“Come on now, boy, you sit and drink this.” Mr. Goldhirsh had entered this family a few years ago when he’d fallen in love with Luke’s aunt. They were an odd couple, but there was no doubting the love they shared.
“Everything will work out, Luke.” Mr. Goldhirsh nudged him into a seat beside Joe and handed him a mug of coffee. Aunt Jess placed a plate of cake before him.
“You go on and eat now. You need to keep up your strength.”
“We have to go and get him,” Luke said.
“Yes, we do, but we also need to check what’s the deal with the father or any other relations that may be in the area. Chief Blake is having Sheriff Dans do that now,” Joe said.
Luke nodded.
“Are you all right?” He felt his eldest brother’s hand wrap around his forearm.
“Feeling no different from you and Jack.”
“You always take things harder, so don’t give us that shit. We’re angry, hurting, and wanting to know if she mistreated him like us,” Jack said. “You always hurt deeper than us.”
“No, I don’t,” Luke denied. “And that makes no sense.”
“Bro, you’re not actually serious right now.” Joe had said the words, but his entire family was looking at him.
“What?” Luke felt his shoulders hunching to his ears.
“You worried for years that all this would be taken away from you,” Jack added. “So anything that may endanger what you have worries you.”
“Shut up,” Luke muttered. Because every word they spoke was true. He could be a hardass like his brothers when required, and even deal out an ass kicking, also if required, but yes, they were right, he took things harder. Things like his people being hurt. If they left Ryker even briefly, he was always uneasy, no matter how much he told himself he wasn’t.
“The point here is, bro,”—Joe was looking at him—“that we are your brothers, and these people are your family.” He swept a hand around the room. Everyone was looking at him solemnly. “We’re sticking, and whatever this is, we’ll deal with it.”
“He’s our brother,” Luke whispered. What rode him the hardest about the news that there was another Trainer in the world was that his brother had been living and he hadn’t known.
“And we’ll deal with that too.”
Luke nodded. “We have to go to him. If he’s suffered, we need to bring him here.”
His family were all nodding.
“Luke.” Bailey said his name as she reached out a hand, which he took. “We’ll do this together, okay?”
He nodded, his throat feeling thick.
“We got you, little bro.” Joe wrapped an arm around him and hugged.
They sat like that, in silence. But he felt the love and support. Nothing would destroy what they had. They would not let that happen. He would never be alone again; there were too many people at his back now.
“I’m okay. Just angry,” Luke said.
“Yeah, I hear you,” Jack replied.
“It’s six hours to drive to Lyntacky. Quinn offered to fly us,” Luke said.
Jack whistled. “Still can’t believe we didn’t know what she was doing? I mean, she’s serving her country as a fighter pilot—”
“We know what Quinn is doing, bud.” Luke found a smile as he looked at his brother.
“I can’t believe her mother didn’t tell me,” Aunt Jess said. “That woman and her constant yammering about her son, and all the time her daughter was a fighter pilot. Mind you, that’s on me too. I forgot about Quinn because Shelly never mentioned her.”
“It’s not cool,” Pip said. “It doesn’t matter what she does, her mom should be proud of her.”