Thoreau - Chapter 12: Chapter 12

Beta Ty's birthday party was amazing!
As soon as he arrived at the alpha house, Beta Ty found out that he was mates with Alpha Cole's little sister, Peri, who was a very pretty girl. We were all so happy and excited for them, although Bubba said it was hardly a surprise.
After that, Wayne and Arch and I played in the pool with their little brothers for a while, then we got out and ate cheeseburgers and ice cream and cake. My little belly was so full, I was afraid my belly button would pop out!
When I told Arch that, he said that couldn't happen from eating too much, which relieved me.
All in all, I was having a great time until Alpha Jay ruined the whole thing! He turned on his voice and his guitar with a pair of giant speakers, and I had to clamp my hands over my ears. Whimpering quietly, I crouched down and looked for a place to hide.
"What's wrong, Reau?" Wayne knelt down next to me.
"Too loud," I sniffed. "Scary!"
Wayne looked up at Arch for a second, then they each took one of my elbows, pulled me up, and led me into the alpha house. It was a lot quieter in there, and I finally uncovered my ears.
"Where are we going?" I asked.
"The man cave," Arch said. "Best room in the alpha house."
"A cave? In the house?" Excited, I grabbed his hand and squeezed it.
"It's just an expression for a room full of stuff guys like to do," he said as he swung our hands back and forth.
"Of course, girls like to game, too," Wayne chuckled and took my other hand in his, "but guys definitely outnumber girls around here."
Arch opened a door and motioned for me to go inside the room. There was a TV that took up an entire wall, lots of cushy couches and pillows, big bean bag chairs, and a separate area with skee ball, a big air hockey table, pinball machines, and a bunch of old arcade games. I only knew what those were because I saw them in a magazine Binda gave me. It was all about old game systems, and I remembered thinking that the one called Pac-Man had looked like a lot of fun.
It seemed to be a very simple game: Eat the dots and fruit before the ghosts could get you. How hard could that be?
"What do you want to play?" Wayne smiled at me and sat on one of the couches, then patted the space beside him as Arch went over to the giant TV.
"Pac-Man!" My eyes lit up.
"Pac-Man? Are you serious?" Wayne tilted his head and his eyebrows scrunched up.
"Yes, please!"
"Oh. Okay. Yeah, sure. We can try that if you want. Do you play Minecraft?"
"What's Minecraft?" I asked as I sat next to him.
"Dude! We are so teaching you!" Arch sat on my other side, tossed Wayne a funny-shaped thing, and handed one to me. "You're going to love it!"
I looked at the plastic thing he gave me, then looked over to see how Wayne was holding his. Copying him, I looked back at Arch, whose pretty green eyes were watching me.
"Have you played any games besides Pac-Man before?"
"I've never played Pac-Man, but I read about it in a magazine. I've played lots of other games, though. Hide and Seek and Candy Land and—"
"I meant, video games."
"Oh. No. Leo said he would teach me sometime if I wanted."
"Well, Arch and I are going to beat him to it. This is a controller." Wayne held up the plastic thing. "You use it to move around and do actions in a game."
"Where's the game at?" I looked around for a board or cards or something, but he pointed to the giant TV, which was now split in half with a different picture on either side.
They spent the next hour or so teaching me the game and showing off the worlds they'd created. It was so much fun! You could 'splore and build as much as you wanted, or switch to fight monsters.
I could have happily played that game the rest of the day, but Wayne was a good boy and 'membered Pac-Man.
"Our brothers keep a bucket of quarters for these old-school games," he said as he led me over to the arcade area. "See if you can find it."
"Bucket of quarters?" I tilted my head.
"Yeah, each game costs a quarter to play. You get so many lives, then you have to put in another quarter. Every few weeks, the guys empty the machines and dump the quarters in a bucket to reuse them."
Nodding, I went from game to game to see if the bucket was sitting on the floor until Arch's voice stopped me.
"Found it!" he yipped and ran over with a red bucket in his hands.
I followed him over to the Pac-Man game and listened as he showed me what the little handle and all the buttons did.
"Do you want to try it or do you want to watch one of us play first?" Wayne asked.
"I will try it." I took a quarter, dropped it into the slot, and put one hand on the joystick and the other over the buttons.
"Just so you know, there are sound effects," Arch warned me.
"Is it very loud?" I took my eyes off the screen to look at him.
"Not really." He shrugged.
"We'll grab a pair of headphones for you if it's too loud," Wayne offered.
"Let me hear it first." I turned back to the screen and hit start.
It was a little loud and the "wonka-wonka-wonka" noise over and over was annoying, but I concentrated really hard and tuned it out.
The game had a pattern to it, a rhythm I found comforting, but it sped up after each board, which made it hard to keep away from the ghosts and eat all the dots.
I did pretty well until the orange ghost trapped my Pac-Man in a corner.
"He ate me!" I gasped, which made Wayne chuckle and Arch snort, and I looked over at them. "Is that what ghosts do, WayWay? Eat you?"
"WayWay?" he giggled.
"Your nicky name, silly!" I told him with a grin, proud of myself.
"I love it! Thanks." He patted my head, and my grin grew bigger. "Anyway, ghosts scare you to death. Well, try to. It's monsters that eat you."
"Gelo would never let a monster even get near me, but there is a ghost in our attic. Leo says it won't hurt me, but it scares me sometimes with all the noise it makes at night."
"A ghost?" Arch raised his eyebrows and twisted his mouth down at the corners. "Somehow, I don't think there's a real ghost in your attic, Reau."
"Yes, there is!" I insisted. "A real ghost! It goes ooo-ooo in the middle of the night!"
"How long has this been going on?" Wayne asked, tilting his head.
"I think it's always lived there. Leo can hear it too, but he sleeps with a white noise machine running at night. It's not as loud on his end of the hallway, anyway, but it sure is by Bubba and Gelo's room. I don't know how they sleep through it!"
Wayne burst out laughing for some reason.
"That's not a ghost, Reau," Arch said and rolled his eyes.
"It is so a ghost, Archie!"
That was the wrong thing to say. His eyebrows slammed down and pulled together over his nose, and he bent down so we were eye to eye.
"Don't call me that!" he snapped as his hands clenched into fists. "I mean it! Just don't!"
With a whimper, I scurried away from him until my back hit a wall, then I slid down it and curled up in a little ball.
"Dude! You scared him!" Wayne growled as he crouched in front of me. In a soft whisper, he said, "His mom used to call him that before she died, so he doesn't like anyone else saying it. It's okay. You didn't know. Don't feel bad."
"He's mad." My lungs felt like they weren't getting any air in them, even though my chest was going up and down super fast. "Archer is mad at me."
"Yeah, but he'll get over it in a second." Wayne reached one hand toward my face, and I flinched, expecting a smack. "Hey, hey, hey! I won't hurt you. I would never, ever hurt you, Reau."
I sniffed and crammed my thumb in my mouth. I didn't like this. I didn't feel safe here anymore.
"I want my bubba!" I cried as tears streaked from my eyes. "I want to go home!"
"Arch, get your ass over here and fix this!" Wayne growled.
"No, no, no!" I sobbed harder. "He's mad! He'll hurt me!"
"He won't hurt you, I promise. I make him mad all the time and he never hurts me."
"Reau?" Archer knelt next to Wayne, then lifted his hands and reached for me.
Knowing what was coming, I hid my face in my knees and threw my arms around my head to protect it. My brain was broken as it was; I needed to protect what little bit of it worked right.
"I'm sorry!" I wailed. "I'm sorry I was bad! I'll be a good boy! Just please, please, no ouchies!"
"Oh, Reau." Wayne's voice sounded funny, but I was too scared to look up and see why.
Then hard, strong arms picked me up, and my whole body stiffened. What were they going to do with me? Did the alphas have a cage in their house? Were they going to lock me in it?
Surprisingly, Archer sat on the floor and cuddled me in his lap. His one hand wrapped around my waist and the other cupped the back of my head and pressed my face against his chest.
"Shh, now. Shh. You're okay. You're safe," he murmured as he rocked me back and forth. "I won't hurt you. I'll never, ever hurt you."
Eventually, I felt safe enough to take my thumb out of my mouth, raise my head, and lean away from Archer to tug my collar up to wipe my face, but a handful of white tissues appeared in front of me before I could.
"Here, Curls."
I slowly reached out to take it, not sure if Wayne meant me when he said curls.
"Blow your nose," he said and rubbed his hand up and down my back.
After I did what he said, Archer took my face in his hands and tilted it up. I met his eyes for a second, then dropped my gaze to his chin.
"I am so sorry, Reau. I didn't mean to scare you. I should have explained and not lost my temper."
"It's okay, Archer," I whispered.
"No, it's not okay." He dropped his forehead against mine. "I scared you, and I hate myself for doing that."
Feeling bad for him, I wrapped my arms around his waist and squeezed him.
"Don't hate yourself, Archer," I told him as I rubbed my face into his chest. "That's not good. Leo hates himself, and Zia Bea said that's hurting him worse than anything the demon did to him. I don't want you to be hurt like that."
"You're such a sweetheart," Wayne murmured as he laid his head next to mine on Archer's chest, then wrapped one arm around my back and the other around Archer. "You can be our sweetheart bestie."
"Me? I can be your bestie?" My mouth dropped open as I stared at him.
"Yep. Arch is the grumpy bestie, I'm the fun bestie, and you're the sweetheart bestie."
"Hey! I'm the fun bestie, too!" Archer protested, then raised his head to look down at me. "Do you want to be our bestie?"
"Yes, yes, yes!" I bounced up and down and clapped my hands.
With a groan, Archer shifted me off his lap and into Wayne's arms. I looked at him to make sure he wasn't mad again, but Wayne snickered as he hugged me, so I figured we were good again.
"The three of us are going to have so much fun together!" Wayne said. "We're going to tell everyone not to mess with you—"
"Or they'll answer to us," Archer finished.
"Thank you, WayWay. Thank you, Archer. I'm so happy!" I put my arms around Wayne's neck and hugged him.
"Listen, Reau, come up with another nickname and I'll be fine with it," Archer promised. "Or at least call me Arch again so I know I'm forgiven for scaring you."
"I forgive you." I bit my bottom lip for a second, then whispered, "Can I call you ChiChi?"
I quickly curled one of my arms over my head, but kept the other around Wayne's neck. Wayne had been friends with Arch for a long time, so I knew he wouldn't choose protecting me over letting Arch give me an ouchie, but maybe Arch wouldn't hurt me too much if there was a risk of hurting Wayne, too.
But instead of punching me, he grabbed my wrist and slowly pulled my arm away from my head.
"I love it." Archer kept pulling my arm until it was draped around his neck. "I am your ChiChi. Only yours, no one else's."
Wayne
I knew what Arch was doing. He was subtly telling me not to dare call him ChiChi, and I rolled my eyes at him before I gave Thoreau a soft smile.
"And you're our Curls," I told him. "Only ours and no one else's."
That made him giggle, and the knot of tension in my chest finally loosened up enough for me to stop cursing Arch out in the link.
He is beating himself up over it, Ocean pointed out, and I sighed, knowing he was right.
Arch had a quick temper just like his older brother, Cole. Their dad said they got it from their mom, Kelly. He used to call her Fire and Ice because her moods swung between furious and chill with not much in the middle. He joked that she came by it naturally since she was half Haida, an Alaskan tribe, and half Maori, the indigenous people of New Zealand, and what else could you expect from someone who had such extremes in her heritage?
While their sister Peri inherited their dad's even temperament, Cole and Arch had mostly caught their mom's fire - and Arch hated that about himself.
When we were younger, he'd blow up over nothing and hurt someone - either their feelings or their face - and then regret it. After a lot of anger management therapy, he was better and had a number of strategies he used to ground himself, but occasionally something would trigger him, and his temper lit up before he even realized it was happening.
Like just now with Thoreau.
You are going to have to try harder whenever he's around, I linked him, calmer now that Thoreau had stopped shaking. He's got his own triggers because of his stupid parents, and aggression is clearly one of them, which isn't a surprise.
I didn't mean to do it. He sounded so sad and defeated, my eyes stung again. I can't tell you how much I regret what just happened.
I know. Look, dude, we'll keep each other in check. You make me aware of what I don't notice, and I'll help you with your temper.
As if that's any different than any other day, he scoffed, and I let out a relieved sigh to hear him sounding more like himself.
"Can I go see Bubba now, please?" Thoreau asked.
"Of course, baby boy." I got to my feet and held out my hand.
"I'm not a baby," he muttered.
He put his hand in mine and let me pull him up, and I held on to his hand even after he was standing.
"You're our baby. Right, Arch?"
"Yep. You're our baby now, Curls."
"I am fifteen. I'm a big boy!" Thoreau scowled up at us as we headed back to the pool.
"You can be a big boy and our baby." I shrugged. "We want to spoil you and take care of you. That's all it means."
"Oh." His beautiful eyes unfocused as he thought about that, and I nudged Arch with my elbow.
He's so damn cute! I squealed.
Just like you, he murmured with a smirk. With your soft, red lips and your messy blond hair and—
Stop, I whined, feeling my face heat up.
You're blushing, WayWay, he purred. I like it.
Shut the hell up, ChiChi!
That's only for Reau.
Same with WayWay, I scowled.
Now who's getting riled up over nothing? he smirked.
"Reau?" I ignored Arch's flirting. "You want to come to our house for a sleepover sometime?"
"Yes, please! Or you could come to my house. Sometimes I have a nightmare about Mommy Daddy beating me and need Bubba."
Archer
Red.
I saw nothing but red.
I was pissed off earlier, but now I was furious to hear Thoreau so casually mention his parents hurting him.
Anger clouds the mind, I repeated over and over, remembering the mantra our older brother Jayden had taught me.
He wasn't our older brother by blood, but he had grown up with Cole along with Wayne's older brother Wyatt, Mason Price, and Jay's cousin, Ash Mitchell. The five of them considered themselves brothers, which was a good thing since they were ruling Five Fangs together. They even shared a mate like identical twins and triplets did. That alone spoke volumes about the Moon Goddess' recognition of their bond.
He's here now, where we can keep him safe. Firth's reminder helped me calm down more than Jay's mantra did. No one will hurt him under our watch.
I'll tear apart anyone who even tries! I growled.
He's so soft and gentle and small, Firth murmured. How could anyone ever hurt him?
I don't know, but Alpha and Luna Jones have a lot to answer for.
As soon as we were outside, Thoreau ran straight toward Beta Emerson with Wayne and I right behind him.
"Were you crying, honey?" Beta put his hands on either side of Thoreau's face. "Your eyes are all red and puffy."
"I got scared for a minute, but WayWay and ChiChi calmed me down. Guess what, Bubba?"
"What, honey?"
"They want me to be their bestie!" Thoreau crowed. "And WayWay said I could have a sleepover at their house sometime! I said they could stay at our house sometime, too. Is that okay?"
"Of course it is. Wayne, Archer, you're always welcome to stay at ours. If your parents are okay with it, Reau can stay at yours whenever you want."
"Excellent!"
Wayne and I fist-bumped each other, then held out our knuckles to Thoreau. Beta had to explain it to him, then he whacked his little fist on each of ours so hard, I was afraid he cracked a knuckle.
"Not so hard, honey!" Beta scolded him.
"Did you hurt your hand?" Gelo obviously had the same thought I did.
While Gelo examined Thoreau's knuckles, the four of us crowded around him and I once again marveled at how tiny he was.
Not that he was super short - Wayne was only two inches taller than him and I was maybe four - but he was delicately built and thin. Too thin, which told me his parents had starved him as well as abused him.
Anger clouds the mind. Anger clouds the mind. Anger clouds—
"I'm fine!" Thoreau beamed up at all of us. "I don't need healing, Gelo!"
"Yeah, save your energy for something more important," Wayne smirked, and I knew exactly what he was about to say. "Like taking care of the noisy ghost in your attic."
I snickered as beta and Gelo exchanged confused looks.
"Did I forget to tell you about the ghost?" Thoreau asked with huge eyes.
"What ghost, cucciolo?" Gelo narrowed his eyes at the three of us, as if suspecting we pranking him or something.
As if! I bit back my smirk. When we go to prank someone, they never see it coming.
"The ghost in the attic!" Thoreau was all but bursting out of his skin in his enthusiasm to tell them. "It goes ooo-ooo! in the middle of the night! The first time it happened, I was scared and hid in my closet. Then I talked to Leo about it and he said I could bunk with him if I wanted. So I did two nights ago and he turned on his white noise machine and we couldn't hear it anymore!"
By then, beta and Gelo both had wide eyes and red faces, and Wayne and I couldn't hold back our giggles.
"Why are you laughing, WayWay? Tell me what's funny, ChiChi!" Thoreau demanded.
"I told you it wasn't a ghost. It's—"
"Don't worry about it, piccolo ragazzo (little man)," Gelo cut me off with a sharp look. "I'll take care of the ghost."
"But why were they laughing?" Thoreau's face squished up in an adorable pout. "A ghost isn't funny. It's scary! WayWay said monsters eat you, but ghosts try to scare you to death!"
Why don't you show him the movie Casper the Friendly Ghost? I suggested to beta and his mate.
Yeah, then you can say the ghost in the attic is like Caspar and just wants to be friends, Wayne chimed in.
That could work, Gelo admitted, but then narrowed his eyes at us. Don't put any ideas in his head. He's very innocent and easily led and unworldly—
We know, Wayne and I said together.
And don't you ever do anything to hurt him. Beta crossed his arms and glared down at us. He's been hurt enough for a lifetime. You don't want to know what I'll do to anyone who ever hurts him again.
Wayne and I both gulped, more scared of him than the freaking Angel of Death. Beta Emerson was a very large man, one of the largest in the pack after our alpha brothers, and intimidating didn't begin to cover it when he stared at you with that blank face and cold eyes.
Plus, we knew what he was capable of. We'd seen countless memories from other people who'd witnessed him in actual combat, and we ourselves had watched him tear it up at fighter practice. The dude's beast mode was no joke!
Gelo, however, was an unknown quality. Even though we heard stories about him, we hadn't seen any proof of his skills with our own eyes. That made it easier to wonder how inflated his legend might be, especially since he looked and smelled like a regular old human.
We won't hurt him, I assured them. You can trust us with him. I swear by the moon. And if it makes you feel better, our big brothers already had a talk with us about how to interact with him.
Cole had also reminded us that werewolf law said no mating before eighteen, then Wyatt had added, "With anyone, including each other."
Wayne and I had traded glances, wondering who'd told them because neither of those two knuckleheads was observant or insightful enough to figure it out on their own. Mase and Jay, maybe, but none of the others. Not even Dad had a clue, and it was almost impossible to keep a secret off his radar!
Then Ocean had suggested that luna probably picked up on it and pointed it out to them, and Wayne, Firth and I'd snickered.
That sounded about right.
Wayne and I had already decided that, after we turned eighteen, we'd reject our Goddess-given mates - or ask them to reject us if they were girls - and take each other as chosen mates. We didn't want to hurt anyone, and we knew it was selfish, but we loved each other. Even Firth and Ocean, who didn't like the idea of rejecting the Goddess' gift of a mate, had to admit they couldn't see either of us with anyone else.
Now, though, Thoreau was in the picture. We were still getting to know him, of course, but Wayne and I had each felt an instant connection with the adorable boy, who was too innocent for his own good. I wanted to wrap him up in cotton and keep him safe from all the sharp edges of the world, an urge that intensified every time I learned more of what he'd suffered at the hands of those monstrous people he called Mommy Daddy.
And don't corrupt him, either, Gelo grunted, bringing me back to the moment.
We understood what he meant. Wayne and I had discussed it a few times and knew we had to be super careful not to influence Thoreau as far as anything mating went. We couldn't make him believe he was Arch- and Wayne-sexual if he wasn't.
Corrupt him? Wayne laughed. Dude! The only corrupting we'll be doing is teaching him how to play pranks!
Gelo snorted, but Beta's stoic expression never wavered as he stared down at us. Fortunately for us, Wayne and I were very familiar with this type of test. Dad was a former alpha; he knew every trick in the book to make you break. Although it was difficult, Wayne and I met beta's cold eyes, stood fast, and didn't squirm. That's how important it was to us that he trusted us with his baby brother.
Finally, he let out a heavy sigh.
Just be careful with him, boys, he said. That's all I ask.
Sir, yes, sir! In unison, Wayne and I ripped off a perfect salute, something we perfected with Dad.
"Hey!" Our baby stamped his foot and his bottom lip popped out in a little pout that made my heart melt. "Isn't anyone going to answer me?!"