Oh my.
This sounds eerily familiar.
“The first body on Vinny’s count was for me. A teacher who had no business being around children. Our parents didn’t do anything about it but my brother did. I even gave him a mask afterward, told him he was my very own super hero. It didn’t matter what he was going through, what he had on his plate, Korvin always dropped everything for me, and he made sure I never had a reason to be afraid of anything or anyone.” Maisie chuckles and shakes her head. “Probably to a fault. Once he finds out what I’ve been doing while he’s been locked up, he’s going to want to kick my ass, but I digress. I never had to worry aboutanything because my brother was there to protect me. He made me stronger and braver by showing me that I was important even when the people who should have made me feel that way, didn’t. Vinny did that right up until I watched a group of men in swat gear use their dogs to drag him out of the woods and load him into the back of a cop car. He didn’t do it, you know.”
“I know,” I say as she turns to face me. “I questioned it before we met, how a seventeen year old boy could single-handedly massacre so many people, but I know with complete certainty Korvin didn’t kill those children or their mother.”
She smiles, the same genuine smile that looks both out of place and like it belongs on her face. “He killed my mother, though. My mother and the bastard she sold me to. Vinny didn’t think, he didn’t ask questions, he acted without hesitation and he eliminated the threat, then he gave himself up so I could get away.”
None of that surprises me. Not one bit. Korvin has a reason for everything he does, whether it fits societal norms or not, and hearing that he’s always been that way just proves he’s not the monster they say he is.
“The thing is,” Maisie says as she gets to her feet. “Korvin protects his people fiercely. He will kill for someone he loves, he’ll die for them and won’t question it once. But no one protected Vinny when he needed it, no one loved him enough to sacrifice themself for him. When he wrote and told me about your pack, I think my brother felt like he finally had that, whether it was a conscious thought or not. For the first time in his entire life, I think Korvin felt safe, and he felt loved. That’s a pretty big fucking deal when you’ve lived every day before without it, don’t you think?” Then she shrugs a shoulder and heads toward the door. “That kind of love is hard to come by, and I think that’s why it's so easy to sacrifice everything you’ve everwanted just so you can keep it alive. Vinny did it for me, who’s gonna do it for him?”
I open my mouth but find myself speechless.
Thanks to Maisie’s narrative about their life, I can draw direct parallels between him and Magnolia, their parents and lives up until they made the decision to change it themselves. Honestly, I’m able to make connections for all of us, reasons that only confirm that we’re supposed to be together and leaves zero room for doubt.
“Can you do me a favor?”
Maisie stops and turns with her hand on the door knob. “Maybe.”
“For two people who haven’t lived together in fifteen years, you sure don’t act like it.” I scrub a hand over the scruff on my face as she giggles. “Will you come with us?”
“I’m listening.”
“We have to get Magnolia back. I’m done crying about it, it’s time to act.” I nod firmly like I actually have a plan when I don’t, I just know we have to get out of here and get to our girl. “Korvin won’t listen to anyone, he won’t talk to anyone. Des and Calix are beside themselves because their attempts to help have failed. They want their alpha back and so do I, and we need him if we’re going to get Magnolia back. Will you try to talk to him? Talk to him and come with us for what I don’t doubt is going to be a disaster?”
Maisie nods as that same wicked grin I’ve seen on her brother’s face graces hers. “If it means I get my brother back, I’m game. Let’s fucking go!” She punches the air as she walks out the door, but as soon as it closes, my office door swings open again.
“Isaak!” Eve comes running into the room, completely frazzled and crying. “Isaak, it’s Maggie!”
Well, when it rains it fucking pours, doesn’t it?
TWENTY-THREE
GOTTA HAVE FAITH
KORVIN
The first time my sister has ever been allowed to come visit me, and this is what’s going on when she does.
I haven’t even said anything to her.
She hugged me when she came in, Maisie hugged the shit out of me for a long time, but when she let go and took a good look at my face, I didn’t have to worry about conversation.
Not when she tore out of here like a bat out of hell looking for Isaak.
Maisie didn’t even notice Des and Calix sitting on the floor against the wall across from me.
“Probably because you sitting there pouting like a baby is acting like a vacuum,” Des grunts as he throws another paper airplane. “It’s sucking the manners out of here right along with all the fucking life.”
Jackass.
Must have read that on my face since I didn’t say shit out loud.
Either that or Des suddenly gives a shit about introductions and niceties.
“Who even says that?Niceties. Are you seventy five years old all of the sudden?”
