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"Of course," Simon rushed to assure me. "It was part of our training. We both took defensive driving courses that our uncle had set up for us."
"Holy cow," I breathed, finally excited about something. "Do you think he'll let me take this course too? I wanna know defensive driving! I don't even know what it is, but I know I wanna learn."
Simon smiled at me indulgently while Quinton barked out a harassed but firm soundingno.
"I'm sure he'd teach you if he wasn't dead," Trenton said in a quiet voice.
I slumped in defeat. "Is everyone you know dead?" I asked, hoping he'd say no, but some form of sixth sense was screaming at me that it would be the exact opposite of what I wanted to hear.
"Yes," Trenton answered in a dead serious voice that made me flinch.
Rain came through the back door and stormed into the place, saving me from having to respond. Not that I would have known what to say to such a thing. Sorry didn't seem to cut it or be even close to sufficient when presented with such an amount of loss.
"Are you for real?" Simon breathed out in a shocked whisper.
"Rain?" Trenton murmured hoarsely. "What areyoudoing here?"
I jumped off the counter, stumbling a little when I landed on my feet.
"You know my dad?" I inquired in shock.
Both sets of silver eyes flashed to me. "Your dad?" Trenton whispered. "Rain Kimber is your father?" He turned on his brother. "Did you know?"
Simon shook his head as he walked straight toward my father. I moved to grab him, to stop him, and arms wrapped around me from behind. Quinton pulled me into his body, his heat immediately surrounding me pleasantly.
His mouth went to my ear and he murmured, "Leave them be. I don't think it's a bad thing that they know Rain."
Simon didn't stop in front of Rain like I thought he would, but instead he got right in his space. He wrapped Rain up in his arms and dragged my father into his body. He whispered words I couldn't hear as he held Rain tightly before letting him go and stepping back abruptly.
Trenton moved right in and, like his younger brother, didn't hesitate to wrap my father up in his arms and hug him firmly.
"Well," Julian muttered irately. "That settles that, I suppose. Looks like we're keeping them. Unfortunately."
I didn't think it was unfortunate at all and wished Julian would give them a chance before judging them so harshly. It was obvious they'd had hard, tragic lives and needed a break here.
I think we all stood there in shock as Rain embraced both brothers back and didn't immediately shake them off and strike them down.
His eyes burned with a horrible light and I swear I saw him blink back tears. One second they were there, then in the blink of an eye it was all wiped away and his cold, dead mask was firmly back in place.
"What happened to your handler that has you up in this place, so far from home?" Rain asked them.
"Dead," they said in unison.
"Killed by hunters," Trenton continued. "The Council had been called in because of the coven the hunters had attacked before attacking us. That's how we ended up with them. After they figured out who we were they decided it was important to take us from coven to coven in search of a female to potentially activate the magic that would let us know when we'd found her. We'd honestly never thought in a million years we'd find her. Even when our father had inked us we knew it was more than a long shot, but tradition is tradition and there was always a small slither of hope. Who knew we'd find her here and with you of all people."
Rain nodded as if this all made perfect sense to him. "My daughter," he said with pride. "The Brothers of the Maidens assigned to my daughter, and two of them at that. Quite the honor you two have bestowed upon my family."
I swallowed nervously as I gripped Quinton's arms. I looked back at him over my shoulder to see him smiling down at me reassuringly.
"He's right, you know?" he spoke quietly. "Now that I know what they are, it absolutely is an honor to have them with you. I, like most everyone, assumed there were no more of them. They're raised to be warriors from birth. It might just be a good thing to have them with you. I know I’ll feel a whole lot better about your safety from now on because the only thing they're supposed to focus on is you and your well-being."
I looked at him in horror. This wasn't good. If both Rain and Quinton were on board with this then it was as good as a done deal. I know I had agreed to have them with me, but I had stupidly assumed I could set them up with an apartment somewhere and let them live their lives as comfortably as I could afford to.
Even in my own head that sounded wrong, like they were my secret mistresses that I wanted to lavish money on but hide away from the rest of my life, keeping them separate.
"They can stay at my house," Quinton offered.
Well, at least that settled their living arrangements.
