Page 154 of Jace
Sire reaches into his suit pocket, pulls out his wallet, and tosses a Benjamin on the ottoman between the sofas. “Hundred says we’re Maxim’s sons.”
Loch scoffs, almost insulted. “Can wenotbet on what Mom went through?”
“It’s quite alright.” Mom flits her jeweled hand. “My greatest joy was tryingoftento make sure you were all Maxim’s sons.”
Grant tosses his chin up, begging the ceiling. “Can wenottalk about Mom and sex? I’d like to have it with my wife again, and this shit is a boner killer.”
“Just tell us,” Nash insists. He doesn’t have a dog or a dad in this fight. “Who’s whose?”
Axel looks at Mom before she nods, permitting him. Guess he’s already told her.
Part of me wants to press pause on this moment and never know because it doesn’t matter.
We know who our mother is; she’s the lioness who taught us how to love.
A pride of lions is often a stable core of hunting females, protected by a coalition of males, often brothers, who guard their cubs and territory. It’s a balance of power, the nature of our beasts.
Despite the DNA, we know who our father is; the man who taught us how to be men—Maxim. He showed us how to value the female. How to respect her. How to trust her instincts and leadership. She carries our future, and it’s our duty to die protecting her.
I don’t remember much about Maxim except that he made my mom smile. Even in death, she smiles through tears, remembering him.
“Maybe we don’t need to know,” I urge. “It doesn’t change that we’re all brothers.”
“Ahem.” Sasha’s cute.
“And our sister.” Loch throws his arm around her.
She rests her head against her twin’s chest while Axel cocks a dark brow, answering me, “You’re right; we’re brothers, but we’re not all Ruslan’s sons. A fact that will matter in our meeting with him.”
Axel recaps, “He went after Sire, the firstborn, and bribed him for his kidney.”
I glance at Sire sitting across from me. He’s never looked so stoic at the almost-fatal sacrifice he made for us.
“And he came after me and took my son,” Axel continues, pain twisting his handsome face. “But thanks to Sire’s sacrifice, I got Lev back and thought I’d have to donatemykidney next. It’s what Ruslan wanted when he approached Ruby. Then inexplicably, Ruslan retreated. He’s rejecting Sire’s kidney but doesn’t want mine, and this is why.”
He tosses the folder over the money on the ottoman.
“You’re not his son!” Nick almost laughs ironically. “Holy shit, Axel. All this time, you’re the second-born and supposed to take over as the next Pakhan because Sire is a holy man and didn’t want it. But damn, you’re not even Ruslan’s son! Does he know?”
“He must,” Axel deduces. “Maybe he ran DNA onmyson. Maybe he took one look at Loch and me as men and could see it.”
Quickly, I glance between Loch and Axel, clocking Maxim’s traits. Then at Sire, then at Grant, who’s obviously my full brother. We just have this look. I can’t fucking describe myself, but me, Grant, and Sire are a house of mirrors, reflecting our mother, whose DNA trumps our father’s.
“What about me?” Nick leans forward, reaching for the folder, but Axel touches Nick’s hand, his face serious, like the situation.
“You’re just like Loch.” Axel shares what Nick was too young to remember. “You’re just like our father, the hero, Maxim.”
“Well.” Grant slaps his knees. “Don’t me, Jace, and Sire feel like shit on a sandwich now? We’re the spawns of Satan.”
“Don’t.”
Mom’s voice carries a severity we know to respect.
“You’re nothing like him.” She aims her warm stare at Grant. It’s brimming with love. “You were always my levity; you made me laugh. And you…” She points at Sire. “You were my light, my first hope. And you…” She looks at me, touching her heart. “You were love, our heart.” She pauses, blinking back rare tears. “Despite who your father is, you’re all your own men now. You each have your queens and your families to build. You are free.”
“Ahem.” Sasha clears her throat again. “I will have king one day.”
Axel glares protective daggers at her. “Who?”
