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Jacqueline went home while the handyman went into the back room to take measurements on the broken window. She had barely arrived home when someone knocked on the door. She wasn’t expecting anyone, so when she went to the door, she was surprised to see her brother. “Robert, what are you doing here?”
“Dad was furious that you and your hunter friends arrived at their house and gave Mom grief. And to make things worse, you and even more of your new friends showed up at the luncheon Mom and her friends were having at the restaurant.”
“Do you want to come in?” She wasn’t about to put up with her brother’s scolding, but she sure didn’t want to air their grievances on the front porch.
“Uh, yeah, of course.” Robert stepped into her house and shut and locked the door.
“So, do you want to ask me how I’m doing now that I’ve been turned? Or are you going to continue to act like nothing happened?” She got him a glass of ice water and they sat down in the living room. Princess immediately came to sit on her lap to be brushed. She picked up Princess’s brush and began working on her coat. Jacqueline was ready to clear the air with her brother. If he didn’t want to be part of her life any longer, or at least until he got over this, she was prepared for it.
“Yeah, okay, you’re right. I apologize to you for not coming to see you.”
“Or going after the vampire who had turned me.” She began brushing Princess’s tummy as she stretched out on her back on Jacqueline’s lap.
“I had a full load of cases to deal with.”
“All right, so a rogue vampire who could control me wasn’t as much of a priority to you or our parents as other vampire rogues on your list.”
Robert didn’t say anything in response. She figured he would try and talk his way out of feeling guilty about it, but then it seemed he thought better of it.
He ran his hands through his hair. “I’m sorry. You’re right. You are always so together. You fight and don’t need anyone. Even from a young age, you were like that.”
“You don’t think this whole business would have turned my world upside down? That I might have needed my family to act like they cared and not like I’m carrying a communicable disease?” At least she had gotten him off the topic of Dane and his brother seeing Mom at the house when Dad wasn’t there.
“Yeah, I…” Robert let out his breath and shoved his hands in his pockets. “Okay, you’re right. I didn’t know what to say to you. I felt bad that you’d been turned. Mom said to leave you alone for a while until you got over the newness.”
“You’ve got to be kidding.”
“No. She said that we all know how you are when you’re faced with change in your life. You need time to sort out how you are feeling.”
“I needed my family to be there for me. A change like this is life altering. How would you feel if the roles had been reversed? If you had been turned and none of us had checked to see how you were feeling? If you needed anything? Not only had I been turned, but Van had dumped me, never asking how I was feeling, and he wouldn’t fight Heskel either.”
“And then he started courting your best friend. We all felt that was going too far. I’m sorry, really, Jacqueline. When I think about all the stuff you went through, I realize that we should have been there for you. I want you to know that I want what’s best for you. I’ll do whatever I can to make it up to you and be the brother I’ve always been.”
“Or better.”
He raised his brows.
“An even better brother.”
Robert smiled. “Okay, that’s the sister I knew.”
She frowned at him. “Were you worried I would be a rogue? That I might attack you?”
He shook his head. “No. Even if Heskel had tried to convince you of it, we knew you wouldn’t. Truly, we know when you need your space. We really felt you needed some time after all that had happened, but we should have at least made sure, and I sincerely apologize for that.”
“At least I had Dane there for me.”
“Okay, so what’s the deal with him?” Robert asked.
“I met him at the therapy session for hunters turned, and you know what? Not only did he step in to be my hero and take down Heskel, his brothers stood by the both of us too.”
Robert lowered his eyes to the floor, and she knew he was feeling guilty about it. Then his blue eyes caught her gaze and he said, “I told you Van wasn’t the right one for you. As soon as he went hunting with you and then said he preferred fighting with his brothers but then here he is off hunting with Lettie now.”
“I know. I think that irritated me more than his dating her.”
“Knowing you, I’m not surprised.”
Then there was a knock at the door and Jacqueline wondered who that would be now. She set Princess on the couch and walked to the door, though if her brother hadn’t been here, she would have just used the vampire way to get there. Not that she was afraid to show what she was in front of her brother, but—she felt maybe it would be like showing off? She wasn’t sure why she was feeling that way.
