The Seasons

Chapter 16

At eleven pm, Cairo had burst into Wing’s room, who had been staring at his textbook, trying to wrap his head around the mathematics section. The Seasons had agreed to give him a trial run for the bar, and he started tomorrow, so he had come home and tried to focus on his work. Thorne had been sitting on the ground, his Macbook in his lap as he typed away. Both men stopped to stare at Cairo; Wing smiled as Thorne glared.

“Hello to you too, Cairo,” Wing said, smiling at the dishevelled man. He frowned when a particular scent hit him. “Why do you smell of s*x? Can vampires even smell of s*x?”

“Not now, Wing,” he said, staring at him. “We need to go to The Seasons.”

Thorne scowled. “We just came from there an hour ago.”

“Not now, you rat. But Wing we need to go. Get up.”

“But my maths-”

“Can wait for tomorrow. Get up!”

Wing stared at the textbook and nodded. He could have a mini-mental breakdown over this later on. Both men looked over when Thorne stood up, closing his computer, and he scoffed. “Oh, don’t give me that look. Wing has been my best friend for years. Whatever the f**k is happening, he’s not going through it alone. What kind of friend would I be?”

Cairo scowled at his son. “He’s not alone. He has me. He has the rest of them,”

“That doesn’t make me feel better. That makes everything much worse. You’re horrible, Jasper can’t keep his hands to himself, Aether likes sparkly things, Elizabeth is dead inside, Micah’s a snarky little s**t, Warren looks like he’s about to kill anyone who comes within two feet of Blue, Alex-”

“Okay,” Cairo snapped. “I get it. You can come.”

Cairo said nothing else as he turned on his heel and left. Wing heard the older man’s door squeak open. Ugh, that noise had gotten old quickly, and no matter how much he told him to, the man wouldn't oil the hinges. When Wing and Thorne put on their shoes in the hallway, Cairo came out in joggers and a t-shirt with a large back slung over his shoulder.

“Don’t ask. Let’s go; we’re taking my car.”

Wing snapped his head over to his best friend, grinning. “I call shotgun. That car is amazing, and I seethe in envy.”

Thorne stared blankly at him. “I don’t care.”

The car ride was tense, to say the least. Wing wasn’t sure who he was meant to speak to. Did he speak to Thorne, his best friend for years, or the man helping him? So, he also stayed silent, staring out of the window. He was glad Cairo hadn’t changed the colours of the car, and the lights were still, in fact, red. Thorne had commented, but Cairo had ignored it.

They arrived at the bar and followed the alley lit by the purple neon signs hanging above as they went inside. The place, like always, was packed, and they had to push to get to the bar. The music thumped as the air was humid. Wing swallowed at his discomfort, but surprisingly, Blue and Warren were manning the counter. Blue lit up when they saw them. “Hello, loves. They’re in the back.”

“Not doing their f*****g job,” Warren grumbled as he cleaned a glass.

Blue elbowed the alpha and smiled. “Don’t mind him. He’s annoyed because I keep getting hit on, and the seasons aren’t doing their job.”

“Of course, I’d be annoyed if you got hit on,” Warren grumbled. “You’re my partner. And the rest can f**k off.” To further prove his point, he leaned over and kissed Blue before scowling at a woman who had been undressing them with her eyes.

“Jealousy isn’t a good look on you, old man.” The trio turned around to see Slaine standing there, scowling. He wore a turtleneck; the necklace wasn’t visible, and he wore his all-black attire as usual, his dark hair messy as if it had been raked through multiple times.

“Slaine,” Blue said, their gaze softening.

“I don’t want to hear it. I’m here for one reason and one reason only. You three, follow me. Thorne, what? Why are you here?”

Thorne rubbed the back of his neck. “Wing got into some stupid s**t, and I’m not letting him do it alone?”

Slaine eyed him. “Fair enough. Follow me.”

Slaine not so subtly avoided Blue as he walked into the back, and the three followed. Wing’s ears felt like they were about to bleed from how loud the back of the room was. And when Slaine walked it, it got even louder. He could pick up some of the phrases.

“Don’t be f*****g stupid, Alexander,” Micah had snapped.

Winter was frowning. “This is a stupid idea.”

“Grey rubbed his nose. “They need help.”

“What is going on?” Wing muttered.

The chatter hit new volumes. He groaned as he tried muting them by sticking his fingers in his ears, but they weren’t helping, he shut his eyes as he tried to focus on slowly breathing, which was stupid, but it needed to be done; he needed to calm down, or he would have a panic attack. The noises reminded him of when this one person would visit him, so many people would follow in, they would all be talking over one another, and he knew he was in for so much pain. And he was trying to keep his breathing calm; he was.

“Shut up,” Cairo yelled. When the volume finally quieted, Wing opened one eye before lowering his fingers. “Thank you. Now, what was this urgent text.”

A few people opened their mouths, and Cairo narrowed his eyes. “One at a time. Wing is still new. You’re going to burst his eardrums.”

Wing stared up at the man in horror. “That can happen?” he whispered.

“Oh yeah, seen it happen a lot. Not a good thing.”

“So, what’s happening?” Thorne asked, eyes narrowed at the large group.

“I’ll help you,” Grey said, staring at the man. “On the condition it doesn’t affect my everyday life. Meaning no road trips.”

Jem smiled at him as he laced their hands together. “Oh, you can’t lie. We had fun.”

“Yeah, with the constant threat of death. How wonderful,” Slaine deadpanned.

“You got to bond with Levi,” Elizabeth replied, staring at him smugly.

Slaine scowled. “Do you want me to kill you? Bring him up one more time, and see what happens.”

Wing frowned. Levi was the man who had lied to him and had used what Slaine had told him about himself to manipulate him into falling in love with him so that the vampire could ensure he came out of all of this alive. And once they had managed to break the curse, Levi disappeared after Slaine died, and Elizebeth fed him the blood of Levi to let him be reborn. Unaware that the transfer would mean Slaine would have seen precisely what Levi had felt for him. Honestly, it sounded like a very messy situation.

“I will help. I think it’s stupid to let Micah help,” Alexander deadpanned as he stared down at his husband.

“And I said, I am going to help. Don’t be ridiculous, Xander.”

Alexander frowned. “I’m not being ridiculous. I’m worried about you.”

“I don’t need your worry.”

“Oh, can you two not do this again?” Jem groaned. “I’m sick of it. We’re all sick of it. I don’t know what you were expecting, Micah. Alexander worries. It’s his thing. You need to accept he will worry about and care about you.”

Wing nodded. Micah was pregnant. Because that was a thing in werewolves, it had taken him a while to come to terms with it. Well, he wasn’t sure if he had. But oh, well.

“He can help. But he can’t do anything ridiculous. How’s that? And when he hits the eight weeks, he can sit on the sidelines until he’s healed.”

“Nine,” Micah replied.

“How long are you?” Wing asked, staring at Micah.

Micah scowled as he crossed his arms over his chest. “Four.”

“Wait, what?” Rosalyn whined as she waved her arms around. “You only told us two weeks ago.”

Micah stared at her blankly. “I wasn’t even going to tell you. Xander made me. I planned to just rock up with a baby but noooo.”

“How did Alexander make you do anything?” she replied. Micah continued staring at her blankly until Rosalyn gave up,s sighing exasperatedly as she whacked her head on Elizabeth’s head, who didn’t look too concerned.

Wing frowned. “Isn’t eight weeks early?”

“No. Wolves are only pregnant for ten weeks.”

Wing stared at Micah and, more specifically, his stomach. He did think he was showing a little more than a human would be at four weeks, but he had said nothing, mainly because he was terrified. He stood back and watched everyone argue about how long Micah was allowed to help.

~*~