The Protector

XXIII

Despite the matter of my convulsing body, the look of disgust and hatred in his eyes and tight jaw has my heart breaking. He isn't even bothering to hide the horror plastered all over his body language. I can handle almost anything, and I may not give a shit about others' opinions, but seeing my oldest brother - the one I used to look up to - stare at me with such distaste really hurts.

I feel my lip quiver, though my body is still jerking a millimetre every nanosecond. My eyes clamp, my breathing laboured as I tame my aggravated heart. "What did you just call her?" His groggy voice, causes me to blink my eyes open a large enough fraction to see his now blank face. "She's my mate, Luke, get what I'm saying?" As the words are fresh off of my tongue, his brows dip, a shadow casting over his fog coloured eyes.

"Oh!" The sudden increase in volume makes us all jump, the large idiot too. "You think -" My head sways right, staring straight into realisation. "Oh, fucking Hell, Lucy... I don't care that your mate is a lass!" I haven't heard his chavvy accent since we were kids. "You wouldn't have been able to, but I saw the look on your face. Never have I seen so much disgust and hate!"

"That wasn't aimed at you! I am so pissed at myself for how I behaved!" He covers his eyes with one hand, rubbing gently. "You were trying to explain everything and I just wouldn't listen..." Biting my lip, I wander over. Hearing my movement, he glances up, curious of my behavior in case I decide to hit him.

Crushing him in my arms, I bury my face in his neck. A moment of hesitation leads to hiding underneath my shaggy ponytail and inhaling my scent. "I love you, Luce. You're my baby sister, my only sister and I want what's best for you." A tear threatens to slip, something in the duct yanking it back. "If you're with a girl, I don't care, as long as you're happy." I know the others can't hear, though I can still hear Lew sniffing back his own cries.

The two of us split, his knuckles quickly swiping away what appeared to be a salty trail. "I will admit to being a touch offended that you didn't tell me - you've probably got a good taste in women and could have helped me out." A laugh bursts past my lips, hurting my stomach from the abrupt force. "Well, if it makes you feel any better, I only figured it out myself less than a week ago. Plus, I didn't feel the need to say anything - if I'm going to like someone, I'm going to do it without anyone's permission - so why explain it if it doesn't seem like I need to?"

A sudden attachment nearly sends me flying as the limpet dives at me. His silent wails soak into my shoulder, his mate stepping up as well to kiss the side of my head. "Can't believe you didn't at least inform me, you know everything about me." I scoff at the tallest's opinion, slapping his arm before detaching the Koala and moving it onto his stomach.

"Right, I love you all, but fuck off - in the nicest possible way." All five sets of eyes roll. Making a shooing gesture, I kick Jay's butt to make them shift faster as they decide to dawdle at such a critical time.

"Make sure to get back in time for food." Lew ducks under Pleb's arm, tugging me down into another love fuelled embrace. "I'll try my best." I have to motion to Caleb to peel the boy off of me.

While somewhat watching them depart, I mull over all the ways I can attempt to lead this conversation. She's clearly on edge from the aura emitting from her, not to mention the jitters I can practically hear from over here. She's as frightened as a mouse getting caught up in a stampede. Through all of this, she has still managed to keep a calming drugged scent - probably the only thing that fully prevented me from attacking Luke when he attempted murdering her.

Swallowing the frog in my throat, I amble over, leaving a couple of metres so as to not scare her - the last thing I want is for her to feel trapped. She's drenched in anxiety, yet is managing to remain in control as of the moment.