I glanced over at the boys while I waited for Kyle to join me for breakfast, trying not to frown as I watched them eat. If they ever returned to human form, would it be possible to help them relearn human table manners at this point? Their faces were shoved into the bowls Kyle had set down for them as they ate with abandon. Growls and hissing noises accompanied the loud chewing and gross gulps they made.

While Zane was content to crouch in front of his bowl and munch away, Xander approached his meal like prey. He stood on all fours with his face buried in the bowl while he walked sideways, making a circle around the food as if to block it from every angle from any possible intruder. Every time around he’d bump into Zane, or flap his tail into his brother’s head. Zane would then pop his head up and hiss at his brother. Then Xander would growl back at him, as if to assert his dominance. They did it every meal. Every. Damn. Time. Kyle found the entire process amusing, but I was concerned about the precedent it was setting.

“Penny for your thoughts, baby.” Kyle brushed a kiss over my cheek as he set a cup of tea in front of me and dropped into his seat.

I waved a hand toward our messy boys, not bothering to comment—Kyle had heard my thoughts and concerns on the subject enough over the past few weeks that we’d had them. Instead, I took a sip of tea before leaning back in my chair. “Let’s talk about our mission instead. I had a vision this morning when I was doing my meditation. I saw the mountains of Nepal in the backdrop, but we were at your grandfather’s house, at least that’s who I think it was. Ansh looks enough like him that I assumed as much, anyway.”

Kyle swallowed a mouthful of eggs. “Really? That’s interesting. I wonder why you’d see my grandfather? From what I hear, he’s a miserable old bastard. My dad hasn’t been in touch with him in years. His mom, either, but she’s rarely been one to stay in touch, apparently. Jude and I have never met them, although we got paperwork in the mail on our twenty-first birthday from some family trust. They’re just weird, if you ask me. My grandmother is a retired diva—a real opera singer, you know? Dad says that when he got too old, she quit claiming him when he refused to let her call him her brother. She didn’t want people to think she was old enough to have an adult son.”

I shook my head at that. “Yeah, your grandparents sound like real pieces of work. Although with our legacy genes, I’m assuming that your grandmother probably could’ve passed as his sister and that would probably be more easily explainable to the humans. But anyway, don’t let me get sidetracked. That wasn’t the interesting part.”

“It wasn’t?” Kyle blew at his tea before taking a sip. “What was more interesting than seeing my grandfather in a vision? That’s still tripping me out. Jude’s gonna be interested to hear about it too.”

“Ahem.” I cleared my throat to get Kyle to focus. “Back to my vision. The interesting thing was that he had a young boy with him. Well, not too young. I mean, he looked like he might be about fourteen or maybe fifteen? But he could have been your dad, Kyle. He looked just like Ansh, but with a slightly more angular face. He had the same big, expressive chocolate-brown eyes that your dad has, but his hair, while just as dark, looked soft and curly.” I closed my eyes and tried to picture the vision to explain it better, but that was probably the most accurate description I was going to be able to give.

“Shit, that’s crazy, baby. I wonder if he’s a distant cousin or some shit? Okay, now it’s your turn to hold onto your seat because I have one for you.” Kyle glanced over at the cubs, looking concerned for a moment as if considering something before he turned back to me. “You think the cubs would be okay if we left them with your parents and took a quick trip to Nepal? Because I had a dream last night about the tree of life. I don’t know if it was a vision dream and I was really seeing the place, or if it was just so lifelike from all the descriptions I’ve heard over the years. But I could literally smell the fresh air and the scent of the fruitless mulberry tree as the winds whipped past me. I’m thinking that if I’m dreaming of the tree and you’re dreaming of my grandfather, we must be due a trip to Nepal.”

“I don’t know.” I reached out to take Kyle’s hand and give it a squeeze. “You know that Xander keeps crying out in the night, and that little hacking wheeze Zane has been making in his sleep worries me. I think maybe they might be coming down with something. Watching a pair of sick, hyperactive cubs is a lot to ask of my dads.”

“Baby, your dads can borrow our baby monitor and keep their ears out just as well as you can. I’m pretty sure that with their combined powers and parenting experience, they’ll be just fine. Hell, with our cat ears, we don’t even need that damn monitor, and neither would your papa. You’re worried about these little troublemakers? I’m pretty sure that your fathers would be the first to say that you and your brothers were more of a handful than these two could even dream of being.” Kyle winked then took another sip of tea, wincing when the hot liquid hit his tongue. “Besides, you have to admit that the clue leads us straight to Nepal anyway. We’ve been taking our time on this quest, but we should probably get moving on it sooner than later, right?”

I pushed my empty teacup aside and drummed my fingertips on the table. “I don’t feel like we’ve been taking our time, to be honest. It’s more like things have to happen in their own timing, if that makes sense. But I agree, the clue does seem to lead us straight to Nepal. It even mentions the shades of greed that our parents had slain in that one part.”

Kyle shook his head. “Yeah, that’s the part that’s had everyone stuck for so long.”

“Is it, though? I think we’ve all been more confused with what heart could be uncovered with purity’s fire. What the hell is that supposed to mean?” I shrugged and looked at Kyle with a knowing smirk. “Although I’m pretty sure that it doesn’t have anything to do with sex, like you keep insisting about the part that mentioned one man’s holy desire.”

Kyle shrugged. “Agree to disagree? What else could a man’s holy desire be except for a sacred love for his soulmate? Whether you’re talking about sex or romance, it still comes down to the whole soulmate thing, I can feel that in my bones.”

“That makes sense.” I nodded slowly as I ran the words through my mind for the umpteenth time. “But if we’re talking about a heart and holy desire, it still isn’t clear what object we could possibly be looking for, unless we want to start looking for that fanciful ruby heart that Uncle Maon described.”

“As weird as it sounds, I bet an actual ruby heart would look cool. Especially if you can see the aortas and ventricles? Although,” Kyle started to laugh, his words coming in bursts between chuckles, “I’m trying to picture a jeweler trying to figure out what to do with that thing.”

“Right?” I laughed along with him. “They wouldn’t want to cut it up into smaller pieces or you’d lose the original masterpiece. Something like that would be one of a kind, and only available to wealthy collectors if it existed.”

“That settles it.” Kyle slapped his palm on the table, making both cubs jump and look around with wide eyes, food flying from where it had lodged in their furry little faces. “I need to find an expert who can make me a ruby heart. I’ll commission one for you for Valentine’s Day.”

“Let’s not and say you did.” I laughed as I stood and began collecting our breakfast dishes. “Tell you what, I’ll clean up if you’ll get the cubs ready to go visit my dads.”

“I like how you make it sound like I’ve got the easy part of that bargain,” Kyle said with a laugh as he stood and walked over to scoop up the messy little furballs. “Come on, boys. Let’s get you all spiffed up so you can go to your grandparents’ house.”

I smiled at the loud rumbling purrs that came from both boys. In the weeks we’d had them, they’d quickly become attached to my fathers and the rest of our pack as well. By the time I was putting the last pan in the cabinet, I turned to see Kyle walking into the room leading both cubs on leashes and collars. Shaking my head, I couldn’t help but laugh. “I don’t know where you got those things, but you can’t be serious.”

Kyle quirked a brow. “Oh, I’m dead serious. Remember the last time we walked over to your dads’ house? Xander got away and took off running at the speed of light. I couldn’t shift fast enough before the little shit was already out of sight. And I was holding him when he jumped out of my arms! I’m not taking that risk again, we could’ve lost him. Until they learn to behave, they’re wearing leashes.”

I held up my hands. “You’re the alpha, you make the call when it comes to the safety of our cubs, but be prepared to hear about it from pretty much everyone.”

“They can say whatever they want. Unless they want to chase after these little balls of greased lightning, their opinions don’t matter as much as keeping the cubs safe. I’ll be more than happy to tell anybody that if they disagree.” Kyle spoke defiantly but his eyes betrayed his nervousness.

Turning off the lights, I reached out for Zane’s leash. “I’ve got your back, honey. If you think our cubs need to be on a leash, I will support you. You’re right, safety first.”

I wasn’t sure what to expect, but it wasn’t for both cubs to proudly prance across the grass with their tails straight up and their noses held high. I glanced over at Kyle with a grin. “Everybody else might disapprove, but the cubs seem to like their leashes.”

Kyle blushed. “I may or may not have rubbed a little catnip oil into the collars to help the cubs accept wearing them.”

A laugh burst out before I could help it. “You’re the worst, Kyle, the absolute worst. Catnip? For cubs? I can’t even with you right now.” I shook my head and laughed until my sides ached. Once I’d caught my breath, I wiped a tear from my eye and glanced back at Kyle. “I don’t think it’s the catnip, for the record. I think they like the feeling of security you’ve given them. You care enough to make sure they’re safe, and they know that means you care about them. That’s why they like them, I’d bet.”

We ran into Ian and Destiny halfway to my dads’. “Oh, perfect timing.” Ian raised a brow at the leashed cubs, but ignored them as he focused on us instead. “We were just coming to find you; I had a vision this morning that pertains to you and your quest.”

Destiny nodded her agreement. “We think you need to go to Nepal, and we want to join you, if that’s okay. After Ian’s vision, I tried to do a remote viewing visitation, but I couldn’t see the tree. It was surrounded by darkness and fog, and all I could feel was a pressing sense of danger and evil in the air. It’s like something was blocking me.”

Shaking my head, I motioned for them to join us. “It’s a small world. You see, Kyle and I had our own visions that gave us the same idea this morning. We’re headed to my dads right now to see if they’ll watch the cubs so we can go. Walk with us and tell us what you saw, Ian.”

“As you know, I generally deal with prophecies more than visions like the rest of you. But I saw a clear view of the tree and our group fighting for their lives. Some of us were fighting with tooth and claw, while others were still in human form. I couldn’t see what we were fighting because I was too busy staring at the tree. My parents have described how the tree had been split by lightning or some shit. But then it came back to life and our parents saw that it had grafted its two halves together somehow with the perfect shape of a heart right there in the middle of the trunk. Remember that? Anyway, in my vision there was a bright red light glowing through the heart. It took my breath away, and everything else was just peripheral at that point.”

I knew in my gut that this was the final proof that Nepal was where we needed to go. But still… I looked down at the cubs, still walking proudly on their leashes. The bright, day-glo pink leashes. Honestly, where had Kyle been shopping to even find those awful things? I looked up at Kyle hesitantly. “I really feel like we are supposed to go to Nepal and that we’ll be there for a while. But what if I’m wrong? What if leaving the cubs isn’t the right thing to do right now?”

Kyle slid his arm around my shoulders as we walked. “Baby, right now isn’t the time to second-guess your gut. You know in your heart that we’re being pointed toward Nepal. You also know that the cubs were originally meant to distract us from our quest, no matter how much we love them. They’ll be safe with their granddads. Just as safe as anyone else’s cubs are when they have to go somewhere. Look at Connor and Oni. Do you think they wanted to leave Dylan when they came to Arizona with us to help Jude and Jonny? Of course not. But we do what we must when we’re working for the goddess. She’ll look over our little ones while we’re away, trust that.”

“You’re right,” I said slowly as a newfound confidence bubbled in my chest. At least it felt like confidence; it could just as easily have been gas, though—I hadn’t had much morning sickness, but man had I been gassy so far with my pregnancy. I looked over at Destiny. “Do you think that Toby would want to come along? And would any of you mind if I invited him? He has a pretty strong intuitive streak, plus he’s another strong alpha if we need protection. I don’t know why, but I just got a sudden urge that Toby should come with us.”

Destiny laughed. “Sure, he can come. He’ll say yes the moment you ask, I can tell you that already. My dads will probably be glad not to have anything broken for a while.”

“Ach, you need to be nicer to your little brother,” Ian chided gently. “He can’t help it if he’s got the grace of a bull in a china shop. And the poor guy always means well, doesn’t he? He’s just the sweetest thing, even when he’s breaking our shit or knocking one of us over.”

“Oh, I didn’t mean anything cruel by that,” Destiny answered quickly, waving a hand. “My baby brother is a big sweetheart. I’m just saying that he loves to get away and travel, and let’s face it, he broke three of my dad’s collectibles this week. Papa doesn’t care about much, but he was really unhappy when his porcelain Marvel figurines bit the dust. He’s been grouching about it whenever Toby isn’t around. He doesn’t want to hurt Toby’s feelings, you know? I figure we’ll just replace them for his birthday or solstice. At any rate, getting Toby out of town is a win-win.”

“You know what? Sorry, but going back to the whole Nepal thing,” Kyle interrupted as if a thought had suddenly occurred to him. “I was thinking about the clue and how it mentioned death’s dark twist, and now the tree itself keeps popping up in visions. You don’t think it’s because the original one was used to make the stakes that killed the vamps, do you? Is it possible that our parents might have missed a vampire?”

“No.” I shook my head slowly as I considered his idea. “That doesn’t feel right, we’d know if there were vamps running about the world. And one would’ve made more until there was a nest of the suckers. But I do think you’re on the right track for some reason. I don’t know why. Hmm. You know what? Never mind, I’m probably just being silly and superstitious because Destiny said she felt evil and darkness surrounding the tree.”

“Don’t do that.” Destiny shot me a reproachful frown. “Don’t doubt yourself, Sammy. You’re one of the three strongest psychics in the entire world. If your gut is talking, you need to listen.”

“Well, I know one thing.” Kyle hugged me to his side, blessedly changing the subject again. “I guess I’ll finally get to meet my grandfather. His family have always been the caretakers for the monastery grounds, and we’ll need him to get the monks who took over the compound to let us in. At least, I’m pretty sure that we can’t just knock on the gates and get a guided tour of the former tree of life, right?”

Destiny laughed, a musical giggle that made even the cubs pause mid-step to look up at her in fascination. “Yeah, I’m pretty sure that a brotherhood who live by themselves on a remote mountaintop in a far corner of the world won’t be in a hurry to let some random intruders onto their property who are spouting nonsense about a tree of life. Besides, if your grandfather’s family are the caretakers of the estate, we should probably check in with him anyway and see if we can visit.”

“So who’s all going?” I noticed that Destiny had been texting the whole time. “Obviously you two are joining us, and Toby… do you think anyone else wants to come along?”

“No, although they say they’ll join us if we need them. Jonny and Connor don’t feel like they’re needed right now and everyone else has excuses. Toby is definitely in.”

Our conversation was abruptly ended by a loud burst of laughter and a horrified shriek as we walked into my dads’ front yard. Papa was rushing toward the cubs while my dad was bent over double on the porch, pointing at us and laughing his fool arse off.

“Samuel! What the hell were you thinking to put these precious little angels on leashes like a couple of common house pets?” Papa dropped to his knees in front of us, and the cubs immediately rushed into his waiting arms when we dropped their leashes. He shot us both a dirty look while he removed the offending collars. His nose scrunched up with distaste when he brought the collars closer to get a better sniff. “Catnip? You’ve got to be kidding me. Are you boys trying to raise drug-addled delinquents? It’s a damn good thing you’re leaving for Nepal today, because these babies obviously need to be with their grandpas.” The cubs began mewling pitifully on cue as they rubbed their faces against his chest and pawed his shirt.

“Ignore those little con artists, Kent.” Kyle laughed as he watched them crawl all over my alpha father. “I did the research before I put catnip oil on the collars. It’s just enough to make them interested in the scent, and it’s on the outer part, not the inner, so it didn’t make contact with their fur.” Kyle stood tall, staring down at my papa confidently as he stated his case. “I told Sammy that all the blame should fall on me because this was my idea, and I stand by it. These little suckers have a way of pulling disappearing acts, and I didn’t want them to get away and be hurt or lost while we were walking. Especially after last time—we all remember that fiasco. It took me three hours in the pouring rain until I finally tracked Xander down, remember? This is for safety, nothing else. And until they saw you, the little scamps were loving their leashes.”

Dad walked over and nodded at Kyle with a respectful smile. “To be fair, if it hadn’t started raining that day you’d have found him in a tenth of the time. The damn water washed away his scent trail. But I can respect your wishes as their alpha parent, especially when you’re only thinking of their safety.”

Papa lifted a brow but seemed appeased as he snuggled the cubs against his chest and rose to his feet. “I’ve already arranged for the plane to be on standby. As soon as you can get to Dublin, you’re good to go.”

None of us bothered to ask how my dads knew that we’d be going to Nepal or would need the plane—foreknowledge was just a given in this pack. I took a deep breath and walked over to my dad to nuzzle each cub and kiss their fuzzy little heads. “Are you sure they’ll be okay without me, Papa? Zane has been wheezing at night and Xander might think he’s a tough little alpha…” I paused for a moment and gently covered Xander’s ears, despite the little growl he gave me. Speaking in a whisper, I finished my thought. “Xander has been having nightmares or something because he whimpers and mewls in his sleep. We hear it over the baby monitor we bought, but he calms down if you just go in and pet him.”

As soon as I moved my hand, Xander looked up at my dad with wide eyes as if to say see what I deal with? Papa just shook his head with a gentle smile. “Samuel, go with your mate and finish your quest for the goddess. Go in peace and leave the worries to us. If your father and I survived you and your brothers, I’m pretty sure that we can handle a pair of mischievous cubs. At least these little guys can’t make their toys fly around the room with just a thought.”

“And if we run into problems, we’ll just make their uncles come over and help out. That will be good payback for your brothers for some of the stunts they pulled.” Dad grinned and reached for Zane. Xander had fallen asleep in the crook of Papa’s arm.