Donovan groaned. He really needed to get rid of all the people who apparently wanted to keep him away from his mate.
Chapter Two
Sei kind of understood why Rabbit hated Daniel right now. He wouldn’t have been against strangling him, but Bran was still there, and Sei liked his balls where they were.
It was a pity to cover Donovan’s body, though.
Donovan. His mate.
Wow. Sei hadn’t expected that when he’d woken up that morning.
He grinned. He couldn’t wait to tell his aunt. Maybe she wouldn’t be so sad she’d had to cancel his bonding ceremony once she knew.
“So, what are you doing here?” Bran asked. He was leaning against the frame of the door, his arms crossed over his chest. He didn’t seem to care that Donovan was still half-naked, and he seemed to know him pretty well. How? Where had they met? How long had they known each other? And why was Sei jealous?
He had friends, too. But something was telling him there was more between Bran and Donovan than just friendship, and while he knew he shouldn’t care because whatever had happened had happened before Donovan met him, he suddenly didn’t like Bran very much.
Donovan finished pulling his borrowed T-shirt down. “Well, I was only supposed to make sure the two kids who called the line from D.C. made it here safely, so I shimmered here with them and Mael. Then Kameron asked me if I wouldn’t mind going with them into town so they could get what they needed for their stay. That’s when we noticed the crowd of reporters mobbing Sei.”
Everyone looked at Sei. “What?” he asked.
“What happened?”
“I have no idea. I went to the grocery store, and when I got out that reporter—Connor—stopped me and tried to get me to answer questions.” That reminded Sei they’d left Connor in the alley. Hopefully, his fellow reporters wouldn’t mob him too. He didn’t know anything about shifters anyway. “I think the others heard him question me and they thought I was a shifter.”
“So they assaulted you?” Donovan asked with a growl.
“They didn’t assault me. They... pushed me around a little, I guess. Connor made sure they didn’t hurt me, not even when my hat fell and they saw my ears. There are probably pictures of me going around the internet, though.” Just the thought was enough for Sei to want to stick to pack territory.
“Connor, huh?”
Sei shrugged. “I could call him Mr. Riley, but it wouldn’t change anything. Besides, I kind of like the guy. He might have been the one who brought attention to me, but he tried to protect me when you appeared. He could have run. Most men would have.”
“Where’s this Connor Riley now?” Bran asked.
“I think we left him either in the alley or in the flower shop,” Donovan said, and he didn’t sound sorry at all.
“I’ll need to talk to him.”
“Why? He’s just a reporter.”
“Why are reporters suddenly mobbing pack members, though? What are they doing here?”
“It’s about time, actually,” Daniel said. “I mean, that video of Kameron and Tom was uploaded when? About three months ago? It didn’t take that long for a lot of people to find out where Kameron lives. Calvin managed, and he was living on the streets, so how hard could it be for a reporter comfortably sitting in front of his computer? Plus, the people living in Gillham wouldn’t have stayed silent about this. They probably talked to other people, who talked to other people. You know how it goes.”
Sei sighed. “I just wanted to buy some groceries.” He wanted to go home, shower, and get the feeling of being touched by too many people off him. Instead he had to talk to Kameron and then go to work. He’d probably be late, too. When would he find the time to talk to Donovan? From what he’d said, he lived in Washington, D.C. That wasn’t exactly close to Gillham. At least Sei was a Nix, so the distance wouldn’t be a problem—or not too much of one anyway.
An arm around his waist made him jerk away. Donovan blinked at him, but he didn’t say anything, and Sei wanted to kick himself. The first time his mate tried to hug him, and he freaked out.
“Sorry,” he muttered.
“It’s all right. You were just touched by too many people to be comfortable with it. I shouldn’t have done it without asking you.”
“You can, though. Touch me, I mean.”
Bran cleared his throat, and Donovan stepped away instead of coming closer. Sei glared at Bran, but the man didn’t seem to care. He looked worried, and he gestured toward the hallway. “We need to talk to Kameron. He’s probably going to want most pack members to stick around pack territory, but that’s not going to solve the reporter problem.”
Okay, he still couldn’t go back home. Instead, he followed Bran through the hallway and into Kameron’s office. Kameron was on the phone, so they settled onto the couches in the corner of the room and waited.
Donovan took the spot beside Sei, but he didn’t touch him in any way. Should Sei ask him to? Should he take the first step and take Donovan’s hand or something? Or would Donovan not want him to do that in front of other people? He’d said he wasn’t ashamed of Sei, but it didn’t mean he liked PDA.
Kameron hung up and rose from his chair. He flopped down onto the couch and sighed heavily. “All right, what other problem are you bringing me?”
“We could be here for tea,” Daniel said.
Kameron snorted. “Right. The head of my enforcers and our contact with the government are both here. That means trouble.”
“Actually, that means mate. You know, I work with you and Bran’s my mate, and Sei works with Dallas and Donovan’s his mate. Also, Bran and Donovan grew up together and were even boyfriends at one point.” Daniel cocked his head. “Damn, this is complicated. And maybe even kind of incestuous? I don’t know. I think I lost the point.”
Would anyone but Bran be sorry if Sei strangled Daniel? Because he was seriously thinking about it again.
Kameron arched a brow at Sei. “Donovan, huh? That’s nice, and congrats, but something tells me that’s not why you’re here.”
“Only in part,” Donovan said. “I took the kids into town like you asked. It’s full of reporters, Kameron. They finally managed to find out where you are and arrived in mass.”
Kameron groaned and briefly closed his eyes. “Of course they did, because I needed this complication, too. I didn’t have enough to deal with already.”
Sei was so glad he wasn’t in charge of anything. Kameron looked tired, and it wasn’t a look Sei had seen on him often. He obviously wasn’t getting enough sleep, and he was stressed out. Sei knew it was the vandalism and the attacks the pack members were being targeted with. The plot to kill Kameron hadn’t had any development yet, but Kameron was also very careful about that, and he had to protect the pack. Add the reporters to it... it was no wonder Kameron looked like he was about to break.
“I can take care of it,” Donovan said, jerking Sei out of his thoughts.
Kameron waved. “Nah. You have your own job to do.”
“Right now, it looks like my job is keeping an eye on kids and saving my mate from a crowd of reporters.”
“I’m sure the country needs you or something.”
Donovan leaned forward, and to Sei’s surprise, he took Sei’s hand. “I was going to ask for some time off work anyway. There’s no way I’m leaving Sei alone here, not when he can’t even step foot in town.”
“You can’t leave your job for me!” Sei protested.
“I’m not leaving my job. I have vacation time, and since I’m the liaison with the council and the pack anyway, staying here for a while won’t be a problem. Besides, you’re a Nix. You can shimmer me around if I need to, or I can ask someone else. It won’t change anything for me, really, except maybe make things easier. I want to be here with you, Sei, and I’d leave my job if I had to. I’ve been there for years already. It’s actually about time I move on.”
* * * *
Donova
n wasn’t lying. He’d been working his job for almost ten years. He could stay now, of course. His bosses knew what he was and that he didn’t age as fast as humans did. Work wasn’t all there was to life, though. He’d met his mate, and he wanted to be able to spend as much time as he could with Sei. If that meant leaving his job, he would.
He had more than enough money saved up to live comfortably for a few years. He could take the time to get to know his mate, to spend more time with Bran and become closer friends with him again. Maybe he could even ask the council for a job. He had skills. They could use him.
“You’re welcome to stay here all the time you want,” Kameron said. “Or to live somewhere else, of course.” He winked at Sei, and Sei blushed a delicious shade of pink.
“He can stay with me,” he said, looking straight at Donovan.
That was hot. Sei might have blushed, but he seemed to know what he wanted, and he wasn’t afraid to let Donovan know. That would make things interesting in bed.
“What about the reporters?” Bran asked.
Kameron shook his head. “It’s not like I can force them to leave.”
“So they’re going to stay in town and mob whoever they think is a shifter?” Sei asked, turning his attention back to Kameron.
“We’ll make sure they don’t hurt anyone, and that if they do, they pay for it, but what am I supposed to do?”
“Umm, I don’t know if anyone thought of this,” Daniel started, “but pack territory is kind of open, you know? I mean, me and Anthony managed to walk in without too many problems, apart from Anthony stumbling on his own feet and hitting trees. It wouldn’t take much for a reporter used to sneaking around to, well, sneak in.”
“And that’s something we can have them arrested for,” Kameron pointed out. “This is private property. If they step one foot into pack territory, I’ll make sure they pay for it.”
“Yeah, okay, but it won’t stop them from snapping pictures and writing their articles. We’ll be all over the news, and while I know everyone will enjoy seeing pictures of me since I’m so pretty, I’d rather not have Bran tear anyone apart for looking at me the wrong way.”
“You could try to talk to them,” Donovan suggested. “You already talked to the town, and it’s not like this is a secret, not anymore. The reporters are here because they know about shifters, and they won’t leave until they get something. We could have Daniel organize a press conference. That way you’ll control what you say and what’s printed.”
“That won’t be enough to send them away,” Kameron pointed out.
“Probably not. Some of them will hang around for a while, maybe even try to trespass, but if you keep most pack members in pack territory for now, the reporters will get bored. They’ll probably interview some of the town people, ask for their opinions, but there are only so many people they can talk to if you keep the pack here. They’ll leave once the novelty wears off. You just need to have some patience.”
Kameron sighed and looked at Daniel. “All right. Can you organize that press conference Donovan talked about?”
Daniel tsked. “You obviously don’t know me if you have to ask. Of course, I can organize it. Just give me a date and a place and I’ll take care of everything.”
“I’ll think about it.”
There wasn’t anything more Donovan could do or say. It was time to get Sei on his own and get to know him.
He got up and tugged at Sei’s hand.
“What?” Sei asked.
“Why don’t you show me where you live? We can spend the rest of the day together.”
Sei snorted and disentangled their fingers. “You might be able to leave work whenever you want, but I can’t.”
Damn. Donovan hadn’t even thought of that. “What do you do?”
“I’m a nurse, and I’m already late for work.” Sei got up and kissed Donovan’s cheek. “I’ll see you later if you’re still around.”
He sauntered out, and Donovan couldn’t look away from his retreating form. Damn, his mate was fine. He was on the small side and compact, and he’d fit perfectly in Donovan’s arms.
Someone snickered, distracting him. “He put you in your place, huh?” Daniel said.
Donovan shrugged. “It’s all right. We’ll have the rest of our lives to get to know each other.”
Daniel wiggled his eyebrows. “I bet you wanted to do that right away, though.”
“Maybe, but he’s right. His job is an important one, and I don’t want to take him away from it.” Besides, there were lots of things Donovan had to do in the meantime. He needed to get a ride from one of the Nix back to Washington so he could talk to his boss and make sure he could take a vacation. He needed to pack enough clothes for a few days, and God, he had to call Liz and the kids to tell them he’d found his mate.
Bran clasped Donovan’s shoulder. “So looks like fate is trying to keep us close, huh?”
“You have a problem with that?”
“Nope. I actually wanted to start talking to you more often. We haven’t been good friends for the past few years, but I want that to change.”
Donovan grinned. “Yeah, I missed you too, man.”
“Aww, that would be so cute if I didn’t know you two fucked each other,” Daniel said from behind Bran.
Bran turned to his mate and wrapped his arm around Daniel’s shoulders. “Love, you know that happened almost seventy years ago, right?”
“So?”
“Seventy years, Daniel. That’s a lot of time. You have nothing to be jealous of. Both Donovan and I got married in the meantime. We had kids. We haven’t been more than friends for a long time.”
Daniel’s gaze softened, and Donovan was sure he knew what had happened to Bran’s family. It made his heart hurt, because Bran was a good man. He hadn’t deserved what had happened to his wife and his son. But he’d found happiness with Daniel, and Donovan would never do anything to put that in jeopardy.
“We might have been lovers once, seventy years ago,” he told Daniel, “but Bran is right. There’s a reason why we didn’t stay together, and it wasn’t only because our sleuth would have kicked us out. We’re better off as friends. Always have been. The only reason why we were together in the first place was that we were best friends, gay, and had no one else to experiment with. We both thought it would be better to do that together rather than with some stranger we’d picked up somewhere. That’s it. And we couldn’t even look at each other in the eyes for a good week after we did it. Trust me, we wouldn’t be together even if he didn’t have you, Daniel.”
“And if you didn’t have Sei.”
“Exactly. You know enough about shifters by now to know neither of us would stray, and even if you didn’t, you know Bran. Do you really think he’d betray your trust?”
Daniel rolled his eyes. “I know he wouldn’t. I was joking.”
“Good.” Donovan didn’t care what Daniel said. He wanted to be sure Daniel understood he had nothing to fear, not from Donovan.
“Anyway, I need to go, so if you want to ask me any questions, you should do it now.”
“What kind of question?”
“About Sei. I don’t know him as well as Clea does, but we’re friends.”
Donovan wasn’t about to ask Daniel things Sei should be the one to tell him, except for one thing. “Who’s Clea?”
Daniel laughed. “Oh, you want to know why he knows Sei so well.”
“Yes.”
“They’re cousins.”
The tightening in Donovan’s chest loosened. He hadn’t even noticed it, but the fear that Sei already had someone in his life had been there. “Oh.”
“Yeah. You’ll meet him soon. Oh, and I probably should let you know that Sei’s family is arranging his bonding ceremony to a woman he barely knows.”
* * * *
Sei whistled as he sauntered into the infirmary. He beamed at Russell, who was sitting in his bed, leaning against pillows. Se
i was the one dealing with the wounds Russell had gotten from his attack. He was taking it slow, because they’d been extensive. Russell had been very lucky. He could have died—nearly had, actually.
And the worst part was that no one knew who’d assaulted him. They had suspects, of course, but not even the sheriff knew for sure. Sei thought it had to be the guys who’d gone after Anthony, but both had vanished into thin air. That didn’t mean they were gone—just that they were hiding. They were probably also behind the wave of vandalism acts that had recently hit a lot of pack members and enforcers. Everyone was afraid of parking their car in town, and some pack members had stopped leaving pack territory.
“What are you so happy about?” Russell asked.
“What, I can’t be happy for no reason?”
Russell cocked his head. “I guess you could, knowing you, but this is extra happy, even for you.”
Sei laughed. “You’ve been spending too much time with your son.”
“That’s probably true. Jarrett and Elias came by earlier.”
“I hope they didn’t tire you too much.”
“Nah. I’m used to them. Those two have been attached at the hip almost since they were born. Elias might as well be my fourth kid.”
Sei nodded and pointed at the bathroom. “I’m going to go change. I’ll be right back for your healing session.”
“Take as much time as you need. And you’re going to have to tell me what made you so happy. I need good news.”
It couldn’t have taken Sei more than five minutes to change, but when he came back, Dallas was already there, talking with Russell. They both looked at Sei when he reentered the room. He raised his hands at Dallas. “I know, I’m late. Sorry. You wouldn’t believe what happened this morning.”
Dallas nodded. “I heard about the reporters. Are you all right?”
Sei shook his head. “How did you manage that? I mean, it happened only an hour or so ago.”
“Well, Daniel called Anthony, who called Neriah, who called Calvin, who called me. Yes, I think that’s it. Calvin explained it, but I’m not sure I got it in the right order.”
Sei Page 3
