His Dawn

1 - Same Old Boys

AARON

I groan as I slide into the old barstool at the kitchen island. I was up late going through paperwork. There is always so much to do this time of the year with college classes starting back up. I have to vet all the supernaturals that enrolled, and make sure there were no mix-ups with the dorms. We don’t want any humans put in a dorm with werewolves or vampires. It’s an annoying amount of work, but I wanted to just get it all done. Classes begin today, so my last round of checks needed finished yesterday.

Alex is out doing an extra patrol over by campus this morning. He wanted to be extra sure nothing would go wrong. He is always like this on big days.

“He is always like this period,” Callan snorts. Yeah, my brother is a bit of an overprotective control freak. We love him for it though.

“Are we taking a trip to campus today to see the new freshman?” Dan asks Max and me. They are my gamma and beta respectively, and my two closest friends beside Alex. I shrug, popping a piece of crunchy bacon in my mouth.

“You just want to go and chase tail,” Max snorts. Dan throws an entire waffle at his face; just flings it like a frisbee. But my beta is quick; Max grabs it before it can make a syrupy mess all over.

“I do not chase tail!” he argues. Even I laugh at that. Our goofy friend has turned into quite the Casanova.

“Dan, your mate is going to pummel your ass when she learns the number of girls you have taken to bed.” Max hit a nerve there. Dan’s face pales, all humor lost from his face.

“You know I don’t plan on having a mate,” Dan grumbles solemnly. I share a grave look with Max, and neither of us respond for a while. Instead, we all eat our breakfasts quietly. As I am loading up a third helping of bacon, Max breaks the silence.

“Still though, I don’t know how you convince all those girls to go with your goofy ass.” Dan finally cracks a smile.

“Have you seen my ass? The ladies love it,” the cocky wolf retorts. I roll my eyes.

“Yeah, okay,” Max laughs loudly. Dan growls, but the action is playful. These two still bicker like we’re pups.

“Like you are one to talk! I have much more proof behind my prowess than you do.”

“In case you haven’t noticed,” Max retorts proudly, “my mate is exceptionally satisfied in the bedroom.”

Oh goddess. Gag.

Max is the only one of us already mated. Except, he is mated to my sister, Natalia. My little sister. It was hard to wrap my head around in the beginning, but I accepted it. Though, there are still times that I want to pummel him on occasion for violating my innocent baby sister.

Times like now.

So, I sock him in the jaw. He nearly falls off his stool.

“I do not need to hear about you … defiling my baby sister, Max,” I growl out.

“She isn’t a baby anymore, Aaron,” the beta with a death wish teases.

“Do you want to die? Because if I hear you talk about that with my sister, I am going to—”

You are going to what, Aaron?” Nat’s sarcastic voice pipes up from behind me. I huff, so she goes on, “We have two pups, Aaron. Eventually you need to come to terms with how that happened,” she teases. I choke on my bacon; gagging a little more dramatically than is probably necessary.

“Yeah, sorry, but no. I will never get used to my best friend being with my baby sister.” I shudder. “Nope. Never going to happen.”

“He isn’t just with her, Aaron,” Dan pipes up.

“Daniel,” Natalia hisses.

“Yeah, man. It’s called fucking.”

I ignore that sound of my name being called, and instead leap off my stool to tackle him to the ground. we roll around, throwing weak punches at each other’s abdomens. Until a thin line of fire scorches between us. I glare at my sister; the only one in the room that can summon a flame like that.

“Children,” she mutters rolling her eyes at us. She walks over to Max, bending down to rest her newborn in his arms. His attention immediately goes to the four-month-old in his arms. A little blonde-haired two-year-old wobbles over to me. I grin at the boy, fully prepared to hold onto my nephew, but Dan— the bastard— swipes him up before I get the chance, cuddling and cooing at the small boy.

Natalia and Max’s sons have become the center of our family. Little Jacob and baby Adam are the life of the leadership around here. Those two have us males wrapped around their tiny fingers. I recline on the floor, content to watch my two best friends give all of their attentions to my nephews.

“Aaron? Guys?” Alex links suddenly. The three of us share a look.

“What Alex?” I ask.

“Get to campus. Now.”

I share a worried look with Max and Dan. Alex isn’t elaborating; his link actually closed off from us completely. My brother is one to be reckless, but not with his family. If there was true danger there, he would never have told us all to go. Max kisses Adam’s small forehead before handing the small bundle back to his mate. She takes the baby, pulling him in close to her chest.

“What's going on?” she asks.

“Alex linked,” I say, “he told us to get to campus.” She nods at me, crouching down and shifting Adam over to one hip.

“Come here, son. Uncle Dan needs to go,” she murmurs to Jacob who rushes without hesitation into his mother’s arms. I nod to the guys.

“Let’s go see what has got my brother in a twist.”