But his energy faded so fast. Only a few hours had passed and Sawyer felt the weakness returning. He pushed it back, though, focusing on his brothers.
“Eduard is stupid rich. Like, crazy stupid rich. And I guess I kind of am now, too? Anyway, Cecil found out that Eduard had a guardian mark, so he went to work for him because he figured it was the fastest way to find me. I guess when all my powers were stripped, it meant he couldn’t just do his thing and be beside me. I don’t know. It’s pretty confusing for me, too, and there’s a lot Cecil can’t tell me. I guess other me made him promise.”
Nick gave his hand another squeeze before pulling it away. He reached for the notorious smoothie Cecil had carried in earlier and put it in Sawyer’s hand. “Drink it. Butler guy said it was important.”
“It is.”
Of course, Cecil was the only one who understood exactly what he was going through. He was the one who’d first realized that Sawyer’s human body wasn’t functioning correctly now that his powers had started to return. Sawyer didn’t even fully understand what was happening. He’d apparently made sure his memories were good and wiped clean. Yeah, he knew his mother and sisters. And yeah, he remembered his brother. But only by name and face. He understood who they were but had no memories of his past otherwise. He took a long drink, swallowing more than he wanted of the concoction. It did help, but both Sawyer and Cecil knew it wasn’t going to help for long.
“Now, since you have a bank account, I want a new truck. Oh, and one of those drone things. Oh, and maybe—”
Sawyer coughed, nearly choking on his drink. Nick laughed and leaned back in his chair. “Jerk,” Sawyer grumbled.
“Yeah, well, what else are big brothers for?”
With a shrug, Sawyer turned his attention back to Mikey. “I need him to be okay.”
“He will be.”
“How do you know?”
Nick leaned forward once more and looked into Sawyer’s eyes. He’d always believed in Nick. Nick had taken his role as big brother seriously, and Sawyer trusted him. He needed more than anything for his big brother to tell him it was going to be okay.
“Because you’re going to make sure he is. You need to do whatever it is you were sent here to do so you can power up or whatever. That’s what all this hoopla is about, right? You’ve been hiding out as a human or whatever, and now you’ve gotta claim the throne or winter will come and the rebellion will cease to exist and the snap will happen or some shit.”
“I think you’re mixing up about a million pop culture references there.”
“What the fuck do I know?” Nick said. “But I know there’s shit going down, and you’ve got shit to take care of. So get it done.”
“That simple?”
“Probably not going to be simple, little brother. But Mikey’s got me and his mates to look after him. And we’re in these wards or whatever and apparently hellhounds are good guys? I feel like I’ve been lied to for years.”
“Yeah,” Sawyer said. He couldn’t help but smile, which is exactly what Nick wanted. “They’re supposed to be evil, right?”
“I mean, it makes sense. Then again, I like this version. Nobody fucks with a hellhound. Except me. I find I like fucking a hellhound a lot.”
Sawyer groaned and Nick cackled.
“Although, I suppose god trumps alpha. I mean, really, Sawyer? Couldn’t you just like, shift into an animal like the rest of us? You’d make a great tiger. No, wait. What’s that one who chirps and is a maniac?”
Sawyer grinned again and took another drink. “No clue. Besides, I think it’s the youngest child syndrome. I’m the youngest of them, too, you know?”
“I didn’t know. But yeah, spoiled brat seems about right.”
Sawyer scowled because Nick expected it, but he could see the teasing in his brother’s eyes. “I had planned on giving you more money for the new compound, but now I think I won’t.”
It was a lie, and both of them knew it.
Nick grinned and leaned back in his chair. “Not afraid of you. Also, Eduard gave me some fancy credit card and told me not to worry about the bill. Whatever we needed, he said. No questions asked. I like that guy.”
Sawyer laughed and finally released his hold on Mikey’s hand. “Speaking of, you need to get me caught up on everything going on over there. How many kids have you found now?”
“Thirty-two.” The last few weeks had been an adventure for Nick. Not only had he recovered his shifting abilities, but he’d become the mate of a hellhound and the alpha of a ragtag group of orphans. “Come on. Let’s go and you can see what we’re working on. You haven’t been by yet.”
Sawyer pressed a quick kiss to Mikey’s forehead and Nick did the same. He followed his big brother out the door and met Asher and Quillon in the hall. Mikey’s mates were both struggling, and it broke Sawyer’s heart that he hadn’t found a solution for them.
Asher gave them a brief nod before going back to Mikey’s side. Quillon hovered in the hall. “Any updates?”
