18. Chapter 18
eighteen
Cyrus couldn’t help get the image of Lily standing there out of his mind. He knew others likely heard Gabe and his passionate encounter, but for some reason, Lily standing there looking so flustered and giddy for them stuck in his head far more.
Gabe kissing him at the door like that was…
new, unexpected. They hadn’t spoken about what their sudden intimate relationship meant for them but did they need to?
Considering Cyrus’s sudden anxiety that he might make a wrong choice or decision based on what he thought was going on between them and what wasn’t going on between them.
Yeah, they needed to talk at some point.
Right then, however, he had some work to get done.
Not just at work, but there was a particular cop that Cyrus needed to speak to after work.
He was going without Gabe, but he knew that Patrick would never talk to Gabe about this, and…
frankly, Cyrus needed to be certain Patrick had some hand in things before he went around bringing the Alpha to accuse him.
It might have been seen as going behind Gabe’s back, but Cyrus preferred to see it as gathering all the needed information first.
So, when he got off of work, he headed for Patrick’s apartment. He knew the man would be up. He started work early in the morning. Cyrus was tired, but one more cup of coffee would get him through the conversation.
Climbing up the stairs to the third floor, boots squishing on the stairs from having stepped in several fresh puddles, he made it to the door and landed a hard double knock. Then waited.
He heard a bit of shuffling inside, and then, without even a question of who was at the door, it opened. There was Patrick, mid getting dressed for the day it seemed, his shirt halfway buttoned and his hair neatly combed but wet.
“C-Cyrus,” Patrick said and cleared his throat. He seemed to shake off any immediate nerves he had.
“Good morning,” Cyrus said and stepped in right past Patrick and waited for him to close the door, not taking a ‘get out’ or ‘no’ for an answer, but thankfully Patrick didn’t start with that.
“What brings you here?” Patrick asked.
Cyrus folded his arms.
“I think you know why I’m here,” Cyrus said. He tilted his head to the side and watched Patrick’s reaction. The man was good at hiding his fear and concern when he was feeling cocky and knew that he wouldn’t get in trouble if they didn’t have any proof.
Still, Cyrus could see the uncertainty in his gaze.
“Did you find anything else out about the attacks?” he asked.
Cyrus sighed. “I know that you know we went to Lotuslacker. You were one of the handfuls of people who knew where we were going. When we got there, they expected us. Now, Lily, Gabe, and I told them we were coming. Tatiana sure didn’t,” Cyrus explained. “That leaves…who?”
Patrick blinked. “Me?” he asked. “You think I’d do that?”
Cyrus looked to the side for a moment. “Oh, sorry, I thought we were in the house of someone who was working alongside Liam, who didn’t tell me about the attacks and was a very cagey man,” he said slowly.
“I told you about the previous attacks when you called to tell me about another,” Liam reminded him.
Cyrus eyed him. “But you knew Liam didn’t want me to know, there’s no way he was working with you and didn’t tell you not to tell me,” he replied. “You just didn’t want me to know you knew and were keeping it from me too.”
Patrick’s jaw tightened.
“If it was just Liam’s wrath you were afraid of, you could’ve told me as soon as he died, gotten me involved before someone else was hurt,” Cyrus reminded him. “You didn’t.”
“I’ve been in this pack for a decade, working on the force for a decade a half,” Patrick told him.
“Yeah, and I’d love to trust you, but I don’t,” Cyrus told him. “So, you can either tell us now…or, we can find out the hard way, and your punishment will be even worse.”
Patrick seemed to stay resolute, but he smirked a little.
“Go ahead,” he said. “I’ll be here when you’re ready to apologize.”
Cyrus glared at him. “Alright, hard way it is. Just remember I gave you a chance Patrick.” He said and turned to leave.
Well, that was fruitless.
By the time Cyrus was home, he almost expected Gabe to be up and have made him food; but when he got into the kitchen, no one was there.
Cyrus opted to eat before bed again. He slept much better when he did that. Much to his surprise, when he opened the fridge, he saw a plate wrapped up on one of the shelves. ‘CYRUS’ was written in neat sharpie on the top of the plastic.
He eyed it for a moment and took a breath. He’d been saved food before, from the others and Lily, but something about Gabe going out of his way to make food for him made his heart squeeze and more anxiety creep along his shoulders.
After heating up and eating the food, he made his way to his bedroom to strip off his clothing and climb into bed. After the vigorous day and night of sex and then work, it didn’t take long for him to fall asleep, especially given it was still quite dark out.
Cyrus slept far more soundly than he had in a while, though when he woke, his fingers were twitching, and he was absent-mindedly reaching for a cigarette that he didn’t have.
With a groan, he scrubbed his face and went rummaging around in his jean pockets for the nicotine gum he had picked up on the way to work.
He shoved a stick in his mouth and then sat on the edge of his bed, chewing and waiting for his mind to come out of its fog.
After another couple of minutes, he pulled on his pants and headed to the bathroom, then downstairs.
It was around one or two in the afternoon, so he’d gotten less sleep than the night before but didn’t feel as such. Especially not once he had some coffee in his system and the leftover food from whoever had cooked that morning's breakfast.
It was quiet and calm in the house. Which only reminded him of when it wouldn’t be.
They needed to discuss a plan and get the notices sent out for the meetings.
Their district spanned to places where it would take two hours to get to the pack house, and he knew not everyone could take off their regular jobs wily nilly as he could.
His job was blended into the supernatural, but many Weres jobs were not as such.
“Morning,” Cyrus said as he sat down in the entertainment room with a second mug of coffee.
Lily was seated nearby, reading while Nate and Cassidy were sitting on the floor playing their Switches.
Cyrus eyed them.
“Hey, am I the only one who works in this house?” he asked teasingly.
Lily snorted. “I finished my online classes for the day already,” she insisted
“I’m still looking for a job,” Nate replied.
“I got a job at Cades, night bartender. I go in at five-thirty,” Cassidy replied.
Cyrus sighed as he took a sip of his coffee. Sometimes he felt like he was a parent. Well, Lily, Nate, and Cassidy were all around Gabe’s age. Cyrus cringed at the thought but shook his head.
He sipped at his coffee and basked in the silence. As Nate was getting up to get something, Cyrus took his mug back to the kitchen. He strolled into the kitchen with Nate following him. Not thinking much of it. He rinsed out his mug as Nate poured himself a cup of coffee.
Cyrus turned around and noticed Nate looking at him.
“What?” he asked, eying the man.
Nate smirked crookedly. “You know how you told me we’d know when we know?”
Cyrus blinked, “Yeah.”
“Oh, we know.” He sipped at his coffee.
Cyrus flushed and shot a bit of a glare in Nate’s direction. “Good for you,” he mumbled.
As he was walking out of the kitchen, he could hear Nate’s amused snickers and couldn’t help but shake his head with a crooked smirk himself.
At least Nate and Lily seemed to be taking whatever was going on with Cyrus and Gabe well enough.
Cyrus opted to get some fresh air until he could catch Gabe and do some talking before he had to get dressed and head to work.
When he got outside, however, Gabe was out there, sitting in the grass several yards out from the deck.
There was no one else outside, and clouds shrouded the sun.
It was a bit chilly, but nothing he couldn’t handle for a handful of minutes or so shirtless after all werewolves tended to run hotter.
He walked down the deck and through the grass barefoot and behind Gabe, who was looking out at the forest.
“Lucky you don’t have anywhere to go,” Cyrus said. He watched Gabe flinched slightly, startled.
“Sorry,” he mumbled and sat down beside him.
“You don’t have to go to work,” Gabe reminded him. “I’m sure they’d understand if you told them that you needed to stay behind to handle the conflict going on.”
Cyrus shook his head with a sigh. “No, I need to be there.”
Gabe turned to look at him more directly. “Why?” he asked.
Cyrus’s brow furrowed. “I’ll go crazy if I sit here all night, and…believe it or not, I do need to make money,” he told Gabe.
Gabe blinked. “Right,” he mumbled. “Alpha’s don’t have to pay for anything really, the council takes care of it, but not second in command?”
Cyrus shook his head. “Not by much. You’ll see when you get your first check from them next week. Since they pay for fifty percent of the house, you get around eight hundred dollars for food and other expenses. Second in command, get whatever you decide to hand off, so do the others.”
Gabe frowned. “Huh,” he mumbled, “I’m surprised more people aren’t interested in being Alpha in this pack.”
Cyrus snorted. “People would rather work their normal jobs than be Alpha for eight hundred dollars and free rent,” he said slowly.
“As you’ve noticed, it’s a lot of work, even when it’s boring.
You’re the one people get answers from, the one who looks over every serious choice made even if you couldn’t care less about it. ”
Gabe chewed at his bottom lip. “Right.” His brow knit as he looked at Cyrus. “But you wanted to be Alpha.”