Chapter 7

7

Dylan watched Stacey and her kids go. His bear tugged in their direction, urging him to follow. It knew how good it felt to be close to her, to have her right there in the clanhouse, to get a glimpse of what it might be like to have her there permanently. Logically, he knew that wasn't a reality. It'd been dangerous just to have her over, regardless of his mission to find out more about her. It was even more dangerous to think about what a future between them could look like because there could never be one.

It also felt rather impossible to see this fishing trawler coming as close as it dared to the shore before it dropped anchor. Dylan hadn't seen the vessel in a long time. The blue trim had peeled and weathered. Before it had shut off, the engine sounded like it'd seen better days. The equipment that hung from the sides and the cabin had rusted over. It was the sort of vessel that might make anyone a bit suspicious. Dylan knew exactly who it belonged to, which only made him even more suspicious.

A small, scruffy dog raced up to the bow. It stepped up to the railing, its head bobbing from side to side as it looked down and evaluated the water. With little more thought, it leaped, its arms and legs splaying midair and its ears flying out as it flopped down into the ocean and doggy paddled to shore.

Dylan didn't know the dog, but he did know the man who emerged from the cabin a moment later. The wind ruffled his dark hair as he also stepped up to the bow. He took less time than the dog before he hopped out of the boat. His deeply tanned skin contrasted with the soft blue of the water as he made the short swim before the bay was shallow enough for him to walk. The anchor tattoo on his arm showed as he stood upright and flicked his hair back, and water ran from the tattered ends of his khaki shorts. "Ahoy, brother."

That face was so much like the one Dylan saw in the mirror, or at least it used to be. Like the boat, it was weathered from so much time at sea. The crow's feet on either side of his eyes were deeper than Dylan's, as were the lines that ran alongside his mouth. This was a version of Dylan that'd been exposed to the harsh elements for decades, but it was impossible not to recognize his very own features on someone else's face. "Will."

"So you do remember me after all this time!" Will stepped forward and clapped his twin on the shoulder. "I wasn't sure. It's not like I was getting any postcards."

"I can't imagine I'd have enough to say to fill one up," Dylan sniped back.

Will whistled at the scruffy dog, who was excitedly running up and down the beach now, pausing every few seconds to sniff a shell or a rock. "Come here, Barney. This little dude has been quite the companion while I've been out on the water, you know. He clung to me like a barnacle when I first got him, which is where he got his name. He's pretty great."

"Good for you, Will, but that doesn't answer the only question on my mind right now. What are you doing here?" Dylan folded his arms across his chest. How long had it been since he'd seen his twin? Ten years, at least. That night had been brutal, and he had no interest in reliving it.

"What? A guy can't come back and visit his family?" Will gave him another playful slap on the arm and laughed. "Let's let bygones be bygones, brother. None of that old saltiness really matters these days, does it?"

"I think it does, actually. Most people who start a massive fight at their brother's Alpha initiation ceremony don't have the hubris to come back." Dylan had pushed those memories from his mind as much as possible, choosing to concentrate on what was currently happening in his life and on building a continually better future for his clan. Dwelling on his grudge with Will wasn't going to make that any better. Even now, though, his body remembered the anger and frustration he'd felt at Will's actions that night. His black bear twisted inside him, for once more interested in a fight than tracking down Stacey.

Behind him, Dylan heard doors opening and closing. He heard footsteps on deck stairs and then muting when they hit the sand. He wasn't the only one who'd spotted the boat. The other clan members who lived along the shore had seen what was happening and had stepped outside. Dylan could sense them arcing out behind him, standing solidly by their Alpha. Though he knew he could handle this threat alone, this gave Dylan that much more confidence in his actions. "You're not welcome here, Will."

Will shook his head and grinned, unabashed by his clan's show of force. "Listen, maybe things didn't go so well in the past. We both said some things we didn't mean and did some things we regretted. But I've had a lot of time to think while I've been out on the water. There's something incredibly therapeutic about it, you know. You get a different perspective on the world, one you just can't find when living in a regular house and going about your business like everyone else."

Ross took a step forward. "Time doesn't exactly erase the past."

"Ross! My man! You're looking good these days!" Will enthused despite his younger brother's demeanor. "I get what you're saying, but I'm a changed man. I'm not the same person who sailed away from here all that time ago."

"Then why come back at all?" Dex asked, an echo of the question that Dylan had been trying to get to the heart of.

Will spread his hands, palms up. "It's hard to explain, really. All that time out at sea, there were some days I barely made enough to feed myself. You really start thinking about things. It was hard, I'm not gonna lie. But it was also really good for me. It made me realize just how much I'd been missing out on by not being here with the rest of my clan. With my family."

It was all very heartfelt, but Dylan couldn't say he felt good about it. They could question Will all day and listen to his vague answers, but he wanted to get down to brass tacks. "So what do you want? Exactly?"

"Nothing much," Will replied easily. "Like I said, I'm not the same person I used to be. I just want a chance to hang around for a bit and get to know you all again. I'll bet none of us are really the same, right? We're not the young hotheads we were back in the day, ready for a fight around any corner. Think of it like a family reunion."

Every muscle in Dylan's body tensed as he considered this idea. Will had been incredibly destructive to their family bond, not only when he'd reacted as he had that fateful night but even before. As a boy, Will had always had an underlying sense of anger and resentment. Was that the kind of thing that ever went away? Did people actually mature enough to let things go ?

He had, in many ways. Dylan's mind quickly moved to Gwen, Lila's mother and his high school sweetheart. Their differences had driven them apart, and he'd felt pretty bitter about that for a while. Now, though? Gwen was living her own life and doing well. The two of them had both moved on. Was that the same sort of feeling he could have for his brother?

Jace let out a small grunt. Dylan glanced at him and could see the uncertainty in his features. None of his brothers trusted Will any more than he did. There was no good reason to, blood or not. Twins or not.

"How are Mom and Dad doing?" Will asked into the moment of silence. "I'm sure Mom will be plenty happy to use all her life coaching skills on me. She was always trying to give me advice, you know, in that gentle way she has. I should've listened!"

Damn it. Dylan knew his parents would be thrilled to see Will truly reformed and returning to the fold. They'd probably run some errands, so they weren't there for this. What would Dylan tell them when they got back? That their prodigal son had returned, only to be summarily rejected with no more than a few minutes of discussion? That wasn't the kind of Alpha that Paul had trained Dylan to be. His job was to look out for the well-being of everyone in the family. Barbara truly would be thrilled to see Will return, ready to finally listen to all the advice she'd gleaned from her profession. Will was their son, just as much as the rest of them were. Could Dylan turn him away that easily?

"There's an extra room at the clanhouse." There was always room at the clanhouse, and Will had known that. What else could he do? "You need to take the dog in through the garage. There are some old towels out there you can wipe him down with before he comes inside."

"Sounds like a plan. The Brigham Brothers, all back together again. I love it." Will eagerly led the way to the clanhouse.

Dylan gave his other brothers a look before falling into step beside Will. He'd spend some time with his twin and feel things out, see if anything had truly changed. In a sense, it was no different than his self-assigned mission of learning more about Stacey. Granted, he already felt he could trust the human woman more than his own brother. Time would tell.