Page 158 of Shadow City: Silver Wolf

His chest rose and lowered steadily, indicating he was still asleep, but he pulled me closer in his arms. I took a moment to breathe in myrrh and leather, his unique scent, which had quickly become my favorite smell in the world.

The essence of home.

But footsteps stomped down the hallway, and soon, we heard a loud knock at the door. Julius’s urgent voice called out, “Sterlyn, we need to talk.Now.”

CHAPTER EIGHT

Griffin grumbled,and his arms didn’t slacken.Couldn’t he wait a little longer before waking you up? You went through hell yesterday and need your rest.

I glanced at the clock and saw that it was after ten in the morning.In fairness, he kind of did, too. Besides, we need to get moving and get Julius to talk before something else happens.One thing was certain: whoever it was who’d come after me would attack again. I couldn’t help but suspect Dick, but I couldn’t prove it yet, so I’d keep those thoughts close until there was more to go on. Griffin was already struggling with coming to grips that Dick wasn’t as helpful to him as the man pretended to be.

“Sure, give me a minute,” I called to Julius, and kissed Griffin. However, when I tried to pull away, he tightened his arms around me even more.

Just a few more minutes,he whined and buried his face in my hair.I don’t think we’ve ever been able to lay leisurely in bed together in the morning.

We hadn’t. With work, his class schedule, and everything in between, we were constantly on the go.I know, but the soonerwe can take down whoever keeps hunting us, the quicker we can live out that fantasy.

Using logic on me shouldn’t be allowed before noon.He groaned and released his hold on my waist.I hate it. But the only reason I’m appeasing you is that I want to figure out who it is before they strike again. Allowing you to put yourself at risk is not an option.

Annoyance surged through me, but I squashed the sensation down. He wasn’t trying to be bossy but rather hated thinking we’d all have to go through this mess once more. However, I couldn’t let the comment go by completely without addressing it. I didn’t want him to think my silence was agreement.I get it, but we all have to do whatever is necessary for the greater good of the people.

His jaw twitched. Clearly, he wasn’t thrilled with my response, either.

This was one of those situations where the two of us were going to have to agree to disagree and hope the situation didn’t present itself. “I love you.” I kissed his cheek, hating that he was already tensing up and we hadn’t gotten out of bed. Hopefully, that wasn’t a sign for how the rest of the day would go.

I love you, too.His face softened as his fingers ran through my hair.

My body protested as I pushed back the covers, but I persevered and quickly grabbed the pajamas that I never got to put on the night before. After Julius said whatever was on his mind, I’d get dressed for the day. I didn’t want to chance taking too long and Julius doing something stupid.

I shut the door behind me and found the rest of the crew in the living room. The television wasn’t on, and Killian stood in the corner of the room, leaning against one of the blue-gray walls. His white shirt and blue jeans contrasted starkly, makinghim appear even more on edge. He didn’t even acknowledge me when I entered, as his gaze was focused on Julius.

The blinds were drawn against the wall of windows so no one could see in, but the tension in the room was nearly suffocating. If I didn’t know any better, I’d think we had an enemy lurking in our midst.

In fairness, we could, but I meant a much bigger threat than just my brother.

Wow. That was still strange to say.

Rosemary perched on the large pearl-gray couch that sat across from the flat-screen television mounted on the wall. Her long hair was pulled into a braid, and her face was set in a scowl that she directed at Julius.

The only person who seemed like her normal self was Sierra. She sat on the matching loveseat perpendicular to the couch, dressed in her purple Dick’s Bar shirt and jeans. She’d be leaving for work soon, and in a way, I was kind of jealous. Despite her getting involved in the craziness with us, she still had a somewhat normal life. The only thing that made me uncomfortable was that if Dick was, in fact, the person behind everything, he’d have a better opportunity to harass her.

“What’s going on?” Maybe Griffin and I should’ve gotten up earlier.

“Well, Julius here is determined to go to your pack neighborhood.” Killian frowned and cut his gaze to me. “And I told him there’s no way in hell. That the last time we went, we almost didn’t make it out alive.”

My stomach filled with dread. I hadn’t told them yet that Julius was my brother. After last night, he’d confirmed it, so there was no reason to withhold the information. “Well, he was taken as a newborn, and he wants to see our family house.”

“Family house?” Sierra parroted. “Are you saying you’rerelatedto him?”

“Yeah…he’s my twin brother.” The words felt weird passing my lips for the first time out loud.

A strange combination of hope and warmth exploded in my chest through the connection I shared with Julius. But after just a second, the sensations were replaced with skepticism, as if he were afraid to hope.

He cleared his throat. “I didn’t realize we were going to let everyone in on that little fact.” Discomfort wafted through him as if he didn’t like them knowing. “But, yeah. Exactly, and I want to see the house I would’ve grown up in.” Julius tensed next to the back door. “I at least deserve that.”

“You don’t deserve shit.” Rosemary leaned over and gestured at him. “All that went out the window when you hurt your own kind.”

“I never hurt her.” He waved a hand toward me. “In fact, I tried to protect her as much as I could, despite knowing better. I don’t know why, but it was like something inside me couldn’t bear the thought of something bad happening to her. Hell, I saved her from being shot.”

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