Ryland whimpered when he watched Draco walk out looking like a kicked puppy.  A part of him wanted to call out and stop Draco from leaving.  Not just because he hated that the guy was so down, but because Ryland actually wanted him close by.  He couldn’t explain it but he felt…safer with Draco near him.

Unfortunately, it was the other part of him, the saner, been there, done that part of him, that refused to move from where he was curled up into a ball in the corner of the room, wedged between a wall and a sturdy table.  Although, after what he’d seen Draco do to the top of another counter, he was no longer sure there was such a thing as a safe place.

That steel had crumbled like cheap paper.  Ryland shivered imagining it had been him in Draco’s grip.  Which was exactly why he’d kept his mouth shut and remained as small as possible while Draco left the room.

“Are you okay?”

Ryland jumped at the sound of the man who was standing a few feet from him.  The guy seemed to be talking to him as if he were a frightened animal, which, in a way, was probably true.

“I know Draco can be a bit scary at times, but I swear, he really is more like a cuddly teddy bear when you get to know him,” the man reassured.

A growl rumbled through the kitchen as another man, who had been the one to get Draco to calm down, strode toward them.  Terrified by the fierce expression on the other man’s face, Ryland tried to make himself a smaller target by curling in tighter.

“What would you know about Draco being a teddy bear?” the second man demanded as he pulled the first man into his arms and branded him with a kiss, declaring them together.

Both men were panting when they finally pulled apart.  “I think I like it when you’re jealous,” the first man teased.

“That wasn’t an answer,” the other man growled out.

But instead of being intimidated, the first man lifted an eyebrow at the other man.  “There is a lot I’m willing to forgive.  But insinuating that I would ever cheat on you, isn’t one of them, Saber Thorsen.”

Saber. Oh shit.  Ryland knew that name.  This giant of a man was the new Chief Council.  There was no way Keira was going to survive if this guy treated her like Refugio had.

The first guy suddenly slapped Saber on the chest.  “Now look what you’ve done,” he said as they looked Ryland’s way. “You’ve scared poor Ryland even more.”

“But I didn’t do anything,” Saber insisted.  “I was just holding you.”

The man in Saber’s arms extracted himself and carefully made his way toward Ryland.  He must have thought Ryland was about to bolt, for he took his time and kept his hands out in front of him, as if showing Ryland he wasn’t a threat.   It would have been funny if things weren’t so serious.

“It’s okay,” the man said in a soothing voice.  “My name is Chadwick and that guy behind me is my mate, Saber.”  When he was less than ten feet away, he got down on his knees so he was on Ryland’s level and crawled the rest of the way.  “I promise.  Neither of us are going to hurt you.”

All thoughts of his own safety had fled as Ryland thought about his sister.  “Yeah, but is he going to fuck my sister like Refugio did?” He pointed at Saber. “Because I don’t think she’d survive someone as big as Saber.”

This time it was Chadwick who growled and Saber who chuckled.  “Um, no, I happen to like my balls right where they are, thank you very much,” Saber informed him.

“Huh?” That didn’t make any sense to Ryland.

It was Chadwick who answered. “What my mate is trying to say is that he knows I would rip his balls off his body and feed them to him if he ever even thought of cheating on me.”

“Mates?” Ryland was truly stumped.  He knew about mates but… “Wait a minute.” Obviously he had been too dumbstruck by Draco for his mind to have been thinking clearly.  “Draco said we were mates.”

Chadwick just raised an eyebrow at him as if waiting for the rest of what Ryland had to say.  But he didn’t have anything else.  So he tried again.  “I thought shifters never mated with the same sex.  So, how can you two be mates?”  And why was Ryland heartbroken that he couldn’t be Draco’s mate?

“Did you not just see us kiss?” Chadwick asked as if Ryland were a bit slow, which, considering everything that had happened since meeting Draco, might be true.  “Did that look like two men can’t be together?”

“But the law…” Ryland started to say, but Saber’s growl stopped him from saying more.

“That law has been changed,” Saber insisted and Ryland believed him.  Not that Ryland was surprised about the same sex thing not actually being true.  With how many of the guards that had fucked him since he’d arrived, it had become apparent not all shifters were heterosexual.

“I think you had better go check on Draco,” Chadwick told his mate.  “After seeing his mate with all those scars, there’s no telling what Draco will do, including tearing down this monstrosity of a house stone by stone to get to those responsible.”

“No,” Ryland said as he surged to his knees.  “Let me.”  He had no idea what made him say that, but he also couldn’t seem to take it back as he got to his feet.  It was the weirdest feeling, but something deep within Ryland needed to be near Draco, even if it meant facing all that rage again.

Before being imprisoned by the Council, Ryland would have never cowered, no matter how scared he’d been.  It was time for him to start getting back to who he was and that meant facing the man who claimed to be his mate.

Saber eyed him skeptically for a moment.  “Are you sure you know what you’re doing?”

“Do you think I’m really his mate?”  Ryland still wasn’t sure it was possible. “I’m human.”  It was an obvious statement, but an important one.

As far as Ryland knew, humans didn’t have mates.  It was why he’d been angry with his sister when she had naïvely believed Refugio.  Just as he’d tried to tell Keira, the former Chief Council had been a liar and a bully.  Hence, why Ryland had been chained up since arriving at the Council Manor to rescue his sister.

Yet, for some reason, Ryland found himself in his sister’s shoes now, desperately wanting to believe Draco was his mate.  The thing was, he wasn’t naïve like she was, so why did it feel as if every cell in his body was practically crying out for Saber to confirm humans could be mates?

Ryland nearly screamed in frustration when Saber didn’t answer right away and instead said, “You need to understand what Draco is like before I answer that question.”

But by some miracle, Chadwick rolled his eyes at Saber and said, “Yes.  Humans can be mates.”

Ryland did cry out in relief this time.  His emotions were running too high to stop himself from making the sound.  Without even thanking Chadwick, he raced from the room.  He had no idea how he knew what direction to go, but Ryland ran anyway, trusting whatever instinct that directed him.

 

***

 

“Now, why would did you do that?” Saber asked.

Chadwick stepped up to his mate and wrapped his arms around his neck.  There was no place on earth he would rather be than in Saber’s arms.  He’d never thought it possible, especially when they’d first met, but it was Chadwick’s happy place.  “Do what?” he asked innocently as he nibbled along Saber’s jaw.

Saber’s hand came down hard on his ass, causing Chadwick to grin at the way his mate actually thought that could possibly make him behave.  The slight sting, the fact that he had Saber’s undivided attention, all of it only made him want to cause more mischief.  “You know Draco won’t be able to control himself if he sees Ryland now.”

What Saber said was true.  At least Chadwick hoped it was.  He gave his mate a slight shrug as he continued to nibble along the column of his throat until he got to the mating mark Chadwick had made.  He smiled when he felt Saber shiver as he licked the puckered scar.

“True,” he admitted.  “But I don’t think that would have mattered to Ryland.”  Then he scraped his canines across the raised flesh and Saber moaned as his arms tightened around Chadwick.  If he played his cards right, Ryland wouldn’t be the only one about to get fucked.

“But he’s human,” Saber reminded him even as he slid one hand into the back of Chadwick’s pants and traced his crack with a finger.  “Draco might hurt him.”  Just as he said that, Saber found Chadwick’s hole and sank in to the first knuckle, causing Chadwick to groan and push back.

It was getting hard to think, but Chadwick managed to say, “I don’t think he will. Fate put them together, after all. And as much as I might have fought her at first, I have to admit she is never wrong.”

Strong lips sealed over his while Saber’s other hand wrapped around his waist and picked him up.  His mate walked them to the nearest counter and pushed him against it.  When they came up for air, Saber smiled down at him.  “I love you too, my pretty kitty.”

Chadwick gave him a mock scowl for the endearment even though he secretly loved it.  If anyone would have told him as he and his friends ran from their former pack to create their own pack that he would find his mate and actually turn to goo whenever Saber called him kitty, or kitten, Chadwick would have killed the person who dared to utter those words with no regrets.

“Then prove it,” he challenged his mate as Chadwick yanked his shirt over his head.  “Fuck me until I’m screaming your name so everyone here knows exactly who I belong to.”

Thankfully, fate had a way of giving a person whom they needed, for Saber did exactly what Chadwick asked.