7. Chapter 7 #2
Martin sighed. “Maybe I should be,” he said. “I don’t want to get caught like that again. I won’t.” He said. Brows furrowed and wince at the pain of the bruise along the side of his face even as it was healing.
“Look, man, it wasn’t your fault, but…you need some training, I’ll talk to…Gabe and we can hook you up. It’s your right,” Cyrus told him.
“Good.” Martin sighed.
“Alright, I’ll…leave you be. Let us know if you need anything. Dinner will be in a few hours. You’re welcome, of course,” Cyrus said.
He left the room, closed the door behind him, and headed downstairs.
Michelle and Ryan weren’t there to cook dinner that night, so Cyrus planned on ordering something for everyone per usual when the cooking couple wasn’t there.
Sweat and heavy breathing were ramped up as Cyrus spent some time jogging in the room laid out for exercise at the right corner of the pack house.
Only a couple of others were in there lifting and using other equipment.
Cyrus had his ear buds in and did everything he could to ignore the anxiety building in his chest over Nina or Patrick, still not calling Gabe or him back.
At least as far as he knew. He wasn’t going to ask Gabe if he’d called.
He wanted to attempt to trust him to come to him with the information given.
After all, it wasn’t like Gabe knew what was going on or how to deal with it, but Cyrus did.
He was going to do his best to help him while also allowing him enough room to prove he could do what was needed without needing to be babysat or watched like a hawk.
Music was blaring in his ears, slightly louder than his pulse, as he ran off some of the tension he was feeling. After the tenth mile, Cyrus slowed to a walk and dabbed at his face, neck, and head with the towel hanging over one of the treadmill’s arms.
He pulled his ear buds out after the walk slowed to a standstill and paused the music before shoving the phone and his Bluetooth ear buds into his pocket. He wiped at himself again and draped the towel over his shoulder before he stepped off.
He was starving.
Cyrus made his way out of the room after tossing a towel in the basket near the door. Someone would wash the towels at some point. They always did. Sometimes it was Cyrus, and sometimes the towels were already clean when he got in there.
He pulled his phone out again, opened up an app to order food, and clicked on one of the saved orders to reorder it again.
After paying for the food, he knew he had about an hour to shower and relax after his workout, considering how far from the main town and how long it usually took to cook their rather large order.
As he was walking into the bathroom, his phone pinged with messages from several wolves who didn’t live there but often relied on dinner a couple of times a week. He sent them a message saying what they were having and to come over then stripped down.
A long hot shower was much needed, washing away the sweat and tension in his muscles. His curly hair was drenched in a deep conditioner. When he was done showering, he trimmed his beard and moisturized. He liked to look and feel good.
With a towel clinging to his hips, he headed out of the bathroom a couple of doors down from his bedroom and down the hallway.
He saw Gabe in front of him heading in the opposite direction, and their gazes met, but not after Gabe’s eyes shifted along Cyrus’s chest.
“News?” Cyrus dared ask, thinking he may have been looking for him.
Gabe blinked. “Uh— Oh… Not yet, no,” he told him.
“Great,” Cyrus mumbled. Some water was still dripping from his damp curls hanging over his forehead and chest. Gabe’s eyes found their way back there.
Cyrus’s pulse quickened.
“Well, let me know,” Cyrus said and started to move around Gabe when he felt a hand brush along his bicep for a second. He turned his head to look at Gabe, expecting something.
“You don’t remember?” Gabe asked.
Cyrus’s brow furrowed.
“What the fuck are you talking about?” he asked, his voice low but not harsh.
Gabe growled softly and pulled his hand away from him.
“I just…”
Cyrus sighed. “Look. Whatever’s going on with you, I gotta get some clothes on unless you wanna talk with me ass naked.”
He moved quickly into his room.
As soon as he was in the room, he leaned back against the door and swallowed hard.
Cyrus didn’t want to think about it. It was the last thing he wanted to drag up into his memory, but it became harder and harder to ignore.
Gabriel Sinclair, those familiar brown eyes. He was ten years older than he’d been the last time Cyrus saw him. Taller, his hair a different color, and honestly, he looked like another person but couldn’t Gabe say the same thing about him? Cyrus had aged as much.
It didn’t make sense. Why would Gabriel, of all people, come back to Hartland to become Alpha of the pack?
Cyrus shook his head. Maybe he was going crazy, but Gabe had been trying to tell him for several days, hadn’t he? Something he was anxious about, what else could it be?
Trying to steady himself, Cyrus started to get dressed after tossing his phone and ear buds onto his bed, his dirty clothing into his laundry basket near his door.
He needed to talk to Gabe. As he was opening his door, he gasped slightly as Gabe stood in front of it, phone to his ear.
Gabe looked nervous.
“What’s going on?” Cyrus asked.
“Find out for yourself.” Gabe handed the phone to him.
Cyrus took a deep breath.
“Nina?” he asked.
“It’s Patrick,” the voice on the other end said.
Cyrus looked at Gabe, trying to focus on the call but unable to get the thought that this person from his past was standing there out of his head.
“What’s going on?” Cyrus asked and stepped inside his room, allowing Gabe to come in.
“Well, we checked the scene out. There were some tracks, but they disappear a mile out, nothing new,” Patrick said slowly.
Cyrus’s brow furrowed. “Nothing new?”
Patrick replied, “Nothing more than we’ve seen the last few weeks.”
Cyrus blinked. “You what? What’s been happening the last few weeks?”
There was a pause. “Liam didn’t tell you?”
Cyrus growled. “No, what’s going on?”
Patrick sighed. “Well, we’ve had about a dozen wolves from the outskirts go missing or injured the last few weeks. I kept Liam up to date. He helped out the families,” he explained.
“He didn’t tell me any of this.” Cyrus’ jaw tightened.
“Well, I’m telling you now, I thought he had. Shit. Well, yeah, Liam said he was working on figuring it out. We don’t have much to go on still, but I’ll let y’all know if we see or hear anything.”
“Good,” Cyrus said bluntly, and then the phone hung up.
He handed it to Gabe.
“Wolves have been going missing or being attacked for several weeks; Liam never said anything to me and went behind my back to take care of the families,” Cyrus told Gabe and put his hands on his head.
“Oh my god,” Gabe mumbled.
Cyrus growled. “This is a fucking mess.”