Secrets From My Mate

Chapter Twelve

Brought Home

"Are you sure you'll be okay here without us?" Lane asked, again, as I tried to convince him, Kyle and Lucy to go home.

"Yes. Lane, I'll be fine," I answered for the hundredth time. "I'm not a child. Jake and I are just going to study for a couple hours and he'll drive me home when we're done."

"You can study at the house," Lane replied.

I gave him a withering look. "When was the last time we had anyone outside of the family at the house?" Derek doesn't really count because he just shows up there and my family doesn't really know about that.

"She has a point," Lucy backed me up. "The house is the one place where we don't have to pretend. Why would we invite outsiders into that?"

"Great, nice way to make it sound like a cult," Kyle muttered from where he was leaning against Lane's car.

"Don't be a grouch," I scolded him. "I maintain that the family is more like the mob."

Lucy snorted and Lane gave me a dry, disapproving look. "That isn't funny, Nikita."

"I thought it was," Lucy mumbled.

I flashed her a grin and a wink and mock-whispered, "Me too."

Lane gave me his big-brother sigh and said, "Just homework, right? Nothing else?"

Lucy straightened her back. "Are you dating Jake?"

Was she... jealous? No. No way. She's only fourteen, and she's pure human. There's no way that she could feel the Soul Bond strongly enough to be jealous. Right?

"No," I answered firmly, just in case. "We're just friends, occasional study buddies. Really he's just my spy."

Kyle smirked. "My little... cousin, the spy keeper."

"Smooth," I commented regarding his almost slip up. Twins are so alike, Lane yesterday and Kyle today. "I better get going otherwise Jake will think I changed my mind and he'll go home without me."

"Not a bad plan."

Kyle gave his twin a look. "You're taking the protective brother thing a bit too far, Lane." To me he said, "Don't do something stupid."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence," I replied dryly. "On that note, I'm leaving. Goodbye. Go home."

Lane hesitated for another long minute before finally getting in the car and driving our brother and sister off school grounds. I release a slow breath. I hated lying to them. I looked towards the side of the school building where I knew Derek was waiting. No one went over there so no one would see us. I found him almost instantly. He was already looking at me, patiently, or maybe impatiently, waiting for me to come over.

My brothers, Lane especially, could never understand it. Kyle and Lucy both had mates but Lucy didn't know it and they are both only human. The Bond wasn't as strong for them. Even damaged the Bond still pulled at me, pushed at me.

It was more than that though. Lane was too rigid to get that people can be different than they seemed. Derek was rough on the outside but was I any different? When he and I met, all I did was insult him, crack dog jokes and push him away.

I crossed the parking lot and joined Derek.

"All alone?" Derek questioned in his most menacing voice.

"Very scary," I remarked, unaffected. "Like a cute little puppy."

Derek scowled. "Puppy?"

I nodded. "Yep, someone ought to send you obedience school."