Chapter One

Travis

Bobby narrowed his eyes on me as if I didn’t remember when he carried around his comfort ‘blankie’ as a kid and fought over it with his triplet sisters.

“Where is she?” Bobby growled before I even had a chance to kill the engine.

The Wolftail 2.3 was a rental from a rodent company up at the airport. I rolled down the window before he gave into his wolf’s nature and left a dent in the hood that I’d have to pay for.

“Who?” I asked despite knowing exactly who he was talking about.

I could never give anything over that easy. My carrier said I was hardheaded. My sire said it was a character flaw. Mostly, it was from spending so much time around my twin. Sure, we talked, but most of the time we didn’t even need to use our twin link to know what the other was thinking. Didn’t Bobby have that with his sisters?

“How about I get in and we go for a drive to clear things up before you come into my village?” Bobby asked.

His voice was calm, but his eyes shifted to that of his wolf. Mine coiled his muscles tightly, but I wasn’t here to fight Bobby. Sure, I could probably kick his ass, but that wasn’t about to get me officially signed onto Starscale Search.

“Buckle up, pup,” I said, nodding toward the passenger side door. “Don’t shed inside. It’s a rental.”

“You do remember that I’m older than you, right?” he arched a brow as he slid inside the car.

“Then how do I remember the blanket? Did you have it around that long?” I asked, whipping the car out of the parking lot and back onto the road.

Bobby rolled his eyes at my driving, and I suppressed a laugh. The road leading to the highway was empty and we were unlikely to pass any other cars.

“I’m not sure you do,” Bobby shrugged once we hit the highway a minute later.

“I do.”

“Probably from Duke. The Knight side of your family has a unique way of sharing memories.”

“Is that what we’re here to talk about? The Knight side of my family?” I asked.

“Where is she?” Bobby asked.

“Who?” I tossed the question back at him.

“Do we have to play this game?” he sighed. “Travis, I love you. I love all my fucking crazy relatives, but I have kids and a mate at home. I have a village to run. One day, you’ll get it. I hope. Not a village, but at least enough kids to drive you batshit. Where is Mildred or Trista or whatever name she wants to go by right now?”

“Not with me,” I said, jerking my head toward the empty backseat.

“Are you two fighting?” Bobby asked.

“It’s complicated.”

“I have two of them. I know it’s complicated. I’d kill for my sisters, but I’m glad they’re not here all the time. We all needed space to be ourselves.”

“I am myself. I’ve always been myself. Don’t know how to be anyone else,” I grunted.

“Really?” Bobby huffed.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I barked back.

“You wanted to make that video making fun of Scott? That’s not you, Trav. I know better. You’re annoying. You want to record every minute of life like you’re afraid you’ll forget and I get why. I get it, I do. Lee lost his memories once.”

I tightened my grip on the wheel and opened my mouth to tell him to keep my carrier’s name out of his, but stopped short.

“Your sister just takes things too far,” Bobby said a second later. “It’s one thing to want to record or broadcast your own lives. That’s fine – if the people around you don’t care, but that was different. That’s not your style.”

“I did what I did,” I shrugged.

“I’m not saying change the past. I’m asking where she is and why you’re here,” Bobby said, glancing out the window.

“She’s not here and I’m here because I am.”

“I’m going to assume you’re here to apologize. You always did that as a kid too. Mil—Trista would do something to someone and you’d be the one to apologize because you were there. It doesn’t have to be like that forever.”

“I’m not going to bad mouth her, if that’s your aim,” I said, taking a u-turn on the empty highway.

“It’s not and going back already?” Bobby shook his head.

“What? You want me to take you on a date or something. What were you expecting?”

“I don’t want anyone bad mouthing your sister. Least of all you. It doesn’t help anything, but pointing out when someone’s wrong isn’t bad mouthing them.”

“Can I see Scott or not? Or are you going to make me fight you in the parking lot or something? I got places to be after this and things to get done.”

“Are you okay?” Bobby asked, as the highway gave out to the road that led to Heartville.

“About what?” I asked him.

“You’re not terminal or something? Coming back all this way to apologize to Scott?”

“I’m not terminal,” I shook my head. “Look, there’s a lot going on in the world, cousin. A lot to remind me that perhaps I shouldn’t leave my younger brother hating me for the rest of time. Perhaps, if something would make one of us drop dead tomorrow, I don’t want him to think I’m an eternal jackass. Trista can do whatever she wants. She’s as grown as any of us. She’s my sister and I would die for her, but this isn’t about her. This is about ---” I stopped.

Some secrets weren’t mine to tell.

“Is Trista okay?” Bobby asked, lowering his voice.

“She’s fine.”

“Good. You make it sound like someone is dying.”

“Trista isn’t dying any faster than the rest of us.”

“Don’t fight with Terrick or his brother. I can’t let them team up on you and kick your ass and I really don’t feel like getting in a fight today. Stariel woke me up at three this morning to ask me who made the first pizza.”

“First of all, I can handle myself. Secondly, what did you tell him?”

“I said probably Frost and Juda. I don’t know who made the first pizza. I’m not even sure my dad would and he’s the historian. So, I just gave him the most Hemlock answer I could think of and who’s to say that they didn’t make the first one?”

“I think your kid was just hungry.”

“Kids are always hungry.”

“How’s Scott been?”

“Well, he’s been a new father for about a month. Four kids and all. Dakota’s going to have his baby soon.”

“You think it’s a bad idea for me to be here,” I said, turning off the engine.

“No, I know it is. Look, I’ll let Scott, and the others know you’re here. Can I let them know you actually want to work things out or would that be a lie?” Bobby asked.

He didn’t trust me. He smelled like I was about to drive him into an ambush.

“Yeah,” I said, leaning back in the seat.

“I’ll see what I can do, but when we fuck up this badly, no one’s under the obligation to even listen to our apologies,” Bobby said.

“I know. If Scott wants me to leave, I will,” I said and meant it.

“At least that smells like the truth,” Bobby said getting out of the car.