“What’s gotten into me is the fact that you don’t listen, and you repeatedly push my boundaries. Normally, I’d play along and let you do what you want.” I placed the knife back in the same spot I’d picked it up from before relaxing against the counter again. “But, dear brother, this is one topic I’m not budging on, and I thought you should know the line that you are dancing precariously close to—Kirby is my prize. My. Top. Prize. I decide what I want to be done with her and when. You may never get a taste if that’s what I decide, so get used to it, or get out.”

Abel grumbled as he turned to face the stove and the pan. “I swear, every year you get older, the less fun you become.” His movements were jerky as he stirred dinner again before dividing it into two bowls. “Fine, I won’t touch her.”

“You promise?”

“What are we, fucking two?” Abel said and then laughed. “Okay, sometimes I act like I’m two. Yeah, I fucking promise.”

“Great, then let’s eat,” I said, scooping the bowl off the counter and heading to the table.What just happened between us was what I liked to call an Abel training moment. When we were younger, these moments where Abel needed to be tuned in were much more frequent. I liked to use the ‘elephant and the string’ analogy when it came to Abel’s training. He always had to think he was chained and couldn’t escape my rules, similar to the situation Sunshine was in right now in my playroom. As Abel had aged and his erratic and spontaneousness had lessened, so had my training. The majority of the time now, I only had to use a string to remind him to behave. The issue was that every now and then, my brother tested the string, and he would need to be reminded he actually had a chain around his throat, and I controlled whether he breathed the next day again.

I took a bite of my food and watched the disaster that was my brother shovel the meal into his mouth like it was the last time he’d see food and shook my head. Usually, I didn’t mean the things I threatened. My brother was a pain in my ass, but I never really thought about killing him. Not that I ever let Abel know that, but tonight I’d meant every word. If he stole this prize from me…stole the one thing that had managed to spark a semblance of interest other than blood in my mind and body, I would kill him and mount his eyes on my mantle.

“Did you want to do something tonight? We could try something new and go hunting together.”

I cocked a brow at my brother.