Page 54 of Waiting in Wyoming

“Not sure I ever will be again, baby bro,” Mac said quietly. “Still trying to wrap my head around all of it.”

“I know. I just spoke with Powell. Gunnar’s doing better, Dan’s been upgraded to stable.”

“And the vampire goddess queen?”

“Heather is…Powell said they are pumping her full of antibiotics. She definitely has a bacterial infection. They’ll know more in a few hours.”

“That woman could die,” Mac said starkly. “Because of those bastards. And their greed. With all the hell she has been through, she could still die. Those little girls could lose their mother. Because of greed. And everyone is just left waiting. Praying.”

“Because of the quest for power,” a voice said behind Mac. Brandt looked past his older brother’s shoulder. Meyra’s cousin Charlotte stood there. One of Powell’s besties. “I can’t really work this scene, considering what happened to me because of the same people, but I’m here to supervise, until Ashlie and Tom get here. How are your parents?”

“They are back at Houghton’s,” Mac answered. “What were you saying? About power?”

“I don’t think it was greed. I think it was a quest for power. The rush of being in control.” There were memories in Charlotte’s big green eyes. The same eyes she shared with Meyra.

Nightmares, that was what it was.

He’d left Meyra with her father and stepmother at the hotel. She was waiting for him to get back to her as soon as he could.

Just knowing she was there mattered. He loved that woman.

Once he had her back in Wyoming, he wasn’t waiting any longer.

What had happened to his family just illustrated one thing—life was too short, too precarious. A man could lose everything in an instant.

Brandt wasn’t about to let Meyra get away now.

Mac was back to staring at the blood.

Brandt got it. He remembered when he had almost died, when it had been his blood staining the hardwood of Clint and Maggie’s place. He had been back there. A perverse part of him had had him staying in that house for a few months back then.

He’d had to. To take that control back.

To erase the memories of that day.

A foolish quest. He would never forget. Just like Mac and Alex would never forget listening to what had happened to their family as it happened. And knowing they were completely helpless to stop it.

“Don’t step in the evidence,” Charlotte said softly. Then she paused. “Look…don’t think about it right now. Focus on getting your family back to rights. It gets easier. It takes time, but it gets easier.”

Mac just half nodded. But there was such a look in his eyes, Brandt couldn’t help himself. He pulled his brother closer. And hugged him.

Sometimes, Mac thought he had to be the big strong one. The one who could handle anything. But no one could handle everything by themselves all the time.

It just wasn’t humanly possible. But Mac was the one used to being in charge. To having the power. Of making things thewayhewanted them, and having the arrogance that knowledge brought.

Mac had learned just how powerless he truly was.

It had changed his brother—Brandt would always know that.

It had changed them all.

What had happened to their family had made them all realize the truth. No one was ever really fully in control.

Brandt followed Mac’s gaze. To the end of the cream couch that had sat in their parents’ parlor for a good decade now.

There was a perfect handprint in the blood on the upholstery.

Most likely a woman’s.