“If you don’t mind, I’m gonna dump you at the door. My mom is waiting up for you, probably with fresh cookies and milk,” Conner said gesturing towards the house.
“Not a problem, appreciate the ride. I’ll see you first thing in the morning?”
“Bright and early,” he said, giving him a two finger salute.
Conner stopped in front of his house and was inside before his nosey brothers could pop over. He needed food and a beer and sleep. In that exact order.
Hitting the fridge he pulled it open and surveyed some milk, a questionable box of leftover Chinese, and the baking soda box in the back. He grabbed the milk and settled for a bowl of cereal which nixed the idea of a beer. Because he wasn’t in college anymore and even in college he didn’t eat that way.
Once his head hit the pillow he fell asleep in no time. Even his bear was too tired to argue.
* * * * *
The next morning Conner walked into his parents’ house without knocking. He smelled pancakes and found Sophie behind the counter next to his mom. Seemed the whole family was there, even Jinger was giving Wyatt a kiss as she moved towards Conner carrying a travel coffee mug.
“Bye everyone, nice to meet you, Dax,” she called out, before leaning up on her tippy toes to give Conner a kiss on the cheek. He bent lower to keep her from having to climb him. He heard Wyatt growl behind her.
“I can’t help it if she likes me better, bro,” Conner mocked.
“Fuck that, she adores and worships the ground I walk on!” Wyatt approached him trying to look bigger than his six-foot four-inch height.
“It’s true, what can I say, the ground he walks on is pretty adorable,” Jinger laughed before she headed outside.
“That’s right, adores me, loves me, only me,” Wyatt continued to growl to himself as he followed his mate out the door.
“Does he always do that now,” Conner asked, reaching for the cup of coffee his mom was holding out to him.
“Oh sweetie, your brother has always talked to himself. Seems to be getting worse lately though,” his mother said thoughtfully.
This caused the rest of the men in the room to laugh. Edward, Cage, and of course Dax were sitting around the large farm table with almost empty plates in front of them.
“You’re late, runt. We want to head out,” Cage called.
“Well why don’t you take Dax over to your house to sniff around while I sit my ass on this stool and have your woman make me some pancakes,” he flipped back. He was leaning over the counter now and gave Sophie a wink. This earned him a heaping stack of pancakes and a side of sausage.
Sophie had perfected her American style pancakes, they rocked. Sitting down, Conner started taking huge bites, stuffing his face with fluffy sticky bites.
“Good grief, you eat like a pig,” his mother called out, tossing a cloth napkin in his general direction.
“Nope, just like a bear though,” Conner said around his bites.
“Hmpf,” his father said into his cup.
Conner finished his plate in record time. Kissed his mom and Sophie on the cheek before racing out to find the other men standing around the side of Wyatt’s house staring at the ground.
The anger seething from the group was palpable. Conner made sure to make enough noise as he approached so he didn’t startle anyone. You were taught at a young age to never surprise a shifter.
“Well?” he called out.
“It’s him,” Dax answered looking up. “I’d recognize that unwashed smell anywhere. No need to check the other sites. If Tony is here, then he’s out for revenge for the death of his brother. I’m guessing he was worried we’d trace the vineyard fire back to him, that’s why he disappeared. He must have heard us talking about your company before, we don’t hide our relationship. Then he put two and two together to guess you were shifters also. If I had to bet, he is going to keep going between our two families until he kills us or at the very least destroys our livelihoods.”
“But why go after our equipment,” Edward asked.
“He knows he can’t go running around screaming werebears. People will think he’s crazy. He has to lay low and poke the proverbial bear where he can. I bet he didn’t expect the fire in California to do so much damage. It spooked him enough to run,” Cage offered.
“Asshole took out our newest crop. It will take years to recover that land and income,” Dax growled, his brown eyes flashing tawny orange.
“Settle down kitty cat,” Conner said, but still took a step back.
A long low growl rolled out of Dax.
“Calm down you two,” Wyatt said, trying to keep the peace.
“So how do we track this asshole down? I don’t think he’s on our payroll, or ever has been.” Cage pulled them back to the conversation