Page 2 of Ruffled Feathers

Sonny was still frowning. “So we’re… worried?”

Was that what I was? I guess, maybe a little. I didn’t want Citrine’s day to be ruined, just because her new undesignated stepdaughter was a flaky little drama queen.

Not that she struck me as one of those—and trust me, I’d met many—but weddings were different. Also, I kind of felt sorry for the girl. Her whole life had been uprooted. In her position, maybe I’d run away too.

“I think so. Seems unusual that her shoes are here, but she’s nowhere to be found.”

His face smoothed into another expression I knew all too well: calm determination. It was why he’d been both valedictorian and prom king in our senior year. In fact, it was why he’d been everything from hall monitor to class marshall all throughout our school years. Because when there was a crisis, Edison Chalmers was an unflappable leader everyone could get behind.

He chewed his lip as he thought. “I don’t think we should disturb Mom and Buck with this yet. Not until we’ve searched at least once more. I’ll check with the staff under the guise that the photographer wants some family photos, and they can search the house and grounds.” He continued laying out a plan that involved everyone short of the National Guard, but I’d kind of tuned him out. Sonny would get it done. I’d played my part as dutiful almost-son to Citrine.

A flash of blue in the treeline suddenly caught my eye. A soft blue amidst the verdant green of the spring growth in the sycamore tree.

It couldn’t be, right?

Grabbing Sonny and the shoes, I towed him along to the tree, kind of hoping it was a bird and not his new stepsibling up the fucking tree. Though he’d been very adamantnotto refer to her as his sister. As he liked to point out, he’d known her for only twomonths and had spent a total of six hours in her presence before the wedding.

I snorted at his insistence. It had nothing to do with how long he’d known her, and far more to do with the fact that while Otillie-James Baler was wild, she was also beautiful. Or maybe she was beautifulbecauseshe was wild. Either way, Sonny had probably had a few impure thoughts about the girl, and no one wanted to think like that about someone who’s meant to be their sibling. Talk about awkward as fuck.

Any hope I had about the flash of blue in the tree being a bird disappeared, though, because from the base of the trunk, there was no doubting that it was indeed Otillie-James up the damn tree.

“Uh, what the fuck?” I called up to her, looking around to make sure no one else was watching. I dragged Sonny to the other side of the trunk, so we were at least a little obscured by the tree.

Silence.

“Otillie?” Sonny yelled. “Are you okay?”

The aggravated huff answered that question more than words ever could. “I’m stuck. This stupid frou-frou dress is caught, and I can’t get it out without dropping them.”

So many questions.I raised an eyebrow at Sonny, who looked as confused as I did.

“Dropping what?” he called, a little more quietly.

More huffing, followed by the unmistakable sound of fabric ripping. She gave a tiny screech of rage. “The squirrels.”

I glanced at Sonny. “Maybe someone spiked the punch?” I looked back up the tree. I really couldn’t see much of her, just her stockinged feet and swaths of fabric. “What color are the squirrels, and are they talking to you?”

“Shut up, dickcheese.”

A laugh burst from my lips, unbidden. Fucking hell, this was how she spoke to an Alpha? She really was going to be eaten alive by society.

Completely ignoring me, she continued to tug, her grunting getting more pronounced. “They’re babies. They fell out of their nest, and I wanted to put them back. They’re too young to climb back up themselves, but they’ll die if they’re down there for too long.” The branches bounced, and now I was a little worried she’d fall out and break her stupid little neck. “But thisfucking dressisn’t made for climbing. Now I’m stuck.”

Unsurprisingly, Sonny was already slipping off his jacket and loosening his tie.For fuck’s sake.

“Look, maybe you should just leave them up there and hope their parents come back?” I suggested. “You know, the circle of life? Besides, I thought if they smelled humans on the babies, they’d reject them anyway?”

“That’s nottrue,” she yelled down, as ifIwas the idiot, rather than the person who was currently stuck fifteen feet in the air. “It’s a lie parents tell stupid kids to stop them plucking baby birds out of their nests.”

Sonny jumped and dragged himself up onto the lowest branch, while I ran a hand down my face. I was going to have to tell both Buck and Citrine that their children had ended up with broken spines on their wedding day.

Though, Sonny and I had spent our fair share of time in these trees as kids. He was already scaling it like a damn monkey. “Otillie, I’m going to come up and untangle you, and then I’ll put the babies back in their nest,” he called up to her, ever the shining Alpha hero.

“I don’t need your help, Light Bulb!” Her strangled tone suggested otherwise.

“Light Bulb?” I asked him.

“I made the mistake of calling her Juice. You know, because her initials are OJ,” Sonny called down. “I know you don’t need my help, Juice, but I’m still going to come and give you a hand, because a dead child is the last thing Buck needs on his wedding day,” he responded to her. His words were sharp, but his tone was cajoling, like he was trying to corral a pitbull into a tutu.

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