He laughs again, his eyes rolling, and then he pulls me into his arms so that my head rests on his chest. I wrap my arms around his waist, and I stare at my mother with him as she struts from one place to the next, instructing people on what to do. She’s retired, and everyone still snaps to and does as she commands.
“I don’t know what you’re looking for, kiddo. There wasn’t one magical thing that made me love her more than I ever thought possible. I waited because I knew she would come back to me one day.”
“Do you ever wish she had told you Dad was her counter from the start?” I sigh out.
“No. If I had known she was essentially chosen for someone else already, that fate somehow had a hand in her heart, then I might have forced myself to stay away before I fell in love. What your mother and I have… it’s amazing. It always has been. I knew the day would come when she’d choose Hale after I saw a few counters with my own eyes. I saw how she needed your father before her savage was under control, and I saw how he needed her when his broke free. I knew I couldn’t compete with that, but I also knew I’d never love anyone like I love Araya.
“Yes, there have been many, many women try to lure me away, but I never once felt tempted. That’s what’s so special. It's a sort of bond I only ever imagined until I fell in love with her. There’s nothing she wouldn’t do for me, nor I for her.”
I force a tense smile, my eyes shifting back to Jase long enough to let a few more pieces of my heart break off before I return my gaze to my full blood stepfather.
“Does the fact she cured the full bloods of their sun allergy and blood thirst have anything to do with it?” I huff out, knowing I can’t compete with that.
He doesn’t laugh like I wanted him too. His eyes stay intensely focused on the woman he adores, seriousness and pure dedication etched on his face.
“When your mother healed me, it was completely by mistake. I had asked her to let me do something that I don’t know I could have done if it had been the other way around. It proved to me she loved me a hell of a lot more than I realized. Until then, I had always thought I loved her more than she loved me.
"Her heart is bigger than it should have ever been allowed to get. I wish I could explain to you all the horrific things she went through that should have molded her into a monster. She refused to be anything but compassionate though. She would have ripped apart armies to keep me safe, and I knew I would never find anyone else to love me as she does.”
I sigh out a shaky breath, and then he leans over to kiss the very top of my head.
“Was this brought about because of Jase Ericson?” he asks while turning back to see my full blood shaking hands with an admiral.
“Yes and no.” Completely about Jase.
“If you want him, then get him. If you don’t, then leave him alone. It’s that simple.”
I wish.
“Not really. He told his sister I was a headache and he was just going to ride it out. Apparently, I was an idiot for thinking he ever cared about me at all. I wish my savage would come out and lead me to my damn counter.”
He winces slightly, making me feel like an ass for being so insensitive, considering my dad was my mother's counter and that's the reason why he couldn't have the woman he loved until now. Ignoring my last remark, he continues on with the original conversation.
“He may have quite a few things going on you don’t know about. It doesn’t mean he doesn’t want to be with you. It means he’s distracted. At the time in my life when I met your mother, I was completely able to dedicate all my heart, mind, and soul to her. Nothing else weighed me down. Just because you’re not obsessed with each other right away, that doesn’t mean you’re not perfect for one another.”
I’m the only one obsessed.
“I feel more for him than he does for me. When I was eighteen and close to my change, I was dating a guy who was a little more in love with Mom than me. I asked him to move in with me at my first apartment, and he said we needed to slow down. Mom told me, 'if it isn’t that grab-you-in, keep-you-safe, and hold-you-forever kind of love, then it isn’t worth your time.'
"I saw the love she and Dad had. I see the love you and she have. I don’t agree with her on ninety percent of the things she says pertaining to me and my life, but I trust her completely with matters of the heart because she seems to know what the hell she’s talking about in that area.”
He smirks as though there is some sort of secret, some piece of my mother’s past I’m missing.
“It was tug-of-war between your father and me for a while. Your mother figured out in the end what she wanted, but it took her to the brink of insanity to get there. Everyone is different. I agree though. If you don’t find something as powerful as what we have, don’t waste your time. Just don’t walk away from something you do feel passionately about without giving it everything you have. Sometimes it pays off.”
His smile broadens, and I look up to see my mom grinning her goofy smile and swishing her hips on her way to us.
“What’s going on over here? Whispered conversations this early means there's a problem,” she teases, and Uncle Brazen pulls her into his arms while bringing her heated touch to his cool one.
“I was just telling Aria to not give up on something she wants bad enough.”
She smiles against his lips, her cheeks reddening under his adoring gaze, and then she becomes lost in him - the passion tipping to the ew part of the scale. I walk away, my back turning on the overly affectionate couple, and I accidentally fall prey to the pale eyes of the man who has my heart in knots.
He starts to walk toward me, but he’s intercepted by another general. I turn away, my eyes trying not to burn through my hybrid contacts, and I stalk toward my Uncle Grayson.
“Tell me how to control it,” I blurt out, and he jumps a little from my startling and random comment.
“Control what?”
