Page 16 of Reclaiming Home (Build-A-Pack #1)

Kye

A s I watched Rian collapse into Brodie’s arms, I felt a stab of jealousy. I could imagine what Brodie was telling him, because it was obvious in their body language they’d been missing each other like hell.

I pushed the emotion away and smiled at Ben and Max.

“Welcome home,” I told them as they approached the porch.

“Thank you,” Ben replied, smiling.

Max nodded, appearing pleased as well.

By now, based on what I’d heard from Brodie, Ben was the one who did most of the talking for the duo. Max was more reserved, but I couldn’t blame him for that. I’d heard enough of the way they’d grown up.

Carys came out of the house, grinning from ear to ear. “You guys look amazing!” she gushed and went to hug both of them.

Some of her therapy sessions had been rough, to say the least, but she was getting more comfortable around strangers when we went into town. Her hugging the brothers so easily made me feel even better about her progress. She’d never been afraid of them to begin with, but it said a lot of how our pack dynamics would be in the long run that she found them approachable from the get-go.

Ben and Max went to join Brodie and Rian’s hug, and I saw Brodie reassure both of them in a way that clearly moved them all.

When Rian didn’t seem ready to let go yet, I called the guys away from Brodie and him to give them more space. They grabbed a backpack and a duffle bag each and followed me into the house. Carys had already gone into the kitchen to start on the coffees—what else.

I realized Ben and Max had stopped moving when I reached the stairs and didn’t hear them behind me. When I glanced back, they stood in the middle of the entrance hall where they could see into the kitchen and family room through the doorways.

“A bit different, eh?” I asked gently.

Max was the first one to tear his gaze off the family room. “Uh, yeah. I… this is incredible.”

“It’s not all done, of course, but the rooms we need the most should be good for now. Come on.” I started up the stairs and this time they followed me.

“It’s incredible what you guys have accomplished in such a short time.” Ben’s tone was awed. “I don’t get it.”

“With Rian’s money and with some extra hands. And you might’ve noticed the barn was gone, too.”

“Holy shit, I didn’t even realize that,” Max blurted out, then blushed at his uncharacteristic exclamation.

“We moved your room, by the way,” I gestured at their room that had been facing the front of the house. “That side has so much more damage in the roof that we decided it would be better to have you guys on this side with the rest of us.”

They glanced at each other, doing some sort of close-as-twins thing probably.

Then Ben cleared his throat. “You gave us one room?”

Instead of telling him, I decided to show it. “Brodie and I are in the main one, then Carys in the next, then there’s the bathroom, then Rian’s room, and you guys get the bigger one here at the end.”

I pushed the door open to the room that got the most light on this side, since it was in the corner and had two windows unlike the rest. Not even the main bedroom had two.

They stepped inside, then kind of stood there, a bit stunned again.

We’d picked the warm earth tones for them based on the few decorations their tiny apartment in town had had when we went to empty it a couple of weeks ago.

There were two stuffed toys that had been well-loved, so they sat on top of the big bed by some of the pillows that had been on their old, worn-out couch. We’d saved some things, but since they’d told us most stuff was hand-me-downs and curb finds, they hadn’t wanted to keep anything when their landlord had asked if we could empty the place faster than we were originally going to.

They dropped their bags by the door and looked around for several minutes, barely moving, just turning in place. Both had tears in their eyes.

Then suddenly Max took in a breath that was half a sob, came to me and hugged me tightly.

Chuckling, I hugged him back and waited until Ben joined us. There was going to be a lot of hugging for a while, I was certain. Wolves were tactile creatures, and I had a feeling these two hadn’t had much kindness in their life lately, or maybe ever.

“It’s perfect,” Max choked out. “A-And the b-bed….”

I heard the question in his tone. “That’s your business. I thought you might want a cozy one though, so it’s all kinds of upgraded.”

The bed was not only large and had a memory foam mattress, but there were pillows and soft blankets for nesting purposes.

Max went to sit on the edge of the bed and then bounced a bit, before smiling like a little kid.

“You can’t jump on memory foam,” I told him in a teasingly scolding tone.

He let out an actual giggle, then slapped his hand over his mouth, his eyes widening.

“Thank you so much,” Ben murmured into my ear almost too quietly for me to hear.

I could tell he was moved by his brother’s demeanor.

“Hey, you guys are pack, and we love you. You deserve the best.”

Max tilted his head and looked at me with mischief in his expression. “Are you our mommy now?”

I turned to Ben and deadpanned, “Control your other half please.”

Ben snort-laughed and Max snickered.

“I’ll leave you to it. The bathroom across the hall is yours to use. Carys shares the one on this side with Rian, and Brodie and I have our own.”

“That’s great. Thank you,” Ben said again.

I slipped out of the room and went to the top of the stairs. I took in a deep breath, then walked down. It was time to officially meet Brodie’s best friend.

“The movers should get here tomorrow at some point,” Rian was saying when I made it to the living room where they’d relocated.

“Did you pack a lot of your own stuff?” Brodie asked him, then smiled sunnily when he spotted me. “Hey, baby. Come sit with us.”

I went to snuggle against his side in what I had begun to think as “our corner” of the couch. Rian was sprawled along the opposite side, doing a decent stretching cat impression.

“Not that much. I’m obviously keeping my apartment, so there was no need to empty it. Most of what I packed is yours. I basically took the handmade furniture you have and all your clothes and other things and packed those.”

“Except that end table,” Brodie said in a tone that was fond and teasing.

Rian laughed, the sound happy and relaxed, and nothing like I’d expect from the man that had stepped out of the SUV. It was as if all that negative energy that had been in him then had evaporated by finally being here and near Brodie.

“What table?” I asked, then cleared my throat. I felt awkward.

Rian grinned. “There’s this end table he made about five years ago. Driftwood he carved. Glass top. It’s gorgeous, but he’s never wanted to sell it to me.”

Brodie chuckled. “So he stole it.”

“I relocated it. There’s a difference,” Rian said haughtily, his eyes still sparkling with amusement.

He was stunning. Kind of cute instead of handsome, and it was hard to think that he was about two hundred years old. His dimples were to die for, and the easy, wide smile that made him shine.

It was hard not to feel jealous, knowing he’d been close to Brodie for years.

Carys walked into the family room with a tray of coffee and cookies. She grinned at Rian.

“It’s really weird to have someone living here who doesn’t need coffee.”

Smiling, he shrugged. “Hey, I still enjoy the taste very occasionally, but it’s not nice to be sipping at something and then spitting it out in polite company.”

“Eww….”

Vampires could technically ingest anything they wanted to, but they’d get horribly sick from anything but blood in any substantial amounts.

“That said,” she continued after her expression of disgust, and sat to my other side. “Is there anything you’d prefer us not to cook in the house?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well I read that sometimes vampires can have triggers just like humans can. If there’s a food that has a scent that might trigger you….”

He blinked at her, clearly not having thought that anyone would ask or even considered any of this as an option.

“Uh….” He thought for a while, his eyes unfocusing. Then his expression changed to one I couldn’t read, and he focused on Carys again. “Root vegetables in large quantities can be a bit tricky if I smell them suddenly.”

She got out her phone and made a note. “Got it! Anything else?”

This time, I could easily read the grief he couldn’t hide. So could Brodie. He leaned forward to grasp Rian’s ankle, the closest part of him in reach.

Giving Brodie a wavery smile, Rian said, “And Jell-O. I… if I never have to see Jell-O in my lifetime, I would be grateful.”

“No Jell-O,” Carys said in that easy tone of hers and added it to the list. “I’ll make sure to add it to the list we have on the fridge door.”

Rian swallowed hard, then frowned. “A list?”

I smiled. “We have a list of things we don’t allow in the house. Like Vodka, any drugs, liver, what else is there?”

Brodie had leaned back again and settled in with his coffee. “That one brand of coffee creamer that smelled horrible to me.”

“And Jell-O,” Carys added, smiling at Rian.

Ben peered into the room. “We having coffee?”

“Yeah, do you need help with the machine?” Carys asked.

“No, I think I can handle this!” Max called out from the kitchen.

Soon, we were having an impromptu pack meeting about nothing in particular. We planned on what we were going to do in the next few days as we had our coffees.

“Kye, can you help me with my bags?” Rian asked when Brodie was deep in discussion with his cousins about something.

Brodie’s gaze snapped to me, but I ignored him.

“Of course.” I drank the rest of my second cup of coffee and put it on the tray, then got up and followed Rian to the hallway.

We both grabbed a couple of the suitcases and started to carry them up the stairs. He could’ve carried them all alone with his supernatural strength, but this wasn’t about the luggage.

“Third room?” he asked when he got to the top of the stairs.

“Yeah.” I followed him inside.

Much like the brothers, Rian stopped in the middle of the room and took everything in.

“If you’re bringing any of your own furniture or erm, relocating any of Brodie’s, we can take anything out from here and put it in storage until the last three bedrooms are done.”

We’d chosen rich reds and dark grays for his color scheme, but we hadn’t used them in a stereotypical vampire movie fashion. The room wasn’t gloomy, instead it looked high class without needing any gold or silver highlights. The metal details were all hand forged steel.

“This is… incredible,” Rian said, doing the turning-in-a-circle thing. Then he noticed the large photo print on the wall by the door and slapped a hand over his mouth as his eyes filled with tears. “Who?”

I ducked my head. “Brodie mentioned you were from somewhere in County Mayo in Ireland so I did some googling and thought that rock formation was cool enough for a print.” I quickly added, “If it brings bad memories—”

“Oh no, not at all. It’s… gorgeous,” he breathed out the words. “It’s called Dún Briste Sea Stack,” he continued quietly, eyes locked on the photograph of a massive rock formation and a stormy sea that appeared black and white until you took in the small amounts of green coastline in the foreground to one side. “I saw it once as a boy. My mother took me there before my sister was born.”

To think that he was talking about something that had happened so long ago felt surreal to me.

“I’m glad you like it.”

Without taking his eyes off the art still, he lowered his voice even more. “I’ve never been in love with Brodie or he with me. There’s nothing to worry about. I know we seem closer than most best friends and that the BDSM muddles—”

“It doesn’t, actually,” I interjected quickly. “I’m kinky, I get that it’s not sexual for everyone.”

He turned his clever gaze to me. “It can be for me, but never with Brodie. Well, once. We tried but it’s… weird with him.” He grinned slightly.

“Not so weird for me,” I replied, smirking.

Rian seemed genuinely delighted. “Good for you, seriously. That man is a great Dom.”

“With what little we’ve done so far, I agree.” I looked at him seriously and said, “If you need him like that while you’re here, I’m not opposed. I know both of you would probably not scene because you’d be worrying about what I thought, but just know I don’t mind.”

He frowned. “’Not minding’ is different from being okay with it.”

“Well I couldn’t say I don’t care, because I do care, of course I do. But I don’t see it negatively. Besides, let’s face it, Brodie is also a service top so….”

Rian laughed. “That he is.” Then he smiled at me. “He’s the best guy I’ve ever known. I’m glad he found his mate and I’m even more glad it’s someone like you.”

He didn’t specify what he meant by that and I wouldn’t dare ask. “You set here?” I asked, gesturing around.

“Yes. This is amazing, Kye.” He hesitated for a moment, then held out his arms.

I chuckled and went to hug him. “Hey, you’re not only family, you’re pack, right? Same as the rest of us.”

“I guess. It’s just….” He sighed a little and let me go. “I wasn’t sure what you’d be like.”

“What do you mean?”

“When a wolf finds their mate, that’s it for them. Whether you were a horrible person or not, that would be it for Brodie.” His expression changed into something tighter.

“And therefore for you, because he’s your best friend,” I murmured.

“Bingo.” He relaxed again. “But you’re a good person. Brodie called you fierce and protective.”

My insides warmed hearing that assessment. “I try my best.”

“I’m not sure if I believe in fate or anything like that, because sometimes things that happen are too fucked up to feel worth any sort of end result.”

“Oh I know. I can’t really accept that what my sister went through and what Brodie had to do to end up where we have was worth it. Taking a life….” I grimaced.

Rian shook his head. “I don’t think he’s truly processed it yet. You know how vampires and werewolves are different about this stuff, right?” At my nod, he said, “But Brodie is a good man. I know he saw it as something he had to do and he would do it again, too.”

“I would as well. To protect anyone in this house? Absolutely.”

Rian chuckled. “And that’s the fierceness he was talking about.” Then he got serious. “I’ve killed, but it’s not something I even remember details of, it was so long ago. Then when it mattered the most, I couldn’t do it and….” He winced, the same grief from earlier suddenly filling his eyes.

I put a hand on his forearm and squeezed. “There’s hopefully no need for any of that anymore.”

He gave me a wavering smile. “Like you said, I would to protect the pack. To save someone.”

“Guys? We need to talk dinner!” Carys called out.

“Be right there!” I called back, then looked at Rian. “What about your dinner?”

“I’m fine for today, but I’ll check up my app for tomorrow.”

“Finding someone locally would be ideal, right?”

“Yeah. At my age, I need to feed about every two or three days. Normally the official donor apps have people spread all over the country. Don’t know about middle of nowhere Pennsylvania, though.”

“Well, we have people we know, the pack will help in a pinch, I’m sure,” I said, then added, “Probably not Carys, but….”

His nose wrinkled. “I would never even ask her. She’s been through enough and since it’s so intimate….”

“Right.” I knew he’d fed from Brodie before and wondered why exactly that made me mildly uncomfortable. “Here’s hoping the app works in your favor!” I quickly said as I turned to the door.

“I’ll start unpacking and join you guys downstairs later.”

“Okay!” I tried not to speedwalk to the stairs.

“ W ait, you have apps for finding donors?” Carys asked that night when we were all gathered on the couch that was perfectly sized for all of us with some room to spare.

“Uh-huh, it’s called DonorMatch and it’s a government approved thing,” Rian said as he cuddled under a blanket.

The chimney sweeping service couldn’t get here fast enough, we all huddled under various blankets and/or against one another.

“Are there unofficial ones?” Ben asked, his brother half-asleep against his side.

“There are, but those can be risky. They’re mostly used by sketchy people, vampires and others alike and are like hookup apps really,” Rian explained, his nose scrunching with disgust.

“Oh, right, because it can enhance, erm, hookups.” Ben nodded thoughtfully.

“On the official app, the accounts have to be verified for everyone’s safety. I checked and there are donors around, so it should all be fine.” He grinned. “Of course, the fact that the government doesn’t want it to be used as a hookup app doesn’t mean people don’t try to get around it. There’s words and phrases people use in their bios to indicate what they’re looking for.”

Laughing, Brodie asked, “So what you mean is you can tell what the town is like based on what code people are using? Like if our neighbors are more liberal and kinky than we think?”

Carys made a disturbed face. “Oh gods, don’t tell me.”

“Let’s say it’s going to be tricky to find a regular donor who is just doing it out of the goodness of their heart,” Rian said in a deadpan tone.

“Noooo…,” Carys whined, while the rest of us laughed.

T hat night, she peeked into the bedroom. I was drying my hair after a shower and Brodie was reading a book in bed.

“Hey guys? If I need to sleep next to someone, I’ve asked Rian if I can invade his privacy—”

“And I said yes!” he called out from somewhere in the direction of his room.

She giggled. “So yeah, feel free to close the bedroom door.” She turned to go, then looked over her shoulder at us. “Besides, I bought earplugs.”

I groaned.

“You better go close the door, eh?” Brodie suggested.

Yeah, I closed the door. Of course I did.