I shook my head. “Okay, let’s table that for a moment.” I rubbed my brow. “I can see you’re not in the mood to listen. But why do we even need to change anything? The brand is doing great; the last quarter was possibly our best.”
My brother sighed dramatically, throwing his hands in the air. “Seriously! Have you been to our website? It’s a miracle we even have any clients. It looks like something created on Blogspot in 2000.” He huffed. “And that’s me being kind... Just, no. We can do better. Our social media presence is almost nonexistent.”
“That is the last thing we need. We keep a low profile, remember?” I pointed out, brow raised. “Besides, we provide great, high-quality products at excellent prices. Since when isn’t that enough?”
“Uhh, first of all, don’t act like I said we should put up a video of us shifting on the internet. Okay?” He rolled his eyes, “And just for the record, branding became, like, a major thing since influencing became the norm. You gotta keep up, bro.” Rhys sighed and, without uttering the words, managed to call me ‘silly old big brother.’ “Sure, we’re in the big chains, but I have plans for gourmet orders. Or even a subscription service and so much more,” Rhys went on. “For all that to happen, we need to get with the times.”
I didn’t hate any of those ideas. But it took me back to my initial argument.
“I hear you on all of this, and I agree. Wecoulddo with a little update,” I conceded.
“A little?” Rhys snorted.
Ignoring him, I went on, “But why does he have to even be in town? Isn’t all this graphic stuff done online now? Why can’t we do that?”
“I told you why, Gabe.” Rhys huffed. “Honestly, do you even listen?”
I issued a warning growl. As much as Rhys was making light of things, it was my job to keep my people safe. I wasn’t mayor like my brother Austin or even Sheriff like Hunter, but I was still the alpha since Dad stepped down. Therefore, it was my job to keep my town, my home, my people,my familysafe, and that meant shielding us from the prying eyes of humans.
Why didn’t Rhys get this?
“Can we at least not do anything too fast?” I suggested.
Suddenly, Rhys seemed to find a spot in his pants very interesting.
“Rhyssss!” I knew what that look meant, especially since my brother wouldn’t meet my eyes. I sighed and rubbed my brow.
“How long?” I asked.
“Well,” Rhys said. “Hmm, in about an hour.” He pulled his phone out. “Kian let me into his Find My Phone account so I could track his journey. It’s his first time driving on his own, you know. Did I mention he was my roommate in college? Kian is the sweetest. Trust me, he couldn’t hurt a fly. Actually scratch that, thirty minutes.”
My brain stalled on the thirty minutes. My brother had only told me about this three days ago, and even then, it had been couched as a suggestion. I’d told him I would think about it, but clearly, it was a done deal.
“Let me guess, you already hired him?”
“Well…” His voice trailed off.
“Dammit, Rhys! You know better. I know you know better,” I snapped.
“I do.” My brother folded his arms. “Which is why I know this is the right thing. Kian is family, and if he were a member of the den, then we would welcome him.”
“But he’s not. He’s human,” I reminded him. “It would be different if he was a shifter, half-shifter, or even had a shifter somewhere in his family tree.”
“But—” he tried.
“No, Rhys. This is dangerous. The last thing we need is for him to accidentally see something and run away screaming or worse. What if this whole social media thing catches something it’s not supposed to?”
My brother snorted, and I narrowed my eyes at him.
“You know that’s not how it works, right?” he said. “It doesn’t magically appear on the ’Gram. You have to post it.”
I blew out a breath. “At least keep him in town. We know no one is going to shift in the middle of town.”
Rhys shook his head. “I can’t.” He leaned forward, his eyes serious. “Kian doesn’t do well in new places. Or with new people. He’s shy. I’ve always watched out for him.”
Fuck.
“How would it look if I suddenly told him, ‘Actually, you can’t stay at my house. You have to stay in a bed-and-breakfast.’ I know Kee, and he’ll think he’s done something wrong. Besides, he should be around someone that cares about him after everything he’s been through.”
