Chapter 22 Wylder
WYLDER
We drift off quickly, the two of us exhausted from the day. But shortly after, I’m woken from the dead of sleep by Neo scrambling out of my arms, cursing rapidly. “Fuck, fuck, fuck.”
The fog of sleep leaves me instantly. I’m on my feet, dagger in my hand in a second. “What’s wrong?”
“Someone’s triggered one of the traps we set.” Neo is by the desk, the light from his laptop illuminating the concentration on his face. “The notifications are linked to my smartwatch. It just went off.”
“What traps?” I come up behind him, studying the screen. He’s pulling up the camera feeds, searching each of them for an intruder. “When did you set them?”
“Ansel and I have been sneaking out and setting them while you’ve all been busy with other things,” he confesses. “Don’t worry, we took Harley with us.”
Apparently, I’m going to be having a chat with Harley in the near future.
“Why didn’t you just tell us that’s what you were doing?”
Before Neo can answer, my bedroom door slams open. I move in front of Neo, my dagger rising, but it’s just Ansel.
He looks as wild-eyed as Neo, also clutching a laptop. “They’re on the grounds.”
Neo curses again. “Show me.”
Cade enters behind Ansel, holding both his dagger and pistol. “Did you know about this?”
“I did not,” I say.
“We didn’t tell you because you’re both overprotective assholes,” Ansel mutters, tapping at Neo’s screen. “Here. That one.”
I frown. “I’m not.”
Neo snorts. “Please. Want to tell me how many guards are currently outside our room?”
The answer is three, but I didn’t know Neo was aware I’d insisted on extra precautions inside the house.
I should’ve known. Neo’s always several steps ahead of me.
It’s an odd sensation, but one I’m weirdly not upset about.
“But why did you set the traps in the first place? Why not tell us about it? We wouldn’t have stopped you. ”
“No, but you would’ve insisted on coming with us or sending several guards.
” Neo sighs, turning to face me. Encircling his arms around my waist, he smiles up at me softly.
“This worked because it was just the three of us. Any more and they might’ve spotted us.
We know they’re watching. We had to set the traps without arousing suspicion. This was the best way.”
Cade grunts. “I’m still going to beat on Harley later. Little shit should know better than to keep this from us.”
Ansel frowns but doesn’t look up from where he’s frantically scanning the feeds. “Do not hurt Harley. He’s our boo.”
My brows rise. “Your boo?”
“Not like that,” Neo says, brushing his lips over my cheek before returning to his own laptop. “We’re friends. We’ve got his back, and he’s got ours.”
A muscle is jumping in my jaw now. Glancing over at Cade, I know he’s facing the same dilemma.
On the one hand, the fact that the two of them found a way to add an additional layer of protection around us is oddly sweet.
They were smart enough to take a Buckingham with them, even if it wasn’t one of us.
I even approve of the fact that they’ve bonded with Harley enough to form a friendship.
On the other hand, I’m going to kill Harley for keeping this from me.
The door opens, and my other siblings file into the room. Cade and I immediately turn our glares on Harley, who waves sheepishly. “My bad?”
Before either of us can say anything, Neo is crying out triumphantly. “Got them! Three out by the orangery.”
Cade palms his dagger, smiling maniacally. “Let’s go hunting, boys.”
We don’t plan to take the guards. They’ll be staying behind to protect those we care about. Wyatt. Jackson. Ansel. Jules.
And Neo.
The one I care about most of all.
Only Jules doesn’t protest, speaking to Harley quietly as he loads his sniper rifle. The chef reaches out to push a strand of hair behind my youngest brother’s ear, concern etched on his brow. Harley looks up, and the longing in his gaze has me frowning.
Why hasn’t he made a move yet?
I know my brothers have a betting pool going on Neo and me, but our situation’s completely different. I started in a semi-pretend relationship and believed myself to be straight.
Turns out neither of those could withstand the hurricane that was Neo. He blew right into my world and obliterated every obstacle in our path.
And I couldn’t be happier that he did.
But with Jules and Harley…I can’t see what the issue is. They’re both gay. Well, Harley is pan, but I don’t think another person has existed for him since the day he met Jules.
So why aren’t the two of them together?
“Here.” Neo presses something into my hands, pulling my attention back to him. It’s a bulletproof vest. Right. Now isn’t the time to be worrying about my brother’s relationship status. “You’re going to wear this.”
I take it from him, but don’t put it on. “I never wear one of these.”
“You do now.” Neo taps it. “Every time you go into a situation like this, one of these goes under your shirt. Got it?”
My lips twitch. “Or what, brat?”
“You can say goodbye to being able to use your laptop, for a start.” His hands go to his hips as his pert nose lifts into the air. “I’ll upload so many viruses that the only thing you’ll see on your screen will be a picture of me glaring at you.”
I cuff his hips, unable to stop my smile. “Doesn’t sound too bad to me. That’s a sight I’m used to.”
“How about no more sex? Can you get used to that?”
I lean down to bite at his jaw. “You’d crack before I would.”
Someone clears their throat, and I look up to see everyone staring at us. “What?”
Dalton makes an exaggerated show of checking his watch. “It’s past midnight, so I’m calling it the fifteenth. I need to check the book to see who’s closest.”
Ah. The betting pool.
“Can we do that later?” I say mildly as Dalton pats down his pockets. “We have intruders to deal with.”
“They’re outside Neo’s window,” Ansel calls from where he’s monitoring the situation. “Not sure what they’re doing, but they’re close.”
Too close. I don’t like that. Are they targeting him specifically?
The monster rises to the surface, and I gladly welcome him. “Let’s go.”
“Wait.” Neo grabs my waist. “I mean it, Wylder. Put on the vest. For me.”
I waver. Father would never have allowed us to wear such a thing. He thought needing armor made you weak. “If you’re good enough, they won’t have a chance to take you down.”
“Just do it, Bro.” A hand clamps down on my shoulder. I turn my head to see Cade wearing a matching one. So are Matthias and Harley.
Only Samson and Dalton are without.
Samson raises a hand to Dalton. “Here’s to not being fucking whipped.”
The two of them bump fists. Jackson shoves off the wall and stalks from the room, Wyatt on his heels.
If Dalton notices, he doesn’t let it show. He and Samson are too busy crowing over how lucky they are to be single.
I let Neo tug the vest over my head. There’s so much concentration in his face as his deft fingers buckle it tight, checking the fit.
The two of them are wrong. So fucking wrong.
The rest of us are the lucky ones.
Suddenly, Neo’s request seems absurdly small. If this gives him some comfort while I’m gone, then I’ll strap one of these to me every morning. Anything to make him happy.
Huh. It’s odd to consider someone else’s feelings. Don’t get me wrong, I take those of my brothers and their loved ones into consideration, but this is different. Neo is different.
I don’t care for him because I have to, because it’s part of my obligation as the head of the family and The Firm.
I care because I want to.
“I’ll be safe,” I murmur. “Don’t worry.”
“I’m not worried,” he lies. “Now go, before they get in or disappear.”
I nod. He’s right. We’ve taken long enough to prepare. I can see on the screen that they’re still loitering outside Neo’s window.
My Neo’s window.
Doesn’t matter. Even if they run, they won’t escape.
I’m not the only Buckingham who likes to hunt.
My brothers move out after me, our guns drawn. Samson has his axes and several knives attached to his thigh.
I’ve told him that isn’t exactly the most efficient, but he’s determined. Says he wants to practice his axe-throwing skills.
We spread out when we exit, our footsteps quiet against the grass as we move through the gardens. Our father taught us this, using a whip if we made a noise.
It’s times like these that I can appreciate the training, and come to terms with what we learned.
I hate how he went about it, and despise the scars and bruises I was left with.
Not to mention the lifelong trauma, but all of us move like cats through the expansive yard because of it.
Our hands signal as we grow closer, the intruders within reach.
We can see their forms, despite the dark camouflage they’re wearing.
I can’t imagine this is the Umbra with how sloppy they’re being, but then again, they’ve been careless before. We all come to a stop, guns drawn, Samson lifting an axe over his head.
He makes a signal. I shake my head, but he doesn’t listen.
The men are outnumbered, and he has axe-throwing skills to practice.
The axe flies through the air, slamming into a man’s head. Only it’s not the blade that hits him. It’s the axe’s poll.
Samson grunts in disappointment just as Matthias, Dalton, and Harley disarm the startled men, tackling them to the ground and stabbing their guns against their backs, yelling at them to stay down. A shot wasn’t even fired; no one has been harmed.
Yet.
The only one bleeding is the man struck by the poll of Samson’s axe. He’s lying dazed on the ground, rubbing his head.
“You are terrible at axe-throwing, Brother,” Matthias says, and Samson flips him off.
“It’s a work in progress. Father said they were too cumbersome.”
“I mean, it did work,” Cade says, pulling out a cigar and lighting it.
“It did. No thanks to you,” Samson grumbles as he grabs his axe from the ground and kicks the man over so he’s now lying face up.
“I mean, you all had it handled. And don’t look at me, Wylder did nothing as well.”
“I was monitoring the situation,” I say. “It was six against three.”
“More like three against three,” Dalton says, holstering his gun and glancing at me. “As you and Cade did nothing, and Samson was a shit shot.”
Samson grumbles as he grabs the man and lifts him up. He groans, and Samson jostles him slightly. “Shut up. Much worse is going to happen to you.”
“Since you two did nothing, you can carry these assholes to the basement.”
I tuck my gun into the holster beneath my jacket and feel the weight of the bulletproof vest on my chest.
My lips twitch slightly as I move toward one of the men that Matthias has placed a foot on, and lift him up.
“Come on! I just lit this. And it was expensive,” Cade says as he takes a long puff of his cigar. Smoke wafts around him, and then he places it in the corner of his mouth and moves toward one of the men Harley is restraining. “Fine. I’ll smoke while I walk. I can multitask.”
Harley laughs softly. “Yeah, right.”
Cade waggles his eyebrows as he lifts one of the men easily off the ground.
“All right, come on,” I say. “We need to find out what you’re doing trespassing on the Buckinghams’ property.” The man I have against me glowers at me, his eyes narrowing. “And don’t give me that look. You need to conserve your energy for the truly awful stuff we’re about to do to you.”