’ll have to tidy up Ollie’s room for you and put sheets on the guest bed, but you’re obviously welcome to stay for as long as you need. Do you want to talk about it?”

I ran a hand over my frizzy hair and wiped away the beads of sweat prickling along my temple. Ollie let loose a hearty burp, and I gave the top of his head a quick kiss. “Not really anything to talk about. But thanks.”

Sylvie smiled at the baby who’d twisted in my arms to get a look at his mother. “I hope you can stand the chaos. The cabin is not nearly as quiet and clean as you’re probably used to back home.” I shrugged and turned Ollie around in my arms so that he was fully facing Sylvie now. He gurgled and giggled at the funny faces she was making for him.

Sylvie and my brother had only visited Mom and Dad’s once while Sylvie was newly pregnant with Dahlia. They came to see me at least once each school year after I went away to college, but I much preferred visiting them here in Antler Pointe. “I like it here.”

Before Sylvie could say another word, Dahlia and Orion came back out with glasses of lemonade in each of their hands. My brother walked slowly behind Dahlia, watching her intently and proudly as she balanced both large glasses in her little hands. They both made it down the stairs and to us without incident, which made Dahlia beam up at her mother, then me. I accepted the glass she offered my way and took a giant gulp. The tangy sweet was another one of my favorite things when I came to visit in the warmer months, and it at least made me feel a little less like I was melting.

Orion took Ollie from my arms, and even though his weight was making my muscles ache and my chest sweat, I immediately missed him.

“Will you help me get Ollie’s room ready for Ramona, baby? Then, I think it’ll be nap time for you guys,” she directed her statement to Dahlia, who’d snuggled up to her thigh and was silently drinking lemonade while staring up at me.

Her big, green eyes made me feel so seen. So large and noticeable, which was as uncomfortable as it was exactly what I’d longed for at the same time. When I’d packed two bags and left my apartment and school behind without a word to anyone, I hadn’t really planned on anything but getting away.

A two week stay in the hospital would do that to a person.

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