when she’s angry. It’s so cute when her tiny hands ball into fists at her sides while she’s trying not to strike one of us,” he admitted, causing me to suck my lip in as a smile flitted on my face.
“You don’t miss her pussy at all?” Cole asked curiously.
“Believe it or not, brother, women have more uses than just spreading their thighs for us,” Rhys snorted. “Like when her head is against your chest, and her fingers curl into yours without thought. I personally like it when Remington whispers my name in her sleep as she reaches for me. It’s…” Rhys paused, searching for the word. “I can hear someone else breathing and the purr of my prized car, asshole.”
“Just me and Remington out for a leisurely drive to the sanctuary for the weekly check-in. Don’t worry, she only heard everything, and now knows you enjoy cuddling with her. You might not want to admit that shit to anyone else. It sounds like you watch her sleep, which is honestly rather disturbing.” The dial tone sounded, and I glared at Cole.
“You want him happy, don’t you?” I asked, watching Cole’s eyes turning back to the road as we entered town.
“Is it that obvious?” he asked, and I smiled, patting his leg.
“You’re a good brother.”
“I honestly don’t care about his happiness, Remi. I care that he is holding the guilt of the past for all of us. He wasn’t alone in his wanting to please Roslyn. There were several of us that fell into her trap. He was just the one who thought he could save her.”
“But you didn’t think so?”
“Roslyn was a selfish, sadistic bitch who enjoyed hurting Rhys. She fucked us all over the same way, except for Rhys. He was a gentleman. He adored her, and even loved her, which none of us assumed she was capable of, but he thought he could change her. You can’t change someone who likes who they are, and she did. She loved the power that being a Silversmith allowed her, and she wasn’t afraid to hurt anyone who stood in her way. Roslyn couldn’t change her colors or her greed. No matter how much Rhys loved and adored her, she couldn’t love him back.”
“That’s horrible,” I muttered, watching Cole’s mouth tighten before he spoke again.
“He’ll never forgive himself enough to love you, Sunshine. He can barely forgive himself enough to be around us, and he merely tolerates us because we refuse to let him hide in the shadows. I know Nyota is helping you, but she wasn’t around for the worst of what happened.”
“Why were you fighting him that day outside the sanctuary’s bar?” I asked, noting the curve of his lips.
“It was a test for the Silversmith halfling witch. To see if she’d move to kill him; even after I explicitly forbid it,” he chuckled as I rolled my eyes. “The ammo she had wouldn’t have killed him, but it would have hurt like hell. I had to know if she was trainable, if she would listen to orders, or was merely tolerating me to get to the Van Helsing alpha. Imagine our surprise when an actual Silversmith stopped the ammo easily. I’ve never seen a Silversmith use one arrow to stop a barrage of bullets, Remi. Ever. Nor can they absorb them, and yet you did both.”
“I discovered it by accident. The absorption part, anyway. Nyx entered the firing range inside E.V.I.E., and the student firing their AR-15 hadn’t turned on the live firing sign, and was firing entirely too fast for me to stop the iron bullets from hitting her. So I used magic to pull them toward me, and then realized the mistake I’d made too late. Miscalculations don’t happen to me with ammo, but the thought of losing my best friend made me act rashly. I felt each one hitting my flesh. I expected pain or death, but instead, I was fine. The arrows, on the other hand, are specially crafted and spelled to eliminate fired ammunition. So it wouldn’t have missed her bullets, not even if it had to turn around to stop them before they hit flesh. Once spelled and released from the bow, it calculates which bullet will hit first, and if it can’t get the bullets, it takes out the intended victim’s Achilles tendon.”
“That’s brilliant. You mixed magic with weaponry, but you’d have to pay a higher cost to use it, correct?” Cole asked, frowning, and then smiled. “Hence why the