WyattAs Beau anticipated, coffee and breakfast were on the table when I got back. Bri was dragging and in her world. By the scent of her, her cycle had started. She had made oatmeal and flavored it with brown sugar and cinnamon. The boys trudged up the steps of the back porch chattering about building the hen house. They stopped staring at her back where she had already put her nose back in the book. I shook my head at them not to mention it. It was one thing to pass by girls and women at school and around town but living with a woman and becoming accustomed to all of her scents was a learning curve for them. I just hope they can be tactful."Eat up boys," she said, gesturing to the stove with her cup. "What's on the agenda today?" I asked Bri, scraping the bottom of my bowl. She tucked a bit of paper into the page she was at. "Chicken coop, project notes, and laundry, and when I say laundry I mean you are each taking a bag and filling it with whatever nasty nonsense you got hiding
WyattThe sound of her voice soothed The Beast, each night she curled up with us and read and I found myself settled and content in those moments my mind on the story and not what couldn't be. Her cycle had finished and her mood picked back up. I watched her work with the boys on their homework without frustration and confusion, always relating things to something they could grasp if they did not understand. I even had messages from the boy's teachers about the strides they were making. However, there was one from Bastian's Algebra teacher that had me fuming. She on more than one occasion had asked him if he needed help with anything to which he had just shrugged off and disappeared.It was Friday the boys clamored off the boat and the smells of Bri's cooking wafted up from the house."Claude, Lou, go put your bags up and wash up for dinner. Bas went to follow."Not so fast Bas," I said, clamping him on the shoulder. He stilled and looked over his shoulder at me wearily."What's up W
Beau,I came back after a long nearly two weeks of dodging Alpha and Beta holes and wanting to rip out throats. The second I walked into the house seeing Bri leaning over Bas as she guided him through some school work eased everything. I almost even failed to notice the valley I saw down her sports bra as she bent over him, her wild waves loose around her shoulders, covering scars that shouldn't be there. She hadn't left yet, she wasn't some dream and I was totally hogging her on the couch tonight with books. I wanted to know what she'd been reading when I was gone. Curious if she'd admit to reading the trashy historical romance I left mixed in the pile.After we demolished the pot of gumbo and rice she had cooked on the stove and things were cleaned up she settled on the couch and Wyatt left to make those territorial rounds he did each evening I plopped next to her on the couch moving her feet across my lap. And so we read and she told me about the books she had read steering clear
WyattThe Beast blocked me out as I tried to force my way through the chaos of energy discharging throughout our territory. My panic and distress were nothing to him as he glanced over our shoulder, towards the island, towards Bri, before he pursued his trekking around the swamp. The boys whined in protest, Beau elicited a short-lived snarl before The Beast projected his aura forcing everyone to comply. Heads down, ears slack, tails tucked. Whatever had overrode our orders in the past, was not at play here tonight. What did he know that I did not? The Beast more than liked Bri, she must not be in the danger I feared. Through The Beast's sight, I could see the waves of energy pulsing out from our island. I could feel a pull and vibration in our chest as the magnificent cadence of power ebbed, it radiated out into the farthest reaches of our domain, but the beacon of that tether tied to her, our temporary sanctuary.Finally, the monster eased his dominant aura and headed home, the earl
BeauI felt like I was in a trance, as I looked down at her. Each freckle, every relaxed line, and curve of her face. Why did I fucking care so damn much? I shouldn't care so fucking much. Where had this worry and need to ensure she was completely safe come from? She wasn't mine to worry over. With Wyatt home she was his responsibility, not mine, he had that legendary chemistry with her, though unspoken, it was obvious, even though nothing would ever come of it, because my brother was a stubborn fucking idiot, I couldn't compete with that, I didn't want to compete with that. She was just my friend, my cousin's, no, my brother’s epic, cast aside, love interest, nothing more to me but a chosen part of the family. I cherished her for that alone, she made us all better, more whole.As Wyatt wrapped his towel around his waist, I stood with her, ready to pass her back off. He just walked past me, gesturing for me to follow. Boo loyally came after as we went back to the house. He pulled back
Bri a few months laterCurled with Wyatt on a chilly early December morning, my breath matched with his, our heartbeats syncing. Too much, too close, but it felt so good to be held, to be cared for, to belong…as the weeks went on I found I couldn't control it anymore. Every touch, every stray caress branded me too deeply, they burned me with a yearning, one I hadn't been sure I would ever develop, after years of unsolicited touching, forced proximity, and the knowledge of what awaited me at the hands of those men.But these men, I undeniably trusted, were good men, men that the vengeful wraith I was, didn't deserve. It didn't stop me from wanting them. Stupid selfish whims that they were. I teetered on a precarious edge. Beau, or Wyatt, it didn't matter anymore, Wyatt was my sanctuary, a well of brute strength with a humble jaded heart, a leader that provided absolute acceptance from that heart. Yet, Beau had become my safe harbor, the one I confessed my past to, the one who listene
Bri “Oh fuck! Shit!” Beau's voice hollered, pulling me from the depths of my thoughts. His shout trailed from the dock to the side of the house. “Sug, come get this fucking bird!” He cried out, moving towards the back as I quickly dried my hands chuckling to myself. I made my way to the back porch where Wyatt was leaning up against the fence of the coop, a silent laugh shaking his shoulders as Beau shot by, chased by ‘Oh Henry,’ the now grown rooster. He was a proud bit of living poultry with bright shining feathers. However, it seemed he and Beau didn't see eye to eye. When Beau was out of earshot we found ourselves laughing out loud, at his expense. Boo sat at my feet thumping her tail as Bastain walked through the house with a large box, followed by Claude and Louis each carrying one of their own. “What's this?” Wyatt asked. “Oh, Zoey sent me some things, it's a surprise,” I said, my excitement bubbling up. “Can Y'all please go put them in the shed?” I asked. I snapped the t
Beau I heard their voices as I rounded the front of the house, having left our secret on the boat so I could smuggle it in without her knowledge. Usually, they were tucked in bed reading at this point or on the couch waiting for me, as I too loved listening to her read. It had begun to rain and the pitter patter of it on the tin roof drowned into the background as I honed my hearing to the pair.Their intensity was evident in their postures, arousal wafted off them in thick waves, scenting the air. I could not pull my eyes from them. My instincts were on full alert as Beta to my Alpha, but also in concern for her boundaries. This was a moment I'd been waiting for so long to happen between them. What would I do if my Alpha crossed a line she wasn't ready for? I watched his fingers flex as he drew her closer to him. Then he did something I never expected… he bared his neck. The razor gleamed in the light, as she took her time with each stroke, as if she had to battle herself for compo