Chapter nine

Ronny

"Well hello there lover boy!"

I walk over to the fire, knowing that my face is lighting up brighter than the actual fire burning in the fire pit. I sit down in the seat beside Martin, shaking my head at him. "Fuck you."

"No thanks. I'm pretty sure Zander did that well enough."

"Oh my gods," I groan, hiding my face in my hands. "I hate you so much."

"You don't," he says back, the two of us looking up when we hear someone else joining us. It's Cooper and Carlos.

"Glad to see you upright," Cooper says with a knowing smile and I hate them all. I hate them all so much. It would be so easy to use the skills I possess to cancel each and every one of their credit cards, flag their driver's licenses, and make their lives a living hell.

I let out a long breath, putting the diabolical thoughts away.

For now.

"I have no idea how long heats are supposed to last but his seems to be dying down for good now," I tell them, shrugging self-consciously.

"It can be anywhere from two days to seven," Carlos says. "This seems to be a quick one which means one of two things. One, Zander just has short heats."

"And the other?"

Carlos looks away. "Uhh, maybe I shouldn't say."

Cooper shoves his elbow into Carlos' side. "You already started, kid. Share the rest with the class."

Carlos lets out a long breath. "Right. So the other reason it's finished early is because he's caught."

"Caught what?" I ask, feeling so completely out of my depth. I really need to talk to Cooper about finding me some books about this stuff.

We all look at Carlos, waiting. Finally he winces and says, "you know? He's with child."

"He's with," I start to say but my breath catches as I realize what Carlos means. Oh. Oh. Zander could be pregnant. With my baby. With a baby we made together. Oh my gods.

"Are you okay?"

I look over at Martin, nodding my head. I quickly shut my mouth which has been hanging open. "I'm fine."

Cooper snorts. "You look like you just saw a chupacabra for the first time."

I narrow my eyes at my friend. "That thing was scary as hell! I can't be blamed for screaming, okay? And I'm scared right now," I add softly, rubbing at my eyes. "This is a lot all at once."

Martin puts his hand on my shoulder, squeezing it gently. "You're okay. It's okay to be scared. It's what you do while scared that matters."

I nod, taking that in and letting it soothe me. "I know what I'm gonna do."

"And what's that?" Carlos asks softly.

"I'm going to be the best damn true mate I'm able to be." The guys all nod, looking proud of me. Then I add, "but for the second, can you tell me about what I've missed with the case? I can talk through all of this with Zander once he's up. For now I wanna focus on the case."

Carlos looks like he's ready to argue but Cooper jumps in. "Alright, so as you know, the three of us headed to the well to investigate."

I lean back in my seat, letting out a breath of relief. "What did you guys find?"

"It's strange," Martin says, leaning forward in his seat, dangling his beer from his fingers. "There wasn't anything obvious. No signs of magic, no signs of weird tampering. It's just a little wishing well."

Cooper shrugs. "There were no weird markings or anything like that either. It's a strange situation." He takes a sip of his own beer, thinking about the whole situation. "I think we just have to do some surveillance and hope we get lucky."

"We could always try tossing a coin in."

I narrow my eyes at Carlos. "You won't be the one dropping a coin in. That's too dangerous."

"It's too dangerous to drop in a coin? Or it's too dangerous for me?"

"Yes," Martin says, nodding his head.

"You didn't…" Carlos just sighs, shaking his head in amusement. He might not be an actual kid but we all collectively look out for him. He's the baby of the group and it's our job to make sure he stays safe. "Fine, I promise I won't throw any coins into any holes."

"Martin? Maybe you and me can camp out in the food court this weekend. We'll take turns watching the well and see if we can't catch anything interesting happening?"

Martin takes a long swig of his beer and I can tell he's taking a moment before answering. I've always felt like there was something going on between those two. They bicker and fight but they also look at each other when the other isn't looking.

"Yeah, sounds good, Cooper."

"And if that doesn't work," Carlos says, holding up a quarter and smiling wide.

Cooper snatches the quarter away. "If all else fails, maybe we can talk about you flipping the quarter into the well."

Carlos does a fist pump to himself, making us all chuckle. "I have a feeling it's going to end up being something weird instead of malicious."

"What's weird?"

I turn around in my seat, finding Zander standing there. He's wearing my hoodie and shorts and I do my best not to let the guys see how Zander in my clothes makes me feel. I hold out my hand for him and he takes it, letting me guide him into sitting in my lap.

"This case we're working on," I explain, running my hand up and down Zander's spine.

"Ronny here doesn't think it's malicious. But we still have to be careful. We don't know exactly what the hell is granting wishes," Cooper says, readjusting his glasses.

Zander lets out a little yawn, looking absolutely adorable. And holy shit, I need to get myself together otherwise Martin will never stop teasing me. I clear my throat. "Call it a gut feeling," I finally say with a shrug.

"As a shifter, I was taught to always trust my gut," Zander says, looking down at me with a soft smile. "That's probably the same with being a hunter, right?"

"Absolutely," Martin says with a nod. "It's important to trust your gut out there because sometimes hesitating for just a moment is a moment too long."

"This job seems scary. Should I be worried?"

I shake my head and Carlos jumps in. "Don't worry about Ronny. He's usually the one staying at the base."

"Got it. So I'll save the worry I would use on Ronny and use it on you all instead."

Cooper snorts and I squeeze my arms around Zander's waist. "We've all been doing this for awhile," Cooper says with a wide smile. "We know a thing or two. The worst thing that's happened so far is our fearless leader literally dying. But it's fine," he adds quickly when Zander makes a worried noise. "He's undead now. And he found his true mate. So I call that a net gain honestly."

"For someone so fucking smart you sure are bad at reassuring people," Martin murmurs and here these two go again.

"I never claimed to be perfect, Martin," Cooper says, sipping his beer and looking away. "Some of us are good at reading but bad at words."

Martin just snorts in response. To ease the tension around the fire, Carlos changes the topic. "I'm not sure how you lived before," he says to Zander, "but I hope the idea of being out on the road is appealing to you."

Zander swallows thickly. He reaches down, taking my hand from his hip and lacing our fingers together. "The idea of traveling is nice. I like the idea of not being in one spot too long, if I'm being honest."

"Is there a reason for that?"

Zander nods. Part of me wonders if I should shut these questions down. Zander might not be ready to talk about all of this. We shouldn't push him. I open my mouth to do just that but then Zander is going on.

"I ran away. That's why we were in our shifter forms. I saw an opening to having a better life. For JJ to have a better life. So I took it."

Cooper leans forward in his chair, the mood around the fire flipping once more. Everyone here softens. "What were you running from?"

"My ex," Zander whispers, "his name is John. He's JJ's father."

"We don't have to talk about this, Zander," I tell him, kissing his shoulder. He turns towards me, breathing in my messy hair.

"It's okay. I don't want this to be some big, dark secret that could possibly come back and bite me. I want to tell you. You're my true mate, Ronny."

"Awww," a couple of the guys all say, their voices synchronized. I roll my eyes, ignoring the heat in my cheeks at their chorus of congrats.

"I just didn't want you to feel pressured," I whisper against Zander's shoulder. He kisses the top of my head before looking at the other guys.

"John is a cat shifter just like me. When I had come of age, my parents basically gifted me to John. He was the leader of our litter. They thought they were making me the litter omega but John never actually mated with me. And I wasn't his only omega."

If I was a shifter, I know there would be a growl rising up inside my chest. But I'm only human so instead, I just tighten my arms around Zander.

"It wasn't a great place for us," Zander says softly and a lot of things stay unsaid. "I didn't want my son raised there."

There's a moment of silence as we all digest this. "Did he ever?"

Zander shakes his head. "He never hurt JJ. Hell, JJ's real name is fucking John Junior. But John wasn't a good alpha. He wasn't honorable. He wasn't kind. He ruled with an iron fist. He would have stifled JJ and stolen his joy eventually. I had to run."

"It's okay," I whisper, running my fingers through Zander's hair. "You did the right thing, Zander. And Lady Fate brought you to us. I think she knew what she was doing when she did that."

"I agree," Martin says and his voice is hard. "What better place to be than surrounded by hunters? You will never have to worry about that asshole again."

"I'm worried I'm trusting you all a little too soon," Zander confesses softly.

Carlos speaks up. "It's okay to keep your walls up at first. You deserve that after everything you've been through. But with time, we're happy to prove ourselves and gain your trust. Now that you're in this fucked up family, you're one of us and we protect our own."

It seems Carlos speaks the same language as Zander because I feel him relax against me. Zander nods, giving a grateful smile. "Thank you."

"Like he said, you're one of us now," Cooper says with a smile. "It seems our little family is quickly expanding. I think we might have to invest in another RV."

Carlos pokes Cooper's side. "Just think, it could be you next finding yourself a partner."

I don't miss the way Cooper's eyes jump over to Martin before falling to the fire. Cooper plays it off, letting out an amused snort. "We've been in this business long enough to know just about anything is possible."

Gods, I'll be glad when these two figure out their shit and either fuck already or fight once and for all. I run my nose over Zander's arm, listening to everyone chat. "I promise you're safe with us," I whisper so that only Zander can hear.

He turns his head, giving me a knowing look. "I think I understand, Ronny."

I kiss his arm and wonder how I ever lived life without him by my side. I've known him for such a short time and yet I feel like I can't go back to what it was like without him here. My chest is so warm and so bright with him here and that's without even thinking about having JJ around, making me smile. Knowing these two people make me happy. I can't wait to continue to get to know them because I have a feeling, the more I know them the more I'll love them.