by Liv Rider
“Americano for me, thanks,” Dev said.
Aidan picked a drink off the menu on the basis that it was exactly what his ten-year-old self would’ve liked. “Chocolate peanut butter milkshake,” he said firmly. Hopefully adult-human Aidan still had the same tastebuds.
Then he worried about what impression that might give Dev. This place was weird, yes, but it had the unmistakable vibe of somewhere cool, and chocolate milkshakes didn’t sound very sophisticated compared to whatever kind of drink Dev had ordered. Americano was coffee, right? Dev was so good at all this urbane human stuff, and the least Aidan could do was try not to paint a big sign saying Amateur Human Needs Help on himself at every opportunity.
But Dev didn’t seem like he’d even noticed Aidan’s order. He was frowning around the café. It didn’t take Aidan long to figure out why. People were staring. Again, the stares were for Dev rather than Aidan. The expressions ran from surprised to hostile—exactly the kind of reaction Aidan had expected a werewolf to get.
Wait. Aidan ran a hand through his hair and stopped over one of his ears. His black and blue hair. His pointed ears. Did everyone here think he was fae?
The idea bothered him. “So,” he said, as much to distract himself as Dev, “I’m taking it that wasn’t your cousin?”
Dev pulled his glower away from a staring competition with a trio of sour-faced fae males in a booth. “Trix? Nah, she’s just worked here ever since I can remember. My cousin isn’t on the floor right now. Ryo’s hard to miss.”
He told Aidan more about the vast number of dryad cousins he’d inherited when his mom married his stepdad, who he casually called ‘my dad.’ Aidan remembered the careful way he’d referred to ‘my biological father’ before, as if he were trying to put as much distance between himself and the man who’d given him werewolf genes.
Aidan wanted to ask him more about his werewolf father but didn’t think he could, not here with fae ears listening in on their conversation. The low burble of water from the fountain gave the room a background white noise, but most supernaturals had sharp enough hearing that it wouldn’t matter if anyone wanted to eavesdrop.
Their drinks arrived, and Aidan took a sip of his milkshake. “Jesus, Mary, and Joseph.” He took another, longer sip. Ten-year-old Aidan hadn’t led him astray: chocolate remained abso-fucking-lutely fantastic. He closed his eyes and moaned. Was this the best milkshake he’d ever had, or had the taste just dimmed in his memories? He decided he didn’t care, because the main thing was that there was a whole glass of it right here in front of him and he was going to drink all of it.
When he looked up, Dev’s pupils had dilated, and heat scorched across the Cheshire cat’s face between them.
“Chocolate is amazing,” Aidan told him sheepishly. “Amazing. Wolves can’t eat chocolate.”
Dev swallowed. “I…can see that.” His voice had dropped an octave, and desire jerked through Aidan so hard and fast he felt dizzy. He put the glass down, wondering why he’d bought such tight new jeans in the first place.
Shifting in his seat, he fished about for a subject that wouldn’t kill him with excessive blood flow before they even got to eat. “Um. So, that model village in your office—which you clearly had no hand in designing, having seen this morning’s artistic efforts—what was that?”
Dev sat back, his eyes still hot and dark. “That’s Morimoto Enterprises’s latest development proposal, Leafling Heights. Affordable housing eco-village. Biggest property we’ve ever done in one go.” He began to tell Aidan about it.
It was interesting, but more interesting was watching the way Dev’s eyes lit up as he talked about stormwater design, green space, and walkability. He made it all sound much simpler than Aidan suspected it really was. “We’ve got construction companies tendering for the work at the moment,” Dev finished. He grimaced. “That’s what I need to look through when we get back. I said we’d choose our preferred contractor early next week. I need to narrow down the shortlist asap so I can start going through them with a fine-toothed comb. The wrong contractor can wreck a project.”
Lunch arrived, but Aidan barely tasted it. How could he possibly be the mate Dev needed? Dev was out there designing multi-million dollar environmentally friendly housing projects, and Aidan was still figuring out the finer points of hand-eye coordination. And how is he going to do that while he’s stuck at the end of a hundred-foot leash attached to me? That horrible, familiar fear of being a burden roiled in his stomach.
A crease formed between Dev’s brows as he looked at Aidan. He said, gently, “Tell me about Wolf Club.”
Aidan nearly fell out of his chair. One, Dev voluntarily bringing up the subject and, two, here of all places? “Uh, what do you want to know?”
“What is it, exactly?”
Aidan shrugged. “Sabas thought it would be good to make sure the pups were learning the more specialized wolf skills. I mean, there’s already training sessions for once they’re older, but the younger pups were kind of being left to their parents and the teaching was a bit inconsistent. Plus it’s good for them to spend regular time in wolf form, with their packmates.”
“And it’s just you who runs it?”
“Yeah. Although I rope in others as involuntary volunteers as I need them. I made Mahon help me with the basic-defense-moves session.” He grinned, a little smugly. “The bigger they are, the harder they fall.”
He thought Dev would change the subject, but instead he kept asking about it, as if he was genuinely interested, until Aidan forgot that they were sitting in the middle of fae territory, talking about wolves.
Chapter 19
They left CaFae. “Okay, I take it back. That place was maybe worth starting a war over,” Aidan said as they stepped out onto the sidewalk, rubbing his stomach with a groan. The slanting afternoon sun warmed the chill air around them.
Dev took his hand, glad they’d come despite the sour looks from some of the patrons. Having Aidan with him here on familiar territory felt right. He was sorry he hadn’t gotten a chance to introduce him to his cousin Ryo, even though he wasn’t sure exactly what he’d have introduced him as. It would be a disaster if word got back to his mom that he was dating a wolf before he had the chance to explain things to her first.
But did it really matter what Aidan was? He was Dev’s mate, and that was the important thing, after all, that Aidan was his. They would be mates even after full moon came and went and proved that Dev was still human. Maybe when that happened, Dev would finally be able to relax and stop worrying that he’d ruin this thing between them. If he couldn’t control himself, if he somehow hurt Aidan….
He tugged Aidan into the alleyway beside the café, filled with an urgent need for reassurance. Aidan grinned as Dev steered him up against the wall.
“Why, hello,” he purred, eyes sparkling. He wriggled suggestively, hands running up Dev’s sides. “Fancy meeting you here.”
Dev kissed him, long and deep.
“Hey!” A man’s shout broke them apart. Dev reluctantly stepped back from Aidan and looked around in annoyance.
The three fae males from the café stood at the entrance to the alleyway, their expressions set. The leader’s lip curled in disgust.
“Fuck off,” Dev said easily, as sparks of adrenaline shot through his system.
They didn’t fuck off. They came into the alley like, ironically, a pack of wolves on the hunt. Dev sized them up, his hands curling into loose fists. The leader had bright pink hair and the typical willowy pretty-boy look of high fae, which meant he might also have elemental magic to draw on. Probably not a pureblood though, since his two friends weren’t daoine sidhe, and purebloods didn’t tend to mix with ‘lesser’ fae. Dev wasn’t sure what type of fae pretty-boy’s friends were just on sight, but he recognized muscle when he saw it.
“Ditto.” Aidan shifted to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Dev, and Dev had to resist the urge to shove him behind him.
“You should know better than to let a
dog lick your face,” the leader said to Aidan.
Aidan laughed. There wasn’t any amusement in it. “I’m a fucking werewolf too, guys. I lick who I want.”
That made the trio pause for a beat—and Dev, as he realized what they’d assumed about him. But the trio quickly recovered. “That right? Then you both made a big mistake, coming here. This is fae territory.”
Aidan held up his hands. “Fine. We’ll go.”
“Yeah, you’ll go. After we teach you a lesson.”
A rock the size of a fist flew through the air out of nowhere and would’ve hit Dev smack in the face if he hadn’t dodged. Instead it caught him a glancing blow on his jaw. He snarled. Looked like pretty-boy had elemental earth magic, then.
They closed in. Dev hadn’t been in a fight for a long time, but some things you didn’t forget. The world went soundless, and instinct overrode thought.
Protect, the beast snarled.
Time broke into fragments.
Fists.
Bone, crunching.
A mini-tornado spinning a trashcan against a wall with a sharp smell of mint—
Okay, that was new.
“The hell is going on here?” A familiar voice, burning with anger.
Sound returned.
The three fae were backing away, the one Dev had hit holding his bleeding nose. Good, Dev thought, taking a step to follow. Make them bleed.
His cousin Ryo stood at the alley entrance, hands on his hips, two of his staff behind him. “Get out,” he said flatly to the three fae. “And don’t come back. Consider yourselves permanently persona non grata at CaFae.”
The trio glowered but sulked off. “Fucking traitor,” the leader spat as they left.
Ryo said something to his staff and they retreated, leaving Dev, Aidan, and Ryo alone in the alley.
Ryo frowned. “The fuck is wrong with your aura, Dev?”
Dev ignored him, whirling, needing to know Aidan was okay in a way that over-rode every other priority. “Aidan? You all right?”
Aidan was panting, blue eyes bright with anger. His lip was bleeding, and he held one of his hands gingerly at his side. “I’m good.”
The sight of the blood woke something red and furious in Dev, and the beast roared in his ears. It would kill them for this.
Aidan straightened and put his uninjured hand on Dev’s shoulder. His other hand hurt like hell, but no way was he admitting that when Dev looked two seconds away from chasing after the fae trio, with only Aidan’s good hand holding him back. He was pretty sure Dev didn’t realize he was growling, low and under his breath. This was the problem with martial dominants—when their protective instincts were riled, they weren’t super rational about it, and Dev wasn’t connected to a pack that would help stabilize that impulse.
“I’m fine,” he repeated, squeezing Dev’s shoulder for emphasis.
The low growl Dev was making subsided, the muscles under Aidan’s hand relaxing a fraction. A look of slow horror was creeping over Dev’s face, as if he’d only just processed his own reaction.
“It’s all right,” Aidan told him. “They’re gone.” He twisted to look at the guy still standing at the head of the alley. “I’m assuming you’re Dev’s cousin?”
The guy frowned at them for a second before holding out a hand. “I’m Ryo.”
“Aidan O’Calleigh.” He released Dev so he could shake the other man’s hand. Aidan now understood what Dev had meant about his cousin being easy to spot. Ryo was Japanese, built like a tree, and had long green hair tied up in a man-bun. He wore a plaid shirt with rolled up sleeves, showing intricate tattoos crawling up both his muscled arms.
“He’s mi—with me.” Dev bristled, as if he expected Ryo to challenge it.
Mine? Aidan mouthed at Dev, warmth curling around his heart.
Ryo’s gaze went curiously to Aidan’s pointed ears, down to his bruised hand, and back to Dev. He held out his hands in a placating gesture. “Chill, cuz. Your aura’s making me dizzy. Come in and I’ll give you some ice for that,” he said over his shoulder as he moved out of the alleyway.
Aidan expected Ryo to pepper Dev with questions, but the dryad said nothing as he took them out the back of the café, into a storage area. He gave off a very strong, silent type vibe.
Aidan sank down on a handy stool while Ryo dug out a bag of frozen peas. Aidan hissed at the cold, wishing the wound would hurry up and heal already. His healing rate wasn’t as fast as a full-blooded werewolf, but it was still pretty damn fast. But he was starting to suspect maybe he’d fractured something, and that was going to take way more than a few minutes to come right. His thumb throbbed in a way that went all the way up his arm.
Ryo’s lips curved as he got out the first-aid kit. “You should teach your boyfriend how to throw a proper punch.” He slid Dev a sideways look as he said it, a half-question in his voice. Aidan wondered exactly what had changed about Dev’s aura and if all dryads could see auras. Could Ryo tell Dev was closer to being a wolf now rather than just a latent?
“I’m just gonna be the bigger man and ignore that insult,” Aidan said, grinning. “And sorry for losing you customers.”
Ryo weighed him up with the kind of slow deliberation Aidan was beginning to think he did everything with. Aidan shifted on his stool, wondering if this was the part where Ryo told him to get the hell out of his café. Certain things he’d heard about dryads were coming back to him, suggesting that picking a fight with one would be a really bad idea. I’m a wolf, he reminded himself, i.e. not afraid of a freaking tree, but there was something intimidatingly solid about Ryo.
“Don’t worry about it,” Ryo said eventually. “Those guys were always assholes. I’m not sorry for the excuse to ban them.” His attention shifted to Dev. “You going to tell me what’s going on with you?”
Dev made a grouchy but negative sound.
“Okay, then.” Ryo handed Dev the first-aid kit. “I’ve got a business to run. I’ll see you at Aunt Arlene’s on Saturday.”
Aidan let out a breath after Ryo left them, feeling wrong-footed. It took him a moment to figure out why.
“You let him think I’m fae,” he said aloud.
“You are fae,” Dev pointed out, frowning at him. He fished out a roll of bandage and scooted another stool over in front of Aidan. “Show me your hand.”
Aidan reluctantly extended his arm, resting the tea-towel-wrapped frozen peas beneath it.
Dev’s frown deepened as he wrapped the injured hand. “I hope I broke that asshole’s goddamn nose,” he growled, but his hands moved with extreme gentleness.
When Dev produced a sling, Aidan baulked. “Oh no. That’s overkill. It’s just a hand, Dev. I’m a werewolf. I heal fast.” If his packmates found out that he’d injured himself because of lame punching technique, he’d never hear the end of it, and you couldn’t exactly hide a sling.
Aidan made a mental vow to be healed by Wolf Club come hell or high water, even if he had to somehow sneak a secret visit to the pack healer. He just hoped this wasn’t big enough to register on Sabas’s spider senses. The Alpha had an uncanny tendency to know if one of his pack was injured.
Dev ignored his protests. “Let me know if it’s too tight or loose.” He got up and arranged the sling around Aidan’s neck. “That angle good?”
“I still think you’re over-reacting.” Aidan grumbled, putting his arm in the sling. Dev hugged him from behind, careful not to jar his arm, and rested his head gently on top of Aidan’s. Aidan could feel his heartbeat against his back, faster than usual but still reassuring.
Dev breathed out, rubbing his cheek on Aidan’s hair. “Next time keep your thumb on the outside of your fist.”
“Next time, I’m just going wolf and biting their asses,” he countered, leaning back against Dev. It was almost worth Dev’s fussing for this, the feeling of security he got as Dev’s warmth seeped into him.
A sharp, electronic sound broke the moment. Dev cursed and stepped away from him, giving his pho
ne a puzzled look before answering it.
“Hello? This is Dev.”
“This is Mahon O’Calleigh. I’m looking for my dumb brother, since he apparently can’t be bothered to call me himself.”
“I was going to call you,” Aidan protested after Dev had handed him the phone. It was awkward, holding it with his left hand.
“I had to hear you were human from Zeke!” Mahon’s anger didn’t disguise the hurt in his voice. “Can you do video?”
“Sorry, no.” No way was he letting Mahon see him with his arm in a sling. Dev being over-protective he could cope with; Aidan would have to shoot his twin if he tried it. And Mahon would try it. Bloody martial dominants.
“I can tell when you’re lying, you know. But never mind—who’s this Dev guy? Zeke said he’s what’s keeping you human?”
“Yeah,” Aidan said uneasily. What else had Zeke said?
“Fuck, man.”
“Yeah.”
Even thousands of miles away, he could feel Mahon’s frustration, knew his twin would be running a hand through his hair. “I wish I could get on a damn plane and come home. You just stay human till I get there, okay? Chain this Dev guy up if you have to. We’ll figure it out.”
Dev’s eyes gleamed and he mimed wearing a pair of handcuffs. Aidan grinned back, though inside he felt hollow at the reminder of how much he needed Dev, of why Dev couldn’t walk away from him even if he wanted to.
“How’s it going with the Triumvirate? You getting any support from the Therian?” The Therian was the shifter representative on the Triumvirate. They were elected every five years and were almost always a werewolf, since wolves outnumbered all the other shifter types. The fae weren’t so democratic, their rulers chosen by bloodline—the fae King of North America had held his position for hundreds of years. Aidan had no idea how the vampires chose their representative, except that whatever system they used meant less frequent changes than the Therian. Supernaturals who weren’t one of the three big factions—vampires, fae, shifters—were flat out of luck when it came to representation, but they still had to abide by the Triumvirate’s laws.
