By the Embers Dies the Fire Read online

  “Or,” Cail said, “we could just ask him to please find another place to stay and let him figure it out. He’s a big boy. Trust me, it won’t be the first or last time one of our siblings has asked him to move along because he overstayed his welcome. We’ve probably tolerated him longer than most of them would.”

  Chapter Four

  Ain was working in their home office and talking on the phone with a client from California when Brodey headed up to the house around five that evening. It would allow him a chance to grab a shower and maybe some snuggle time with Elain and the babies before dinner.

  He was a little surprised to find Lina working on cooking them dinner in the kitchen when he arrived. “Where is everyone?”

  “Cail had to run over to our place again. Jan and Rick were spazzing out over another calving. They’re fricking dragons and a little bit of bovine gore freaks them the frak out. Brighton went with him. Elain’s taking a nap. Mom volunteered to go help Zack and Kael babysit this afternoon for me.”

  “Ah.” He started for their bedroom, then stopped and backed up to talk to Lina. “Why did you have a little tone in your voice when you said Brighton’s name?”

  Lina let out an exasperated sigh and turned to him. “Elain’s too polite to come right out and ask him to leave. She and Cail already talked about this earlier. He offered to kick Brighton out.”

  Brodey leaned against the doorway. “Yeah, he is definitely…weird.”

  “Uh-huh.”

  “Friend to friend,” Brodey said. “Bottom line.”

  “I think he hates Dad for some dumb reason, and he gives me the willies.”

  “You know I trust you, right?”

  “Exactly why I’m being so open with you.” She mirrored his pose. “You and I go back farther than you and Elain, or me with your other brothers, in terms of understanding each other. I never would have made it out of Yellowstone alive that time if it wasn’t for you.”

  “Yeah, well, ditto. You saved our asses.”

  “We saved each other’s asses. I’m not going to bullshit you, Brod. Brighton’s…not right. I know he’s your brother, and I know you guys love him. Having him here is stressing Elain the hell out, it’s stressing me and Mom out, and why do you think you’ve barely seen hide nor hair of Mai and BettLynn the past couple of weeks he’s been here?”

  “He stresses her out?”

  “Who was her baby’s biological father?”

  “What does that have to do with anything?”

  Lina stuck her hands on her hips. “What does Brighton claim as his sideline profession? If you have a baby with a teensy bit of cockatrice genes in her, would you want her anywhere near an admitted cockatrice hunter? Family or not?”

  “Oh. But Mai doesn’t worry about Kitty.”

  “Because Kitty isn’t batshit crazy. And Kitty knows that BettLynn and the Beasts are Bertholde, Sean, and Colm reincarnated. Frankly, that’s the other reason I wanted Mom and Joss out of here and in their own house, and I didn’t say it outright to her or Elain. Brighton doesn’t like Dad, and I don’t want Mom or Joss around Brighton.”

  Brodey studied his hands. “Are you saying that because you feel it, or is this a Seer thing?”

  “It’s my gut instinct as a mother.” She walked over to him and put her hands on his shoulders. “Get Brighton out of here, ASAP. We’ll all quit walking on eggshells and feel a lot happier. Hell, buy him a house in town, if you feel guilty about it. Until he’s gone, I won’t be able to relax, and neither will anyone else.”

  “He was never the same after our sisters died. None of us were, but him especially.” He slowly shook his head. “I think it sort of did something to him.”

  “This is going to make me sound like a cruel and heartless bitch, but frankly? I don’t care. Not when we’ve got six babies around here, five of whom are shifters, one of whom is already shifting and keeping us on our toes and who has traces of cockatrice genes in her.”

  “I know you’re right. I just don’t want to think like that.”

  “I know you don’t, which is why I’m playing the bad guy here and saying it.” She hugged him, then quickly stepped back. “Ew. Um, no offense? Go shower.”

  He grinned. “I was on my way to do that when I came in.”

  She waved a hand in front of her nose. “Thank goodness I’m not a shifter. I’ll have dinner ready in about thirty minutes. Then, since you’re back, I’m going to head home.”

  Brodey’s smile faded. “Should I evict Brighton tonight?”

  “I can’t give you a good answer. Sooner is better. Talk with Cail and Ain and present a united front. Don’t let Elain talk you out of it, either.”

  Brodey quietly opened the bedroom door. Elain was napping in bed, Ellie asleep in the bassinet next to her. Not wanting to disturb them, he quickly grabbed shorts and a T-shirt from the closet and headed into the bathroom. After closing the door behind him, he undressed, then stared into the mirror while the water was warming in the shower.

  He hadn’t had time to shave that morning and the scruff shadowed his cheeks.

  I’m a dad.

  It didn’t feel real yet, in some ways.

  Brodey felt a little guilty about evicting Brighton, since the guy hadn’t lived up to their expectations of his usual level of crazy during his visit. Brodey had been prepared for the guy to be all up in their faces about his latest conspiracy theory, but other than the death glares he’d been shooting Dad’s way, Brighton had acted…normal.

  Well, relatively speaking.

  Normal compared to how Brighton had usually acted in the past.

  As if he knew he needed to be on his best behavior.

  Brodey tried not to hear their mother’s admonishments to keep an eye on him. Look out for him. That he was…tetched.

  He’s tetched, all right.

  Brodey had finished his shower and shaved and just gotten dressed when the bathroom door opened and Elain blearily bumbled her way in.

  “Sorry,” she mumbled on her way to the toilet.

  “Are you all right?”

  “Tired. Exhausted.”

  “Is it finally all hitting you now?”

  “I think so. I was doing pretty well this morning. Then I laid down for a nap and I feel like a truck hit me.”

  He waited for her to finish and wash her hands before following her back to the bedroom and tucking her into bed. He pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Go back to sleep, sweetie. I’ll wake you up for dinner.”

  “I’m not hungry,” she mumbled before dropping off again.

  He didn’t want to wake Ellie, since she was also asleep, so he quietly let himself out of the bedroom.

  Lina was still alone in the kitchen. “I wonder if we should call Dr. Alberto?” he asked.

  “Why? What’s wrong?”

  “Elain woke up, said she’s exhausted, and just dropped back to sleep again.”

  “That’s normal. It’s all hitting her at once, plus she’s still getting used to nursing. I know she’s going to have times where she wants to get up and go-go-go, and that’s fine, but her body needs time to recover. She’s not in a position where she has to get up and do things. Even if you need to edict her ass, make her rest and recover.”

  He smirked. “Wow. I should videotape you saying that so she blasts your ass when we do.”

  “I’ve already flat-out threatened her with asking you guys to do that. How do you think I got her to take a nap today?”

  “Ah. Sneaky.”

  “Yeah, well, I didn’t hang out around wolves all this time not to pick up a trick or two.” She grinned. “I’m just glad dragons don’t have that edicting stuff, and that my men are terrified of me.”

  “I’ve seen you make a house disappear. If they aren’t at least a little wary of you in a bad mood, I’d question their sanity.”

  “Ha! Question their sanity because I’m their wife.”

  “Word.” He held up his fist and she bumped with him.

  * *
* *

  Later that night after everyone else had left and Elain was sound asleep in bed, Brodey, Ain, and Cail walked outside to the front yard where they knew Brighton couldn’t overhear them from his room.

  Brodey wasted no time. “We need to ask Brighton to move out.”

  “I was going to bring that up,” Cail said.

  Ain rubbed at his face. “What’s going on? Did he go nutter again?”

  Cail and Brodey gave their versions of the discussions they’d had. Ain slowly nodded and when they were done, he went Prime on them. “Agreed. I’ll have a talk with him tomorrow about being out in the next couple of days.”

  “I’m not asking you to do this alone,” Brodey said. “I’m more than happy to stand there with you and tell him.”

  “Ditto,” Cail said. “He’s our brother, too.”

  “I appreciate that. You can certainly help me, if you want. I know Mom and Dad wanted all of us to help take care of him, but you know what? He’s an adult, and we have other siblings. I’ll put out calls tomorrow for them to reach out to Brighton before I have the talk with him. Maybe one of them will invite him to come visit or move in with them.”

  Brodey and Cail stared at him.

  “It could happen,” Ain said.

  Both brothers snorted.

  “I know.” Ain sighed. “We’re the only ones who tolerate him for more than a few days.”

  “Because we were the ones living closest to Mom, and she could bend our ears over it,” Cail said.

  Ain shoved his hands in the pockets of his shorts. “I can see Dad now, looking at us over Mom’s shoulder and mouthing at us to follow our hearts.”

  Brodey let out a snort. “He totally would have.”

  “So I’ll call around tomorrow,” Ain said. “Before we drop the hammer.”

  “Agreed,” Brodey and Cail said.

  Later, it was Brodey who was unable to sleep and had taken the far outside of the bed opposite Elain. Tonight, she had the far other side, Cail next to her. As soon as Brodey heard the first little peep on the baby monitor on his side, he shut it off, carefully climbed out of bed, and headed for the nursery to take care of Connor.

  Brodey couldn’t help but smile down at their little blue-eyed baby as he picked him up. “Ew, someone needs changing. Bet you’re hungry, too, huh, little guy?” Brodey handled the first issue, and then carried him out into the kitchen to make up a bottle.

  As he stood there, he spotted Elain’s phone on the counter, plugged into the charger. He walked over to it and, carefully propping the bottle against his chest, picked the phone up and carried it over to the kitchen table, where he sat and got a better grip on the baby and the angle of the bottle.

  With his other hand, he unlocked her phone and started swiping through the pictures and video of Ellie’s birth. At the time, it’d all happened so fast—on top of the craziness of how they arrived at the hospital—he hadn’t had time to savor it.

  Yes, in his head he’d worked out this “perfect birth” scenario. Driving Elain to the hospital, him sitting in the backseat with her and helping her through her contractions, rushing her from the car in the wheelchair—the whole silly nine yards.

  While that wasn’t how it’d played out, they still had a beautiful, perfect baby girl on the other end of the events of that day.

  And thanks to Ryan Ausar’s help, they hadn’t missed her birth.

  He hit play on one of the videos and smiled, quickly turning down the volume as Elain let out a loud, pained cry and Dr. Alberto ushered Ellie into the world.

  When that finished playing, he scrolled through the pictures, working back, then realized he’d gone too far but that was okay. They were pictures of Connor.

  Then he hit one and paused, trying to figure out what it was. It looked like paperwork, a birth certificate, but before he could examine it more closely, from down the hall he heard a door open.

  A moment later, Brighton appeared in the kitchen doorway. “Ah. I thought I heard someone.” He walked in uninvited and sat across the table from Brodey.

  Brodey thumbed back to the phone’s main screen and set it on the table. “Just feeding the little guy.”

  “Well, relatively speaking,” Brighton said in what sounded like a forced light tone. “Compared to the wee one, he’s a footballer.”

  Brodey couldn’t look his brother in the eye and hoped Brighton didn’t want to talk about future plans of hanging around. Mom and Dad now lived in their own house. Once Brighton was gone, the six of them would have their house all to themselves for the first time in a couple of years.

  Even Brodey wasn’t boneheaded enough to equate privacy with sex right now. For the first time in his life, he couldn’t care less about sex. Not when he had a beautiful mate and two beautiful children to take care of. What he was looking forward to was being able to snuggle with Elain on the couch and just watch a movie, or run around naked if the kids were asleep, or not feel self-conscious if he wanted to make out with his mate in the pool…or make silly faces at his babies while he sat there and stared at their little miracles.

  “Sorry I didn’t make it up to the hospital for her birth,” Brighton said. “I figured I’d be in the way. Third wheel.”

  Guilt tried to tweak Brodey’s brain. “You wouldn’t have been a third wheel.”

  “Honestly, little brother. You don’t have to try to make me feel better. I’m no fool. It’s only right for you three to relish this time. A mate, pups. It’s a celebration. I’m truly happy for you.”

  Brodey did feel bad for Brighton, especially since tomorrow they’d be asking him to get the hell out. Brighton had never had a mate or pups. Hell, as far as Brodey knew, Brighton had never had a steady girlfriend.

  Brodey unlocked Elain’s phone again and started at the first pictures of the birth before he turned the phone around and showed Brighton which direction to swipe. “There’s the actual birth. Eh, I was careful about the camera angle.”

  “Ah. Right.” Brighton swiped through pictures. Finally, he reached the video and hit play, his eyes widening. “Wow. Puts things into a different perspective, eh?”

  “It sure does.” Brodey looked down into Connor’s face. The baby was already starting to doze a little between pulls on the bottle. “I feel bad for this guy’s birth parents, but thank the Goddess Ortega was there to take him in and put him with us.”

  “Ortega Montalvo?”

  “Yeah. Oh, uh, heh. That’s classified, by the way. For his safety. Cockatrice are suspected in their deaths, and no one wants him traced back here.”

  “Right. Where’d it happen? Down there, somewhere, I take it?” Brighton picked up Elain’s phone and seemed to be studying a picture.

  “Honestly? I don’t even know. Elain knows some of the details, and I think Ain does, too. But the less people who know, the better. I don’t care where it happened or what happened, as long as he’s safe and in our arms.”

  “No worries. Won’t tell a soul. He is a handsome lad. Blue eyes like Elain.”

  “Yeah, I know, right? Like it was meant to be.”

  “Don’t feel bad. As you said, the Goddess brought you together.” He finally put Elain’s phone down and slowly slid it across the table. “Are you happy?”

  When around Brighton, Brodey always had a hard time not slipping back into a brogue, even though he knew Elain would love it. His brother had softened his accent into sounding like a Londoner, but even after over a hundred years in the States, old ways wanted to sneak into his life.

  “I’m happier than I’ve ever been in my life,” Brodey told him. “And I don’t want you to think I’m trying to lord that over you—”

  Brighton sat back as he waved his words off. “I don’t blame you for it. You three earned the right to be happy. Don’t apologize for it. Never apologize for it.” He slowly nodded his head. “Guess I should tell you now, but I’ll be leaving, likely by the end of the week.”

  Brodey felt guilty that relief swept through him. �
�You are?”

  “Found a place not far from here. North of Arcadia. Closing on it in the next couple of days, as soon as the title insurance and everything else is squared away.”

  “That’s…that’s great!” It also meant they wouldn’t have to have “the talk” with Brighton and kick his ass out. “I mean, not that you’re leaving, but being so close—”

  “I knew what you meant.” He smiled. “Don’t worry. No offense, but I treasure my privacy. Too many years, I’m set in my ways. I love all of you, but this way, I’m close enough should you ever need me, close enough to visit, but just far enough a phone call before driving is wise, on both ends.”

  Brodey hoped Brighton hadn’t heard them talking outside earlier. Then again, Brighton always had been a loner.

  Well, after their sisters died.

  Lots of things changed after their sisters died.

  “I know Mum asked all of you lot to keep an eye on me,” Brighton added.

  “You do?”

  “Yeah. Blake told me that a few years back. I get it. She worried about me. You all do. Rest assured, I don’t take unnecessary risks in what I do.”

  “You really need to get hooked up with Kitty Blackestone. They’re going to town on clearing nests of those things out of the States.”

  “I plan to, once I get my move handled and I’m settled. I’ve got things in storage I had shipped over, and have to buy new furniture.” He stood, still smiling. “A housewarming party to plan.”

  Brodey had to ask it. “Why don’t you like Dad? Liam, that is? I mean, I understand why before, when people didn’t know he wasn’t into something illegal. Why do you still not like him now that you know the truth and that he’s a good guy?”

  “Like I said, brother. I’m old and set in my ways.”

  “You’re only two years older than us. You can’t lie to me any more than I can lie to you.”

  Brighton’s hand stroked the top of the chair he’d been sitting in. “I know you all think I’m a nutter. I get it, believe me. But I also look for evidence. Yes, I see a devoted family man, someone beloved by my brothers, brothers whose judgment I trust. No doubt I’ll eventually warm to the man.”