63
I know his smell… there’s something familiar about it, something gnawing at the back of my brain as I inhale deeper to get more of it… his scent. Memories stirring, darkness pushing away questions and thoughts as every fiber in my grabs onto the familiar and tries to pull a face back from the eternal depths of my past. I would never forget it, it’s so close, so comforting, so real. not in a million years would I not know what is filtrating through my nostrils and stimulating all my nerve endings. My body stiffens, my skin goosebumps and all my hackles raise in both alarm, shock, and a deep despair that scratches my heart and makes me gasp out a sob of recognition. Realization crashes through my senses as my eyes widen in disbelief and I throw myself out of the car instinctively to see for myself that this can’t really be him.
The figure backs off at speed, seemingly panicking at my burst out, leaving the gap between us at ten feet as I get upright and glare at the hooded figure before me. Inner chaotic emotions flying crazily and the need to confirm, to see, to know it’s him almost takes me over like a crazy person. My brain stammering and my soul in agony.
He’s male, stands over six feet tall, powerful in body and with heat… late twenties, well he would be now, a scent that no wolf would ever mistake, especially not me as I knew it so well, and I lift my hands in disbelief. Stunned and numb all at the same time.
“It can’t be you…… how can it be you? You died. You were killed, they all were ….. You died!!! SHOW ME YOUR FACE!” I screech at him, tears cascading from nowhere and immediately wash over my cheeks, drenching my skin, as hysteria takes grip. My heart feels like it’s being shredded to pieces while fear and panic overtake my limbs and I begin to shake. Losing control as the air around us rids me of the vampire’s scent from within the car and there’s no more mistaking it. I can smell it fully now.
Him, wolf, my blood…… I know the scent of one of our own anywhere, and I know him. I know him as I know the back of my hand or the sound of Colton’s voice. This can’t be happening to me.
“Lorey… I…” he lowers his head, looking to his feet and even his voice destroys what’s left of my soul. His voice, only mature, huskier and yet, it’s still him. That voice would hush me to sleep with bedtime stories every single night.
The tears break harder, and I claw at my chest to counteract the crashing burning pain inside of me at the realization he’s really here. After ten years of thinking him dead, yet he’s alive, and with vampires as though I never mattered at all.
“Jasper…. why?” I wail at him, betrayal wracking my body painfully and hurting me on a much deeper level than physical wounds could. “Why didn’t you come for me? When mom and dad died, why did you leave me? You let me believe I was alone, all this time. Do you know how I survived, how I lived? How alone I was? WHY??” I sob, accusing him, hurling my words like weapons, amid the gulping cries of a distraught child.
My brother shifts uneasily on his feet and draws back his hood to finally expose the face I have been longing to see for half my life. Same soft, short, brown hair that flops over his forehead on one side and softer blue eyes under straight brown brows, in an aged face but the features I loved so well, still remain. Handsome flawlessness, much like our father. His eyes damp with unshed tears and he can’t look me in mine as his own shame courses through and shows on the face that always found it hard not to reveal his every emotional thought.
“You were dead… that’s what ….. I thought…. You were dead. The Santo’s they wiped out the clan, they left no one else alive… The farm, the village, it was all destroyed when I came back to find you.” He crumbles, his shoulders sagging as his body slumps in an excruciating way, and he steps towards me, reaching out a hand and then withdrawing as though he’s afraid of my rejection, of my anger. Or maybe afraid much like I am that one touch will awaken us from this dream, and neither will be standing here at all.
