Ben knew he was going to have a battle to fight with Abe when it came to claiming their mate. He had hoped to get Danny home before everything blew up. Too bad someone had already lit the match before they even arrived.
Ben rounded the corner down the street from the O’Shay home and knew that the bus he spotted sitting on the side of the road was the most likely place to find Danny. The man didn’t own a car. Ben and Abe had offered to buy him one but Charles O’Shay insisted that Danny didn’t want one. He preferred to ride the bus. Ben was beginning to doubt that statement along with a lot of others he had heard come out of Charles’s mouth over the years.
Charles O’Shay was turning out to be an even bigger jackass than Ben had originally thought, and that was simply amazing because he was pretty sure the man was the biggest jackass in history.
Ben dug into his pocket for enough change to buy a bus ticket and then paid for his fare. He took the one-hour bus pass the driver held out to him and started walking through the bus. It wasn’t hard to spot Danny. He was about halfway back, slouched down in his seat with his face turned toward the window, his jacket pulled up close around his neck.
Ben’s lips twitched when he realized that Danny was trying to hide from him. The man had no idea that Ben could probably track him clear across the state just by his sweet scent alone.
He gave Danny a pointed look to let the man know he saw him and then moved to the set of seats just across the aisle from him. There were only a few people on the bus so Ben felt safe in stretching his legs out along the seat, his back resting against the side of the bus.
The position gave him a clear view of his prey.
Ben found a joyous satisfaction in studying Danny’s profile. Even bundled up in a thick winter coat, Danny was still a stunning man. And the dark-green material brought out the natural green in Danny’s eyes.
Danny’s head turned so minutely that a normal person might not have noticed. Ben noticed everything about the gorgeous man. Eyes as dark as tree moss and as mysterious as the deep forest peeked up at him through a fall of reddish-brown hair.
Ben winked.
Danny’s eyes rounded and his head swung away so fast Ben worried the man might have hurt his neck. A deep flush spread up from Danny’s jacket to encompass his entire face.
It was the most adorable thing Ben had ever witnessed.
The bus ride back to town took almost an hour, mostly due to frequent stops to pick up and drop off passengers. Not a word left Ben’s mouth the entire time. He just sat there and watched Danny, never looking away.
He could have continued to do that for hours but, all too soon in his estimation, the bus stopped and Danny grabbed his bags and got up. When Danny walked toward the door, Ben stood and followed him. Danny stiffened when Ben grabbed the safety bar right next to him. Ben was hovering and he knew it, but Danny was standing in a moving vehicle. He wanted to be there in case anything happened.
Abe was right. The man needed a keeper.
Ben followed Danny off the bus when it came to a stop. He hung back a little when Danny started striding quickly down the sidewalk. There could be no doubt that Danny knew he was there and knew he was being followed. The man kept glancing over his shoulder.
Danny walked around a corner and disappeared from sight for less than five seconds. Ben hurried to catch up but as he rounded the corner, he realized he hadn’t caught up fast enough.
Danny was sitting on the ground, his bags out around him and the heel of the palm on his uninjured hand in his mouth.
“Danny?” He rushed forward and dropped to one knee, quickly running his hands over Danny’s body, looking for anything broken.
A soft giggle froze him in place.
“That tickles.” Danny’s extraordinary green eyes lightened a little, ringed with flecks of gold.
“Does it?” Ben asked.
Danny’s cheeks were rosy red when he nodded.
Ben’s voice lowered, losing its steely edge. “Do you hurt anywhere, Danny?”
“My butt.”
Nope, not gonna say it
. Ben clamped his lips closed, refusing to volunteer to rub it better. Danny’s words were a heady invitation Ben didn’t think the man could deliver at this time and point.
Danny’s eyes came up to study Ben’s. “Why are you following me?”
“That’s going to take more explanation than I am comfortable giving out here on the street, Danny.” Ben pushed himself to his feet and held out his hand. “Could we discuss it in your apartment?”
Danny tilted his head back and stared up at Ben for so long, he started to drop his hand until the man reached out and grabbed it. Ben carefully pulled Danny to his feet, looking the man up and down for any injuries he might have missed.
“Is he coming, too?”
Ben already knew who Danny was referring to without even looking. “He’s my brother, Danny. This situation involves him as well as you and me.”
“What situation?” Danny lifted his chin and met Ben’s eyes straight on. “Can you at least tell me that much?”
“Charles has been lying to you for a very long time, Danny.”
Danny snorted and turned, reaching for his bags. “Tell me something I don’t know.”
“He’s not your father.”
“Yep, I kinda got that, too.”
Danny was on the edge of rolling his eyes. Ben could see it. He knew he needed to put a stop to the direction this conversation was headed, and he needed to do it fast.
“Charles O’Shay was supposed to see that you received the best education and care while you grew up. He was never supposed to tell you that he was your father.”
Danny paused, frowning. “You know, I don’t think he ever really did.” A bitterness that should never be there crept into Danny’s voice. “Of course, he never dissuaded me when I called him father either, so that might be just as bad.”
“You really spent all of these years believing that Charles O’Shay was your father?”
Ben wasn’t a fan of the resignation and anger that floated into Danny’s eyes. “Look, I don’t know how close you are to him, but in all honestly, I spent all of these years wishing that anyone but Charles O’Shay was my father.”
“He’s not,” Ben argued, hoping to placate Danny in some manner. “I knew your—”
“You knew my father?” Danny’s green eyes overflowed with eagerness. Ben could have shot himself in the foot for bringing Danny’s fathers up, especially since the man didn’t even know about them. He had some major explaining to do.
“I did,” Ben replied slowly, cautiously watching Danny’s reaction. “There was this incident down by the lake—”
Danny nodded. “Your brother said there was some sort of attack and several people were killed including one of your parents.” Danny’s forehead wrinkled, his eyes shining a little brighter as if tears swam in them. “I’m sorry.”
Danny had a kind heart.
That was good and bad. A kind heart meant that Danny was giving and understanding, a gentle soul. It also meant he would need to be protected from the harsher things in life. There were those out there—like Charles O’Shay—who would try to take advantage of Danny. It was Ben and Abe’s duty to protect Danny from people like that.
Ben grabbed Danny’s bags and picked them up. “Would it bother you if I carried your bags for you?”
“No, I guess not.”
Ben looped the straps of the bags over his shoulder and pressed his hand into the small of Danny’s back, gently pushing him toward his apartment building. He grimaced as he finally paid attention to the neighborhood they were walking through. This was not where he would have chosen for Danny to live. It wasn’t the bad side of the tracks but it certainly had a front window view.
“As part of caring for you,” he said, “Charles was required to send monthly reports to us as to how you were doing. I’m thinking he lied on those reports.”
“I don’t understand that,” Danny said. “Why would anyone pay Charles to take care of me?”
“When your parents died, Charles decided that you would be safer raised in the city. Abe and I weren’t very happy about it but we understood it was in your best interests.”
“If he isn’t my father, what right did he have to make that kind of decision about my life?”
“Your father was Charles’s younger brother. In his will, Charles and his wife were named your legal guardians if anything happened to your parents. When they died, Charles was grieving the loss of his wife and deiced that he wanted to raise his children in the city, away from the violence of what had happened. He took you with him.”
Ben clenched his hands as he remembered the pain and loneliness he had felt over the years at being separated from Danny. “Charles wouldn’t allow us to see you until you were twenty five.”
Danny’s head snapped up so fast the man tripped over his own feet and lost his balance. Ben’s heart skyrocketed into his throat as he reached out and wrapped his arms around Danny’s waist, pulling the man up flush against his body.
“Sweet jesus, Danny.” Ben closed his eyes for a moment, savoring the fact that Danny stood in the protective circle of his arms, unharmed. “I’m starting to see why you need to visit the emergency room so often.”
Ben felt more than heard Danny’s soft giggle against his shirt front. “Told you.”
Ben opened his eyes and turned when he heard the screech of tires on the street next to him. Abe had pulled up and was climbing out of the truck, his face pale with worry.
“Is he okay?”
“He’s fine, Abe,” Ben hurried to assure his brother. “He tripped.”
Abe rubbed his hand down his face as he slumped back against the truck. “I’m too old for this shit.”
“You’d better get used to it.” Ben drew in a deep breath as he stared down into Danny’s alluring green eyes. “This is the man fate chose for us.”
Abe was going out of his mind. The need to take Danny into his arms and ensure that the man was healthy and unharmed for himself was overpowering. It ate at him until he could barely think of anything else. And yet he had to satisfy himself with just looking from a distance.
Danny was afraid of him.
For a moment, Abe wished that he was anyone else but who he was, except that would mean he wasn’t Ben’s twin or Danny’s mate. That was just about as unacceptable as scaring Danny.
Abe’s soul was in turmoil, his insides twisting and knotting. He was a hard man. He knew that. Ben knew that. Now, Danny knew that. And Abe didn’t know how to bridge the gap forming between them.
He was who he was. His personality had been formed many years ago in the face of a tragedy that rocked everyone he knew. Abe doubted he could change his closed off personality even if he wanted to, and he wasn’t yet ready to admit he wanted to.
Danny scared him. The man, as gorgeous as he looked, was delicate in comparison to most of the people Abe knew, including Ben and himself. Danny was human. Abe and Ben weren’t. They could tear a man limb from limb, track someone through twenty miles of harsh terrain, and fight a man twice their size.
Danny tripped over his own two feet.
If it wasn’t for the fact that they both had to claim Danny, and he was so ready to do that that he ached, Abe would have stepped aside and let Ben have Danny. It wasn’t that he didn’t want Danny, because he did—so much so that his stomach clenched every time he even thought about holding the man in his arms. He just didn’t think that Danny deserved to be saddled with a hard man like him.
“How about we drop your stuff off at your apartment and get some lunch?” Ben asked.
Abe knew his brother was trying to lighten the mood. He just didn’t think he could sit through lunch and keep his mouth shut or his hands to himself. It was even harder watching Danny smile up at Ben when Danny had run from him.
“I think I’m going to sit this one out,” Abe said as he turned and climbed back into the truck. “I have a few things to track down for people back home. Call me when you’re done.”
“Abe.” Ben knew he was avoiding him and Danny. The knowledge was clear in Ben’s amber eyes, eyes that were the mirror image of his own.
Abe shook his head and shut the door. Ben’s disapproving gaze held him spellbound until he started the truck and then drove away from the sidewalk, back into traffic. His foot was a little heavy on the gas pedal as he drove away, but the need to get away from the perfect picture Ben and Danny presented was so strong that tears sprang to Abe’s eyes.
He pounded his hand on the steering wheel as he tried to take back control of his raging emotions. He hadn’t cried since his father Isaac died all those years ago. He wasn’t going to start now, no matter how much his chest ached.
Abe drove around until he found a park. While there were a couple of small things he was supposed to pick up that weren’t available in their remote town, he really didn’t feel like running all over the city right at the moment.
Abe parked the truck and climbed out, shoving his hands into his pockets as he started down the path that led further into the park. He lifted his nose into the air, enjoying the scent of fresh air that always seemed to surrounded wooded areas, even in the heart of a large city.
Pacific Cove was small, less than three thousand people lived in the entire town and the surrounding twenty miles in any direction. The small town sat on a bay facing west to the Pacific Ocean. The north, south, and east side of the area was bordered by national forest for over a hundred miles. The roads in and out of the area were long and curvy. They were far enough away from the big city that anyone visiting there needed to rent a motel room for the night unless they wanted to drive for hours.