Michael Lander stood in a small kitchen in an equally small apartment cooking breakfast. His ear-length tawny brown hair was in a tangled mess. He reached up to scratch at the large pale webbed burn scar on sun-warmed tan skin. It was large enough to cover his right cheek, jaw, and parts of his exposed neck, disappearing beneath the white tee shirt he was wearing. He yawned and poked at the eggs currently frying in the pan. Michael reached out to turn off the stove and was turning to dump the eggs on a plate when the front door opening caught his attention. Blue eyes looked over to find another male walking into the apartment. He looked back at the plate in front of him. “Morning, Cain. You hungry?”

 Cain gave a grumble from where he was sitting on the floor, untying his boots. His blonde hair was shorn close to his head in choppy clumps. He looked up at Michael with gray eyes and then looked away, but not before Michael saw the bruising forming around his left eye. Michael sighed and turned back to the stove as Cain slowly untied his boots. When Michael looked back, Cain was walking towards him. It took years for Michael to get used to his moods and how quiet he could move. Cain’s shorter form reached around Michael to grab the plate of eggs sitting on the counter. When Cain turned away, Michael caught sight of another bruise forming on the pale skin of his collarbone. Right. That explains the lack of vocal activity.

Micheal looked up and gave a loud sigh. He looked over at Cain, who was now sitting on the counter eating. Turning towards Cain, he found gray eyes watching him, and Michael was about to say something when the sound of his cell phone cut through the air. Cain flinched, his fork clattering to the ground as Michael reached out to catch the plate of eggs. “Easy. Just the phone.”

Once Cain had a better hold on the plate, he shot Michael a glare, and Michael held his hands up in a peaceful gesture. Michael turned away from him to grab his phone when it started ringing for a second time. He quickly answered without looking at the screen since he glanced at Cain, who was now picking at the eggs. “Hello?”

The voice sounded panicked when she shouted over the phone. “Michael! Something happened to Levi.”

Cain quickly looked up, his eyes narrowing.

Worried, Michael winced and placed the phone against his ear again to ask. “Rhea? What happened?”

“I don’t know. Gray said they found him outside the Hemmings. He was unconscious but miles away from his truck.”

“Where was his truck?”

“A mile outside of the city limits. Gray found his boot prints heading towards town, but there was nothing wrong with his truck.”

Michael watched as Cain sat the plate to the side and hopped down. He gave Cain a confused look, and Cain muttered, “Getting the bags.”

“What about Levi?”

“He’s currently sleeping. Hairline fracture in his leg, concussion, bruising, his knuckles have minor fractures it looks like he got into a fight.” Michael could pick up rustling. He wouldn’t be surprised if she were pacing outside Levi’s room right now. “I don’t know what to do. It was supposed to be safe out here, and he was supposed to spend the rest of the year taking it easy, especially after the last time he ended up in the hospital.”

“Rhea.” Rhea grew quiet on the other end. “We can be there…” He looked over at Cain, who gave him a quick hand sign. “Tomorrow. Just need to pack some bags and make sure everything is taken care of.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, he won’t be able to drive. I don’t mind staying around until he’s better.”

“Yeah.” She grew quiet thinking about it. “Yeah, okay. Just… don’t be surprised if you get the cold shoulder the whole time you're here.”

Michael looked up at the ceiling. “He’s still mad about that, isn’t he?”

“Yeah. Honestly, I think he’s still mad at me about it. He just won’t say.” There was more movement and the sound of a coffee machine turning on. “If Andrew were still here, I’m pretty sure Levi and him would have ended up in a shouting match. Followed by Levi’s famous cold shoulder.”

“I don’t blame him. We did basically lie to him for most of his life. I butted heads with Tate countless times thinking he just left with no care. Turns out mom never told him about me.” Michael scratched at the burn on his jaw. “I don’t mind him hating me. Turnabout is fair play.”

“It’s still not fair to you.”

“I don’t mind. I can outwait Levi, always been able to.” Cain cleared his throat, causing Michael to look at him. “We should be there tomorrow afternoon. We’ll leave tonight.”

Rhea’s voice was soft when she said, “Drive safe.”

“Always do.” Michael hung up after exchanging goodbyes. He was staring at the wall rolling his phone between his hands. Cain bumped Michael’s shoulder with an empty travel bag. “What do you think? It could all be a coincidence.”

Cain let his arm drop to his side with the bag still in hand. “You know what I think.”

“Right, you don’t believe in those.” He grabbed the bag from Cain and walked back to his room. Stopping at his door, Michael looked back at Cain, who was stuffing books into another bag. “Oh and Cain,” when the other man looked up, Michael raised a brow, “we’re going to be in the Silver Pack territory.”

A dark look appeared on Cain’s face. “And if it was a were-creature?”

“Make sure we’re not dealing with a member of the pack. The Alpha will want first dibs.”

“And if it’s not.”

Michael turned away, his hand coming up in a short wave over his shoulder. “I won’t stop you.”

“Good.”

Michael didn’t have to turn around to know what Cain’s face looked like. It was a grin that used to put him on edge the first few times he saw it. But now that he knew about Cain’s past, he could understand where the wild grin came from and why he had a distrust for any were-creatures. Even the ones they worked with were held at arm’s length.

He was going to have to introduce Cain to Kevin. This was going to be fun.