Page 47

Silas

He sat in front of his laptop, staring at his parents. Popi rocked Emmy in his arms as tears rolled down his cheeks.

“Popi, please don’t cry,” Silas begged, his heart trembling in his chest at Popi’s sorrow.

Silas had leaned on Ziggy after the devastating morning of back and forth calls with Oakland.

He’d spent his afternoon with Ziggy on a quad bike instead of a horse so that Ziggy could share the same experience as the others, just minus the horse.

Taylin and Booker had fielded calls with him while they worked out how to protect the terrified omegas who had gone into heat.

In all the unraveling of the legal crap, freeing the omegas and housing them together, no one had given any hard thought on how to deal with their biological needs.

They’d catered to their medical needs by hiring a team of doctors to give them the best medical treatment to heal their bodies.

They also had counselors to aid them with the psychological damage.

With Toby’s death and Emmy’s birth, there’d been some tough questions around heats.

The problem was, not all the omegas were willing to discuss it.

Oakland had made his thoughts clear on this at the time, about how it put them and the omegas at risk in a hotel where they couldn’t mitigate all the risks.

Dad and Popi had stressed that the decision had to be up to the omegas and the fallout from that decision had come today.

Four of the omegas had gone into their heat.

Three were the ones who hadn’t wished to talk about it.

One had trapped themselves in an air vent and had to be cut out, another had gone into a frenzy, resulting in him hurting not only himself but two alphas who had attempted to keep him from leaving the hotel floor.

The third they had to hospitalize because he’d cut his wrists.

His fear was so great that someone would touch him, he believed death was his only option.

Silas’s eyes ached, holding back his own tears at how the omega came to that decision.

“It’s my fault,” Popi sobbed. Dad growled, tugging him into his side, being careful of Emmy.

“It’s not. We gave those men the choice because every other fucker had taken away from them. We did what we thought was right. And the only asshole shitheads responsible for this are those who chained those omegas up and treated them like animals.”

The controlled way in which Dad spoke implied restraint, but his eyes were all wolf when he looked at the screen. “It’s contained. Now we need to figure out what comes next. Those three omegas can’t stay in the hotel.”

“What about here? They don’t want to go back to the factory, we already know that.”

Popi sniffed and wiped at his cheeks. “That’s a great idea. It’s so peaceful on the ranch and being out in all the open space, in the fresh air, would be good for them.”

Silas agreed. The ranch had been a salvation for him and for others so it could be for these omegas, too. “I’ll reach out to Oakland and get him to speak to the omegas once they’re better placed to make a decision on their future.”

“I’m sure he’ll be relieved we’ve come up with a possible solution.”

Dad wasn’t wrong. Silas had seen firsthand how fraught Oakland had gotten. The unflappable head of security looked fit to be tied, which was something Silas had thought was impossible.

“Where is everyone else?” Popi asked, squinting at the screen. “Did anyone say anything to Jup?”

Silas had stayed up at the ranch house when the others had all gone into Bayfield, looking for some entertainment.

He’d encouraged Ziggy to go into town with the others, knowing he’d be in no mood for drinking and dancing.

Bayfield had a couple of bars, but the one most popular with the ranch hands was Ranch-Down, a bar owned by Trey, who Silas liked.

Trey had worked hard to cater to the townsfolk and made the bar a place folks wanted to visit.

Silas shook his head, then had to push back his bangs when they fell over his forehead, annoying him. “Nope, I mentioned there was an issue but didn’t go into details, though you know Jup. He likely figured it’s worse than I said.”

Popi released a sigh that made Emmy fuss in his arms. “It’s fine baby girl. Great-popi didn’t mean to upset you.”

Silas chuckled at how Dad, even though he rolled his eyes at him, immediately made soothing noises, offering Emmy his thumb to suck.

“I wouldn’t let Frey see you doing that. Haven’t they broken Emmy out of the habit of sucking thumbs that aren’t her own?”

“They have and I keep forgetting, damn. Please don’t tell them I lapsed… again!” he muttered, encouraging her to suck her own thumb.

Silas’s laughter increased at how sheepish Dad looked as he eyed him, assessing if Silas was serious about spilling the beans.

Popi grinned at Silas. “How are things going with Ziggy?”

Despite the newness of the situation between them and usually being more reserved about his personal life, Silas could see how much Popi needed something positive to think about. It wasn’t because he wanted to talk about Ziggy—it wasn’t.

“I told him I loved him,” he blurted out, getting a squeal from Popi and a sharp-eyed look from Dad.

“How wonderful, Silas. My baby declared his love for his omega! Did you hear that, Derick?”

“The entire house heard you, my love,” Dad replied dryly. “I don’t think screeching is going to help Emmy fall asleep, though.”

The little girl in question hadn’t opened her eyes, though she was sucking madly on her own thumb. Popi didn’t look in the least cowed as he cooed, “So the romancing strategy worked?”

Dad choked out a laugh, which Silas pretended not to hear while he considered how to explain he’d done none of what Popi had suggested. Except for being honest, he’d done that.

“Why are you looking like that?” Popi demanded, getting closer to the screen to peer at Silas. “What have you done?”

“I…” The lie burned his tongue at how Popi held his stare, daring him to utter it. “He fainted, and I took care of him. I got Petey to make up a picnic basket.” All the truth.

“He fainted! Is he okay?” Popi gasped, paling.

Silas rushed to reassure him he was fine. “His snake isn’t keen on horses and got a little worked up when Ethan was showing off in the paddock.”

“Understandable, with him being a snake. They don’t really get on with horses, do they?”

“If you figured that out, Popi, why didn’t you think to mention it before?”

Popi’s smile widened. “Now why would I do that when you might have changed your mind about taking Ziggy to the ranch? It worked out, didn’t it, so I can’t see an issue here.”

Silas wasn’t sure whether the smugness annoyed him or amused him. It was a close call when he hadn’t considered how a snake might react to a horse. It was an easy thing to overlook when Ziggy was so big in his snake form and had chased off a bear, wasn’t it?

“Popi, you are a terror!”

He fluttered his eyelashes at Silas. “I don’t know what you mean.”

“Yes, you do,” Dad said, giving Popi a loving look that came with a thousand happy memories for Silas.

“You’re as bad, Dad.”

“What,” he blustered. “I am not.”

“You keep believin’ that!”

Hours later, stretched out on the too small bed in the cabin, waiting for Ziggy to get his ass back from the bar, Silas griped to himself about how he couldn’t use his big bed in the ranch house. Jupiter had taken up residence in the spare room next to his.

Popi had messaged Silas asking him not to question Jupiter’s decision and not to make a big deal of it.

So, he hadn’t, but Ethan had. He had no amusement about the situation.

Silas figured it was because Jupiter was more than a match for his friend and as attractive as Jupiter was, he wasn’t what Ethan picked to spar with in the bedroom.

Jupiter was also the biggest wind-up merchant there was and as Ethan was the same, he could only imagine the sparks flying when they were in close quarters.

Booker had filled him in on what had happened the day before, when he’d been with Ziggy.

It seemed Jupiter had more of an affinity with the animals than anyone had given him credit for.

Especially Ethan, who had challenged Jupiter to touch Goliath after he’d mouthed off repeatedly.

Shock of shocks, Goliath had allowed Jupiter to touch him and from all accounts, left Ethan speechless for a good half hour after.

A part of Silas would have liked to have seen that. Not that he would give up any of the precious time he’d had alone with Ziggy. Time he was missing out on right now.

Silas checked his wristwatch. “Where the hell are they?”

He flipped over onto his belly in frustration and hugged Ziggy’s pillow into his chest, sniffing the corner, smelling coconut and Ziggy’s unique scent.

His heartbeat slowed and his breathing evened out as he imagined the press of his snake against his body. It was fast becoming his favorite way to sleep, the weight of the snake pinning him to the bed. It made him feel… secure? Safe? Loved? Treasured? All of them?

He grinned into the pillow, then a thought hit.

What would happen when they returned to Hazardville?

How quick having Ziggy in his bed became habit was fucking scary.

The idea of not having him close… yeah, they needed to talk about that.

Like now! He just needed Ziggy to get his ass back here so that conversation could happen.

Go get him, his wolf encouraged. Why do we need to wait?

Out of the bed, dressed and glasses on, Silas headed out of the cabin. He made it off the porch when he heard giggles in the darkness and a voice whisper, “Shush, we don’t wanna wake up the grumps.”

Silas squinted into the darkness, trying to figure out if that was Wilder or Lennon talking.

“It would be nice if Jupiter were more grumpy and less friendly.”

That was most definitely Wilder and Silas debated how fast he could get back in the cabin to avoid being seen, but then Ziggy’s voice carried through the quiet of the night. “You weren’t complaining when he was dancin’ with us. Fuck, he’s got some moves—”

“Is that so?” Silas drawled, in the direction of where the voices were coming from, though he still couldn’t see.

There were more giggles and a squeal while he cursed not putting on a light in the cabin. The moon was shielded by clouds, giving him no chance of searching the darkness with his night blindness.

“Busted,” Ziggy muttered, not sounding upset at all as he appeared from behind the cabin next to theirs with Wilder, Lennon, and Isley in tow.

“Did you have a good time?” Silas asked when none of the men shuffling from foot to foot appeared to want to say anything.

“It was great. Cass and the guy who worked behind the bar got into it after Jupiter was wiggling all over him.”

“Wilder, stop exaggerating. Jupiter only placed his hands on Cass’s hips and that got the guy vaulting the bar and hauling Cass out of there,” Isley explained huffily.

“That’s what I said,” Wilder argued back in a voice that suggested he’d had one-to-many drinks.

Ziggy stared at Silas throughout, but he couldn’t read him. “I think y’all should hit the sack. Morning will come around quickly and there’ll be chores to be done.”

“Yeah,” Wilder muttered half-heartedly. “Lennon, you wanna share my cabin tonight?”

They walked off, Isley chasing them, asking if he could share too. As Silas walked to Ziggy, he noted the mismatched buttons and got a whiff of Jupiter’s scent. His wolf prowled, feelings of possessiveness driving right through his control.

“Now what was that you were sayin’ ‘bout Jupiter?”