Chapter One
Clay
My first thought when I saw Duncan was that he was the most adorable man I’d ever seen. Seriously. He had dark eyes and moppy brown hair that looked like he just rolled out of bed. He had on light-colored pants and a blue button-down shirt with the sleeves rolled up. He had a lopsided smile as he grinned toward Charlie, who was just adorable.
My gorilla took immediate notice as he got closer, and I had to fight the urge to growl when he hugged Charlie. I knew he wasn’t interested in my brother-in-law, and the last thing I needed was for my brother to kick my ass for growling near his pregnant mate.
“Duncan, I’m so happy you could make it,” Charlie said.
“I know I missed everything, but I wanted to drop off your gift,” Duncan said as he held out a large gift bag.
“You didn’t need to get us anything.”
Charlie looked around for Silver, and not a few seconds later, my brother was suddenly behind his mate.
“Hey, Duncan. Glad you could make it,” Silver said. “There’s some leftover food and cake if you want some.”
Duncan’s smile grew. “I don’t want to cause anyone extra work for getting things back out,” he said. “I just wanted to drop off the gift I got you guys.”
Duncan finally looked my way, and it was probably completely in my head, but I swore there was an electric current between us. The moment was broken, however, when Silver smacked me rudely, and I glared at him.
“Stop staring. It’s rude,” Silver said before he looked back at Duncan. “This is my brother Clay, and normally, he has better manners.”
I tried to say something but wasn’t given a chance because Silver was suddenly pulling me away from Duncan. I tugged back, but it was no use. My brother was stronger than I was. When we were inside, he finally let go of me, and immediately, my gorilla tried to head back outside.
“Where are you going?”
“Back outside,” I told him.
“No, you’re not,” Silver said. “You’re making Duncan uncomfortable.”
I did growl now and shoved Silver’s hands off me. “Let me go,” I told him. I made it to the door before Silver’s arms slid between mine and my torso, and then he hooked his arms upward and simply lifted me. “What is your deal? I told you that you were making Duncan uncomfortable.”
I was flailing around, trying to reach behind me enough to reach my brother to get him to let me go. Unfortunately, that was how Charlie and Duncan found us.
“Really, you two?” Charlie said as he and Duncan came into the house.
“Let me go,” I said again.
“Silver, let him go,” Charlie told his mate.
Immediately, he dropped me, and of course, I turned around and hit my brother. It wasn’t exactly my most shining moment, but he had been an ass, and he wasn’t listening to me. I didn’t hit him hard, but it was enough to push him several feet back from me.
“Clay, behave,” Charlie said. He didn’t appear to be amused. He had been mated to my brother for several months now, and he was used to all of our antics at this point. When Charlie made a face but wasn’t looking at me, I turned in time to see Silver dropping his arms.
“I’ll knock you in the face next time,” I warned my brother.
Charlie sighed loudly.
“Are they always so violent?” Duncan asked.
“They have their moments,” Charlie said. “You should probably sit down though.”
I could tell that Duncan was a bit on edge. “Umm, why?” he asked as he looked back and forth between Charlie and me and Silver.
“Nothing’s wrong, silly,” Charlie told him. “But you said you’d at least take cake, right? Well, are you going to eat it standing up?”
“Oh.” Duncan quickly sat but seemed uncomfortable.
