“I agree, but in the meantime, what are we going to do with the ‘baba’?” asked Steel.
“Knock, knock,” Cody’s voice floated in from the hallway. “Jackson, are you in here?” Cody entered, smiling when he saw his brother. “I thought I heard your voice. What are you doing up so early?”
“Steel woke me because he wanted to show me the latest thing Daniel has done,” Jackson said, pointing.
Cody’s eyes widened as he looked at Daniel. “You gave your son a pet? Don’t you think he’s a little young to take care of a rabbit?”
Batting his brother’s arm, Jackson replied, “Of course he’s too young…”
“Then why get him a pet? Are you trying to teach him responsibility?” asked Cody. “Oh, sh...eet, is that something Dylon and I should be doing for Jake and Jessica?”
“Stop Cody, you got it all wrong. We didn’t give him the rabbit. It was here when Steel came in to get Daniel dressed,” Jackson said.
“So who gave him the rabbit?” asked Cody.
“Doesn’t that rabbit look familiar?” Jackson asked.
Studying it more closely, Cody said, “No, not real…oh, my gods…it’s the same one that came to Daniel in the woods! Wait, I don’t understand…why did you bring it inside? I don’t know much about rabbits but I don’t think you can keep a wild rabbit as an inside pet. You do know, bro, you could’ve gotten him one from a pet store. Those rabbits are bred to be pets.”
First opening, then shutting his mouth, Jackson glared at his brother. “You think I’d keep a wild rabbit in captivity? I’m a wolf…I know what it means to be free!”
Cody’s gaze shifted to Steel, whose whole body was shaking with laughter, before it returned to his brother who was, by now, looking pretty pissed. “Well,” he continued, “if you didn’t bring the rabbit up here, who did? I know Dylon didn’t and Carson didn’t either. So that leaves you and Steel. And what’s so freaking funny?” he snapped at Steel.
Catching his breath, Steel answered, “You…I’m laughing at you.”
“Me?” Cody asked. “Okay, I’m missing something. I swear I didn’t bring that rabbit in here.”
Finally, Jackson couldn’t hold back his laughter at the absurdity of the conversation. “No...no…I know you didn’t but I told you we didn’t either. We don’t know how it got up here but we think Daniel does.”
“Cra...cker, you think he can do something else?” asked Cody.
“It does seem to be the only logical explanation,” Jackson answered, studying his son, before asking Cody, “Wait, why are you up so early?”
“The crew started demolishing the suite next to us and woke up Jake and Jessica. Dylon is taking care of them while I came to see if Daniel was up so I could take him to play with the twins,” said Cody.
“Thanks,” Steel said, “that would be great cause it’ll give me some time to get rid of ‘you know who’ without getting Daniel upset. Give me a minute to change him and then he’s yours.”
Chapter 4
Closing his eyes, he listened to the early morning sounds of birds in the forest; they helped relieve his soul of the burdens he now shouldered. It wasn’t supposed to be this way—holed up with his brothers far from the pack he should be leading, but that was long past. His uncle now led the Rolling Hill Pack and there’d be no going back for him. Once his mother had gotten the phone call, everything changed in a heartbeat.
Sipping a steaming cup of coffee, Hunter leaned back in his chair and swung his feet up onto the log railing surrounding the porch. His mother’s image flashed into his mind and pain filled his soul. Unable to stem the flow of sorrow coursing through him, Hunter rolled with it. The screen door opened and Hunter scented his brother, Mason, joining him on the porch. Forcing his grief to return to that special place in his heart, Hunter opened his eyes and, looking at his brother, said, “Good morning.”
“Morning,” Mason growled, his eyes missing nothing including the sadness his oldest brother was trying to hide. “You all right?”
“Yeah, just planning my day,” Hunter replied.
Mason grimaced at the lie, but let it go. He knew Hunter had taken their mother’s death hard, probably hardest of all of them. That’s not to say Mason didn’t miss her, because he did, but his brother had a special relationship that began the day their father died. In her grief, she turned to her eldest son, relying on him to take control and make sure they all were safe and protected. Mason grudgingly admitted Hunter made the right decision to give up leadership of the pack and move them here, but wished there’d been another way—his brother was born to be Alpha. Now, Hunter was trying to fulfill hismother’s last request. “Did you hear from Jackson yet?” Mason asked.
“No, but I will. Did you ever get the copy of the complaint he filed against his uncle?” asked Hunter.
“Finally.”
Hunter glanced at his brother, the corners of his mouth twitching. “Do I even want to know how?”
“Nope.” Mason’s initial request for a copy had been refused by the High Council because it was still a pending matter. Despite his subsequent arguments, they refused to budge, so he contacted an old school buddy, an accomplished hacker. Just that morning, he’d received a copy of the complaint by email from an anonymous sender. Pulling a printed copy from the back pocket of his jeans, Mason handed it to Hunter. “Here, it ain’t pretty but it may explain why Jackson hasn’t been answering your emails.”
Setting his mug down on the floor, Hunter began to read. Page after page, the horror of what his cousins suffered was laid out in black and white; by the time he finished, it was hard for him to contain his anger. Staring up through the trees, he fought to control his emotions, knowing his younger brother would sense it immediately.
