ARDEN
How did it happen that we were on our way to Cade’s house?
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It wasn’t exactly planned. We still had three more days before classes resumed, and I thought we’d spend them quietly in his own house. But then his parents insisted–his mom wanted to cook dinner, and his dad mentioned something about Cade being gone too long and missing family meals. I tried to politely decline, but Cade had already said yes before I could even open my mouth.
Now, here we were, on the road, just the two of us in the backseat while his parents sat up front. Cade held my hand the entire ride. My fingers were cold, but his were warm and steady, wrapping over mine like it was second nature. I leaned my head against his shoulder, watching the trees blur past the window.
“It’s okay,” he murmured softly, his lips brushing the top of my head. “Don’t be nervous. I’m here.”
I smiled faintly, closing my eyes. “I’m not nervous,” I whispered back.
And I wasn’t—not in the way he thought. His parents were already kinder to me than mine had ever been. They didn’t look at me with disdain, or talk down to me, or make me feel like I was an accident they had to deal with.
Just the fact that they voiced out their support for us was already too much. More than I ever imagined I’d get in this lifetime.
When we got there, Mirage insisted I stand near the kitchen counter while she cooked.
She handed Cade a knife and told him to help with the vegetables. Alpha Nathan sat on the barstool beside me, reading the news off his tablet but occasionally throwing in comments about how Cade used to run around the house shirtless and how he still hadn’t learned how to cook rice properly.
Cade rolled his eyes. “You still talk about that? I was nine.”
“You were sixteen,” Mirage corrected with a smirk.
I laughed, and they all looked at me like they’d just won something. It felt like the air in the room was lighter than anything I was used to–there was no tension, no pressure to behave a
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Just a family
They asked me grutione but she wings would a que te weet de spley fant Alpha Wathen asked I played any aporte
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1 nodded, smiling
After dinner, the men headed to the kitchen so groper dessert–something about a pie Cale had insisted on baking when he was wider for suited in daster While they bickered over who would hold the whipped cream caniste. Virage echeck across the table and took my hand gently
Fammed to her
“If you ever need someone,” she said he wenor wiem, hire gade soft, a mom, or anything like that you can call me, alright?”
For a second, I couldn’t breathe
My mom had never looked at me like that
She had never touched mir gently or spoken to me kindly without expecting something in return. She had never offered comfort, never even given me a moment to feel safe in her
And here Mirage was, someone else’s mom holding my hand and saying all the words Ehar wanted to hear my entire life
1 didn’t mean tory.
The tears came too fast for me to stop thom Alooked down, texing to brush thern away without making it award. bun Mirage just stood from her seat and walked around the table. She wrapped him as and spe and pulled was awww her sheet
“There, there,” she whispered stroking my han “Xon don’t have to be alone anyones.”
I hadn’t realized how much I mooded to hear that wil m
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Cade and Alpha Nathan walked back into the room just then, both holding plates of pie. Cade paused immediately, setting the plate down with a frown.
“What are you doing?” he asked, his voice suddenly tight. He moved toward me and instinctively pulled me into him, away from his mom. His arms wrapped around my shoulders like a shield.
Mirage chuckled, stepping back. “Oh, sweetie. I’m just being nice to our future Luna.”
My eyes widened.
Cade groaned under his breath but didn’t let go of me. “Let’s just eat,” he muttered.
He grabbed a knife, sliced into the pie, and placed a piece on my plate, muttering something about “too much sugar” and “don’t let her spoil you. But he was smiling.
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And so was I. Meeting Cade might have been the best thing to ever happen in my life.
***
Cade’s bed smelled like him.
Clean, faintly like cedar, and warmth. It wrapped around me the moment I sank into his sheets, my legs tangled with his under the covers. Mirage had just peeked her head in the room a few minutes ago, gave us a knowing smile, and said, “It’s alright. You’re both grown enough.”
I thought I’d explode on the spot.
My cheeks were burning red, and I tried to hide under the blanket. But Cade just chuckled, tugged me closer, and now here we were. In each other’s arms. In his room. In his house. In his bed.
I was wearing one of Honey’s old shirts and a pair of soft sleep shorts. She had left a drawer full of clothe, and Mirage offered them to me without hesitation. It felt strange at first–like I was intruding on her place–but Cade had only smiled and said she’d want that.
Now his hand was resting lightly on my waist, and he looked down at me with so much warmth in his eyes, it made my heart ache.
“I don’t think I’m ever going to get used to this,” I murmured, looking up at him from where
head rested on his chest.
my
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“Used to what?”
“Us. This. Feeling like I belong somewhere.”
Cade brushed his nose against mine. “You belong here,” he whispered. “Always.”
I swallowed hard. There were too many feelings inside m. I looked up at him again, the thought of our situation settling heavy between us.
“We can do this, right?” I asked quietly.
He didn’t need me to explain what I meant Everything that we’d uncovered, the pain and secrets and the promises we were suddenly holding onto.
Cade took a deep breath and hummed softly.
“You know,” he started, his voice low and a little rough, “when Honey came back right after her regression, I thought I did everything right. I pulled her out, brought her home, sat by her bedside every night.”
I held onto his shirt, watching his eyes as they stared up at the ceiling, remembering.
“But she was never really the same,” he continued. “Something inside her-” His voice faltered for a second. “Something broke. And for a long time, I kept thinking there had to be a way to fix her. To get my sister back. The loud, fire–hearted girl who used to drag me around by the wrist.”
His jaw tightened. “But maybe that’s not how life works. Maybe you don’t get the same people back, not in the same way.”
I reached up and cupped his face gently, making him look at me.
“Cade,” I said softly. “Don’t doubt yourself. You’ve been the best brother she ever had. I’m sure she knows that.”
His eyes searched mine, almost like he didn’t believe it.
“That’s why she loves you so much,” I continued, my thumbs brushing over his cheekbones. “And that’s why I love you, too.”
His
eyes
darkened. His arms pulled me close, and the next second, he kissed me.
It wasn’t gentle.
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It was deep and desperate and full of everything we couldn’t say out loud. My hands threaded into his hair, and his tongue slipped past my lips, tasting and claiming it his own. He kissed me like he needed me to breathe, and I kissed him back just as hungrily.
By the time we broke apart, I was panting, my lips swollen. Cade’s forehead pressed against mine, his breathing just as ragged.
“Fuck,” he muttered under his breath. “It’s been a while.”
My eyes widened, remembering the night we shared not long ago. “It’s only been a day.”
He grinned. “Yeah, but you’re so–irresistible.”
I laughed softly, blushing, and swatted his chest. “We’re in your parents‘ house.”
Cade’s smirk turned devilish. “Then I guess you’ll just have to be quiet.”
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