Chapter 12: Elias’s Brothers

CLARA

Elias turned his head toward the door, and I swear I heard him say “~come in~,” but not out loud. Like the first dream and the hum during the wolf attack yesterday, I “heard” it in the back of my head.

And the knocker must also have “heard,” because the door opened, and in poured six shirtless men, just as large as Elias.

The cabin instantly became ~loud~. The six newcomers laughed and joked amongst each other, punching and bumping each other playfully just like the wolves on the lawn last night.

“~Calm down and eat,~” I heard again.

The whole crew descended on the mountain of food. They paid me little attention at first, fully occupied by jostling each other to get the best pieces of bacon and the biggest pile of potatoes.

I, meanwhile, stared in awe as Olympus’s football team surrounded me. I was in straight woman/gay man heaven with all these muscular, tanned, bare-chested men on every side.

Once they’d all gotten their food and sat down to eat, ~that~ was when their attention turned to me. The room grew silent aside from the sound of chewing, but my brain was alight with voices.

“~So you weren’t lying, Elias! Never thought you’d actually find her.~”

“~Of course he wasn’t lying. Why would you accuse our alpha of being a liar?~”

“~Because he’s been looking for his mate for, like, fifteen years!~”

“~She’s pretty. I’m jealous.~”

“~She can’t hear us, right? Because she’s never shifted?~”

“~Shut up, all of you!~”

Elias’s voice thundered through my head, and the rest of them fell silent.

I did everything in my power to appear nonchalant as I finished my breakfast without acknowledging anything I’d heard.

I’d officially gone crazy—I was sure of it—and began wracking my brain for a way to afford a visit to the psych doctor.

The silence was interrupted by the largest of the men. His eyes sparkled a deep blue, and his blond hair hung in his eyes.

“Well, aren’t you going to introduce us to your friend, Elias? No? Well, then I’ll do it. I’m Benson, and we are Elias’s brothers.”

~Of course Mr. Manly would have six brothers just as hot as him!~

All of the men smiled and waved at me, their faces bright with curiosity.

I waved back, suddenly feeling a bit shy. “I’m Clara,” I choked out.

A chorus of “Hi, Clara!” echoed in the small space.

“It’s nice to meet you, but I really should get going. I’ve got an article to write before Monday.”

I hopped up, hugging Elias’s shirt around me, and went to fetch my clothes from the bathroom where I’d left them—only to spot them folded on the couch at the base of the stairs.

Curious, I picked them up and discovered that not only had Elias folded my clothes…he had ~washed~ them!

Listen. I know I shouldn’t be falling for the weird man in the woods who might be a werewolf. But this man! Two amazing meals ~and~ he’d stayed up late to do my laundry? That’s more effort than Grant put in during our entire marriage.

I hurried into the room I’d slept in, changed my clothes, and made the bed because hell if I was going to be a bad guest after everything he’d done for me. My mind was so full of unanswered questions that my brain felt like a hive of bees.

But until I was sure I wasn’t going insane, I ~wasn’t~ asking Elias my insane questions.

I turned around to exit the room and almost ran into a mountain of muscle.

I squeaked, and Elias chuckled.

“I hope you’re not leaving because of them?” He gestured toward the dining room. “I know they can get a bit rowdy, but they won’t hurt you.”

“No,” I insisted, shaking my head with vigor. “I just really do need to get back and get my article written. Plus, I should be closer to town if there are any updates on the possible serial killer. My coworker Jason and I are in charge of it.”

“There won’t be any bodies today.”

My entire body flashed cold.

How could he possibly know that? Unless…

No. Not Elias. The killer couldn’t possibly be the mild-mannered—if gruff—man—I was falling for.

“You don’t have to rush home. It’s Saturday.”

“I also need to clean my apartment and do laundry. So I really do need to go.”

Lame excuses, I know.

But Elias considered me for a moment, nodded, and left the room.

When I came back downstairs, Elias and his brothers were sitting around the table chatting softly.

“Elias?” I called out, and he looked up to acknowledge me. “I’m going to head home now. Thank you for…well, everything. I shouldn’t need any more information for my article, so I’m out of your hair.”

“My pleasure,” he replied, his golden eyes locking on mine and once again stealing my breath. “We will meet again.”

Though it sounded more like a threat than a promise, the words echoed in my chest and made my heart pound.

I nodded and sprinted out the front door, climbed into my car, and sped up the driveway as if I were being chased by a pack of wolves.

Again.

***

On Monday morning, I stepped into the office with a nearly completed article and a million thoughts still buzzing around my head.

Sleeping on the floor again after a night at Elias’s house had been torture, and I was stiff all over.

I dropped my laptop and purse on my desk and sat down heavily in the chair. I then proceeded to stretch in every possible direction in an attempt to get my stupid spine to unlock.

And—just my luck—I happened to spot Jason’s legs approaching as I bent so far forward that I was nearly folded in half, with my hair brushing the floor.

“Trying to get a new perspective or something?” Jason asked, barely keeping the chuckle in his voice under control.

I shot up so fast that I smacked the back of my head on the underside of my desk, doubling my embarrassment.

“Yup. Though it seems the world isn’t any less confusing when seen from the bottom up,” I replied, rubbing the back of my head.

He placed a cup of coffee on my desk—and not a free one from the break room.

I looked at the drink quizzically and then transferred the look to Jason, who shrugged nonchalantly.

“Thought you might be getting tired of the crappy coffee from the ancient office machine, so I grabbed you one while I was getting mine. I don’t know what you like, so I got you the current special. It’s a cookie mocha or something—I don’t even remember.”

Well then. “Cookie mocha or something” definitely beat the office econo-beans. I took a sip and immediately felt the high sugar content slap my brain.

“Thanks. I’ll definitely be on a sugar high until lunch with this sucker,” I said, turning the chair to power on my laptop.

“So, how did the second interview with Forest Man go? Did you get everything you needed?”

He took a large gulp from his own cup and set it well out of the way.

I smirked, recognizing the signs of someone who had learned the hard way not to put their coffee right next to their computer.

I nodded and shifted in my seat. “Yeah. The article is pretty much done now. We’ll see what Perkins has in store for me next.”

Jason narrowed his eyes at me suspiciously. “You don’t look like you’re telling the entire story, Parks. Either you’ve written the best article of your entire career and you’re afraid someone will steal your thunder if you talk about it, or something has you all twisted up in knots.”

How he managed to read me when I was doing my best to be a book encased in concrete, I had no idea.

I shot him a side-eye and shook my head.

“I’m perfectly fine. And while I always turn in the best article I can, I don’t see this winning any Pulitzer Prizes. It’s just an artist spotlight.

“Now the ones about the Karen on Fifth who keeps setting her neighbor’s garbage can on fire, and the PTA asking for more costume donations for the winter musical? Those are real gems. They’ll get me promoted for sure.”

“Riiiight,” Jason replied, leaning back in his chair and spinning a pen between his fingers. “What’s up with that guy, anyway? Do you think he’s the serial killer? Or is he just your typical reclusive artist type who eats nothing but organic vegan food and paints wolves all day?”

I rolled my eyes but didn’t quite know what I actually thought about the question.

“He’s…complicated. But he ~definitely~ doesn’t eat anything but organic vegan food.”

“Complicated?” Jason asked, one eyebrow creeping so far up his forehead I started to wonder if it was going to float away.

“What do you mean, ~complicated~? I thought you’d for sure tell me I was being an idiot and ~of~ ~course~ he’s not a serial killer. Complicated sounds like drama, and you don’t strike me as the kind to be into drama.”

“I’m definitely not. But this is different. He’s…intense, not dramatic. And there’s just something about him that I can’t get out of my head. He feels familiar, like we met before.”

I knew I sounded like an insane person, but it also felt good to get some of these annoying thoughts out of my brain. They’d been spinning up into a hurricane, and releasing some of the pressure lowered my stress considerably.

But Jason actually seemed mildly concerned by it. “Familiar? That doesn’t sound ominous at all. So, did he tell you his tragic backstory yet? Or is that ~second~ date material?”

He waggled his eyebrows, and I began to blush despite myself.

I glared at him but then softened.

“It’s not like that, I swear. But he fought off a wolf for me, Jason. ~With his bare hands.~ A freaking massive one! And he was so calm about it that he might as well have been chasing pigeons out of his yard.”

Jason’s playful expression drained away, leaving behind extra pale concern.

“Wait, what? You saw the wolves? Are you okay? You didn’t get hurt or anything, did you?”

He stood up and began examining me, which made me a little bit self-conscious.

“I’m not hurt, I swear. But it ~was~ terrifying! And Elias just stood there in front of me without even flinching. It was like he knew exactly what he was doing and had done it a thousand times.

“Almost like…they were his pets or something. And it’s not the first time I’ve seen them, either. The damn things chased me out of the woods last time I was there.”

I’d never seen Jason at a loss for words, but he sat in his chair with his mouth opening and closing wordlessly like a fish.

“That’s…not normal,” he finally managed. “Clara, that’s super not normal. Normal people don’t fight wolves ~and win~. And they don’t keep wolf packs as pets, either. Are you sure this guy isn’t keeping a secret out there?”

“I mean, everyone has their secrets, Jason. You, me, Elias, everybody. And I was just there for work, not to pry into the inner workings of his life.”

I don’t know why I was feeling protective of Elias all of a sudden, but maybe it was because I suspected he really ~was hiding something.~

Something big.