"Three-to-one odds on the Hutt!" the bookmaker barked, his voice cracking under the weight of the roaring crowd. Nobody bet against Rotta anymore—not after last season's streak of snapped spines and shattered pride.The arena lights burned hotter than Shakari's twin suns as Rotta slithered into the sandpit, his muscular torso glistening with the sweat of anticipation. The crowd erupted—a wall of noise that shook the rust off the steel walkways overhead. He raised his vibroaxe in salute, the b

The maple syrup bottle made its third slow-motion somersault down Liam's naked pale chest before Mateo finally lost it. "Jesus Christ, pipsqueak," he snorted, flicking a stray blueberry at his little brother's sticky collarbone. "You're gonna turn into a fucking pancake at this rate."Liam blinked up at him through fogged-up glasses, tongue poking out in concentration as he poured another amber spiral onto his belly. "It's more efficient," he said solemnly, like this was some advanced scientific

"Kuya Matty, did you see how good Robert looked when he was in Jenny’s tummy?" Liam whispered, his bare shoulder pressing against mine as our inner tube drifted along the lazy river. The morning sun glinted off his round glasses, and his pale knees bumped against my darker ones under the water.I snorted, flicking water at his cheek. "Of course you’re still just as excited about pythons and reptiles as Robert ever could be" But I grinned when he pouted—because of how cute the little brat wa

“Kuya Matty, you're stepping on my shoelace again," Liam whined, pushing his glasses up his nose with that little frown he always got when he was trying to act annoyed but couldn’t quite hide the fact that he secretly loved the attention. I grinned down at him, deliberately shuffling my feet to make it worse, because what’s the point of being an older brother if you can’t mess with the kid a little?Liam was clutching his backpack straps like they were lifelines, his knuckles pale where t