Winter relaxed a little and smiled. No one should be this adorable. He had no defense against it. “No, I can’t see them still.”
Fox dropped his head and released a relieved breath. “Oh, good.”
“I just wanted to warn you, don’t mention the ghosts or what you do for me to my family.”
Fox’s head snapped back up, his brows beetling over his slender nose. “What? Why?”
“There isn’t time to go into it. They don’t know, and now is not a good time to tell them everything.”
Just the idea of telling his brothers everything he’d been hiding from them made his stomach flip and churn. He prayed he never had to tell them, and that was at the top of a very long list of things.
Fox’s eyes narrowed on him, but he huffed a “fine.” It was clear the young man had a lot to say about Winter’s choice to keep his family in the dark, but he was kindly keeping his opinions to himself. At least for now.
“Hurry up and get dressed,” Winter said with a smirk.
The witch flipped him off with one hand as he picked up the shirt with the other. “You should count yourself lucky if I don’t come down the stairs naked. Let your family think you’re fucking me on every flat surface,” Fox said to his departing back.
Winter smiled. He wasn’t sure if that would make it their most interesting family meeting, but it would definitely make the top five.
On the main floor, he quickly darted into the guest bathroom and splashed some cold water on his face. He cringed when he looked in the mirror. His lips were swollen, and his hair was a mess from Fox’s exploring fingers. Someone started pounding on the front door as he pulled his hair into a fresh ponytail and prayed his family didn’t notice the lip issue. The cold shock of his family’s imminent arrival was helping to cool other problems.
Groaning, Winter shuffled to the door, unlocked it, and stepped back as he swept it open. Marcus’s angry frown immediately greeted him on the other side. Of course the family sledgehammer was in the lead. It was kind of amazing that he was also the family negotiator when it came to dealing with the Ministry and other vampire clans. Marcus had a light, manipulative touch when he wanted one. When it came to dealing with his own family, he was all brute force and angry grumbling.
“Where is it?” Marcus growled.
Winter rolled his eyes. “He is getting dressed. He’ll be down in a minute.”
Marcus narrowed his eyes on Winter and held him pinned for another second before walking into the loft with a smiling Ethan right beside him. To his credit, Ethan just shook his head. The fledgling was already so damn good at handling Winter’s older brother, and they’d been together for less than a year.
“Getting dressed, huh?” Rafe drawled, pulling Winter’s gaze to the open doorway where his next oldest Varik brother was lounging against the doorjamb. A lazy smile was tilting up the corners of his mouth. “Did we interrupt something interesting?”
“Shut up, Rafe.”
“Behave yourself,” Philippe commanded from behind his mate.
Rafe straightened and grinned at his youngest brother. “I’m so glad Marcus invited me to join this little expedition. It’s going to be far more interesting than I thought it would be.”
The nightclub owner and his angelic-looking boyfriend strolled into the loft.
River entered next. He didn’t stop walking until he had his arms wrapped around Winter in a tight hug and to Winter’s credit, he didn’t panic this time. He was getting accustomed to the wolves’ need for physical contact, particularly River. In short, River and Wyatt were huggers.
“Everything okay? Do you need us to pick up anything else for you?” River asked as he released Winter.
“Everything is fine. Fox said you got exactly what he needed.”
“Good.”
Winter immediately fell under Beltran’s loving, worried gaze. His scientist brother was completely devoted to his wolves—something that had never entered Winter’s wildest imaginings when it came to Bel. His brother was a strange, awkward soul who didn’t seem to notice most creatures outside of his own family. But Wyatt and River had barged their way into his life, and Bel had never been happier.
The vampire quickly hugged Winter as well. The wolves were definitely having a tactile influence on Bel; he was also turning into a hugger.
“We’re just worried about you,” Bel murmured as he straightened.
“Oh yes, Rafe is just oozing concern.”
“Rafe has the emotional depth of a mud puddle,” River grumbled.
“Behave,” Bel muttered, pushing the younger wolf farther into the room.
Wyatt followed the other two and paused in front of Winter. The older werewolf was usually more controlled and even-tempered than his lovers. Wyatt managed to restrain himself enough to pull Winter into only a half hug with his arm across Winter’s shoulders. “We’re here for you. Whatever you need.”