Page 5 of Scarred Resolve

He parked, but I heard a click and saw he locked the doors as we stared at the ranch-style home he was renting. While I could unlock the door and leave, the quiet message was clear.

“You don’t get over it. It lives with you. You know that.”

“You know what I meant. Eventually, the grief is small enough that it doesn’t…” I waved at myself, knowing my eyes were filled with tears. “It becomes a scar and doesn’t ache so much all the time. Time to time, sure, but not every minute of every day. Right now, it still aches. I just need time. Focusing on other things helps. The world keeps turning, right?”

I could see the questions in his eyes and could feel my own confusion, the small voice that asked why it hurt so bad that Fenris was dead. For years now, I had seen death several times over. I had fought to the death before. Fenris’s death was haunting me, though. I wished I could say it was just his letter, but it wasn’t. I couldn’t put my finger on why this loss wouldn’t let me move on.

“It does,” he agreed, nodding. “So, you wanted to see where I was living…” He gestured out the front window. “I put most of my valuables in storage in your territory, as you know, so I only have the basics here.”

“Didn’t Subira and Zuri keep some stuff for you as well?” I asked, trying to join him in leaving the topic of the dead behind. “All the magical stuff, right?”

“Mostof the magic-related things. Not all of them. I kept some items, and those I keep in a safe in the storage unit.”

“Sounds… secure.” I tried so hard not to reach out and punch him for being so foolish.

“It’s not, which makes you calling me out today all the more necessary,” he said, clearly now kicking himself over his decisions like I wanted to kick him literally. “I was supposed to figure this out a month ago. I know I have things that can’t be lost, and I’m dragging my feet.”

“Niko, buy some land, build a house on it, and make a territory. Or buy some property and build a house in my territory, pride or no. We’ll handle it.”

“I’ll think about it. Do you mind if I move my stuff to your house, though? The really important stuff?”

“Will any of it blow up my house?” I asked, crossing my arms. It was a legitimate concern, and I wouldn’t have it overlooked. Too much had happened to my poor home as it was. I wasn’t bringing in some magic bomb or anything.

“No. I can promise that.”

“Then sure. Bring the safe over, and we’ll secure it.” I went for the door, and suddenly, the car was backing away from the house. “Hey, you have to show me the house.”

“There it is,” he said, smiling as he continued pulling out of the driveway. “You didn’t ask to see the interior.”

“It was implied!” I said, gasping at his audacity for pulling this stunt.

“Where do you want to go for dinner?” he asked as he used one hand to swing the car around and begin driving away from his rental.

“Are we actually going to sit down and eat in the restaurant, or are you going to order takeout and drop me off at home with it, then leave?” I asked.

“You’ll have to wait and see, I guess, because you forgot to specify.”

3

CHAPTER THREE

We sat down in the restaurant and had dinner together. It was a tiny place with few customers and somewhat out of the way, so we could talk more freely than we would in some chain. It was the first meal of the sort we had ever done, yet it was surprisingly not awkward. Without the burden of keeping multiple secrets for centuries, Niko was different. Once the floodgates opened on my porch, they stayed open, and I had unfiltered access to Niko that I thought was never possible. He wasn’t fighting it at all as I bombarded him with questions.

“So, while you’re being open and honest… Mischa has always claimed that you keep your private life very private. Since you’ll be living near me, I think I need a bit of a heads-up about what I’m dealing with.”

“Oh, that’s because I could never trust Mischa not to use my life and choices against me when she was angry. You know how she can be. We’ve all seen you in her line of fire. In order to keep it a secret from her, I kept it a secret from everyone. It helped me keep everything else a secret, too. In the end… I got comfortable being the quiet brother with secrets. Mischa caught one slip-up from me and never let it go, but I never gave in to herneedling. She was the one most into exposing everything about me. Everyone else was fine with it.”

“Back to why I’m asking about this… Will I be seeing any random supernaturals coming for hookups?”

“No. They didn’t happen frequently, and I didn’t keep in touch with any of them. Before you ask, none were werewolves.” He seemed patient enough with my questions, almost like he expected them to come up and was kindly indulging me. “What can I say? No one in our family just sits around doing nothing for centuries. I don’t have plans for it right now, though. I’ll hook up with a human if I’ve got an itch to scratch, but no supernaturals. Not right now.” He sipped his drink. “You don’t have to worry about me bringing someone into the area that would cause any sort of problem.”

“I’m going to hold you to that,” I said, pointing at him to drive the point home.

“I know.”

“Good.” I paused for a second, then went back to something he had said. “Why is she like that?”

“Mischa?” With my nod, he sighed. “I wish I could tell you something insightful, but the honest truth is that she’s always been like that while I’ve been in the family. She has little emotional control, which is both her greatest strength and greatest weakness. I don’t know if something made her like that or if she was born wired that way.”

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