“Ruger!” I turn at the shout of my name and find my little brothers heading my way. Atlas and Arlo greet me with beaming smiles and big bear hugs. I squeeze the shit out of them right back and marvel at how much bigger they look since I saw them a few weeks ago. At twenty, they’re both hitting the last of their shifter growth spurts, and I wonder if they might take my title as the burliest in the family.
I’m caught up in small talk for a minute and lose sight of Noah as the twins catch me up on their classes at the community college two towns over. They’re both getting certifications as mechanics but would rather tell me about a claw ball tournament they were in than class. As much as I want to share their excitement, I find myself scanning the crowd, looking for a pair of blue-green eyes and gorgeous dark brown hair.
I spot Noah on my second pass. She’s no longer next to Ellery and his folks, who are finishing up cooking the food. The hair on the back of my neck rises slowly as I find her near the drink table, holding a beer and wearing a sour expression as Kyson leans in next to her.
I’m going to kill him. Did he not get the message loud and clear earlier?
Pressing my lips together, I leave the twins and beeline for them, ready to throttle him—consequences be damned.
“A vet tech? Ohh, I might need you to play doctor and give me a checkup later—” Kyson’s statement is dripping with sexual overtones, and it takes everything in me not to drown him in the bowl full of melted ice holding the beer bottles.
I close the distance, my steps mimicking my nephew Jayden’s and going full-on charging bull. But a wink from Noah as she glances over at me makes me slow down.
“Oh, I’m very good at what I do. I’m confident I could diagnose you right now,” she tells Kyson, her tone saucy and smooth, and I find myself wanting to lap it up and make her promise to only ever use it on me—I suppose Ellery and Perth can get in on it too, and maybe Gannon if he can stop getting in his own way.
“Is that right?” Kyson asks as he leans a little closer. I fist my hands to keep myself from punching through his back and ripping out his spine.
Noah laughs, but the edgy tinkle in it is forced and zero humor reaches her eyes. “I see it all the time, there’s absolutely nothing to be ashamed of,” she assures my brother. “That whole scooting your ass across the carpet thing is normal. Usually, it’s an anal sac issue. It happens when you’re full of shit,” she informs him casually as she takes a sip of her beer.
I bite back a chuckle as she tries not to grimace at the tart brew my Uncle Pete is notorious for making.
“Research shows that toxic jealousy can be a factor too, but confirming that usually requires a blood draw,” Noah continues. “Either way, I strongly recommend getting those bad boys expressed. That and some stain remover for the drag marks on the carpet, and you’re all set. Never let an asshole get you down, Kelvin.”
Kyson’s smile falters and then falls right off his face as her insult sinks in, searing him syllable by syllable. Before he can fully process the burn or even correct his name, Noah turns to me and strides closer. Those beautiful, intelligent eyes of hers turn a pleading look on me, one I could never hope to resist.
“Take me somewhere quiet for a minute?” she asks in a hushed undertone.
All I can do is nod, because I’m caught between awe over what I just witnessed and apprehension over the fact that she wants me to sneak her away.
Is this a good sign or a bad one?
I weave through the crowd with Noah on my heels, literally. She grabs onto the back of my shirt, holding it with a tight fist, and I consider the consequences of never washing this shirt again. Any time someone tries to approach us, I give a general brush-off like, “We’ll be right back. I just promised to show Noah something” or “Sorry, taking Noah on a quick tour before dinner starts.”
I offer her my hand as we go down the deck steps toward the lake, but she doesn’t take it, instead skipping down the steps herself, as lithe and spry as a fairy. Trying not to read into her refusal, I show her the wide path that meanders through the Arcans’ land. We walk along it side by side in silence for a few minutes. The muffled sounds of conversations and my nieces and nephews—who have never spoken at a decibel that wasn’t a shout—reach us despite the distance.
Tree trunks fold in around us until we’re mixed into the forest, stirred with dull green light and engulfed in the clean scent of the surrounding pines.
Finally, Noah lets out a huge sigh of relief. “Thank you. I needed this.” She cringes at how those words come out. “They’re all nice, don’t get me wrong—well, except for your one brother. It’s just…intense.”
I laugh and tuck my hands in my pockets to keep from reaching for her. “I get it. My family is a lot to handle even for me,” I sympathize.
She glances up at me, curious. “So, what’s with the mucus-mouthed sleazeball?”
“Kyson?”
“That’s the name. I forgot it already.”
I press my lips together to smother a grin at the fact that she seems just about as enchanted by Kyson as I am. That squashes a bit of the worry that’s been eating at me, though there are still a thousand other reasons Noah might still make a run for it.
Reaching out to push aside a tree branch that’s grown low into the path, I seek the words to explain exactly what made my brother into the ass he is today. The problem is, I’m not entirely sure.
“He’s always been kind of a douche to me. We have the same biological father. I guess he liked being the center of his attention before I came and changed things. All of our dads were always involved though, so I don’t know what the issue really was. He and Charles used to pick on me a lot. Back then, I always thought it was stupid older brother shit. Charles grew out of it, but Kyson never has. His teenage years were the worst. He was friends with Ellery’s brother, Easton. After he died, Kyson got, like, a shithead hall pass. Everyone said it was grief, but really Kyson is just a dick. It’s probably the only thing he’s good at.”
My throat grows tight at the accidental slip about Easton. It’s not exactly my story to tell, but it’s so much a part of the issues with Kyson I didn’t even think to censor myself. Noah nods as a humorless smile tilts the corners of her mouth.
“I know the type,” she tells me, and I relax a little when she doesn’t dig into the part of the story that really belongs to Ellery. “I had a foster brother who had that dickish talent too. Used to constantly be in either the principal’s office or the back of a police car.”
“Yep, that sounds about right,” I agree. “Do you still keep in touch?”
“Hell no. I don’t have a clue what happened to him. And I have every intention of keeping it that way.”
I give an understanding chuckle. “I wish I had no clue what was going on in Kyson’s life most days. But in this town, there’s no running from it. I swear everyone in Howling Rapids knows the color of your underwear the minute you bend over too far.”
Her giggle is absolutely adorable. “You’re exaggerating.”
“I wish. Ellery’s staff are some of the worst. I went to see him one time. Apparently, I flashed a little too much of my orange boxer briefs and had everyone there calling me Orange Crush for about two years after.”