The Rising by Kelley Armstrong Page A

this, Maya. In all these years, when you were growing up in your perfect town, with your perfect friends and your perfect parents, did you even think about me? Wonder where I was? Worry about me? Or were you just happy you didn’t need to share all that? Because I’ve been thinking about you for as long as I can remember. Asking our mother about you. Wondering what happened to you. So, yeah, I dropped everything to come up here. And you really don’t seem to give a shit.”
    I took a deep breath and considered my words before speaking.
    â€œI’m sorry,” I said.
    He tensed, waiting for more, waiting for the snap, the growl, the snarl. When I said he had his back up, I hadn’t meant that as a skin-walker jab. But now, when I looked at him, it was an apt description. His back was up, at least metaphorically. Fur bristling. Eyes glittering. Lip curled. Ready to bite my head off. When I didn’t respond in kind, he just sat there, tense and waiting.
    â€œI didn’t know about you.” I spoke the words carefully, trying not to sound defensive. “I should have explained that better. I only found out a week ago that I had a brother. Rafe’s the one who told me, when he told me about being a skin-walker.”
    Silence. Then, “Right.” More silence. He shifted on the log. “Makes sense. It’s not like she left a note with you.”
    â€œNo. She didn’t. But . . . after Rafe told me, I felt . . . guilty, I think. That I didn’t know about you. Like I should have remembered you.”
    â€œWe were only a few months old.”
    I shrugged. “It feels as if I should have known. Like in stories where someone grows up feeling like something’s missing, then they discover they had a twin.”
    Silence.
    â€œWhen I found out, I did think of you. Maybe not as much as I should have. When I thought of you, I felt . . .” I searched for the right words. “I won’t say jealous, because I don’t remember our mother and mine is great—I wouldn’t trade her for anything. But it hurt, growing up knowing I’d been abandoned. Finding out there’d been two of us and I wasn’t the one she’d chosen? That really hurt.”
    I sighed and stretched my legs. “I’m sorry. That was all I wanted to say. I didn’t want to make excuses, which is what I’m doing.” I looked over at him. “I am glad you came.”
    He mumbled something and got to his feet. He walked away, and I wanted to go after him, but I knew it wasn’t that easy. One little discussion wasn’t going to make everything better. It wasn’t just about him feeling hurt and me feeling hurt. We were brother and sister—twins—and yet we were strangers. If it wasn’t for that blood tie, we’d probably have chosen to remain strangers. That hurt, too, but again, it couldn’t be fixed with a few words.
    â€œYou want dinner?” he said.
    I shook my head. “I should stay for the guys. If you could pick me up something, though, I’d appreciate that.”
    I was quick to pull out a twenty, so he wouldn’t think I was asking him to pay, but he still grumbled.
    â€œOr I can run out for something after you get back,” I said.
    â€œI’m not bitching because you asked me to grab you food, Maya. ’Course I will. But you shouldn’t stay here alone, not when it looks like they’ve nabbed your friends.”
    That’s what I’d been thinking, of course. What I’d been trying very, very hard not to think, because if I did, I’d slide into a full-blown panic. When Ash put that fear into words, I stiffened.
    He sighed. “Yeah, you don’t want to hear that. I’m not trying to make you feel bad. But if the Cabals have your friends, they might have gotten them to tell where they could find you.”
    â€œThey