Chapter 26 Theo
THEO
“IS IT JUST me, or have we been summoned an awful lot lately?” I lifted my arm to scan my tracker on the panel that led us down from the main Libertine building to the underground where only the seven of us roamed.
The lock clicked free, and when the door yawned open wide enough to let one of us through, I gestured for Shep to go first.
We’d only just gotten back from Delaware last night, only to have King request our presence at Libertine tonight.
No doubt it had something to do with the amount of press we’d been receiving and how it would only burn the organization somehow, blah blah blah.
I was prepared for whatever lashing we were about to get and would take it on the chin.
There was no way in hell Shep and I were hiding each other, and if that was a problem, we’d deal with it.
But the secretive shit was just not going to fly, something our families realized during our meeting yesterday.
“At least we’ll have a few days to ourselves after this,” Shep said, but when I groaned, he spun around. “No. What does that mean?”
I sighed. “Jean will be back from his honeymoon tomorrow.”
“So?”
“So my older brother has requested my presence in Monaco.”
“Why?”
“Why do you think? To tell me what a terrible job I did in his place. How I’ll never be capable of running a country when I canceled appearances—”
“What the fuck? Did he miss the memo that someone tried to kill you outside the soccer match?”
“Just another Tuesday for us royals.” I winked and took his hand, leading us down the tunnel that led to the heart of our organization.
“So you have to go? He can’t just FaceTime you?”
The put-out look on Shep’s face was so damn hot I pulled him in close and kissed that frown right off his lips.
“Aww. Gonna miss me? You can come with.”
“I can’t. I’m meeting with Cooper tomorrow about the magazine feature, remember?”
“Lachlan’s letting his man off his leash to work with you? Imagine that.” I slipped my hands under Shep’s suit jacket to run them over his warm body and then kissed him again. “Guess that means we’ll have to make up for lost time when I get back.”
“Now’s as good a time as any.” Shep licked inside my mouth, that teasing tongue instantly grabbing my attention as he backed me up against the cave wall.
“Putain oui.” It’d been a hot minute since we’d had a quickie somewhere illicit, and though this wasn’t the right time or place, I wasn’t about to say no. Hell, I’d never say no to him, and I’d barely tugged Shep’s shirt from his pants when I heard someone clear their throat.
“Think you can do that on your own time, mes chéris?” Benoit said, appearing in front of us, a wicked smile curling his mouth. “We’re all waiting.”
I pulled back from Shep to say, “All?”
Benoit nodded. “Everyone’s here.”
“Shit.” Shep let me go and tucked his shirt back into the front of his pants, though there was no hiding his semi-erect cock. Or mine.
“You really didn’t have to call a meeting to give us shit,” I said as we got ourselves together and followed Benoit farther underground. “We got your texts.”
“A key to Theo’s chastity belt.” Shep smirked. “That was very creative.”
“Yes, well, you did so enjoy giving the rest of us hell about our relationships, we figured it was only fair.” Benoit reached the entrance first and pulled open the massive door that led inside. Shep and I stepped through—then stopped dead in our tracks.
The scene before us wasn’t one we’d ever seen at Libertine, at least not down here among the group of us. Candles flickered as the only light in the room, along the immaculately set table that each of our brothers were seated at.
Shep’s voice was low as he leaned in to me. “This looks like an intervention.”
I scanned each of my brothers’ faces, trying to get a read on them. “If someone starts with ‘we’re only concerned,’ I’m flipping the goddamn table.”
“Please don’t,” Lucien said dryly as he swirled his glass of red wine between his fingers. “It’s an antique.”
Shep gave me a here we fucking go look and we started toward the two empty seats waiting for us.
It didn’t escape my notice that we were all seated across from each other without King taking his spot at the head of the table.
I wondered what that meant, but I didn’t have a chance to ask, because King cleared his throat, gathering everyone’s attention.
He looked at where Shep and I still stood, and gestured toward the chairs. “Sit. We should eat before the food gets cold.”
“Wait, so this is a…dinner?” I said. It wasn’t a first for us to get together for meals in the real world, but down here? “Why?”
“I thought we should all have a talk,” King said. “About us.”
He wasn’t staring at me and Shep when he said it, but looking around the table at every one of us. Curiosity had me exchanging glances with Shep, but we both took our seats as Lachlan spoke up.
“We’ve been fractured. Distracted. And some of us”—he shot a meaningful look at King—“let paranoia get the better of us.”
“We owe you an apology, Theo,” Alessio said.
I froze. That was what this was all about? An apology? I’d garnered one from King, and that was all I’d needed. I shifted uncomfortably in my seat.
“You don’t have to—”
“We do,” King said firmly. “We should’ve trusted you.”
Lachlan nodded beside him. “Fear makes people do stupid shit. Even us. Hell, especially us.”
“We treated you like you haven’t spent years at our sides as our loyal brother and friend, and that was wrong,” Lucien added.
“Theo…I built Libertine on loyalty,” King said. “And then I went and doubted yours. I’m not proud of that.”
“None of us are,” Benoit interjected.
I felt like I couldn’t breathe. Even when Shep’s hand squeezed my thigh in support under the table.
I swallowed and looked down at the scars on my wrist and forearm and shook my head.
“No, I…I get why you doubted me. I was reckless. Unavailable. Distracted. And yeah, I held myself apart from you and kept a secret. But I never turned on any of you. I would never.”
“Can you forgive us?” Lucien asked softly.
“Can you forgive me?” I countered.
King lifted his wine glass. “To Theo. Still one of ours.”
One by one, my brothers and Shep joined King in his toast, and I realized my hand was shaking as I lifted my glass. Again Shep squeezed my thigh, a soft smile on his face.
We were good. All of us.
Well, that might be stretching it if I was reading Alessio’s tight smile right.
He still looked like a man dealing with internal demons none of us knew of.
We’d need to keep an eye on that. But for now I was happy to bask in the camaraderie I’d missed with my brothers.
The ease of being around people who knew me almost as well as I knew myself.
“So,” Lucien said, a twinkle in his eye, “should I let Kai know there’ll be another royal wedding in his future soon?”
I scoffed and lifted my glass to him in mock salute. “Here’s an idea: how about you stop giving us shit and give that poor boy the wedding he so desperately deserves?”
Shep chuckled. “I do seem to remember the hearts in Kai’s eyes as he looked on wistfully at Jean’s wedding, wondering when his prince would make an honest man out of him.”
“Okay, okay, I deserve that. But for your information—”
“Oh, oui,” Benoit said, propping his chin on his hands and batting his lashes. “Tell us your plans. I just know they’ll be romantic.”
“Can he tell us while we eat?” Lachlan complained, and when King gave the go-ahead, we all removed the silver domes over our meals. “Lamb roast? Damn, Theo, you should put King in the doghouse more often.”
“He didn’t put me there,” King said, as one by one we started reaching for the salt and pepper, mint jelly, and gravy. “I put myself there. A nice dinner is the least I could do.”
“Don’t think that means we’ve forgotten what you were going to say, mon cher,” Benoit said to Lucien, as he topped up his glass with some red wine. “Tell us all how you’re going to sweep that sweet man of yours off his feet.”
As Lucien launched into detail about the plans he had in store for Kai, I was happy to relax into the conversation and for the first time—in a long time—not be the center of it.
It was nice to finally enjoy a meal with my friends and not worry that one of them thought I was betraying the group. Even better was sitting at this table with Shep at my side, able to touch and look at him whenever I wanted without hiding just how fucking good he made me feel.
Damn, how did I get so lucky? I’d somehow managed to make Shepard O’Neil Winchester the third fall in love with me. Me. The most chaotic, reckless pain in the ass he knew. Guess he just needed a challenge.
The thought made me smirk, and he must’ve caught it out the corner of his eye, because he turned to face me.
“What’s that grin about?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Shep leaned over and pressed his mouth against mine, then whispered, “Sure you don’t.”
I licked at my lips, tasting the mint he’d put on his lamb, then shrugged. “I was just thinking about how far we’ve come in a few months. And the fact you find me completely irresistible now.”
“Is that right?”
“You’re the one kissing me, Mr. Winchester.”
As Shep’s lips tugged up on one side, I noticed Alessio’s attention fixed on us. His brow furrowed, his eyes darker than usual, and he quickly turned away.
“I’m gonna head out, if that’s cool,” he said as he pushed to his feet, and everyone stopped talking around the table. “Glad everything worked out, Theo. It’s good to have you back.”
He grabbed up his plate and wine, and before I could tell him I was glad to be back, he turned on his heel and headed out of the room. I spun back to face the rest of my brothers, whose eyes were on the empty doorway. As Alessio’s sudden departure set in, I looked over at King.
“So, um, what are we going to do about that?”
King frowned and shook his head. “Honestly? I’d been hoping he’d come around once everything was sorted. When he found Ari.”
“Yeah, I don’t think that’s going to happen.” Lachlan looked at Alessio’s vacant seat. “And to peace out before we all go and see Father Vitale? That’ll be the second time he’s skipped out on our visits.”
Putain, that wasn’t like Alessio at all. If there was one thing he did religiously, it was to make sure we all showed up for our monthly confession. Unless, of course, one happened to be in hiding somewhere in a Brazilian jungle.
“Maybe I should go and have a talk to him,” Shep suggested, but King reached out to put a hand over his.
“Give him a minute. Let’s finish dinner, and if he doesn’t come back, then go.”