“Smells even better on this side. Besides, I can hear your belly growling. Get your ass on in here, or I’ll eat it all. I’ll have to blame you for my spare tire.” He patted his stomach as he spoke.
Thadd swung his leg over the bike, snorting at Hollis. “Sure, that’s gonna happen.” Not! Hollis may be older by who knows how many years since shifters aged differently than humans, but the male didn’t have an ounce of fat on him.
“You two quit yapping and get in here,” Annie hollered.
The alpha turned back toward the interior of the house, disappearing from Thadd’s view. Hollis was a man of few words, but when he spoke, they were important. He took a deep breath, loving the fresh air of the open land around them. He didn’t know where his journey was going to take him but trusted in his visions. When he’d left Kenya all those years ago, he’d been fifteen, barely old enough to be considered a man in human years or shifters. Although he’d been over six-feet tall and larger than most humans, he was nowhere near ready to run the Pride, especially the one he’d been born into. Not that they had wanted him once his mother had given birth to the next true King as the bastard had called his younger brother. His hands clenched into fists, iron claws threatening to break free. Thadd beat back the anger and pain of betrayal. They’d called his mother a Malaya, a whore, while dragging her to the middle of their village. No matter what she’d done, he couldn’t stand by and watch her be beat while the bastard he’d called father stood by, holding his son Yaro, Thadd’s half-brother.
Before his thoughts could turn dark, he climbed the steps to the back of the house and gave two hard knocks on the screen door. “Are y’all nekkid?” he asked.
A feminine snort was his answer from the sweet Annie. A low growl was his warning from Hollis.
“Alright, but I’m just telling ya, if you’re in the all-natural, I’m still gonna eat. Seeing two elderly shifters in their natural states don’t affect my appetite none,” he teased.
“I think we know this, Thaddeus. Come on in before Hollis has a fit.” Annie pointed a spatula at him. “You behave, son. Do you want blueberry pancakes or plain?” she asked, flipping something over in one skillet, moving to flip another over in the next.
“Ahh, decisions. I’ll take a few of each. Can’t be discriminating since I don’t wanna be hurting any feelings. Ya know I’m sweet like that.” He bent, pecked Annie’s cheek as he passed, ignoring Hollis’s growl as he did.
“Son, you’re truly walking a thin rope this mornin’.”
“Calm down, Hollis. You know that gorgeous female only has eyes for you. Besides, she’s the only one on the planet who can put up with your snarly ass. Us in the Crew made a pact we wouldn’t mess with that years ago.” He pulled out a chair from the corner, keeping his back from an open window. Old habits die hard. Not that a shifter couldn’t come through a wall, but at least he’d have to make a whole hell of a lot of noise doing so.
“Eat up first. You can talk after,” Annie said, placing a huge platter in the middle of the table.
Thaddeus had learned early on you didn’t mess with Annie and her cooking. She had a routine, which didn’t include the males helping, or like she stated, messing shit up in her space. Afterward it was their turn to clean. He was real good at cleaning. “Thank you, ma’am. This looks amazing.” He waited for Annie to take a seat and fill her and Hollis’s plate before he grabbed a few of his own.
“You’re such a well-mannered young man, Thadd. One day you’ll make a very good mate. Go ahead, dig in.” She pointed her fork toward the bottle of syrup. “Can you pass me that one?”
After giving her the syrup she wanted, he got down to shoveling the best homemade pancakes he’d ever had the pleasure of eating down his throat. The sound of forks scraping across porcelain was all that was heard for several long minutes until finally he sat back with a sigh, looking up to see Hollis staring back at him. “You know why I’m here?” he asked.
Hollis nodded. “I figured this day would be coming. You planning on coming back?”
A sniff had him looking toward Annie. “I’m not sure. I hope so, but—I can’t say, Alpha.” He only called Hollis by that title when shit was serious. Shit didn’t get more serious than him leaving and possibly not coming back. He’d only packed enough for a few days, but when he’d left Kenya, he’d only taken a backpack with a few things. That had been over fifteen years ago. It didn’t surprise him that the date of his departure from Kenya was on his fifteenth birthday. Maybe it was a fifteen year itch. It had taken him a good five years of traveling and yes, fighting to stay alive until he’d found himself in America on Texas soil. The twenty year old version of himself was a lot different than the fifteen year old who’d killed a dozen grown warriors to save his mother.
“If you need the Crew we’ll be there, no questions asked. You call, and we’ll come.” Hollis stared at him. The bright blue eyes of his wolf unblinking.
It was that look that reminded Thadd why the older man had never been scared of the beast within Thadd. Not that he could take what lived inside of Thadd. He didn’t know if any shifters could, but Hollis was an alpha to his core, holding his title among the mixed Crew of shifters like the leader he was meant to be.
“I know and appreciate all you’ve done for me. I’m not leaving with the intent to never come back. It’s just”—he sighed, running his
