Hagen, Lynn - Torem [Zeus's Pack 4] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting ManLove) (9 page)

“Oh, that’s just great. Did you tell him the side effects of your drug?” Sidney wanted to grab tight to Torem and hold him while he relived whatever torture he was going through, but the claws made him stay back.

“I was so lost in being reunited with Torem, I forgot. He hugged me in the store.” Chey pulled Sidney back when Torem’s head snapped around, his eyes boring into them. “Uh, I think we should get Zeus.”

“Good idea.” Sidney hauled ass out of the room and down the hall, Torem close on their heels. “You could have warned him, me, anybody. How the hell do you forget something like that?”

“Just find Zeus. He’s probably the only one who can help Torem now,” Chey yelled as they flew down the stairs. “Normally I guide a person through the process, but Torem is too far gone for that.”

“Fuck,” Sidney groaned when he saw Dino talking with Zeus by the front door. Now his mate would never want to be with them once he saw the state Torem was in.

“Zeus!” Chey yelled as they ran across the foyer. “Contain Torem. He’s having flashbacks.”

The Alpha stepped forward, shoving Dino behind him. “How?” Zeus thundered over Torem’s unearthly screams.

“He touched me. Now he’s reliving his pain in order to heal,” Chey shouted back as he ran behind the large shifter.

All four watched as Torem shifted into his wolf form and ran through the open door. This was a nightmare! “Come on, Dino. We have to catch him.” Sidney didn’t care what was going on. That was his mate and he was in pain. Neither heaven nor hell was going to stop him from helping Torem.

Zeus tossed his keys at Sidney. “Go after him. I’ll gather the men and follow. We’ll find him and bring him home, but think of your safety if he becomes a threat to you or Dino.”

All Sidney heard was blah, blah, blah. His vision had narrowed to Torem and finding him. “Did you see which way he took off?” he asked Dino as he ran around the trucks, hitting the fob to see which one was Zeus’s.

“Give me those.” Dino grabbed the ring of keys from Sidney’s hand and found the truck.

Holy shit, it had to be specially made for the Alpha. The damn thing was a monster truck. “Get in.”

Sidney was grateful for Dino taking charge. His brain was scattered, and he couldn’t think. He climbed up and nearly had to jump from the running board to get in. Dino started the thing and soon they were ripping down the back roads.

“What happened?” Dino asked as he picked up speed.

“You’re already wigging out about everything else. If I tell you, you’ll never want to be with us.” The thought of this construction worker sitting next to him and not being in his life physically hurt Sidney.

“I didn’t say I wasn’t going to be with you two. I said I need time to absorb all of this. Now tell me what happened, Sidney.”

Oh god, Sidney had to focus. Hearing his name on Dino’s lips made him forget what they were doing. He needed a fucking Red Bull. They always cleared his mind and helped him focus.

“Sidney, will you tell me what happened?” Dino asked in a gentler voice.

“My best friend Chey has this thing he can do. Well, he’s my brother technically since he was raised with my family. He’s Torem’s real brother though. I was kinda jealous when I found out—”

“Sidney, what happened
tonight
?”

“Chey touched Torem. Torem began to heal from the inside, started having flashbacks, and turned into a raving maniac. He chased us down the steps, and by the way, that was Chey screaming like a girl, not me—”

“Sidney,” Dino said in warning.

“Well, you know the rest. You were standing right there.” Geez, what did Dino want, a play-by-play account?

“What do you mean Chey had this thing? What thing?”

“You have to promise not to tell anyone.”

Dino gaped at him. Why did Sidney think the look was sexy?
Now is not the time,
focus.
“Promise me.”

“Hell, I promise. Now tell me.”

“Chey is an Omega and can heal superficial wounds and deeper ones, the ones that affect your soul.”

“A spiritual healer?” Dino snorted, letting Sidney know he was a
big
nonbeliever.

This was not going well. “I guess you could say that. I never thought of it that way. He found out he could do it when—”

“Focus, Sidney. What did he do to Torem?”

“He hugged Chey, and now he’s reliving his past in order to heal from it.”

“Sounds like voodoo shit to me.”

“You can say what you want, but you saw him. He…Hey, is that him?” Sidney pointed to the field to their left. A Grey wolf was limping only ten feet from the road. Had Torem hurt himself?

Dino pulled the truck over and put it in park. “I want you to stay in the truck. If it isn’t him, then I don’t want you getting hurt.”

“And what are you, Superman? You’re human. That wolf will tear you to pieces if it isn’t Torem. I should go.” Sidney grabbed the door handle, not believing that Dino thought he could take on a shifter. The guy had to be nuts.

“No. You’re not going out there.” Dino grabbed Sidney and pulled him back. “I can handle him.”

* * * *

Dino got out of the truck and slowly approached the wolf, his hands down at his sides. He cautioned Sidney to stay back when the hardheaded man walked closer. If this wasn’t Torem, he didn’t want Sidney to get hurt.

A ripple of unease ran down Dino’s spine when the wolf gave no acknowledgement. He started backing away, his arms held out to stop the wolf from advancing toward Sidney.

A whine broke from the wolf, and Dino lowered his body, getting to his knees as he held one hand out. “Come here, Torem.” Relief washed over him when the wolf lowered his head. The wolf limped to him, and Dino folded his arms around Torem. “Are you okay?” He rolled his eyes.
Did you think he would answer you?

“Why isn’t he shifting back?” Sidney asked as he approached the two.

“I don’t know anything about shifters, but we need to get him back to my place.” Dino used every ounce of strength in him to lift Torem in his arms and carry him back to his truck. Torem lay there limp, almost as if he had given up.

He wondered what Torem was reliving. It had to be pretty painful to send the guy running off the way he did.

And that soul-wrenching scream? Dino would remember that sound for years to come if not the rest of his life.

Even though he was confused as hell about what was going on, no one should be left alone to deal with something that was obviously painful. Dino didn’t have it in him to do that.

“I wasn’t going to leave.” Dino tried to set Torem’s mind at rest. He gently settled Torem on the seat and got in, Sidney jumping in on the other side.

“You are beautiful, Torem.” Sidney brushed the fur along Torem’s back with his hand. “Can you fetch?” he teased.

Torem lifted his head and laid it on Sidney’s lap, staring up at him.

“I don’t think he’s in the mood to play, Sidney.” Dino pulled the truck off the shoulder and turned it around, heading back to his rental. Now how the hell was he going to get a Grey wolf into his house without anyone noticing?

“He smells off. Do you think it’s because of his flashbacks? He doesn’t smell like Torem.”

“I have no clue what a wolf is supposed to smell like. Maybe he fell in something.”

Dino was good when it came to the bedroom. He was good when it came to leadership on the job. He sucked when it came to his personal life.

After everything that had taken place, he still wanted the two men. Maybe he was nuts. And why did Sidney keep asking him questions about shifters, like he fucking knew?

“I’ll run in and grab a blanket to wrap around him.” Sidney jumped out when Dino pulled into the drive.

“Just grab the one off of the couch,” Dino called out to Sidney. He prayed Mickey and Quinn were asleep. That’s all he needed was his friends to see this.

“Here we go.” Sidney ran back to the truck with the throw blanket. He grabbed it from Sidney and tucked it around Torem. Sidney opened the truck door as Dino slid out, pulling Torem along with him gently. How the hell did he get caught up in this?

Dino carried his load into the house and straight to his bedroom. Thank fuck Mickey’s loud mouth wasn’t around. “The second door on the left,” he instructed.

Sidney opened the bedroom door as Dino carried Torem over to the bed and laid him down.

“Do you think he’ll be okay?” Sidney asked as he paced around Dino’s bed.

“Let him get some rest. We can go grab a bite to eat in the kitchen.” Dino reached down and petted Torem’s soft fur. He was amazed how small Torem was in wolf form when he was so tall and massive as a human. “We won’t be far,” he reassured the wolf.

“Get some rest, Torem. Howl if you need me,” Sidney said through tears.

“No howling. I don’t want Mickey or Quinn to wake up.” He wrapped his arm around Sidney’s shoulder and gave a light squeeze. “Come on.”

Dino led Sidney from the room, closing the door quietly as Torem slept. The wolf looked exhausted. He would be, too, if he ran that far. Torem was fucking fast.

* * * *

Tristan looked around the room and wondered who those two men were. It really didn’t matter. His deranged boyfriend was no longer chasing him and he had a warm place to sleep. It sucked for whoever Torem was. The guy was probably still out there looking for these two.

Maybe he should tell them he wasn’t Torem.

Chapter Six

Zeus didn’t like the fact that no one could find his Beta. They had searched half the night, but there was no sign of Torem anywhere. Eagle, Taz, and Sully were still out looking, but so far there was no word from them.

“I need to discuss something with you guys that’s highly sensitive and I would prefer it stay in this room.” Zeus watched Chey shift around in his chair uncomfortably. He really hated to do this to the guy, but after what just happened to Torem, he felt obligated to at least warn the other shifters in his household.

“If you haven’t met Chey, he’s Torem’s younger brother.” Zeus splayed his hand toward the nervous-looking man.

“No shit.” Jaxxon sat forward. “I thought Jackson killed our families when he took us from our homes.”

“I was hidden away.” Chey spoke softly.

“Are you sure that’s his brother?” Memphis asked.

“Enough, I didn’t ask you in here to interrogate him.” Zeus knew these men would be suspicious. It was their nature after their life under Jackson’s thumb. “He has a gift I want you to be aware of.”

“What kind of gift?” Caymen slowly asked. “What exactly is wrong with Torem?”

“Yeah, you never did say why we were looking for him. If he’s gone rogue, I think we have the right to know.” Ian looked around the room at the rest of the soldiers, his stance uneasy. “I’m not going to hunt him just so you can kill him, Zeus. He’s our brother.”

Zeus knew all the men felt kinship toward each other, and this was not how he wanted the discussion to unfold. He needed to get them quiet. “I don’t want another word out of any of you until I have said what needs to be said and you hear Chey’s side of this,” he commanded.

The room became silent, and Zeus continued. “Chey is Torem’s real brother. He has a gift of healing. Chey can heal superficial wounds and wounds that go much deeper, the kind that eat away at your soul.”