Chapter Nineteen
Zephyr
I’d been holding back panic for most of the evening.
Fighting the sense that we belonged together but that it was not anything I’d ever dreamed of.
Even the fact that I just served a meal to the city’s hottest new chef, mostly cooked by Cypress who could never remember that kabobs worked better if you put only one kind of veggie on each for even doneness, paled in comparison to the elephant in the room.
But as time passed and the men spoke about the past, giving me opportunities to share my own story if I chose, my tight muscles loosened slowly until I felt comfortable enough to share things I’d never even told Cypress. Not to hide them but because they didn’t come up. Didn’t seem necessary.
A lot like the reverse-harem thing?
Maybe a little.
And after a while, I just leaned back in my chair and listened.
Cypress had not told me much about his life before leaving the pack, as if he didn’t remember or didn’t consider it relevant.
But now, with his partner in juvenile crime at his side, it spilled out.
I ached for the boy he’d been, ripped from a place where someone’s grandma made cinnamon buns for all the kids in the pack every Sunday and where they were allowed to run free and even be wolves whenever they chose.
As I sat there, I felt the rift mending between them. Neither had known if the other tried to reach them or had just forgotten their friendship and their pact. And only one of them had known why Cypress’ family moved away.
His father, the nice man I’d met several times, had lost money on investments and “borrowed” some from the pack without permission in an attempt to regain it. By making more bad investments. I watched Cypress struggle with the knowledge as Birch shared it with him, a hand squeezing his arm.
“Your father was a kind person, I remember,” Birch said. “But I think after your dad died, he was lost and made some mistakes.”
“It must have been that,” I agreed. “And it seems to me he’s lived a pretty blameless life since.
” I couldn’t swear to it, because I hadn’t spent a ton of time with him, but all of Cypress’ stories of his life after leaving the pack were about kindness, and I suspected there was healing going on there. “It was a long time ago.”
“But I was so lonely.” His voice broke, and I wanted to go yell at his nice parents and ask them how they had let that happen to their only child. “Why didn’t they tell me? Or let me visit. I had other relatives there. Surely, they wouldn’t have held it against a child.”
“No. Nobody did,” Birch confirmed. “Not even against your parents. Your father repaid the coffers, a little at a time over the years, but even if he hadn’t, they would have found a way to work it out.”
“Did the alpha know where we were, then?”
“To my understanding, no. They were bank transfers with no way to trace an address or anything. Just a memo stating it was repayment for funds taken without permission.”
“Wow.”
“Were your fathers close like you two? Best friends?”
They both nodded.
“Then maybe their grief just overwhelmed them. Or at least your father.”
“I think…” Cypress hesitated then went on. “Dad was the finance guy in the family. He was very gifted at it and handled all the money things. Father was a woodworker, and he is again now. He must have tried to handle everything. As Birch said, he made mistakes.”
“And cutting everyone off after he did that was another one,” I put in.
“If you were lonely, imagine how they were. They’d lost a mate and their whole pack too.
” Maybe there was something we could do about this in time.
Help them reunite with their pack and understand they were still loved and missed.
The conversation died down, unspoken intentions hanging in the air.
I leaned over to kiss Cypress. It was a long, languid kiss, and a little for show. This was it. We were on the cusp of a decision that would change our lives forever. In a good way, I assured myself. I pulled back, and our eyes met.
I asked without words for permission to proceed.
“Go on, baby. I’m fine with it. I swear.” He kissed me again.
I turned to Birch. “If you are okay with this. With me. I’d like to kiss you.”
Birch looked at Cypress.
He nodded. The permission was already there.
“I’m very okay with this, female,” Birch said.
I approached my mate’s best friend and leaned down, capturing his lips with mine. His hands went to my hips, and my knees wobbled.
Need.
Want.
I pulled back, watching his reaction.
Wonder, softness. “That was amazing.”
I nodded and went into the house, hoping they would follow. But first, they would have to have a long talk.
This reverse harem just became real.