Liam was in the middle of an amazing dream. The smell of crispy bacon was in the air and his cock was surrounded by moist lips that were sucking him with enough skill to win a medal. Hang on a minute. You can’t smell stuff in dreams. Not even bacon. Opening his bleary eyes, Liam looked down and sighed. Not a dream, oh wow. Widening his legs to give Beau more room, Liam reached down, softly stroking Beau’s head as the suction increased. He didn’t even try to hold back. It was something hard enough to do when he was wide awake. But this was…bliss. Arching his back, Liam came with a bang. The sight of him swallowing me will never get old.
“Give me a minute, just one second,” he panted softly as his body was awash with hormones and tingles. “I’ll return the favor.”
“No need, but we’ll have to wash the blanket.” Beau crept up his body and leaned in for a kiss. Yes, Liam had a momentary flash of guilt. Morning breath wasn’t pleasant. But the smell of his sex on Beau’s face was enough to overcome any protests he might have made.
“Hmm, not that I’m complaining, but can I expect to wake up spoiled like this every morning?” He asked when Beau finally pulled back.
A flash of guilt crossed Beau’s face so fast, Liam almost missed it. But he couldn’t miss the slight tinge it gave to his mate’s scent. “What is it?” Liam could feel the tension in Beau’s shoulders. “You can tell me anything. Is this about your dad?”
“You’re in danger, Liam. Until we find our third mate…I didn’t realize.” Beau flopped on his back, staring up at the ceiling. “Father always told me a phoenix should never go after their mates until my bird gives me the signal the two were already mated.”
“But you came after me.” Liam sat up and spying a plate of bacon sandwiches, grabbed one and started chomping. He had a feeling he wasn’t going to like this discussion.
“Yes, I did, and according to my father that breaks all the rules we live by. My phoenix would let me know when you met your other mate and then let me know when the claiming took place. In father’s eyes, I wasn’t meant to come after you until I received the second signal.”
“You’d have been waiting a long time.” The bacon wasn’t tasting so good now.
“I know that now, but I didn’t know the mating could be broken if the third wasn’t around. Originally, I just thought you and Theo had had a spat, I’d come in and make everything all right again and we could all be together.”
“Yeah, well you see how well that worked out for you.” Liam put his sandwich to the side of the plate on the bedside table. “So why the guilt? Why are you upset? You heard the fates as well as I did. You’ll feel the pull towards our third mate soon enough. They said it would only be a few months till that happens.”
Beau rolled on his side, his eyes filled with something Liam couldn’t start to interpret. “But until we meet that person your life is in danger. My father’s not the type to give up. If you die, I’ll be so full of grief, he’ll have me in a hospital and the baby killed before I can even think.”
Liam’s first instinct was to growl. His lion was already doing it in his head. No one was going to hurt his baby or his mate. But he needed a cool head. Beau was pregnant and his getting angry wasn’t going to help anything. Lucien. I need to think like Lucien. Letting out a long breath he said calmly, “You’ve already told me now we’re mated you can bring me back from any death. Your father might not have got the memo about it, but you were there. You’ve already brought me back once.”
“I know I can, but what if I can’t get to you, what if I get hurt and….”
Beau’s emotions were something Liam could identify this time – pure panic. I wonder if he’s hormonal already. “Babe, stop. If you’re that worried about it, we’ll buy a locket and you can keep a piece of my hair or something with you at all times. You can use that to bring me back, can’t you?”
“How can you be so calm about this?” Beau sat up and tugged at his hair. Yep, definitely pregnancy hormones. “You don’t know what I went through when I saw the state of you last time. You don’t know how hard it was for me to focus and bring you back. Lucien was yelling at me as I burned your body – something that has to be done because you rise from the ashes. It took everything I had, and although I knew it would work, I didn’t know, you know? Until you walked through those flames, I didn’t know!” Beau’s voice until he was shrieking and there were tears streaming down his face.
“You did what you had to do,” Liam pulled Beau into his arms. Beau resisted but Liam persisted. His lion didn’t like it when their mate was upset. “And I’m eternally glad you did, but if I have to die a dozen times in the next few months to protect you and our baby, then so be it. I’ve got better things to worry about than dying.”
Beau looked up expectantly and Liam wiped the tears from his mate’s sharp cheeks. “It’s about this third mate,” Liam wasn’t really worried, but he had to give Beau something else to focus on. “What if he likes you more than me? Heaven’s forbid, what if it’s a female? I can’t cope with that. I’m pure gay, through and through. I wouldn’t know what to do with a women’s bits and you do and yeah, I’ve never been in a threesome before of any sort. I’m really afraid of being shut out when we meet this person.”
Okay, that last bit was actually true and maybe Liam should have kept his mouth shut about it. But it had the desired effect on his mate. “Our third will be perfect for both of us, so for a start, he will be male. And as for leaving you out, babe, how could you even think that? I know you don’t have experience with threesomes, but fuck, I can’t stop touching you now. That’s not going to change when we meet our third. It just means you get double the touching. How could anyone not fall in love with you instantly?”
“Like you did?” Liam couldn’t believe he even asked, but he had to know.
“Exactly like I did,” Beau said firmly. “Babe, I know I haven’t said it and you can’t blame me for thinking it’s so soon with all that’s going on. We’ve only known each other a matter of weeks. But from the first time I saw you leaning over the bar, looking so sexy in those jeans and with your messy blond hair, I knew you were it for me and I couldn’t have been happier.”
“Even though you expected your mates to be female?”
“I adapted, didn’t I?” Beau laughed and Liam’s heart relaxed. “I know we’ve got a lot of things to work out. I’m not sure if I can live with Ra and the others forever. Being here with you even just these past few days has been heaven for me. But we can hold off making decisions about where we live and what to do about your job and my businesses, after we meet our third. For now, I just want to be with you because I do love you…and my brother.”
Liam frowned. “What’s Noah got to do with this? I know you love him, the same as I love mine.”
Beau’s cheeks turned a delightful shade of pink. “I told him I had to see him. I wanted his help in keeping you safe. He and my father, fuck, my father seems to be keeping tabs on both of us and I need you to be safe until we know what my father’s up to. Noah will be here shortly, if he’s not circling around the area already making sure there’s no one around.”
All at once Liam understood. Resting his forehead on Beau’s he chuckled softly. “That explains why I got the bacon sandwiches and early morning blow job. You were worried I’d fly off the handle about being molly coddled?”
“I wanted to do that anyway. I wanted to show how special you are to me.” Beau wouldn’t meet his eyes.
“So, if I get woken up like this again, I shouldn’t assume it means my brother in law is coming to save my ass? It might be you just being nice to me?” Liam’s grin covered half his face.
“You’re not upset?” Beau’s grin wasn’t as wide, but it was a huge improvement on tears.
Straightening his spine, Liam puffed out his chest. “Should I be upset that my little bird mate doesn’t think this big furry lion can’t protect his own ass?” He doubled over in laughter at the horror on Beau’s face. “It’s okay, babe,” he said when he managed to control himself. “I know you’ve already brought me back from the dead once. However, in my defense that was demon magic and I sure managed to set your father straight on a few facts. I’m glad Noah’s coming.”
“You are? I mean I’m glad you and Noah get on so well.” Beau didn’t look too sure and Liam couldn’t resist teasing him just a tiny bit more.
“Hey, you and Noah are both in danger from your father. You’re going to need my help and excellent resources from the Arrowtown Sheriff’s department to find out what’s going on. Maybe I’ll get a chance to save your guy’s asses.”
“Babe, that’s not….”
Jumping out of bed, Liam ignored him and hurried to the bathroom. His bladder was letting him know it needed attention now, and besides, he really didn’t want to hear Beau’s arguments about why he shouldn’t get involved. He was already involved and if Beau thought he and his lion would sit in the corner and knit baby bonnets while the phoenixes ran off into danger…well, he’d learn the error of that way of thinking soon enough.