~~


    Artem


    ~~


    I was on my way to the dining room, trays of food in hand, when I heard something that I never thought I would hear before.


    There was the sound of the most beautiful voice I had ever heard. It was full of bittersweet emotions, but it was the sound of the voice, the tones and notes themselves that made my wolf grin and my whole body respond with happiness and joy.


    "That''s Star''s voice." I whispered to myself as my arms and hands lost all feeling along with the rest of my body. The sound had literally made me go numb.


    Just a moment after hearing that glorious sound I heard the sound of crashing dishes as everything in my hands went cascading to the floor.


    "What the hell?" I heard Kent yell from the other side of the door. "You guys stay here." His voice was calm and soothing, I hoped I hadn''t scared Star with themotion.


    A few secondster Kent and Chay came striding through the swinging door that led to the kitchen.


    "What the hell, Artem?" Kent yelled in a whispered voice as he looked at the floor and at my dazed look.


    "What the fuck dumbass." Chay scolded and yelled in a simr whisper.


    "That...that...that was Star''s voice." I felt like I was in a trance as I started to step over the broken dished and ruined food. "That''s what her voice sounds like, isn''t it? That was her."


    "Yes, it was her, but calm down Artem."


    "You''ll scare her if you rush out there like this." Chay added.


    "No, I won''t scare her. I''m not going to do anything." I pleaded as I tried to walk forward, but Kent put his hands on my shoulders as Chay put her hands on my chest, together the two of them managed to stop me for a moment.


    "You look crazed right now, buddy, you need to calm down. Get a hold of yourself."


    "I know you just want to see her, but give her a minute and take one for yourself too."


    "Why is this so hard?" I asked them, my pleading eyes full of pain.


    "What the hell are we going to do for breakfast now?" Chay sounded angry. "This stuff''s ruined and dumbass here doesn''t look like he is capable of opening a lid let alone making a whole new meal."


    "Couldn''t someone else cook?" Kent asked her.


    "Do you know anyone else in this house that can cook?" She red at him. "Seriously, why don''t you men ever use the brain above your shoulders instead of the one being boiled alive in your pants?"


    "That was uncalled for Chay." I scolded her.


    "No, uncalled for is what you call dropping all our breakfast on the floor."


    "I was surprised, that''s all." I red at her, matching the look she was giving me. "I seem to remember just recently that you had a simr look of shock and awe when you saw her cousin." She blushed at my words, embarrassment rolling off her in waves.


    "That..that''s different." She spat the words at me. "Just shut up."


    "Both of you stop it." Kent sounded exasperated. "We need to figure this out. If no one else can cook, perhaps we can go out to breakfast. We can go into the city."


    "Will Star go though?" Chay looked worried. "She hasn''t left the house yet."


    "She might, with her family with her, her cousins might make her feel safe enough to go." Kent was being reasonable and logical about it all.


    "We can try. This will be like her first time out ever." Chay sounded worried.


    "Well I say we clean this all up and then go in there to ask them." I smiled.


    "Clean it up yourself." Chat scoffed at me.


    "Chay." I put the ring of authority in my voice.


    "Ugh, fine, you big bully." She conceded and bent to help me and Kent clean the mess I had made.


    Five minutester the three of us were walking into the dining room where Star and her cousins were.


    "What was the problem?" Reed asked curiously.


    "The tray I was carrying breakfast on broke." It wasn''t technically a lie, it broke in the fall. "Unfortunately all of the food for breakfast wound up on the floor." I hung my head then, feeling the shame from having ruined the meal for them all.


    "We have decided that we should head out to get breakfast, if you''re all ok with that." Kent added to take the me off of me a little.


    "I''m fine with that." E smiled.


    "Sounds good to me." Reed nodded.


    "That would be great." Bailey gave his consent as well.


    However, at the mention of leaving the house, Star tense up and took two shaking steps away from them all. Her head swinging side to side in a vehement no.


    "Is something wrong Star?" Bailey asked her as he stepped closer, putting a hand on her shoulder. She immediately grabbed her pen and started writing.


    [I can''t leave] Her writing was sloppy as she was shaking so bad.


    "Why aren''t you talking?" Reed wondered with a confused look on his face.


    "She uses the pen and pad when she is nervous, scared, or talking around someone she is notfortable with yet." I answered for him, letting her know in my own way that I wasn''t ming her at all.


    "Oh." That was all we got in response, from all three of her cousins.


    "Are you afraid to leave the house?" Bailey asked her in a soothing tone. Her only response was wide eyes and one tense nod of her head.


    "We will be with you." Reed offered as he moved closer, putting a hand on one of her shoulders as well.


    "We will protect you." E smiled at her as she, too, moved closer.


    "You don''t need to be afraid." Bailey smiled confidently at her.


    "That''s right, with all of us there, no one will dare try to hurt you or take you back." Reed''s words made a little bit of the tension drain from her body.


    "You never have to worry, Star, you''ll never have to go back to them again. I promise." I smiled at her looking as reassuring as I could.


    After a deep breath she nodded and started writing on her notepad again.


    [OK] I simple word, two little letters, and with that I felt the joy in me swell almost beyond capacity. This was a breakthrough for her, she was going to get out and see the world, sort of.


    With the ns for breakfast settled, we all got ready to leave then. Piling into two different vehicles because we didn''t have one big enough for all of us yet, but this made it so that Star was riding with Chay and her cousins while I followed them with Kent. I wasn''t very happy about that situation. ording to Chay, Star had spent the entire drive into the city looking at the floor of the Jeep, too scared to look up at all.


    When we pulled into the parking lot of the Apple Peddler diner we all piled out and headed inside. They didn''t have many booths that could hold all seven of us, especially considering that four of us were veryrge men, but we all managed to fit in the corner booth somehow.


    The diner was a nice little home cooking type of ce. It was the type of ce where you can get the really good hash browns fried nice and golden brown, eggs, bacon, sausage, toast, and pancakes, and all of it would be in one meal. It was great, and just what I needed to fill my stomach right now.


    Star was still nervous when we started, and while she didn''t talk at all, she did start looking morefortable by the time we were done eating. We had spent the meal listening to her cousins recap what their lives had been like since they left home, effectively kidnapping E when they had gone.


    Apparently, E was still in school, but she was willing to work remotely or take a semester or two off right now, most likely due to Kent. But as for Bailey and Reed, they were both teachers. Having failed to save one child while growing up, they had dedicated their lives to helping other children. They would be useful for helping us to teach the boys we had saved, and they seemed to be OK with the idea as well. We now had some more allies that could help with the once lost boys.


    We had a good time, everyone seemed to enjoy the meal, even Star. I spent most of my time silently watching how much Star wasing out of her shell as I ate my food. Just being around her, especially when she was happy, really was a good feeling.


    This all seemed to be going really, really well.