Huntsman - Morgan Brice Page 0,42
to make it a year-round home.”
“It’s nice. Cozy,” Liam replied. “Snug in the winter?”
“Yeah. Good insulation and a heavy-duty furnace are necessities here,” Russ replied, leading Liam into the kitchen and motioning him to a chair at the table. “I, uh, checked with Rich Jeffries about your bungalow furnace and insulation. You’ll be just fine.” He grinned. “I can’t help what the weather is like outside. That will take some adjusting, compared to what you’ve been used to in Ithaca.”
“Thank you.” Liam looked surprised at the simple kindness, and a stab of protectiveness went through Russ to think that Liam found the gesture so unusual.
“I hope lasagna is okay,” Russ said, glancing over his shoulder. “It’s homemade. Drew and I try to cook and freeze meals, so we don’t have to think about it much during the week.”
“Lasagna sounds wonderful,” Liam replied with enthusiasm. “I’ve gotten better at cooking, but there’s still a long way to go. I do a lot of sandwiches for lunch, and I bought a slow cooker, so at least on some nights I have a hot dinner waiting when I get back.”
It was all Russ could do not to invite Liam to move in.
He should be with his pack. We would make sure he eats well, his wolf argued.
Too soon. Let me handle this.
It would be good for us not to get old alone. His wolf trotted off.
Aren’t you just a fucking ray of sunshine, Russ silently shouted after his other self.
“Russ?”
“Sorry,” Russ said, realizing he’d spaced out. He managed a lopsided smile. “Does your fox ever get lippy with you?”
“All the freakin’ time,” Liam replied, laughing. “We have epic arguments, and I will warn you—he’s dramatic.”
“My wolf thinks he knows everything,” Russ said. “We disagree.”
“I take it he had an opinion?” Liam asked.
“He has opinions on everything.” Russ pulled a loaf of garlic bread out of the freezer and put it on a baking sheet, then dumped a bag of salad into a bowl. “Most of the time, he’s okay. He just doesn’t understand that humans do things differently.”
“I’m still getting used to being able to talk about this stuff,” Liam admitted, accepting a beer when Russ popped the cap and handed him the bottle. “You’re lucky to have a pack. I never had a skulk, so I had to figure it out as I went along.”
“A skulk is a fox pack?” Russ asked without turning as he added extras to the salad—cheese, croutons.
“Yes. It was just my mother and me, and then she passed away.”
“Sorry to hear that.”
“It happens.”
“Drew is my brother, but the other guys from the firehouse—Ty, Justin, and Brandon—they’re not wolves, but they’re pack,” Russ said, not trusting himself to look back as he spoke. “More than the rest of my family ever was.”
“I’m glad you found them.”
Russ couldn’t miss the wistfulness in Liam’s voice. “There’s always room for more,” he said, wondering if his voice sounded as tight to Liam as it did to him.
“Good to know.”
Russ sensed Liam’s hesitation without needing to see him. “Whatever it is, you can tell me.”
“I started to, last time, before your phone went off,” Liam said. “There isn’t a good way to say it, but it’s something you need to know. About how I ended up here.” He took a deep breath and let it out. “I’m pretty sure my ex hired a Huntsman to kill me.”
A growl rose from Russ’s throat as his wolf surged to the fore. “What happened?” He turned to see Liam, and the look of fear and uncertainty nearly broke Russ’s heart.
“We broke up six months ago. Caught him cheating. Probably not the first time, but it was the last,” Liam recounted, his voice going flat and toneless. “He stalked me. There were…incidents. I took out a restraining order. It just made him angrier. But then…nothing. I thought he went away. And then I got a call from a friend who heard him bragging that he’d put out a hit on me—with a Huntsman. I went out my window with what I could carry as a man with a gun came up the steps.”
Russ gripped the edge of the counter white-knuckled, fighting to keep his wolf at bay. The thought that he’d nearly lost Liam before he ever found him made his blood run hot.
“Dr. Jeffries had offered me a job, out of the blue, just a couple of days before. Psychic, you know?” Liam said. “I called him from the road and accepted. And, here I