Chapter 38
MAX
When it was time for Max to drive Warren to the airport, Harland kissed his cheek and told him to go back to sleep.
“I can do it,” Max mumbled. He would get up in another minute.
When he next opened his eyes, the sun was shining through his window and he felt fully rested. Marcus was wrapped around him, spooning him tight and grumbling in his sleep at the unauthorized movement.
Max disentangled himself from Marcus’s possessive hold, slipped out of bed, and padded over to the closet to get dressed so that he could go find Harland.
He’d fully intended to drive Warren to the airport. He’d looked forward to some time in the car alone with him.
Rubbing his abs and stretching his back, Max made his way to the kitchen, where he found Harland cooking breakfast. The smell of eggs and bacon made his stomach rumble.
“Morning,” Max said as he walked over to give Harland a kiss. He grabbed a piece of bacon from the griddle and ate it, wincing as drops of hot fat burned his fingers. “How did things go with Warren?”
Harland flipped the eggs in the pan and gave him a kiss on the cheek in return. “Good. He was tired and slept most of the way to the airport. He didn’t seem too sore.”
Max was suddenly glad that Harland had let him sleep. It would have been a waste to get up and drive Warren only to have the boy sleep the whole way.
Marcus walked into the kitchen. His hair was damp and he smelled like Max’s bodywash. He smiled at them. “That smells good.”
Feeling sheepish, Max said, “Sorry if I woke you.”
“No worries,” Marcus said, walking over and kissing his cheek. The touch of his lip set off a flutter in his stomach, making him blush.
“Will Bruce and Cain be joining us for breakfast?” Harland asked. He nodded down at the griddle. “I think I made enough for everyone.”
Marcus nodded, taking out his phone and looking at a message. “Bruce, yeah. Cain wanted to go for a run. He already ate.”
Harland gathered up the bacon onto a plate and scooped the eggs over onto a platter. He lifted both. “We’ll eat in the conservatory. Max, could you get the bread? Marcus, there’s orange juice in the fridge and coffee in the can – if you could bring those?”
Max and Marcus both nodded their agreement.
Bruce came down a minute later, meeting them in the hallway. He was holding a large folder and looking very serious.
Max hadn’t really talked to him, yet. Other than Harland and Marcus, Max hadn’t talked to any werewolves. Taking a seat at the table next to Bruce, he felt nervous and off-kilter.
Bruce was more dominant than him – he could feel it from the way his wolf reacted to the man – but he didn’t know what to do with that information. If Bruce expected him to bow or act submissive, he had another thing coming.
The table in the conservatory was already set. Helping himself to a hearty helping of eggs and bacon, Max moaned at the delicious taste as he wolfed down his first helping.
They didn’t talk much while they ate, focusing on the food.
When they were done, the plates cleared and Max feeling comfortably full, Marcus suddenly turned serious.
The change in mood was startling.
Marcus pushed his plate away. “Bruce and I have something we need to talk to you about.”
Harland blinked, staying quiet and nodding his head for Marcus to continue. Following his lead, Max pushed his plate back and waited to hear what Marcus had to say.
A knot of anxiety settled in his stomach.
“Bruce?” Marcus prompted, and Bruce handed the folder he’d brought with him to Harland. Max watched his mate flip open the folder, his face impassive. Usually, Max could read Harland’s expression pretty well, but now he didn’t have a clue what he was thinking.
He hoped this wasn’t something bad. Their date with Warren had gone so well, and the three of them had gotten along – Max felt like they were starting something really good together.
Marcus turned to Max. “I did a background check on you. We found some concerning things regarding your adoption.”
That was not even remotely what Max had expected him to say. His first reaction was relief. His adoption had nothing to do with their relationship, so whatever he’d found, it couldn’t spell disaster.
“What, did my parents steal me or something?” he joked, trying to lighten the mood.
Marcus didn’t crack a smile.
“No.”
Max had fantastic parents. Once Marcus got to know them, which he would since he and Max were together now, he’d see what a funny joke that was.
“Okay, so what did you find?”
“Nothing,” Harland said, closing the folder and handing it to him. “Which, given everything else that Marcus and his people found, shouldn’t be possible. You never told me you were adopted out of Florida.”
“I was?” Max asked, surprised. He hadn’t known that, either.
As far as he knew, his had been a closed adoption.
He opened the folder, the first page of which was a copy of a birth certificate for someone named Maximillian Zimmermann.
It took him a second to realize that the birth certificate was his.
His name was Maximillian? That was awful.
His birthmother’s name was Ashlynne. He stared at the text and the signature beneath it, not sure what he was feeling.
It wasn’t good.
Max had a mom, and her name wasn’t Ashlynne. It was Jonna.
Flipping through the folder, Max found a detailed investigation tracking his birthmother’s movements from the time she was a child until she gave birth to Max at a hospital in Tampa. There was a blood test showing that Max was related to a woman listed as Ashlynne’s mother.
There was a death certificate for Ashlynne that Max stared at for a full minute.
Max closed the folder. “Okay, this is… I’m glad I have this information, I guess? Why is it serious?”
Marcus, Harland and Bruce shared a look.
“Your mother didn’t leave Florida even once in the years before your birth.”
“Okay?” Max still didn’t get it. “So, a werewolf went to Disney World, met her, and knocked her up and left. Why is that so shocking?”
“In Florida,” Marcus repeated, naming the state as though it were a hellscape.
“Yes?” Max prodded, his confusion growing. “Do you… do we not like Florida?”
The awkward, expectant silence lasted several seconds, after which Marcus turned to Harland with an incredulous look.
“Does he not know about no-go zones?”
“Apparently not,” Harland said, looking grim – as though he’d failed something huge and just realized it. “It didn’t occur to me that he wouldn’t know.”
“What’s a no-go zone?” Max asked.
Being a werewolf was really some bullshit. There were great parts – like Harland and having mates – but there always seemed to be something he didn’t know that wanted to bite him in the ass.
Harland explained. “No-go zones are places claimed by entities or creatures that will kill werewolves who trespass.”
Max blinked. That was not what he’d expected him to say.
“We don’t know what the thing in Florida is,” Marcus added. “We only know that it kills any werewolf that crosses its border. The last attempt to drive it out was over a hundred years ago, and every werewolf who participated died.”
“But I’ve been to Florida,” Max objected. “Nothing happened to me.”
Was Max really such a lousy werewolf that the mysterious entity hadn’t bothered with him? That wouldn’t really surprise him.
Harland, Marcus and Bruce all stared at him like he’d said something impossible.
Marcus furrowed his brow. “You what?”
“I’ve been to Disney World,” Max said. “Twice. When I was ten and when I was fifteen.”
“How did you get there?” Bruce asked.
Max rubbed his face. “We took a flight.”
“And you stayed in the park and hotel area the whole time?”
Max nodded. “We went to and from the airport, but yes.”
“That’s a very artificial environment,” Marcus commented, looking at Bruce.
“It might not monitor it,” Bruce concurred.
Max felt his heart race, suddenly nervous about something that was years in the past. He let out a nervous laugh. “So, what, if I’d left the Disney bubble, I would have died?”
Bruce and Marcus nodded. “It’s likely.”
“That’s crazy!” Max looked at Harland. “Are there any other no-go zones?”
Harland counted off on his fingers. “Most of the coast of Alaska, the entire continent of Africa, Japan, most of South East Asia, and everything west of the Andes Mountains. Those are the big ones.”
Max wanted to scream. That was so many places!
He’d guessed that there were things other than vampires and werewolves out there, but that they ruled half the world and would kill him if he tried to visit was outrageous.
He was going to have to tell his dad how lucky they were that the African safari he’d wanted to go on had been out of their budget.
“So maybe some other werewolf knows that Orlando – or parts of Orlando – is safe, and went there and met my mom?”
“Maybe,” Marcus said, sounding skeptical. “We don’t know anything. We only know that the circumstances of your birth are unlikely.”
“Unlikely or not, I was born, so now what?”
Marcus reached over and squeezed his arm. “Now, nothing. I did a background check on you, found something weird, and thought that you and Harland should know. If you want to look into it more or contact your grandmother, then that’s your decision.”
The idea of contacting his birthmother’s mother hadn’t even occurred to Max. He rejected the idea out of hand.
“Thanks for letting me know,” he said, handing the folder back. “I think I’d prefer to forget about this. I’m happy with the parents I have, and I don’t regret anything about my life.”
Marcus gave him a careful look, as though he were fragile. “Of course not. I just wanted you to have all the information.”
“I appreciate it.” Max did not appreciate it. He rose up from his seat. “I’m going to go work out. I’ll talk to you later.”
He needed a moment to himself to gather his thoughts and working out always helped with that.