Faye absently ran her fingers through his hair as she frowned. “An unknown number,” she answered. “Just sent me a smiley face.”
“What?” asked Colin confusedly.
“Nothing,” said Faye quickly while typing on her phone.
The reply to her who is this text came a few seconds later and she rolled her eyes.
I found my cellphone
“It's Nikolai,” she grumbled, rubbing Colin's bare shoulders as he grunted.
“How is he an alpha?” she asked rhetorically as her phone buzzed again. “He's like a six-year-old.”
Faye read the messages aloud as her phone buzzed three more times in quick succession.
Hello??
Are you there?
Fayeeeeeee
Colin shook with laughter. Faye replied rapidly to the texts and then said, “He said he'll look after the chickens while we're gone and keep an eye on the place. Should I be worried that he'll have fried chicken every meal?”
“It's a possibility.”
“My poor chickens,” sighed Faye.
CHAPTER twenty-one
Underneath his jacket, Faye had wrapped her arm around his waist, her bare hand like ice on his heated skin. Security had been a nightmare. So many minutes without her touch. But they had made it with minimal weird looks, and the fake ID worked like a charm. As they settled into the seats of the plane, Faye shed her jacket and pulled his open so she could cuddle into his side. His Henley and her t-shirt still stopped them from being skin to skin, but it was better than no contact at all.
He sighed as he nervously glanced around the plane. It was night time, and there were maybe fifteen other people on the massive plane. They had three wide seats to themselves with several other rows separating them from everyone else. Faye felt confident no one could overhear their conversation.
“You alright?” she asked in a low tone. “Be honest.”
He leaned his head against the head rest, gripping her hand tightly in his. “It's just a slow throbbing right now,” he answered. “Just a headache, and I'm a little hot.”
She nodded. She turned to look out the window at the lights in the airport as a voice over the intercom asked them to put their seatbelts on. Faye had already explained to Colin exactly what was going to happen, but when the plane began to gather speed, a surprised yelp escaped him as he squeezed his eyes close.
“Shh,” hushed Faye. “It's alright. I'm right here. We're safe.”
She ran her hand up and down his arm soothingly as she said, “Open your eyes.”
A few seconds later, he peeped out at her, and she smiled, motioning him to look out the window. His mouth gaped open and he whispered, “We're flying!”
Faye nodded as he continued to stare out the window until they were too high in the clouds to see anything anymore. The flashing seatbelt sign went off. Faye removed hers and watched in amusement as Colin adamantly refused to take his off.
Then the lights were dimmed so the passengers could sleep. Faye cuddled up to Colin as she yawned quietly. He pressed her head down to his shoulder, stroking her hair softly as his own eyes stared at anything and everything, too excited to sleep.
“Get some rest, Colin,” she said. “Otherwise, you will be exhausted in the morning.”
He shrugged and closed his eyes to make her happy but continued to listen attentively to all the noises. The jet engines had quieted to a loud purr after the deafening roar at takeoff. His ears were still ringing. He was definitely going to stuff cotton in his ears on the return flight.
He looked down at Faye, her soft even breathing letting him know she was asleep. His grip on her tightened as he yanked her closer, pulling her to sit on his lap, cuddling her close. His wolf was restless, making him jumpy and irritable. He was thankful for the darkness that hid how he clutched Faye in a death grip, determined to protect her while she slept.
He growled slightly as a man walked past their seats on his way to the restroom at the back of the plane. He ducked his head so the man wouldn't see his glowing eyes and shoved his face in Faye's neck, breathing deeply.
“Colin,” she whispered, groggily. “What's wrong?”
He shook his head and she pulled his head down to rest on her shoulder, shifting to sit sideways on his lap and holding him tightly. “This is totally not safe.” She giggled before pressing her lips to his cheek.
“You are always safe with me.” He growled quietly. “Always.”
A snarl rumbled in his chest as the man walked past again on the way back to his seat, and Faye tangled her fingers in his honey-colored hair as she chuckled.
“Wolfie, down.”
His eyes snapped to hers, and he smiled, leaning in and pressing his lips to her face in quick succession.
“Behave,” she whispered sternly, her wide smile threatening to split her cheeks.
He grinned, and then his eyes dimmed as Wolfie retreated and Colin breathed, “Thanks.”
Faye pressed her lips to his and reveled in his soft pouty mouth a moment longer before pulling away and saying, “Tell me more about your family.”
Colin caught his breath and blinked slowly. “We are a very large family. Very loud. Probably bigger now given my brothers and Caterina all have their Promises now, most likely.”
He shuddered and said, “I hope none of them went wild like me.”
Faye smacked his shoulder playfully and exclaimed, “Hey, I was worth the wait, buddy.”
His eyes glowed. “Oh, I most definitely agree.”
“Colin.” Faye narrowed her eyes, and he grinned mischievously before his hips surged upwards.
Faye closed her eyes, desire heating her blood, as she attempted to get her apparently raging hormones under control. “Colin,” she hissed, “we are on a plane!”
He shrugged, one eyebrow quirked up as he gazed at her through hooded bedroom eyes. “So we could join the mile high club.”
“What? How do you even know about that?!” Faye backed up from her perceived innocent Wolfie.
“Hey, come back here,” he grumbled, tugging her back into his chest. “I read about it in that book you got from Heidi.”
“You weren't supposed to read that!” Faye's shriek of dismay and embarrassment was muffled by Colin's massive chest.
“It was on the nightstand and I couldn't sleep,” he defended. “How was I to know?”
Faye groaned as he ran his hand up and down her back before settling on her hips. Faye buried her face in his chest, completely mortified, and vowed to get Colin back for embarrassing her so.
She grinned before biting down on a hard male nipple right under her nose. She had been wanting to do that for a while. His sharp inhale and tight grip on her hips didn't go unnoticed as he held himself perfectly still.
“Faye, please.” He groaned. “Don't tease.”
Faye felt slightly bad as she looked up and saw the strained look on his face, his eyes tightly closed and his pouty lips on a thin line. Gently, she kissed his cheek before settling back down on his lap.
A few minutes later, he relaxed and she said, “I'm not sorry.”
He chuckled. “I know.”
CHAPTER twenty-two
Caterina Byrd-Holloway shoved her fingers through her hair in frustration for the fiftieth time that morning and called for her husband as she sorted the laundry in the back room, letting him know in no uncertain terms that breakfast was ready and getting cold the longer he dilly-dallied around upstairs. Honestly, how long did it take to change a diaper?
Malcolm Holloway was, for lack of a better term, big and clumsy. He was a very large man, built like an ox. The strangest thing was the gentleness inside the man. He had a heart of gold.
Caterina slammed the lid on the washing machine closed and walked into the kitchen, smiling tenderly, her earlier irritation evaporating as her man walked into the kitchen, their almost six-month-old little boy in his arms. She quickly yanked out her phone and snapped a discreet picture, smiling dopily. One of th
e best things about being a mother was watching her husband become a father.
She cooed gently to the baby as Malcolm kissed her deeply, leaving her breathless, and then greeted her in that deep voice of his. “Good morning, wife.”
Her insides turned to mush, and she blushed. She then fixed tiny little Jason a bottle. Lulu, their seven-year- old daughter banged on the table with her fork, demanding for daddy to kiss her good morning too.
Caterina felt blessed beyond measure as she gazed at her family. The recent passing of her father left a hole in her heart, yes, and he would be sorely missed, but her life felt pretty complete. She gazed out of the kitchen window at her brothers’ homes right down the road as she heated up a bottle of pre-pumped breast milk in the microwave.
And her gaze stopped on the big house.The one her parents had shared until her father had died.
She tensed unknowingly. The circumstances around his death were not all they seemed to be, she was sure.
But Adrian, Benjamin, David, and Justin did not feel the same way. They accepted that William Byrd had been hunting in his fur and then died as the result of a bear hunt gone wrong, if his badly mauled body was any indicator. But Caterina knew their father well. How many times had he pounded into their heads that they should never, under any circumstance, try to overcome a bear on their own? It didn't make sense.
She sighed and watched as Malcolm fed Jason.
Caterina tossed a lock of red hair over her shoulder as she took Jason, so Malcolm could eat. She listened absently as Lulu chattered incessantly. She looked down at Jason as she rocked him gently, her smile full as she got lost in his golden eyes—so much like her brother’s, the one she had lost long ago. She sighed then, and Malcolm, picking up on her sour mood, frowned also before bundling up Lulu and packing her off to school.
“We will talk later, wife,” he murmured as he bent over her in her chair. He pressed his lips to her cheek and then tossed Lulu over his shoulders as she squealed loudly, laughing as her father tickled her with his large hands.
They disappeared out the back door, and Caterina's keen hearing heard the car start and leave. “Just me and you, buddy,” she cooed, kissing Jason's hair.
He gurgled and grinned a toothless grin up at her, kicking his little feet happily. Tufts of brown hair stuck up at weird angles on his head, and Caterina smoothed it down.
“God, you look so much like Colin,” she muttered, almost in awe, as she remembered her dead brother.
A sudden loud scream pierced the air. It vibrated throughout the house and seemed to shake the mountain to its foundations. Caterina's blood ran cold in her veins as she clutched Jason to her chest tightly while frozen in her seat.
Her mother.
In two seconds, Caterina was out the front door, her son clutched to her chest as she barreled down the hill to the big house. Her four brothers were already headed that way ahead of her, their speed outmatching hers. Caterina skidded to a halt as she eyed the silver car sitting in front of the large frame house she had grown up in as if it were an alien.
Linda, Adrian's wife, exited their home with worry on her face and silently took Jason, urging Caterina to go. Her feet grew wings as she flew the rest of the way down the hill, bursting in the front door of the house and trying to peer around her tall brothers who stood stock still in the strangely silent house.
“Justin, move.” She nearly screamed while she elbowed Adrian in the ribs. “What's wrong with Mama? David, move!”
She shoved her way through and then sucked in a huge lungful of air as the sound of her mother's muffled sobbing reached her ears. She stared wide-eyed at the two people standing uncertainly in front of the fireplace, holding hands like they could never let go.
“Oh my god,” she whispered, her face pale like she had seen a ghost.
Her mother sat in front of them on the couch, bawling her eyes out, her rich red hair hanging about her face like a curtain.
And him.
His eyes. His damned golden eyes that had looked at her when her baby boy opened his eyes for the first time flickered to her, and Caterina felt like she had been punched in the gut. All the air was sucked out of her lungs.
Then his gaze returned to their mother, and he bent to kneel before her, his knees cracking.
“Cuiribh nach eil caoineadh, Matháir,” he said softly, reaching for her hands.
Caterina suddenly remembered how to breathe as her hands flew to her mouth. It was his voice too. Her eyes flickered to the woman standing behind him, her face a little lost as she stared at the open-mouthed, gawking men that made up Caterina's family.
Caterina felt hysterical laughter bubble up in her throat as she rubbed her eyes disbelievingly. After all these years. How was he alive? She swiped her hand over her eyes, realizing that tears were now pouring down her face.
She gasped as those golden eyes locked with hers.
“Caterina,” he greeted as gently held their mother's hands. “It has been a long time, piuthar bheag, no?”
It was him. It was really him! Caterina's legs wouldn't hold her anymore, and she dropped to the floor, sobbing uncontrollably as it all sank in.
He was alive.
Before she even realized it, he was in front of her.
“Let me touch you,” she gasped, reaching out for him, pleading, begging for him to be real. “Is it really you?”
Her voice cracked.
Tears dimmed the honey gaze she had missed for so long.
“Don't cry,” she whispered as her hands closed around his arms. She then wiped the tears from his face.
He was flesh and blood, same as her. He chuckled, his skin unnaturally warm against her own, but she overlooked that as he spoke again.
“Well, then you stop crying.” He chuckled, his voice hoarse.
Caterina threw her arms around his neck as he hauled them both to their feet and didn't let go. She felt Adrian, Benjamin, David, and Justin come close and put their arms around them until they were all standing there, sniffing back tears like ninnies in one big family group hug with Caterina and Colin in the middle.
Caterina pushed away and watched Justin walk for some space and blow his nose while the rest of her brothers blinked back tears because, heaven forbid, they show the slightest amount of emotion.
“How?” she asked, still holding on to him like she was afraid he would disappear. She felt inclined to give him a good shake for leaving them so long ago. Even though it hadn't been his fault.
He smiled then and pointed towards the blonde girl standing in front of the fireplace, her hair in a messy bun and with sleep bags under her eyes. She was clearly human.
“Her,” he answered softly. “It's because of her.”
The woman shifted uncomfortably as every eye in the room turned to her. Their mother made the first move, springing to her feet and embracing the human gladly, thankfulness clear in her voice.
“Welcome, and thank you for bringing my son home.”
Five seconds later, her mother’s arms tightened around him in a vice grip as she flew at him with the speed only a mother can achieve.
“Welcome home, Colin.”
CHAPTER twenty-three
Colin looked at his baby sister. Really looked at her. She was more mature. There were lines around her eyes and lips. But she was beautiful. Her red hair, which was inherited from their mother, was rich and vibrant against her porcelain skin.
He clasped Faye's hand tightly in his. He felt her shift beside him before she stood. He looked at her, panicked. She then smiled reassuringly at him and moved to the kitchen where his mother was leaving him and his sister alone on the couch.
He fought back the urge to howl as her touch left him. Caterina noticed.
She watched as his forehead scrunched in pain, a furrow forming between his brows. Then her eyes widened. “You're in Heat!” she exclaimed, pressing her lily-white hand to his face.
The cool of her skin felt nice but did nothing to disperse the ache
he felt. He blushed. “Caterina!” he said rebukingly.
She shrugged, raising one thin eyebrow. “What?” she asked. “It's a perfectly natural thing for us. Does she know?”
He nodded and gritted his teeth, absently clawing at his skin.
“Stop that,” she said sharply. “You're bleeding.”
He looked down, startled to see droplets of blood running down his arm where his claws had sliced through the skin. He instantly willed his hands to change and watched as they transformed back into human form. Then he tucked his hands under his arms, trying to stop himself from scratching the itch under his skin.
Caterina frowned. “Why have you not bound yourself to her?” she asked, her frown deepening as he didn't answer.
Colin stood and paced the length of the living room, feeling his wolf grow more and more agitated the longer Faye stayed in the kitchen, away from him. He needed her. Where was she?
He let out a pained whimper, hearing the front door open and close, well aware that his eyes were glowing fiercely. Caterina hesitantly took her babe from Linda. She watched him warily as the rest of the family piled into the living room and gawked at him.
“Brother,” spoke Adrian cautiously, “are you alright?”
He shifted uneasily from foot to foot, feeling trapped as Adrian and David advanced closer. His mouth produced sounds, but he was incapable of human speech at the moment. He shook his head and clasped it in his hands as Caterina quickly explained to the others that he was in Heat. A respectable distance was instantly placed between Colin and the rest of the family. Males in Heat were unpredictable, moody, and downright mean at times. They couldn't help it. It was the order of nature.
He felt mortified that they were witnessing him like this; so out of control of his own emotions. He growled in frustration as he saw a child, undoubtedly one of his nieces, that stared up at him with wide eyes. What if he scared them? he thought.
“Faye,” he garbled out.
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