Page 20 of Oakheart

Plus we were all very large, dangerous-looking men.

It was... nice. For too much of my life I hadn’t been the biggest man in any room, and I’d been bullied accordingly. I liked the change.

By the time we got back to the US and were driving from Boise toward home, Leo had at least calmed down a bit, and was talking Viktor’s ear off about everything that had happened to us in the years since we’d last seen each other.

It was very Leo. He was ignoring the fact that Viktor had yet to speak a word since we’d gone to get him. Anatoliy had told me privately that he hadn’t said a word to him either. I didn’t want to bother either of my brothers with a discussion on it, but partof me worried the government had done something to Viktor, and hecouldn’tspeak anymore.

But Leo could talk enough for both of them.

So he did. He told them about Mama and Grant and the pack and... well, it reminded me that while sometimes things in Idaho weren’t wonderful, they were always better than they had been in Russia. As I reminded myself regularly, the American government didn’t attack packs and kidnap their members. The bar was in hell, sure, but the American government had managed to pass over it.

So far.

Leo was waxing poetic about the house Cash was building for Mama, when I noticed that Viktor was paying closer attention than before.

“Cash is special,” I told Viktor, reverting to Russian as Leo had, for speed and accuracy.

“He learned from a human carpenter,” Leo added, taking to the subject with pleasure. “He spent years away from the pack, among humans, and he seems to know everything about building.” A sly smile crept onto his face. “And our Aleks likes him even more than the rest of us.”

Viktor’s eyes narrowed, and for a moment, I was reminded of how humans in Russia viewed men who loved other men. I swallowed, nearly crossed my fingers on the wheel, then met Viktor’s eye in the rearview mirror and nodded to him. “He’s something special. I care about him. And he’s... he’s vulnerable. Nervous. I think my father did his family many wrongs before he died.”

Viktor’s eyes narrowed at that, but he nodded, sitting back in the backseat and considering. He didn’t seem offended or disgusted. Simply thoughtful. It was how he usually was now, and honestly, not too terribly far from what he’d been as a teenager. He’d always been the one of us most prone tointrospection and deep thoughts. Leo was too happy for that, and I, too focused on facts and needs to think about such deep things. I was no philosopher.

Viktor? He just might be.

“I think you’ll like him,” I promised.

Viktor gave me a tiny smile and nod, and for now, that was enough.

CHAPTER 11

Cash

Aleks and Leo returned,and the whole pack was buzzing.

They had brought their brother home, and I didn’t realize until I saw the man, who looked an awful lot like Leo but carried himself like a soldier, that I hadn’t actually thought this was real.

I hadn’t been there when Grant had gone to Russia to bring Katya and Aleks back, so maybe it was just the impossible concept of someone from half a world away stepping into the hovel that was our pack land, and not turning around and leaving again immediately. For me, just moving a couple hours toward civilization for my apprenticeship had been a culture shock.

Or maybe it was seeing them from the edge of the crowd that’d gathered to look at the new wolf and recognizing Viktor as so familiar but so alien at the same time.

The way he stood, he wasn’t as big as Aleks, but it was so rigid and imposing that I thought Viktor might be the more intimidating of the two.

Then there was Leo, who yes, looked a lot like his brother except for the hair and the stature. Leo was taller than either ofhis brothers, but he was pure light and Viktor was something else.

It wasn’t that I hadn’t trusted what Aleks said—that they were bringing him home. The reality of it just hadn’t clicked as a possibility for me until it happened.

And then the whole pack had wanted a piece of the three of them. They had so many questions, and it was clear even from a distance that Aleks and Leo were exhausted.

The pack even got between Katya and her sons, not thinking about the reuniting family that needed time and space.

The afternoon they returned, I meant to give them all the space they needed, so I was surprised when there was a knock late that evening. It was quiet but confident, and it was just Pa and me in the little room that served as both his kitchen and dining area. He didn’t have a proper living room, but there was an old couch we’d found and cleaned against the wall. Sometimes he’d sit there while it was light out and read.

Most of the pack ignored him as an oddity.

Most of the pack blamed me for why.

Most days, I did too.