It’s a boy…
Samuel struggled to stay still in his seat. Next to him, Cal fidgeted, too. He reached out and took his mate’s hand, almost more for himself than to comfort Cal. They sat in Deacon’s office, awaiting the news that could change their lives forever.
Deacon finally arrived. “Sorry to keep you two waiting. I had a last minute call to check in on someone.” He took his seat behind the desk and pulled a file out from under a few others. “We checked the boy’s DNA, as you requested—and we got some answers.”
Samuel could feel Cal tensing beside him.
“He is yours.”
Samuel’s world felt as if it were spinning. His head felt light, his stomach in knots. “What does this mean?”
“Nothing, at the moment,” Deacon said. “I called him in here to have a little talk with him—with me and Drake. We both tried to read him and sneak into his mind. Neither one of us could. His mind was a steel trap.”
“Did he give you any information?” Cal asked.
“He’s incredibly intelligent. If we tested him, I’m sure he’d score off the charts. He acts more like a fifty-year-old versus a five-year-old. He knew you were his father.”
“How?” Cal asked.
“Your scent, according to him.” Deacon answered.
“Did he react in any way?” Samuel asked.
“Nope. The boy is cool as a cucumber.” Deacon chuckled. “Although, he did flinch—almost imperceptibly—when I asked if he knew of Lore’s plans to harm us.”
“What does that mean?” Samuel asked.
“I think he knows something. Problem is, we’re not cracking that nut. I had Drake follow him around the last couple of days, and the boy spoke to none of the other children, unless forced to. He spoke to none of the guards, unless forced to. He’s a puzzle, this one.”
“Let’s bring him home with us,” Samuel said.
Both men turned and looked at him like he was nuts.
“He’s spent a lifetime in places like this—cold, solitary prisons. A home would throw him off guard and maybe it could cause a break in his façade.” Samuel looked at them both. “If our men are in danger, we need whatever he knows.”
“I hate to say this, but Samuel might have a point,” Deacon said.
“I’m not putting you in danger,” Cal said to Samuel, shaking his head. “No. Not happening.”
“We can show him the love he never got in that lab. Maybe it’ll bring down his walls and we can find out what they did to him there,” Samuel said.
Cal frowned. “I’m supposed to show love to a ticking time bomb?”
“You’re supposed to show love to your son. Maybe it will diffuse that bomb before it hurts anyone,” Samuel said.
“I still don’t like the idea of you getting caught up in this,” Cal said. “You’re not a shifter… nor is Dario. We have to consider him, too. You’d both be in danger.”
“Dario and I are elementals. We’re strong enough to protect ourselves from a child, even if it’s one grown on super octane.” Samuel said. “And you’re a mega-shifter. You’ll be there to protect us.”
“Mega-shifters?” Deacon asked, a brow rising. “Is that their new name?”
“Better than calling them monsters,” Samuel spat. He glanced around the room. “Who wants to be saddled with that title?”
Samuel turned and saw Cal still didn’t look completely convinced. He slid his hand through Cal’s. Cal clenched Samuel’s fingers tightly and turned his stare.
Deacon rose from his desk. “I’m going to give you two a moment to talk this over.”
After the man exited his office, Samuel turned to Cal. “He’s your son. Your family—which means he’s my family. We bring him home. We give him love. We show him we care. We give him reasons not to want to hurt us.”
Cal met Samuel’s stare. “I can’t ask you to do this.”
“You can’t not ask me to do this.” Samuel leaned closer. “I love you. He’s a piece of you and deserves some of that love, too.”
“I know this isn’t the child I’d hoped we’d have.” Cal looked completely gutted. He’d wanted a child with Samuel, a piece of both of them made flesh. Samuel knew that, but this was what they had.
“We take what we’re given and we make the best of it, Cal. Neither of us have had an easy life—nor has this boy. Together, maybe we can make it better for him.”
“I don’t deserve you,” Cal whispered before kissing his mate.
Samuel smiled as Cal raised his head. “You did make a good catch.”
Cal chuckled before kissing Samuel again. “I love you, too, you know. More than you could ever know.”
“Oh, I know,” Samuel said as he ran his palm over Cal’s cheek. “I know.”
A little while later, Deacon returned and they let them know their decision. Afterwards, they left to go make one of the guest bedrooms into one for a little boy.
Their little boy.
* * * *
Date Two, Take Two…
Gator stared across the table for a brief second. Dario met his stare and quickly looked away. The last time they’d been in the same spot, the conversation had freely flowed. He’d felt comfortable, and the night had been easy. The time round, things had changed dramatically. The silence between them was awkward. The conversation felt forced.
And he was nowhere near feeling comfortable.
A glance across the table told him Dario didn’t either.
Their food arrived. Luckily they had a different server than their last night in the restaurant. If it had been the same one, Gator imagined even he might have sensed the awkward air surrounding them.
Dario picked up his fork and pushed a few things around before lifting his head. “What’s going on?”
Gator shrugged. “I don’t know.”
“Last time was amazing.”
“It was.”
“Are you still mad at me about last night?”
Gator was apprehensive after last night, but not mad. “No. I wasn’t mad last night.”
“You seemed mad.”
“Disappointed,” Gator admitted.
“I told you I didn’t mean to miss our date.”
Gator nodded.
“Yet… we can’t seem to get past it. And I think I know why.”
Gator met Dario’s stare. “Oh?”
“You’re hiding something.”
Gator sat up a little straighter. There was a lot he hadn’t shared with Dario, but that didn’t mean he was necessarily hiding anything. He just hadn’t gotten round to it yet.
“There’s something between you and Jaeger,” Dario continued. “Me working with him bothered you. Why? It wasn’t just this mate thing, was it?”
Gator sighed and pushed his food away slightly. He leaned onto the edge of the table. “I met Jaeger right after he arrived here. He came on to me at the clinic, while I was on duty.”
“Okay.”
“I turned him down—but I felt an attraction to him. A strong one.”
Dario put his fork down. “Am I the one who should be worried you’d rather be with Jaeger?”
“No,” Gator said. “I turned him down because I was more interested in you. But everywhere I’ve turned the last couple of weeks—he’s just been there. Around every corner. And now—he was with you.”
Dario was quiet a moment. “How does it feel? This attraction you feel for him?”
“I didn’t want to spend the night talking about Jaeger.”
“I know, but I feel one, too. An attraction to him. I don’t understand it.”
Gator leaned forward a little more. “If I was a swamp bug and he was a bug zapper—that’s the pull I feel. Like I can’t stop myself from trying to get too close, even though I know it’s dangerous.”
“Dangerous?” Dario asked him.
Gator scrubbed a hand over his face. “I don’t think Jaeger realizes I used to be a part of Project Zed.” He winced, remembering the sight of the dragon’s back. “I don’t know that he could forgive that. I was his enemy.”
“And now you fight on this side.” Dario paused. “I’d almost forgotten you were a part of them,” Dario murmured. “Were you one of the ones…?” Dario paused again, frowning.
“One of the ones who burned him? Hell, no.”
“Good,” Dario said, his voice low. “That, he might not have forgiven.”
“I never came anywhere near the dragons. They were kept in a special part of the prison, after a pair of them supposedly broke out a time or two. There was a special team that handled their food delivery and any transport, guys who were trained to handle what dragons could do.”
“What dragons can do?”
“Some of them can read minds. Make you hallucinate. Talk you into things you wouldn’t ever do. Depends on the breed, from what I’ve been told. The guys on that team—they’d been specially trained to close off their minds to the dragons. I heard one slipped once and nearly put a bullet in his own head. Don’t know if it was true or not.”
“So, what we’re feeling could be something Jaeger is planting in our heads?” Dario asked. “He could be making us think we’re attracted to him and we’re not.”
“I suppose there’s a chance—but my gut tells me differently.”
Dario grew silent.
Gator picked up his fork and played with his food a bit, but had completely lost his appetite.
“I’m not out with him, though. I wanted to spend tonight with you. I feel safe with you, Gator.”
Gator lifted his stare and met Dario’s. “I’m happy to hear that. I want you to feel safe with me.”
Dario reached across the table and took Gator’s hand. “Forget about him tonight. It’s you and me here. I want to get back some of that magic from the other night. Can we do that?”
Gator laced his fingers through Dario’s and smiled. “Yeah. We can do that.”
Dario pushed Gator’s plate closer with his free hand. “I know Cajun boys have an appetite, so dig in before that gets cold.”
Gator chuckled. “Alrightie then.”
And in a matter of minutes, a terrible date turned out to be pretty damned terrific.
* * * *
A kiss goodnight…
By the end of the night, Dario was once again captivated by Gator. The man was sexy as sin and made him laugh until his ribs hurt. Once they’d gotten the bad juju—as Gator later called it—out of the way, the date had been smooth sailing.
When Gator pulled the Jeep up to the farmhouse, Dario didn’t want the night to end. Yet he wasn’t really sure he was ready for what might come next, either.
“Can I kiss you goodnight?” Gator asked after turning off the engine and turning to face him.
“I thought you’d never ask.”
Gator smiled before leaning over and pressing his lips to Dario’s. Dario melted into the man, drawing in the scent of clean, fresh man and aftershave. Gator tasted of their dinner and something that was wholly Gator.
A hand slid up Dario’s shoulder…on up his neck… until Gator loosely held the back of his head and drove the kiss deeper. Before long, they were feeding from one another’s lips, hungry for more. When they broke apart, both of them gasping for air, Dario had to smile.
“What’s so funny?”
“This isn’t how I thought tonight was going to end.”
Gator rested his head on the seat. “Me either. I wasn’t sure what to expect after last night. I was sure you were going to kick me to the curb.”
“Is that why you were so quiet?”
“I didn’t want to get my hopes up only to lose you to Jaeger.” Gator tapped his fingers on the steering wheel. “Still might happen, though.”
“Would it be so weird to be in love with two men?” Before the time he’d spent with Jaeger, he’d thought it impossible. Now, he felt his heart swelling enough to want them both.
“I don’t think I’m a ménage a trois kind of guy.”
“Why not?” Dario asked. “Have you ever tried it?”
“No,” Gator answered. “I’ve never been all that good at sharing what I see as mine.”
Mine. There was that word again. “Jaeger called me that, and I didn’t care for it so much.”
Gator frowned. “Oh… I didn’t mean it like that.”
“I don’t belong to anyone.”
“I didn’t mean you did. I just meant that I’ve always seen myself as a one on one kind of guy. When I’m in a relationship, I’m with one person and they’re with me.”
“Are we in a relationship? I mean, this is only our second date,” Dario said, a hint of humor to his voice.
“After all the foreplay we’ve been involved in these last few months?” Gator asked with a grin. “I don’t get any special compensation for my intestinal fortitude?”
Dario laughed. “I suppose this has been heading here for some time.”
“Here? Where’s here?” Gator asked in all seriousness.
“I don’t know.”
Gator sighed.
“But I want to figure out where here is. With you,” Dario added.
Gator smiled. “Me, too.”
Dario leaned across the seat and pressed a kiss to Gator’s lips. “I should get inside.”
“Okay,” Gator said before capturing one more kiss. “Can I see you again?”
“I think we both know the answer to that one,” Dario said.
“I’ll stop by on my way home from work tomorrow evening, if that’s okay?”
Dario nodded. “It’s okay.”
“Good,” Gator said before revving up the engine.
Dario raced up the steps, shivering in the cold mountain air. He turned to give a wave to Gator—and noticed he was headed for the base and not home.
Where’s he going?
* * * *
Truth or dare…
Gator knocked on the semi-opened door.
“Come in, Gator.”
Gator slowly slid the door open and peeked inside. “How did you know it was me?”
“I smelled that same cologne last night,” Jaeger said as he lounged on the hospital bed. He glanced at a cell phone on his tray table. “Only ten-thirty. Did the date not go well?”
“It started off a little awkward, but we moved past it and had a good time.”
“So why are you here and not there?”
“You were the topic of conversation tonight.”
Jaeger met his stare. “Should I be worried?”
“I don’t know. Maybe,” Gator said as he sat in one of the visitor’s chairs.
Silence fell between them for a moment.
“Go ahead and ask your questions,” Jaeger announced. “I can sense your need to ask all the way over here.”
“Is Dario your mate?”
Jaeger nodded. “Yes.”
“Am I your mate?”
Jaeger’s eyes began to glow. “Maybe.”
“I want solid answers. Not this maybe shit.”
“Dragons don’t have more than one mate—or so I thought. Until I met Deacon, I’d never met a dragon with two.”
“So it’s possible.”
“Apparently.”
Gator rose to his feet and walked closer to the bed. “There’s something I need to tell you.”
“I’m all ears.”
Gator took a deep breath, trying to get the courage to own up to who he’d been—what he’d done. Under the guise of Zed, he’d done things he now regretted. Things he’d been ordered to do by Lore.
He kept reminding himself that his CO Cutler had been forgiven by Cyprian, one of the freed shifters—but their story had been a little different. Cutler had purposefully and willfully ignored and disobeyed orders, just to try to protect Cyprian.
Gator hadn’t been anywhere near as heroic.
“Are you going to tell me?” Jaeger asked, looking a little concerned.
“I… uh… I… I kissed Dario tonight. And told him how I felt.”
Jaeger rose from the bed and stood before Gator. The man towered over Gator’s six feet. “Trying to make me feel jealous?”
No. I chickened out, and it was the first thing that sprung into my mind. “I just thought you should know that we care about one another. And I won’t give him up without a fight.”
Jaeger chuckled, moving a little closer. “I didn’t plan on asking you to give him up.”
Gator felt ridiculous standing there, making an argument over nothing in his attempt to cover up his past. “Oh.”
Before Gator realized it, Jaeger swept in and captured his lips. The kiss blossomed into one just as heated as the one he’d shared with Dario. Hunger filled him. The need was so great, he nearly moaned aloud.
Jaeger pulled his head back. “Now you’ve been kissed by two men tonight. Maybe next time, we can all be in the same room.”
Gator backed away from Jaeger. “I’ve got work early tomorrow. I need to go.”
He rushed from the room, the need still burning. But he had no right to feel it. Not after what he’d done.
He’ll never forgive me.