Az winced. Gabriel might be harsh but he was usually right. It was just that they were always being attacked. It didn’t matter if they eliminated a threat—and they had destroyed a big one when Theo and Faith had sent the demons back to their own dimension—another one popped up to replace it. Since finding their preordained mates seemed to be part of the ‘game plan’ in ending the destructive chaos their father, Kendrick Kane, liked to drop on their heads, sometimes literally, it seemed important to Azriel that he get his version of the mating thing figured out.
Besides, it was no secret that Gabriel had proclaimed several times that he had no desire to find his mate and found the whole thing to be a huge waste of time. He preferred battles to romance. Az often wondered exactly how tough a woman was going to have to be to survive mating with his second oldest brother.
“I don’t think discussing Azriel’s mating issue is going to mean the destruction of the pack, big brother. Theo jumped to his defense. “We can’t really work through any of this without Tristan and Cullen with us anyway.”
Az nodded his head. He shouldn’t have let Theo defend him to Gabriel. It only made Gabriel think he could continue to tell him what to do. He laughed, causing Gabriel to roll his eyes. Who was he kidding? They’d been doing this routine for at least eighty years; it wasn’t likely to change anytime soon. In his human form, Az preferred to live a more cerebral life than his kick-ass-and-ask-questions-later brothers. The others seemed to understand. Gabriel never did and Az knew enough to know he never would.
That didn’t mean he didn’t love him. Gabriel had just beat down a door with a battering ram to get him out of a burning lab. There was a bond between them, whether they’d ever really see eye to eye or not.
As they passed through a clearing in the woods, he could see their home up ahead.
Every single window in the Westervelt lair was illuminated by light, creating a bright orange aura over the landscape. Much like a giant hotel, the lair had been constructed to house the entire pack until it was safe again for them to make their own homes elsewhere on the island. Az wasn’t sure, if today was any indication, that they’d ever get to that point.
In any case, it didn’t feel like home to him. As far as he was concerned, he’d had two homes in his life. The first had been the cottage he’d shared with his parents. He’d lived there with his brothers and, as it had turned out although the magic hadn’t worn off enough for anyone other than Cullen to remember her, their baby sister. The second one had been the building they’d called ‘The Institute’ until Tristan had burned it down.
He shook his head. Thinking about both of those things only gave him migraines.
How was it possible—his mother’s strong magic aside—to simply forget one’s sister?
Could he just be bespelled into forgetting Rex or Michael one day? It was an appalling reality he wished he didn’t have to live with.
The other place he’d thought of as home had burned to the ground during Tristan’s mating issues. Cursed into trying to kill his new love, he’d torched the Institute his father had built and they’d all watched it turn into ashes around them. The memory made him angry, and not at Tristan who had suffered more than any of them when he’d come back to his senses and realized what had happened, but at Kendrick and the pain—no, the hell—he’d put them all through.
Maybe his mating would finally put an end to Kendrick. Gabriel stalked forward, leaving the Theo and Azriel behind.
Azriel moved to follow but Theo placed a hand on his shoulder. “Let him go ahead. I want to talk to you—to the two of you.” Theo’s eyes stared down at the female wolf in his arms.
It was a small gesture but a nice one. She could understand them—he was pretty sure that was true. He couldn’t even begin to dwell on the idea that she couldn’t. It was bad enough she was trapped in the wolf body and he was mated to a woman whose human side, or name for that matter, he didn’t know. What if her brain was actually gone, eaten by the ‘wrongness’ of her creation?
“Are you paying attention, Az, or did I lose you to your inner musings again?”
He smiled. “Sorry, man, I know it’s annoying.”
“It’s not annoying, it’s just part of the intricacies of talking with you. It’s not as if I can blame you,” Theo’s gaze fell to the she-wolf again. “You have a lot to think about but stay with me for a minute.”
“You’ve got my attention.”
Theo sighed. “I would say this to you telepathically except you want her to hear what you hear and I’m going to respect that. Faith would flip out if I ever tried to leave her out of conversations she should hear.” Az watched in amazement as Theo actually smiled at that thought. How was it possible that he would like the thought of Faith getting angry?
He might never understand relationships.
Theo continued. “Anyway, I’m worried about Gabriel.” Az turned to watch their brother up ahead. “I know he can hear us. This isn’t going to come as any surprise to him and maybe it’s time someone started saying this aloud.”
Why was this the first time he was hearing that there was some kind of problem with Gabriel? “What’s been going on since I’ve been down in the lab?”
“What hasn’t been going on since you went down in the lab?”
Enough. “Okay, all sarcasm aside, just tell me.”
“Tristan wanted to send Gabriel to find our sister.”
“So why did he end up sending Michael?”
“Ever since Gabriel and I got back from Arizona and our encounter with our father…Gabriel has been a little ‘off’. He’s very violent right now. It actually worked to our favor in getting you out of the lab just now but he goes from zero to crazy in under two seconds.”
This part of being in a family didn’t work so well for Az. There was sure to be an appropriate thing for him to say at the moment and he didn’t have a clue what it was.
Want me to tell you what to say?
In no way did he want that. No, you’ll just start cursing and screaming, which even I know is not necessary at the moment.
His wolf argued. I would not.
He cleared his throat. “Then why isn’t Tristan doing something about it?”
“Tristan is off-island with Ashlee and the kids. Cullen and Summer went too. They brought the baby with them, too. Technically, I’m in charge only Gabriel doesn’t seem to remember that.”
Now Az saw where this was going. “Okay, then what you’re telling me that I’m slow to catch onto is that when Tristan gets back he’s going to have to bite the bullet and rank us?”
That would put Az way at the bottom of the pecking order of Kanes. Maybe right above Rex, maybe below him depending on just how pissed off Tristan currently was at their youngest brother.
“Well that, yes, but also that I want you to be careful with Gabriel. I know you’re less volatile than the rest of us, only I’ve been where you are. You’ve found your mate; however, for obvious reasons, you can’t mate her. That’s going to make you really nuts. Gabriel is going to taunt you. Please don’t kill him.”
“You know, even as a wolf, I could never take Gabriel in a physical fight.”
Oh bullshit. We could, if you ever let me loose.
He ignored his wolf.
Theo raised an eyebrow. “You’ve never been mated before.”
“Are you telling me that mating increases physical strength and capabilities?” He was going to have to try to stay objective about this and observe the changes in himself scientifically. What was it about the mating exactly that brought on the physical alterations?