The Finding (61 page)

The evening had
been perfect, though a bit taxing for him. His own wolf was
ecstatic to finally have its mate by its side and was determined to
stake its claim. Cassie’s wolf had shown no restraint either,
flipping its tail, giving come hither looks, nipping playfully then
rolling on the ground. It had taken all his willpower to hold the
wolf back. In her human form, Cassie wasn’t sure if this was what
she wanted and so Bryan was determined to respect her wishes...even
if it half killed him.

It was nearly
dawn when he finally convinced her wolf to allow her to transform
back. Cassie had seemed exhausted and disoriented with only the
vaguest memories of running across the expansive lawns of the
Estate. She claimed that after that, everything was a blur. In his
own mind, Bryan thought her memory lapse was likely a good thing.
Her wolf’s wanton behaviour would probably have embarrassed
her.

Now they were
tucked in bed together in Cassie’s old room. Childhood mementos
were still scattered about; posters on the wall, a few school books
stacked haphazardly on the desk. Apparently, Mrs. Teasdale had
insisted that everything be left as it was, convinced that her Miss
would come back. Bryan lifted one corner of his mouth. The cook had
been correct. Miss Cassie had returned, but would she stay?

He stared at
Cassie again. A woman, yet still a child in many ways due to her
unusual life. She had so much to learn; how to be a wolf and part
of a pack, how to enjoy life without the constant fear of
discovery, how to love, how to make love... An ache grew in his
heart as he thought of the future. Would she be able to accept him
as her mate? Could he overcome her earlier prejudices? He hoped
so.

Oh so
carefully, he moved to wrap his arm around her and slide her close.
He buried his face in her hair, inhaling her unique scent, letting
it wrap itself around him. This was home, here with Cassie. He
closed his own weary eyes and sighed contentedly before drifting
off to sleep.

*****

The two Alphas
and their mates lounged comfortably on the leather sofas that
flanked the fireplace in the sitting room at the Greyson Estate. A
fire burned cheerfully in the hearth, chasing away the morning
chill and a tray of bagels, croissants and various spreads, as well
as coffee, tea and juice were set on a low table within easy reach.
The heavy velvet curtains had been pulled back, allowing the early
spring sun to shine into the room, brightening the rich, dark
panelling and highlighting the interesting array of wolf
memorabilia that Anthony Greyson had amassed over the years.

They’d all
stayed at the Estate last night. It had been a full moon and the
grounds had provided ample room for them to enjoy the occasion.
Presently, they were waiting for Bryan and Cassie to make an
appearance; the young couple had still been out frolicking when the
rest of them had gone to bed. To pass the time, they were studying
a picture of Kane in his wolf form, Franklin had retrieved it from
its hiding place and re-hung it over the mantel where Anthony
Greyson had originally displayed it.

“Damned fine
picture I took.” Ryne mused as he stared at the photo through
narrowed eyes.

“You had a good
subject to work with.” Elise murmured from where she was tucked
into Kane’s side.

“It’s hard to
believe that so many events stem from the taking of one picture,”
Melody mused, her hand on top of Ryne’s as he rubbed slow circles
on her stomach. His other hand was busy holding a cup of coffee out
of her reach.

Kane grunted.
“We’re just lucky everything worked out as neatly as it did.
Between Marla and Aldrich, that picture could have led to the
destruction of us all.”

“But it didn’t.
And in the end, Marla redeemed herself.” Elise had a sad faraway
look in her eye as she spoke, as always too tender-hearted.

“Her wolf
redeemed itself, but I’ll never believe that Marla actually did.”
Ryne took a swig of his morning brew, his face set in a scowl.

“But aren’t
they one and the same?” Melody looked puzzled.

“Usually, but
not always.” Kane sighed regretfully, staring at the contents of
his mug. He took a sip and slowly shook his head. “I feel partly
responsible. As Alpha I should know what’s going on with the
members of my pack, but I never realized... Little wonder Marla
never wanted to go on a run. I’m guessing she’s one of those
strange cases where the human half never integrates with the wolf
inside. Their personalities weren’t compatible. It’s sort of like
twins. They might look the same, have the same parents, but they
turn out totally different from each other.”

Melody cleared
her throat and sat up straight, looking nervous. “Speaking of
parents...”

Kane flashed
her a look and smirked causing Ryne to frown. When Kane smirked it
usually meant trouble for him. He dropped his hand from Melody’s
stomach, set down his coffee and shifted so he could see her face
more clearly.

“As you
probably know...” She paused and darted her eyes around the room’s
occupants as if worried about their reception of her statement.

Ryne raised his
brows. “Know what, Melody? Spit it out.”

“Ryne, leave
your mate alone. She’ll speak when she’s ready.” Kane rebuked him
softly then settled back and looked at Melody with calm
inquiry.

Melody glanced
at Kane, flushed and looked down. Ryne felt himself bristle as
jealousy shot through him. First Melody blocked their mental link
and now she was looking at his brother and blushing! He fought to
hold back the rumble that arose inside him and glared at Kane. Kane
grinned evilly, but said nothing.

Taking a deep
breath, Melody began again. “As you know, Lycan Link has been
searching for my father and... They’ve found him.”

Ryne snapped
his head back back to look at Melody in shock. This was her big
news? It was interesting, but... He frowned. Something wasn’t
right. What was going on?

Elise sat up,
smiling broadly. “Mel, that’s wonderful news! Isn’t it, Kane?” She
glanced up at her mate who seemed to be trying to hold back his own
smile; the faintest hint of which could be seen in the corners of
his mouth.

“And who might
the lucky man be, Mel?” Kane asked smoothly, casually folding his
arms behind his head.

“It’s...” She
started to say, paused to study Kane carefully and then her mouth
fell open as she gave an exasperated gasp. “You knew! Here I’ve
been stewing over this for the past few days, not sure how to break
the news, and you knew!”

“Knew what?”
Ryne and Elise spoke in unison.

“About my
father!” Melody stood up, hands on her hips, obviously fuming. “How
dare you not tell me?” She glared at Kane.

Kane threw up
his hands in mock surrender. “Don’t be mad at me. I found out the
same time you did, but figured it was your place to share the
news.”

“Oh.” Melody
seemed to calm down. “Well...that’s okay then, I guess. Did you
know about the mix-up, too?”

“Uh-huh. It
gave me a few bad moments before I realized the mistake and moved
to have it corrected.”

Melody sat down
again. “It gave me some bad moments, too. I had almost a week of
thinking that��”

“What?” Ryne
broke into the conversation unable to wait any longer. “Melody, I
swear if you don’t tell me what the hell you’re talking about this
very minute, I’ll—”

“Kane’s my
brother.” Melody delivered the news deadpan, her eyes focussed on
Ryne’s face.

Elise could be
heard gasping and Kane chuckling, but Ryne barely noticed. He
stared at Melody in shock, his entire body tensing as the
implications made themselves known. “But he can’t be... I mean,
he’s my brother and you're my...” Suddenly, he paused and frowned,
then slumped back in the sofa as understanding dawned.
“Half-brother. He’s your half-brother and my half-brother, but we
don’t share any of those halves.”

“Right. Kane
and I share a father while you and Kane share a mother. But you and
I share absolutely nothing!” Melody beamed at him.

Ryne shook his
head and ran his hand over her stomach. “I wouldn’t say we share
absolutely nothing...”

Melody smacked
him lightly and then turned to Kane. “Hi, brother!”

“Sis.” He
nodded at her then grinned. “Are you going to tell Ryne about the
part that nearly gave you a nervous breakdown?”

“Oh! Right!”
She looked at Ryne a bit sheepishly. “I know I’ve been a pain in
the rear lately, standoffish and—”

“Not letting me
touch you.” Ryne finished the statement, a bit of a scowl on his
face.

“I know and I’m
sorry.” Melody cupped his face and gave him a quick kiss. “But you
see, Lycan Link made a mistake and switched you and Kane, so for a
period of time I thought you and I shared a father and were
half-siblings.”

“You and me?”
Ryne let out a low whistle. “Now that would have been a
complication.”

“Damned right.”
Melody ran her hands through her hair. “I didn’t know what to do,
who to tell. I tried to talk to Bryan, but he was busy finding
Cassie and then he told me to talk to Daniel since Daniel had grown
up in the pack with you...”

“Why didn’t you
just ask me?” Ryne tried to keep the hurt out of his voice. Why
hadn’t Melody turned to him?

“Don’t you see?
I just couldn’t because if it were true, then we couldn’t be
together and then there was the baby...”

A sheen of
tears covered her eyes and Ryne pulled her close, pressing a kiss
to the top of her head. “I understand. What did Daniel say?”

“Not much at
first. Honestly, it’s so hard to get information out of you guys.
But eventually he started talking about your parents and how your
family would come and go and well... I started to realize that
certain things didn’t line up with what my mother had told me about
my father, so I contacted Lycan Link and found out they’d
discovered the mistake and were correcting their records and now
you and I aren’t related anymore!”

Elise laughed.
“That’s quite a tale, Mel. But why was Kane contacted and not
Ryne?”

A guilty flush
came over Melody’s face. “Er...Ryne was, but I kept sneaking into
his office and checking his e-mail. When a message came in from
Lycan Link, I deleted it.”

“Melody!
Reading your Alpha’s e-mail is not allowed!” Ryne scolded her.

“Well it’s your
own fault. Your password is my name. Even I can hack into your
account when you make it that simple.” Melody rolled her eyes and
Ryne tried to growl, but ended up laughing.

He stood up and
scooped her into his arms. She squealed rather satisfactorily and
he grinned.

“Ryne Taylor,
what do you think you’re doing?” Melody squirmed in his arms.

“Taking you
upstairs to have wild sex with you, of course. And you’ll
re-establish our mental link first. I miss sharing orgasms with
you.” He nuzzled her neck and nipped lightly.

“Ryne!” Melody
shot an embarrassed look at Elise and Kane.

“Great idea,
Ryne.” Kane stood up and pulled Elise to her feet leering at her
playfully. “Should we emulate them?”

Elise opened
her mouth to answer, but Kane’s cell phone rang. He checked the
number and grunted. “It’s the Chicago pack finally getting back to
me. Every time I call, I get the Alpha’s granddaughter on the
phone. And then she says the old man is too busy to talk to me! If
Sam Harper tries to put me off one more time...” He growled
discontentedly as he flipped the phone open. “Ryne, don’t be too
long. If we can finally arrange a meeting with the old man, I want
to be able to jump on the chance.”

Sighing, Elise
stuffed her hands in her pocket and moved to stare out the window.
Ryne couldn’t make out exactly what Elise was saying, but she was
definitely muttering angrily under her breath.

Melody nibbled
on his neck and he switched his attention back to her pushing his
concerns for his brother and Elise to the back of his mind.
Whatever, their problem, they’d find a way to work it out.

*****

Cassie walked
down the hospital corridor reading the room numbers as she passed
each door. Four-forty-six, four-forty-seven, four-forty-eight.
There it was, Kellen’s room. She paused and took a deep breath, her
hand in her pocket touching the papers she had carefully printed
off the internet earlier that morning. Blinking her eyes rapidly
she held back the threatening tears, damning her raw edged
emotions. What was wrong with her? She’d thought this out
carefully; she owed Kellen this much… She reached for the door
handle.

Bryan’s hand
settled over hers, stilling her movement. “I still think you
shouldn’t go to see him.”

She looked up
at him over her shoulder. His face was devoid of emotion, just the
flexing of a muscle in his jaw giving away the fact that he was
displeased. Bryan felt she shouldn’t be visiting Kellen, that she
owed the man nothing. Earlier, when she tried to explain she wasn’t
just going out of duty, but out of friendship, he’d turned away,
his hands clenching into fists.

“I can go by
myself,” she’d said. “I know you don’t care for Kellen. There are
several cars in the garage that still have current plates. I’ll
drive myself.”

But Bryan
wouldn’t hear of her going alone and so they’d driven to the
hospital together. It had been a tense ride, the atmosphere thick
between them. She hadn’t known what to say and Bryan had been
moody, almost angry. Any topic she thought of seemed inappropriate
and so she’d said nothing at all, twisting the ends of her scarf in
her hands. It was a deep green and matched her eyes, or so her
uncle had said. She’d found it in her closet just that morning and
had ended up crying over it; it was the last thing he’d ever given
her. Tracing the tear stains with her finger tip, she’d sighed and
leaned her head against the window, staring at the passing
scenery.