Overhead, Ozzie cawed loudly, and it sounded like belly laughs.
“Shut up, Ozzie,” Bel snapped.
Lifting his hand to his eyes, he rubbed them, partially hoping that when he lowered his hand again, he’d be looking at normal, everyday wolves. This had to be some weird dream. He’d obviously fallen asleep in his lab yet again.
But he blinked, and the men were still in front of him. Luckily the cats had wandered off when he’d lost control of them during his shock. They gave the impression that the humans weren’t worth the drama they were creating and had left to find food.
“We should take this to my house, where it’s warm,” Bel announced.
And where things in his life still made sense.
3
Bel stepped into his house and was greeted by the sound of his cell phone ringing. He cursed under his breath and hurried to where he’d left it on a small table in the hall. As usual, he’d forgotten the damn thing while getting ready for his trek into the woods to speak to the wolves.
No, to speak to the werewolves.
Wyatt and River had shifted back into wolves and departed to grab their clothes from wherever they were hidden. They were coming to Bel’s house so they could properly discuss Wyatt’s cryptic comments. Why would anyone want to kill them? That just seemed illogical.
Grabbing his phone, he winced to see his twin’s name. Now that he knew it was Rafe, he could feel his brother’s growing worry. Wyatt and River had occupied his thoughts so completely that he’d become oblivious to everything else. He’d thought such a thing wasn’t possible when it came to his brothers.
“H-hello,” Bel said when he answered the call, praying Rafe didn’t hear anything untoward in his tone.
“Bel! There you are! What the fuck is going on? I’ve been calling for the past twenty minutes!”
Bel’s shoulders slumped, and he walked farther into the house. The heat was already thawing out his limbs and removing the bitter bite. Cradling the phone between his shoulder and ear, he struggled to pull off his coat and hang it up while still listening to his brother’s panicked rant. He sat in a chair and started to remove his shoes. “Sorry. I went for a walk in the woods. I thought it would help clear my head.”
“Clear your head? What’s wrong? Do I need to come over there?”
“What? No! No, I swear, everything is fine,” Bel quickly said and then cringed. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. He needed to get a grip, or Rafe would be over there bossing him around, whether he wished it or not.
Sadly, part of him did wish his twin would appear and help clear up this mess. Rafe was a bit like a wrecking crew, knocking down and blowing up anything that got in his way. Definitely not subtle or cautious. But he was good at cutting through all the noise and nonsense. Details that too often tripped Bel up in life.
This time, though, he didn’t want Rafe’s heavy hand when it came to the wolves. It wasn’t so much that this was Bel’s mess—there was just something about them…and he wanted to handle it. And well, of course he also wanted to take this opportunity to learn more about werewolves. He had other experiments he was in the middle of running in his unending search for a cure to vampirism.
Yet that problem had confounded him for well over a century, and he didn’t feel any closer to a solution. Maybe this break to study the shapeshifters would give him new inspiration for his other problem.
Or maybe there was something in their DNA. It definitely deserved some study if they allowed it.
“Everything is fine, Rafe,” Bel said, his voice calm and even again. “I just needed a break from my work.”
“Yes, but you felt…” Rafe paused and made a noise of frustration in the back of his throat. “I don’t really know. Strange. Surprised. Scared.”
“It was nothing. I was lost in thought and was surprised by some bobcats.”
The line went silent, and Bel dropped the second shoe he’d worked off. He waited with bated breath for Rafe to speak. He hated lying to his brother, but Rafe would not be logical about Bel talking to the same wolves who had attacked him. He couldn’t be involved in this bit of insanity yet. Not until he had at least a chance to talk to Wyatt and River some more.
There was no way Bel was accepting responsibility for them as…as…their master or whatever they were looking for. It was a full-time job just looking after himself and his brothers.
“You’re sure?”
“Everything is fine,” Bel repeated.
“I just worry that I’ve been neglecting you.”
Bel chuckled and relaxed in the chair, his sock-covered feet stretched out in front of him. “I’m not neglected, my overprotective brother. I’ve been preoccupied with my work, and you’ve been preoccupied with your new…what should I call him? Boyfriend? Lover? Soul mate? Husband?”