Thoreau - Chapter 30: Chapter 30

Emerson
It didn't take Thoreau's besties long to carry him off - literally - once we got to the training field, and I scowled just a little as I watched Arch walk off with my baby brother in his arms.
What's wrong, Mama? Angelo nudged me in the ribs with his elbow. You know Reau's safe with them.
Yeah, but he's growing up too fast, I pouted.
He'll always be our baby, orsacchiotto, no matter how old he gets, Angelo assured me. I'm going to have a word with Quartz. Catch up with your friend.
So I chatted with Livvy while Kon and Leo talked with Gamma Landry and Grace. Leo was telling them about luna's idea for a pack school on Five Fangs territory and how the alphas had approached him about taking the principalship. Kon and Gamma Lan were teasing him about having to deal with troublemakers like Wayne and Arch all day, but I would have been more worried about their friends Bridger Donahue and Elijah Ford.
Wayne and Arch just pulled pranks. Bridger and Elijah set things on fire.
Literally.
As Livvy was asking my advice about a change to her daily workout, someone triggered River and his fierce roar shook the ground. We both spun around, and I saw Angelo and Quartz - and nearly everyone else - sprinting toward the other side of the field. While my mate and alpha were probably hoping to keep someone alive, I looked for Thoreau to make sure he was safe. He was a curious kid and he loved River, so he might try to involve himself, not realizing River wasn't safe to be around when he went off.
Gamma Lan tossed Grace over his shoulder and took off in the opposite direction, more concerned about getting his mate to safety than anything else, but Leo, Livvy and Konstantin stayed with me.
"Do you see Reau?" I asked them, getting more worried when they shook their heads.
When Angelo bellowed, Get away from them right now, Thoreau!, my stomach dropped. The horror radiating from my mate into our bond told me exactly where Thoreau was, and I raced toward the crowd, the others running with me.
Then Thoreau screamed "MAMA!"and my heart stopped.
My. Heart. Fucking. Stopped.
Plowing through people and tossing others out of our way, Leo and I cleared a path and had almost made it to the center of the crowd when Livvy yelped in shock.
"Kon?!"
I didn't take time to look, already guessing what happened and proven right when an enormous Asian dragon snaked across the sky far above my head.
Shoving my way forward, I followed Chime Karma with my eyes as he dipped down for a moment, then rose again, this time with Thoreau held tight to his chest, and my brain registered one thing.
My baby brother had blood on his clothing.
He had blood on his clothing.
Snarling, I changed directions as Chime Karma did, not caring what happened to Livvy or Leo as I dodged anyone too slow or stunned to get out of my way and veered around or hurtled over equipment. By the time the dragon landed and curled himself around Thoreau, Angelo and Quartz had caught up with me, and we all three sprinted toward Chime Karma.
"He's alive, Emerson," Angelo panted. "He's alive and if he's alive, I can heal him."
I linked Posy. She's on her way just in case more than healing is needed, Quartz added. Jayden sent Leo to guard the triplets.
"Guard them? I want to fucking kill them!" Angelo sneered.
So do many others, hence Jayden sending Leo to keep them alive until Mason gets Posy here. Then Mason can deal with them.
"Alpha Ice? Cazzo (fuck)!" Angelo muttered. "He'll never let me kill them! See if Alpha Ash or Wyatt can come instead."
Too late, Quartz grunted.
As Angelo griped, I tuned them both out. Thoreau was my top priority right now, not dishing out punishment or revenge, and the fear of what I'd see inside Chime Karma's coils nearly overwhelmed me.
As he said, Angelo would deal with any physical injury Thoreau had, but those would be the easiest of his wounds to heal, and all I could do was pray for the Goddess' guidance. I was in way over my head when it came to parenting as it was. I had no idea how to mitigate the impact this kind of trauma would have on a kid like Thoreau.
Just love him, Cove advised. Just be his Mama Bubba and love him.
I nodded. I wasn't a therapist like Dr. York or a healer like Angelo or a miracle worker like Luna Posy, but being my baby brother's Mama Bubba? That I could - and would - do for the rest of my life.
Archer
Red.
Red was all I could see.
The second Reau left our side and ran screaming toward the fight, I shucked off my slides, ripped off my shirt, and gave Firth control, vaguely aware of Wayne doing the same thing next to me.
As we shifted, River realized Reau was tangled up with them and, in a magnificent maneuver I doubted Firth or Ocean would ever be able to perform, River got our baby boy under his belly and switched from 'death to all' to 'defend with my life' mode without missing a beat.
The beta triplets didn't get the hint, or else didn't care that an innocent pup was in danger, and kept up their attack. Spring, Firth, and Ocean were trying to figure out how to get Reau out of there without getting him killed when Quartz shot in at full speed and slammed into the beta triplets, sending them flying.
That was all the opportunity Spring, Ocean, and Firth needed, and they tore into the triplets as Quartz tried to get River to surrender Reau. River was either too deep into a protection mindset or else didn't feel it was safe enough yet and refused to yield, so Quartz grabbed him by his ruff and forcefully yanked him off Reau.
Then Chime Karma swooped down and got him out of there. River, whose coat was so bloody that it ran off him in little rivulets, made sure Reau was clear, then collapsed where he stood, freeing Q to help us with the triplets.
Not that we needed it.
It didn't matter that they were five years older and more experienced than Wayne and me, or that they were betas of a pack and had more moon power behind them. Our fury evened the odds well enough for us to have them bloody and whining before Jay told us to stop.
No! I howled. They touched Reau! They hurt him! I'm going to kill them!
Not only that, Wayne barked, they bullied Beta Ty all week and made River snap and now he's hurt, too!
I'm not a fan of letting them breathe, either, boys, Jay growled, but they are international visitors here on royal business for King Modest.
Play politics if you want, I snarled, but they are dead! Firth, snap his damn neck!
DOWN! Jay bellowed. ALL OF YOU! YES, YOU, TOO, QUARTZ!
I didn't want to, but I couldn't disobey him. Not only was he one of my honorary older brothers, he was also my alpha. Firth would always bow to him even if I could have fought an alpha command, which I couldn't. Jay was too strong. All of our older brothers were. The only one who ever broke one of their alpha commands was Quartz himself.
And I think Q could defy the Moon Goddess herself if he was ever so inclined, Firth grumbled, making me grunt.
With little whimpers, the beta triplets, Firth, Ocean, and Spring - as well as a few nearby shifters - fell on their bellies. As I could have predicted, Quartz remained on his feet, but his eyes flickered from gold to Jay's hazel and back a couple of times as they argued over control.
As for me, all those strategies I'd learned to control the anger were ashes on the wind.
I tried the breathing thing. Didn't work. Tried the counting backwards thing. Same. Even tried singing a happy song - Wayne's favorite suggestion - and that worked as well as it always did, which was not at all.
I was absolutely furious and, now that the fighting was over, I had to admit that a lot of it was directed at myself.
Why didn't I react faster? I should have grabbed Reau's arm.
Why didn't I realize I would need to? I should have known how he'd respond to River being attacked by three wolves.
And why did I ever think bringing him here was a good idea in the first place? He was an abuse victim! Seeing people fight, even if it was just practice, was going to trigger him. How could I have been so stupid?
Calm down, Arch, Jay linked me. Don't do anything rash.
Rash? I chuckled darkly. Rash does not begin to cover what I want to do, brother.
Go for a run, he alpha-commanded. You're going to do or say something you'll regret, so go run until you cool off.
Almost strangling on my frustration, I gave Firth the reins again and he took off into the woods surrounding the training field. A small part of my brain registered that Atticus' wolf, Chester, ran with us, but I was too furious to care or acknowledge either of them.
Besides, if I linked them, I would have done exactly what Jay said I would, and my friends didn't deserve that.
So Firth ran until the red mist cleared from my vision and I was sure I could talk without screaming or swinging my fists. Wheeling around, my wolf waited for Chester's poor panting self to catch up, then we trotted side-by-side to where the others waited.
Jay? I linked him when we were close enough for me to see Wayne pacing anxiously as Leo stood nearby.
You good again? he responded almost right away.
Yeah. I'm solid. Thanks, man.
Anytime, little bro. Do me a favor, though. Ty's in a bad head space, which means River is, too. Posy's here and headed over to them now, but they need Reau to tell them that he doesn't hate them.
Pfft. I rolled my eyes. That innocent little bean doesn't know how to hate anyone. And why would he? We all know it was those Russian triplets' fault. They've been picking at Beta Ty since they got here, probably just to see River snap.
True, but they need reassurance, so get Reau over to them. Make sure you and Wayne tell them you're all good, too. Now chop chop and get your behind back to your boys. They need their rock.
Sir, yes, sir! I ripped off a perfect salute to remind him that he wasn't the king or anything. Dad didn't give me as many orders in a day as he did in one conversation!
You're a good kid, Arch, he chuckled.
And you're a good brother and alpha, I replied. I'm glad you were on hand today, Jay, even if Q's giving you hell right now.
Posy's here, so he's calming down fast, but thanks, little dude.
Luna's here? Why? I asked as Firth shifted and left me to dress behind an oak tree, where Wayne's scent was all over a pile of clothes we found there. That steadied me even further.
Quartz linked her that her sweetie might need healing, and Mase broke all speed records getting her here.
She really loves Reau, doesn't she? I smiled a little as I slid my feet into my slides, glad I'd taken them off before Firth shifted earlier. They were my favorite pair, and Mom would kill me if she had to buy any more of them this summer. I'd already shredded eight pairs.
Dude! Everyone loves your boy! Jay chuckled. More wolves than you realize were ready to rip those idiot triplets to pieces. Some still are! He's precious to all of us, Arch, even those who can't or don't show it, like Mase and Q.
Then he closed the link to focus on controlling his wolf, and Atticus and I finished dressing and walked out of the woods. The first person I saw was Wayne, who was wiping his face with the backs of his hands, then my eyes flicked to Reau, who was hugging the life out of Leo.
The last of my anger fizzled away to see both of my boys safe and whole and smiling again, even if it was with tears on their cheeks.
Wayne
Some people thought that, because I had anxiety, I wasn't any good in a crisis like what just happened.
That couldn't be further from the truth.
When my brain had too much time to think, I over analyzed every word, every expression, every little gesture - a process Arch called dwelling - but when an emergency happened, I responded as quickly as anyone. It was only afterwards that I started dwelling on the what ifs.
The second Reau sprinted toward the four fighting wolves, I shifted and gave control to Ocean as Arch did the same thing with Firth. Our wolves and Spring fought those idiot triplets as Chime Karma got Reau out of there, then Jay took over and put us all on our bellies to stop the fighting. He sorted things quickly, sending Arch on a run and Spring to Reau, then handed command over to Leo before following Spring.
I'm surprised he just left us all here, I muttered.
Alpha needed to get Q away from temptation before there was an international incident, Osh grunted.
"You three," Leo pointed at the Russian wolves. "Changing rooms. Now. Shift and dress."
From their sneers, they obviously didn't want to, but even without an alphaship or a pack behind him anymore, Leo had a hell of a lot of moon power, and they obeyed him.
Then Mase's big red truck slid into the parking lot broadside as my tiny sister-in-law hung on for her life in the passenger seat. As soon as she jumped out of the truck, she sprinted toward Reau, and Mase headed our way to get a report from Leo.
And my dwelling began now that the threat was secured.
What if we hadn't gotten there in time? River was an excellent fighter and had been holding his own, but three-on-one odds were not ones I'd take in any bet and certainly not one where our baby boy's life was at stake.
What if Reau's injury was too severe for luna or Gelo to heal? Blood painted his whole side; his arm could have been torn off for all we could see!
What if he hated us for not protecting him better? We'd just told him we would on the way here and now he was frightened and injured because we weren't fast or smart enough to keep him safe.
What if he was scared of us now?
What if he—
Wayne, stop thinking so loud! Osh growled. I'm trying to check on River!
My attention went to where Livvy and Grace were using a garden hose to wash the blood out of River's fur as he healed himself. Gamma Landry stood on one side, either supervising or guarding them or both.
Go over there, I told Osh, fully intending to sneak off and check on Reau, but Mase sank his fingers into my wolf's ruff and held him in place, and I sighed.
How do big brothers always know when you're up to something? I grumbled.
He grew up with Wyatt, Osh chuckled. Kind of explains it all, doesn't it?
Then Chime Karma landed next to us and nodded at Leo and Mase, and I seized the moment to ask about our baby.
How's Reau? I asked the dragon. No one over there will link with me, which I understand, but I need to know!
"How's Reau?" Leo asked aloud, reminding me that neither Chime Karma nor Kon could link since they weren't officially pack yet.
"One of the brown wolves clawed his arm, but I healed it. Didn't even leave a mark."
Dude! I shouted loud enough for him to hear me. You can talk!
"Of course I can talk! I am not a dumb animal, you know!"
Great going, Wayne, Osh snorted. You insulted a dragon.
"He didn't mean it that way," Leo hurried to explain. "In wolf form, neither us nor our animal spirits can speak verbally. We have to use the link. If it's someone we can't link with, we basically have to yell with our mind to be heard. As you can imagine, that quickly becomes exhausting, so we don't do it much."
"Oh." Chime Karma looked surprised for a second, then apologized. "Sorry, Wayne. I didn't know that."
Ocean nodded for both of us to show it was all good, and Chime Karma turned back to Mase.
"Does the gray wolf need healing? He took a good bit of damage protecting the boy.
"Landry says River's fine," Mase said. "Thank you, though."
That made me feel bad for not asking, but I knew River would be. He'd taken worse beatings than that before and recovered just fine.
I wasn't being callous; that was just how fighting worked in the shifter world. You got your ass beat, then spat out the blood, healed yourself, and stood up for round two.
"Leo, once I get the idiots out of the changing rooms, grab clothes and take Ocean over to the trailhead." Mase gestured to where Firth and Chester had disappeared into the woods. "Catch Arch and Atticus when they return. Wayne, shift while you wait and put out the clothes for your friends."
No! I want to see Reau! I demanded with a scowl.
"Don't argue, pup." Mase gave me The Look, and Osh immediately bared his neck. "Posy will send Reau over to you when he's calmed down, and he doesn't need to see you or anyone else naked. He's been traumatized enough today."
Leo snorted, but I wasn't so sure Mase was joking. His perfectly blank face always made it too hard for me to tell.
"What are you going to do with the triplets?" Leo asked.
"They've overstayed their welcome." Mase turned to Chime Karma. "Would you like to join me as I escort them to the airport? It's on pack territory and only a few minutes away."
"Alpha, it would be a pleasure," Chime Karma chuckled, little booms at the end of each word.
"What about their stuff?" Leo asked. "Weren't they staying at the small guest house?"
"We'll mail their belongings home to them. I want them gone. Now."
What about that car Dad needs delivered to the Russian king? I asked.
"They oversaw that process yesterday. It's already crated and loaded on his private plane. Ash called the pilot as I drove here, and she's ready to take off as soon as we get the triplets to the airport."
"Good idea to get them out of here ASAP." Leo nodded. "There's at least a dozen wolves who still want to rip their throats out, Ruby included, not to mention Reau's mama and papa."
Hmpf, snorted Osh. If they knew who his papa was, they'd shit themselves.
"Language, pup," Mase muttered, "but yeah. Good thing Gelo's too busy at the moment. Otherwise, I'd be on the phone right now, explaining to King Modest how his wolves got their heads blown off."
That made Leo and me chuckle.
The second the triplets emerged from the changing rooms, Mase ordered them to the parking lot and Chime Karma floated about three inches above their heads, freaking them out, which made Leo and me snicker again.
After they left, Leo grabbed clothes while I shifted and dressed, then I picked up Atticus' clothes and shoes and Arch's slides before we headed over to the trailhead.
As we waited, I began dwelling again, pacing back and forth in front of the trees as I chewed my thumbnail down to the quick and my thoughts whirled like angry hornets.
Thankfully, our baby's sweet voice soon saved me and my remaining fingernails.
Arch? Wayne? Leo? Bubble? Where are you?
Over by the trees. I waved my hand so he could see us and knew he had when he and Spring ran our way. Arch, Atticus, I left stuff for you behind the big oak. Hurry up and change. Reau's calling us.
Seconds later, Reau crashed into me, wrapping his whole body around me as Spring leaned against Leo's leg, and I could have cried in relief.
All right, maybe I did cry, but just a little.
"I was so scared, Curls," I whispered into his hair. "You're okay, right? You're really okay?"
"I am, and I'm sorry I scared you." He nuzzled his face in my neck.
After a solid minute of squeezing the life out of each other, I swallowed hard as I set him on his feet.
"Leo needs a hug, too."
With a grin, Reau went over to his zio, who leaned down and hugged him tightly as he whispered in his ear.
When Arch and Atticus emerged from the trees, I held my breath as I waited to see how Arch handled this.
"Reau, come here, please." His voice was calm enough, and he didn't look mad anymore, but I stayed ready to intervene just in case.
I wasn't the only one, either. Leo cut his eyes over at Arch as if he, too, were assessing Mr. Anger Issues' current threat level.
Not that Arch would ever hurt our baby. He'd never hurt me, and I'd done some pretty painful shit to him. Like, one time, I was messing around with Dad's electric razor - not that either of us had anything worth shaving - and accidentally ripped off one of his eyebrows. Apparently, the razor had to be turned on to actually cut hair. Anyway, he cussed me out good, but he didn't raise a hand to me.
Another time, we were wrestling and ended up falling down two flights of stairs. Somehow, the way I landed on top of him broke his collarbone and four ribs. Again, he let me have it verbally, but kept his fists down.
Then there was the time we were skateboarding and I tried to jump over him, but my board's wheels hit him right in the face. His nose and left cheekbone shattered, and if he didn't have Firth, he would look pretty terrifying today. Instead of breaking my face in revenge, though, all he did was chase me around the skate park, yelling at me at the top of his lungs.
So I knew our baby was physically safe with him, but Reau was delicate in other ways, too. He didn't always pick up on facial expressions or social cues, but he understood when someone's tone was mean or cold or critical and it wounded his soft little heart.
But when he heard Arch call him, Reau didn't show any hesitation. He untangled himself from Leo, ran over, and looked up at Arch with those big eyes that turned me into a pile of goo every fucking time. I had no idea how Arch held out against them so well.
Giving Reau plenty of time to track them, Arch slowly raised his hands and pulled our baby into a hug, holding Reau's head against his chest as he buried his face in his curls. With a soft sigh, Reau put his arms around Arch's waist and gripped the back of his t-shirt.
They held each other in silence until Arch finally cleared his throat and lifted his face.
"You want to give Atticus a hug, too?" Arch's voice was all gruff and husky, and he cleared his throat again. "He was also worried about you."
"Of course! I love hugs!" Reau shouted and turned to Atticus with a huge grin after Arch released him. "Catch me, Atty!"
Then he ran and jumped on the dude like he was trying to tackle him, but Atticus was a big ole farm boy who slung bales of alfalfa on a daily basis, and that stuff was heavy as hell! Needless to say, he caught our ninety-five pound baby with ease.
As Atticus swung Reau around in a bear hug that made our baby laugh his ass off, I draped my arm around Arch's lower back, and one of his went around my shoulders.
Dude. He's okay, I linked him.
I know. Are you?
I am now that you're both here with me, I told him. You?
Same.
Hugging each other, we listened as Reau gave us a very animated retelling of his flight and interaction with Chime Karma.
We need to talk to River and Beta Ty, Arch linked me as Atticus asked Reau a question. Jay says they're both taking it hard.
Yeah, I could have guessed that, I said. Give Reau a chance to get the excitement out of his system, then we'll head over there.
After he began to wind down, Reau reached out and grabbed my hand, but when he stuck his other hand out to Atticus, Arch shoved our friend away and grabbed it before Atticus could.
Leo rolled his eyes, but Atticus only laughed.
"Where's Bubble?" Reau asked as he looked around.
"Alpha Mason is escorting those Russian triplets to their plane," Leo told him, "and Chime Karma went along. Alpha wanted them to feel the heat the whole way to the airport."
"You mean hear the thunder the whole way," Arch snickered, and I knew then that he was completely back to normal, thank the Goddess.
"Is that why we can hear thunder right now even though it's sunny?" Reau asked with wide eyes.
"Yep! That's Chime Karma," I told him. "Probably confusing the hell out of everyone."
As we started walking toward River and luna, Atticus shook his head and chuckled.
"Well, boys, that was quite the fuckening, but we survived it."
"The what?!" Leo and I chorused.
"Language!" Arch rumbled, and Reau just blinked at him with his head cocked to one side.
"The fuckening," Atticus said with a grin. "It's like, when your day's going so amazingly well and you just know something's going to screw it up. Then it happens and you're like, 'Yep. There it is. The fuckening.' "
And I almost died laughing. I'd have to use that one on my older brother Wyatt sometime. I was sure he'd love it for his verbal skirmishes with Jay or Ash. In fact, he'd probably call one of them a human version of the fuckening! I could actually hear the words coming out of his mouth!
"Have you met my mate yet, Atticus?" Leo asked with a laugh. "You two would get along like a house on fire!"
"A house on fire?" Reau swung his head to look at Leo.
"It just means they'd get along really well, buddy."
"How does a house on fire mean that?"
"I don't know." Leo shrugged. "It's kind of a dumb expression, isn't it?"
"It is," Reau agreed with a grave nod. "You should not say it anymore, Zio Leo. You are too smart to say dumb things!"
"Thank you, I think."
And we all chuckled as the last of our tension faded away.
Chime Karma
I left Thoreau in his family's care, then flew over to Alpha Mason and Leo, gave a little report, and offered to heal the gray wolf injured in the fight.
When alpha asked me if I wanted to escort the beta triplets to the airport, I agreed with a smile. The entire trip, I gleefully let out little sonic booms that were nothing more than coughs to me, but kept the triplets on edge. Alpha Mason unfortunately had to endure it, too. Since my power came out in a cone, I couldn't target just the triplets, but he only grunted with each rumble while they jumped and shivered every time.
Once we reached the airport, alpha had them line up, then let them have the bitingly cold edge of his tongue before he made them get on the plane. While I was struggling not to laugh at them the whole time, Konstantin didn't say a word.
In fact, as the Russians' plane took off, I realized he hadn't said a word since he gave me control and told me to save Thoreau.
Kon? What's on your mind? I finally asked.
He didn't respond, and I thought about why as I flew just above the road, racing Alpha Mase back to the training field. It wasn't much of a contest for me, but the alpha seemed to be enjoying it, and it was distracting me from Konstantin's continued silence.
Finally, as the training field came into view, my boy spoke to me.
I know you 'looked' inside Reau before you healed him. Something happened to him, didn't it? Something bad.
Druks had a special talent for seeing through untruths and that which was not real as well as seeing what others couldn't. In this case, I didn't even need to 'look' to know that Thoreau carried a heavy burden. His wolf was gone, which didn't happen by accident, he was just this side of skeletal, and everyone protected and sheltered him like he was made of glass.
You know I can't see specific details, but yes. His soul... I took a deep breath to calm myself. Goddess, Kon. His poor little soul bears scars upon scars.
When he fell silent again, I felt compelled to offer him some comfort. Although we only met Thoreau late last night, I knew my boy had developed a soft spot for him almost immediately.
They're fading, Kon. Slowly to be sure, but they are. Each time he laughs, each time he feels joy, one fades a little more. Whatever happened to him, it's over now, and he's with people who love him and whom he loves in return.
He calls me bubble, Chime Karma. Konstantin's voice wobbled a bit, making me wince. I hated when my boy's heart hurt. And I want to be that for him. I want to be his bubble. So I hope you can live with that. I know he's harmless and weak, but I'm asking you to respect him as my little brother.
When will you learn, Kon? I chuckled and shook my head. Small he may be, but hardly weak. No one can be called weak who survives hell and still has such a genuinely sweet smile. And how can you call him harmless when he is the darling of so many powerful shifters? A single cry of distress from him, and at least a dozen wolves leapt to his defense.
I'm not sure he's capable of that kind of premeditation. Kon rolled his eyes. I think he sincerely wanted to help his friend and followed his impulse to do so.
Planned or not, the effect's the same. I shrugged. Like a small pup yipping at a large dog and thinking he scared it away, not realizing a monster wolf stands over him with his fangs bared.
Kon snorted at the image and I had to grin myself.
He is a rare treasure, I went on, and you know how dragons feel about their treasure, don't you?
I do know. A huge smile broke over Konstantin's face as he realized what I was saying. They guard them fiercely.
And so I shall, Bubble Konnie, I replied with a smile. And so I shall.