Her eyes had sparkled, really sparkled with happiness, when I showed her how to sign the alphabet. Such a small joy. Overwhelming.

I could communicate with her. She listened… and I would’ve given almost anything to have been able to speak to her properly, to talk as she did, aloud, but it wasn’t in my power or ability to do so. Still, her asking me questions and working for the answers, thinking and responding to them…

I didn’t want it to stop.

I didn’t want to go back to before, to the cabin with them.

If I could just stay here, with her, forever and ever…

No.

That wasn’t possible.

I knew, by the time morning came, I would be back up there. She would be back in that house, with her friend, in danger from the people I associated with, and there was nothing I could do about it. Nothing.

So, I needed to enjoy this, burn these moments into my memory. I’d pull them out later and reminisce… on the short bit of happiness I found on a beach in the middle of the night.

It did surprise me a bit, how comfortable I became with her presence. How easy it was to be around her. How her touch didn’t repel me. There wasn’t nausea, or that sickly feeling when our palms met. And I cried. Tears had fallen down my face. She didn’t scold me or tell me it was useless and crying merely got in the way of work, not like she – not like that girl always did.

I mentioned my brother and she told me words that nobody else had before.

I hope you find him again someday.

Was that possible? Could it really – could I see my brother again?

I didn’t know, but her sincerity made me wish for that day. I knew I’d be content just knowing what happened to him. And yet, if I could see his smile, if I could feel the way he used to ruffle my hair and annoy me, or the way he threw everything he had into his hugs, even if the both of us were crying and struggling with nightmares…

I’d feel…

Relieved.

And maybe a bit scared. Then I’d have the chance to lose him again… just like Kat.

In fact, what scared me the most about Kat, this new bright presence in my life, was maybe the way I wanted to hold her hand. I wanted to hug her. I wanted… all these things that I’d never even considered before.

“I’m an only child,” she told me with a small smile on her face, her eyes crinkling in the corners as she looked at her hands. And then her gaze was on mine. “But I grew up in a house where I wasn’t the only child. If you get what I mean.”

The only child of her parents, but living with another family that had kids too. In some strange foreign part of my mind, I zipped back to that prison, to spending time with my brother and Myrus’s kids. Under different circumstances, under different directions… would I have been able to speak about the other boy and girl the way she speaks about her non-biological siblings?

No, I smiled a bit, some of it aimed at the ridiculousness of the thoughts running in my mind, we would never have met otherwise. It wasn’t possible.

I nodded.

“It’s my parents and me. And then there are my cousins and their parents. Our moms are sisters. Twin sisters… actually.”

She gazed at me and I understood why this time, she looked at me that way. I was a twin. And though twins weren’t prosecuted and caged anymore, she was letting me know she understood, that she grew up around those with powers, that she wasn’t going to be hostile verbally or physically over this topic.

And part of me, a part of the ice surrounding my heart seemed to melt a bit more at that.

How?

How could she make me feel so at ease, just by talking to me? Just like this?

Then she looked back to her hands with a sheepish grin.

“And… uh… my dad? He holds the title of Alpha in the pack. And my aunt’s mate, Jack, is the Beta… which is why we all ended up in the house. The house is big, so we all fit.”

Her dad… was a pack leader?

And if her mom was a twin…

“My dad has this huge wolf too… because…”

She trailed off and didn’t look like she was going to keep talking. But I suddenly needed her to. I wanted her to keep talking to me. I wanted to hear her speak, to hear about her life. I wanted…

I wanted… to know everything about her.

My curiosity had never been so intense before.

I put my hand gently under her chin and encouraged her to look at me. And then I raised my eyebrows.

Come on…

Please talk to me…

I didn’t know why I was so desperate about it.

She let out a small chuckle and looked into my eyes.

“You know the first five alphas that existed?”

I nodded.

“Well, my dad, uh, I, through him… am a descendant of one.”

Ah.

My eyes widened as I looked her over.

So, she…

I stared, unblinking at her, until she started to fidget a bit. I let go of her chin and pointed to myself. And then at her.

Me.

Me too.

“You…?”

Her brows furrowed in concentration as she tried to decipher what I meant.

I pointed at both of us at the same time, not knowing how else to communicate with her, itching to properly speak with her.

“You…” Her eyes widened. “You too? A descendant?”

Enthusiastically nodding, I took her hand in both of mine without even registering my own actions.

She blushed, smiling a bit.

“Uh, so you’re a descendant too, then?”

I nodded again, my focus entirely on her.

“I’m guessing,” she started hesitantly. “Not a Norcell?”

My face hurt to move so much, but I tried to communicate my distaste in that name. I knew he’d been the reason I was locked up in a prison with my brother. A descendant of Norcell had taken it upon himself to hurt my family with his banning of twins.

Yeah, I was glad I wasn’t related to him.

She chuckled a bit and I felt her hand land on mine that still held hers. All of our hands were together between us now.

“Okay. Not Norcell.” She bit her lip, looking as if she were enjoying the guessing game, not that there were many options left. “Willowhill?”

I shook my head lightly.

“Evergence.”

I nodded vigorously. I didn’t know my father, but my mother had told my brother and I once that we were descended from the first Evergence wolf. That it was something special, but not something to make a name or hold power over someone with it. It was just a note in my ancestry. A small little note that was a part of my existence.

She grinned at my response and hooked her thumb back toward herself.

“Salttand.”

I couldn’t help it. I couldn’t hold it back at all anymore. I smiled, so hard my cheeks protested the action.

Of course, I thought to myself, Salttand wolves were known to be larger than others.

She stood up next to me and held out her hand, helping me up onto my own. After I was standing with her, she placed her other hand in mine and we began walking again, side by side, stretching our legs.

“That’s so cool! I know several descendants besides myself, but they’re not Evergence! I grew up with them. I mean, the Beta, Jack, right? He is a Blackstone. So, I grew up surrounded by those descendants.”

I couldn’t help it. My face fell and my gaze wandered away from her curious and cheerful face as she spoke of her family… They were family to her. I could tell she was watching me, but she didn’t ask further, instead just squeezed my hand gently with her own.

I tried my best to ignore what she’d just said. The girl she’d grown up with, the one who came here with her… was like her sister. They were close. And if anything happened…

No.

Don’t think about it.

Think about her – think about Kat. Her… her soft hand in mine, firmly, like she didn’t want to let go anytime soon. Her hair shimmering in the light of the moon. Her eyes sparkling as she laughed. Her mouth, the way it curved up into a smile, how I could just lean a little closer with my own–

Ah.

I was getting ahead of myself. We were mere acquaintances… right?

Taking a deep breath, I closed my eyes.

But this was…

Comfortable.

I was not upset or sad or grossed out. I felt at ease with Kat here, next to me. I was holding her hand with ease…

How strange.