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world,
they were the change that would save us from the slow death of
monotony.
    But they would be gone in only a few short
hours.
    Something inside me rejected that idea-
overruled the notion with a strong riptide of angry emotion. I was
just starting to feel awake again- alive again- and all they’d done
was arrive.
    How could I give that up?
    How could I give her up to the
elements of this world that would fight tooth and nail to destroy
her in one way or the other?
    The answer: I couldn’t.
    But how to activate my plan….
    I looked up to realize I was pacing, wearing
a track in the cold tile beneath my feet. I felt like a caged
tiger, hot with energy and unfamiliar emotion. My neck prickled
with the urge to act, my hands and feet felt restless with
uncertainty. And my attention… my attention pulled constantly in
her direction.
    Our gazes clashed together when my eyes
obediently followed the desire I had been desperately trying to
ignore. She had been talking with her friend, eating the peanut
butter we all hated and kept only in case of emergency. She seemed
a hundred years younger all clean and fresh. Her hair was the kind
of hair that would wrap around me, get tangled in my hands, curtain
us in if she were to….
    She tore her gaze away and looked down, a
bright blush painting her cheeks that I could see from all the way
over here.
    I had to talk to her again.
    I had to just be near her.
    My opportunity came when Page walked over to
them. I probably should have intercepted my sister- we didn’t want
her to grow attached to people that would only be leaving. But
honestly I wanted my sister’s opinion. Page was wise well beyond
her years and saw things in people we didn’t always catch.
    I wanted to see if Page approved.
    Because if she didn’t, I could end this weird
infatuation. I could walk away.
    But it didn’t seem like that would be
necessary. Page’s face lit up the minute she started talking with
them and all of the girls started laughing and teasing each
other.
    Something clicked together in my chest and I
had the distinct feeling that this was what was supposed to be
happening right now. I had thought to test them with Page, but in
some deep part of me I always knew Page would like them. And that
they would like Page.
    Now I had my chance to go over there. I moved
quickly, prowling across the space between us like that same
captivated tiger.
    “Hey, Page,” I said slowly, using my
leadership and relationship to my little sister to enter their
secret girl circle. Was that wrong of me? Probably. I didn’t care.
“Making some friends?”
    “Hendrix,” Page looked up at me with those
adult blue eyes that seemed so out of place on her angelic little
face. “ They have manners.”
    I almost choked on my laughter and then on
something else when Reagan winked at me. Damn it all, she was so
sexy. I shifted uncomfortably as a thousand sinful thoughts flashed
in my head.
    I was a tiger. I was the predator.
    And she had no idea.
    “I think Page has given up on the male
species as a whole,” Reagan explained. “As it turns out boys
everywhere aren’t able to remember their manners.”
    I felt a little embarrassed by this. It was
true, my brothers and I had fallen into a kind of barbaric rhythm
without the supervision of our parents or other women. But we
couldn’t be that bad. “We just tease her,” I mumbled.
    “And the male species is lost as a
whole,” her friend put in- unhelpfully. “Probably best not to get
her hopes up.”
    There was something I should say to that,
although I couldn’t think of what exactly without coming off like a
creepy stalker.
    Vaughan cut in before I could salvage the
situation anyway, “Is that why you two are traveling alone?”
    The rest of my brothers joined us as soon as
Vaughan was part of the crowd. Apparently they’d been as impatient
as me. I didn’t blame them… but damn, they were obnoxious.
    “Who’s left to travel with?” Haley growled.
“Everyone