by J. B. Miller
“How well do you know Hyde Park?”
“Ummm, I’ve been there a few times during the summer but that’s about it. Well," he said, "I just happen to be familiar with a few little hidey holes in the park. I can almost guarantee privacy. When I was a kid, I use to hide there and have never known anyone else to hang out there. What do you say?”
“Sounds like a plan. Lead on, Mr. Lovelace.”
Forty-five minutes later found us in a secluded area of the park away from the hustle and bustle of other park goers. Daniel led us to a bench recessed into the foliage. He seated me before taking the place beside me. Ha, and they say gallantry is dead.
“Now,” he said. “Tell me all about the troubles you’ve been facing. Two heads are better than one usually. Maybe between the both of us we can come up with some answers.”
Hesitantly, I began to tell him everything that had happened over the last couple of weeks. From the night I met him, until today. When I’d finished he leaned back and stretched his arms over his head. He crossed his ankles before settling his hands across his washboard abs.
“That is impressive and I can see why you are so panicked about how quickly everything is happening.”
“Why aren’t you more freaked out about this, Daniel? It can’t be a normal reaction to take everything you’ve learned so calmly.”
“No, I guess it’s not, Dia. I should tell you something about myself before we go any further. It will explain a lot about me.”
“Oh good grief,” I closed my eyes. “Don’t tell me you’re not human either.”
Laughing, Daniel sat up. “Well as far as I understand I’m human. It is just the Fae and Packs are not news to me. None of the things you’ve had to deal with is a surprise.”
“What? How do you know about all this crap?” I asked dumfounded.
“Well, remember I told you I spent the last twelve years in the military? The truth is I’m in a special detail that deals with the Para-natural.”
Blinking at him, I really tried to understand. “You were in some kind of paranormal ops?”
“Am, Dia, I’m still active but taking a back seat for now. The family believes I have finished my tour and come home. The reality is that I’ve been assigned to the home turf for the next several years and it’s a good cover story.
"The government has known about the others for years. In fact, there are countless treaties in place between the races. They police their own, so we need to be involved to make sure the human authorities aren't dragged into something they shouldn't be. There’s also the idiots out there who stumble onto the supernatural world and must be dealt with.”
“What do you mean dealt with?” I was afraid to hear the answer.
“It depends, sweetheart. I wish I could tell you we threaten them and send them on their way. Sometimes it just doesn’t work that way. As much as I wished it did, there are those who will not keep their mouths shut.”
Raising my hand, I shook my head.
“I don’t want to know. Don’t tell me that innocent people are killed because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
“Not always, Dia, most of the times that humans are taken out of the equation are usually when it involves hunters.”
“Are hunters what they sound like?”
“Yeah,” he nodded. "A bunch of ignorant humans who find out there is more in this world than them. They panic the evil devil creatures will take over the world and send us all to hell. So to save our souls they must destroy them.”
“Oh Lord, this is getting worse by the second. What would happen if the church found out about it all?”
Daniel chuckled. “They realize, babes. Probably have a lot longer than any other organization. They keep it concealed and hope for the best. There’s not much you can say when some of the powers that be are Angels.”
“You mean…” I looked at him in wonder.
“Yeah, I’ve met a few in my day. Some are not too bad, others well, imagine the most sanctimonious bastard you can think of and triple it.”
My head was spinning by now and I shook it to try to clear it.
“Daniel, thank you so much for just sitting and talking things through with me. I honestly don’t see how I would have coped if I didn’t have someone I could vent on.”
“Anytime, sweet cheeks,” he pinched said cheeks before carrying on. “At least you discern you’re not crazy. On the plus side, I don’t have to hide my work from you and it’s so good to be honest for once in my life.”
Placing my palm over his rough cheek, I asked him, “Has it been so hard, Daniel? What’s it been like for you?”
“Lonely, so damn lonely, when you’re out in the field with your team it’s not so bad. They grasp the score and we all got each other’s back. Here, it’s a lot harder. The family thinks of me as the prodigal son returned home after serving my country. They want me to settle down, get married and raise a few kids. I can’t do that, Dia. No matter what I want, I am still an active operative.
"I’m known in the other world, been in it for years. It would be almost impossible to keep it a secret from a family. With you, I don't need to worry. You’re a part of that world and I can be honest with you. Nothing that you are facing is going to throw me. I will gladly stand beside you to help face it.”
“And the Ménage thing?” I asked.
A smile crossed his face then, “I don’t have a problem with sharing, baby. And I’m not opposed to a little bi-fun.”
Laughing, I slapped his arm playfully. “I noticed that, a good Catholic boy like you.”
He placed his hands over his heart dramatically. “Yup, you need to keep it a secret, it would break my poor mother’s heart.”
Becoming serious again, I asked him. “What are we going to do? I can’t tell my mum and dad any of it. Dad would drag me home and lock me away if he had a clue about any of this. I’d hate to think what Sean would do.”
“He’d hunt you down and probably beat the shit out of the guy you’re with,” a menacing voice said from behind us.
I turned and saw my brother walking toward us from the path. “Sean, what are you doing here?”
“What do you think, baby girl? I’m looking for you. Imagine my surprise when I run into Annie, and she does everything in her power to get away from me. She tried her best to make excuses why she couldn’t talk to me about anything, especially your sex life. When did you get a sex life, Dia?”
I looked to Daniel quickly before looking back to Sean. "When did you speak to Annie?”
“That would be when I stopped by your work to check on you, since you didn’t bother to show up at mom and dads for Sunday lunch.”
“Oh crap,” I moaned. “I’m so dead.”
“Yes, you are,” replied Sean.
My eyes narrowed on him, pointing a finger straight at his chest. “How did you know where I was to begin with? Daniel and I came here for privacy. No one knew where we were.”
With an annoying shrug, he replied nonchalantly. "Your phone, I put a tracking app on it. I wasn’t taking the chance of anything else happening to you.”
“How did you do that?” I asked appalled. "I've not seen you since I got the new phone.”
He just shook his head. "When you sent me the new number I had it locked to my phone so I could find you when I needed to. From the looks of things, I definitely needed to. Want to tell me who the hell this is?” He glared at Daniel.
Daniel stood in front of me and blocked my view, straightening his shoulders. The laid back friendly giant I had come to care for was gone.
I could almost see Daniel bristling and Sean would be ready to jump him to defend my honor. Daniel bent his head down to me.
“Don’t worry, sexy, I won’t hurt your brother.” Oh, man that was not the right thing to say in front of Sean.
“Look, mister, I don’t know who you think you are but you better back off my sister.”
“Daniel Lovelace,” Daniel cut in to his rant.
“What?” Sean stopped his tirade.
“My name, it’s Daniel Lovelace. Annie’s my cousin and my mum and dad are Mary and John Lovelace.”
Glaring between Daniel and me, Sean’s brow lowered into his thinking face.
“Are you shitting me? Your Annie’s “Cousin Danny”, the one the whole female population of the Lovelace clan has been in matchmaking heaven over?”
Ughhh, I groaned. I looked around Daniel’s arm. “You’ve got to be kidding me. You knew about it too.”
“Well, I’ll be damned,” Sean laughed. “Mum will be over the moon. Mary, Rose, and Mum have been on the phone daily. I never thought it would work, but damn, baby sister has found the one guy in all of England the parentals will approve of.”
Sean took Daniel's hand in a manly shake. "RAF, right?"
“Yeah,” Daniel replied. There was a slightly bemused expression on his face.
“It’s good to meet you man. The family has been on about you for months now.” Nodding toward me, he continued, "Well, everyone but Dia. She hasn’t been around as much and mum wanted to casually introduce you two over the summer.”
He nodded toward me. So good to know they realized I was still there.
“How did you guys meet anyway?" A glance passed between Daniel and me and we silently decided to stick to the truth.
“Annie introduced us. The night of my birthday,” I cringed. “She took me to the club where Daniel works and introduced us. He knew about the set up and told me about it. He was going to let me down easy but…”
“Then I met her,” Daniel cut in. “After that, there was no way I was going to let her slip through my fingers. From the second she said hello, I recognized she was something special. I asked her if I could call her that night.”
I cut back in and told Sean. “We’ve been seeing each other since. Things have gone fast and that was what we were talking about when you showed up. We didn’t think mum and dad would approve, or you for that matter.”
“What do you mean moving fast, how fast?” Sean’s eyes narrowed once more.
My hands landed on my hips and I glared at him. “We’ve had this conversation, big brother. Remember, I am a grown woman and I am allowed a sex life.”
Both Sean and Daniel cringed at that. It was that strict Catholic upbringing rearing its ugly head. “You dare, Sean Patrick Mclearey. Are you trying to tell me you are as pure as the driven snow? That you’ve never been touched or lain with a woman? Hmmm? You dare to preach to me about all that. I have your number, mister. One more word from you and I will be speaking to mum about your track record.”
Looking a little more than hang dogged, Sean turned back to Daniel, reached out an arm, and clapped him on the back. “Welcome to the family, mate.”
Chapter Nineteen
After talking to Sean for another hour and assuring him we would both be at mum and dads next Sunday, we were finally on our own.
Daniel and I decided the best thing to do was to head back to my flat and face the music. There was no way I was going near the university.
We had talked a while longer after Sean had left and concluded the four of us had to sit down and talk through what we expected to happen. The only problem was I had no clue on how to contact either Robin or Kale. I figured that if I went home they would both eventually show up there. I could try to contact Robin through our bond. But I was not sure how it worked.
That is how Daniel and I ended up watching bad B movies on the couch when Robin and Kale showed up. The old woman had just started screaming, “I’ll swallow your soul. I’ll swallow your soul,” when Robin and Kale folded into the flat. I swear I jumped a foot off the couch. I would have gone over the back of it if Daniel had not had such a good hold on me. The popcorn, unfortunately, didn’t survive and was a casualty of my scare.
Both men seemed to be in a much better mood that when I left them. They sauntered over to us where Robin proceeded to pick me up and sit me in his lap. Kale sat on the other side of him and reached across us.
“Hey, you must be Daniel. Nice to meet you, man.” He shook Daniel’s hand and pulled back enough to kiss me.
“Hey, baby, how are you doing? Did you guys have a good night?”
I shook my head in bemusement while I looked closely at Kale. There were several fading bruises across his face but there was also a definite twinkle in his eye.
“Daniel,” I said. “This is Kale. Kale, Daniel.”
“Hey,” Daniel raised his head. “You’re Dia’s wolf mate, right?”
“Yup, that’s me. You know Robin, I hear. The Fae fuck... I mean mate.”
Eyes narrowed, I asked Kale, “Did you two sort out your differences?”
Robin broke into the conversation while nuzzling into my neck. “Indeed, Dianthe, we did. It took a while but we spent some time in the Fae realm and in the end we worked everything out to our satisfaction.”
A ruddy blush spread across Kale’s face but he agreed with Robin. “Yeah, everything is all worked out, baby. No more in-fighting, I promise.”
My body leaned slightly forward and I turned around so I could see them both. “You both worked out your problems in the few hours we’ve been apart?” I replied slowly.
“Well,” drawled Robin, “not exactly. We needed more time than allocated to sort our issues. I took us to the Fae lands and time passes differently there.”
“How different,” I asked.
Daniel started to say something but shook his head and sat back. I think he saw what was coming.
“About three week’s difference, I would guess,” Robin answered in a bored tone.
“Three weeks, you two are telling me, you have been gone for three flipping weeks. What did you do?”
“We did what you told us to, my love,” Robin positively glowed.
“What I told you to do, what did I tell you to do?” I had to think for a moment. “I told you to talk, fight or...”
“Fuck?” Robin replied.
“Umm, I think I said make out,” I petered off.
“Potato-patato,” Robin chuckled.
My mouth literally hung open... “You guys?”
“Yeah,” grumbled Kale. “We talked, we fought, and we fucked.”
Daniel did cut in this time. “So are you guys good now?”
“Yeah, we’re good,” Kale said gruffly. “A lot happened in that time and the Puck and I have come to an understanding.”
“Hey, man, that’s all we can ask for, right, Dia?”
“Ummm, yeah, I guess so.” This had been the most confusing day of my life. And truth be told I didn’t know how much more I could absorb tonight.
“Dianthe,” Robin cut in. “What do you say we forget everything else tonight and enjoy the film?”
“I’d like that, Robin.”
The boys settled in on the couch and spread me across them. I do think they took hints from the severed hand in the movie though. There were lots of wondering fingers until I fell asleep toward the end.
*****
The next morning I opened my eyes to darkness. Oh, thank God. Someone had actually shut those curtains. I went to stretch out but found my movements severely hindered. Sometime during the previous night we had moved to the bed. Normally that’s not a bad idea. However, four people in one puny double bed was not an easy fit. I had no idea how they managed it but I was at the center of their giant puppy pile without being squished.
Very carefully, I began to try to disentangle myself without wakening any one. I should have known that was a lost cause considering who was in my bed. Daniel lay on my left side with a leg and arm both thrown over me. On my right, Robin curled around me snuggled tight. He had my head resting on his shoulder with one arm underneath me, the other cupping my breast. His head rested on the top of mine. Kale was behind Robin, his body protectively curved around the sexy Fae. Kale’s legs entwined with Robin's and his arm was across us both. His hand tucked into my waist as if he were trying to draw us closer
in his sleep.
Robin’s husky whisper filtered down to my ear. “Good morrow, my beautiful Lady, hmmm. Are you sure you want to keep wiggling like that?” He kissed the top of my head. “I’m more than happy to oblige you at a moment’s notice.”
I could feel the beginning of his arousal as it hardened against my belly.
“No,” I whispered. “I need to go to the bathroom. Nature is calling, you dork.”
“Pity,” he sighed and wiggled back into Kale.
A masculine moan rumbled from behind Robin and the hand on my hip tightened.
“Seriously, Robin, stop it. I need to pee,” I squealed. With a sigh, he scooted back and tapped Daniel on the head.
Daniel sat straight up and took in his surrounding, completely alert and looking for danger. My bathroom needs forgotten in a moment of awe as I watched Daniel. He really was combat trained. However, you can only hold Mother Nature back for so long and I started pushing male limbs out of the way to get to the toilet. So much soda before bed is not a good thing.
After I finished my morning ablutions, I was ready to face the guys. I found them all gathered around my kitchen counter making toast and tea. Three heads turned to smile at me when I entered the room. The first thing I noticed was that Robin had not put up his glamour. He was not wearing it last night and he hadn’t changed back. Another tiny slice of my heart melted right then.
They were winning me over piece by piece. That he was comfortable enough to be himself around us meant more than I thought it would. The next thing I noticed was that boxers were as far as they had gone to show any form of modesty. I took my time looking at them, taking in their differences and similarities.
Daniel was the largest of the lot. At over six and a half feet tall, he had the broadest chest I’ve ever seen. He wasn’t built with the masses of muscles you would think most men his size to be. His body perfectly proportioned and I wanted to drool every time I saw him.
Kale was the next largest. He stood just under Daniel’s impressive height. His muscled body was more defined than Daniel's, if that was possible. Kale managed it without looking like a hyped up body builder. Ropes of muscle covered his body along with wicked scars from past battles. I assumed they were from wolf fights but it was something I would have to enquire about another day.
