Chapter 12
Twelve
Bel quickly tucked his shirt back into his pants, straightened his bow tie, and smoothed his fingers through his hair as he walked to the front door. His brothers might tease him about looking like a mad scientist, but there was no reason to live up to the image. Well, not completely.
Pausing to adjust himself, he inwardly prayed that his brother couldn’t tell that he was still fucking hard.
Hopefully his cheeks weren’t as flushed as they felt.
While he would not feel a bit of shame about being involved with both River and Wyatt, he didn’t feel that it was any of his brother’s business.
At least not until Bel had the chance to figure it all out for himself.
When he jerked open the door, he found Winter leaning against the corner of the entrance, one eyebrow raised in question. “I’m not interrupting anything, am I?”
“Actually, you are, but it can wait…for now.”
Winter clucked his tongue as he straightened. “Oh, Rafe is so going to regret not listening to me and tagging along.”
Bel stepped back, allowing Winter to enter the house and close the door behind him. “Why didn’t he come with you?”
“Don’t, Bel.” Winter reached out and placed a hand on his elbow for a moment. “You know he’s a stubborn, hotheaded asshole.” Winter released his arm and led the way into the living room.
It had been a while since his youngest brother had popped by for a visit, but there was always a feeling of normalcy when any of them walked in. But Bel had that feeling at their homes as well. They were places of belonging.
Except for Winter’s.
Bel hadn’t been to many of Winter’s homes over the years. For a while, he preferred to just live with Marcus. And when he did strike out on his own, he was over at their homes so frequently, there really was no need to stop by his.
Winter’s words were so very true when it came to his twin, but they didn’t make him feel any better.
“I can’t understand why he’s having issues with them. It’s not as if they’d killed Philippe or me. They didn’t cripple him. He’s perfectly fine now. He was perfectly fine later that same night after the attack.”
Resting his hands on his hips, Winter turned where he was standing in front of a chair and frowned. He was wearing a pair of battered jeans and a plain black hoodie. He could have passed for a teenager with his young face and light, baby-blue eyes.
“I don’t think it’s the attack.”
“Then what?”
“You waited months to tell us about the wolves. You waited to tell him. When have you ever not told him something immediately?”
That stopped Bel cold. He and Rafe had shared everything important in their lives—and so much of the unimportant stuff—immediately.
They had always said there were no secrets between them.
That there never could be, thanks to their magical twin link, right?
Well, Rafe hadn’t exactly been forthcoming with his feelings for Philippe.
And somehow, Bel had managed to keep something from Rafe. Sure, it had only been a short while, but Rafe still felt betrayed.
“Oh,” Bel whispered.
He hadn’t wanted to tell Rafe or any of his brothers because he hadn’t wanted to hear their concerns.
He didn’t want warnings or to be called na?ve.
Wyatt and River weren’t out to hurt him or his family; that he’d been sure of from the start.
Of course, he’d also wanted to keep the wolves to himself, locked away in their own little world for as long as possible.
Winter returned to his side and wrapped an arm around his back before ushering him over to the sofa. Once Bel was seated, Winter dropped into one of the chairs and toed his sneakers off.
“Relax, Bel. Rafe will get over it. You didn’t betray him. Philippe is undoubtedly talking some sense into him right now.”
“Is that why you’re here? To talk some sense into me?”
Winter smiled at him, not at all bothered by his sharp tone. “Nope. I was hoping to get another look at your wolves.”
Bel’s mouth dropped open, and he was speechless for a moment. When he could finally make his tongue work, all he could manage was a somewhat squeaky “Really?”
“What were you interested in, Mr. Varik?” Wyatt’s question drew their gazes to the hallway. River just behind Wyatt, his expression wary but a little curious.
“To be honest, everything. And please, call me Winter.”
“I don’t understand. Are you serious?” Bel pressed.
Winter huffed a little and his shoulders slumped.
There was an almost embarrassed smile that crept across his lips and a sparkle in his eyes that reminded Bel of the playful boy he’d only gotten glimpses of when they were young.
Winter had always been a serious child. Too serious.
But then, for nearly all his life, Julianna had been a vampire… and incredibly dangerous.
“If you’ll forgive me for slipping into something more vernacular. Dude! They’re freaking werewolves! Shapeshifters! How do you not think it’s the coolest thing ever?” He waved both of his open hands at Wyatt and River while the biggest smile Bel had ever seen stretched across Winter’s face.
Bel laughed and shook his head. “Oh, then yes, I guess I do.” He looked over at the two werewolves, who appeared to be torn between confusion and mirth. “I do think they are very cool, and not just because they’re werewolves.”
“Stop!” Winter held up one hand in front of Bel while rubbing the other over his face. “I get more than enough needless updates on Rafe’s sex life. I don’t need to know about what freaky things are going on here.”
“What? I didn’t mean—”
“Uh-huh. I’ve seen enough starry eyes from Rafe and Marcus. I don’t need it from you too. Let’s just focus on the werewolf part of things.”
“Maybe we should sit,” Wyatt suggested while River snickered softly.
As Wyatt and River approached the couch where Bel was still sitting, Winter pushed to his feet and extended his hand to the older man.
“I’m sorry you didn’t get the best first impression of our clan,” Winter apologized.
Wyatt smiled as he took the vampire’s hand. “It’s understandable, considering our shared past and that we were not meeting under the best of circumstances.”
Winter released Wyatt’s hand and quickly shook River’s as well.
Both werewolves seemed to relax, and Bel found himself able to breathe a little easier.
It also helped that Wyatt and River settled on either side of him, wrapping him in their warmth and closeness.
His brother smirked and shook his head, but he didn’t say a word about it.
“First, I want to know. Did you seriously not know about werewolves?” Bel demanded before Winter could ask anything. “I know it was a shock for Rafe and Marcus, but you always seem to be a step ahead of the rest of us, more in touch with various bits of information.”
“I didn’t know. Aiden never told me, and it never came up when I was digging around for information on…well, anything. I guess it’s as Aiden said—werewolves aren’t involved in our affairs, so there was no reason for me to encounter them.”
“What about witches? A witch was mentioned last night. Zelda? Are witches real?” River asked. He was leaning forward so that he was practically perched on the edge of his seat.
Winter nodded. “Witches are real, but I’ve not met any that I know of, and I’m more than a little skeptical of their abilities.”
Bel snorted. He found it extremely hard to believe that a human being had the ability to use magic to do anything.
His brother stared at him like he was an idiot. “Really? You refuse to believe in witches while you’re sitting between two men who can literally change into wolves. Why are witches that much harder to believe in?”
“I don’t know.” Bel threw up his hands, and Wyatt wrapped an arm around his stiff shoulders, pulling him in so that part of his back was pressed to Wyatt’s chest. “Yes, I’m not being particularly logical, but it just seems too extreme.”
“Yes, much more illogical than vampires and werewolves and all the other things that go bump in the night,” Winter mocked.
“Wait! There are others?” River asked.
Winter smiled at him, but there was a tightness to his expression that Bel knew was discomfort. It was one of those rare, unguarded moments when Winter felt he’d said too much.
“Let’s just focus on werewolves for tonight,” Winter murmured. “May I see you change?”
River twisted on the couch to look over at Wyatt, who shrugged one shoulder.
“Okay,” River replied. He stood and moved around the coffee table to an open place in the middle of the living room.
Reaching up, he pulled his shirt off and dropped it on the floor, revealing nicely tan, smooth skin with a sprinkling of light-brown hair across his pecs and down his stomach.
Muscles rippled with each movement, and Bel couldn’t stop a soft sigh.
“Whoa!” Winter shouted as River reached for the button on his jeans. His brother had squeezed his eyes closed and turned his face away.
Bel cackled, leaning more into Wyatt. “Are you kidding me? You were just complaining about my lack of logic. Did it not occur to you that they would need to be naked to shapeshift or risk destroying their clothes?”
“I didn’t know how it was done! Maybe the clothes magically appeared and disappeared. Maybe a fucking fairy flew out of his ass and sprinkled him with magic dust. I don’t know!”
“No magic fairies,” Wyatt said, though it sounded like he was trying very hard not to laugh. Which was fine because Bel was doing enough laughing for all of them. He couldn’t remember ever seeing Winter’s face so red.
“Sorry,” Bel gasped, trying to regain control.
“No, you’re not.”
“I’m trying to be.”
“Werewolves tend to be very comfortable with their bodies,” Wyatt explained. “As soon as we can shift, we spend a great deal of time with other pack mates naked.”
“Doesn’t bother me,” River added.