Luther sighed and shoved his hands in his jacket pockets. Shrugging, he replied, "I thought your philosophy was that it's better to beg for forgiveness than ask for permission."
Jared hummed, his gaze straying to Carson. "Oh, it is. And what wonderful begging we've endured. Isn't that right, Injun," he crooned.
Carson chuckled, his gaze straying to them as he wrapped tissue paper around a picture frame and settled it into an open box. "Indeed," the enforcer rumbled. "You gonna get off your ass and help, babe?"
Heaving a put-upon sigh, Jared shoved to his feet. "Very well."
Luther chuckled, even as his concerns filled him. Jared was right. Luther had no idea how Deke would react when he found out he'd convinced fellow pack shifter, Manon Lemelle, to fly them to Sacramento in his helicopter. He'd told his mate that he had pack business that would take him out of town for twenty-four hours.
It'd been true, from a certain point of view. Luther knew Deke hated being unsettled, what with his stuff hundreds of miles away and the threat of Michael still hanging over his head. No one had seen or heard from the human for almost two weeks. It was like he'd completely fallen off the grid.
Leaving his cousin to watch over Deke while Luther didn't know if Michael remained a threat had not been easy. Still, he trusted Leo, not only to care for his mate, and since this week had started Stephani's two-week session at camp, it had been now or never.
"Your boy got too many clothes to fit in dis bags, bra," Manon called from the bedroom. "Maybe you should decide, eh?" He winked. "Lotta fun tings in dat nightstand, too," he added, pointing behind him.
Growling, Luther stalked toward the other wolf. Manon just laughed and backed away, returning to pulling drawers out of the dresser and wrapping them with shipping wrap to hold everything inside it. They might be shifters, but full dressers were still heavy.
Luther had already hired a long-haul transport company. All they had to do was fill up the pod he'd rented, then the company would pick it up and transport it to Luther's home in Stone Ridge. Luther would place everything in his garage and his mate could go through it at his leisure.
He still couldn't believe it'd taken an entire week to talk Deke into moving in with him. He prayed this wouldn't cause his mate to think about moving out. That would suck.
Pushing away his concerns, Luther returned to filling boxes and carrying them to the pod. After several hours, Luther and the others started in on the furniture. They'd just finished clearing out the small dining room set and four chairs when Luther heard a shout.
"Hey! Who are you guys and what are you doing?"
Luther straightened from his position in the kitchen where he'd been wrapping dishes and placing them in a box. Manon paused next to him, his brows lifted in question. Shrugging, Luther headed to the living room where he saw a tall, broad-shouldered blond man confronting Carson and Jared.
"I think the real question is who are you?" Luther stated.
"Actually, I can answer that," Jared cut in, smirking. He stepped around the glaring blond man, pointing at him. "Luther Caldwell, allow me to introduce Derek Sommers. Derek," he continued with a grin. "This is Luther Caldwell. He's your brother's partner."
Derek's jaw sagged open. "What? You're not Michael." His eyes narrowed and he glanced around at all of them. "The man wasn't good enough for my brother, but he kept taking the bastard back. Now try again. Explain who you are," he snapped. He crossed his arms over his chest and took on a combative stance. "You friends of that asshole? You moving Deke in with him?"
Luther bit back his first response, to blast the man with vitriol for cutting the man out of his life. Except, obviously the man must have at least kept track of him. "If you knew that Michael was no good for Deke, why didn't you step in?" he asked, crossing his arms, mirroring the other man.
"I thought he had enough self-respect to figure it out on his own," Derek grumbled.
"You and your family did your best to strip him of self-respect when you disowned him," Luther growled. "Not that I think you need any explanation, but no, I'm not friends with that cheating asshole. If I ever get my hands on that bastard, I will-"
"Easy, bra," Manon urged, resting a hand on Luther's shoulder. Luther settled at the enforcer's command. Manon stepped around him and asked, "You disown your brother, so what you be doin' here?"
Derek glanced around at the men, maybe just then realizing he was heavily outnumbered … not that they'd ever hurt him. "Look, I can't go against my parents, no matter how much I want to," he muttered. "But I never stopped watching out for him, okay? I just-I just didn't know how to get him away from Michael without my parents finding out about it."
"Your parents have something on you?" Jared asked, his interest evidently piqued.
His jaw clenching, Derek ignored the question. Instead, he turned back to Manon. "When I didn't see Deke at his usual haunts for a few days, and he didn't go into work, I tried to find him, but couldn't, so I paid the landlady a hundred bucks to let me know if there was any activity at his apartment. She called me as soon as you guys arrived."
Luther nodded slowly. "Okay, then I'll tell you this. Deke is no longer with Michael. He's with me and my life mission is to make him as happy and comfortable as I can for the rest of our days."
"You're good to him?" Derek murmured, searching his face, obviously seeking some truth. "You won't allow Michael to hurt him anymore?"
While Luther really wanted to throw Derek out of the apartment, tell him to go fuck himself, this was Deke's brother. Between the way his mate had spoken about him and how big his mate's heart seemed to be-accepting Stephani and never once asking to be placed ahead of her-Luther knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that he'd welcome Derek without a second thought.
Luther reached into his back pocket and pulled out his wallet. Flipping it open, he thumbed through the contents. He found a business card and tugged it out, then handed it to Derek. The human looked at it and read it, his brow crinkling in confusion as he looked back at Luther.
"Look," Luther stated gruffly. "Your brother loves you. If you ever decide to get out from under your parent's thumb, you come see us. Deke would love to have you back in his life," he stated with conviction.
Derek grimaced. "I don't know about that," he mumbled. "It's been years."
"And he still speaks fondly of you," Luther told him. "He still loves to regale anyone who'll listen about you decking the baseball player that tried to shove him in his locker when he was in tenth grade."
Jared snorted. "I heard that one," he said, drawing attention. His hazel eyes glittered as he smirked at Derek. "Of course, you do realize that, if you hurt him, I repay emotional hurt with the physical kind."
Derek blanched. "Uh, okay."
Luther would have laughed, but he knew just how serious Jared was.
Frowning down at the card again, Derek stated, "Hey, this says you work as a carpenter in Stone Ridge, Colorado." His head snapped up and he met Luther's gaze. "Deke's in Colorado?"
"He will be soon as we get dis shit packed and out dere," Manon said. "You helpin' or hinderin'?"
Derek glanced at the card again, then shoved it into his back pocket. "Uh, I have a couple of hours. Sure."
The group had been working in relative silence for an hour when Luther heard Carson growl from the front room. Pausing, he exited the bathroom, one of the last rooms to still have miscellaneous stuff in it, and poked his head out. He almost chuckled when he saw that the quite a bit smaller Jared had Carson pressed against the wall.
Carson had his legs splayed, lowering his height the couple of inches needed to align their groins. His hands were on Jared's ass. The enforcer's long, loose black hair waved wildly as he gave as good as he got, kissing Jared to within an inch of his life.
Smirking, Luther watched the pair fight for dominance for a second. Missing his own mate more than he could ever express, he began to turn away. Luther spotted Derek standing at the kitchen counter, a coffee mug halfway to his lips. His jaw hung open, expressing his shock just as clearly as his wide eyes did.
Luther stepped toward Derek, clearing his throat. It took twice more, each louder than the next, before the human finally yanked his gaze away from the pair making out. "Something wrong?" Luther asked coolly.