“I don’t know how to say it, so I’m just going to say it,” she said. “I’ve lied to you your entire lives. Brian, you are not the oldest child.”
Brian cocked his head, and Winter knew he wasn’t sure whether he was going to laugh. Was that why sweet Raya was upset? The birth order of the triplets was different than they’d thought? Only, that wasn’t what Raya meant at all.
“I have another son,” she whispered. “You have a brother.”
Silence.
In the entire time Winter had been a part of the Monster family, she’d never heard silence like that before. Although she was entirely human, she was quite certain that if she listened carefully enough, she could hear a pin drop.
“Mother?” Declan whispered.
“You have an older brother. His name is Felix.”
“Well, where is he?” Christopher asked carefully.
“Felix was a very good boy,” Raya said. She wrapped her arms around herself. “He was funny and happy and sweet, and he was playful. When I found out I was pregnant with you three, well, he was thrilled. He couldn’t wait to be a big brother.”
“Mom?” Brian asked. His voice suddenly sounded strained. Winter reached for her husband’s hand. She didn’t know what Raya was going to say next, but whatever it was, it wasn’t going to be good.
“Your brother was kidnapped,” Raya finally said. “He was stolen away from us the day before you were born. The stress of losing him was enough to send me into labor, so while your father was out looking for him, I was giving birth to you three.”
Raya started crying. Instantly, Winter, Allison, Zoa, and the three brothers rushed to her and wrapped their arms around her in one big family group hug. Winter couldn’t believe what Raya was admitting. How horrible that Raya had been carrying this secret all alone for so long.
“Your father spent weeks looking for him. He spent years.”
“Dad disappeared on a hunting trip,” Brian whispered.
“He was hunting for your brother,” Raya explained quietly.
“What happened?”
“Your father spent all of his time searching for Felix. All of his time. I didn’t mind taking care of you three, because I wanted Felix back, too. We all did. We needed him.”
“Where did he look?”
“Everywhere. We looked and looked and looked. The only clue we had was that we knew a woman had stolen him. We saw her on the security cameras when we were reviewing everything with the police.”
“He was stolen from the house?”
“He was stolen from a wedding,” Raya whispered. “Like this one.”
Winter felt like this was the biggest information dump she’d ever heard. She couldn’t believe that her mate had a secret brother: a lost brother. There was another Monster dragon brother, and he was still out there. He was still lost.
“We hired some mages to help us.”
“Mages aren’t real,” Allison whispered.
“Oh, they’re as real as dragons are,” Raya told her.
“There just aren’t very many of them left,” Brian added.
“We learned that a witch stole your brother. We don’t know why, but we believe she cursed him somehow and that’s why he never returned to us. We know she lived on one of the Chrystolite Isles.”
“Dad found out?”
“He brought me this,” Raya whispered, tapping the necklace. “He found the witch, and he fought with her, and he stole her necklace. He brought it back to me, and he told me that no matter what happened next, I could never lose it.”
“Why not?”