It was amazing how much could change but the kitchen of your childhood home always felt the same. Troy sat at the, now slightly overcrowded, kitchen table. He was sandwiched between his sister, Bekah, now a stunning eighteen, and his fiance, Kylie.
Brandon, his brother, and James, their father, sat across from Troy. He was struck by how similar they looked. Brandon was thirty-one now and looked more like a younger version of their father than old pictures. They had the same thick shoulders, the shoulders of a linebacker. Their arms were long and wiry, built almost entirely of muscles. Their legs were long and shapely like runners, powerful enough to carry them at top speeds when they were in wolf forms. Their faces both bore chiseled, square jaws and Roman noses. The only difference was that James had once black, now salt and pepper hair. Brandon had golden brown hair, the color of wheat in the sun. Just like their mother.
“Do I get to be a bridesmaid?” Bekah asked Kylie, taking a bite of bacon.
Troy’s sister took after her father, as well. She was tall and athletic, lean muscle and slightly broad shoulders. Her face was beautiful in an angular way like she could cut you with her cheekbones. She had their father’s Roman nose and big feet, but her hair fell in long, golden waves like their mother. Unlike her mother, it was almost always in a high ponytail.
Troy was the one who looked most like their mother. He was slight, just like she had been. Troy had been only five when she passed away. In childbirth, bringing Bekah into this world. Still, he remembered her as graceful and light, flitting in and out of rooms. She lit the world up with her smile. He had her fair skin, her ski jump of a nose, but neither her grace nor her spirit.
Only his eyes were like his father.
Kylie smiled, brushing back a lock of brown hair.
“I would love it if you were a bridesmaid, Bekah,” she said.
Kylie reached out and took Troy’s hand. Her fingers were smooth and cool against his. For a moment, Troy worried she would be able to feel Blake’s heat still on him, pulsing in his veins.
“Please,” Brandon said with a teasing eye roll, “no wedding talk at the table.”
“Be nice,” James said, his voice was low but kind. “Kylie is excited about the wedding, as we all are. Let your new sister have her fun.”
“Okay,” Brandon said, digging into his scrambled eggs, ‘I’m just worried that Troy will get scared off. It must have been hard enough to get him to come here, I don’t want him to freak out.”
Troy glared at his brother over his coffee. Brandon had always taken jabs at Troy, but since his return, they had been much worse.
“Nothing could scare me off,” Troy said, giving Kylie’s hand a squeeze. “I’m marrying my best friend.”
Kylie smiled at him. She truly was beautiful. The daughter of an alpha, but born a beta, Kylie had all the attractive physical strength of her alpha parents but the even temperament of a beta. She had olive skin, dark hair, and a dusting of freckles over the bridge of her nose. When Troy looked into her forest green eyes he always saw her human self, not her wolf.
They were friends when he first arrived in Seattle. Kylie never minded that he was a little shyer and smaller than the other males. She always told him he was good enough. Plus, she was always down for a good prank or a nighttime drive. When Troy’s father had insisted he propose to the alpha’s daughter, Troy had finally agreed. If he was going to marry a woman, it may as well be Kylie. He loved her as a friend, and that was all he could hope for.
“Not even someone?” Brandon asked.
Troy shot him a sharp glare. Brandon ignored him, sipping his coffee.
“Well,” said Bekah, sliding her chair out from the table, “the sister-in-law and I have a busy shopping day ahead of us.”
“The wedding isn’t until the fall,” said Troy. “It’s June. do you have to rush off?”
Kylie brushed a quick kiss on his cheek and stood.
“Decorations don’t buy themselves. Plus, I want to help your sister find a dress. We are only here for another six days, I have a lot to get done.”
“You two have fun,” James said. “Troy, will you clear the plates.”
Troy sighed and stood, grabbing his sister’s abandoned plate while Brandon smirked at him.
“Will I see you for dinner?” Kylie asked Troy.
“I’m sorry, sweetheart, John and I are going to the bar tonight. It’s for old time’s sake.”
“It’s because he wants to con a girl into dating him so he has a date to the wedding,” said Bekah.
“He probably wants to take you,” said Brandon.
Bekah made an “ew” face and walked out of the room.
“Oh, okay,” said Kylie. “I’ll see you after, then. But dinner tomorrow?”
“Of course,” said Troy.
She waved and followed Bekah. As soon as the door shut, the bustling energy of the women left the room. Troy moved around the table, picking up dishes. His brother watched him with wary eyes. James downed the last of his coffee, wiped his mouth, and stood.
“I’m going to work,” James said. “I’ll be back later. Try to stay out of trouble while I’m gone.”
“See you, dad,” Troy said, not wanting to point out that “work” was next door in the resort office.
His father clapped Brandon on the shoulder and walked. Brandon stayed seated while Troy finished clearing the plates.
“It’s nice having you around,” Brandon said after the dishes were cleared. “It’s not the same here without someone to pick up after us.”
“Shut up,” Troy said, clenching his fist. His wolf was growling but holding its ground. Brandon was strong, stronger maybe than their father. There was no way he could win in a physical fight.
Brandon stood and walked toward the kitchen door. He bumped shoulders with Troy as he passed.
“I have no idea how you got Kylie,” said Brandon. “But I am glad you aren’t getting fucked in the ass by men anymore. At least, not so anyone knows.”
Troy didn’t say anything. He waited for his brother to leave, anger bubbling in his chest.
“I’ve gotta work too,” said Brandon, “but if you decide Kylie is too much for you, let me know. I can take her off your hands if you want, I don’t have a mate yet.”
“Fuck off,” Troy said.
Brandon just laughed and walked out the door. Troy’s shoulders slumped when the screen door slammed shut.
There was no place like home.