Hale turned and changed back too. “Well? Want to explain that one, guard dog?” McKinley flushed. “I, ah. I'm sorry. I reacted to a perceived threat.” Hell, his cheeks felt on fire. He hadn't planned on screwing up yet again. For the first time since arriving at the compound, he hadn't offended anyone or caused undue harm yet today.
He'd intended a harmless session with some weights to relieve stress. Paige was spending time with Doc, and the others were playing cards in the main house. He'd needed a break.
Then he'd seen a larger, stronger male attacking his mate. He hadn't thought about it. He'd simply reacted.
“It's okay.” Hale sighed. “You know, as much as it goes against the grain to have one of these estrogen moments, I think we need to talk.” McKinley grinned. Hale had a decent sense of humor. Around his mate, McKinley either found himself laughing or growing uncomfortably hard. “Lay it on me.” He took a seat on a nearby weight bench and waited.
Hale raised his arm to run a hand through his hair, distracting him. Damn, the Circ had muscles. Though leaner than McKinley, Hale clearly possessed the strength of a warrior in his normal form. His biceps bulged, his chest heaved as he sighed again, and the sweat beading on his naked chest had McKinley wondering how he'd taste. Too bad he still wore shorts.
“I want to know how you became a Circ.”
“What?” He focused on Hale's tight abs, trailing his gaze farther down, centering on the fabric molding to his thick cock.
“Hey, Robbie, my eyes are up here, bud.” Hale chuckled. “You know, that would sound much better if I was a chick with huge breasts. You know, like Paige.” They both grinned, before Hale grew serious once more. “Tell me how you became a Circ.”
“Why?”
“Because I think it's important. Why shouldn't I know about you? Hell, you can ask me any damn thing you want. I'm an open book.”
“Right.” McKinley snorted. “So what? You want my life story?”
“Something like that.” Hale sat down on the mat across from him, resting back on his hands, his legs stretched out in front of him. Just two guys hanging out at the gym.
Talking.
The extreme normalcy of the moment was surreal.
“Shit. Fine. Nosy bastard,” he muttered. “My dad was an officer in the Army. He was fed the typical vaccines before going overseas.” He scowled. “Except they weren't typical. Pearl fed him the very first batch of EP12, the Circe serum. And the bastard drugged my mother as well. She was full of the crap when she had me.”
“Are you serious?”
“I wish I wasn't.” He exhaled heavily, missing his family. A throbbing started at his temple that he tried to rub away. “I don't know what Pearl expected, but it wasn't me. I was totally normal back then. Had hair like yours, maybe a shade lighter. Green eyes, normal skin and bone structure. We were a happy family, except for Elliot. My mom didn't like him. Said he used to give her the creeps.”
“I can imagine.”
“Yeah. Well, a condition of my dad's service was that he have regular checkups with Elliot. My dad wasn't into standard ops. He did some classified work, so he never questioned his trips to see Dr. Pearl, at least, not at first. But when he started getting faster and stronger, when my mom started developing an ability to see and hear things beyond what was normal, they wondered. And then she…and there was…” Fuck, why couldn't he think?
“What's wrong?”
“I—my head really hurts. I don't know.” It felt as if a migraine consumed him.
“What happened to your parents?” Hale asked softly, pushing.
Forcing himself to think about his dad and mom again, McKinley pushed the pain aside. “We were driving. It was such a nice day, beautiful up in the mountains. I loved it there. We had a summer house just outside of Asheville. On our way to, somewhere.” The burning in his brain flared again. “They crashed and died. I survived. And turned into this.”
“You were how old?”
“Nineteen. Satisfied?”
Hale's eyes narrowed in concern. “What aren't you telling me? What really happened that day, Robbie? Why do you get these attacks when anyone mentions Caitlyn? Why, when I mention your parents, are you getting them again?”
“I don't know.” He tried to stand, wanting to get away from the pain, from the questions. Flashes of Caitlyn's face filled his mind's eye, but in them she was younger, laughing, then crying.
His father drove the car and sang horribly. His mother laughed, chattering with excitement to have her son home from college. Colleen had missed him so much. And wouldn’t his sister be so surprised when they all arrived as a family?
Worry filled him. If they didn’t hurry, they’d be late picking her up and taking him back to school. He had an exam in the morning, but he hadn’t seen her in months. Already sixteen. He couldn’t believe his baby sister…
“Can't think. My head,” he moaned, falling off the bench to the ground. His beast had suppressed his memories for so long. But McKinley the man struggled to know. No.
Can’t risk. Not survive. Can’t attack the enemy, not until we’re stronger.
“No, Robbie. Let it out,” a softer voice than Hale's said. Her voice. “What were your parents' names?”
“No. No more,” he rasped, as flashes of their faces struck him with the force of blows. God, he missed them. Missed playing baseball with his father, their fishing trips, the long talks they'd had. He missed his mother's warm hugs, her pride as she watched him throw for a touchdown at school, and the funny notes she'd scrawl into his notebooks. He missed his sister's hero worship. The way she'd sneak into his room at night and demand a story. How she'd steal his toys and try to replace them without his knowing. He loved her so much, and he didn't like it when she met with the strange doctor at that place that set his teeth on edge.
“Remember how pretty Mom's hair was? How strong Daddy was when he'd lift us in the air?”
He knew that voice. Knew her scent buried under that of a foreign male.
“Let it go, Robbie,” Hale said, placing a hand over his forehead. Like magic, his mate's touch eased his burden. Safety in solidarity. The ache disappeared, but the pictures of his sister didn't.
“Open your eyes, Robbie. I'm right here.”
He looked up at Hale, at Doc and Roane. At her. Caitlyn Chase. Roane's mate.
Robert McKinley Chase's sister.
Chapter Thirteen
Memories rushed in where before pain held sway. Hale and Doc pulled him to his feet, but McKinley couldn't stop staring at his sister.
“You've grown,” he said stupidly.
She laughed through tears. “So have you.”
Roane held her close, comforting his mate. And something in McKinley eased. No longer just McKinley or Robbie or that freak Circ. He was Robert McKinley Chase. And he had a sister.
He'd always known in the back of his mind the details of his early life, before the change that had turned him into what he was today. But the particulars had never seemed very important. He couldn't turn back into a normal male. He'd assumed his family had died, and his beast took care of the rest. His survival had depended upon being strong. A man with no past, and only the future to look forward to, had few vulnerabilities.
Hale gently pushed him forward, toward his sister.
“You used to steal my baseball cards.”
“And you used to hide my Barbies.”
She met him halfway, and in her, he saw his mother. An overwhelming sadness took him by surprise, and he had to blink to clear his eyes. Caitlyn didn't seem to mind the tears streaming down her cheeks as she sniffed and sobbed.