Finally, with my panthers at my heels, we reached the familiar clearing and the cottage. The yard, such as it was, was filled with panthers. My brother’s pack sat in a tight group, each turned toward us as if they were a welcoming committee.
“Better get in the house, son,” Pops called from the open front door. “I think the cats have some business to attend to.”
With a quick pat on Sebastian’s head, I left him with his clan. I was pissed at him, but I needed him to know I still cared what happened to him, and since we were surrounded by shifters, I wasn’t going to whisper words of affection that would carry to their fuzzy ears.
As I neared the steps of the cabin, I noticed my brother off to the side, his green eyes fixed on me. I stopped in front of him, dropping to my knees and placing my hands in the fur around his neck. We held each other’s gazes for a full minute before I stood. I glanced up to see Pops shake his head at me, but figured I was a little old to be grounded for my actions. Looking back down at Bryce, I winked then reached back and socked him in his furry fucking muzzle.
“Guess we’ll talk later,” I called to him as I climbed the steps and walked past Pops into the house.
“You boys are going to be the death of me,” Pops grumbled as he closed the door behind us.
Chapter Five
“So, Pops, how’s tricks?” I asked, walking into the kitchen and grabbing a beer from a cooler. It was warm, but it was booze, so that was okay with me. “Your grandson can’t even be bothered to run into town to get you ice?”
“Don’t need ice,” he growled back. “Bastard got electricity installed while I was out of town two weeks ago. There’s a goddamned refrigerator on the back porch.”
“No shit?” I put back the warm can and went outside to get a cold one. “You want one?”
He grunted in reply, which I took to mean yes, so I grabbed two bottles before going back inside and sitting at the table. Pops joined me, and we drank in silence for a few minutes.
“You okay, boy?” Pops asked finally.
“Fucking spectacular,” I answered, raising my bottle in salute to him. “You?”
“From what Bryce has told me, you’ve had a pretty rough year.” He glanced toward the door before glaring back at me. “You want to tell me what that was all about?
“Not really,” I said.. “I’m not exactly in the mood to discuss my feelings or my love life at the moment. My brother and my lover are out in the woods with a metric ton of lunar insanity pressing down on them, and I’ll be lucky to get them both back without injury.” I left out that I’d prefer any and all violence against them to come from me.
“They’ll be okay,” he said, with a shrug. “The locals knew they were coming. Hell, there are packs from all over the place up here right now. The cops have had a hell of a time keeping the tourists out. Shifters have been camping out for a month now. It’s like Woodstock for big cats. You don’t have to worry about your family.”
“All I do is worry about them,” I admitted.
“Yeah.” He sighed. “You’ve got a hell of a mess on your hands with those two.”
“I love them,” I said.
“I know. I mean, Bryce has told me that. Maybe, if you’d come up once in a while, I’d have heard it directly from you instead of secondhand. You’ve asked this fella to marry you?”
“Yes, and apparently, so has Bryce.”
I swigged the last of my beer then went to get another one. The sun had fully set, and when I looked up into the sky, I was momentarily transfixed at the sight of the moon. It was larger than I’d ever seen it. I couldn’t imagine what it would be like full and red the next night.
“It’s pretty spectacular,” Pops said from behind me. “Never seen anything like it. And tomorrow should be a hell of a show. With the blood moon, the eclipse, and they’re saying there might be an Aurora Borealis show to boot. Glad I got to live long enough to witness it.”
“How will that affect the cats?” I asked, unable to keep concern out of my voice.
“They’ll be fine, Cole,” he assured me. “No one’s going to get violent. Frisky, maybe, but they shouldn’t hurt anyone.”
“What have you guys been doing out here for the last two months?” I asked, trying to change the subject.
“Building a rocket to Jupiter,” he answered sarcastically. “What the hell do you think we’ve been doing? We’ve been talking. For weeks. About you and that boyfriend of yours and that fucked up dynamic you’ve had going on down there.”
“Bryce is an asshole,” I said.
“Well…yeah. I suppose he is. But I know he didn’t intend to poach Sebastian. That’s why he left.” Pops started lighting oil lamps around the kitchen. Apparently, old habits died hard, since I saw electric lights strewn around the place and in corners that had stood empty for decades.
“No, he left because he’s a coward,” I retorted.
“He left because he cares too much about you.”
I snorted. Sure.
“It’s true,” Pops said softly. “I’ve tried not to interfere. I stay up here, out of the way and keep my mouth shut. You boys don’t visit for years, and that’s fine. I like my quiet. But Bryce showed up here in a right state two months ago, ranting and raving about you and Sebastian and being a were-panther. It was all I could do not to haul my ass down there and smack you upside the head.”
“Me! He’s the one—”
“Quiet,” he interrupted. “I’m not saying he’s in the right. I’m saying he’s
