Page 261 of His Sunshine Baby

“I’m not playing, Iris,” I growl. “We have a witch outside our borders that can attack at any moment with her horde of vampires. You’d really be fine with that?”

Iris shrugs and opens her arms up, showing her environment.

“I’ve got my own personalized bunker. If you lock me up, I’m probably just going to be happy watching from the sidelines! Oh, maybe I should get some popcorn?”

Can I just slap her? This selfish bitch! Our whole civilization is on the verge of war and she finds it funny!

“Iris, I’m not kidding, this is our pack you’re talking about!”

“Our pack, Elena? More like your pack! Ever since Reagan dropped you here, you’ve been entitled to everything! Yes, I’ll be fucking happy when someone finally gets rid of the eyesore that you are! My dad, Chris, Clark, even Eric! Since you arrived, you have done nothing but take what was mine, and disrupt other people’s lives!”

“I’m fed up with your jealousy issues, Iris,” I growl. “Yes, I was adopted into the pack, but that was it. Before I was stronger than you, my dad was stronger than yours. I’m sorry Xavier couldn’t see anything but our strength, but if you wanted to change things, you should have stood up to him! If you wanted to be closer to Chris and if you wanted Eric to love you, you should have tried harder with both of them! And didn’t Eric pick you when you tried? With all your schemes and lies, you’re the one who disrupted everything! You can’t blame me for everything when you never fought fairly for it!”

My words finally seem to hit her, as she takes a step back. Her sneer disappears, finally replaced by her hatred for me. Seems like playtime is over.

“Moon Goddess, I really hate you, Elena.”

“Right back at ya.”

We stare and glare at each other for a long time, until she rolls her eyes.

“Fine. I’ll tell Chris.”

I hesitate, but Levi replies before I can.

“Your brother doesn’t want to see you, Iris, you know that.”

“Well, then find a way, because I’m not going to tell anyone but Chris. You wanted an exchange? Well, there you go, I want to see my brother.”

I frown, a bit confused.

“What are you planning, Iris?”

She clicks her tongue, annoyed.

“Oh, stop it, Elena. I may hate you, but Chris is my younger brother, and I haven’t seen him in years. You said I should make an effort with him? Well, I’m starting now.”

“Why didn’t you ask for your freedom?” I ask, suspicious.

“With the shit show that’s coming? Thanks, but no thanks, I’ll stay here, you know, in my private bunker. Now, my brother.”

I sigh and turn around, exchanging a look with Levi. Can we convince Chris, though? If he’s been ignoring his sister’s attempts to talk to him all this time…

We decide to go back. Surprisingly, it only takes a few minutes to convince Chris, but he’s clearly unhappy about his sister’s bargain. He insists that I come with him. Less than an hour later, we are back in Iris’ cell. She stands up as soon as she sees her brother.

“Chris, I–”

“No, Iris, you listen to me,” he says. “First, you tell Elena what she asked you. After that, we will talk. I don’t trust you anymore, so if I doubt you’re telling the truth, even one bit, I swear I’m leaving and you’ll never see me again.”

For the first time, Iris seems truly hurt by his words. She probably didn’t expect Chris to act like this toward her. His spite seems to have hit a nerve. Her mighty attitude soon disappears, and she turns to me, clearly unhappy.

“Fine. What did you want to know?”

“What happened, the night Diego died. Everything you know.”

She rolls her eyes, sitting on her bed, but with her brother in the room, she’s a lot more docile and less arrogant.

“… I was there when they caught him. I’m not sure how blondie and Reagan kicked him out of the territory, but as soon as he stepped over, several Blood Moon wolves jumped on him. They dragged him farther away, so I followed secretly. I wasn’t exactly overjoyed by this situation, as you can imagine.”

---