“Ding, ding, ding, we have a winner. They’ll know exactly where all y’all will be. There’s no way they could resist such easy pickings!”
“You’re not really making an argument of why weshoulddo this. Unless you’re trying to use reverse psychology to get us to cancel the funeral?” Unsurprisingly, my brother wasn’t getting it. Probably because he was still trying to get over the creepy neck thing Cherry had done.
My heart skipped a beat at the thought, although I couldn’t tell if it was with dread or intrigue. Maybe both? One thing I’d learned was that very few things were so black and white anymore. “No, she’s saying since we know they’ll be there, we set a trap.”
At that, a broad smile passed over Cherry’s features. “Not just any trap. But abigone. A really,reallybig one!”
Chapter 14
Paul
Funerals are Just Depressing Family Reunions
I looked downat my father’s closed casket. It was strange to think it held the man I had once admired and resented at the same time.
And loved?
Yes. There had been love there. But it was cold. Detached. Removed.
I wished things had been different.
“At least you’re with Mom,” I murmured, taking in the polished wood of the lid. Ashwood, of course, as was tradition in our family. “You probably owe her a couple of apologies for how you decided to do things.”
That was putting it lightly. Our mother never would have wanted us to spend all our time at boarding school, or for the gardens to be taken over by staff and our meals and playtime to also be taken over by even more staff. She always said our wealth made it too easy to divide us, and I supposed she was right.
“Tell her we all miss her, okay? But I’m going to make sure it’ll be a while before any more of us join you.”
And I meant that with every fiber of my being.
I had spent all my adult life trying to mold myself into the perfect middle son—whatever that was—but how useless hadthat proved to be? I wasn’t going to waste my time on any more of those silly trappings. Eldest. Youngest. Middle child. What did any of that matter when two of my family members were in coffins in front of me?
I crossed to Luther’s next, where I knew his preserved arm was curved purposefully around the urn that held what little remains the forensic team could extract from themushthat had been the security team. I wished I could look at his face one more time, but that just wasn’t an option. That had been stolen from us, taken away by... We didn’t know who, but I was sure down to my soul that they were evil. They had to be.
We had our enemies, of course. What wolf pack didn’t? And there were those who would no doubt like to topple any of the three shifter families that ruled the East Coast. But it was difficult to imagine any of them would gothisfar when the last official pack war had been well in my father’s youth.
“Hey, Luther,” I murmured, trailing my hand across his casket. It wasn’t quite the same as holding his hand, but when was the last time we’d done that anyway? Luther’s schedule as the eldest son and heir had been packed to the gills and then some. What little free time he’d had, he spent running off in wolf form to relieve stress or doing things by himself. Always on his own. I never really thought of it before, but now I couldn’t help but wonder if he had buckled under the stress just as much as Chris gunned for it. Or maybe he had been resigned to his fate. How could I know, because I never talked to him?
We said our “hi’s and byes”, of course. Our “how are yous”. Spoke about our respective duties. But nothing beyond that. I didn’t know if his favorite movie was still John Carpenter’sThe Thing. I didn’t even know if he liked sushi. And we were brothers.
Were.
That time was over. It was gone before I even knew that was an option, and now I was… was…
What am I?
No longer the third son, no longer the middle child. I had built so much around that, what did it leave when that was no more?
“Knock, knock,” a gentle voice said alongside a soft knock at the door.
“Come in.”
I didn’t have to turn to know it was Cherry, and I listened as she stepped into the viewing room and slowly approached me.
“People are just starting to arrive. We have some security working as valet, and they’re doing covert searches and reports as we speak.”
“I’m sure all that data is pleasing Chris,” I murmured, eyes still on Luther’s casket. God, I didn’t even know what my eldest brother had liked to do to relax other than run. Did he play video games like Jackson? Read like Chris? Pet the closest animal he could find like Penelope?
“Funny, I would have thought having a lot of data was more your thing.”