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I sipped my drink, almost surprised by just hownicethe whiskey was, and glanced over to the bartender.Not just all talk. My eyes flicked back to the others as Remus leaned across the bar, ordering himself another drink. My father did the same, turning back to Bane and Remus. “So, how is Silverstreak Motors doing?”
Remus sipped his drink and waved a hand, shaking his head. “We’re just hanging out,” he said, raising a brow. “Work talk can wait for a different day.”
I sighed gently, not sure if I was relieved by that or not. While I didn’t want to explain what I was thinking for the branch of Longbow Investments we’d be opening in Texas, at least business was something I understood. It was something I wasgoodat. Sure, I’d only graduated from university one year ago with my MBA, but I’d worked alongside my father since I was legally an adult.
Unfortunately, Remus turned his head then, smiling at me. “Eli, you’ve been so quiet! How’re you finding Texas this time of year?”
“Fine,” I replied, almost automatically. I had to force myself to tack something else on. “It’s a bit hot, but nothing I can’t handle.” Iwantedto get along with Remus. Really, I did, but it was damn difficult when my father leaned in with Remus’ phone still in his hand.
“Have you seen Ryland and Rory? Such handsome boys,” he rumbled, as if I hadn’t visited Remus’ home just last week.
I simply sighed and nodded, not having the energy to argue with my father. Bane leaned in and gave me a bump with his shoulder. “How long will you be staying, Nic?”
“Hm? I haven’t decided yet,” my father said absently. I withheld another sigh. “You were damn adorable at this age too, Eli.” He finally handed the phone back to Remus.
Remus’ eyes brightened. “Oh, yeah? What was it like growing up in London? I always thought Austin was a busy city, but it doesn’t compare.”
I shrugged, trying to deflect. “It couldn’t have been that different,” I replied. “A few more cabs, maybe. I had no yard, of course. You saw the family home.”
Remus laughed. “Shifting must have been difficult when you were still a pup, then.”
I shrugged again. “The house is large. There are some decent parks within walking distance, and my mother used to let me—” My breath caught at the memory of when I was still a boy, my mother allowing me to shift in the parlor because it had space.
“He was such an awkward pup,” my father cut in hurriedly as if he couldn’t possibly stand to hear any mention of my mother. I bristled, but he didn’t seem to notice, leaning in as he lowered his voice, detailing for Remus and Bane my very first hunt. Of course, no wolf was a pro the first time he went on his first hunt, so I didn’t see why my failure had to be put on display.
“And then,” Nic laughed, having forgotten his drink altogether, “the poor kid fell right into a rabbit warren. Right in. The deer was long gone. I had to shift back to help him get out.”
I felt my cheeks heat up as Remus and Bane chuckled at what was meant to be a humorous story, but it didn’t feel funny at all — not to me.Ugh.The bartender noticed my morose expression and slid over, silently replacing my empty tumbler with a fresh drink. I murmured my thanks and sipped immediately; I dreaded having to attend the Moonmate ceremony in the next few days.
At least I wouldn’t be the center of attention. If anyone was, it would be the hosts — Remus and Luna — and there would be dozens of other shifters there from all over. Hopefully, my father wouldn’t even be there; he wasn’t looking for a mate. It would be nice to just get some time to myself. How did he expect me to work as an adult if he insisted on telling childhood stories about me?
IRIS
Redwood Bakery
Austin, Texas
Demi sent me the address of a cute little bakery in Austin; she promised they had seating. We waited to meet until 11:00 — past the breakfast rush, but it wouldn’t be totally dead, either. The smell of coffee and fresh bread greeted me as I opened the door. Demi was already sitting in a corner and waved me over, pushing a cup of coffee across the small table. “I didn’t know how you took it,” she said sheepishly. “I added milk and grabbed a few sugar packets.”
“This is great,” I replied, simply glad to have caffeine provided for me. A moment later, she pushed a plate between us, and on it sat a blueberry muffin, a scone of some sort, and a slice of a cake. If I had to guess, pound cake. My stomach gurgled, and I glanced up, raising a brow.
“Whatever you want,” Demi said, motioning to the treats. “I didn’t know which one you’d like. You can even have them all if you want.”
My stomach growled again, and I reached for the blueberry muffin. “What about you?” I could certainly eat them all, but even I wasn’t rude enough to wolf down all of the baked goods I hadn’t purchased without asking first.
The other woman gave a weak shrug, staring down at her hands. “I haven’t been hungry lately,” she admitted, knitting her fingers together. “I feel like the knot in my stomach is getting worse every day.”
“Oh.”Right.I paused in my shoveling, brushing a few crumbs off my chin to lean down for the bag I’d set down on the floor, retrieving my pad of paper and favorite pen. “So, tell me about Cyn.”
Demi looked up, her brown eyes dark. Immeasurably sad. I was quite used to doe eyes in my line of work, but even I was taken aback for a moment. “Where should I start?”
I shrugged. “As far back as you want. Whatever you think might be important for me to know.”
“Well… okay,” she said, looking down at her hands before looking back at me. “So, as I mentioned, she’s my younger sister. Her full name is Cynthia Alder Smith, but she’s gone by Cyn since middle school. Something happened when she moved from the elementary school, you know. Everyone says kids change when they hit puberty, but Cyn… she went wild. She started hanging out with different kids. By the age of thirteen, she started sneaking out to go to parties and drink. I found out later that she and her new friends were hanging out with kids in high school.”
She sighed and looked down. I scribbled my notes frantically; anyone else who looked at my pages would never be able to make out my chicken scrawl and shorthand, but it was a system that made sense to me. “Okay,” I mumbled, shoving another chunk of muffin into my mouth. “Are these the people she still hangs out with?”
“Yes — well, they were,” Demi replied, making a face. “I didn’t want to fight with her when we were younger, you know? So, I never really confronted her about the drinking, but before we knew it, it turned into drugs. I’m still not exactly sure when, but it went from casually using drugs at parties to using heroin at some point — regularly. My parents tried getting her into sober camps and different rehab programs, but Cyn was so fierce, so stubborn that nothing took. She dropped out of high school and ran away to live with her new boyfriend. He was eighteen when she was sixteen; she got pregnant last year.”
