Darien stands there for a moment, long after the last words between his brothers and their mothers echo off the estate's stone façade. The afternoon heat clings to his skin, thick and bright, but there's something cold coiling in his chest. He's relieved they got Heidi out, relieved in a way that feels embarrassingly visceral, like someone finally cracked open his ribs and let the air in again.
But that relief is intertwined with something more palpable and overwhelming. He loves her. He finally admits it to himself without flinching. It's embarrassing to realize that even to himself because it's ridiculous, and sudden, and enormous. It's also a problem the size of a collapsing star, because his brothers love her too, and the issue of who she chooses is waiting for them like a loaded gun on a table.
However, one thing he knows is that he'd die for her. He'd fight his brothers for her. He'd fight the whole damn pack for her.
