"Hi, Dylan. Come on in," Fionn called. The baby was cradled in his arms, tucked up close to his chest with a blanket covering her. She was making a rhythmic sucking sound, and it took a moment for Dylan to realize that she was feeding. He blushed and looked away. "Do you want me to go?"
"No, come sit down. She feeds better when it's dark and quiet, so we'll just keep our voices down."
Dylan took a seat next to him.
"Cal has told us a lot about you. All good things," he added, when a frown crossed Dylan's face. "And some sad. I'm sorry about what happened to your mother. I lost my mother the same way, in childbirth with me."
"I didn't even know until a few days ago."
"I think maybe that's easier. It's hard to grow up knowing something like that, you feel responsible somehow. We have something else in common."
"Magic," Dylan guessed.
"That's right."
"Was your mother Wiccan?"
Fionn shook his head, rubbing a soothing hand across the baby's back when she stirred.
"No, both my parents were werewolves. I got my magic from a different person, and not someone I would recommend. I was cursed by some bad Wiccans, like those two men you met. They cursed me in revenge for something terrible my brother did."
"So your magic is a curse?"
"It was. I had symbols carved into my skin that burned me constantly. But I met Thane, and he rescued me and brought me to Leona. She was able to change the symbols and make the magic a part of me. And now it completes me."
"You don't wish you didn't have it?"
Dylan just wanted to be a normal, boring human. Someone his grandfather could love.
"Without it I wouldn't have Thane, and I wouldn't have this little bundle. So, no. I don't wish I didn't have it, though it can be a burden at times. And I suspect raising a magical child will be a challenge in itself."
"She's magic, too?"
"Yes, you can probably feel it. Touch the top of her head."
Dylan wasn't sure he wanted to, but Fionn's expression so was open and eager. He reached out slowly, letting the tops of his fingers just skim the baby's soft head. A sensation like pins and needles spread along his fingers and up his arm. He jerked back, eyeing her with alarm.
"Hey, it's okay," Fionn said soothingly, cradling her a little closer. "She has a lot of power. It turns out I've been pouring all my magic into her during the pregnancy or she's been draining it. Either way, she's a little bundle of power.
"She's so small."
"But she'll grow, every day. And probably fast too, which is why she's eating so much."
She stopped feeding and he shifted her onto his shoulder, rubbing a hand up and down her back. Dylan watched him with fascination, trying to work out what he was doing. "Babies swallow a lot of air when they eat, I'm trying to get it up."
The baby burped and spit up milk all over Fionn's shoulder.
Fionn sighed. "No one tells you how messy these bundles of joy are. Could you hold her for a minute while I get changed?"
Dylan didn't have a chance to answer before Fionn was carefully placing her into his arms.
"That's the way. Put your arm like this to support her head, she's too little to do that herself just yet."
And then he was gone, and Dylan was left with a tiny, squirming baby. Almost as soon as Fionn stepped out, her face scrunched up and she started to cry.
He looked up, hoping Fionn would return, but he didn't.
"Shhh, don't be upset," he tried. "Fionn will be back in a minute." His words didn't seem to help so he tried rocking her. That didn't help either. He was at a loss, but it pained him to hear her distress.
Cradling her close with one arm, he freed the other and tried rubbing circles across her tummy like he'd seen Fionn do on her back.
That only seemed to make things worse, her crying became louder, her knees drawing upward. Her magic pushed against him, and he had a sudden sense of what was wrong. Holding his hand above her, he rubbed the fingers of his hands together like they were kindling, and he was trying to spark a flame. A faint glow started at the tips of his fingers and grew slowly. He lay them on her forehead, taking slow, deep breaths and concentrating. Her cries silenced, her body relaxing as her eyes opened and stared up at him.
"What are you doing?"
He looked up to see Cal and Thane standing in the doorway. Thane went to move forward, his face like thunder, but Cal's arm stopped him.
"Dylan, what is that?"
"It was the magic. She doesn't have enough. She's hungry for it, but she doesn't know how to get it and it's hurting her. That's why she's crying. I'm giving it to her, just a little at a time."
Fionn returned and Cal got Dylan to explain it again.
"That makes a lot of sense. I keep thinking she's hungry but she stops feeding after only a few minutes. She is hungry, just not for food."
Thane insisted on getting Leona while Dylan happily handed her back over to Fionn. Cal sat down next to him, squeezing his hands tightly.
"I wasn't trying to hurt her, but I couldn't stand to see her in pain like that, not when I knew how to help her."
"You did the right thing, Dylan. It's just we're all new to this and new to you. Don't worry, we'll soon get the hang of it."
Leona arrived, quickly pronouncing the baby fine. She seemed unsure about Dylan's assertion that the baby needed more magic but agreed that they'd watch for signs of it over the next few days and if so, Fionn should be able to provide it.
Once Dylan had joined Fionn, Cal found he wasn't quite sure how to begin his conversation with Thane.
"It's about Dylan."
"What about him?" Thane asked.
"I guess I'm wondering, now that we know he is a shifter, if he could be an Omega."
"Has he ever been in heat?"
"Given he's suppressed any hint of anything not human since the age of four, I'm almost certain the answer to that is no."
"There's no sense from him that he is Omega. Usually, you can tell."
"Have you ever met a tiger shifter?"
"Once, as a child, with Father."
"Do they even have Omegas?"
"I don't know, Cal. I wish I had answers for you, really I do. The truth is, Dylan might be an Omega, but he just as easily might not be. The only thing to do is wait and see. But if he isn't showing any signs of it now, I wouldn't expect too much."
Cal nodded, sitting back in his chair.
"It's just… we've gone from one extreme to the other, from stick in the mud human to rare shifter with Wiccan magic in the mix. The only other example we have is Fionn and his is far from a natural occurrence."
"Another set of unknowns. But perhaps it's like Leona said. This is just the next step, the next stage for fighting off the darkness and binding it for good."
"And the people who put this plan into place couldn't have written us a roadmap?"
"Not their style," Thane replied wryly.
"Cloak and dagger mystery, that's their style," Cal groused.
"But look on the bright side. You've found your mate, and he seemed besotted with you. He's barely taken his eyes off you."
"I'm only the second person he's ever met in his entire life. And the first locked him in a cellar for ten months of his childhood. That's not saying a lot, Thane."
"But it's something, Cal."
Dylan settled into the house over the next few days, learning the layout, and getting used to being around so many other people. He rarely left Cal's side, and Cal tried to fill his day with well-spaced activities to keep his mind occupied without tiring him out. They did more archery practice, a nice excuse to get up close and personal again. And Cal took him swimming in the river. Though it was more like paddling at first, as Dylan didn't know how to swim.
They were sitting on the river bank three days later, dangling their feet in the water, when Dylan asked an unexpected question.
"Do you think my father's still out there somewhere?"
; "Shifters live long lives so probably, yes."
"Do you think we'd be able to find him?"
Cal considered the question. "If he is still in my territory, then possibly. Searching outside the territory is a trickier prospect. We'd need permission from other bears, other Packs."
"Is there anywhere in your territory he could be?"
There was one place, remote and difficult to access so avoided by most because of that.
"There are mountains right up north, just at the edge of the territory. There are stories going years back about a large cat shifter being spotted there. If he was anywhere, that would be my guess."
"Do you think we could go there and look for him? I can't stop thinking about him, about what Shay told him. He has spent twenty years thinking I'm dead when I'm not. That look on his face when he walked away."
By rights, Dylan shouldn't know what that looked like, what that felt like, but magic meant you took everything—the bad and the good.
"It would be a long journey. The round trip would probably take a month or two."
"But we can go?"
"If that's what you want. I'd like you to spend more time here, build your strength up, talk with Leona. But once she is happy for you to go, then we can leave as soon as we're ready."
Chapter Twenty One
Ten days later, they were waving goodbye to Fionn, Thane, baby Annabel, and Leona, and heading northwest. They each carried backpacks, and Cal had his bow and arrow.
"We'll be walking through forest for the first few days. There are two bigger rivers to cross. And then a few hours crossing through open fields before we hit forest again. We'll be passing near a few towns, if you'd like to visit."
Dylan shook his head at that. Towns didn't sound like fun. Lots of people, lots of cars, lots of noise.
The first day was uneventful. They stopped to eat close to midday, sitting with their backs against tree trunks.
Dylan's thoughts wouldn't sit still. They flittered from place to place, person to person.
"Do you want to talk about it?" Cal asked.
"I don't even know what 'it' is," he replied, kicking his heel against the ground in frustration. "I feel… I feel so trapped, like I'm locked in my room or the cellar. But I'm not."
Cal moved to sit cross-legged in front of him.
"You're restless. You have been since you woke. It's all the excess energy you have. Before, you're magic was all being spent suppressing your shifter side. Now that it's not, the two sides of you are constantly vying for your attention."
"So what do I do?" he asked, leaning his head back and arching his back.
"They're like muscles. If you don't stretch them out and use them, they get sore, cramped and stiff. You need to do the exercises Leona taught you. And you need to change form."
He'd been reluctant to do either. Years of suppressing them, consciously or unconsciously, meant he was frightened to just let them go. It was different with Fionn's child. He'd known he wouldn't hurt her. But what if he hurt Cal?
"I… I don't think I can do that."
"I can help."
"No." It came out louder than he'd meant. "What if I hurt you?"
Cal reached forward, taking Dylan's hands in his.
"I'm very hard to hurt, and I heal quickly. That's not something you need to worry about."
"But I do worry about it. You're all I have now."
To his dismay, a few tears leaked out. He pulled his hand from Cal's grip and scrubbed them away.
"I'm not all you have. You're part of the family now. You have Thane, Fionn, Orion, and Leona."
"If I hurt you, they wouldn't forgive me."
"You're not going to hurt me, Dylan. I'd like to see you try."
Dylan looked up to see the hint of a challenge in Cal's eyes. He tried to look away, but Cal's hand was under his chin, gently directing his gaze back toward him.
"We'll take it slow, but you need to do this. First things first, those exercises Leona taught you. It's all about focusing energy to your hands, remember? Just like you did with Annabel."
Dylan could see Cal wasn't going to let this go. He could feel the energy itching beneath his skin. It wanted out, wanted a release.
"Fine." He bent his knees and mirrored Cal's posture, sitting cross-legged opposite him. He let his hands rest on his knees and focused on his breathing like Leona had taught him. Every time he exhaled, he imagined drawing energy to his hands. Again and again he did it, feeling Cal's warm presence next to him.
His hands began to tingle and glow, lighting up the clearing they were sitting in.
"That's it. Now you have to release it. Slowly. Like you're blowing away a cobweb."
Dylan lifted his hands into the air and let go, watching the energy drift harmlessly away into the air, like a little swarm of fireflies tumbling over one another.
He sank back against the tree trunk, watching them fade slowly away into nothing.
Cal's hands pressed against his knees, warm and firm.
"Well done. Leona would be proud."
His hands slipped lower, down along Dylan's thighs as he leaned in. It was too much to resist, and Dylan pressed forward, wrapping an arm around Cal and pushing his cheek against the bear's. Cal's hands had slid to his hips, and it felt right. Holding him, being held.
And then Cal's hands were lifting him, and he was lying flat on his back in the center of the clearing, watching a patch of blue sky above them between the trees.
Then Cal was straddling him, leaning over him and blocking out the light. Dylan reached for him, tugging him down so they were face to face. Cal ran a hand through Dylan's hair, then cupped his cheek and before Dylan knew it, they were kissing. Cal's lips were just like he remembered, soft and strong and insistent where they pressed against him. Dylan parted his lips and let Cal taste him, swallowing the Alpha's groan of pleasure.
Shyly, Dylan reached for Cal's shirt. He wanted, no needed, to see more of him. He'd fantasized about running his hands across Cal's broad chest, feeling his strength and warmth beneath his hands.
Cal caught on, sitting up and drawing his shirt off over his head.
"Is that better?" he asked.
Dylan nodded, biting his lip. Cal's skin had a healthy tan that spoke of long days in the sun. His muscles stood out, and Dylan used his hand to trace each one.
"Do you… know much about anatomy?" Cal asked. It seemed like such an odd question that Dylan could only shake his head.
"Then, perhaps a lesson," Cal said, with a grin that told Dylan this wasn't a typical learning opportunity.
He took Dylan's hand in his and brought it to the top of his chest, tracing Dylan's fingers along his collarbone.
"This is the clavicle or collar bone. And below it are the pectoral muscles or pecs."
He guided Dylan's hand lower and across the expanse of muscle.
"And these are the nipples." He let go of Dylan's hand for a moment, and Dylan let his fingers play across the small nubs, wondering at their tiny perfection. Cal took in a few sharp breaths as he did. "Does that… feel good?" he asked.
Cal nodded, his hands closing over Dylan's again and directing it lower, across the defined row of muscles across his abdomen.
"These are the abs. The abdominal muscles. They're actually groups of muscles all working together."
Dylan stroked his hand across them, feeling their firmness beneath his palm.
He brought his second hand up and started from the top again, exploring every inch of skin he could reach.
"Pecs," he mumbled, letting his hands skim over Cal's nipples again, liking how Cal's body reacted to his touch. Then he slid his hands lower, fingers tracing Cal's bellybutton over and over. He slid his hands lower to rest just over the waistband of Cal's pants.
Cal smiled down at him, his hands closing over Dylan's, but instead of downward where the source of Dylan's curiosity lay, he drew them sideways to rest on his hips.
"I think that's enough of a lesson for toda
y, don't you?"
Dylan didn't agree, his body hot and bothered beneath Cal.
"Just a few more minutes?" he begged.
Cal hummed, then shifted down Dylan's body, reaching for his t-shirt and drawing it upward.
It seemed to Dylan that Cal was playing a little trick on him as his shirt covered his head, and he couldn't see what the Alpha was doing.
It took him a minute to realize that was the point as he felt Cal's mouth on him, pressing a kiss to his stomach, and another. Cal's lips were warm where they pressed against him, his breath hot as it brushed across Dylan's skin. Then Cal's tongue flicked out, the sensation a strange, warm, wet heat. Dylan could feel himself panting, the muscles of his stomach contracting as Cal's skillful mouth played across him. Then he felt Cal shift upward, his groin pressed against Dylan's as he leaned in, his nose nudging Dylan's chest. That was all the warning he had before Cal's mouth descended on his nipple, licking and nudging against the skin. Cal's knees pressed hard against his hips, his groin grinding against Dylan. Then his mouth closed over Dylan's nipple and sucked.
White, hot heat spread like a fire across Dylan's body, a surge of pleasure following it. His whole body lifted into the air, his skin and muscles rippling, his head and limbs thrown back as wave after wave of ecstasy racked him.
They landed with a soft thump on the ground and Dylan watched, a little detached, as the ripples within him faded to nothing. Cal was lying still against him, but Dylan could feel the rise and fall of his chest where they were pressed together. Using one hand to pull the shirt from his face, he peered down anxiously at his mate.
"Cal?"
Cal sat up slowly, lifting his face toward him, his pupils wide.
"That was… how did you do that?"
"Do what?"
"Well, I don't know about you, Dylan, but I just had the best orgasm of my entire life."
As Cal spoke, Dylan realized he was wet and sticky in a way he'd never been before.
Cal raised his eyebrows. "I guess you do know what I'm talking about."
He stood on shaky legs and helped Dylan to his feet. Dylan's legs were even shakier, and he found himself leaning gratefully against Cal's broad frame.
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