“I’ll call you when I roll into town.”
I know how much he dislikes driving, and I feel my eyes sting with gratitude. I’d offer him our jet, but Zander hates airplanes even more than he hates ‘tin cans on wheels.’
When I’ve ended the call, Otley and Tristan are watching me with careful eyes. I know they’re worried about me, but now I have a plan, I finally feel like I can take a breath. “We should make a list. Everything Leo needs, I want to get it. Everythingtheyneed,” I correct myself, thinking of Lily’s exhausted face.“Do you think Lily would let me set her up with an assistant? Maybe I should talk to our team in Colorado and ask them what farm equipment to get her. Hmmm, I really need to read up on tractors. Otley, do you know someone at John Deere? I’ll definitely be upgrading whatever stables she has, but maybe she needs a new barn as well?”
I don’t realize I’m pacing next to the table until Tristan catches my hand. “Babe, you’re in shock.” I stare at him dumbly, and he gives me a sympathetic look. “I know you want to help, but I don’t think rolling up with your checkbook is the answer.”
I wince, because it’s not the first time I’ve tried to fix things with money. And Tristan is probably right. If Lily wanted financial help, she could have called a lawyer. No firm in the country would turn down the chance to represent the abandoned offspring of Ellis Castle.God, that makes me want to puke on my shoes.“Okay… I’ll think of something else. But I’m still getting the horse. Leo deserves at least that much.”
“That seems reasonable,” Otley says, then frowns at my buzzing phone. I would silence the damn thing, except I don’t want to miss a call from Lily. “Agent or studio?”
“Both. Agent because they’re out of the loop and studio because I walked off set.” I shrug, not really giving a shit about either. They can scream all they want, but I’m not leaving when my entire existence is here in this town. “I told them it was a family emergency, and I needed a week.”
“That’s in your contract.” Otley should know, since he was the one who hashed out the details, and now he leans over and snatches up my phone. “I’ll handle it.”
“You’ve got enough on your plate,” I sigh, although handing this burden off to Ot is hugely appealing. “Besides, Tahlia hates you.”
“Mission accomplished, then.”
I huff out a laugh, amused by the way his nose always wrinkles when he talks about my agent. Otley detested Crest, so Tahlia seemed like a good alternative, but over the last couple of years she’s proven to be just as demanding and obsessive as my uncle. I know they kept in touch, even after I shunned Crest for trying to cut Tristan out of my life, and I have to wonder if he ever told her the truth about Lily and Leo. If he did and she kept it from me, Crest won’t be the only agent in Hollywood whose career is as cold as a corpse.
I must look as pissed as I feel, because Tristan wraps his arms around me, and I melt into his embrace. “I hate dragging all this drama into their lives.”
“You’re worth it, Ellis.”
I pull back, dropping a kiss on his lips as I soak up his warmth. For a long time after Lily disappeared, I couldn’t even look at anyone as a potential love interest. I was getting a lot of work, and every day I was making out with gorgeous co-stars and not feeling a thing. I got a reputation for being the most committed, professional actor in the business, largely because I had zero interest in the off-screen antics that are so rife in our industry. Crest was always tossing starlets into my path, but even when I dated, I kept it discreet. Right up until Tristan rode his ten-speed into Otley’s Continental GT and became the heart of our pack.
“Are you okay with all of this?” I ask, smoothing back his wild brown curls. “You know we love you in every way.”
“I know.” His soft, red mouth curls up into an irresistible smile. “And I’m more than okay with what’s happening. Lily needs us, babe, and that little boy… I just can’t believe there’s this piece of you walking around, living his own life. I want you to know him, and for him to love you as much as I do.”
My heart pinches at the devotion in his voice. Fuck, maybe fate took pity on me, giving me Tris because I’d fucked up soroyally with Lily. Otley must be thinking the same thing, because he steps up and sandwiches our mate between us. “You’re the best thing that ever happened to us, sweetheart.”
“Luckily, there’s plenty of me to go around.” He presses his ass into Ot, while his hips rub against my thickening shaft. “More and more by the second, in fact.”
“It’s been too fucking long,” I growl, shoving down his collar and biting at my mating bite. “I need inside you, sweetheart.”
“I need you both,” he tells us, that soft, glazed look coming into his eyes that calls to my alpha instincts. “Can we skip dessert and go straight to the afternoon delight?”
I laugh, the first happy sound I feel like I’ve made in an age. “Come on, Ot. We have a hungry beta to feast on.”
Tristan’s appetite is as voracious as my own, and after a few hours of welcoming me home, I should be passed out in the middle of his three-poster bed. But instead, I leave my slumbering mates to their dreams and pad downstairs, my blood zipping restlessly through my veins. After grabbing some fresh clothes from my suitcase, I stop in the kitchen to grab a bottle of water and text Cooper, the head of my security team. When he buzzes me back, I scrawl a quick note on the pad on the counter, and head outside to the waiting car.
“Evening, Mr. Castle,” he says as I slide into the back of the SUV. It’s a nice ride, but I miss my Bugatti Divo back in California. Maybe I should get it shipped out here, especially since the fleet of rentals with their blacked-out windows aren’t exactly inconspicuous in rural Idaho. “Klim said it’s all quiet on the farm.”
I nod, feeling the knot in my gut release a notch. “Thanks, Cooper. And what about the media?”
Cooper pulls a face as we start down the long drive towards the main road. “They’ve set up camp in town. Still just local press right now, but the nationals won’t be far behind. You know how they’re all gagging for any glimpse ofThe Frozen Throne.”
I curse under my breath, because Otto’s refusal to deal with the press means that even thehintof a leak turns into a feeding frenzy. Not only is the trilogy of films the most expensive cinematic enterprise in history, but there’s a rabid fanbase for the books that will do just about anything to see their obsession come to life. Including moving to Alaska during the shoot and posing as extras to get close to the cast. One little punk even followed me into the restroom to tell me he’d hunt me down and destroy me if I fucked up his favorite character.
“Well, just make sure they keep their distance from the farm.”
Cooper nods, even though both of us know that’s going to be a tough ask. But I put tomorrow’s worries behind me as I leave Cooper watching from the car and head over to the other house on the lot. It’s smaller than Lily’s, but with the same pitched roof and wraparound porch. The fresh coat of paint and squared away lawn gives it a military feel, although maybe that’s just because of the guy watching me from the shadow-draped rocking chair.
Logan Sawyer, the territorial alpha who smells like boot polish and campfire smoke. His scuffed boots are propped up on the porch rail, and despite his old jeans and flannel shirt, there’s no mistaking the menace under all that muscle. “You still thinking about feeding me through a woodchipper?”
He grunts, holding something aloft until I see the beer bottle gleam in the moonlight. “I don’t drink and dismember people.”
