Page 65 of Primal Urges

Lucas needed to learn how to graciously accept help instead of always thinking that he was on his own. He wasn’t. He had a whole crew full of brothers and sisters who now had his back.

While he may not own a motorcycle or know how to throw a punch, he was still a part of the Shadow Vipers, whether he liked it or not.

“Fine. Thank you.”

“And these are for you,” Ace said, passing Lucas a bag.

Reaching in, he pulled out a pair of ripped jeans and a faded Armani T-shirt. The items looked way too big for Lucas.

“Oh, sorry. Those are for you,” Marcus said, taking the outfit and passing it over to Caden.

“And these are for you,” Ace added, passing Lucas a pair of neatly folded black jeans and a distressed Guess T-shirt.

“Wow, these things look nice,” Lucas said, lowering the blanket and pulling the shirt over his bare shoulders.

In the rush to escape, they didn’t have time to throw on any clothing.

How Marcus knew that they were both waiting outside in their underwear was anyone’s guess.

Once Caden had stepped into the jeans and done up his fly, he looked at himself and immediately recognized the outfit.

“This is from that…” He let his voice trail off. Marcus gave him a nod.

About a month ago, Caden and Ace had been sent to assist a driver whose truck happened to break down on the side of the road about an hour outside of Roswell. It had been late at night, so they helped relieve the driver of some of his merchandise.

Ace, being the fashion aficionado, helped Caden determine which boxes needed to be relieved and which ones could remain in the truck with the tied-up—um, temporarily incapacitated—driver, who was waiting for a… tow truck to come and assist him.

Hmm. The clothing really was stylish, as Ace had put it.

“The fire crew said they will be here for at least a few more hours doing their assessment,” Damian explained once he joined the rest of the crew.

Damian was one of the guys who worked at the bar. He didn’t exactly have a job title. He basically did what he was told and helped Marcus out with…odd jobs.

“Okay. Shall we go?” Marcus asked, looking between Caden and Lucas.

They both nodded.

Once they arrived back at Caden’s place, Caden led Lucas to the spare bedroom, thinking that the boy might want some space and perhaps some time alone to process what had just happened.

Lucas nodded and thanked him before dropping down on the bed without so much as a hug goodnight.

Poor guy. Best to give him some space.

Caden couldn’t sleep. He lay down on the couch and stared up at the ceiling, thinking about how close he had come to making his little girl fatherless. First thing in the morning, he was going to call his little munchkin and tell her how much he loved her.

Letting out a breath, he froze when his stomach started to growl, reminding him that it needed food and coffee. Lots of coffee.

He threw his legs over the side of the couch and glanced at his watch.

Eight a.m.

It was as good a time as any to get up. He wasn’t going to get any more sleep this morning. Plus, food. He needed food. And coffee. Yes, loads of coffee.

He made his way into the kitchen and fired up the stove. Now it was time for him to show off his skills. Caden opened the fridge and pulled out the bacon.

His stomach growled.

“Patience, my pet,” Caden said to his belly as he began cooking his feast.

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