Page 53 of Briggs
Todd sat on the end of John’s bed and started fussing with folding the sweatpants that were in a pile. “They’re here, and it’s great, but it is intimidating. Have you seen the created dragon?” John’s eyes were impossibly huge. “He looks like he could snap you in half if he wanted.”
I did laugh now. After a few moments of laughter, I calmed and did my best to explain to John about Alpha Sergei. “Yes, he absolutely could snap us into pieces if he wanted. His dragon side is the largest one I’ve ever seen. There are several dragons here at the council, and some are rather large as well, but none are quite as big as Alpha Sergei.”
“He’s super nice,” Todd added. John looked at his brother like he had two heads or something. “What? He is. Intimidating? Yes. All of them are. Especially Master Edison, who is also incredibly nice. But he has magical powers that can’t bematched, and he absolutely could make all of us disappear with only a thought.”
I blinked at Todd a few times because he was absolutely right, but Master Edison would never do that. He only wanted to help us and others and had been doing so since he was first created. He’d lived a very long life and, in the beginning, a lonely one from what I understood. I didn’t know the full story, nor would I ever. It wasn’t something that we needed to know, just as with the rest of the created ones.
They’d all lived immensely long and often difficult lives. Now, they were here, doing what they could to get things under control. Sadly, for too long, the paranormal community didn’t have any type of guidance or rules in place to keep power-hungry alphas in check. It was a long process, but we were finally getting there. Now, if only we could find all of those that were still missing.
“Did you want to get pizzas for supper?” I asked, hoping to change the subject away from the created ones and onto something more enjoyable. “You do like pizza, right, John?”
John’s eyes widened. “What teenage shifter doesn’t? I would love pizza, as long as Todd wants that. I know pregnant people have cravings, so I don’t want to interfere with anything that he might be wanting.”
Todd rubbed his stomach again as he stood from where he’d been sitting at the end of the bed. “Trust me, pizza is great,” he said. “Anytime I don’t have to cook, I’m all for it.” Todd sighed, and when I looked into our bond, I discovered that he was becoming quite worn down. That was a bit concerning since it was still early, not even lunchtime yet.
“How about we all go to the council and have lunch? Or we could go down to Timber Valley and hit a drive-thru? I know Todd loves this one particular burger joint.” I didn’t want my mate cooking, nor did I want him exerting his energy more thanhe already had. He’d said he’d not done a whole lot, and it was most likely that just the excitement of the day was wearing on him. That and the fact that we’d not gotten a whole lot of rest this weekend.
“Yum,” Todd said as he crossed to me. “I’m all for burgers and fries.”
I held out my arms, and when Todd walked right into them, I pulled him close to me. I kissed the top of his head before I leaned my cheek against his messy hair. “Are you feeling all right?” I asked quietly.
“Yeah. I think I’ll take a nap after lunch though. Maybe you and John can go for a longer run then?” Todd looked up at me. “Seriously, I’ll be fine sleeping the afternoon away while the two of you go for a run. I’m perfectly safe here at the house, so why not?”
I looked over Todd’s head toward John, who shrugged but then nodded. “I mean, I’m not going to say no. I just want to shift and stretch my legs a bit. We can still stay near the house if that will make you and your wolf feel better.”
Todd rolled his eyes. “I seriously will be sleeping. I can sleep on the couch if that will make you feel better, but our bed is so much more comfortable,” Todd said. “I’m going to go get my shoes. You two can figure out the logistics of going for your run after we eat. But pregnant man here. With twins,” Todd said. He looked directly up at me. “Feed me and your babies.”
I chuckled. “Yes, sweetheart. Anything you want.”
Todd did a little shimmy as he left John’s room. When he was out of sight, I turned back to my brother-in-law. “You can do whatever you want with the room. Within reason, of course,” I told him. “Feel free to decorate it however you wish.”
“Thanks,” John said. “And thanks for letting me move in. I know Todd tried before, and he wasn’t in a good place yet.”
I nodded. “On some levels, he’s still recovering.”
“I understand that.” John tossed a shirt back onto the bed. “I won’t be a burden. I don’t want to cause more trouble for my brother. I’ll help out, and I can spend all of my time here in my room and stay out of the way.”
I gave John a confused look. “Why would you feel that you would need to do that? I have no issue whatsoever with you being here with us. If I did, I wouldn’t have invited you to move in. I will have an issue if you make more work for my mate though. His energy is only going to lessen as the pregnancy progresses, so all I ask is that you don’t make extra work for him, and help out every so often when you can.”
John nodded. “I’ll definitely help my brother. I’m not sure if he remembers or not, but when we were sent to Robert’s place, Todd used to do all he could to protect us. I wish I’d been older, but even then, I was only ten, and I was still small for my age.” John sighed. “Not that I’m big now.” He looked at me with a worried look. “Are some alphas just smaller?”
I chuckled. “Some, yes. But you still have some growing to do. In a year or two, you’re going to hit your biggest growth spurt, and that’s when you’ll put on all of that alpha height and muscle.” I placed my hand on John’s shoulder and hoped that I was being encouraging enough. John was still a couple of inches shorter than Todd, but that would change soon enough.
“That’s a relief,” John said as he looked up at me. “I want to be an enforcer someday. Do you think they’ll accept me?”
I smiled down at him. “I don’t see why not. There is a program that they have in the shifter school, but you’ll need to be a bit older to get into it,” I told him. “It’s for those just like you that are interested in joining the enforcers. It’s run by the council, and Aleric is the one you would need to talk to about it.”
Todd reappeared in the doorway. “Talk about what?” he asked, looking from me to his brother before bringing his gaze back to me.
“I want to be an enforcer,” John said. He shrugged. “I want to help others like they helped us. And I really don’t have the funds to go to college. Not that I’m ready for that anyway.” John sighed. “I have to meet with tutors three days a week after school. You remember that, right?”
“I do. It’s not going to be an issue,” Todd said. “Briggs and I both work until around five.” Todd looked stressed. “I’ll help with your schoolwork as much as I can, but I should probably consider going back to school myself.”
“What? Why? You’re an adult. Why would you want to go back to school now that you’re out?”
Todd tilted his head and blinked at his brother. I could feel Todd’s discomfort and hurt through our bond. I knew John didn’t do it on purpose, but my mate had been hurt, and neither I nor my wolf liked that.
“John, I never got to go to school,” Todd said. “Our mother’s amount of homeschooling wasn’t the greatest, and I was pulled away from all of that completely when I was fifteen. Do you realize I was locked in a cage for three years?”
