Page 75 of Nugget

Gavin was just as shocked. An oracle? Gavin had believed oracles only existed in myths and legends.

“Not very many people know that.” Leo pointed at Stryker. “That information does not leave this room.”

Stryker huffed. “Fine.”

“Anyway,” Leo said. “Aaron started to dream about a place. The thunder and rain fell nightly. Lightning would brighten the sky. A lone figure in the distance circling above.”

“At first I thought I was dreaming about Leo,” Aaron said. “Which was quite awkward, let me tell you. I do not need to be dreaming about my best friend.”

Leo smirked.

“However, in the dreams I could feel that it wasn’t Leo. Something was different. Not wrong but not right,” Aaron shared.

“Aaron eventually told me, and it brought back all the hope that I’d buried. When he described his dreams, I could feel that I needed to find the place he was seeing. He’d already left the council. Most of my original team had. I was wasting my time there. So, I purchased the RV. Started making out where paranormal packs were,” Leo explained.

“And then some little thief stole it,” Aaron accused.

“You were going to look for me?” Gavin questioned. “You thought it was me in Aaron’s dream and were coming to look?”

“I was both afraid and hopeful. What if after all this time you were still alive? I have still put off retiring because then I would have to search for you. Find out one way or another if you were really dead. I was hanging on to the little bit of hope that I had left.”

“And then some thief stole the RV!” Aaron said louder.

“I would like to point out that byborrowingthe RV, I did bring you right where you needed to me. I saved you months if not years of traveling,” Stryker said.

Leo snorted. “You might have a point.”

Aaron growled. “Fucking dreams. They could be just a little bit clearer.”

Leo laughed as he patted Aaron’s knee. “There, there. It all worked out in the end.”

A damn oracle. His brother back. All because of his mate. Gavin squeezed Stryker hard.

Stryker coughed. “Ease up there, Papi. I need to breathe. Human, remember?”

Gavin kissed the back of his neck. “Sorry.”

Stryker patted the hand still lying across his stomach.

“I still can’t believe that you were going to look for me,” Gavin confessed.

“He never stopped looking. Never gave up hope although we all told him that you were gone. That you would have resurfaced by now if you were alive. Every mission, he looked,” Aaron said. “It was one of the reasons our team was in the field for so long. He carried the only picture he had of you around. Still does.”

Gavin stiffened.

“What is it?” Stryker asked, his eyes narrow and lips pressed together.

Gavin kissed Stryker’s forehead and lifted him to sit on the arm of the chair. “I’ll be right back. I have…something.”

He hurried from the room as Stryker began to ask more questions. Instead of the accusatory or invasion questioning,Stryker’s interest had moved to the absurd. He really seemed to want to find a secret underground bunker or something.

Hurrying to his closet, Gavin pulled out the old wooden box that he kept hidden away. The few reminders of a childhood that had been ripped from him. He carried the box back into the living room but paused at the doorway.

His boy was reclined on the arm of the chair appearing relaxed but there was still a stiffness to his shoulders that Gavin didn’t like. They’d talk after Leo and Aaron retired for the night. Axel had already set them up in one of the cabins. At least until they figured out what to do.

Gavin wanted to ask his brother to stay.

Was that selfish of him?

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