by Joyee Flynn
“Be careful of the windows being open in here too long, babe,” I warned him as I glanced around at the very, very old books on shelves. “The humidity and salt in the air could ruin these.”
“Always so smart and thoughtful,” he said with a grin. He lowered his hands and the wind stopped. I walked over and closed up the huge bay windows again.
“It just needed a quickie airing out. It smells like a freshly cleaned room now instead of stuffy.”
“I couldn’t have hurt the books with just that, could I?”
“No way,” I answered even though I didn’t have a clue on old books. Wesley didn’t need anything else to feel guilty about that he shouldn’t. “What were you feeling in here?”
“This,” he mumbled, glancing at the wall. “Something back here was blocking my energy but it’s gone. It could have just been a gap in where I was focusing.”
“But you don’t believe that.”
“I’m not sure. I’ve never had anyone able to block me before,” he admitted. “Brody can kind of if he tries really hard. But this would have to be someone older and more powerful than me to be a void. Or I just was spreading myself too thin.”
“Let’s go with that answer until we know more but I’ll warn everyone that there’s possibly someone here already for sanctuary and to be careful.”
“You always come up with the best plans,” he chuckled lovingly. Then he held up a hand, no wind this time as if he was feeling for something in the air. “Got it.” I watched as he reached out and pulled on a mounted candlestick and one of the bookshelves slid to the side and revealed a hiding panel that moved back with a loud stone grinding sound.
We stepped inside but couldn’t see anything. I pulled Wes back out, not wanting him to go in alone, and called out for Slate.
“We need the flashlight,” I explained as he jogged into the room. “Wesley found something.”
“Yeah he did,” Levey exclaimed excitedly. “I always wanted to go in a secret passage. Oh my god this is so cool.”
“Anyone else feel like the Scooby gang except we’re all wolves?” Bay drawled as he looked around the doorway.
“Where’s your sense of adventure?” I chuckled as I turned on the flashlight and stepped into the room, holding Wesley back slightly. “Fuck me sideways.”
“Yeah, I second that,” Slate gasped as we took in the room. It was full of gold, jewels, and all kinds of treasures. In the middle was an easel with another note.
The house is open to all wolves in need, to always be run by an Omega to make sure that no one with ill will or harboring evil wishes comes to this safe haven. Use what you want of the house, make it your own, but destroy or throw out nothing because it is our history. Except this room. This room is for my son if he is ever to be found. This is his inheritance. Touch it not unless you are pure of heart and truly want to find him when I could not so that he might be reunited with his history. Touch it or take it for self-gain and my ghost will haunt you always until you go mad.
“I don’t understand,” Wesley whispered as he stepped closer to the easel. “His son was lost? How do you lose a kid?”
“You don’t,” Slate said sadly. “You lose a child when they die or are taken. Since the note seems to imply the son is alive, I’d say this poor guy had his son kidnapped from him.”
“We have to find him,” Wesley gasped as he looked around the room. “There’s got to be a way we can find his son. He needs to know this is where he truly comes from.”
“Wes, we don’t know how long ago this note was even written,” I said gently. “We don’t know if the son is alive or dead. And you already are trying to take over the free world so it truly is free for wolves. How are you going to add this to your plate?”
“We have to try,” he whispered as he stared at me with big eyes. “Brody’s working on leads for more bloodline Omegas and we’ve got one right here now. He can put this to the top of his list. We can make this work.”
“Okay,” Bay sighed after we all shared a look. “You’ve got that pouty determined look. We can look through what the guy left us but we’re not traipsing all over the world on some ghost chase. We’ll see what we can do with the information he left but no more massive missions. You’ve got enough going on, we all do.”
“Deal,” Wesley agreed excitedly. He glanced around the easel and smiled when he pulled out a file folder. “We keep this room secret for now. We don’t know who else is here on the island with us.”
“You felt something?” Bay asked as he glanced around nervously and Slate had the gun back out in a flash.
We filled him in as we left the room, making sure everything was put back just as we’d found it. Levey still looked like he was going to burst at the seams with excitement over the whole thing.
“Now we just need to find a treasure map and go hunting with shovels,” he chuckled as he rubbed his hands together in glee.
“Sorry,” Slate drawled as he held up the folder they’d found under the rug. “All we have here is a map of the house, which rooms are ready for guests, and what needs fixing. Lennox is going to have some fun with this. One of the stoves is out according to this and it says it’s from 1920. I’m sure he can find parts in the house to fix that.”
“We wanted an adventure,” I chuckled and shrugged. Sounded like fun to me. After we checked out the map we figured out where everyone was going to bunk down and got everyone that wasn’t working on the cookout on bag delivery duty. When we were all done, everything unloaded from the yacht and put away so we could function in a strange mansion, we had just enough time to shower and get down to the beach.
Chapter 6
Falcon
I smiled as I watched Sampson play cabana boy at the makeshift bar we had set up on the beach. Actually, we just carried the massive one off the yacht that was for parties and could easily be moved… Well, besides the fact it was big. It hadn’t been like bolted down or anything.
The little guy was really coming out of his shell and I was glad for that. So were Kiefer and Baptista. They were having a blast and all the extra guards who had come, all unattached, seemed to be in heaven at the eye candy the Omegas were. Though there were a couple I especially had my eye on and prayed to fate a good romance could be found.
Everyone had at least a drink or two by now and according to Asher the food was coming along nicely.
“This is so cool,” Lennox said quietly as he sat down next to me on the picnic table. We’d found some closer to the house and dragged them over for the party. “I’ve never been to like a luau or seen someone perform live. I mean, and we know them. Did you know we had such talented friends?”
“No,” I chuckled, shaking my head. “I’m as shocked as you are. Too bad Hugo didn’t bring his drum set because we would have had a whole band apparently. I heard him telling Jaxon he had something he could set up with his laptop to give him more than just the guitar and Rowan singing. Percy plays bass too and brought his gear. I swear it’s like it was planned because who would think to bring it on vacation?”
“People who weren’t sure they wanted to ever go home,” he answered as he stared at the big fire our friends were putting together in the big clearing away from the tables, food, and makeshift stage.
“We found a drum set in the basement!” Baptista yelled as he and Sampson came running over. “It was totally weird like I know this house or something. I found a music room.”
“Sweet,” Hugo exclaimed. “That’s better than what I was rigging up. Let’s go see what they got.”
“I know we hover too much,” I said quietly to Lennox. “We don’t mean to. We’re holding on too tightly because we’re scared. You were already taken from us once and it would kill us if something happened to you. So yeah, we need to relax but I don’t know how with everything always going on. I mean, when doesn’t the shit hit the fan in our lives?”
“I know. I was thinking about that too and seeing what’s going on with my friends,” he m
umbled as he lay back on the wood and covered his eyes with his hands to get some of the last rays before the sunset. “I just don’t want to end up like Carson and his guys. They’re imploding because they didn’t say enough or the right way to really communicate and I bet they all thought they were doing fine but with all of us always on edge one match can blow it all to hell.”
“Yeah, I get what you’re saying.” I leaned back on my elbows and tilted my neck to get some sun as well. We were used to it given our pack was in southern California but this sun was much hotter here. “Did you have fun last night?”
“Yes and no,” he answered after a moment of thought. “Wesley got fun drunk and so did some of us but watching Vencentio and Carson’s worlds crumble made me want to constantly cry. It was nice to just let it all out though and get drunk. We did have some good times and everyone talked a lot about what’s going on. It helped to know we weren’t the only ones having these issues.”
“I can see that.” We were quiet several minutes and then I decided just to get out the question that was on my mind. “Would you want to stay? Leave the pack and the four of us just move here forever? Brody was saying they could buy a place in Russia and spend half the year at each.”
“Yes,” he whispered as he turned on the table to face me. “Does that make me a horrible person that I would just leave our pack like that? I mean, I wouldn’t do it if all of you weren’t coming with me but my vote is I want us to move here.”
“No, it doesn’t make you a bad person at all.” I reached over and cupped his cheek. “Because my answer is probably going to be the same. I want to spend a little more time here and see how we’d really be living but yeah, I like the idea to run.”
“Maybe one day,” he mumbled wistfully as he lay back down. I nodded as I enjoyed the sun, laughing when I heard a loud drum thump.
“My bad!” Baptista shouted as he picked back up the drum. We all had a good chuckle at that. The sun was just setting as everything was set up and our entertainment for the night took the stage. Everyone was making catcalls and hollering as they got ready.
“Okay, be nice, everyone, we didn’t even get a sound check and have never played together before,” Rowan said as he went up to the mic. “And I don’t even have my guitar so I’m only singing tonight.”
“Take off your shirt and we won’t even notice if you can’t sing!” Ollie called from the bar. Rowan shrugged and pulled it off, getting even more catcalls. It was hot after all. The other guys did too and seriously they were like every gay man’s wet dream. And straight ladies’ I’m sure but none were here.
“Baptista, you’re up,” Rowan said as he nodded to the laptop set up on the speakers they pulled out from somewhere. Who knew.
“I brought us some drinks,” Blair said nervously as he joined us. “Asher said we needed to get good seats for the show.”
“Oh yeah, I helped pick the songs they’re doing in the hopes it sparks something,” I replied as I took the drink.
Percy started it off first then Baptista played out a few notes on what looked like a tablet hooked up that had a keyboard option. Hugo joined in on the drums and we groaned. Our man was hot.
“He’s forgiven,” Lennox whimpered. “Hot drummer mate.”
“Rowan can really sing,” I chuckled as he belted out a few intro notes like P!nk but obviously a few octaves lower.
“Ever wonder about what he’s doing,” Rowan sang and I nudged Lennox to look across from us when Vencentio’s head snapped to stare over at Marlow. “How it all turned to lies.”
“Oh shit, please let this work,” I whispered as I saw Vencentio exchanging words with Galvin and then pull away.
Rowan kept going as he watched what was going on and I even saw him cross his fingers.
“I’m not giving up!” Vencentio shouted as he jumped off the bench and stormed over to where Carter and Marlow were sitting.
“You’ve gotta get up and try, try, try,” Rowan belted out just as Vencentio reached them. He shoved Marlow hard and then smacked him in the chest. P!nk’s “Try” was about the best option we had to help with such a volatile situation.
“I don’t have tits. None of us do and you’re going to have to deal with that and stop whatever fantasies you’ve got going on!” He shouted over the music as I saw Baptista turn down something on the speakers and they got quieter as they kept playing. “You made a commitment to us and you will keep it or I’ll bite you so hard in bad, bad places.” Then he turned to Carter and smacked him as well. “And you need to leave the past alone.
“I won’t ever be Sampson and I’m sorry you had some perfect Omega you let get away but enough is enough. I’m the one you’re mated to.” Vencentio gave a strangled sob as he turned and pulled down his shorts to reveal his ass. “I’m early on our six months but I got this done before the trip because I promised I would and I love you.” Then he pulled them back up and spun around. “Now love me! Love Galvin and I enough to stop this shit.”
“I do,” Marlow choked out as he grabbed Vencentio and pulled him into his arms, ignoring that the Omega was hitting him. “I’m sorry. It’s not about tits or who has a dick but the person themselves and I love you three. I just needed time.”
“Time for what?” Galvin asked as Vencentio stopped fighting.
“I saw a woman last month and I mean she was hot,” Marlow explained as he hugged Vencentio for comfort. “And so what, right? I checked her out and laughed because her boobs were so obviously fake. Then it hit me that I’d never see a pair of breasts again. It never registered with me before.”
“You mated three men almost six months ago and month five you realize you’ll never be with another woman?” Vencentio asked as he leaned back and stared at Marlow as if he was nuts. “You smoking something?”
“No,” Marlow chuckled, shaking his head. “We’ve always got something going on. There’s not a lot of me time to think. We jumped into this so fast and then we’ve been fixing the house and helping the pack, and helping other packs, and fixing what we can and lending resources and—”
“Yeah, it’s been a lot,” Galvin agreed. “I’ve been exhausted for months.”
“Yeah,” Marlow said quietly and then shrugged. “And it hit me like a month ago and I freaked like oh my god huge kind of revelation. So yeah, I’ve been checking out women but not in the way you think. This notion has been in the back of my mind and when a hot woman walks by and I think, Do I really miss that over the great life I have with three loving men?”
“What’s your answer?” Vencentio asked nervously.
“No, I don’t. It’s not about who has what plumbing. I love you three. But yes I will keep checking hot women out and you need to deal with that. Just because they have boobs and you don’t doesn’t make anything wrong with what I’m doing,” Marlow answered firmly. “I saw you checking out the guards after they shifted back and were naked. You’re allowed to look but you jump on me because it’s a woman and not a man.”
Vencentio nodded. “You’re right, okay. But you’ve been looking at women weird and I thought it was something different than what you just said. I can deal with this and I’m glad we discussed it.”
“Me too,” Carter and Galvin agreed.
“And Carter doesn’t want Sampson,” Marlow said gently as he rubbed Vencentio’s back. “It’s guilt.”
“How did you know?” Carter whispered as his eyes darted from his men to Sampson, who looked like he was ready to melt into the sand.
“Because it’s who you are,” Marlow chuckled. “You have a big heart and it eats at you that Sampson was the one abused and while you were both in shitty situations, you found happiness first and the one who was worse off is still alone and you worry about him.”
“Yeah, I’m sorry,” he mumbled and then sighed as Sampson’s eyes filled with tears and the Omega ran away. “Shit.”
“You don’t have any reason to be sorry,” Vencentio said quietly. “What you feel is understandable and
good of you. I just kept seeing Sampson in your thoughts and I freaked. I thought you missed him.”
“No, I just want him to be happy,” Carter replied sadly as he looked at where Sampson was running away.
“I’ll get him,” Slate said smoothly as he jumped off the table.
“No, it’s all good. I got this,” Calver, one of the other guards, replied and started jogging. “You don’t even like him, right?”
“You asshole,” he growled and shoved the man. “I said I got this.”
“You guys have fun fighting,” Gareth chuckled as he ran past them. “I’m more than glad to comfort the very hot, very sweet single man.”
“Fuck,” Slate and Calver snarled before turning and running after him. Nice. Gareth would probably be faster since he was one of the Alpha candidates staying with Tristan.
“I’d say Sampson is going to be very, very happy soon,” Vencentio chuckled as he waved good-bye to the guys going after Sampson as if they were paying attention.
“We good then?” Carter asked as he moved closer. He smiled when Vencentio nodded.
“Then can we see the tat again?” Marlow growled as he stood and threw his mate over his shoulder. “I want to see my name on this hot little ass.”
“Take me into the jungle and ravage me,” Vencentio moaned. I threw back my head and laughed. There was hardly a jungle but there was lots of untamed foliage so whatever he wanted to call it, I guess.
“One down,” Hugo mumbled as I turned and bumped fists with him. “Was that your pick?”
“Nope, the next one is.”
* * * *
Cameron
“Please let this work. This has to work,” I whispered as the music started for the next song. Tristan moved his hand to my shoulder and squeezed as we all sat on the picnic table and prayed our friends could get through this. I smiled when Rowan did a cool move with the microphone stand and pointed to Edric, giving him the crooked finger to come closer. His mate did, sauntering slowly.
