Page 21 of Monster

“She’s beautiful,” Pablo whispered before turning to look at him. “You have her eyes.And her smile.”

Pablo’s words made his lips twitch, the desire to smile trying to force its way through his gloom.

“But you look like a carbon copy of your father,” Pablo said.“You could almost be twins.”

Bull glanced at the pictures.He’d never seen a strong resemblance—at least, not one as strong as Pablo seemed to see.

“Is there a party in here I wasn’t invited to?” Jericho leaned in the doorway.

“Bull’s taking a trip down memory lane,” Pablo answered.“You need to see pictures of his father. When he was clean shaven, they could’ve been twins.”

Jericho sauntered into the room and looked at the photos. “Damn… that is a striking resemblance.” He sat on the floor behind Bull and moved in close, looking at the photos over Bull’s shoulder.“But I’m glad you regrew that grizzled beard.I like you shaggy much better.”

“Really? I liked the clean shaven version,” Pablo said.“Not that I don’t like the beard, too.”

“I think I fell for the beard before the man,” Jericho said with a chuckle before pressing a kiss to Bull’s hairy cheek.

It was then that he realized the two men had moved in close, wrapping their bodies around him.

Protecting him.

Bull was protector… and he stiffened slightly as he sensed the balance shifting between them. He swallowed tightly, overwhelmed by the love they shared, their desire to be there in his moment of need.

Instead of fighting, he relaxed, too exhausted to battle against both men when all they wanted to do was love him.

His chest ached at the realization.

“So, what’s the reason for the trip down memory lane?” Jericho asked softly, his lips against Bull’s ear.

“The creature…” Bull’s throat tightened up and he couldn’t find the next word.

“The one in the cage?” Jericho asked. “The one who smells like you?”

Bull turned his head to the side and met Jericho’s even stare.

“You didn’t say anything,” Bull said.

“I wasn’t sure what it meant… but I wondered if it might not be…” Jericho paused, frowning. The words hung in the air between them, left unsaid. “And then I thought… why else would Deacon drag a caged beast for miles and miles if there wasn’t a damned good reason?”

“Your father?” Pablo asked, his eyes wide. “You’ve found him?”

“We’re not sure,” Bull said, relieved he didn’t have to say the words Pablo had saved him from. “He’s in bad shape. The serum isn’t working for him… so he’s still in beast mode and hasn’t shifted into his human side. I came to remind myself what he looked like.It’s been too long since I looked through these pictures.” Bull grabbed the t-shirt from the locker.“This was his. I slept with it as a kid. Wore it as a nightshirt when I was big enough. It made it feel like my father was close.” He drew it to his nose and inhaled. “And now I barely smell him anymore.”

“Killian and Finn will find answers. Those two consistently save the day,” Jericho said. “We have much to be grateful to them about.”

Bull nodded, leaning into the caress of Jericho’s hand on his arm. Had it not been for the doctors, he and Pablo would’ve lost their third.

“Are they working on a new serum?” Pablo asked.

Bull shook his head. “I don’t know… I need to go talk to them about… the creature.” He paused, unable to call the male anything but. “Deacon has a plan to use one of the new dragons to help him. To get into his head and possibly find a way out.”

“You trust new shifters to dig into his mind?” Jericho asked. “That’s dangerous territory.”

“Deacon trusts them.That’s good enough for me,” Bull said, turning the page in the album.

“Then that’s good enough for me, too,” Jericho whispered.“But I assume you plan to be there when it happens?”

“Oh yeah,” Bull answered. “Of course. He’s slated to start in the morning.”

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