Page 4 of The Fall Before the Heat

“We’re just dancing and stuff,” Lost huffed at me.

“I hope so, baby brother. Look, don’t do anything stupid before we talk again, okay? I gotta go.”

“What are you going to do?” Lost asked me.

“I miss you too. We’ll talk tomorrow,” I said.

“Okay. Be safe.”

“Love you,” I said.

“You too.”

Chapter Three

Delius

“You have a very intimate relationship with your teakettle,” I said, walking into the kitchen just as the kettle whistled to Rex saying he loved it. “Should I give you guys some privacy?”

“Huh?” It was finally his turn to sound like a bit of an idiot.

“You told your tea kettle you loved it,” I said to his very tall back.

“I was on the phone with my kid brother,” Rex said.

“Oh, sorry,” I blushed.

I knew he probably wasn’t telling the tea kettle he loved it, but I wouldn’t have made the joke if I knew he was talking to someone from back home. I’d only been away from home a day and knew that wasn’t a joke.

“Are they still in London?” I was nosy.

“No,” Rex shook his head as he opened the dishwasher.

A warm gush of steam escaped the appliance as he reached in for teacups.

“They’re in Spain now,” Rex sighed. “He’s just finding ways to be stupid in Spain too. Though, he’s seventeen. He could find ways to be stupid on a deserted island all alone.”

“Bootleg liquor from fermenting the fruit?” I offered up.

Rex paused holding blue and white teacups in front of himself. He cocked his head to the side and shook it.

“Don’t look at me like that. I’m not seventeen. I’m old enough to buy the real stuff,” I laughed.

“I’ll make a note to lock Lost in my room if he visits campus to keep him away from your bad influence,” he said.

It wasn’t until the tea and sugar were on the table that I realized Rex was probably joking. He wasn’t wearing pheromone blocker, but his scent was unreadable. We’re technically part of the same group. We’re wolves, but almost everyone born in the Moonscale Territory was part of the group by just being born in the territory.

“Are you on the link?” I asked.

“Yep,” he pulled out one of the kitchen chairs for me as if I needed an invitation to sit down.

“Thanks,” I said, blushing.

Why was I blushing? Sure, Rex was hot, but lots of guys were hot.

“Not guys we’ve lived with,”my wolf chimed into my thoughts.

“We’ve not lived with anyone we haven’t been related to, rabbit breath,”I reminded him.

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