Hunters of Artemis

Chapter Three

❝ never-ending questions  ❞

.

EDEN COULD NOT COUNT the amount of times she had imagined this situation. Reuniting with her brother after two years of his absence. Every time Eden envisioned it she thought herself to be tougher, more rigorous in her pursuit of answers.

Questions buzzed in her mind, each one springing up but never quite reaching Eden's lips.

Alec had changed. Gone was the scrawny eighteen year old boy she had once known. His chocolate curls were longer, curling around his ears, dipping into his icy blue eyes. They once radiated warmly but now as Eden stared wildly into them she could spot a new coldness twisting them. It made a shiver roll down her spine.

His arms had built some muscle, his jaw sharper, his grin was stupidly wider than she remembered. One cut was embedded in his eyebrow, though he didn't indicate that it caused him any pain.

He was twenty now. Eighteen when he left—Eden was sixteen.

"Well, I've gotta say," Alec started, shaking out the sleeves of his denim jacket. "I expected a warmer welcome."

Whatever chain holding Eden back snapped. "A warmer welcome?" Eden echoed. Almost instantly Alec's grin dampened. "You deserve a good kick in the ass."

Alec's face dropped. "Hey now. This conversation doesn't require any form of ass whooping."

Eden begged to differ and she knew Alec could sense it. Her nails pressed deeply into her palms, distracting from the burn that chased up her throat. So many things stirred in her veins, Eden just didn't know what to latch onto.

"You're upset," Alec said slowly.

"Of course I am," Eden retorted. She turned away but was quick to return her gaze in fear he would disappear again. "You left."

Something in Alec's composure shifted. His spine steeled and he couldn't seem to look Eden in the eye. "I know," he responded hesitantly. "I left and I'm sorry. Eden, I really am."

One question spun endlessly through Eden's mind. "Why?"

"Would you believe it was to protect you?" Alec asked.

Eden stared at him hard. "What do you think?"

Sighing, Alec's eyes dimmed. Eden grappled with the fact that her brother was here, beside her, talking to her. After months of reaching out to him, Eden soon concluded Alec didn't want to be found. He disappeared from the face of the earth, sending Shauna occasional texts to reassure her he was alright. Apart from that, Eden received scraps of nothing. Just drowning worry.

Alec cleared his throat, running a hand through his tousled curls. "Eden, I understand that I did wrong. Honestly, I do. I'll hold my hands up," he said, waving his arms around, catching almost everyone's attention. "I'm an asshole. But it wasn't my intention to hurt you."

"But you did hurt me, Alec," Eden replied thickly. "Could you not pick up the phone? Not once?" When his eyes veered, Eden released a sharp sound of outrage. She leaned forward, "After everything, with mom and dad leaving, are you seriously telling me you didn't realise what that would do to me?"

"I did it to protect you," Alec insisted.

"From what?!"

His answering silence was enough to add fuel to the pyre burning Eden's insides. She was imploding; anger, hurt, betrayal was a poisonous blend. Eden was choking on it.