Emins’ Mate(12)

AJ glowed a little at the praise. It wasn’t often someone told her something about her was beautiful. Cute, sure. Sweet – ugh – always. But beautiful? Never. She knew she’d never have the appeal of this wild woman standing in front of her. Tall as an amazon and curvy, even under those borrowed clothes. No. AJ suppressed a sigh. She’d never be the kind of woman that would look right on the arm of a Malashovik brother. She pictured Glory standing next to Emin. And then, just to be cruel to herself, she pictured Glory standing next to Anton. And yeah. Punch to the gut. Because she was just a masochist like that. Well, they could just go ahead and be breathtakingly beautiful together. Meanwhile AJ was just going to keep playing the sister role. She was so good at it.

“I’ll go get my things to cut your hair, okay? And I’ll see if I have something that would fit you.”

“Clothes?” Glory asked, her eyes squinting in confusion. “But you are so much tinier than I am. Like a little fox.” She reached out to stroke AJ’s hair.

Katya and AJ laughed, making Glory jump at the sudden sound. But then Glory laughed along with them.

“I’ll find something for you, don’t worry.” AJ turned to leave the room.

“And can you make my hair as soft as yours?” Glory called out.

“For you, Glorious Glory, anything,” AJ replied and was a little stunned by the absolutely effervescent smile she got in return. Wow. This woman was a killer.

AJ jogged out of the house and through the woods on one side. She only lived on the other side. She loved the familiar walk. The birds in the trees. The little path worn out by only her feet or the Malashoviks. Somehow it felt like a secret little passageway between her life and theirs. She walked it at least once a day. Sometimes at night she would drive instead of walk the path, because Anton didn’t like her walking in the woods at night. She made a little face.

Maybe she wouldn’t mind how protective he always was of her if he was taking care of her needs in all ways. And she did mean ALL ways. But he steadfastly refused to see her as anything but a little sister. Still, AJ thought as she spotted her little one story house through the edge of the trees. There had been that moment last spring. One moment in all the twenty thousand she’d had with him. Where he’d flashed, hot and hard. Angry, but also… untethered. She’d thought for sure he was going to kiss her. Her heart had been about to leave earth. Just second star to the right and straight on till morning. But he’d pulled away, looking disgusted. With himself, with her. And he’d been even more distant ever since.

A decade ago, when she’d been only fifteen, he’d saved her from a mountain lion. In his bear form, of course. And he’d brought her home, to his family. That had been the real favor. The Malashoviks had saved her life. Given her a family where she basically had none.

She sighed as she jogged up the steps of her quiet, lonely house. And then froze when she realized that the door was unlocked. The door was always locked. She swung the door open and took a step inside, automatically grabbing the baseball bat she kept by the door.

“Hey, bug,” Brett Constance said as he stepped out of the kitchen.

AJ swallowed the scream that had bubbled in her chest and let out a weak sigh of relief. “Dad. I didn’t know you were gonna be home.”

He was a trucker and his schedule was all over the place. He made it home maybe a night or two every three months. Ever since she was a kid it had been like that. And when her mother had died, nothing had changed.

“I’m home for a few days. A little staycation.”

AJ squinted her eyes in confusion at the hopeful look on his face. “Okay,” she said, and she couldn’t suppress the mildly suspicious note in her voice. “I just came back to get a few things and then I’m headed back to the Malashoviks.”

“Home for dinner?” he called out to her retreating back.

“No, I’m eating over there. And then I’ve got class tonight. Don’t wait up.” She scurried fast out of the room, just like the fox that Glory had said she was. And she didn’t see the look on her father’s face. Wouldn’t have been able to interpret it if she had.





CHAPTER FIVE





If explaining to his three brothers why they had to come over for dinner at Mama’s house put Emin in a bad mood, it was nothing compared to what he found when he finally made it back.

Glory sat in his mother’s kitchen, holding completely still, yet somehow vibrating with energy. AJ stood behind her, just finishing up drying Glory’s hair, a satisfied expression on her face.

Emin stepped into the kitchen and pulled up short, Maxim running into him from behind.