A Warm Heart in Winter(50)

“Okay, hold up, Rhamp, gentle. Gentle.”

At the sound of Layla’s voice, he pivoted around. The twins were on the floor, and both had crawled over to the careful unpacking job that Bitty was doing. Rhamp, naturally, was reaching for a blown-glass ornament that, if he pounded it into the floor, which he was about to do, was going to shatter into a million sharp pieces.

And his blood on any rug was not the goal. Ever.

“I got him,” Blay said as he swooped in and hoisted Rhamp out of range.

Fortunately, the kid loved swooping more than anything, and the giggle he let out was a joy to hear. As chubby hands clapped, that smile was breath-taking. So Blay did it again. And again.

“You won’t need a workout tonight,” Layla said with a laugh.

She’d moved Lyric into her lap, and the young was playing with a pack of tinsel, the waterfall of silver lengths a source of great discovery and delight. Mahmen and daughter were wearing matching red, green, and white Orvis sweaters. Rhamp, on the other hand, had on an Iron Man onesie because he hated sweaters. Then again, he was always moving and running and churning. He was rarely still.

Throw a sweater on that and you’d have a mobile hot-water bottle.

Swinging Rhamp up and around again, Blay’s eyes took a snapshot of the room. Tohr had pulled his mate, Autumn, in tight to him, and they were staring at each other with the kind of soft smiles that happy couples shared when they thought no one was looking. Phury and Cormia were knee-deep in garland, laughing as he wound a length around her shoulders. Rehv and Ehlena were sharing the sofa, snuggled in together across from the crackling fire.

And naturally, Fritz had done a drive-by with provisions for everyone: There was eggnog on a silver tray on one of the coffee tables, along with a setup of hot chocolate and candy canes and gingerbread men. Good thing there was so much of it all. Soon, others would join in. It was a communal event, this now-annual tradition of trimming the Christmas tree, and it was especially significant for those in the house who had grown up human.

And in the future, it was going to be important for the twins and the other current young, Blay realized. They would come to see this as part of their pretrans experience—

Out past the library’s archway, in the foyer, a figure entered his line of sight.

It was Qhuinn, dressed in the casual clothes he’d put on just before they’d left their room for First Meal: Same track pants, same My Chem sweatshirt, same Converse All Stars in black and white. But something had transformed him.

He was too still, for one thing. For another, he wasn’t coming in and joining the happy crowd. And then there was his expression.

His eyes were burning with emotion.

Blay looked casually at Phury and Cormia. “Hey, how’d you guys like to hold a young?”

Cormia smiled and put out her arms. “Gimme, gimme, gimme!”

Rhamp was thrilled to go to her, answering her enthusiasm with a giggle of his own. And Blay took a moment to tweak his son’s nose before he casually walked out of the room, hands in his pockets, an easy smile for anyone to see on his face.

He dropped the act as soon as he was out of range.

Striding across the mosaic floor, he said, “What’s wrong?”

Qhuinn nodded over his shoulder and didn’t start talking until they were in the lee of the grand staircase.

“I can’t find Luchas.”

Blay frowned. “What do you mean you can’t find him?”

Qhuinn’s eyes couldn’t light on any particular thing, his focus shifting over the balustrade, the door down into the tunnel, the floor at their feet.

“I went to his room to have a visit. Not there. He’s also not at the pool. Not in the break room. Not anywhere in the training center. So I came up here and asked Fritz if he’d seen him in the house? I mean, Fritz knows everything.”

“And what did he say?”

“He hasn’t seen him.”

“Did you ask the medical staff?”

“Manny hasn’t treated him, Doc Jane hasn’t been down there, and Ehlena’s off.”

Blay rubbed his face. “Okay, there has to be a logical explanation. There just has to be. It’s not like he’s disappeared.”

When Qhuinn just stood there, the helplessness was as much of a shock as the idea that Luchas was lost somewhere in the Brotherhood’s compound.

Blay put his hand on the side of his mate’s neck. “We’re going to find him. Do you hear me? We’re going to find him together, all right? I know what to do.”

Qhuinn nodded. And then he made a strangled noise.

“Come here,” Blay murmured as he pulled his mate in. “It’s going to be okay. I promise you, it’s going to be okay.”

Over Qhuinn’s shoulder, Blay noticed that Tohr and Phury had come out of the library. They were hanging back, arms crossed, faces grave. Even though they didn’t know what was wrong, they were prepared to help.

But that was the nature of the Black Dagger Brotherhood. When Qhuinn joined that ancient tradition, he went from being an orphan to having a full-blown family.

And they would no more desert him in a time of need than they would cut off their own hands.

“I know what to do,” Blay repeated firmly.





Qhuinn couldn’t think. But he was aware of following instructions: Go here, sit there, wait for five minutes while V signed into his computer. Other than these very rudimentary functions, however, he was not really connected to anything.