The Four Beta Brothers – Chapter 83
JUNIPER
“Juny! Juny!” Little Nathan tugged on my sleeve. “Come play blocks with me!” He was only five at the time, but he loved it when I played with him.
It felt like I was getting whiplash with the sudden change of memories, and now I knew they weren’t coming in any specific order.
than, Juniper played blocks with you yesterday.”
n! Please, Juny!”
h a young age.
.
jealousy out of his voice.
ames and I were always in some sort of competition.
crazy,” James said.
e?” Nathan said, his eyes fi
was hard for me to say no to him.
athan jumped out of his chair and started r
you play video games with us?” the twins asked at the same time.
win. They were able to fool most people, but they were never able to trick me. I could always tell by their eyes. They may have looked almost identical in every other way, but their eyes we
d making me laugh, so it was easy to agree to hang out with them.
l of you,” Ethan scolded as he walked into the breakfast n
plained at the same time.
ecause I’m the favorite,” James retorted.
June?” Asher asked
,” I said, giggling. James was my favorite brother, but that wasn’t something I was going to say out loud. Plus, I truly did love all of the Burrell Brothers
oast on his plate.
u eat that when you could have cereal?”
ereal isn’t good for you,” Ethan said.
ect, and he was proud to know he was going to have such an important role one day.
er.
t’s not fair,” I muttered under my breath.
d set him in the chair next to him.
eanie!” Nathan whined.
on’t want that, right?”
tting out his lower lip.
cted like his brothers annoyed him, he loved all of them dearly.
ards me and asked, “Do you want to do a puzzle with me later?”
have plans all day!”
***
d my heart raced, knowing what I was going to see based on Ethan’s recall of the incident.
asked me to.
! Juniper!” Ethan shouted.
es, stay with me. I called for help. Daddy is on the way.” He pressed his hands against the gunshot wound, but it didn’t seem to do anything to stop the bleeding.
whispered. I was still covered in James’ blood, and I knew that much blood wasn’t good. I knew how dangerous bullet wounds were too, and James’ wolf was hardly developed, which meant his body wouldn’t heal as fast as it could’ve. I knew what all of these things added up to, yet I didn’t want to believe James was goi
brother.
rained. His body was fighting to survive, but if he didn’t get help soon, there was nothing his body could do to save him. His eyes opened for a brief moment of clari
ct Juniper better,” James whispere
,” Ethan said. His eyes were wide, and his
You have to protect her. You have to promise to protect her, even when I’m gone,” James begged, his voice
was a fight he was losing.
James choked out. He started coughing, and blood spurted from his mout
e, and I pressed my hands against my body. When I pulled my hand away, there was fresh blood.
thing happened so fast. I remembered the shock in my body, but I hadn’t felt the pain, too afraid for James to care about myself.
have to stay awake, so we can help Juniper.”
tearing him apart.
f his lap and moved towards me. He wrapped his arms around me
,” I groaned, pressed against my to
ond. “I… I don’t know.”
and Axel shouted,
’s going on?” Axel asked.
Ethan ordered. “Go!” he shouted when the twins didn’t
orest, but I didn’t have the energy to look at who it was. It was at that moment that something broke inside of me. It felt like a rubber band had snapped, and everything it was holding together fell apart.
e connection I had with him was no longer there,
wasn’t able to keep it together for a moment longer.
, holding me close.
ever he ended up.
armth filled my body. It came from all different directions, and even though I had just lost James, I knew I wasn’t alone. I was loved by
I relived that moment, I knew it was the moment my heart was tied to the rest of the b