Picking Your Path

(Pepperjack ran out of energy but refused to release the toy lol)

"I've never seen him so stressed," Magnus noted when he finally hung up with Del.

Buck, who was resting his head on his lap as they both relaxed on the couch, was silent in response, but Magnus had felt his body tense during several parts of the call. He had clearly overheard everything, but it was no surprise that he didn't care to converse about it.

Magnus had learned a lot about the man in the few weeks that they'd spent together. They'd had a lot of disagreements in that time frame, and even more fights, but Buck was a silent fighter... and it drove Magnus to the brink of insanity. The man didn't yell. Didn't try to attack him. Didn't even look angry most of the time.

Closing his eyes, Magnus let his phone drop to the armrest and sighed out a deep breath as his fingers drifted through Buck's soft hair.

"I can't believe he let all of the hunt targets go, too. I mean, we only had three set up for the week, but last week he released two others after transporting them away from the facility. Only went along with one hunt for the whole week. Now he's considering canceling the remainder of the month."

Buck gave a quiet snort, his deer sneaking into the response, though he didn't mind. The man never really cared if his animal side came through sometimes. While Magnus had to restrain his beast with all of his strength, Buck's was generally laid back and easily became a part of his everyday reactions. He rarely shifted, but Magnus still saw plenty of glimpses of the beast within the man simply from his actions and responses.

"Can you still sense him in your mind? I know that your bond hasn't been the greatest for a while..."

Slowly, Buck rolled over onto his back and finally met his gaze. "I sense him as a background noise. He's happy, but he's not. He's stressed, but excited. He doesn't know what to do about any of it, at all. He's basically reacting to each second as they come."

The phone rang again, drawing Magnus's hand to it as he lifted it to his ear.

"Yes sir?" He'd known that it was Del calling again because of the specific ringtone, so there was no need to open his eyes and check the I.D. before answering.

Del barely waited for the two words to leave Magnus's mouth before he spoke; "I need you and Buck to go pick up Mina from the forested area by the clinic on 4th street."

What?

"Why? I'm not a babysitter, Del... and aren't his pups, or cubs, or whatever you want to call them, due any day now?" Magnus asked, slightly annoyed. He had no intention of bringing that guy back to his apartment. It was hard enough to control himself around Buck, adding a pregnant cross shifter, or a non-pregnant one and their babies, would not end well.

That would be one hell of a meal.

Shaking off the joke, because his other half was already drooling in his mind, Magnus forced himself to focus on what Del was saying.

"He won't come back to my facility, even though I told him that there weren't any hunts scheduled for the whole week."

Magnus opened his eyes and glanced down at Buck at the same time the man rolled his own. They both knew that Mina would never take his babies there. If Del wanted the guy around him, then he would either have to go to Mina outside, or get a place far away from work.

Shaking his head, Magnus began absentmindedly running his fingers along Buck's strong jaw as he spoke; "you should have told him that you had literally canceled the hunts for him, Del. I'm not saying that that would have gotten him to come with you, because it wouldn't have, but the guy wants to see some sort of positive change in you."

There was a quiet grumbling on the other end of the line before Magnus continued, "I don't think that he should come here, either. I think you need to find a place far, far away from your facility. Probably even something out in the middle of nowhere, since he seems to dislike being around people for any decent period of time. Then see if he might be interested in going there for a short time to check out the area."

There was a growl in response, but Magnus just ignored it and waited for words to come through.

"You know that I don't have that kind of time. If I don't get him somewhere soon, he's going to have my pups in the middle of the forest!"

Magnus opened his mouth to respond when Buck took the phone and slowly brought it down to his ear as he turned onto his side. "It will be fine, Del. He has lived in and out of the forest far more than most shifters have. You need to calm down and just let things happen the way Mina wants them to. He reached out to you, surprisingly, and asked you to help him hunt. That was all he's asked of you, though. Don't overstep your new boundary or he might shrink it back again and disappear."

Buck could feel the dismay mixed with anger at being told that bit of information, but he never sugar coated his words with Del. They grew up together in the wild. There was never a need to be gentle.

"But then what can I do right now?" Del practically whined, his wolf coming out in a surprisingly non-aggressive way.

Magnus, with his hands now free, decided to slip one beneath Buck's loose shirt and rub his thumb along the man's abs. He could feel Buck's glare move to him, but he knew that the guy would refrain from reacting... at least until the call was over.

Buck slowly sat up as he contemplated his response. Sometimes he took his time on what he wished to say, because he never wanted to say something that he didn't mean. If it took a few more moments than normal to deliver those words, then so be it.

"Exactly what he wants of you. No more, no less. Do not try to impress him. He told you what he wanted. Be exactly that until he wishes for more... or asks for less."

"Less?" Del rasped, only to be rebuked quickly by  Buck. "Yes. If he wishes for you to leave, that is what you should do. I know that you have seen many people and observed many different kinds of relationships, but Mina is not a normal person and he doesn't want what others do."

Del fought himself to keep from breaking the cell phone as he hung up. He'd called the doctor right before calling Magnus and Buck, but the man had said that Mina had refused to stay at the clinic for the delivery, which he'd already known would likely happen. He'd left the second the appointment had ended.

He felt his shift clawing at the surface and didn't even try to hold it back as it took over his human flesh. There was nothing more he wanted in the world than to track down Mina, but he forced himself to stand still, and instead, reached out with his mind.

Mina? Is everything okay? Can I help you with anything?

He wanted to roar, and since Mina was nowhere in his immediate vicinity, he did allow himself that one moment of relief. It took him about fifteen minutes before he finally replied... and what he said made Del's anger flood out of him like nothing he'd ever experienced. The feeling left his wolf weak in the knees.

Two? He repeated Mina's thought.

Yes. Two little girls.

He wanted to ask if he could come to him now. He wanted to beg to be allowed to go to him.

I'm by the stream we hunted near three days ago.

Del was taking off the second Mina told him the location. He arrived at the stream in minutes, and then followed his nose to his newborns. He was cautious with his approach, nervous that his animal wouldn't take too kindly to the babies. It had never cared for children, or really, anyone that wasn't Buck.

The two tiny bundles of fur attached to Mina's belly had his wolf uneasy but curious. He allowed it to walk closer, but made sure to keep a handle on its excitement. One miss-step could be dangerous. He was nearly ten feet away when the sound of rustling brush to his left drew their attention. Not a moment later Roan's massive cat stalked into the clearing, its tail flicking from side to side as its eyes darted back and forth between his little brother and Del.

It was obvious that Roan planned to attack him, but froze in his tracks at Mina's hissed warning. It was a good thing that he'd sent the warning, too, because Del knew that it was meant for himself, as much as his brother. Another person, relative or not, near what his wolf perceived as belonging to him, would be an immediate target to eliminate.

Mina flicked his ear and leaned down to nuzzle at the two fluffy, chubby babies attached to his belly.

No fighting.

It wasn't a request. Del noted the surprised look in Mina's eyes when he looked back up at him, only to see that he had shifted back to his human form. His wolf didn't like it since Roan's massive cat was nearby, but Del knew that he could shift fast enough to respond to it if he needed to, but he hoped that Mina's brother would accept his wishes to keep them both from violence around the cubs.

"I'm not here to fight you. I came because he asked me to," Del said as he took a step closer to Mina.

Roan growled in response, but when he lifted one heavy paw to start blocking Del's path, Mina hissed again, making him retract it immediately. After a few tense moments and a grumble from Roan, he reluctantly shifted to his human form.

"You need to stay away from my brother, wolf," he started, but then bit his tongue on continuing when Mina actually got up and limped between them both with a quiet growl.

I make my own decisions, brother.

Del knew that the two didn't have a bond like he did with Mina, so he decided to speak for him. Hopefully Roan wouldn't think that he was bending his words, though.

"Mina said that he makes his own decisions."

Roan scoffed at that, barely sparing his little brother a glance before returning his glare to Del. "Oh, I know. He's done that all his life, and now look at where it's gotten him? You should have never even been in the picture, and now look what you've done!"

Del felt Mina's annoyance through their bond but held back what he wanted to say. He was always on thin ice with him and didn't want to make a stupid mistake. He wanted to prove that he could be what Mina wanted him to be.

I asked you to come here and I accepted your attentions, knowing full well that the situation could have ended up like this.

"He said that he asked me to come here and knew what could happen when we got together,"  Del said, then added as Mina continued to speak to his mind. "They are his cubs and if you want to be around them for any length of time, you will not attack me."

The look of hurt on Roan's face made Del force a smile back. He didn't like the man, at all, but he knew that he had to behave, too.

"You need to at least go back to uncle Jared and Jamie's place. They shouldn't be out here, Mina," Roan said, his tone turning more pleading by the second.

For once, Del had to agree with him. He'd lived a good portion of his life in the forest, and it hadn't been easy. He couldn't imagine doing it with two cubs. Even if he was allowed to help hunt and eventually stay with them, it wouldn't be safe and the cubs would eventually need to learn to be around others. They were part human, after all.

No, I don't.

Del was about to repeat what he had said, but then frowned and looked over at Mina. The big cat was staring at him with a raised eyebrow, clearly waiting for him to translate the thought... but Del couldn't.

"I don't agree, Mina. They shouldn't live out here when there are people willing to take you in and help."

The look of betrayal in Mina's eyes stung, but Del held his ground.

"I don't like the idea of anyone else being around you or the cubs, but your brother is right. They need to be socialized and raised, at least in part, around other people."

Go away.

"No, Mina. You can't run away this time, either. There are now lives that depend on you, and whether you want help or not, you need to at least accept some."

Del knew that the young man wouldn't be happy with his words, but he was glad that his brother, for once, agreed with what he was saying. Roan took the initiative to approach first, but Mina quickly got to his feet again, cubs still attached, and raised his hackles on a growl.

"Stop it, Mina. We aren't going away. You're going to have to go home with one of us. That option can be left up to you, but we can't just leave you out here with your babies," Del chastised gently as he started forward, too.

Thankfully, Mina didn't growl at him, but he did hunch down slightly, covering his babies partially with his body.

I'm not going back to that house, and I'm not going back to your compound.

Del stopped abruptly and lifted one hand to run his fingers through his messy hair.

"What if I didn't want to go back there, either?" he asked, finally realizing that he could handle the direction of this conversation that he couldn't quite grasp with Buck earlier. It wasn't really the building that had ever been the issue. It had been what it represented in his life.

"What if I told you that I wouldn't step foot in that building again? That I wouldn't have anything else to do with it besides sell the property?"

It was one hell of a jump from his mentality earlier in the day, but he finally knew what he had to do to get Mina to actually look at him. To consider that he could possibly be something more than a murderer who only wanted what he wanted, without consideration who he had to step on to get it.

The money from all of those murders? Mina questioned hesitantly, as if he were ready for an outright lie.

"What would you like me to do with it?" he asked, not worried about losing it. He'd earned the building with hard work, not murder, and would sell it for more than enough to take care of them both for a decent amount of time.

Send it back.

Del raised an eyebrow, unsure of what Mina meant.

To the people who paid for the hunts?

That didn't seem like something Mina would want.

To the families and relatives of the victims you created.

In all honesty, Mina's words actually hurt. Not because he'd have to give other people the money. He didn't care about materialistic things in the long run. It was how Mina had worded his sentence... and for the first time, Del actually felt bad for his actions.

Straightening his shoulders, he slowly nodded a couple times, then added a small smile.

"I'll arrange for Buck to take care of all of that. Every cent I earned from that business will be distributed back to those who's deaths I've been responsible for."

Del could sense Mina's confused surprise through their bond, so when he didn't respond right away, he continued.

"I earned that building while working odd jobs growing up so I'd like to sell it and start over," he said, then quieted his voice as he lifted a hand to nervously rub at the back of his neck. "Maybe we could try that together?"

Roan grumbled but didn't say anything as they both waited for some sort of response from Mina. Del was holding his breath, his body breaking out in a cold sweat from the stress of the whole situation.

When Mina looked down at his babies, then back up at him, Del licked his lips nervously and lowered his gaze to the ground in submission.

Perhaps we could.

Del's eyes went wide as he slowly lifted them to Mina's face, then quietly repeated his thoughts out loud, needing to hear them with his own ears.

"Perhaps we could."