Loving The Better Brother novel Chapter 211

Brother

Chapter 211 Keep Quiet

ARDEN

How did it happen that we were on our way to Cade’s house?

It wasn’t exactly planned. We still had three more days before classes resumed, and I thought we’d spend them quietly in his own house. But then his parents insisted–his mom wanted to cook dinner, and his dad mentioned something about Cade being gone too long and missing family meals. I tried to politely decline, but Cade had already said yes before I could even open my mouth.

Now, here we were, on the road, just the two of us in the backseat while his parents sat up front. Cade held my hand the entire ride. My fingers were cold, but his were warm and steady, wrapping over mine like it was second nature. I leaned my head against his shoulder, watching the trees blur past the window.

“It’s okay,” he murmured softly, his lips brushing the top of my head. “Don’t be nervous. I’m here.”

I smiled faintly, closing my eyes. “I’m not nervous,” I whispered back.

And I wasn’t–not in the way he thought. His parents were already kinder to me than mine had ever been. They didn’t look at me with disdain, or talk down to me, or make me feel like I was an accident they had to

deal with.

Just the fact that they voiced out their support for us was already too much. More than I ever imagined I’d get in this lifetime.

When we got there, Mirage insisted I stand near the kitchen counter while she cooked.

She handed Cade a knife and told him to help with the vegetables. Alpha Nathan sat on the barstool beside me, reading the news off his tablet but occasionally throwing in comments about how Cade used to run around the house shirtless and how he still hadn’t learned how to cook rice properly.

Cade rolled his eyes. “You still talk about that? I was nine.”

“You were sixteen,” Mirage corrected with a smirk.

I laughed, and they all looked at me like they’d just won something. It felt like the air in the room was lighter than anything I was used to–there was no tension, no pressure to behave a certain way.

Just… a family.

They asked me questions–soft ones. Mirage wanted to know if I liked sweet or spicy food. Alpha Nathan asked if I played any sports.

Cade’s mom was shocked when I said I didn’t know how to bake. “We’ll fix that,” she said. “Come back one weekend and we’ll teach you.”

I nodded, smiling.

After dinner, the men headed to the kitchen to prepare dessert–something about a pie Cade had insisted on baking when he was twelve that ended in disaster. While they bickered over who would hold the whipped cream canister, Mirage reached across the table and took my hand gently.

Chapter 24 Cater

I turned to her.

“If you ever need someone,” she said, her voice warm, her gaze soft, mom, or anything like that… you can call me, alright?”

For a second, I couldn’t breathe.

My mom had never looked at me like that.

She had never touched me gently or spoken to me kindly without expecting something in return. She had never offered comfort, never even given me a moment to feel safe in her arms.

And here Mirage was, someone else’s mom, holding my hand and saying all the words I had wanted to hear my entire life.

I didn’t mean to cry.

The tears came too fast for me to stop them. I looked down, trying to brush them away without making it awkward, but Mirage just stood from her seat and walked around the table. She wrapped her arms around me and pulled me into her chest.

“There, there,” she whispered, stroking my hair. “You don’t have to be alone anymore.”

I hadn’t realized how much I needed to hear that until now.

Cade and Alpha Nathan walked back into the room just then, both holding plates of pie. Cade paused immediately, setting the plate down with a frown.

“What are you doing?” he asked, his voice suddenly tight. He moved toward me and instinctively pulled me into him, away from his mom. His arms wrapped around my shoulders like a shield.

Mirage chuckled, stepping back. “Oh, sweetie. I’m just being nice to our future Luna.”

My eyes widened.

Cade groaned under his breath but didn’t let go of me. “Let’s just eat,” he muttered.

He grabbed a knife, sliced into the pie, and placed a piece on my plate, muttering something about “too much sugar” and “don’t let her spoil you.” But he was smiling.

And so was I. Meeting Cade might have been the best thing to ever happen in my

life.

Cade’s bed smelled like him.

Clean, faintly like cedar, and warmth. It wrapped around me the moment I sank into his sheets, my legs tangled with his under the covers. Mirage had just peeked her head in the room a few minutes ago, gave us a knowing smile, and said, “It’s alright. You’re both grown enough.”

I thought Fd explode on the spot.

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