Thoreau - Chapter 43: Chapter 43

"Bridger! Mama and Papa said Bubble and I could go home with you and meet Baby Isabelle!" I shouted with a big smile.
"That's great, little man."
"Reau," Bubble said before Bridger could add anything else, "we rode into town with Papa this morning. We don't have a way to their house."
My mouth fell open before I snapped it closed. I was determined to meet Baby Isabelle today!
"Can we ride with you, or should I find someone to drive us?" I asked Bridger. "I bet Zia Maria could—"
"Hell, no!" Wayne yelped at the same time Arch said, "No, thanks. We want to live!"
I snickered into my hand. I loved my Zia Maria, but she was not a good or safe driver. She always hit at least one thing or ended up in a ditch or driving on the wrong side of the road. One time, she got lost and Zio Matthew found her in the heart of Greenville, looping a traffic circle over and over!
Papa was right when he said air witches were book smart and life dumb! I thought to myself.
"Sure, you can ride with us," Bridger offered. "Mr. Price will be here any minute, but you'll need to find a way home."
"Will his vehicle hold all of us?" Bubble asked.
"Spring might be a little crowded, but it should," Wayne said with a shrug. "It used to hold all our older brothers. Well, unless he's bringing Mrs. Price's puddle-jumper."
I'll run and meet you there, Spring told him.
"He's in the SUV, Spring, so you'll probably fit," Bridger said. "He's almost here, by the way."
I have no desire to be cooped up in a car if I have an alternative, Spring snorted.
"Dad said he can pick us up after work," Arch told Wayne, then turned to my bubble. "Chime Karma can fly Reau home, can't he?"
"Sure." Bubble put his hand on my head and ruffled my curls. "Anything for my fratellino."
"Oh, boy!" I chirped, dancing on my tippy toes. "Thank you, Bubble! Thank you, Chime Karma! I love flying!"
"And it might win me some points from the genitori (parents) before I tell them what happened," he sighed. "Gelo's going to tear me a new one."
"Why would he?" I asked, tilting my head to the side. "It was my fault. I should have either waited for one of you or told someone where I was going. I will tell Mama and Papa myself."
"Too late," Wayne muttered. "Arch and I already linked them."
"And they wanted us to bring you straight home," Arch added, "but we explained how happy and excited you were to see Bridger's pup, so they relented."
"Relented?"
"Gave in."
"Did they yell at you?" I asked, rolling out my bottom lip. Wayne and Arch didn't deserve to be yelled out.
"Everything's okay, baby." Arch smiled. "We handled it. You don't have to worry about it."
"Well, you're probably going to get a serious talking-to about never being alone," Wayne chuckled.
"I deserve that!" I nodded with wide eyes. "I will be extra careful not to be alone ever again!"
"You're always extra." Wayne did that little smirk, the one that stirred up the butterflies in my belly because it made him so handsome!
"Extra what?" I squeaked.
"Extra precious."
"I know that." I rolled my eyes, which made Bridger snort and Arch chuckle.
Then my friend Royal Price drove his big SUV right up to us, and we all grabbed our duffle bags. Before anyone else could, I yelled, "Shotgun!" and giggled as everyone around me groaned.
Coach Jared Hall
I stormed through the gym and tried to get myself under control while linking three people at once: Gamma Reuben to come alter the video footage of what happened, Kon to see how Reau was, and my beauty to tell her I was going to be home late.
And seeing the six sacks of shit lined up in the boys' locker room certainly didn't help me calm my outrage.
"We're sorry, Coach," Omar Avalos mumbled before I could say anything.
"Oh, you most certainly are," I agreed grimly. "Sorry excuses for human beings. You deliberately singled out a boy who is smaller and weaker than any one of you and you harassed and assaulted him. Did it make you feel like big men?"
They hung their heads and shuffled their feet.
"Answer me!" I barked. "You were brave enough to beat someone up, so be brave enough to answer me! Did it feel good to hurt him?"
"No, Coach," whispered Dylan Benninghoff, eyes fixed on the floor.
"How long have you been planning this?" I demanded.
"We didn't plan it, Coach, I swear." Marcel Jeffries swallowed hard and hung his head. "I don't know why we did it."
"Everyone fawns all over him." Gavin McCready was his usual bold and obnoxious self and glared at me as his upper lip curled. "It's disgusting. He's disgusting!"
"How is he disgusting? Because he's different from you?" Oh, this kid was tripping my trigger, and Goddess only knew what Beta Em and Gelo were going to do to him!
"He's so fucking slow! He's an idiot!" Gavin's mouth kept digging his own grave, and his crew slowly backed away, obviously wanting to distance themselves from the shit storm that was about to slam into their leader. "Everyone acts like he's something special, but he's just a pathetic retard!"
"You have no idea what that kid's been through!" I shouted, which made them all jump, "or what he has to deal with every day of his life!"
I didn't lose my cool often. Usually, I could hide it all - good and bad - under what my football boys called a perfect RBF, resting bitch face. These asshats, though, had pissed me off good and proper, and I was having a hard time getting un-pissed.
"He was never a threat to you, but guess what?" I sneered. "He is now! And you why? His two dads are on their way and, trust me, they do not play when it comes to their son!"
"I'm sorry, Coach." Levi Alton looked like he was about to cry. "I really am. I didn't want to hurt him."
"Sorry ain't going to cut it, kid. Not with these two guys. They make me look like a soft, cuddly kitten! If you have any sense of self-preservation, you'll drop on your knees and beg for forgiveness and maybe you'll survive this."
"I'll apologize to Reau." Micah Richardson swallowed hard and dropped his eyes. "Where is he? I'll do it right now—"
"No, you'll apologize to his dads," I corrected. "No one will ever allow you within twenty feet of that boy again."
"What are they going to do?" Gavin snorted. "They won't lay a finger on us! If they do, my parents will sue the shit out of them and—"
"They don't give a damn about your mommy and daddy or the law!" With every fiber of my being, I tried to will some sense into the jackass through my glare. "They would happily go to jail for Reau if it means you're in your grave and can't touch him again! Don't you get what I'm trying to warn you about? Neither of Reau's dads are at home to reason when it comes to their son!"
"Coach is right, Gav," Omar told his cousin. "I've heard his one dad, Emerson, beat Curtis Haung almost to death because Curtis called Reau a retard at the county fair."
For the first time, fear flickered in Gavin's eyes.
Good. Maybe it will save his life.
"Take my advice, dipshit, and apologize," I hissed. "As for the rest of you, don't make any sudden movements, and definitely don't try to run. You'll only die tired."
Then I had no more time to try to save them. The gym doors blew open with a resonating boom underscored by Cove's furious roar which, thank the Goddess, humans couldn't hear.
They certainly felt the fury coming their way, though, if the way they all huddled together was anything to go by.
Reau's at the Prices? Beta linked me as he burst into the locker room with Gelo on his heels, both of them looking ready to rip someone apart.
On his way there now, I told him with a nod. Royal picked them up maybe five minutes before you got here.
Good. No one else around?
Gamma Reuben's on his way to fix the camera footage, I cautioned him.
Don't think he or you will stop us from punishing these bastards.
You can't kill them, beta. I stepped in front of him and met his eyes. They're pups. Idiots and humans, but pups nonetheless. Calm down and think. We can't have six sets of human parents wondering why their boys never came home tonight.
Then Gelo's voice came from my other side, and I realized I was trying to calm down the wrong dad.
"Now you teste di cazzo (dickheads) had better listen and listen well," he said with death-cold eyes as he pointed a 9 mm at the boys.
"G-g-gun!" Levi stammered.
Micah's and Dylan's faces drained of all color, and Marcell whimpered. Even Omar, who always tried to act cool in front of his cousin, trembled as his eyes widened until they were almost round. Although he swallowed hard, Gavin lifted his chin and tried to stare Gelo down, and I had to admit that at least the little hemorrhoid was brave.
For the love of the moon, Gelo! Make my job as hard as possible, why don't you? Pinching my lips together in irritation, I linked Gamma Reuben. Almost here?
Yeah. You need help with Beta Em?
More like Gelo. He's got a gun.
Who the fuck brings a gun into a school?! Gamma Reuben growled.
Angelo della Morte, I guess.
I'll alert the alphas we may need assistance, gamma sighed. Neither of us are a match for beta if he cuts loose, and Gelo is in his own league of lethal.
Agreed, I grunted. I think it would be best if you edited them out of the camera footage entirely.
I missed gamma's response because the boys started stammering out apologies, except for their ringleader, and Gelo was not interested in hearing them say sorry.
"You are lucky you are only children," he bit out. "If you were men, I'd kill you one by one."
He pointed his pistol at each of them in turn, jerking it up slightly to imitate a recoil as if he were actually pulling the trigger, and Levi looked like he was about to piss himself.
No, boss. He did pee hisself! Scaredy cat boy! Rico tittered, my wolf's observation confirmed by the acrid odor of urine and the dark stain on the front of the boy's shorts.
"But since you are children, I will give you this one warning," Gelo purred. "My son has disappeared from your world. You do not see him, you do not hear him, you do not know he exists. Any interaction with him, any communication about him or to him, even so much as a side eye, and I will forget that you are only children and hunt you down. Avete capito (Do you all understand)?"
I didn't know Italian, and I doubted any of these jokers did, but beta intervened before a miscommunication occurred.
"He asked if you understood," beta barked.
And all the little idiots were smart enough to nod except one. Gavin only narrowed his eyes at beta.
So he's the leader of this little pack of dogs. Gelo smirked at Gavin. What's his name?
Gavin McCready, I sighed. Three of them just follow him so he doesn't turn his abuse toward them, one's his cousin and feels like he has to support his family, and Levi's only in his crew so they'll leave his sister alone.
Gelo nodded, then delivered his demands to the boys.
"You will go home and write letters of apology to my son. You will give them to Kon first thing in the morning. If you fail to do this, I will personally visit each of your homes and have a rather unpleasant word with your parents or guardians." Gelo looked the boys in the eyes. "Now get out of here before my husband loses his temper."
All the boys' heads swiveled toward beta. I'd been one of the giants during my NFL career, and he would have fit in right with me on the defensive line. Add in his fire-filled eyes and enraged face, and I didn't blame the boys for shaking in their cross-trainers as Beta Beast loomed over them.
"Well, go!" I snapped as they seemed frozen in place.
With shaky nods, they batted out of the locker room, but Gelo used his free hand to grab the back of Gavin's shirt and whip the kid face-first into the wall, then held him there in an arm lock.
"Not you, faccia di merda (asshole)," he cooed. "I don't trust you one inch. The second you find an opportunity, you'll go for my son again. I can see it in your eyes. If you were a grown man, I'd pluck those eyes out and feed them to my little cousin's cursed gatto (cat)."
"Angelo?" Beta laid a hand on his mate's shoulder. "As much as I want to kill him myself, Coach is right. We can't."
"Oh, I have no intention of killing him, mio bello. He has not earned that mercy." Gelo chuckled, and the hair stood up on my arms and the back of my neck. "Gavin, tomorrow, you will receive an invitation to attend a prestigious boarding school. You will be delighted to accept and convince your parents or guardians you want to do so."
What school? Beta included me as he linked his mate.
It's a little place I found a few years ago. The director owes me a favor.
His evil little smirk made me almost afraid to ask, but I was a teacher. I couldn't let him send a kid - even a pain in the ass like Gavin - to some sadistic hellhole.
And in reality, what kind of school is it? I narrowed my eyes at him.
Nothing harmful to the boy. Gelo shrugged, although I was fairly sure his idea of harmful was vastly different from mine. Each day is very structured, the routines are consistent, and privileges must be earned with class attendance and good behavior.
It's a prison for juvenile delinquents, isn't it? beta guessed.
Not at all. It's a monastery. The monks are quite kind, but also very strict, and the education he'll receive is unsurpassed. He'll have a bright future if he survives to graduate.
What do you mean, if he survives to graduate? I scowled.
Accidents happy, Coach, and the monks do not tolerate bad manners, escape attempts, or bullying. They'll either straighten him up or strike him down.
"And if I don't go to your dumb school?" Gavin gritted out.
"Then I will eliminate the threat to my son." Gelo finally holstered his gun and released the boy. "Now go home and pack your belongings. If you are within fifty miles of Greenville at this time tomorrow, Gavin McCready will no longer exist."
Gavin raised his chin in acknowledgment, but stayed silent, and Gelo turned to beta and threaded their fingers together.
Coach, we are going home. I trust you have someone on the way to deal with any video evidence?
Of course. Gamma Reuben's on his way now. Should be here any second. I took a deep breath as I shifted my gaze to beta. I'm sorry this happened on my watch.
Thanks, Jared, beta said, but it was no one's fault except this bastard's. I'm just glad you were here to help sort it all out.
As Gelo steered his grizzly of a mate toward the door, I breathed a sigh of relief. No one had died, Reau was safe, Gavin was out of everyone's hair, and Gamma Reuben had just linked me to say he was pulling into the parking lot.
"All right, Gavin, go straight home from here," I told him. "Despite what Gelo said, I don't know if his husband's temper will hold if they run into you again this evening."
Gavin cut his eyes at me, but left, and I scrubbed my hands over my face.
See mate soon! Rico hopped around in my head. Red, we see mate soon!
Yeah, twenty minutes later than we should be, I groused.
Could be worse, Red! Could be twenty hundred minutes late!
I rolled my eyes. Rico wasn't the most baby wolf in the pack. That honor went to Alpha Ash's Sid and Beta Ty's River, but he was baby enough to be annoying at times. Thank the Goddess, he was cute and funny as hell to make up for it.
Yeah, you're right. A tiny smile tugged up the corners of my lips. Gamma can handle the rest of this. Let's go home, buddy.
Yes, yes, yes! Home to mate, Red!
Yep. Home to our beauty. And my tiny smile spread into a full one.
Bridger was right. Baby Isabelle was the cutest pup I'd ever seen!
She had a tuft of carrot-orange hair, and her eyebrows and eyelashes were the same color. She was so small and didn't weigh anything, so I knew she had to be very young.
"How old is she, Bridger?" I asked in a whisper as he sat next to me on the loveseat and watched me hold her.
"Eight days."
"Wow," I said in a quiet voice. "She's still brand-new!"
That made him chuckle a little.
"I never planned on having a pup at sixteen, but I wouldn't give her up for anything," he said as he reached over and rubbed her tiny hand between his thumb and pointer finger.
"I'd like a pup someday." My eyes filled up with tears. "Not from my sperm, though."
Bridger squeaked and 'lijah started coughing again!
"You get used to his bluntness after a while," Wayne snickered.
"You should get a cough drop, 'lijah," I told him with a frown and ignored Wayne, "and stay away from Baby Isabelle until you feel better."
"You do know you can't get pregnant, right?" Arch asked as he raised an eyebrow.
"Yes," I told him, "but Papa 'splained that same-gender couples could use a surrogate if they wanted a child of their own blood."
"So why not a pup from your, uh, sperm?" Bridger's voice got squeaky at the end of his question, and I hoped 'lijah's cough wasn't catching.
"Because it might make the pup retarded like me."
"Thoreau!" Arch hissed. "What have I told you about saying that?"
"It's true. Even those bad boys said so."
"It's not true, and forget those bad boys. Why do you care what cruel bullies think of you? You should only care about what people who love you think."
"Yeah, Reau," Wayne chimed in. "We love you, and we think you're sweet and adorable."
"I know I am, but I can be other things, too," I argued, but was super careful to keep my voice quiet. I didn't want to wake up Baby Isabelle, who was sleeping so cutely in my arms.
"We'll just keep telling you until you believe it," Arch grumbled. "And I'd love to have a little pup with your curly hair and Wayne's blue eyes."
"Or your light green eyes," Wayne said with a wink at Arch.
"We could have twins," I suggested. "A boy and a girl. One to look like Arch and one to look like Wayne."
"Fraternal twins don't happen very often, Reau," Arch told me. "Mase and his sister Willow, who died in the sickness, are the only ones I know of in the whole pack. I mean, there's four thousand members in Five Fangs, so I guess I could be missing someone, but they are super rare."
"What's fraternal?" I asked, tilting my head to the side.
"Not identical. They're twins or triplets who share the same womb, but don't have the same genetics and might not look much alike. They happen a lot in the human world, I think, but very rarely for shifters."
"Yeah, and for us shifters, fraternals are always mixed genders," Wayne chimed in. "At least, I've never heard of same gender fraternals."
"Hey, guys, do you want to learn how to bathe Isabelle now?" Bridger said suddenly, making me look at him.
"No, thank you," I said politely. "I already know how. I used to bathe Baby Dean all the time after Big Sissy Sabine stopped taking care of him."
"Who's—" Bridger started to ask, but Arch cut him off as he stood up.
"We already know how to bathe a baby, too. I mean, Mom's had how many pups?" Arch grabbed Wayne's elbow and pulled him off the couch. "Besides, Dad just pulled into the driveway, so we got to go."
"Reau, we should get going, too." Bubble also stood up. "I have a lot of homework, and Papa will have dinner ready soon."
"Okay, Bubble. Bridger, have fun learning to bathe Baby Isabelle with 'lijah!" I looked around, but didn't see 'lijah. "Hey! Where did he go?"
"Uh, I think he needed some air." Bridger took Baby Isabelle from my arms and settled her on his shoulder.
He needed some air? Was his cough making it hard for him to breathe? Maybe he needed to go to the deltas for healing!
But why can't his wolf heal him? I wondered. Curious now, I jumped to my feet.
"I will check on him!" I offered. "Wait for me, Bubble. I'll be right back. Come on, Spring! Let's go!"
"Reau, he might not want—"
Ignoring Bridger, I skipped out of the room and let Spring follow his nose to wherever 'lijah was.
Elijah Ford
Sitting on the stairs of the Prices' back porch, I reached into my shirt pocket for my box of smokes and found a lollipop instead.
Bridger had the damn things stuck everywhere, from the side pouch of my school bag to the toothbrush holder in my bathroom at home. I appreciated what he was doing and why, but nicotine was one of the few drugs that affected shifters, and right now I needed it.
I really, really needed it.
All that talk about fraternal twins had stirred up bad memories.
You'll have to make do with a sugar rush, Darius smirked as I glared at the grape candy.
Feeling a presence behind me, I looked over my shoulder and saw Spring standing to the side as Reau skipped onto the porch. I rolled my eyes, but was resigned to the fact I was about to have unwanted company.
" 'lijah?" Reau sat down next to me. "You okay? Spring says you are sad. I'm not really good at knowing those things just from looking at you unless you're crying, so if he says you are sad, I believe him. I will listen if you want to talk."
Frowning, I swiveled my gaze to look down at him and saw nothing but innocence and care in those stony blue-green eyes.
He would understand, Darius whispered. He lost his other half, too.
Acknowledging my wolf with a sigh, I decided for the first time in my life that I actually wanted to tell the story to someone.
"This is something I've told very few people. Wayne and Arch don't know, but Bridger does. Oh, and Evie Barlow. We're from River Rapids, so she was our luna. She and Alpha Shawn tried to help after it happened, but nobody could."
"After what happened, 'lijah?"
"You won't tell anyone, will you?"
"Tell anyone what?"
"Goddess," I muttered. "The story I'm going to tell you. I don't want anyone to know. At least not right now. So will you promise to keep it a secret?"
"I promise, 'lijah, and I never break my promises!"
I snorted. I wasn't sure he could keep a promise, let alone a secret, but my heart hurt too much to keep it bottled inside any longer, so I took the risk.
"When my mom was pregnant with me, my family was visiting my dad's sister at Midnight Run. It's a small pack and doesn't have a medical clinic or anything. There's a human hospital a few miles away, though, and that's where Dad took Mom when she went into labor two months too early. If it hadn't been a premature birth, they would have made do with the deltas of the pack, but they were worried I'd be too little or sick."
I inhaled a deep breath through my nose and stared up at the sky as I wondered how things would have turned out if they had never gone to that hospital.
"Anyway, they got the shock of their life when another baby came out after me. A little girl. She'd hidden behind me in all the ultrasounds. Not even Mom's wolf had sensed her, she was so quiet and calm."
"What is an ultrasound?" he asked, blinking up at me.
"Uh." How to say it in a way he'd understand? "A picture of a baby while it's still inside the mom."
"Oh! I know what it is now!" He started flapping his fingers into his palms, which I'd noticed him do before when he was excited or upset. "Wayne has one in a frame in his bedroom! He said it is his little sister, Waverly, who died inside Mom Evie during the sickness."
I nodded. Miscarriages were very rare for shifters since most wolves could heal anything wrong with the mother or child, but losing her Goddess-given had been too stressful in Luna Evie's case. In fact, my mom said she'd nearly died along with her unborn daughter.
"Did your little sister die like Wayne's?"
"Worse." Grimacing, I pushed back the mess of emotions crawling up my throat. "They took her from me."
Reau gasped and covered his mouth with both hands.
"Your mommy and daddy?"
"No." Slumping over my knees, I buried my face in my arms. "I only had to stay in the NICU for two weeks, but she was so small and weak, she had to stay for more than a month. My parents sent Rube home with my aunt while they stayed in a hotel room near the hospital. Every day, they took me to see her and put me in the incubator with her. Dad said I would fuss until they turned me on my side so I could cuddle her. Even as a tiny pup, I knew she was mine to protect."
"Aw! I can tell you love her so much! But who took her from you?"
"We don't know." I squeezed my eyes closed against the sting of tears. "On the day she was supposed to be released, the security cameras filmed a woman stealing my sister. The hospital contacted the police, and Mom and Dad contacted Alpha Shawn, who alerted Royal Pack. King Magnus was on the throne at the time, and it sent everyone into a panic because we didn't know if the woman was a human or not."
"Why would that matter?"
"Think about it, Reau. What happens when we turn twelve?"
"We get our wolves!" he crowed.
"Right. Now imagine a human's reaction to her daughter suddenly shifting into a wolf. She'd freak out."
"Oh."
"Yeah. Oh. We're not sure if it was a human, though. Dad tracked her scent to the hospital parking lot, where it vanished. She obviously had a car waiting for her there. I—" Taking a deep breath, I admitted, "I just pray it wasn't a witch."
"A witch? My zias are witches, and they would never steal a baby! Rescue one maybe, but never steal one!"
"Because your zias are witches of the light. A dark witch, though... Goddess only knows why a dark witch would want a newborn shifter pup."
I couldn't allow myself to think about it. If I did, I'd go mad.
"Oh," he said again.
Arch and Wayne had warned Bridge and me that he needed time to process things, so I sat in silence as he thought and asked myself why I was even unloading all of this on him, of all people. Maybe it was because he was conveniently there. Maybe it was because I knew he would be sympathetic. Same with Spring.
Like Darius pointed out, if anyone in this pack could understand, it would be them.
Sure, Alpha Ice lost his fraternal twin, but I couldn't talk to him. Even if he unbent enough to listen, he'd had his sister for fifteen years and knew she was safe in death. I'd had no time with mine, and no idea what was happening to her.
"What's her name?" Reau asked after a few moments, thankfully distracting me before I could follow my darkening thoughts.
"Imogene. Mom and Dad were going to call her Momo for short."
"Aww! Such a sweet and cute nicky name!" He laid his hand on my shoulder, as lightly as a butterfly landing. "I am very sorry this happened to you, 'lijah. I will pray to the Goddess that you find her again soon."
I nodded, appreciating that, then made sure my eyes were dry before I sat up and looked at him.
Crap! Tears were streaming down his cheeks!
With a sigh, I raised one hand, then froze when he flinched back.
Was he afraid of me? I'd never hurt him!
He was abused, Darius reminded me. Physically, painfully, and often. It's instinctual, not personal. And, after what happened at school, he's probably extra sensitive right now. Ten to one, he has a nightmare tonight.
Scolding myself for forgetting, I moved slower and swiped my fingertips under his eyes.
"Don't cry, Reau. Wayne and Arch will kill me for making you cry."
"It's okay to cry. Papa said all my emotions are valid, but how I 'spress them to others is on me."
He sniffed and wiped his nose on his sleeve, and I rolled my eyes. Between his messy eating habits and him wiping his mouth, nose, eyes, or tongue on whatever fabric was nearest to said body part, his laundry was probably hell to deal with.
"If it makes you uncomfortable, though," he continued, "I can sing a song to make myself happy again."
"It doesn't make me uncomfortable," I told him with a tiny smile, "but I don't need you to cry for me. Go ahead and sing a song. Be happy again. A smile looks best on you, anyway."
Taking me at my word, which was all this kid ever did, he launched wholeheartedly into some silly song I knew he was making up as he went, and by the end of it, even I was smiling.
This kid. Darius shook his head with a smile of his own. He makes everyone want to be better.
Why is that, I wonder?
Because we know we don't deserve the love and kindness he so freely gives, my wise wolf pointed out.
I wasn't much of a hugger, but I reached over and laid my arm across Reau's shoulders. With a little giggle, he snuggled into my side and squeezed me hard, catching me by surprise, and the air woofed out of me in a surprised huff. That made him giggle and hug me harder, and I smiled a little as I laid my cheek on the top of his head.
Darius was right. I didn't deserve Reau's friendship, but I wanted it.
I needed it.
I needed his light to help me find my way through the darkness that I'd been stuck in all my life.
I'll never stop searching for you, Momo, I vowed as buried my face in Reau's mess of curls. I promise I will see you again someday. I swear it on the moon. I will find you one way or another, my light.