“What’s gonna happen, Hav?”
Haven shrugged. “I don’t know. She’ll kidnap us, take us to some—”
Wesley stopped in front of him. “No. Not with the witch. With Yvette. You and her, what is it? Just an itch you needed to scratch?” There was a hunted look in Wes’ eyes.
Haven broke eye contact and looked out the window. “I don’t know where it’s gonna go.” How could he tell his brother what he really felt when he hadn’t even told Yvette? It felt wrong to confess to Wesley when he’d been too much of a coward to tell Yvette what she needed to hear from him.
“Are you in love with her?”
Haven jumped up and walked to the window. “Hell, Wes, I barely know her.”
“That’s neither here nor there.”
“What do you care?”
Wes joined him at the window as they looked out onto the street and its midmorning goings-on. “It can’t have escaped your notice that two of those vamps are married to human women.”
“So?” Haven didn’t like the direction the conversation was going. His brother was about to corner him.
“So, it means that relationships between our two species are possible. Don’t play dumb with me. I know it’s crossed your mind.”
When Haven didn’t answer immediately, Wes dug in again. “Hell, you were holding hands with her!”
“And what the fuck is that supposed to mean?”
“When have you ever held hands with a woman?”
“Plenty of times,” Haven lied. He couldn’t remember a single time. He wasn’t the type, and he didn’t do relationships. He did one-night stands.
“You know, Hav, I always thought my future sister-in-law would be some tough bounty hunter chick you met at one of your jobs, maybe even some ex-con. That you’d bring home a vampire one day, not even I expected that.”
“I’m not bringing home—”
A hand on his shoulder stopped him. “Don’t. I guess you could do worse. Yvette doesn’t seem half bad. At least it’s obvious that she cares about you.”
Haven met his brother’s look. “I’m sorry, Wes. I know it feels like betraying Mom’s memory, but there are things I can’t fight.” At the thought of his mother, he again felt a stab in his chest. And he clearly wasn’t the only one upset about the revelations Francine had made that night at Samson’s house. If his brother only knew what else the witch had confessed, the horrible crime his mother had committed … but Haven knew he could never tell his brother. It was one secret he’d take with him to the grave.
“I don’t want to talk about Mom right now.”
Before Wes could turn away, Haven grabbed his arm. “I think we have to. If Francine was telling the truth, and I believe she was, then we were in the wrong all this time. I was in the wrong. And I dragged you into it when you would have been young enough to forget.”
Wes let out a long breath. “You really think I could have forgotten what happened that night even if you hadn’t reminded me constantly? Hav, I was the one who let him have Katie! I didn’t run! I didn’t keep her safe.”
It was the first time Haven realized that Wesley carried the same guilt with him as he did. It was time to let go of it now, to forgive and forget. They would have Katie back. And this time they’d keep her safe. Haven would make sure of it, even if that meant sacrificing himself to stop the prophecy from being fulfilled.
He took Wesley by the shoulders and shook him. “Stop, Wes! It wasn’t your fault. And it wasn’t my fault. We were kids. We did what we could. What happened was because of Mom. She brought this on us.” Mom had robbed them of their father. But he couldn’t tell Wes. He would break if he knew. “We lost Katie because of her, because of what she wanted.”
He saw tears well up in Wes’ eyes and pulled his brother into an embrace. “The past is over.”
“How could she do that to us? Didn’t she love us?”
Love? Had their mother loved them? Haven contemplated his brother’s question, remembering the last time he’d heard his mother speak of love. Had it meant anything?
“I don’t know. I don’t think we’ll ever know.” Could anything cut deeper than a mother’s betrayal? “But we’ll make things right now. I promise you.”
Wes nodded. “Yes. We’ll make it right.”
Haven released his brother from his arms. “We have to destroy the Power of Three. It’s brought too much pain to everybody involved. I don’t want it.”