Page 30 of War Games

“Landon’s afraid he’s going to die if anything happens and… I misjudged just how much that was going to affect him.” Heath’s happiness over Dirk running off to see Landon faded. “He’s never dealt with this before, and it’s been brewing, but I didn’t realize how quickly.”

“There’s nothing to do now except let them figure it out, huh?”

“Yeah. Please make sure Dirk talks about it at some point. It doesn’t have to be today, but before you two are back. I know there’s a lot for you to focus on, but…”

“I know. I’ll approach him about it at some point.” I wasn’t worried about doing that. I’d do anything for these boys, even though something was making me a little anxious about it.

I’m not using them to distract myself. He needs to talk about what happened, and we’ll be on the road together.

“When do you two drive out?”

“In an hour,” I answered. “It’s a good thing you and Landon arrived. We would have waited, but we would have left quickly if you hadn’t gotten here.”

“You can text or call me for anything, even that.”

“I wasn’t going to interrupt what you and Landon needed to do,” I said, shaking my head. I put my coffee down and went to him, wrapping my arms around his waist. “And it seems he really needed his father.”

“He needed someone to lean on and tell him it was going to be okay,” Heath said, wrapping his arms around me in return.

“And he’ll listen to you saying it before he’ll listen to any of us.” I kissed his cheek, smiling.

We stayed there for a minute, leaning into each other’s embrace, enjoying the quiet until Heath stepped away.

“It’s not over. Landon will stay here with me and Carey all week on the couch. I need to keep an eye on his mental state. He’s clearly not allowed to keep Dirk from leaving, and the separation will be good for them. I don’t want him alone in their home. That will only remind him Dirk is missing when I’m not there to check on him.”

“Is it that bad?” I knew it was bad but hadn’t thought it would be that bad.

“He ordered Dirk not to move, that he couldn’t leave, then collapsed in the hallway, breaking down. He was stuck between the fear of Dirk leaving and hating himself for doing that. I talked to him and got him into bed. He woke up with a clearer head, and we spoke more over breakfast and coffee. I just want to keep an eye on him.”

“Damn. Okay. Carey will give him someone to focus on, too.”

“Exactly,” Heath said, small lines forming by his eyes as he smiled. “And Carey is also independent like Dirk…”

“Oh, good, and she’s willing to fight more with her older brother. I like this.” I chuckled. “And more fragile, being a human.”

“Oh, yes. Plus, I reminded him this morning that neither of us has spent much time with her like we used to because we’ve all been busy, and she deserves time with her brother, too…”

“Wow, going full guilt trip, huh?” I pulled away from him, shaking my head in mock disgust.

“It works.” Heath’s smile turned to a more mischievous smirk.

“Think they’re done talking?” I asked him, looking at the door. They were both still in the security building. I narrowed my eyes, thinking about the two men in that building. “They had better only be talking in there.”

“I’ll check,” Heath said quickly, clearing his throat. I followed behind him, and right on cue, both of them left the security building. Dirk was looking a little rumpled, and Landon was adjusting the collar of his shirt.

I stood on the porch with narrowed eyes as Dirk turned a little red, seeing me there. Landon sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck and put his head down when he and Heath made eye contact.

“Hope you two had a good chat. Dirk, load up your truck with our stuff for the trip. We’ll take it over mine.”

“Okay.” Dirk jumped into action as Landon chuckled. Heath pointed to the training area they had set up for Landon to get over there instead of standing there like a fool, and it was right on time. Werewolves were already on the way, and Landon needed to seem like he was in trouble for missing Friday’s and Saturday’s mandatory training. Plus, if they were okay enough to make out in my security building, then Dirk and I were good to leave.

Once the truck was loaded, I kissed Heath goodbye, but Landon rejected a hug.

“I was an ass to you the other day,” Landon said, shaking his head. “I don’t?—”

I gave him a hug anyway, holding him until he relented.

“I’ve got him,” I promised the wolf.

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