"Yeah, that one wasn't as funny," Ethan said ruefully. "But she declared a truce."
"Our mistake was believing her. We should have known that wasn't going to be the end of it. Two weeks later, when we were certain she wasn't going to do anything else, she got us. She hunted up dozens of snakes," Ian continued.
"It took her the entire two weeks to get them all. She went out every night and caught a few more. She waited till we were sleeping, tied our hands to the headboards, and put them in our beds."
"That's awful!" Jess cried.
They were all smiling now, and Stefan found himself chuckling. He couldn't remember the last time he laughed, but the picture in his mind was vastly amusing. He could only imagine the victorious gleam in her eyes when they woke.
"It was horrendous," Ethan said with a shudder. "We hate snakes! I woke up to them slithering all over me. I've never screamed so loud in my life!"
"Isabelle got good pictures of that too," Jack said. "It was hilarious!"
"Mom freaked out," Ian continued. "No one would come close enough to untie us, and Isabelle refused to. It took a whole lot of threats from our father before she finally relented and took the snakes away. For months afterward, we wouldn't go to sleep without making sure there weren't any still in our room."
"We called the truce after that. The only one in our family who can stand snakes is Isabelle, and there isn't anything worse than the thought of waking up to them again," Ethan said.
"Needless to say, we declared Isabelle the winner of the wars and never did anything to her again," Ian said.
"Yeah, they focused their torment on me instead," Aiden said. "Unfortunately, I hate snakes too."
Stefan started to laugh. He could picture how awful, and wonderful, it must have been to grow up in such a large household.
"That is the most horrendous thing I’ve ever heard!" Jess cried indignantly.
Suddenly they were all laughing.
"What's so funny?" Isabelle asked.
He looked up to find her standing in the doorway, her brow furrowed as she balanced a laundry basket against her hip.
"We were telling Stefan and Jess about the Snake War," Mike answered.
Isabelle’s smile was dazzling; her vivid eyes twinkled as she glanced at him. For the first time since he’d met her, she was smiling at him, and he found it amazing. The smile slipped from his face as a powerful wave of lust rocked him. Her smile vanished, and she ducked her head.
Stefan felt an odd sense of loss when the intimate contact broke. The breath rushed back into his lungs as he inhaled briskly. He shifted again as his erection suddenly became unbearable.
"You named it the Snake War?" Jess's eyes were full of hostility as they focused on Isabelle.
All his humor vanished as a fresh wave of annoyance washed through him. Isabelle met Jess's gaze before turning her attention back to her family. Jess touched his leg again; he instantly batted her hand away. She glared at him before plastering a fake smile on her face and turning away.
"We’ve had a few wars," Ethan answered. "We started to name them when I was about twelve."
"That way we could keep track," Ian explained.
"What were some of the other ones?" Jess inquired. She looked exceedingly innocent, but Stefan could feel the resentment seething within her.
"Well, let's see." Mike leaned back in his seat as he thoughtfully tapped his chin. "There was the Ice War, the Water War, the Fire War—"
"The Paint War," Ian chimed in. "Mom almost killed us over that one! I've never seen her as mad as she was that day!"
"What did you do?" Stefan inquired as he tried to divert his attention from Isabelle and the throbbing of his dick.
"Our mom left out a bunch of paint she didn't want," Ian explained.
"Red paint," Ethan elaborated. "We found it and decided to paint each other with it. I was eleven at the time, Isabelle was nine, Ian was seven, and Aiden was four."
"I never stood a chance," Aiden declared. "These guys corrupted me!"
"Hey!" the other three protested.
Stefan found himself grinning again in response to Isabelle's infectious smile and gleaming violet eyes. When she smiled, she was the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen. He found himself oddly captivated by her, and the realization was more than a little unnerving.
"By the time we were done, we were covered with paint,” Ethan continued.
"It was in my hair for a week," Isabelle said.
"At least your hair was already darker by then; I looked like Opie for a month!" Ian cried.
They all laughed loudly as their faces and eyes took on fond looks of remembrance. Stefan found himself enchanted with the entire group. He couldn't imagine what it must be like to grow up in such a warm, loving environment. Especially since his childhood had been a cruel time he'd spent his entire existence trying to right.
"There was also the Dare War. Whoever did the dumbest thing, and survived, won. Ethan won it by throwing himself off a forty foot cliff," Aiden continued.
"We quit after that move," Isabelle laughed.
"You're lucky you weren't killed!" Jess gasped in horror.
They all exchanged secret smiles.
"Broke a few ribs, but I heal quick," Ethan said with a wink causing all of them to chuckle.
"There was the Fish War, the Parakeet War—"
"That was the least funny," Isabelle interrupted Ian. "Vicky and Abby cried for a week."
They all looked pointedly at Aiden who threw his hands up defensively. "Hey, it's not my fault! They thought they were old enough to get involved, and how was I supposed to know the birds would die? Besides, they started it by putting itching powder in my bed."
"He retaliated by turning their ten parakeets loose in December. We found five of them frozen in the front yard, the others disappeared," Mike shook his head disapprovingly.
"Vicky and Abby never got involved in anything after that," Aiden said.
"Yeah, and we've gotten too old to torture each other continuously,"
