Resilience (20 page)

If Adam hadn’t passed out, Todd thought he might have. As it was, one of them needed to stay conscious to figure out what the hell was going on. Todd wasn’t having any luck doing so. He’d dived after Adam and, yeah… Adam hadn’t hit the floor but it had been a near thing and…

“What the fuck?” exploded out of his mouth before Todd could think to keep it in. His heart was pounding so hard he fully expected to die any second from it. He held Adam tighter and the damned wolf— Gabe, oh hell, how? —“Stop licking him!” Todd smacked the wolf smartly on the nose.

The thing yelped and looked at him with wounded eyes. “Well, screw that,” Todd

snapped, knowing he wasn’t making any sense. “You have no fucking right to look at me like your feelings are hurt!”

And there it was, along with the shock, a crushing wave of pain because his friend was something other and Todd hadn’t known. Whether or not he could have handled knowing

didn’t matter, did it? Because he damn well knew now!

Todd jerked back when Gabe-wolf nosed at him. He looked around at Mika, and Aidan

and Zane, and it clicked then. This was the secret, what they’d been hiding. It was the reason for the weird feeling he got around Gabe and Mika sometimes.

“When?” he asked, zeroing in on Mika. It had to be since Mika had come along. Now that Todd knew to look for it, he could feel the power of the supernatural coming from Mika…and everyone else in the room except for him and Adam.

Mika sighed, of all things, and looked regretful. “Almost a year ago. He’s my mate, Todd. I don’t know how to explain it to you—”

“I’ve read books,” Todd muttered, cheeks burning with the admission. He refused to be embarrassed over it, much. Not when all this weird stuff was happening.

Mika blinked and seemed at a loss for words. Adam coughed and groaned and opened his eyes a little bit. “Todd? I thought—oh fuck!”

Adam sat up so fast his head smacked Todd’s chin. Todd rocked back and landed on

his ass. Since he hadn’t let go of Adam, he brought Adam with him, and in seconds Todd was on the floor with his lover sprawled on top of him. Between Adam’s elbows and hands, Todd thought he might end up with some fractured ribs, but Adam wasn’t about to let

anyone else help him up.

“Get back,” he snapped, and Todd saw a very naked Gabe shrink back. Todd felt bad

and started to speak but Adam cut him off. “Oh, get that look off your face. You’re naked and your junk is flopping, and I don’t want my eye put out with that…fucking baseball bat.”

Todd had to admit Gabe was rather…large. He helped Adam up while Gabe darted off,

one hand kind of cupping his cock and the other splayed over his ass.

“He really needs both hands for his dick,” Aidan said.

“Mika is big—er,” Zane blushed furiously and started shaking his head. “Sorry! Uh, I’ll just… I’ll just go…hide—”

“I don’t think so,” Aidan growled, but he didn’t really sound mad. Not at Zane at least.

“We have to sit down, all of us, and hash this out.” Aidan turned his commanding gaze on Todd and Adam. “I am going to have to trust that Gabe’s faith in you two wasn’t misplaced.”

As hurt as Todd was, and as freaked out, he could kind of understand. Well, not really.

He’d never, ever do anything to put his friends at risk, so yeah. But was it fair of him to be a jerk in return without hearing Gabe’s side of it? No.

Todd looked over to find Adam studying him, patience and love shining in his brown

eyes. It eased the ache in his heart and settled the freak-out he was barely containing, seeing that look. Todd knew Adam was waiting for him, willing to go with whatever Todd decided.

Then Adam smiled, just a hint of a smile, really, and Todd held out his hand to him.

Gabe came back into the room, covered up almost completely despite the warm weather. He was wearing socks, jeans, and a long-sleeved shirt, as if trying to keep as much of himself hidden away—probably for his sake, Todd realised. And he saw in Gabe’s eyes a look similar to Adam’s, on a different level, though. This one silently promised friendship and

acceptance, and the sorrow tingeing Gabe’s expression was almost tangible.

Todd stood up and felt even better when Adam nestled up to his side. He nodded at

Gabe, even though he was speaking to Aidan, he supposed. “Gabe’s trust wasn’t misplaced at all.” Then he couldn’t hold back a snort. “He just scared the hell out of me.”

“No shit,” Adam seconded. “Jerk.”

Gabe blinked rapidly but tears slipped from the corners of his eyes. He sobbed and

threw himself towards Todd.

“Umph!” Todd’s ribs were definitely going to hurt. He managed to catch Gabe and

keep them upright for the enthusiastic hug.

“I’m so sorry I didn’t tell you, so sorry,” Gabe muttered around sobs. “I didn’t know how, and it’s just so much to deal with. It wasn’t that I didn’t trust you.” Gabe lifted his head and reached for Adam with one arm. “Or you, because I know Todd is your world, like Mika is mine. But maybe…” Gabe sniffled and rubbed his nose on his sleeve.

Adam grimaced and patted his hand. “I don’t want that on me.” He gestured with his

chin to the slimy patch of material. “Nothing personal.”

Gabe’s crying turned to laughter in a heartbeat. Mika came over and hooked an arm

around his shoulders. “Come here, babe. Let’s go sit either in the living room or at the table.

We have a lot to discuss.”

“The living room,” Gabe croaked. “That’s where all our important talks take place.”

Then he beamed at Todd. “Oh my God! There’s so many things I can tell you now. Well, I mean, I could have told you before but I was—can we just skip that whole part?”

Todd knew two things—Gabe had always been there for him, even when Todd had

tried to hide, and Gabe was one of the kindest, most decent people he knew despite the man’s snark. And he therefore knew Gabe hadn’t ever deliberately meant to hurt him.

“Yeah,” Todd said, smiling bigger than he had all night. “We can do that.”

Adam half expected to find out he’d eaten some bad—or very good, depending on the

outcome of the night—mushrooms. Seriously, there were werewolves in the world! Shifters, rather, since the term werewolves made the…shifters…snarl. Who would have ever thought supernatural beings would be so damned sensitive? Adam shook his head and tried to

concentrate on the conversation.

The thing was, it was all over the place. Gabe wanted to talk about everything that had happened since he’d met Mika, apparently. Adam didn’t want to be rude, but, for one thing, he really, really wanted to get Todd alone to discuss all this weirdness.

And, secondly, he’d been waiting for someone to fill him in about what all this had to do with Jameson. Were they saying Jameson was like them now—like Gabe and Mika and

the others? Adam frowned. Would Jameson not have felt he could trust Adam with

something like that? The idea hurt like a bitch, considering Gabe was confiding in Todd and him. Surely Jameson would have known Adam would never betray him?

“Gabe,” Aidan interrupted, his tone carrying a commanding note that snapped Adam

right out of his chaotic thoughts. “I think maybe y’all should catch up on the past few years later. It’ll take more than one night, and Adam is putting off enough anxiety to make my hair stand on end.”

Gabe didn’t argue, surprisingly, or maybe not. He wasn’t a bad guy at all, just

enthusiastic. “Yeah, you’re right.” Gabe turned an apologetic look to Adam. “I’m sorry. I’m being a selfish ass.”

“It’s—” Adam stopped, not ready to lie and say it was fine, because he needed time to process every damn thing before he knew what was fine and what wasn’t. He cocked his head at Aidan. “So your brother is some big deal with shifters in the US, and he heard rumours about, or possibly about, Jameson?”

Aidan leant back and tapped his fingers on his thick thighs. “The North American

continent. And, yeah, Marcus is definitely a big deal, not that he’d tell you so. But you’d know it the second he stepped in the room.”

“Cuz Nathan would shout it out,” Gabe muttered. Mika snickered and Zane coughed.

Aidan’s lips twitched but he didn’t show any other signs of amusement.

“Nathan is Marcus’ mate, and, yes, he probably would. But Jameson isn’t a common

name, and something rang a bell when Gabe was talking about the timing of his

disappearance, the move to Europe… Well. Marcus is only the Alpha Anax of the North

American continent, like I said. The European leadership has been in a state of chaos for years. There were rumours the Alpha Anax there had returned with a mate from the US, only to have been ambushed before he ever made it to his pack lands.”

Adam pressed a hand to his stomach, pushing at the cold knot of fear balled up there.

Todd slipped his arms around Adam, holding him as much as he could on the couch. “And you think it was Jameson…”

Aidan nodded, his expression blank. “We do. Todd forwarded a picture to Gabe, who

sent it to me, and—he fits the description.” Then Aidan sat up, and Adam saw that he had been trying to conceal a spark of hope, as if he’d been afraid to give Adam hope in return.

But it was there, in the eagerness of his movements and the lightening of his features. “The thing is, no one found bodies, ever. There was blood and—” Aidan shook his head. “No one can go by that. Shifters are hard to kill, and, if the traitors trying to take over had killed the Alpha Anax, they’d have been waving his head all over the place. But they couldn’t prove he was dead, and his supporters fought back and it’s just been a constant state of war ever since.”

Adam’s mind was spinning so rapidly he couldn’t think. Aidan opened his mouth up

and Adam flapped a hand at him. “No. Just tell me, what did you mean there’s rumours of them being spotted?”

“Just that.” Aidan shrugged. “It could be wishful thinking, or it could be truth. We don’t know. Much like most nations, us shifters rule our own packs. We don’t interfere with what happens in other countries. Although maybe we should. There’s likely a lot we could learn from each other and—”

“Can we go home?” Adam asked Todd. He couldn’t handle any more of this tonight.

He felt even more raw and aching over his friend than he had before he’d learned any of this stuff. They could be wrong. It might not be Jameson at all. Except the picture fits—but that’s according to someone I don’t know, someone who doesn’t know Jameson.

Then why are they risking themselves to tell you this? God damn it, Adam hated it when his brain tossed logic at him.

Todd must have said yes, because the next thing Adam knew, Todd was guiding him to

the front door. The timid way Gabe approached him for a hug made Adam feel like puréed shit. His eyes burned with unshed tears and his emotions were all over the place, but he couldn’t stand to see Gabe be so much less than his usual effusive self.

“We’re good,” Adam said gruffly, opening his arms to his friend. Gabe’s sniffle as he flung himself at Adam wrenched his heart. Then the wrench turned into a sturdy bolt of pain. If Gabe was this torn up from holding back his secret, this laden with guilt and grief, what must Jameson be going through if he was indeed the man Aidan was speaking of?

Todd was worried, not surprising considering everything that had been revealed last

night. Adam was withdrawn, although he didn’t seem to be angry—not with him, anyways.

Todd was sure there was some anger, and a lot of hurt feelings and worry that Adam was trying to deal with. God knew Todd was still having issues, but, the reality was, Gabe meant too much to him to just toss aside. It’d have taken a bigger secret than him not being completely…or only?…human for Todd to cut off ties with him.

In fact, Todd couldn’t think of anything that would dissolve their friendship, short of Gabe somehow hurting Adam, intentionally, cruelly. But Gabe would never do anything like that, and Todd knew it. So, he would deal with his hurt feelings and, yes, his dented pride.

He could get over himself, as the saying went.

Adam, however, was facing a different set of problems, different pains. Todd wanted

nothing more than to hold him and protect him, but last night they’d both been so

emotionally exhausted they’d barely spoken of the events at Gabe’s. And, this morning, Todd’s plans to talk at least for a little while got shot to hell thanks to one of his deputies calling in sick. He still might have been able to work around that, but there’d been an emergency for Adam at the clinic, with Miss Jemma having swallowed another penny. The poor Maltese had a copper allergy, and Todd knew from Adam’s grim expression, as he’d run out of the door, it was not a good prognosis for the dog. Sadly, he’d been right. Adam had texted him an hour ago to let him know Miss Jemma had passed away. Todd had been directing traffic after a roll-over at the one main light in town. Luckily no one had been seriously hurt, but there’d been plenty of screaming and accusations being flung around there at first. It’d been a real mess and he’d only now got the chance to check his messages.

“Manny, I’m going to lunch,” he told Deputy Martinez. The young man had proved to be Todd’s best employee. “I’ll be at the clinic if you need me.”

Manny nodded and put a hand over his eyes to shield them from the sun. “I got it covered, Sheriff. You go enjoy your break.”

Todd grunted his thanks and walked up the street. The clinic was less than five minutes away on foot, and anyway his vehicle was blocked in at the ice house parking lot. He’d get it later.

He wasn’t in the best frame of mind, and he was feeling an almost desperate nagging

sensation to get to Adam. Todd sped up as much as he could without outright jogging—no need to give everyone in town something more to gossip about.

The sidewalk had a smattering of people on it today, unsurprising considering it was lunchtime. Todd waved at one of his acquaintances then gasped as he stubbed the toe of his boot on the sidewalk. The concrete was uneven and cracked badly in spots, and he usually paid more attention to where he walked but he’d been distracted.