15. Chapter 15 #2
Cyrus sighed, flicked the porch light on, and closed the door. As he leaned against the wall, his fingers twitched. He wanted a cigarette. For fuck’s sake, he kept forgetting to buy more. He debated going back inside to bum one off of someone else but shook his head.
Maybe he could pick up some gum or something.
Now was a horrible time to quit smoking, Christ…
He rolled his eyes and ignored the urge to rake his fingers through his freshly washed and dried curls, not wanting to mess them up before the night had even started.
Cyrus tapped his foot as he waited even pulled out his phone to scroll through the news tab for a minute. As his patience was wearing things, the door opened.
“Oh, I thought you might’ve left,” Gabe admitted with a weak chuckle as he stepped out and closed the door behind him. Gabe was wearing dark jeans and a long sleeve black cotton shirt, casual, but it wasn’t like he was on the job or anything. Cyrus was.
“Almost,” Cyrus replied, mostly joking before he pulled his keys out and motioned Gabe to the car.
After it was unlocked, Cyrus climbed into the front seat and Gabe in the passenger seat. For a moment, the memory of Gabe sitting in his lap in the driver's seat flashed across Cyrus’s mind, and his heart squeezed in his chest. He cleared his throat and started the car.
“We stayed at a similar place in Michigan when we first moved there,” Gabe said as they were on the road. “Before my parents had decided officially to join the pack that…I guess controlled the district Farmington Hills is in.”
Cyrus tapped on the steering wheel. “Yeah, we don’t get as many Weres moving here to join our pack as we used to, mostly people needing to stay here for a couple of weeks or live here temporarily.
Some decide to stay and join the pack after six months, and others leave.
” He flicked on the headlights to a different setting.
“How long have you worked there?” Gabe asked. “I know you were a body guard twelve years ago, but…”
Cyrus kept his eyes on the road.
“Fifteen years,” he told him. “Lokk isn’t just the building. It’s the company I used to be assigned primarily to families and specific people. Now I prefer working in the building.”
“Why?” Gabe asked.
Cyrus chewed at his bottom lip for a moment.
“I made it clear I wasn’t very interested in working in that…setting anymore after what happened with your family,” he admitted.
It was quiet for a long moment.
“I’m sorry,” Gabe mumbled. “Did you like working as a personal guard?”
Cyrus tilted his head slightly side to side for a moment as he thought.
“Yes. I liked working with families and individuals. It was certainly more exciting, but, after…that point in my life, I didn’t want to get close anymore.”
He looked over at Gabe, who had his brow furrowed.
“That’s fucked.” Gabe sighed.
Cyrus shook his head. “It’s life, right?
” he asked. “Besides, I also used to work at Cades as a bartender part-time until about a year ago, five years.” He quickly changed the subject from something that made his head spin.
Hoping Gabe could be none the wiser, or at least respect the unspoken boundary.
“Why’d you quit that?” Gabe asked.
“Things with Lokk got pretty hectic, and Liam was…not the best Alpha to leave unattended,” Cyrus said.
Gabe huffed. “Yeah, clearly.” He paused. “I was a bartender for a bit while…” He motioned haphazardly. “Going around.”
“You told me,” Cyrus replied and finally turned down the road to get off the endless dirt road. “You plan on doing anything with your degree in music?” he asked. He was sure it was more specific than that, but he didn’t know much about that sort of thing.
Gabe was quiet a moment. “I…kind of have given up,” he admitted. “Being an Alpha was the only thing I could think of would give me any meaning or use. I didn’t think I could be Alpha and do something else. Wouldn’t that be a handful?”
Cyrus chuckled weakly. “It’s not always like this, and while you are the head of almost a hundred of us, there will be months where it’s so goddamn boring you won’t know what to do with yourself.
You can only leave the districts you lead over one month of the year, but there’s no rule that you can’t have a regular job.
You get to live in the pack house for free, and it’s funded fifty-percent by the council.
The other fifty-percent is chipped in by everyone else staying there, so there’s no need for an Alpha to have a job other than being Alpha, but, normally…
well”—Cyrus waved a hand—“Alpha’s have something else going on.
Liam was part of Lokk. Almost all of the Alpha’s have been a part of Lokk. It was started by an Alpha after all.”
“So, is what you’re saying I should be a part of Lokk too?” Gabe asked.
Cyrus shook his head as he switched lanes. “No, I’m saying you can’t just be Alpha. That can’t be your only thing. You’ll drive yourself nuts. It’s like…being a stay-at-home mom with no other hobbies, except your kids are grown and you just…moderate.”
Gabe snorted. “Wow, makes being Alpha sound pathetic,” he joked.
“As I said, when something crazy isn’t going on, or a meeting or big ritual isn’t happening, there’s not very much exciting going on.
Liam started a lot of drama because he was bored and miserable in his place.
He expected something…more exciting. He wanted to kick us in the ass and get us going on…
” Cyrus shook his head. “I guess this—we can’t know for sure, but I’m guessing Liam was planning this with Jasmine based on what Jasmine said.
People would get attacked and hauled over, Liam would come in and look like he was saving the day by offering some collaboration with Jasmine so they’d both have power of some sort, and… suddenly we’re one big happy pack.”
“Why let people get attacked, killed if he wanted to combine with Jasmine?” Gabe asked.
Cyrus sighed. “He knew I wouldn’t let it happen.
” He squeezed the steering wheel. “We’ve combined with packs before, but there’s a reason we made a peace treaty with Lotuslacker and didn’t combine with them.
It rarely works out trying to combine two packs and two Alphas.
Getting everyone to be loyal when there’s more than one Alpha they’re bonded to is a fucking mess. ”
“So you’ve only ever combined with packs where the previous Alpha died?” Gabe asked.
Cyrus nodded. “That’s the way we do things,” he replied. “It’s always been what’s best for the pack.”