Chapter Twelve
The first light of day shimmered in the sky as the coffee finished brewing.
Every tiny sound had awakened Cyrus last night, his body attuned to any possible threat or problem.
He filled two mugs and held one out to Josiah.
It didn’t surprise him that his brother was up early. He expected the rest to soon follow.
“Did you sleep at all?” Josiah took the mug and drank half in one swallow.
“Enough to be functional.”
“You need rest, Cyrus.” He drained what was in his mug and refilled it.
“Worried about me, brother?” He padded to the dining table in his bare feet and took his chair at the head of the table. They were closest in age and read each other well.
“You’re damn right I am. Your son is a hybrid.” Josiah dropped down in his chair, sipping on his second cup of coffee.
They both glanced toward the stairwell. Cyrus was unsurprised to see Noah with Eli right behind him. The other three would be along shortly. “Let’s wait until the rest arrive so I only have to do this once.” His brothers would have questions. Some he’d be able to answer. Some he wouldn’t.
Noah yawned on his way into the kitchen. “We’re having pancakes.”
“Bacon, too?” Eli asked as he poured coffee for them.
“You can’t have one without the other,” Noah smartly replied as he pulled pans out of the cupboard.
“So, what are we talking about?” Eli took his usual seat.
“We’re waiting for the others.” Cyrus jerked his head toward the stairs.
Zach looked as though he’d had about as much sleep as Cyrus.
As their resident tech guru and hacker, he’d probably been online much of the night searching for information about hybrid werewolves.
Levi wore a three-day-old beard and scratched his bare chest. All of them were barefoot and wearing jeans.
“We’re not waiting on Silas, are we?” Levi asked. “You know he loves his beauty sleep.”
“I’m gorgeous enough.” The back door opened and Silas walked in. “You’re the one who needs help in the looks department.” He nodded at Cyrus. “Been quiet all night.”
“I didn’t realize you were patrolling.” He hadn’t seen the need since they had electronic sensors seeded all over the mountain, him on the sofa, and all his brothers in residence.
Silas glanced toward the hallway where both Vinnie and Adam were still sleeping. “Can’t be too careful.”
He rose from his seat, hooked his hand around the back of his youngest brother’s neck, and pulled him in until their foreheads touched. “Thank you.” Sometimes he was as guilty as the rest at underestimating Silas, even though he knew better.
“He’s my nephew.” It was as simple as that for him.
Josiah tapped his fingers on the table. “Now that we’re all here, we should talk.”
Noah waved them all out of his kitchen. “I can cook and listen at the same time.”
When his brothers were settled, Cyrus retook his seat. “First off, thank you for yesterday.”
“Fuck you, Cyrus.” Eli pointed a finger at him. “There’s not a chance in hell any of us wouldn’t step up.”
“It’s not meant as an insult.”
“We’re the Seven Deadly Sins,” Zach added. “Loyalty to family is everything.”
“Speaking of family.” Cyrus spun his half-empty mug on the table. “Remember the lecture I gave you when you all turned fifteen.”
Groaning, Silas lowered his head to the table. “I hate to shock you, bro, but we’ve all had sex.”
“I’m well aware of that.” Wolves had healthy sex drives. “This is a reminder to always wear a condom.” The evidence of what could happen if you didn’t was sleeping right down the hall.
“Didn’t take your own advice, did you?” Josiah pointed out.
“I did. Condom broke.” That sobered them. All of them were thinking back, trying to remember if it had ever happened to them. “I didn’t worry about it because the odds of a human female getting pregnant were practically nonexistent.”
“So, how’d you meet Vinnie?” Eli asked.
“I’d finished a job and was on my way home. There was no reason for me to stop, except I needed a night to myself.” He wasn’t about to spare himself in the telling. “I was working nonstop back then. Silas was only ten. Hell, Josiah was only twenty.”
“We were all young,” Eli pointed out. As the third oldest, he’d barely been an adult at eighteen. “It’s not wrong that you wanted a night away from all the responsibility. None of us begrudge you that. We all know the load you carried in those days.”
“You’re my brothers. I wouldn’t have had it any other way.
” That was the beginning and the end of it as far as he was concerned.
There wasn’t anything he wouldn’t do for them and they all knew it.
“I dropped into the local watering hole.” The memory was as vivid as it had been that night.
“Vinnie was sitting at the bar.” He hesitated and then added, “Seeing her was like a punch to the gut.”
“Trust me, I get it.” Eli glanced toward the upstairs where his mate was safely tucked away in bed.
If anyone understood, it was Eli. “I wasn’t in a position to have a woman in my life.
I had one drink, spoke briefly to her, and left.
I couldn’t make myself leave the parking lot.
” He’d rationalized that he’d only wanted to talk to her, that there was no way she’d go back to his room with him.
But she had, and he’d felt as though he’d won the lottery.
“You ended up at your motel,” Eli prompted.
“Yes.” The details were not for anyone else but him and Vinnie. “I didn’t realize the condom had broken until I went to the bathroom. I figured it was no big deal. When I came out, she’d taken off.” It still burned after all these years that she’d left him.
“You didn’t go after her.” It wasn’t a question, but he answered Silas all the same.
“She was human and I’m not. I was twenty-two, working constantly, gone more than I was home. I figured she was better off without me.”
“But you came home that night, or rather early that morning.” Josiah gripped his mug tight. “I remember. You were in a foul mood. I didn’t understand because you said the job had gone well. You always said wolves and humans didn’t mix.”
“Daddy wasn’t big on talking, so when he said something we all listened.
” He could still hear that deep, quiet voice.
“You are pride, the first deadly Sin. You’re the one they’ll look to, the one to lead them.
” He’d said those words many times before, but the last time had been the night before their daddy died.
It was almost as if he’d known he wouldn’t be around much longer and wanted to drive the point home with Cyrus.
His daddy hadn’t been done, repeating the rules they all lived by. “Stay away from the packs. Loyalty to family. We protect our own. And humans and wolves don’t mix. I took the warning to heart.” He’d heard the same lecture his entire life. They all had. “But things change.”
Josiah looked skeptical, but Eli was nodding.
They’d been forced to deal with a wolf pack for the first time when he’d hooked up with Kinley.
“I honestly don’t know why Daddy wanted us to stay away from the packs.
Whatever his reasons, they died with him.
Loyalty to family and protecting what’s ours is a given.
Adam is mine, my son. That changes everything. ”
“And Vinnie?” Josiah pushed.
“What do you want from me? It almost killed me the first time I had to let her go.” Josiah and Levi frowned.
Sympathy gleamed in Eli’s eyes, while Zach, Noah, and Silas looked worried.
“I’m not Vinnie’s favorite person right now, but she needs me, at least for the time being. And damn it, I need her.”
Josiah shoved up from the table and stalked out the back door. When Cyrus rose to go after him, Eli stopped him. “You stay in case Adam wakes. I’ll make sure he’s okay.”
“Half hour until breakfast,” Noah warned. “If you’re late you may end up fending for yourselves.” Eli waved as he ducked out the back door.
“Any other questions?” Raking up the past was unsettling. Cyrus wanted this done.
“Are you going home with them?” It wasn’t surprising that Silas was the one to ask. Only six when their daddy died, Cyrus had filled the role since.
“I want them here with us.” That was the blunt truth. “But there was a lot left unsettled back in West Virginia, and they need me.”
“And you need them.”
Getting up, he went around the table and pulled Silas out of his chair, and looked him straight in the eyes, willing him to understand.
Of all his brothers, he was the most sensitive, maybe because there’d been so much tragedy in his life at such a young age.
“You’re my brother. I love you more than life itself.
Nothing and no one will ever change that, but yeah, I need them.
” He pulled him in for a hug, letting him linger as long as he needed.
Wolves were tactile by nature and drew comfort and strength from touch.
When they pulled away, Silas nodded to someone standing behind them. Cyrus smothered a groan. Caught up with reassuring his brother, he’d missed Vinnie’s arrival. How much had she heard?
****
Tears unexpectedly filled her eyes, forcing Vinnie to blink them back. Focused solely on finding Adam and keeping him alive, she hadn’t stopped to think about how their presence affected the people in Cyrus’s life. All she’d cared about was him using his skills to help her.
The brothers were incredibly close. That was evidenced by the easy way they showed affection. It was deeply touching to watch two huge, dangerous men hugging in such an honest and open way.
“Are you going home with them?” Silas’s question echoed in her ears, along with Cyrus’s answer that he needed them. Had he known she was there? She didn’t think so, but there was no way to be sure.