Acting Like Family Read online

  “Hey, brother. Did I wake you up?” he asked when Lakon answered his cell.

  “You just called to ask me that?” Lakon growled. Riker could hear his smile, though.

  “Where are you?” He wasn’t ready to talk about why he called yet.

  “I’m in Cleveland, Ohio. Party Central, boys and girls. Where’re you?”

  “Dublin, Ireland. It’s six-thirty in the morning here.”

  “What’s wrong, brother?” He could never hide anything from his twin.

  “Remember back in March, when I had that feeling that nearly drove me out of my mind?” Riker knew Lakon would remember. It had been bad and lasted for hours.

  “I thought you were on your way to being the only alcoholic werewolf in living memory, bro. Did something like that happen again?”

  “Yeah. I woke up feeling chills. Then I just knew. She needs me. What am I gonna do, man?”

  “Of course she needs you, Riker, she’s your mate. Just don’t give up. We’ll find her. Somehow, some way, we’ll find her, I swear.”

  “I feel like I’m losing my mind, Lake,” Riker fought to keep his voice from cracking. He wasn’t a hundred percent successful.

  “I got an idea, Rike. Look, I have a week off. I’ll bring Yancey. I have this idea for a song. You can help me. If we put it out, she’ll know you’re thinking about her. It’ll help, I know it will.” Riker could hear the hope in his brother’s voice.

  Lakon was suffering with him and for him, he knew. While his brother’s idea was like grasping at straws, Riker wasn’t above clinging to the thinnest thread. Anything was better than the fear that he’d never see his mate again.

  Chapter 4

  December 29

  Executive Airline’s Bar, O’Hare Airport

  Chicago, IL

  Bethany sat across the table from her publisher, Sophia. The two of them were enjoying a glass of wine in a private airport bar. It had been just about fifteen months since Bethany’s experience with Riker.

  “It’s so good to see you, Bet.”

  The statuesque brunette woman’s words caught the attention of a man seated behind a large planter across the room.

  Lakon listened in shamelessly. Did that brunette just call that blonde Bet?

  “It’s good to see you, too, Sophia. It’s been so long.” The woman who answered her was a very attractive blonde.

  Lakon Montgomery was about halfway across the room and trying to kill some time before his connecting flight. He loved to listen to women talk to each other. Women always had REAL things to talk about.

  “So where’re the “K” twins? I KNOW you didn’t leave them very far away!” laughed Sophia.

  The blonde chuckled wryly. “Don’t worry. I can see them from here. First off, who’d be safe? And second, they’d sniff me out. They’re with an airline sitter right in the next room. A real big guy!”

  Both women laughed and then Sophia reached for her friend’s hand.

  “Bet, how long before you have to worry right here in the airport? Why won’t you find their father?”

  “Every time we are ANYWHERE, people come up to me and say the boys should be among their own kind. I wish I understood that better” Bethany sighed. “But no one would bother us in a place like this with all this security.”

  Lakon still listened in casually.

  A mystery, huh? A missing father? Their own kind? Curious…

  “Their father, Bet? What about their father?” Sophia asked.

  Bethany was silent for a moment, twisting her napkin.

  “I called and I wrote, Sophia.”

  “Bet, WHOM did you call and write?”

  Bethany sighed. “Remember when I still lived on the island and came in to sign that new contract?” she asked her friend hesitantly.

  A confession. Perfect. Maybe he could write a song about it.

  Lakon, with his heightened sense of hearing and smell, tuned out everything else in the bar besides the two women.

  “Remember I was going to go straight home that same evening?” the blond continued. “Then my flight got mixed up and I stayed overnight at that fancy hotel?”

  “Sure, Bethany. I remember.” Sophia looked at her friend curiously.

  Bet must be short for Bethany.

  After a deep breath, Bethany continued. “The hotel put me in a room that someone else was in. They made a big mistake. But I was so tired—you know how jet lag affects me.” Sophia nodded, apparently intrigued now. “When I woke up…”

  The blonde woman pulled out an old newspaper clipping.

  “This is me, Sophia.” Sophia took the newspaper clip.

  “Bet, that’s Riker Montgomery.” Sophia gasped looking from the clipping to her friend.

  Holy Shit—Pay dirt!

  Lakon sat up straighter.

  HOLY SHIT! BET! A MISSING FATHER! OH NO!

  “That’s you behind his hand? That IS you behind his hand! All right girlfriend! I want DETAILS!”

  She wasn’t the only one who was curious. Lakon wanted to hear her version of events, too.

  “There’s not too much to say.” Bethany took a sip of wine.

  Across the room, Lakon lifted a brow and stifled a smile.

  “We had incredible, rock-your-world, mind blowing sex. I stole this leather jacket from him.”

  Now Lakon was grinning like the cat that ate the canary. He’d be catching up to his brother later tonight. Lakon focused on the women again.

  “Don’t you want to see him again?” Sophia asked, confused.

  Hidden behind an enormous fichus plant, Lakon wondered the same thing.

  “Sophia, to me, it was an unbelievable intimate experience with a wonderful and sexy hunk. To him I’m sure it was just a mediocre roll in the hay with what he probably thought was another rabid fan planted uninvited in his bed.” Bethany was getting a little upset now. “But that night with him, it made me feel beautiful and special. He kept me warm.”

  Sophia got back to the point, “Bethany, you said you called and you wrote?”

  “Even before I knew I was pregnant,” Bethany nodded. “First I got a couple of signed photos. Then a letter from a lawyer.” Bethany sighed. “Riker Montgomery has nothing to say. I guess he’s not ready for kids.”

  She’d been trying to contact him while he had been going crazy for her! Who? What lawyer had written to her and about what?? His brother not want his kids? NO WAY!

  His brother was going to be thrilled. But in addition, Riker was going to be worried. Scratch that. Riker would be out of his mind.

  “You know you can always stay with me. We’ll keep trying to reach him. Your next book advance should come through and that should pay for a lot of the moving costs you’ve had. The royalties for the last one will start soon, too.” Sophia grabbed her friend’s hand.

  Book advance? Royalties…

  If she was published, Lakon knew he could find her.

  “Bet, come stay with me now. Please? I know the worry and fear is killing you.”

  “You know I can’t. Look, I’ve got to go, Sophia. We leave any minute now. I’ll call you next week from the mountains. If I run out of other options, I’ll call, I promise.”

  “Bethany Black, you have to try Riker again.” Sophia glared at her friend.

  Bethany Black…

  Lakon recognized that name. His mother read her stuff.

  Bethany sighed. “What am I supposed to do, Sophia?” Bethany’s voice was strained.

  “How about trying to write his brother?” Sophia thought she had all the answers.

  “I did,” Bethany insisted. “I think they use the same lawyer. Or else his brother doesn’t know. Or Riker really did forget.”

  “Oh Bet, that song, he wrote it with his brother, you know the one? It’s about loving a woman whose name he doesn’t know. Maybe he does remember you. His brother has to know all about it.” Sophia tried to reassure her friend.

  “Sophia, you’re such a romantic. I want to be in love
with my memory instead of being hurt by reality again. I can’t take a chance on him not wanting Kade and Kam.”

  Sitting across the room behind the large plant, Lakon’s head was spinning.

  Kade and Kam.

  “Bet, how’re you guys going to be safe? You’ve been chased out of every home you’ve tried to make by those men.” Sophia still played devil’s advocate. “You don’t even know who it is that’s after you.”

  “Don’t worry, this time I’m getting some muscle … well, some fang, anyway,” Bethany responded mysteriously.

  Before Sophia could respond, Bethany stood and pulled her friend into a tight hug.

  “There’s our plane,” Bethany’s voice cracked. “I won’t say where exactly we’re going till we get there.” She gulped the rest of her wine. “Come kiss the boys with me. We have to run, though!”

  Sophia dropped a twenty-dollar bill on the table and sprinted after her friend. No one noticed the muscular black haired man leave the bar after the women. He’d been sitting near the door and upwind.

  Lakon shot to his feet but the women were ahead of him. He didn’t see exactly which way they went.

  Cursing, he looked around trying to find a rushing mother with twin boys. Finally, he gave up. All was not lost, though.

  He decided that he’d gather information and take it to his brother. They had a lot more to go on now than they had a year and a half ago.

  Lakon stood and made his way across the room. He turned his famous charming smile on the waitress who was clearing the table.

  In her haste, Bethany hadn’t realized she’d left the jacket behind.

  “Hey there, Honey. Was that your customer leaving?” Lakon sat down on top of the jacket. “Where is the nearest daycare room in this airport and what flights are leaving right now for which mountainous areas?”

  He dropped some more twenty-dollar bills on the table in front of her—one bill for each question.

  * * * *

  December 29

  Riker’s house

  Franklin, NC

  Four hours later, Lakon sat in his brother’s den sipping a cold beer. Neither man noticed their father dozing by the fire.

  “Hey brother,” Lakon put his feet up on a nearby ottoman. “Is it cold in here to you?”

  Riker growled at his brother. He’d been an insufferable rat-bastard for almost a year and a half now as far as Lakon was concerned. But that was okay. He was about to make everything better.

  “What the fuck, Lake? You know I’m not cold. What’s your problem? I didn’t invite you here.” As Riker barked at him, Lakon just smiled negligently.

  “Sure you aren’t cold?” Lakon picked up the bag he’d brought with him. He tossed it to his brother. Riker, seated a few feet away, caught it automatically.

  He glared at his brother until the scent hit him. He looked down at the bag and back at his brother.

  Riker reached into the bag and drew his old leather jacket out of it. He pressed it to his face and inhaled deeply. Tears sprung to his eyes as he pulled the scent of his mate into his lungs.

  It was obvious that he’d despaired of ever smelling her scent again. Lakon knew he’d been sure he’d lost her. Riker stood and turned his back to his brother and buried his face in the jacket. It was a few minutes before he could speak to Lakon again.

  “Where is she, Lake? Who is she?” Riker demanded. He stood behind the chair he’d vacated a few moments ago. Lakon knew his brother didn’t trust himself to say more or move closer to him.

  Lakon began by telling the other man that Bethany had tried to reach him right away after she’d left. Their father listened silently.

  Riker growled low upon hearing that she’d tried repeatedly to contact him with no success.

  “She told her friend about her night with you, Rike.” Riker sat down across from Lakon and leaned forward.

  “What’d she say, Lake? I gotta know.” The Alpha lupine didn’t worry about letting his brother see his weakness. They were pretty close.

  “Well, big boy,” Lakon batted his eyelashes at his brother. Riker growled at Lakon again. “She classified your intimate experience as incredible, rock-your-world, and mind blowing.” He winked at Riker. “Way to go, bro!”

  If Lakon wasn’t mistaken, his brother was growling and blushing at the same time.

  “There’s a downside, Rike.” He knew this part wasn’t going to go over very well.

  “What? What’s wrong? And you still haven’t told me who she is.” Lakon could tell that Riker was getting a little worried now.

  “Seems she thought you probably believed she was just another rabid fan with whom you’d experienced a mediocre roll in the hay.” Lakon braced himself for the explosion. He didn’t have to wait long.

  Riker couldn’t speak for a minute he was so angry, “Another WHAT? A fuckin’ roll in the hay? Mediocre? You have GOT to be kidding! Was she even in the same room with me? The woman had me monosyllabic!” he sputtered for a full minute until Lakon held up his hand.

  “Calm down, brother, there’s more.” At Riker’s intense stare, Lakon added, “There’s quite a bit more.”

  Lakon would do anything to keep his brother from falling back down the hole of despair that he’d lived in for the last year and a half. He didn’t think this would send him into despair, but he knew it would cause him pain. Riker arched a brow at Lakon but didn’t say anything.

  “Riker, it turns out you’re a daddy. Twins. Kade and Kam. She tried to tell you but they sent her a signed photo and a letter from your lawyer. Her name is Bethany Black.”

  Lakon did dive behind his chair at his brother’s explosion this time.

  * * * *

  December 30

  Elke and Mik Montgomery’s house—next door to Riker’s home

  Franklin, NC

  “Mik, you have to go talk to him!” begged Elke, Riker and Lakon’s mother.

  Mik, the father of the two werewolves, released a deep sigh.

  “Elke, you have interfered with any relationship I tried to make with my sons for years. Why do you think they’ll hear me now?”

  He did want to go and help his son. He knew Riker had been in pain for nearly a year and a half. He’d tried to talk to his son repeatedly, but with little success. He was grateful that the two could at least spend time together quietly.

  “Love, I will do something,” Mik told her finally. “I want no interference from you. Just help the boys when they ask you and don’t say anything about me if you can help it.”

  Mik knew what he could do. He’d listened carefully to his sons’ conversation and had checked the woman’s scent. He’d pieced together where Riker’s mate might have gone. He’d find her and he’d help her.

  “Mik, do you know what’s going on?”

  Elke sounded so weak and frail. She loved to take charge and it was killing her not to know what to take charge of. Mik was going to let her find her own way in this one.

  “I have a good idea, Elke. I think you’ll need to look in your own backyard for the trouble this time,” he told her enigmatically.

  Mik Montgomery loved his wife and he knew she loved him—in her own way. The problem was that she was a pureblood werewolf while he was a mixed breed. His mother had been Canis lupus occidentalis, a Rocky Mountain Wolf. There were still prejudices.

  He and Elke had mated during a full moon hunt that included several packs from their area. Mik and Elke had been in the throes of the full moon madness when they’d gotten together and were both in wolf form. He’d impregnated her immediately. She was his mate and he knew it. She knew it too but she resented it all the same.

  None of that mattered now. Mik had listened carefully to his sons’ exchange. Riker’s mate and Mik’s grandsons were in danger. He felt he was uniquely suited to help in this family emergency.

  Chapter 5

  January 1

  Near Conway, New Hampshire

  Bethany had decided to relocate her little family to the
White Mountains of New Hampshire. The first stop she’d made after getting off the plane was to purchase an aging Chevy Suburban.

  After that, the trio, Bethany, Kameron and Kaden made a detour into North Salem where they’d made arrangements to adopt four wolf-hybrids. Bethany didn’t know everything about the new members of her family but she did know she needed help.

  Everywhere she’d gone, small dogs had growled and run from her boys but she’d found out by accident that wolves liked them.

  She’d also found that, everywhere she’d gone, scary, shaggy men seemed to think she’d hook up with them. If they saw the small bite marks Riker had left on her, they backed off. But when lupus-like dogs had been nearby, Bethany had felt safer.

  She’d been at a zoo when the lawyer from Riker’s offices had met with her. When he’d gotten physical with her and leaned over her boys, they’d been near the wolf exhibit.

  Those wild animals had thrown themselves at the bars of their cages and tried to get out. They’d scared that awful man away. One of them had even escaped later that night.

  Now, though, Bethany was emotionally tired. She wanted a life and she just wanted to raise her boys. She bought some land in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. After collecting her new family members, the wolves, she headed to her new home.

  The cabin was dark, dank and damp when Bethany and the twins arrived. She was exhausted and the boys were pretty tired, too. They’d spent a couple of nights in hotels en route but they were still worn out from traveling.

  Bethany was tempted to have them all sleep in the car but her new “muscle” was getting restless. First, she let the wolf-dogs out of the truck and then loaded the boys into their stroller. The male animals, she noticed, sprinted straight into the trees.

  Bethany found herself talking to the females who’d stayed with her as she moved toward their ramshackle new home.

  “It’s going to be an impossible mess, ladies,” she told them. “I hated to offend you with dog food so I got some hamburger and stuff.” They seemed to look right at her when she spoke.

  “I bought a lot of meat for you guys because I know the boys love red meat, too. Just look after them for me while I clean up, okay?”