Chapter 13
Dorian
I was glad Braun hadn’t promised he could keep trouble away from the area but part of me wished he had even if it wouldn’t have been believable.
“Someone was…angry isn’t the right word. It’s too hot. This was cold.” Mr. Stein’s explanation seemed to make sense to Braun, but I was going to have questions later. “We live close. We’ll keep an eye out around the area.”
That was interesting.
Their addresses were all post office boxes. I remembered that because of how odd it was, but it was good to see they actually did live in the school boundaries.
Oh.
Were any of these the other boys’ fathers?
As Braun took the first cart and steered it closer to my car, I turned to the other men who were standing around still completely silent.
They all had a similar look about them just like the boys did, but I had no idea which man went with which child.
“Thank you for coming to help. I’m not sure if you were told but I’m Kevin and the other boys’ math teacher. ”
Next time we had conferences I was going to insist on meeting the other fathers too, but for the time being I got nods and the faintest hint of a smile from one of them.
So?
Were they going to say anything?
“Helping is their job.” Mr. Stein seemed to think he was being helpful too based on the way he was watching me like he was explaining facts to a three-year-old, but we seemed to have different definitions of that.
“We’ll get out of your hair quickly.” Oh. Was that offensive? His frown got deeper and one of the formerly stoic men nearly giggled. It wasn’t like I’d said fur, so maybe he just thought I was odd? “Um. Yes. Quickly.”
Braun wasn’t too upset with me based on the way he had to turn away to roll his eyes, but I wasn’t sure he and whatever species of shifter Mr. Stein was got along well.
Something about the way Braun just looked like he was barely holding in a smart-ass comment said he was going to rant about them later.
“We’ll be out of here before Emeric finds any more questions.” Braun’s dry delivery had me rolling my eyes and the giggling cat shifter flashing another grin. “I don’t know anything about cabbage.”
Me neither.
“Don’t worry. He’s got a list, so you can pick out a few of your favorites to answer.” I wasn’t going to be responsible for all of them. “He did a good job of helping me pick out meals, though.”
Dropping my voice low enough I thought Emeric couldn’t hear me, I whispered softly. “I don’t think they were feeding him right.”
Mr. Stein exchanged looks with his brothers before turning back to me. “Not all families are good ones.”
No, they weren’t.
Nodding slowly as I opened the trunk, I wasn’t sure what to say even though he was right. “But kids are adaptable.”
We were just going to have to figure out what he was adapting from sooner rather than later. First thing was the groceries to make sure we didn’t starve eating just brownies, but we got those in the car quickly and even said our goodbyes to the slightly strange Stein brothers.
“I don’t like us driving back separately, but you’re going to stay right behind me.” Braun looked twitchy as he glanced around the parking lot but I wasn’t sure if that was shifter related or not. “I don’t want to leave one of the cars here, though. Just in case.”
Since we had no idea what we were dealing with, I agreed, it couldn’t be helped. “I’ll follow you and I’ll stay on the phone as we drive back.”
And hopefully we’d get Emeric to talk about what had happened because we couldn’t put it off any longer.
“Alright, Wolfchen, but I expect you to stay right behind me.” Braun’s stern expression said he had a pretty good “or else” running around in his head, but he was smart enough to leave it there. “It’s not a long drive. You’ll be fine.”
I was worried about all three of us, but I wasn’t going to point that out unless he did something ridiculous that got himself hurt.
“I will.” And he’d survive the drive with a chatty Emeric. “Let’s go.”
Braun scoffed. “I’m the Alpha. Let’s go.”
His drama was loud enough that Emeric started giggling from the back seat which had to have been his intention to begin with.
“I don’t know. So far Emeric’s the only one I’ve actually seen shift. You might just be big and bossy.”
Emeric was going to choke on his own spit if he wasn’t careful, but it was clear he thought we were hilarious.
The wicked glint in Braun’s eyes said he was thinking something interesting but I wasn’t even going to begin to guess. “Big and bossy, huh?”
I shrugged as I stepped over to my car. “And a bit of a pain in the ass.”
Emeric had to stop laughing at some point, right?
No.
He was still snickering as we pulled out of the parking lot and the phone connected with a sigh from Braun. “No one respects the Alpha.”
“Do I want to know why he’s laughing so much?” I was willing to play along if I needed to.
“No.” Braun nearly groaned out the response making me wonder what Emeric had said. “You don’t.”
Whatever it was, Emeric still found it hilarious because the giggles got worse.
“Fine.” I’d been around enough kids to trust when an adult said something like that. “We’ll talk about you. Did you find anything for breakfast?”
That didn’t help Emeric’s giggles but I got a kick out of Braun’s dramatic groan. “You said for me to sleep. Then my mother came and I had to drink coffee. Then I raced out the door. What do you think?”
That he hadn’t answered my question.
“I think you broke numerous speeding laws getting to us that quickly, but I’m grateful, so I’m not going to ask about that part.” I was just going to hope they didn’t have speed cameras and that the local cops weren’t completely human.
“Smart man.” Braun’s dry response got another snort kind of laugh from Emeric but it also got him chattering again.
“I knew Alpha would come and help. He’s a good Alpha.” Emeric’s excited tone didn’t match the situation but that might’ve been a me thing…or a human thing. “He wouldn’t leave us. We’re important.”
“That’s right.” Braun’s casual response made me smile. “We protect pack.”
I wasn’t going to point out the fact that I wasn’t pack for a variety of reasons.
“Alpha Braun wouldn’t hurt anyone either.” Emeric’s tone finally started to shift into something more serious, but I wasn’t sure if it was reality crashing into him or just the giggles fading. “Other Alphas aren’t like that.”
Were we finally getting the story out of him?
Braun’s only response was a hum of encouragement which got a long sigh from Emeric before the boy continued. “Alpha Otto isn’t like that either. He attacks people…like my dad.”
It wasn’t unexpected but it was heartbreaking to hear him say so matter-of-factly.
I wasn’t sure how to respond but Braun didn’t have the same problem. “What happened, pup? We’re going to keep you safe but to do that we need more information.”
“Yes, Alpha.” I could almost hear him sitting straighter and channeling Braun.
“Alpha Otto…I heard one of my mom’s friends say he has a short fuse.
That means he has a short temper and just explodes when he’s angry.
My dad had that too. You don’t. You’ve got a long fuse.
I’m going to have one of those when I get older too. ”
Oh.
Well, he wasn’t wrong about the long fuse part judging by the state of Braun’s pantry and the whole no one relieving him at the gas station situation.
“You don’t have to worry about that. I know you’ve got a long fuse just by seeing what a good job you did getting up here.
” Braun made it sound so simple I knew Emeric would feel more confident.
“I’m going to need to hear that story at some point because it’s going to be impressive, but we’ll stick with the practical stuff now. ”
Braun sounded like they were going to drink beer around a fire pit and trade bullshit stories and it tickled Emeric’s funny bone because he laughed again. “I was good at hiding but I lost my backpack when the car hit me.”
A backpack?
How had no one noticed a wolf running through Louisiana wearing a backpack?
“We might be able to find that.” Braun’s lack of surprise at anything that came out of Emeric’s mouth was amazing. “You did good hiding. I hadn’t heard anything about a wolf running around.”
At the very least that should’ve made social media, so it seemed like he’d been careful.
“We’ll teach you to avoid stuff like cars better.” Braun made the whole thing sound reasonable. “There’s plenty of land to run and practice.”
Practice what?
Would it be rude to ask?
Deciding it would derail us at the very least, I stayed quiet as we drove away from town and headed back toward the house.
“I need to learn to remember smells better.” Emeric’s grumbling sounded so much like Braun I couldn’t help smiling. “The man in the store. I smelled him the night the Alpha fought with my dad and he disappeared.”
His father disappeared?
Wait.
Was he finally going to talk about his mother?
“They said he got into a car accident, but he didn’t have one any longer. I don’t know where it went but he said not to be a shit about it.” Emeric’s tone said he shrugged even if I couldn’t see it. “So I wasn’t a shit, but he still got killed somehow.”
By the Alpha, it seemed.
“Questions aren’t bad. If my car disappeared I’d expect you to ask about it even if I was embarrassed about the situation.” The matter-of-fact way he said it had me guessing what he thought about Emeric’s father. “But I’m not sure Dorian’s going to want you to say stuff like shit.”
“He would not.” My dry retort got snorts of laughter from both of them. “He’s being understanding at the moment, though.”
“I don’t know. The pup used it correctly and he’s smart enough to know not to use it at school when he starts there.” My groan got a laugh out of him.
“I still get to stay?” The pup, as Braun called him, was so excited I could hear him bouncing. “You’re not supposed to bring trouble to the pack. I know that rule, but I didn’t have anywhere else to go.”
“Well, I don’t and I’m calling bullshit. You may bring as much of that kind of trouble as you want as long as you behave at school and we don’t get calls from the principal.” That seemed like a reasonable line for me to draw. “We can’t have my work thinking you’re a delinquent.”
“No, Uncle Dorian. I’ll be really good at school.” He mumbled something that human hearing didn’t help me figure out before his voice got louder again. “Are Mr. Stein’s kids as weird as he is?”
“No.” I should’ve pointed out the poor manners but he wasn’t wrong. “They’re very nice and appear much more like regular human kids.”
Braun laughed. “You’re going to find that most of the kids blend better than their parents. Social media and that kind of stuff helps, but back when we were all growing up most of the adults thought it was terrible to look too human. That’s old school now, though.”
Mostly.
I wasn’t sure Emeric’s previous Alpha had gotten the message.
“I looked really human when I was coming to find you, Alpha.” Emeric was clearly proud of himself. “I don’t like rabbits, so I’d shift and put clothes on when I found hotels.”
Huh?
“I found some rabbit shifters online that talked about all the fun they had at hotels.” Emeric’s snicker made me worry. “They got fussed at for talking about grown-up stuff but I didn’t care about rabbit stuff. They explained they got free food. It worked.”
No one would question a kid wandering around a hotel unless he looked like he was doing something dangerous or annoying.
“That’s brilliant.” He’d done a good job of keeping himself safe.
“Thanks.” His adorable tone said he’d be grinning ear-to-ear. “I even got really good at looking confused and saying my parents told me to explore the hotel so they could have some quiet time.”
I might’ve forgotten how to swallow, but as I coughed and choked, Braun laughed like it was the single funniest thing he’d ever heard. When we could both talk again, Braun still sounded like he was barely controlling himself. “That would guarantee most humans stopped asking questions.”
Oh yeah.
“I got that online too. People are really helpful.”
We were going to need to monitor his online activity.
“You’re really smart too.” Braun paused as we slowed down and turned, getting closer to the house. “You figured out how to get food and shelter when you needed it, and you figured out where to come to get help.”
From the one adult he’d met that hadn’t been a complete fuckup.
“I knew you wouldn’t let Alpha Otto make me challenge him.”
Emeric’s matter-of-fact tone might’ve been scarier than the actual words…but I wasn’t sure the pup knew that.
“Alpha Otto’s a moron.”
I was going to have to agree with Braun on that one…once I could get my heart out of my throat and to go back to beating at the right speed.