Page 46

Ziggy

“Are you okay?” Wilder shifted over on the bench, making room for Ziggy as he walked towards the table, keeping his attention away from Silas’s brothers.

“You look alright now. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you look so pale,” Isley said, eyeing him up as he sat down.

“Pale is not your color, just sayin’.” Frey leaned over and looked at the plate Ziggy had placed down. “Is that a pancake?” he looked at the counter. “I didn’t see them.”

No one gave him a chance to reply as Wilder carried on. “That was so manly of Silas, carrying you up to the house like that, not letting Booker help.”

“Booker has all the bear's strength so it would be easy for him,” Frey pointed out, looking back at Ziggy’s plate. Ziggy pushed it towards his friend and Frey beamed. Cutting the pancake down the middle, he took half. “Thanks. You’re the best.”

“Did you stay at the house?” Monty questioned, frowning when Ziggy shook his head.

They had gone back to the cabin once Ethan had shown up at the house not long after Ziggy had given in to his snake and asked if Silas was interested in mating. He was still feeling the cringe at being so obvious, but it had been that or his snake was going to take control.

He loves me.

He loves us , his snake piped up, giving Ziggy a dose of twirling snake that made him feel dizzy.

Stop that, I’ve already fainted once ‘cause of you!

That horse was going to trample us to death . His snake went for the dramatics, like the day before.

We had a fence between us and Ethan had already explained if there was a problem it wouldn’t be with the horse. You proved him right.

Ziggy wanted to remain miffed about how that had come true, only it had given him time alone with Silas, so it was hard to stay mad.

Pfft!

“Where’s Silas?” Lennon’s voice broke through his thoughts.

Ziggy waited a beat to see if anyone was going to ask him something else but when nothing came, he answered Lennon. “He got a call from Drinkwater.”

“He did?” Hollis frowned and glanced towards where Taylin was sitting, further down the table.

“Yeah, not sure what it was about, but Silas looked worried.”

He had, but he’d encouraged Ziggy out the door because his belly had let them both know it needed food.

They hadn’t finished the food because it got a little awkward.

Ethan kept giving them both knowing looks and his nose twitched repeatedly as he asked how Ziggy was doing.

It wouldn’t take a rocket scientist to scent the sex with how many times they’d done it.

To make matters worse, Ziggy was topless and sat in Silas’s lap.

Ziggy had waited for Silas to put him on the couch and come up with an excuse with everything so fresh between them.

Ziggy would have understood but instead, Silas had acted like it was a normal thing.

Ziggy hoped Silas would act the same way in front of his brothers, because he didn’t want to hide.

What happened next wasn’t something they had talked about yet, though.

“What was that?” Booker leaned back, his voice loud enough to carry over the busy bunkhouse.

The ranch was a busy place and Ziggy remained surprised by how many folks worked on it.

They were supposed to do a trek today so Silas could show the scope and size of his operation.

Ziggy’s other half was adamant he wasn’t going anywhere near the big beasts, despite what Ziggy wanted.

“Silas got a call from Drinkwater.” Hollis was the one to answer and got the full attention of the table.

Booker, Taylin and Rue rose with a clatter and hightailed it out of the bunkhouse, with Frey and Hollis giving chase.

Ethan, who stepped inside, tipped back the ball cap he wore, scratching at his forehead. He looked from the men disappearing through the open door to the rest of them. “Where’s the fire?”

“In your jeans. Clearly, anything between your thighs gets treated to a fire of explosive energy,” Jupiter drawled sexily, his smile killer.

Ethan went a shade of pink that could easily be seen under his tanned skin. Kodi laughed whereas Kari rolled his eyes at Jupiter.

“Does everything revolve around sex for you?” Laken questioned, placing his cutlery on his empty plate and pushing it away to reach for his coffee.

“Nope. But you gotta admit, Ethan knows how to ride bareback.”

The laughter coming from the men around the room brought a scowl to Ethan’s handsome features. He sauntered up to the counter, pulling his baseball cap back in place.

Intrigued, Ziggy glanced sideways at Monty. “What did I miss,” he whispered.

“A show that made everyone a little hot under the collar. The bit you saw was only the warmup. I can’t say I’ve ever fancied a cowboy, but by all that is holy, he creamed us all.”

“Eww, gross,” complained Isley.

Monty jabbed a fork at Isley. “I saw how you drooled all over the fence post and were the first to get into the paddock.”

As Monty spoke, Ziggy witnessed Laken’s expression turn grim, and he got up after his coffee cup hit the wooden table with a thump.

What was eating him?

“So? I wasn’t the only one, was I?” Isley glanced at Lennon, who smirked at them.

“When you’ve finished gossipin’, we have the stables to clean out,” Laken muttered crossly, then stomped out.

“What’s got his goat?” Ziggy asked around a forkful of pancake.

“Life,” Isley muttered and got up, his cheeky smile nowhere in sight.

“So much for team building.” Wilder’s comment got nods from Monty and Lennon.

“We need a night out. There must be a bar in town.”

“Ziggy, that’s a great idea! We can ask Cass, he’ll be able to tell us.”

Ziggy hadn’t seen Silas all morning and he worried about why. Booker and Taylin hadn’t shown up until late morning, while Ethan had them working together assisting in the stables.

Jupiter had worn a grim expression when he’d had to go into the stables to muck them out, causing everyone to give him a wide berth. Ziggy much preferred doing that than grooming the horses, which some of the others had been chosen to do before the ride out planned for the afternoon.

He was working through all the options of how to bring up the fact he wasn’t going to be able to get on a horse without making a fuss, when Silas appeared wearing a grim look that twisted Ziggy’s guts painfully.

He dropped the shovel and went to Silas, uncaring who was watching when he wanted to comfort him.

“What is it? What’s happened?” he asked quietly, reaching to take Silas’s hand before he noticed how dirty his own hands were.

Silas didn’t seem to notice as he tugged Ziggy into his chest and wrapped his arms around his waist, burying his face into Ziggy’s neck. A shudder passed through him, then another as Silas sucked in greedy breaths.

Ziggy caught Jupiter’s worried gaze over Silas’s hunched shoulder. He ran a hand up Silas’s back, noting the tension beneath. “What is it? Talk to me.”

Jupiter slipped out of the stables, leaving them alone. Seconds ticked by as they stood in the middle of the empty stall.

“The omegas in Drinkwater… a couple of them went into heat,” Silas rasped in an unrecognizable voice.

Ziggy swallowed back the bitter taste that burned the back of his throat as he calculated how long it had been since the group of abused omegas had been freed by Silas’s brothers. The math left him with a dawning understanding that the alphas had to have drugged them or… something worse.

His brain shut down at the thought they’d gotten forced against their will and had surgery to prevent them from getting pregnant. The situation in Drinkwater was barbaric enough without thinking those thoughts.

Toby had Emmy, he reassured himself, so that had to mean it was just pills. Not that giving heat blockers was good, but the alternative was too cruel to even contemplate.

“Is the hotel equipped for that? To keep them safe?”

Silas’s next shudder left Ziggy drawing conclusions that made him heave in distress.

Some hotels had special rooms to contain an omega’s scent during a heat.

Ziggy did the math of how many omegas there were in Drinkwater and with it followed a sinking feeling that the hotel they were staying in would not have enough.

Not only that, who was going to help them get through the heat?

Would they want the help of an alpha after what they’d been through? God, could it be anymore fucked up?

“They have it in hand now.” Silas’s voice was flat, emotionless. Ziggy didn’t need to see his expression to feel his despair.

“What do you need from me?”

The arms wrapped around him squeezed harder. “Just this. Just need to hold you.”

“I won’t let go, I promise.”