The Curse of Bliss

Chapter Seven

"Coming, coming. Jesus, stop knocking."

The door Amery has been knocking incessantly on finally swings open and his brother looks at him with sleep-swollen eyes. It only takes a second for Rex to register that it is Amery standing in front of him, and he practically throws himself at his older brother.

Amery staggers from the sudden weight of his baby brother in his arms but manages to keep them upright.

"I was so worried," Rex says, face buried in Amery's neck. "I thought that you would get here before us, so when you didn't..." His words trail off, but Amery knows what he means. His brother had been worried that he wouldn't make it here.

Amery knows that feeling well. The entire drive here, he has been anxious, not knowing if Rex and Elianna had made it safely. Well, only some of that anxiety had lessened. Elianna was still out there.

"I made it. I couldn't leave you on your own, who knows what you might get up to."

"Oh, I do," a deeper voice says from inside the tree house.

Rex pulls away, swatting at the alpha who comes to join them. Sage is an average size man, but with well-built shoulders. He was a complete opposite of Rex, who was soft and lithe. His hair was twisted into dreadlocks, tied back away from his face. His eyes were a dark brown, framed by black-rimmed glasses. Everything about him screamed hipster, down to the nose ring.

"Amery, you remember Sage, right?"

Amery just rolls his eyes. "Rex, I have met him at least ten times now."

Sage wraps an arm around Rex's waist and reaches out his other hand for a handshake. Amery clasps the other man's hand in his, giving it a friendly shake before dropping it again.

"Amery, how are you doing?" the alpha asks.

"Fine for now," Amery answers. "The two of you need to get dressed though. Come have breakfast and then we will have to start making this place safer."

The two of them exchange looks before looking back at him. "What's the plan?" his little brother asks.

"We'll discuss it back in the main home. I'm going to head back before the rain completely drown me. See you in ten?"

Rex nods, and Amery quickly walks back to the lobby. Something inside him has settled now that he has seen that his little brother is okay. Rex is six years younger than him, only twenty-two. He was only a few months shy of graduating with a Bachelors of Science in Engineering. Amery had never been more proud of him than when Rex had decided to go to college. He had even won an amazing scholarship that paid for eighty-percent of his schooling. He was able to pay the last twenty-percent with the money he made from working a part-time job at the university. But, now Amery is just happy that Rex and Sage were able to make it here.

By the time he makes it back to the main house, Sebastian already has some food cooking on the gas stove. The smell is delicious, making Amery's stomach grumble. Apparently, his dogs think so too. They are laying in the kitchen, watching the alpha closely as he works.

"Smells good," Amery comments, going over to pick up his long-forgotten coffee mug. It has gone cold by now, but he still sips on it.

Sebastian looks up at him, a small smile on his face. "Thanks. Decided to make something relatively easy. It will be done soon."

They lapse into a calm silence that is only interrupted by Rex and Sage coming through the front door. Chaser is quick to jump up and greet them, but Violet doesn't move away from her spot in the kitchen.

Rex stills looks disheveled, enough to make Amery narrow his eyes at Sage. The two of them had been together for a while now, but it still made Amery uncomfortable to think that his little brother has a healthy sex life. Just that thought coming to his mind causes his face to pinch in disgust. The hickeys littering his little brother's neck isn't helping much either.