Ben lifted Danny up and cuddled him closer, not happy with how easy it was to lift the full grown man. Danny didn’t weigh more than a sprite. “Abe, go check Danny’s cupboards and see how much food he has. He’s skin and bones.” He had stayed in the living room while Danny made sandwiches—at Danny’s insistence—and now he was starting to wonder if that had been due to the lack of food in the apartment.
Abe nodded as he zipped up his jeans and then pulled his shirt down. He was barely gone two minutes before he came back. Ben could tell from the dark glower on his brother’s face that his suspicions about how much food Danny had in his cupboards were correct—or rather his suspicions about the lack of food.
“I’d really like to know where in the hell that money went,” he snarled. “It was supposed to be used to make life easier for Danny. It’s obvious to me that the money never even reached him.”
“You really think Charles O’Shay pocketed the money?”
“Yes.” There was no doubt in Ben’s mind that Charles embezzled the funds they had sent for Danny’s upkeep. It explained the fancy house that Charles lived in and the hovel that was Danny’s home. Proving it would be a whole hell of a lot harder.
“You know what?” Abe said as he began to pace, each step filled with agitation. His expression was tight with strain. “I don’t care if Charles keeps the money. I just want Danny.”
Ben trailed a finger down Danny’s pale face. “Me too, bro, me too.” Danny was worth way more than the money they had earned over the years and sent to Charles to take care of Danny. Granted, Ben was steamed that Charles hadn’t used the money to take care of Danny, but Danny was more important.
“Then let’s forget all of this crap with Charles and just take Danny home where he belongs.”
“Danny has to agree to go home with us first.” And Ben wasn’t positive that Danny was going to agree to that. There was so much he didn’t know. Ben didn’t know how Danny would take it, especially considering the way he had reacted when Abe shifted.
“I don’t want to live in the city, Ben.”
“I don’t either, Abe, but we’ll do what we have to do to stay close to Danny.” The man was more important than anything, including where they lived or worked. They were experienced firefighters, specializing as smoke jumpers. They could find work most anywhere. Finding a place to live where they could occasionally let their bear out would be a little harder, but they would do what they had to do for Danny.
“I have some stuff down in the truck for the kitten.” Abe wagged his thumb over his shoulder. “I’m just going to go get it before I lock up for the night.”
“Okay.”
“Let me know if Danny wakes up.”
“How long do you expect to be gone?”
“Just a few minutes but…” Abe shrugged. “Just let me know, okay?”
Ben nodded and then watched his brother walk out of the room, his shoulders slumped. He worried about his twin. Abe didn’t make connections easily. When he did, Abe put his whole heart into it. Danny had no idea that he could ask Abe to walk to the moon and the man would find a way to do it just to make Danny happy.
Ben hoped that Danny didn’t abuse that power. More importantly, Ben hoped that Danny accepted Abe, quirks and all. He wasn’t an easy man to get to know. With the exception of his two older brothers, Ben had never met a more closed-off person in his life.
On the other hand, once Abe devoted himself to someone, nothing in the world would tear him away. Ben was lucky enough to be counted in those few people Abe considered important enough to open himself up to. The members of their immediate family were held close, but even they didn’t have the same bond Ben did.
No one did, not until Danny.
Ben laid Danny back against the pillows and then pulled the navy blue microfiber comforter up to his chest. Once Danny was all tucked in, Ben stood and walked to the window. He leaned his arm against the wooden frame and pulled the thin white curtain out of the way, looking out onto the street below.
Abe was easy to pick out as he walked to their truck down the block. Besides the fact that the man stood inches above the other people on the street, there just weren’t that many people out and about. Ben figured it was about dinnertime for most. He knew his stomach was starting to rumble.
He needed to find and prepare something for Danny to eat when he woke up. Now that Danny had been placed in their protection, his care and welfare was Ben’s and Abe’s utmost concern. That included making sure the man ate. Bears were known to like a little meat on their mates and Danny was way too skinny.
Ben let the curtain fall back into place and turned away from the window. He glanced over to see if Danny was still out and then walked out of the room, pulling the door closed behind him. He had a few phone calls to make and he didn’t want Danny to hear what he had to say until he was ready to sit the man down and explain everything to him. That conversation would take more time than Ben and Abe currently had. They needed to get back home sooner rather than later.
Ben could already feel his bear clawing at his insides wanting out. His anxiety level was through the roof and his bear was agitated. Only a long run through the woods would make him feel better, and he couldn’t do that in the middle of a major city.
The first thing Ben did when he reached the other room was pull out his phone and call home. He needed a bit of advice from his elders. They were smart and experienced. He had no doubt they could tell him what he needed to do.
“Hey, Pop.”
“Ben,” Adam Lake replied. “I expected you home by now. Is there a problem?”
“More than one.” Ben felt like the weight of the world was pressing down on his shoulders but just hearing his father’s deep voice lifted some of the stress. “Charles didn’t tell Danny anything. I don’t know what’s he’s been up to these last twenty years but until today Danny thought Charles was his father.”
“The hell you say!”
Ben felt renewed sense of anger as he glanced around the small apartment Danny called home. “And I can tell you for a fact that all that money we’ve been sending to Charles for Danny’s upkeep did not get to Danny. He lives in a one-bedroom shit hole in a neighborhood even I don’t feel safe in.”
“Bring him home, son.”
“I planned on it but there’s been a hitch in that plan as well.”
“What hitch?” Adam asked.
“Like I said, Charles never told Danny anything about where he was from. Abe shifted and Danny freaked and passed out. He’s still out cold. I’m waiting for him to wake up so I can talk to him.”
“That’s not going to be an easy conversation to have, son. Do you want to wait until you get home and we can all tell him together?”
“No.” As much as he wished his father could fix this problem for him like he did when Ben was a small child, he knew that wouldn’t work this time. This was something Ben and Abe needed to do on their own. “Danny is our responsibility. Abe and I will tell him. Besides, I think he has the right to know everything before we ask him to move home with us.
“Are you sure?”
Hell, no, he wasn’t sure, but he still felt it was something he needed to do himself. Well, him and Abe. “Yes, but I might be calling for advice on how to calm a hysterical human.”
“I’m afraid I wouldn’t be a good one to ask, Benjamin. Not only is your other father calmer than I am but Isaac has been gone for a very long time. I’m not a real good authority on human mates.”
Ben swallowed the lump that had suddenly thickened in his throat. He hadn’t even thought of how this would affect his fathers when he called home. Now, he felt horrible. He knew that a day didn’t go by that they didn’t miss Isaac. Ben knew he missed his human father.
“I’m sorry, Pop. I didn’t mean to bring up bad memories.”
“There’s nothing for you to be sorry for, son. Taking a human mate is cause for celebration, not sadness. Your father adored Daniel. He died trying to save him. Even if Daniel is unsure of his bond with you and your brother, you still need to bring him home. He belongs in Pacific Cove.”
Ben wished it was that easy but he had a feeling Danny was going to fight them every inch of the way. Underneath all that fear and delicate nature was a heart of steel. Ben felt it in his bones.
“I’ll let you know what happens. In the meantime, could you look into what Charles has been doing with all that money we sent him? Danny isn’t even eating r
ight. He’s skinny as a rail. I don’t think he’s had a good meal in ages.”
Adam didn’t raise his voice but Ben could still tell that his father was pissed. Adam very rarely yelled. His voice just grew deeper and more menacing. His father’s deep voice had the ability to make Ben shake in his boots even at thirty years old
.
His father wasn’t a cruel man, just a strict one. When dealing with four sets of bear shifting cubs, he had to be.
Ben tensed and spun when he heard the front door open. He only relaxed when Abe’s large frame filled the doorway. He pointed toward the bedroom and said silently,
“Go check on Danny.”
Abe nodded as he set the cat carrier and bag of cat stuff down on the floor next to the front door. Ben watched him walk into the bedroom then turned and started searching the floor for the kitten Abe had brought back with him. He hadn’t seen the little bugger in a while.
“When do you think you’ll be headed home?” Adam asked. “Your dad is anxious to see you.”
Ben smiled as he read between the lines. Adam Lake wasn’t one to show a lot of emotion, much like Abe. But, again like Abe, he loved deeply and would do anything for his family.
“Hopefully in the next couple of days. There doesn’t seem to be a lot to pack here so that won’t take long. I just want to make sure this is what Danny wants before we take him back to Pacific Cove. I don’t ever want him to regret deciding to go home with us.”
“Wise choice, son.” Adam chuckled. “Keeping your mate happy is beneficial to a healthy life.”
Ben tried to picture Danny as a threat to his life and just couldn’t. He could hold the small human off the ground with one hand. Adam had to be talking from his experience with Ben’s other father.
Every breeding set was comprised of twin bear shifters and a single human mate that was shared by those twins. It didn’t matter what the gender of those involved was, just that there were two bears shifters and one human. Adam and Jacob Lake were twin bear shifters. Their human mate had been Isaac, who died during the massacre so many years ago. They had been without a mate ever since.
Ben and Abe were twin bear shifters and Danny their mate. They just had to convince Danny that this was a good thing and not something he needed to be afraid of.
“I need to go,” Ben said after a moment. “Danny should be waking up here pretty soon and I want to have something ready for him to eat when he does. He needs to eat a lot more than he has been.”
“I’m sure he’s getting by as best as he can under the circumstances.”
“I’m sure he is, too, but he has me and Abe now. He doesn’t need to starve himself anymore.”
“All right, son.” Adam chuckled as if amused by Ben’s stubbornness. “You take care of your mate and bring him home to us. We’ll be waiting.”
“Thanks, Pop.” Ben felt a little better as he hung up with his father, but not much. And whatever lightheartedness he had started to feel faded when he opened the cupboards and saw just how bare they were. The need to track Charles down and rip him apart piece by little piece was only outweighed by Ben’s need to care for his mate. If it wasn’t for Danny, Charles O’Shay would be nothing but a memory, a bad one. “Christ on a cracker, we need to order out.”
Abe cautiously approached the bed, watching intently for any movement from Danny. He was prepared to run back to the other room if he saw fear in Danny’s eyes again. That was something he never expected to see in his mate’s eyes and never wanted to see again.
It made his stomach churn.
Danny looked like an angel. His reddish-brown hair framed his all too pale face like a painting in a museum. His lips, while almost as pale as the rest of him, were the most luscious lips Abe had ever seen. He hoped he got to taste them.
When Danny remained sleeping, Abe slowly lowered himself to the bed and stretched his large form out alongside him. His hand hovered over Danny’s skin for a moment, the need to touch his mate riding him hard.
But he didn’t.
Abe was afraid if he touched Danny, he wouldn’t be able to stop. Despite his not knowing about it, Danny was still his mate and Abe had been waiting so long for the man to turn twenty-five so he and Ben could claim him. The anguish he felt that Danny didn’t know about them almost choked him.
It never should have been this way. Danny should have been waiting for them, cared for, cherished. Abe’s eyes fell to the cast on Danny’s arm. He gritted his teeth to keep from growling.
Danny should have been protected.
Abe laid his head down on the pillow next to Danny’s and just watched him breath. He could have stayed there for a thousand years if Danny hadn’t opened his eyes. Abe froze, afraid to move, afraid to say anything, afraid to even breathe. He didn’t want to do anything to frighten Danny again.
“Are you really a bear?” Danny whispered after the longest silence Abe had ever felt. He wasn’t moving away or demanding that Abe move away. He just laid there and stared at Abe as if trying to see the bear beneath his skin.