I opened the door as if I went inside every day and locked it behind me once I’d passed over the threshold. I knew from my wolf’s digging around that the trapdoor was underneath the light blue sofa with the striped afghan tossed over the back of it. It took a few shoves but eventually the damned thing budged enough for me to get underneath the sofa. My phone vibrated inside my pocket as I climbed down the steps to the basement. It stopped then vibrated again. Probably Teddy trying to let me know Venal had pulled a runner.
His head jerked up when he heard my footfalls in the basement. I dug a piece of paper out of my pocket and whispered, “atsilv ko,” to bring it to fiery life. Venal tried to grunt something out through his t-shirt gag but couldn’t manage to get the full word out. It sounded an awful lot like my brother’s name.
“No, it’s Mori. The twin you didn’t shag and run off on,” I said.
Venal rolled his eyes.
“You must not have been down here too long yet if you still have the moxie to roll your eyes at me.”
I swept the fiery paper around the basement, double-checking the corners before tugging the wadded-up t-shirt out of his mouth and letting it drop onto the floor. He panted for air and licked the open space outside of his mouth as if trying to air out his tongue.
“This is how this is going to go. I’m going to ask the questions and if I don’t like you’re answers I’m going to put the gag back in and leave you here,” I said, trying to think of what Dern would say. “If you scream, I’ll set the damn place on fire.”
“If this is about Preston and his baby, we both have bigger fish to fry, wolf man,” Venal rolled his eyes again.
I stepped back and took a proper look at him. He was Preston’s type, through and through. He was tall, broad, and had a lot of chest hair. So much in fact that I could barely see his nipples at all. Somewhere under that chest and belly hair must’ve been muscles by the looks of his arms.
“We’ll talk about that eventually,” I said. “You made a kid and that means---”
“Nothing. It means nothing at the end of the day,” Venal sighed. “We had sex. That’s all it was. It was good sex. Fun sex. It was a lot of sex but it was still just sex. If he needs money, I’ll give it to him but I’m not in a spot to be a good role model to a kid. Your brother seemed fine with the arrangement but warned me you’d not like it. Only, I thought he was exaggerating about how you’d react.”
“I’m not the one who tied you up and locked you in the basement. That was your mummy.”
“Exactly but you don’t want to talk about her. You want to ask questions about why I’m not willing to toss everything I worked for up in the air.”
“What do you do for a living?”
“Stuff,” Venal shrugged.
“Are you like a drug guy or a gang man?” I asked and he tossed his head back and laughed. “Don’t laugh at me! I could gag you again!”
“You were a lot scarier before you said drug guy, friend,” Venal laughed. “I’m an escort. You can look me up on the official registry. Your brother wasn’t a client. I do have sex outside of work. Work sex is for the client. Hookups are for me but if you’re finished judging my lifestyle maybe you could untie me and we could figure out where my mother went and what’s her plan. You know she’s after your twin, right?”
“Yes, she is,” a female voice said from outside the door. “Now she has all the bait she needs.”
“Gonna untie me now?” Venal laughed. “Little wolf, we could’ve been out of here if not for all your questions.”
Well, fuck.
“Did you do this on purpose?” I asked.
“No. I’ve been down here since she came home from throwing the bird through the window. I tried to chain her to the water heater, but she got the better of me. She’s an alpha shebear. They’re strong as fuck and regular bitches when they’re so inclined to be.”
“Mori! You should call Preston and tell him it’s time to come home!” Sharon called from the top of the steps.
“Sharon,” I said calmly, heading back up the stairs. “I’m disappointed in you. You’re so worried about what my brother is doing but you’re not trying to make Venal be the sort of sire he should be. I’m here to take him back to London with me. It’s time for him to provide for his baby, don’t you think? Did you raise him to be a dead beat? That doesn’t look great on you.”
She was silent for a long second. If only I could’ve seen her face. Maybe I’d have been able to work out what she was thinking. I could’ve tried rushing the door but if Venal told the truth about his mother being an alpha I may have been in over my head.
“I know what you’re trying to do. You’re trying to turn the situation around on me,” she growled. “Preston should’ve already been here. That’s my baby!”
“Ma!” Venal groaned. “That’s not your baby! That baby came from my balls! We’ve been over this!”
“And who grew your balls, young man?!” she growled. “It’s bad enough you’re a dirty whore who---”
I stopped listening and walked back down the steps. Under normal circumstances, I’d have called her a toxic boy mom and moved on with life. Only, now I was locked in her basement with her son who was still tied to the chair.
“This is why I keep getting vasectomies,” Venal mumbled. “They grow back together, though.”
