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Brian
Brian wasn’t sure how long they were going to search for their brother.
In his heart, he’d be happy to search for all eternity. He was certain that his wife and his other two brothers felt the same way. Declan, Christopher, and Brian had only recently discovered that there was another Monster man in the family, yet they’d all instantly decided that they would move heaven and hell to find him.
Their mom, Raya, had been missing her son. She’d spent more than 30 years not knowing what had happened to him. She hadn’t known whether he was hurt or lost or in pain. She hadn’t known whether he even realized he was one of them. Now that the three Monster brothers knew about Felix’s existence, though, they were going to find him.
They had to.
Raya deserved to find her son. She deserved to know that he was okay. She’d kept a necklace their father had stolen from the witch who kidnapped Felix. Raya had told the three brothers that it held the essence of Felix. As long as the necklace glowed, he was alive, and as long as Raya knew her son was alive, she’d be able to handle anything.
The triplets didn’t quite know what their mother meant, but they were determined to figure it out. What was an essence? What did that have to do with Felix’s life? The way Brian figured, it must be something like a soul. It was like the witch locked up part of Felix’s soul and wasn’t going to let it go.
Raya had begged her sons to help her, so the triplets had set off on a journey. They’d taken off from work and gone to search for Felix. Even though it had been years since his disappearance, the necklace still glowed.
They’d invited their mates along, but in the end, their wives had decided to stay with Raya and to run the company in their absence. The Monster brothers ran a large company, and they didn’t trust anyone but their wives and mother to keep it safe in their absence.
Even among shifters, there could be sharks.
The last thing that the brothers needed was for someone to swoop in and try to cause trouble for Monster Brothers Security.
In the end, they’d caused trouble for themselves because there they were: sitting on a boat in the middle of nowhere.
At least, it felt like they were in the middle of nowhere.
They’d gone to one island, and they’d found it completely deserted. Now they were on their way to another one. Would this one be empty, too? Or would they find their brother there?
Brian half-hoped his brother was just lying on the beach drinking cocktails when they found him. Maybe Felix didn’t realize he had a family. Maybe he wasn’t staying away by choice. What if Felix was just enjoying a nice, relaxing life?
That would be ideal.
The real world didn’t always have happy endings, though, and Brian knew that trying to cast his brother as the star in a fairy tale wouldn’t end well. Chances were that if Felix hadn’t come back to Sapphire Island, there was a reason. Either he didn’t know about it or he couldn’t physically get to it. Neither situation would lead to a good ending.
“I’m bored,” Christopher said, lying back. He was tanner than he usually was. That was thanks to the sunshine. Brian hadn’t gotten a tan at all. Instead, his nose was now sprinkled with freckles and his skin had turned rosy. If they didn’t hurry up and find Felix soon, he was going to look like a ripe, peeling potato by the time he got back to his wife.
“We’re all bored,” Brian said.
“According to my calculations, we should reach the next island in the next few hours,” Declan said.
“And then what? What’s the plan?”
“Same thing as the last island,” Christopher glanced over.
“Search and destroy?”
“Pretty much.”
They could change into their dragon forms and fly now, but they didn’t. None of them knew much about the area they were searching. There were too many risks associated with changing into their dragon forms out here. There could be poachers or other shifters who would attack them if they viewed the brothers as a threat.
There was also the chance that there were mages or witches lurking in the shadows. Felix had been kidnapped by a witch, and she was likely still guarding him. What if she had cast a spell over the island? What if she had put some sort of stronghold in place?
Shifting into their dragon forms was a fast way to bring a lot of questions.
Still, Brian couldn’t help but ask his brothers if they’d changed their opinions about flying.
“We could shift,” he offered, shrugging. “It might be faster.”
Declan and Christopher turned and looked at him. Christopher’s jaw dropped. Apparently, he couldn’t believe his brother would be so bold.
“Seriously?” Christopher shook his head.
“It’s a bad idea,” Declan said. “My wife would kill me if I got shot by a poacher.” That much was the truth. Declan’s mate was kind and loyal, but she was also ferocious. She wasn’t the type of person who would be forgiving if Declan came back injured.
“There probably aren’t any poachers,” Brian offered. “We haven’t seen any so far.”
Then again, they hadn’t seen much of anything.
“But there could be.”
“I don’t think so.”
“You don’t know.”
“Stop it,” Christopher said, shaking his head. “This isn’t going to happen.”
Christopher had always been the one who tried to intervene on his brothers’ behalf. Declan, as the youngest brother, often overcompensated and wanted to be seen as bigger or stronger than he was. Brian, as the oldest brother, was bossy as hell. Christopher had always tried to get them to see eye-to-eye. Usually, it worked.
Today, Brian wasn’t so sure.
Felix was out there.
He could feel it.
Brian looked up at the sky. Maybe his brothers were right. Maybe they shouldn’t take the risk...but fuck it. His mother had been without their brother for years. This boat was moving devastatingly slow. He owed it to all of them to find out what had happened to Felix.
He owed it to all of them to find Felix.
All of a sudden, Declan and Christopher tensed. Something in Brian’s mannerisms must have changed. They both seemed like they were aware that he might be about to do something they weren’t going to approve of.
That assessment was correct.
Brian was a grown-ass man. He didn’t need a majority vote on whether or not he flew off. His decision to leave the boat wasn’t going to be up to his brothers. It was up to him. Besides, he was tired of waiting.
“Don’t do it,” Declan warned.
“Don’t do it,” Christopher echoed.
Brian shook his head and rolled his eyes. They were triplets. They were all the same age. The other two dragon-shifters couldn’t boss him around. That so wasn’t happening today.
“Don’t do it,” Declan said one more time.
“Fuck you,” Brian said, and he yanked his shorts down, kicked them off, and dove into the water. The ocean waves were gentle this time of day, quiet, and Brian dove deep into the water. It felt damn good to cool off a little after riding around in their stupidly small vessel. Oh, sure, it was officially a yacht, but it was too small for the three men who couldn’t stand to be around each other all day, every day.
Now, for just a little while, he was getting some freedom. He was getting some time away from his brothers, and perhaps most importantly, he was getting a chance to try to find his older brother.
He’d never met Felix. He’d never even known he existed, yet already, Brian felt a connection with him. Brian had always felt responsible for his other siblings. He’d always felt a certain sense of obligation when it came to Christopher and Declan.
Was he older than them?
By about a minute.
That had been enough for him to latch onto the idea of being the firstborn, the oldest.
Little did he know that it was all a lie.
There was a part of Brian that felt bothered his mother had hidden the knowledge of Felix’s existence from them. He understood why she had. Dealing with the pain of losing a child had been hard on Raya. She’d struggled with losing everything. She hadn’t wanted to deal with questions or three little triplets who would ask question after question.
Now, though, he let all of that go.
He swam deeper and deeper, letting the cool water chill him to his core, and then finally, when he could barely hold his breath any longer, he swam up.
As a dragon, not a fish, he couldn’t breathe underwater. He could hold his breath for a damn long time, though, and when he finally emerged from the water, he heard his brothers yelling at him. He ignored them and shifted into his dragon form. His wings flapped, propelling him up, and he flew into the sky.
They weren’t going to follow him.
That was fine.