Chapter 5

FIVE

WILLEM

As I climbed into the back seat of the taxi outside Megelle Island's train station, I realized I had mixed feelings about being home. But I wasn't entirely sure what that mix consisted of, or more specifically, why I felt conflicted. There was just this nervousness, a touch of anxiety lingering in my mind just out of reach of my conscious thoughts. I probably needed to figure it out really quickly before my mother, or one of my brothers, sniffed it out ahead of me and pounced. I'd be roadkill in minutes.

"Hey, Will!"

I looked up to the driver's seat and spotted a familiar face, though last I'd seen this kid he hadn't had any scruff on it like he did now. I frowned. "Jason? Is that you?"

"The scruff throws everyone off, don't worry." He grinned and held his hand back between the front seats for me to shake. "Welcome home, bloodsucker!"

I chuckled and shook his hand. "Thanks, furball."

"So, you still at your mom's house?"

"Am I supposed to own a house here just to visit home?" I shut the door, then buckled my seatbelt.

Jason put the car in drive and then glanced over his shoulder to me before pulling away. "Do you own a house anywhere , nomad?"

"Do you own anything ?"

"I'm seventeen! I'm not allowed to own anything of material value." He arched one dark eyebrow. "Aren't you like forty?"

I opened my mouth, then shut it. "Shots fired. Damn, kid."

"Dude, I'm just messing with you." He grinned, then turned forward and pulled off the curb. "I mean, my goal is to live with Holden and Reese for as long as they'll let me. There's all kinds of jobs at the farm I can do until I'm like eighty that'll provide a roof over my head."

I just shook my head and chuckled. "Can't wait to hear how that pans out, kid. But yes, I'll be staying at my mother's."

"I think it's great your brothers and you all still stay there when you're all successful professionals who could easily buy your own places." He looked up at me through the rearview mirror. "The Bow family is basically their own wolf pack. Except bloodsuckers."

"So you heard about that?"

He rolled his eyes. "Dude. Prince Riven turned your entire family into vampires as punishment for him turning Jimbo and Sal. How could the entire Island not hear about it?"

I chuckled and leaned back in my seat, feeling that strange nervousness kick up a few notches. "I am not surprised, actually. How is everyone taking this news? People mad? Jealous?"

Maybe THAT was my problem?

But Jason just laughed as he turned onto Main Street. "Most of us are relieved because it means you'll all be around to supervise Jimbo and Sal . . . for eternity."

My stomach tightened into knots. That wasn't my nervousness, but it wasn't something I didn't think of without great caution. My grandfather and his best friend were the tag team of trouble. I rubbed my face with my hand. "I'm not so sure we are relieved about that."

He threw his head back and laughed. "LOOK!" He pointed to the passenger side of the street.

I dropped my hand and looked out my window only to find the trouble-twins themselves pouring out of the bridal shop. Literally. Jimbo held a huge wedding dress in his arms as he waltzed around outside on the street. He hummed a tune at the top of his lungs while bubbles poured out around him. Sal chuckled as he rolled around in the bubbles trying to make what looked like snow angels. My brow furrowed. Why the hell was he wearing a suit coat and a rubber ducky bathing suit? I shook my head. It was better to not ask questions. "Dammit, poor Sally. Why do they gotta go after her store every damn time?"

"Hey, slow down a sec?" I rolled my window down and stuck my head out as Jason slowed in front of them, then I yelled, " I'm tired of this, Grandpa!"

Without missing a beat, Jimbo turned and pretended to dip the dress. He spun around and the long train swept through the bubbles, throwing them all over the street. " Well, that's too damn bad! "

I giggled like a little kid. That was from the movie Holes, and it was something my brothers and I quoted with him all the time. He never missed his line, and we never missed an opportunity to use it.

A few kids saw the bubbles, ran into them, and began throwing them at Jimbo and Sal. I snort-laughed just as a woman came flying out the front doors of the shop screaming obscenities at my grandfather and his bestie. Her short brown hair stuck out in every direction and looked to be coated in bubbles. I was instantly terrified about the condition of the wedding dresses inside. Jason must've come to the same conclusion because he cursed and sped off down the street.

"Are we accomplices to that? We did drive by real slow."

I giggled. "No. We're not, but always best to not be seen when they're neck deep in chaos."

Jason shook his head. "I don't know how your pack is gonna deal with those two for eternity."

"Guess me being a nomad will come in handy?"

"There's a perk to everything?"

I smiled, remembering my brothers Jethro and Brian saying those same words to the group chat yesterday. "So, how's your family, Jason?"

As he launched into detail about his parents and siblings, I found myself growing more and more tense. I was listening to every word he said, but that was somehow making it worse. Then it hit me. His older siblings had both moved out, landed successful jobs on the Island, got married, and were now expecting children of their own . . . in their own homes. Why does this make me feel inadequate? Why do I feel like I'm failing? Logically, the feeling made no sense. I had an incredible job and made great money. I could easily buy my own house and white picket fence. I'd traveled the world—on my employer's dime. I'd seen the wonders of the world several times, from the major landmarks to the hidden gems. I didn't understand why coming home this time made me feel like I was missing something.

This made me think about my own family. Dad was a successful doctor on the Island. Mom was the single most powerful mage from First Realm—because Ellie and the Wentworths in Second Realm just didn't count. Jethro was the accountant for most of the Island, to the point where he worked directly with the royal family and Prescott Tech. Brian was in college, but he was valedictorian. Connor and Caleb had possibly the best restaurant on the Island. Bash was a literal fae prince from Third Realm whose soulmate was the Stonekeeper, so that was kind of showing off, and Archer was one of the most sought after fashion photographers in the world who happened to be soulmates with a lovely fae girl who owned the bougiest boutique hotel in Beverly Hills. My family was kind of badass.

How can I feel like I'm the failure of the family? Why do I feel this way? I had my family, my job, my friends, my best friend . . . the only thing I didn't have was a partner. But I moved around too much to date seriously. I was never in one place for more than a few weeks at most, except for here on the Island. That made dating nearly impossible. Jethro and Connor avoided physical contact with women so they could avoid getting soulmates . . . that made no sense to me. I would welcome a soulmate. It would be a relief at this point. Knowing a person was your soulmate would take all the guesswork and stress out of it. But I was thirty years old now—twelve years of shaking hands with women and waiting for a soulmate mark to appear and not finding it.

I sighed. Angel's tacos . . . I'm a mess.

Jason groaned. "See? It's so hard to decide. Why is picking a college so hard?"

I smirked. "You gotta look at it in stages, not the big picture, or you'll freak yourself out. Where did your siblings go again?"

"Island Tech and Megelle College." He pulled into my parent's driveway and put the car in park, then turned to face me with his brow scrunched and his lips in a flat line. "I just want to see if leaving is what I'd like."

"Well, how about while I'm home for the month, we look into some schools and I can show you pictures? I've been to all of them."

His jaw dropped. "You'd do that? You'd help me?"

"Of course, furball." I grinned and ruffled his hair before I popped the back door open. "Most residents here have no interest in leaving. Those of us who want to have to stick together."

His eyes glistened a little. "Thanks, Will. I have to talk to Holden to see if leaving is even allowed for wolves?—"

"It is. Holden worked with Monroe and Dawson to make these magical necklaces to prevent you from shifting without your consent. I think they're like the one Reese has? Mom helped create them." I climbed out of the car, then turned and bent down to meet his wide stare. "It's a whole wide world out there, furball. Just tell Holden you wanna see it, and he'll make it happen. But call me before you leave, okay?"

He just shook his head like I'd rocked his world in those thirty seconds. I chuckled and grabbed my bag off the backseat, then shut the door. With a tap on the window and a smile, I turned and started for the house.

"Hey, Will?" Jason yelled after me. When I glanced back, his cheeks were definitely flushed. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." I stopped and waved. "Tell your family I said hello."

He waved, then backed out of our driveway. I watched him drive away, feeling perplexed about what just happened. I'd been in the middle of an existential crisis in that backseat until he started talking about traveling and leaving the Island. And I was genuinely excited to help him figure out his first adventure into the human world. But I was even more confused about what my problem was. I had no idea how I'd become a nomad who wanted to travel while also wanting the white picket fence with a family and a golden retriever. I was a walking conundrum.

Like every other moment in my life when I felt an emotion of any kind, I pulled my phone out to message Andi. My Prescott Tech phone was already on and ready, so I just opened up my messenger app and clicked on our thread. She'd gotten home to see her sister already, so I didn't want to interrupt and bombard her with my mental meltdown on her first day home. Instead, I would keep it light by sending her a picture of my parents' front porch that was already partially decorated for Halloween.

‘ Mother has already started. The neighbors have no chance,' I sent with the picture.

To my surprise, those bubbles of her typing popped up immediately. ‘ I have so many follow-up questions to that statement.'

‘This is just the preliminary decorating. Stage one, if you will.' I grinned. ‘ There's a town-wide contest for home decor.'

‘OH MY.' She replied with a giggling gif. ‘ That sounds straight out of Hallmark.'

‘You have no Idea.' I shook my head. ‘ She's not allowed to compete, so she has to one-up everyone out of spite.'

Megelle Island was exactly like a Hallmark movie town, just filled with supernatural beings instead of humans. Our coffee shops and restaurants served drinks and dishes made of blood for the vampires. I'd like to see Hallmark do that.

Wait a second. Am I the heroine of a Hallmark Christmas movie? The big city girl with a successful job who comes home to help for the holiday and falls for the local-in-flannel and gives up their life to move back home and sell pumpkins from their new pumpkin farm? Do I want to be? Would I be willing to give it all up? Shit, maybe Jethro and Connor are right to keep their hands to themselves.

‘ If anyone asks you to help out at the festival, or fundraiser dance, or help save the local Christmas tree farm—JUST SAY NO.'

I hung my head and laughed. ‘ I both love and hate when your thoughts echo my own in perfect synchronization.'

‘ Honestly, I'd love to see the gender bent version of those movies. Ya know, where it's the big city boy coming home to the farmer girl or whatever. ' Before I could respond, she sent, ‘ Maybe you should just hide inside your mom's house to be safe?'

‘I bet you'd never guess which character my mother would play in those movies . . .'

‘You're doomed.'

I grinned. ‘ Weren't you just telling me how your sister is trying to set you up with your ex-boyfriend? Isn't that the plot of like half of those movies?'

‘He's not in town. I did some research. I should be able to get back out of here without seeing him.'

‘Yeah, that screams "I'm over him" lol.'

‘I am SO over him. It's been ages, Liam. Like over a decade since I've seen that man. Besides, we were talking about you and your problems.'

‘Fine. I'll pretend I believe you. MY problem right now is praying I missed all the decorating for my brother's party tomorrow.'

‘May the odds be ever in your favor.'

I stopped outside the front door. ‘ Okay, going in. Pray for me.'

She sent a gif of Captain America saluting, so I sent one back of Jack Sparrow's weak attempt at it. With a smile still on my face, I shoved my phone in my back pocket and opened the door. First Realm's zero-tolerance policy for violence of any kind meant Megelle Island was pretty crime-free. No one wanted to risk being deported to their home realms where the living conditions were known to be brutal. Despite what the humans of First Realm thought, their meaning of danger was not even on the same scale as the dangers in the other realms. No one wanted to be deported. It was a one-way ticket to hell and an unofficial death sentence. So there was no violence. And this meant a lot of people didn't bother to lock their doors. But no one on the Island was foolish enough to attempt breaking into my mother's house, so nothing stopped the door from opening. Mother's charms meant the wooden door didn't creak or make any noise. Even Betty the broom silently swept the fly-away leaves back outside after following me in.

The house was warm and cozy, with a fire burning in the fireplace. The sofas in the living room were big enough for eleven people to sit—I counted, so I'd know just how many members of my family were in my house at the time. Mother's fancy charms were incredible. The sofas in here would magically change size to seat however many people were in the house. With our new additions of Ivy, Bash, and Collins, we were a family of fourteen. But I'd just seen Jimbo and Sal, which brought us down to twelve here. I cursed silently. Eleven seats. The whole damn family was inside this house.

I took a single step into the living room and the sofa extended to fit one more seat. For me. With a smile and a shake of my head, I sat my bags at the front door and headed for the kitchen where I heard laughter and muffled voices. I was halfway across the living room when Bash's soulmate, Collins, walked out of the kitchen.

Her aquamarine eyes brightened when she spotted me. She grinned and tossed her long pink and purple hair over her shoulder as she walked over and stopped beside me. Then she leaned in and whispered, " Brace yourself, Mr. Arrow."

My stomach sank. " Oh no, why?"

She shook her head. " Just remember I had nothing to do with this."

"This? This what?"

"Stay strong." She squeezed my arm, then hurried out the front door.

I watched her slip out the front door with her colorful crystal wings at her back and all of my nervousness came rushing in like a tidal wave. The sofa shrank back down by one seat. I cursed and turned back to face the doorway into the kitchen. They were snickering and whispering, so I doubted anyone was hurt or dying. That meant they were conspiring. Dread filled my veins. Brace yourself, Mr. Arrow, were Collins' exact words. I stood there with my hands on my hips trying to decide if I wanted to sneak up on them or make my presence known right now. The former would allow me to see what they were up to, but the latter would prevent me from seeing what they were up to.

Tough choice.

Collins hadn't given me much to go on. She'd called me by my pseudonym, Mr. Arrow, but that was because Collins grew up in Vegas thinking she was human. She'd read my work and was already following me on Instagram and Facebook—not that either one of us knew each other at that point. But it was like our little inside joke, our way of bonding over our life in the human world when our loved ones couldn't.

Collins could have alerted the family to my arrival on her own, yet she chose to whisper to me. That suggested she wanted me to surprise them. Or at least, that was what my mind came up with. So, I took a deep breath, then tiptoed to the doorway. One of Mom's charms on the house prevented sound from traveling from one room to another. It was one of her new charms since we all gained our vampire-heightened sense of hearing and hated the lack of privacy that created. So while I'd heard whispering and giggles, I hadn't been able to discern what they were saying. If I stepped through this doorway, they'd all be able to hear my heartbeat, so I stayed just outside of it.

My eyes widened.

My entire family was huddled around a single laptop sitting on the kitchen island. It was Jethro's Prescott Tech laptop, which was basically the same as a MacBook. But if he had that out, then this was serious. He never let anyone touch his computer unless it was important, yet there they all were standing around it with Caleb doing the typing. Suddenly, I was terrified.

Ivy was right next to him with her shiny silver hair in pigtail Dutch braids down her back. She swatted Caleb's hands and turned the computer a little so she could type. "You're terrible at this."

Caleb scoffed. "As if. I'm the only one in this family who actually dates. "

"Boys. You date boys, darling." Ivy rolled her eyes. "Gay or not, you don't talk to boys the same way you talk to girls."

I frowned. This did not bode well for me.

Caleb threw his hands up. "What did I say wrong?"

Archer leaned over his soulmate's shoulder and tapped on the screen. "That. Right there. Willem would never say that."

Bash scowled. He tossed his pale-blue hair over his shoulder and leaned down. Then with his crystal ring adorned fingers, he tapped on a different part of the screen. "I realize I have never dated, in either realm, but is this here not a problem?"

"The only problem I see is everyone tapping on my damn computer screen," Jethro said with a sigh. He pinched the bridge of his nose.

Dad squeezed Jethro's shoulder but turned his attention to Caleb. "Son . . . women don't like to be so . . . what's the word I'm looking for here?"

"Dating is an art, my man. Let me get in there." Brian gestured between himself and the computer. "Lemon Drop's a fun, outgoing kind of guy like me. Let me add his hobbies and interests so girls will know what he likes."

Lemon Drop. My nickname. Because Willem ended in L-E-M and my brothers were weird.

Connor pulled a tray of brownies out of the oven that made my mouth water. "We should just write what he likes to eat and drink. That tells you a lot about a person."

"So do pictures of your abs." Caleb rolled his eyes. "I was displaying the goods."

"Nope, that's gross." Mom shuddered. "Put stuff about his charity work."

"Maybe we should put all the places he's traveled?"

Mom gasped in mock-horror. " Bastien Bow. We want him to stay here! Listing his travel tendencies defeats the purposes. It'll scare all the home-body fish away."

Bash's pale eyebrows sank low over his moonstone eyes. "The fish?"

Archer looked up at him with mischievous golden eyes. "It's a saying, plenty of fish in the sea. It's a metaphor for dating."

"Oh." Bash nodded, still deep in thought. I loved the moments of watching our newly adopted fae brother learn human phrases, because while he'd visited First Realm over the course of his long life, he'd never really assimilated with the humans. He was just so Third Realm. "Why do humans have such extensive knowledge of the romantic and sexual habits of marine life?"

Caleb shrugged. "I'm more of a shark?—"

"—Which is why I kicked you off the keyboard." Ivy grinned as she typed. "I'm making this profile for the female gaze."

"Female gays like women, do they not?" Bash scratched his head. "I'm lost again."

Archer giggled too hard to answer.

But Dad stepped in to help. "Gaze with a z, son. Like a visual? What they're seeing with their eyes."

"Right. I knew that." Bash crossed his arms over his chest. "I was just testing you."

Brian wrapped his arm around Bash's big shoulders and laughed. "I love this guy."

Archer crouched down to read the screen. "Lemon Drop isn't this emotionally transparent, my love. We want to lure them in with bait, not catfish."

"No, not that picture. " Caleb groaned. "That's ancient. He looks scruffier now."

"We don't have newer pictures, Twinothy," Connor teased him back with their nickname. "Unless you want to call Prince Riven to ask if he took any."

"I'm searching the database of The Diamond's New Year's Eve party." Ivy typed with focus. "And I've attached Lemon Drop's Instagram to his profile here so the ladies will be able to stalk him with ease."

"But Archer has a point." Jethro turned his computer so he could see. "We have to sound more like Lemon Drop or they'll just be annoyed when they meet him."

Bash pursed his lips. "Perhaps Archer should handle that since he has traveled the most with him?"

"You all do remember I am a writer, right?"

Everyone gasped and spun toward the doorway. Their eyes widened when they saw me standing there. Jaws dropped. Caleb tried to stand in front of the screen so I couldn't see it, but the Neverland Dating app logo was not one to be mistaken for other things.

"Will!" Mom breathed. She twirled her hair around her fingers nervously. "You're home!"

"Lemon Drop!" Brian shouted and waved.

I shook my head. "Is that what I think it is?"

"Why do people say this? Are there mind readers I am unaware of?" Bash scowled.

Archer laughed. "We made you a profile on Neverland Dating."

"Why me ?"

Mom squirmed. "Well, we want you to be happy and to find love?—"

"Jethro, Connor, and Brian are all single." I gave them pointed stares. "So, again, why me?"

Dad sighed. "Son, we just worry you're lonely out there on the road all the time."

AKA, you want me to be forced to stay home more. I sighed and shook my head.

Brian gave me two thumbs-up. "But look, we already got matches for you. We were going to talk to them."

I shuddered at the thought. "No, no. I'm the writer. I think I can take it from here."

"You're actually gonna do it?" Connor gave me a wide stare.

I walked over to the computer and picked it up. With quick movements, I carried it across the kitchen and sat it back down away from them. In just a few short clicks, I managed to change my password to this dating account. They all cursed and groaned, making fun of me for changing it. I loved my family dearly, but they could not be trusted. If there was a way to meddle, they would meddle. But this time, I wasn't actually upset about it. Dating was my nemesis. It wasn't that I was bad at it, more that I didn't give it or the women enough of my attention. Or that women didn't want to date a guy who traveled as much as I did.

But if there was one thing I knew, it was control meant everything. If I fought them, they'd just try and set me up on blind dates for a month. It would be awful. But if I rolled with it and actually dated some people, perhaps my family would leave me alone for a minute. I had an existential crisis to decode.