Page 61 of Homecoming

“Darius?”Zak chokes on his burger. “What the fuck? How the hell does that even compute? No, you’re right, I don’t understand. How the fuck can Darius have a pup?”

“Shhh…Zak, will you shut the hell up? We can’t let anyone know that.”

“What… But if he is, then—”

“Zak, if she really is his, then do you know how rare that makes her? I mean, she’s rarer thanfindin’Yeti cum in the snow and that means…”

“… someone might come after her.”

“Exactly. Zak, we have to keep a lid on this. Keep it in-house. No one outside of the team can know, at least not until we know for sure what we’redealin’with.”

“Okay, fine. I get it and my lips are zippered. So... do you wanna go say hi to Rosie and her new guy? Only… Amy has a lot of her girl friends over there. How do I look?”

“You look great—a complete stud mountain,” Digby laughs. “Alright, what the hell?C’mon, let’s go.”

“Okay,soIthinkeveryone’s been introduced now.” Riley smiles. “Oh, Digby… Zak… this is my mom and dad—Alana and Matthew.”

“Hey there,” Digby raises a hand as he continues to stare at Rhys, his phone pressed tight against his ear as he paces back and forward in front of them.

“No… no, I don’t know why the hell they didn’t show up…. Okay, I’m sorry for that, but I don’t see how the fuck this is my fault… No, I don’t know of anyone else off the top of my head. Listen here asshole, I’m at a party right now, and your problems are not my problems.” Rhys places a hand against the phone and smiles. “Sorry, I won’t be a minute—I just need to deal with thisasshat.” He quickly returns to the voice, yelling at the other end of the call. “Okay, so I tell you what. Youcan continue all you want to rant but I’m going to end this call now... Yeah, I know I recommended them… Yeah… Yeah, I get that, but… Okay, I’ll try to find you someone else. Yeah, sure… yeah, I get it. Alright, shut the fuck up I'm done with is now... I’m going… Goodbye Darius!” Rhys ends the callandtaking abreathstaresat the phone with a deepening growl. “Youfuckin’… asswipingfuckin’fucker! Who the fuck does he think he is,talkin’to me like that? You know what Klaus, I should go up to that house right now and put a silver fuckin' cap in his ass.”

“Uh Boss…” Klaus coughs as he gestures to the people staring, aghast.

“Oh… Oh, I’m so sorry,” Rhys apologetically smiles. “Yeah, it’s just Darius—he’s a little upset right now. I recommended an architect, and the asshole never showed up. Now Darius is more pissed than he needs to be. I guess I'll have to find him another goddamn architect to shut him up.” Rhys sighs loudly as he rubs at his head. “Klaus, go fetch me a drink. And no more of that cheap champagne, I mean, a proper drink. You have got whiskey, right?”

“Uh…Rhys… you know I have an architect friend who’s moving to the city as we speak. His name is Donovan, and he’s...actually,he’s my half-brother. He's relocating here to set up his own firm. I know he’s not started any contracts yet, but I can show you some of the previous projects he’s worked on. Trust me, he’s really good and I certainly know he’d be reliable. Might even do family rates.” Tyler coughs nervously. “Not that I think of us as family, but you know what I mean.”

“And you can get this brother of yours here this week?”

“Yeah, I could call him right now and set something up. I’m sure he’ll be available. I know he’s supposed to be moving into his new office, but that shouldn’t be a problem.”

“Okay, call him. The sooner I stop Darius from dryhumpin'my ass, the better. But you better make damn sure this guy, Donovan, he doesn’t let me down or he’ll be needing to pack up that new office and you’ll be going with him. Am I clear?”

“Sure—very. Boss, I know you took a chance on me with the security gig and I swear, I won’t let you down with this. I’ll call him right now and make the arrangements.”

“Darius,willyoustopshouting at me? If you don’t, then I’m cutting off this call.” Kat sighs loudly and drags a hand through her hair as she paces with the phone pressed tight to her ear. “No, I just thought it might give you some time totry andbond with her… Okay, yeah… yeah, I realize and I said I forgot about the cat… Darius, I’m sorry.”

The yelling stops and the call cuts off. Kat rubs her head and turns to the man serving drinks behind the garden bar. “I’ll have a large vodka in there.” She holds out her glass of orange juice and the bartender pours the liquor into the glass. “And a little more,” she groans. Taking a sip, she turns around and is greeted by a plump round face smiling at her. “Oh Frank! Uh… that’s not for me, it’s for uh—”

“It’s okay honey, I won’t tell anyone.” He smiles with a warm, friendly grin. “You’ve got quite a handful there—with all those alpha wolves to keep in check. I'm sure a little vodka won't hurt anyone.” He gestures across the grass to where Digby is swinging Lukas around over his shoulder.

“Uh yeah. Yeah, sure is. You know while I have you here, I just wanted to say, I’m really sorry about your lawn. I’ll get someone to come by tomorrow and fix what Lukas did to it.”

“Oh, it’s just grass. Don’t worry, they’re all like that at that age, especially a strong alpha pup like him. You know he’s going to make a good pack leader one day, just like his daddy.”

“You really think so? That’s if he makes it that far. I swear, that boy has a death wish.”

“He’s strong, he’ll be okay. Your other one seems a little more shy. I can see he likes his books.”

“Yeah, he has a lot going on. He had a bad experience when he was little. You may have heard the gossip, that he got taken when he was newborn. I guess it’s made him a little more clingy.”

“I’m sorry, that must’ve been a really worrying time for you. It must still put you on edge even now.”

“I’m okay but you can’t imagine how awful it was when it happened. I was distraught thinking I might never see him again. I guess that;swhy I'm a little more protective of them both now.”

“That’s exactly how Mary-Lou was with Amy—still is if you ask me, I don’t think she ever got over the pain of losing our boy.”

“What?” Kat frowns. “You lost a boy pup? I’m so sorry. What happened?”

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