Chapter Twenty-Two

"Are we taking out the wicked uncle as well?" Storm was jolted from his quietly relaxed state, watching his mate nibbling on his grilled pork ribs. The men were all gathered around the grill. The shifters had finished eating and Flint provided some honey beer, which everyone appreciated.

"Yeah, I wanted to talk to you about that," Cyrus said as his smile slipped, replaced with a grimace. "We managed to clone Pax's missing phone…"

"You did?" Pax's head popped up. "Did I miss any messages?"

"Nothing important, from the looks of things. There was a message from someone you have listed as Marybelle complaining you were an utter bastard for missing lunch with her on Monday, and then a second text saying something about how a horrible stench is coming from your apartment. She actually said, ‘Are you dead? Answer me, are you fucking dead?' That text was two days ago."

Devon, Calvin, and Levi all laughed and even Flint looked amused. "Like, how's he going to answer the phone if he's already dead? She'd be better off using a Ouija board." Shaking his head, Flint took a sip of his drink.

Storm didn't think it was funny. "Precious, did you leave food on the counter the last time you were at your apartment?"

Snorting, Pax shook his head. "I don't need food in my apartment. If I ever wanted something to eat I'd zap it or buy it. Saves on dishes that way."

"Ooh, I like that idea," Calvin said, his eyes gleaming. "You can zap up a meal for all of us any time you like."

"No one's forcing you to eat my grilled meats," Levi snarled. "If you want something different, cook it your own damn self."

"Focus. Let's focus." Storm said quickly. Levi and Calvin rarely fought but when they did anyone with an ounce of common sense knew to get out of the way. "Think guys. What's the first thing you think of when something stinks that bad, you can smell it from outside an apartment door?"

"Devon when he's used the bathroom?" Flint teased, nudging the bear who was sitting next to him. "You know I love you really. But yeah. Who could be dead in your apartment, Pax?"

"Potted plants?" Pax looked genuinely confused. "I lived alone. I rarely even had visitors. I don't even own a pet and if I did, I wouldn't leave it alone for a week or more."

"There are other messages," Cyrus said. "One from a guy you have listed as ‘Wolfie9' – does that ring any bells? He wanted to meet you at ‘the place,' is how he phrased it. That was four days ago."

"Wolfie9? Are you holding out on me, babe?" Storm glanced at his mate who now had bright red cheeks.

"Closet alpha with a nine inch... Nothing to worry about. I doubt he even knows where I live. Your cock is better, if that's what you're worried about." Pax pointedly looked across at Cyrus. "Anything from my uncle?"

Storm smirked. Pax was adorable when he was flustered. But his grin dropped when Cyrus nodded.

"A fair few of them. They started the day you got taken by the bear, demanding your presence at his house for an important meeting. I'm guessing that had something to do with you becoming a legal adult. Then, there were texts such as ‘where the hell are you,' ‘have you moved house without telling me,' ‘give me your new address,' and things like that.

"But then, and this is where it gets interesting, it was as if he was trying to cover his ass if anyone found Pax's phone. In the last three days there have been texts saying things like ‘I'm worried about you,' ‘why haven't you come to the house,' and ‘is everything all right.' The sort of thing anyone reading the messages would assume meant he was genuinely concerned about you, if they didn't scroll too far up in your message thread."

"No ‘sorry for standing you up on your birthday,' I notice." Pax picked at the plate he still had on his lap. "He could've zapped to my apartment anytime he liked if he was genuinely worried about me."

"Maybe he did," Devon suggested. "Maybe it's him stinking up your apartment now."

Python stood, smoothing out the folds of his leather pants. He handed his drink to Cyrus. "I think I'll just pop in there and have a look. If it's not a dead pixie, I'll just snap a few pictures and come back. That will save us all driving over there for what might be a half empty pizza box on the coffee table."

"You're just going to zap into my apartment?" Pax's eyes widened. "Er…I mean, of course you can. I'm just not sure if I made the bed, or…you know what? Just ignore any dirty laundry on the floor."

"See. Your mate isn't the tidiest of beings. It could just be moldy pizza or maybe the Marybelle on your phone is just nosy and pushy, trying to get you to respond. Be back in a minute." Python dropped a kiss on Cyrus's head and the air around him shimmered as he disappeared.

"I barely ever eat pizza." Pax was back to picking the last bits of meat off his grilled ribs.

"Apparently you can get sweet ones now, did you know that?" Calvin said. "I'm sure they'd tempt a pixie like you."

"Oh yes, and have you ever tried dessert nachos, Pax?" Flint asked. "They have the tortilla chips, but they are topped with things like caramel and fudge."

"Chocolate hummus is my favorite." Devon rubbed his stomach. "The recipe I have has all the regular stuff, but you put melted chocolate in instead of the tahini and it is yum. I don't even eat it with anything. I just dip my finger in it."

In that moment, Storm wanted to hug all of his friends. Sensing his pixie needed a distraction while they waited for Python, they started coming up with more sweet foods that frankly didn't sound good, but Pax was clearly interested. But Storm couldn't help thinking as the food ideas got more and more outlandish, what was taking Python so long? Looking across at Cyrus he could tell the man was thinking the same thing.