Chapter 45: Sibling Chat

Tyler

I placed my signature at the bottom of the page. Finally, that was done with. Now for the next...

My sister barged in. Her hair was a mess and she was practically bouncing around; such was the energy in her. I raised my eyebrow.

"Hey Tyler," she sat on my desk.

"Get your butt off my desk."

She ignored me, making no move to stand up. "I just beat Cindy up."

"What?!" I exclaimed before composing myself. "Why?"

She grinned at me. "Just. For the fun of it." She picked up a file and flipped through it. "Man that girl throws some hard punches."

Serves you right.

"What do you want, Lexi?"

"There are lots of answers to that."

"Best that we begin then," I snapped.

"To annoy you, to go on a run, to get a boyfriend, —"

"Oh goddess," I murmured, rubbing the bridge of my nose. "You're certainly achieving your first goal," I snapped. "Now is there anything important enough for you to interrupt me?"

"Yeah," she answered. She laid aside the file and grabbed another. "Cindy put up a great fight. She's good. Number two, she said— wait did you notice she doesn't cry? I just realized she didn't cry back at the Incident. Anyway back to the point she says she has been having some strange nightmares for a few weeks. Do you think it has something to do with her necklace? What if she saw something traumatizing in there? I'm glad you helped her calm down and sleep again last night, thanks for that. Oh, and she said the dreams come once every three or four nights. I can't stop thinking about the crying thing, what if it's some kind of disorder? Or—"

And this is why I stopped fighting with Lexi. As an Alpha, I was a match for her even if she accidentally used her Witch. But the fight would overstimulate her and she would talk endlessly. Which is what was happening now.

Note to self: tell Lucy not to spar with Lexi again.

"So I thought, why not? Since my idiot brother doesn't fight with me these days, I can as well fight a bit right no—"

"Lexi," I growled.

She smiled innocently.

"Get off my desk," I said.

"Nah," she grabbed the fifth file. I glared. "Sue me," she added with a cheeky grin.

I closed my eyes, irritated.

"Summary," I ordered.

"Cindy's a great fighter. She has been having related dreams for some weeks, which have her pretty weary. And we're late to go to Trisha's."

"Thank you. Now how many weeks are we talking about?"

"Not sure. She said 'past few weeks'. I think it has some connection with when she was locked in the freezer."

"Hmm." I watched her pick up another file and thumb through it.

After some thought, I came up with a theory.

"I think," I said, "there's something else we're not counting. I don't think the memories from her locket returned at once."

Lexi froze and stared at me.

"I think they come little by little. In those dreams."

"Well... She did say each seemed to pick up where the last left off," she muttered. "But she doesn't connect the dreams to the locket. Maybe she doesn't even know the locket is magical."

"And she was confused and sad last night because she had no idea why she was dreaming memories from so long ago," I added.

"But that wouldn't make any sense. You can't have memories at that age. And even if she did, wouldn't they be finished already? You don't get very many special memories when your that young."

"She called the dream a nightmare," I reminded her. "And you yourself mentioned trauma. It must be something to do with her parents since that's the first thing she said after the freezer. What if the person who sealed her memories into that locket was actually helping her so that she wouldn't get PTSD?"

"Do you think they may be dead?"

"It's possible."

Lexi chewed her lip thoughtfully. "Am I the only one beginning to think that this locket had nothing to do with our pack at all?"

I sighed, leaning back in my chair. "I was just thinking the same thing. I've been digging a lot for info, and so far, no pack close by has ever had an Alpha couple named Gerald and Blaire. I don't see any connection Lucy's past has with our pack."

She chuckled. "Which means she's not a threat since she has nothing against us. Turns out Dad was just paranoid."

"Back up, miss. There's still the issue of the shifters, which is what he was worried about this whole time. Even if that locket had never existed, she still wouldn't be clear. I saw her come out of an encounter with a shifter calm and unharmed. She was not alarmed by its presence, nor did she inform anyone that she had seen one. How can it be explained? They met in an untraceable place, spoke together, and left separately. What else is the meaning of that?"

She looked down at the file for a moment, then raised her eyes to meet mine. "Do you really, truly believe that she would betray you?" she asked in a soft voice.

No.

That was the plain, hard answer. I believed she loved me. She would never do such a thing.

Reality had slapped me in the face when I witnessed it for myself. But did that change how I saw her? Did it change how I smiled when I thought about her? Or how I found her scent mindblowing? Did it change my urge to claim her and keep her close? Did it stop me from holding her, or did it make that experience unpleasant?

No. It didn't.

I rubbed my eyes. "No," I said plainly. "It's a plain fact but my subconscious refuses to believe it. She doesn't disgust me like a traitor should. She's still Lucy. My Lucy."

She smiled. "I'm glad."

I sighed and shoved the thoughts out of my mind for now. Then I glared at her perched cheekily on my desk, scanning a file.

"Do I remember telling you to get your ass off my desk?"

"You said butt."

"Well get it off."

She grinned at me and ignored.

I stood up.

"You owe me, asshole," she snapped.

"Oh?"

"See those files? You can as well write down your signature. I perused them for you so you don't have to read them yourself."

Why thank you.

"Okay. Thanks. Now get out."

"Nah-uh. Carry me out."

"Are you serious?!"

"What? Since you've started carrying Cindy this might be my last chance."

Zio snickered while I rolled my eyes and lifted her off the desk.

"Woohoo!" She cheered, kicking her legs and squirming, making this more difficult than it had to be.

"Do you just do this to annoy me?" I huffed.

"Yes, precisely," she answered as I set her on her feet outside.

At least she's frank.

"Lexi! There you are! We are super late," Lucy snarled, yanking her away from me and standing in front of me.

Look who's getting possessive, Zio chuckled.

Lexi cocked a brow, sent me a secret smile, and sped away.

I felt bad that she took Lucy with her.