Chapter 12 Wrapped Around Her #3
Blinking at me, Ko waited until I nodded, then he turned to Seri and swooped her over his shoulder, her sundress riding up her thigh to reveal a crescent scar, the same one I’d licked every millimeter of just this morning.
Then his palm connected with her ass, the smack echoing across the lawn with her startled shriek.
For half a second, everything froze. Seri’s flushed cheeks, the way her fingers dug into Ko’s shirt, the perfect ‘o’ of her mouth.
Brumous skidded to a halt twenty yards out. His head swung toward them, tiny bubbles arcing off ragged ears, then the bastard moved. Not the funny scrambles from before, but liquid fury condensed into fang and muscle.
Dhampir reflexes mean we see fast things slow.
Human sprint becomes stroll. Bullet becomes dandelion seed.
But Brumous? He blurred like bad film stock, leaving afterimages in the noon glare.
One frame: Paws churning grass. Next: Jaws locked around Ko’s forearm, baby blues blazing with feral clarity, teeth shearing through fabric to bracket flesh without breaking skin.
Nobody breathed.
“Easy, buddy.” Ko lowered Seri with glacial care, never breaking eye contact with the wolf. “Just playing.”
Brummy’s snarl rattled the pergola, the warning rolling off him in waves.
With a fierce snarl of his own, Cas lunged for her next, and Brumster switched targets with a hunter’s precision and launched again, hitting Cas’ chest full-force.
They hit the turf with a brutal thud, muzzle inches from throat.
The sound that tore from the wolf wasn’t a growl; it was a roar, deep and guttural, like a fault line grinding underground.
“Brummy!”
“Stay back.” I grabbed Seri’s wrist as she surged forward, her pulse rabbiting against my palm. The wolf’s lips pulled back, incisors grazing Cas’ skin.
“But he’ll listen to me! Let me—”
“He’s got a PhD in panic right now.” My grip tightened just a bit as she tried to tug her hand free. “Touching isn’t a good idea when dealing with anything that views throat veins as pull tabs. I’ll do it.”
My mental shove met a resistance similar to swimming through tar.
Let me in, you fuzzy bastard.
As usual, his thoughts were all sensations and images. Seri grimacing as her hands bled. Seri screaming as Bad Hurt Witch stole her silver worms. Seri crying with broken glass glittering in her hair.
Seri, Seri, Seri.
His whole everything was wrapped around her and the absolute certainty that his bones would break before hers ever did again.
It made a guy want to cry. It really did.
Ours, too. I pushed into the mess of fear and devotion. You think we’d let anything, even each other, hurt her?
A flicker of doubt. The pressure on Casimir’s windpipe eased a hair as the wolf’s ear flicked.
We’re on your side, remember? You don’t have to keep her safe alone anymore. Ko and Cas were just, ah. We hadn’t thought about this part, how to explain to the pup that we were testing him. Playing. Yeah, alphas play rough sometimes, but never to hurt her.
I let him into the memory of Ko carrying her inside that first day, the way Cas sewed up her arm, how I fed her chicken noodle soup.
His growl stuttered.
She’s safe here with us. I showed him Ko reading her poetry, Cas kneeling to shoe her, my own dumbass serenading her in the piano room. You did good. Better than good. But baby girl’s scared. Let Cas up so she can breathe, yeah?
Brumous hesitated, then retracted his claws from Cas’ shoulders and lifted his head.
No more for Seri, Alpha Fun, he huffed, standing down and planting both front paws on Casimir’s sternum. Say to Alpha Boom and Alpha Sharp. Rough play not for Seri.
I bit my cheek to stifle the laugh threatening to spill. Alpha Boom and Alpha Sharp? Bat’s bones, he really was a drama queen!
All right, but which one is Sharp? I wondered if he’d noticed Ko’s obsession with stabby things or meant something else.
This. He lowered his head and snuffled Cas’ belly button, making my brother suck in a breath. Eyes sharp. Moves sharp. Words sharp. Smell sharp. Sharp like…
Ozone was the smell he shared with me, paired with the image of a lightning strike.
Truer than you know, I agreed, holding back my snickers at his assessment, then asked aloud, “Truce?”
What means?
“Means we’re all friends again.”
Brummy eyed me for three heartbeats before bowing his head.
All friends, Alpha Fun. All Seri kill guard. Kill guard brothers.
I blinked, working my way through that last thought until he shared a little clip of me and my brothers standing with him atop a pile of bones as the sun set behind us, Seri scratching behind our ears as she praised us for being her good boys.
Why was this fang-rotted murder machine so moon-damned cute?
“We’re all friends, and we’re all brothers in Seri’s kill guard.”
“Seri’s kill guard?” Ko raised his eyebrows.
I shrugged. Seemed a fine enough group handle to me.
Seri sagged against me, her choked sob morphing into hysterical giggles when Cas sat up spitting out wisteria leaves. Brummy slunk off him, his apology roll textbook, all paws in the air and neck exposed. Somewhere behind us, Addison dropped a bucket.
I crouched to meet the wolf’s eyes.
“Good boy.” My knuckles scratched under his chin, careful of the wicked scar there. “Solid nine outta ten on the protective bullshit scale. Minus a point for nearly neutering Daddy Cas.”
“My brave boy!” Seri launched herself at Brumeister, burying her face in his chest. “My fierce boy!”
The pup whined, nosing her hair as Cas stood and brushed debris off of himself.
Koa caught my eye over Seri’s head, his thumb brushing the shallow dents Brumsy’s teeth had left in his forearm. Three slow blinks, the first silent signal we ever created. My answering nod came automatically, as natural as breathing. Casimir mirrored it while picking purple buds from his hair.
“What was that?” Seri sniffled, cheek smooshed against the wolf’s damp scruff. “That look? You’re plotting something.”
“We were concerned that your baby lacked defensive instincts,” Ko told her with a smirk. “Turns out he’s got the killer spirit of a honey badger crossed with a chainsaw.”
“He passed the test with honors.” Cas offered Brumous a closed fist, and the pup bumped it solemnly with his nose.
“Test?” Seri raised her face, the sunlight turning her tear streaks to silver ribbons.
“A guard dog without teeth is just a pet. We weren’t certain he’d ever bite. Now that we know he’s got the instinct, we can work on channeling it.”
“You’re not mad at him?” Her breath hitched. “But he attacked you!”
“We deserved it.” Ko flexed the arm still bearing teeth grooves. “Play stupid games…”
“Win psychotic wolf prizes,” I finished with a grin, watching the wisteria vines tremble ten feet away. “Addison! Either come out, or I start charging rent.”
He emerged looking like a half-drowned sparrow, dark curls plastered to his forehead.
“S-sorry, Prince Zane. I just—”
“Team water brigade, activate!” I tossed an empty bucket at his chest. He fumbled, but kept hold of it. “Two more warm ones. Go, go, go!”
His retreating shoulders loosened. Kid thrived on clear orders.
“I’ll help him.” Seri scrambled up, nearly tripping over Brummy’s tail.
“You’ll sit,” Casimir ordered.
“But—”
“Let him carry what he can, beloved.” Ko blocked her path, voice soft as a blade sheath. “Just as you ask us to do with you.”
“Unless you want to build your strength and stamina, starfire,” I teased. “Three on one is an endurance sport—”
Rinse water hit my skull like a revelation.
“Motherfucker!” I whirled to find Casimir innocently examining an empty bucket.
“Huh. Empty.” He tossed the bucket to Koa. “Let’s wash him down one more time.”
“The wolf or Z?” Ko taunted.
And our murder floof shook himself in solidarity, spraying everyone within a six-foot radius.
#
Rinsing out Brummy for the final time was easy peasy after that. He stood statue-still beneath the deluge, looking absurdly regal for something that moments ago tried to bathe in Cas’ blood.
Koa’s towel attack sent the wolf into wiggling ecstasy.
“Never seen a dire wolf enjoy a spa day,” he chuckled.
“Dire-dork more like.” I wrung out my shirt. “He’s— Hey!”
A blow dryer hit my shoulder with a plastic clatter. Addison hovered like a nervous drone, extension cord trailing behind him.
“Abuela said for Senor Lobo. ”
Brummy sniffed it curiously. The machine’s whir hadn’t fully started before he pancaked at Koa’s feet, legs splayed like roadkill.
“Just look at him!” Seri called over the hair dryer, and the wolf’s eyes rolled back in ecstasy as hot air fluffed his hair. “He’s a natural!”
“Like a dandelion gone nuclear.” With raised eyebrows, Cas stared at the cloud of gray fluff.
“Terrifying guardian.” Koa squinted at the wolf’s blissful expression. “Loves blowouts.”
“Boy’s got priorities, Alpha Boom.” I thumbed a scar along Brummy’s flank.
“Alpha Boom?” everyone chorused.
“Maybe Brum-Brum thinks Koko is our bomb expert or something.” I shrugged, having no idea why Brumous bestowed Boom on Koa.
“And what is Simmy?” Seri asked as she held the wolf’s face and kissed him between his eyes.
“Alpha Sharp.” I watched as she and Ko nodded, not even questioning it, while Casimir scowled. “Hey, at least he didn’t call you Alpha Sparky or Alpha Blondie.”
That got a giggle out of Addison, who was chewing his thumbnail nearby.
When the dryer cycled off, Brumster ambled over and shoved his fluffy head under the kid’s hand, and Addison’s lips twitched up a little.
Just enough to make Seri grab Koa’s hand with wide eyes and a muffled squeal, like a mama bird watching her chick fledge for the first time.
Getting to my feet, hands on hips, I surveyed the scene with a satisfied grin.
More than half the wisteria still surviving.
Pergola still standing. Ko kissing Seri senseless.
Seri laughing against his lips. A scared shitless boy smiling.
A dire wolf pup broadcasting one word, happy, and thinking it smelled like bacon.
Oh, and Cas lunging for the hair dryer before it fell into the koi pond.
It was pure found family meets disaster squad energy.
And I never wanted it to end.