by Jo Penn
“Misha is correct. This is not the time or place, regardless of how a fight always has your need for sex multiplying,” Emile said distractedly.
“Oh, my Gods, you’re like the most unsubtle creature ever!” Kirsten slapped Emile’s shoulder and rolled her eyes. Emile just frowned, not understanding. “Anywho, I’m on clean-up duty, which sucks. I blame Ace for this, the annoying little leopard. So move along. I need to photograph, document, and organize. Yes, Emile, you are welcome to stay. But only if you do not try to take over.”
“I merely suggest we work—”
“No! No suggestions.” Kirsten beamed at Misha. “Lovely to see you again, Misha. Thank you for the invitation for next month, I will clear my calendar. Excuse me.”
Kirsten, dressed in her tan soldier uniform, began snapping orders and ignoring Emile’s interruptions while Drake got Xavier and Misha moving toward a waiting Humvee, probably Misha’s.
Drake gave a nod to Vicus, who stood silently waiting. His black leather coat was form-fitting, the hood covering his head and shielding his face. Vicus Aston was one of the very best Avengers and being played, sent away on an errand, would have made him furious.
“How high up in the High Council?” Drake asked quietly, not wanting to be overheard.
“One of the clerks stole a seal and forged a vampire High Council official’s signature. The one who forwarded me the assignment had no idea it was a forgery. I have eliminated the witch who ordered the forgery on Stacron’s behalf and the clerk has been arrested. I will return to plug any leftover leaks.”
“Good. I will request information on this vampire official to double-check.” Misha inclined his head respectfully.
“Always wise to double-check.” Vicus walked away, and within moments he had disappeared from view.
“Keeley was very anxious, Xavier, that you had turned cold. I am glad to see this is being rectified.”
“I will reassure my mate.” Xavier allowed Drake to continue holding his hand and even smiled at him.
“Yes, do. The Tulsa Coven leader?”
“One of the dead.” Xavier leant forward and squeezed Misha’s knee. “Thank you, Misha, you truly are a brother and family to Keeley and I. Perhaps you will grow fond of Drake, too.”
Both Drake and Misha spluttered and choked a little over that.
“I have a question, and you can get all frosty and nasty, but it’s legit. I offended Xavier by not pledging myself to him in front of witnesses, as is the vampire way, which I respect and admire. And this somehow brought about Xavier turning from me, and not just closing me out and being snarky, but like part of my soul had been torn out. I don’t get it. With we tigers and most shifters of my type, we confront, we get heated and argue, we fight it out. But it was like part of Xavier simply froze over and I didn’t have him anymore.”
Misha was studying Xavier closely and nodded when Drake finished, while Xavier actually looked away, tensing.
“Yeah, I don’t get it at all. The Xavier I know, my mate, fights for what’s right. He doesn’t give up, doesn’t give in. So explain.”
“Simply, this is a facet of vampires. While feline shifters in general may, as you say, fight it out, a percentage of vampires will close off. If the problems continue without resolution, the vampire in question will become distant, their feelings separating. As such, they, as I have heard other creatures state, are aloof and devoid of emotions.” Misha shrugged elegantly. “Their eyes have a frostiness to them and develop a soulless quality. When this occurs, the vampire must be monitored and efforts are made to return emotions… Unfortunately, if unsuccessful, vampires with this condition turn dangerous and a large quantity have to be eliminated.”
Drake practically dragged Xavier along the seat and held him close, petting and purring over his mate, suddenly afraid he’d lose Xavier to this condition.
“How do we stop this condition from happening?” he demanded.
Misha smiled. “You have done so by pledging yourself and Xavier accepting. You actually believe it was necessary to do in front of witnesses, but it was not. Just the pledge. An offering of oneself to us is a commitment to our soul.” Misha tapped his fingers thoughtfully. “Perhaps similar to a blood oath? In this instance, the words have the power to bind together completely. A vampire will know if the pledge is not spoken with pure intentions and is unable to accept, for it is not a true pledge.”
Drake nodded slowly. “I see. I didn’t know the pledge was as serious as this. I cannot see Keeley having pledged himself to you, Xavier.”
Misha actually laughed, really laughed. “Oh, he pledged himself and demanded the pledge from Xavier in return, in front of our entire family, only a few weeks after they mated and bonded. I have often found Keeley to be extremely conflicted. He is afraid to trust, but the pull of a mate reduces these fears so he is unable to resist, does not feel the need to. But memories assail him at times and he pulls away.”
“Yeah, I can see that.” Drake continued petting Xavier, knowing that with each touch the heat of his body would begin to thaw the frost that had developed between them. “Sooo, I have two questions.”
Misha hissed. “Cats and their insatiable curiosity! Yes, Valiant suffers from the vampire condition, but with monitoring he is stable. The sooner a mate is found the better.”
Drake’s brows shot up. “Hells right. I just thought he was a stuck-up, slightly nasty jerkwad. It’s Ryson I’m more curious about.”
“Ryson does not suffer the condition,” Xavier murmured. “Syndal does not, and Tyler will never suffer from it.”
“Yeah, I’m not believing that Ryson doesn’t.”
Misha smirked. “Ryson is extremely intelligent and lacks what most would term ‘normal’ emotions. It is extremely rare, and though he feels, he does not always understand what the feelings and emotions are and does not have the depth to care. He is not dangerous, merely indifferent. He is in no danger of suffering the aloof vampire condition, which in itself is fairly normal for vampires unless they go frosty.”
Drake absorbed that and actually felt pretty bad. “There’s no way to help Ryson? The witches and wizards can’t do anything? Fae?”
“No, and we have consulted every magical creature known. Even your cousin Sebastian has sat with Ry a few times to see if there is a way to bring forth depth of emotion with no success… Unfortunately, your cousin was so deeply wounded by the lack of depth we had to stop any further interaction between them.”
“Right. That’s a shame, but understandable. Have you tried a shaman?”
“Yes, they said the answer came from Ry himself,” Xavier said. “We are here, I must check on Keeley.”
“Last question.” Drake stilled his mate. “Who did you use to feed off, and how was that possible when vampires, once mated, are meant to only be able to feed off their mate?”
“Why do you think I did not feed off Keeley?” Xavier rolled his eyes. “Our mate was playing you again, Drake. I fed off Keeley, a little each month to maintain our connection—and because vampires do need to feed from their mate, or mates as the case may be, to survive healthily. I was also able to feed from a few others, such as family or…” Xavier smiled slowly and flicked his ice-blue eyes to Misha and raised his brows.
“Oh, hells no! Him? You’ve fed off Misha?” Drake squirmed in his seat, claws shooting out. “You said you were like brothers. That sure doesn’t sound brotherly to me! What else have you two done?”
Oh, yeah, jealousy raged inside him and it was a battle not to go for the gorgeous vampire prince’s throat and tear it out.
“Well?”
“We are like brothers. In fact, technically, we are cousins. My mother and the Queen were half sisters and she is my godmother. As such, when she became my godmother, she gave me her blood and performed the ceremony to join us as family so I would always be under her protection in all ways. That includes blood.”
Drake breathed out deeply. “Okay, the need to commit jealous murder i
s receding, slightly. But that’s it, right? You just fed from him?”
“Yes, and Ry, Syndal, Val, and the Queen, of course. And each has fed from me on occasion.”
To Drake it was such an intimate act that the thought of all this feeding made him want to tear his hair out, which just caused Misha great amusement and Xavier to sigh.
“No more—”
“We are linked. We will, on occasion, provide for each other,” Misha said firmly. “But in concession to your mateship, we shall do this only in an emergency or if necessary.”
“Whatever,” Drake grumbled, climbing out of the Humvee. “Come on, mate. I have something to give you and I’m sure our little mate will tap his foot in agitation I didn’t include him in the planning. And I’m sure you’ll get snarky at me over that, but you two are just gonna have to give me some leeway here in the sharing and togetherness department.” Drake practically dragged his mate along, Misha smirking the entire time, trailing them. “It’s not like Keeley is all about mate togetherness. He has taken off, after all, and he causes more mayhem than a litter of panther kitties. Then we could talk about you going all iceberg—which we will by the way, so you can forget giving me a hard time.”
They had made it inside only to have Keeley come streaking down the hall with a group of children fast on his heels, Drake catching his littlest mate as Keeley threw himself into his arms and tried to climb him like a tree.
“Help! We need catnip or some Valium…are cat shifters allowed to have Valium?” Keeley grinned at Misha. “Hey, you’re back.”
“It appears so. And not needed…” Misha frowned in bemusement at the children milling around him, sniffing. A few rubbed up against him. “Did you overexcite the children again, Keeley?”
“Kids just seem to get all hyper around me.” Keeley shrugged.
It took twenty minutes to remove the children and extract them to where they were meant to be, and another ten to make Misha remain with Drake’s family. Then, taking both of his mates’ hands, Drake practically dragged them through the palace, out a side door, and down a well-manicured path.
The entire time, Keeley clung to Xavier. Drake did the same while petting and sniffing both mates. He’d been blessed with mates, both so different yet exactly what he’d needed and wanted. Keeley had a heart of gold and, yeah, trust and commitment issues, but Drake loved them and he would help his mate. Plus, Keeley was kind, fun, and quirky. He would keep Drake very entertained.
Xavier was definitely the Knight. He gave himself selflessly. He was deeply caring and generous. Plus, he was smart and gorgeous, all of which had Drake wanting to just go to his room and enjoy what the fates had given him.
But he had something even more important than fucking his mates to do, and that was taking care of them, seeing to their needs.
“Where are we going? I’m not one for nature walks, and I’m pretty sure dirt gives me hives so I’m not gettin’ naked out here with you two.”
“And I have a number of important matters requiring my immediate attention. Plus, I do wish to spend a little time with Misha—”
“We’re here,” Drake growled. “So shut it, both of you.”
Keeley went all hazy and dreamy, smiling and nodding. “Nice gardens. Thanks for showing me. I better head back, ugh!”
Picking up his smaller mate like a football and keeping a firm hold of his vampire mate’s hand, Drake led them along the cobbled path. A few meters in, the path hedges banking the sides opened up to show a wide lawn, well-tended and immaculate, in front of a house—or technically, a three-story mansion.
“This is our new home. I wasn’t aware Xavier didn’t like living in the palace until Emile pointed it out to me, but once I knew, I began seeing a few things. Such as how Xavier requires his own offices and staff, plus room for family and friends to visit, and Keeley needs to have a place he can just hang out with his own things. I remembered we had the old manor just sitting here, unused.”
Keeley gaped at the place when he was put on his feet. “You have a three-story mansion just sitting here unused?”
“Sure. We have another one about a mile from here, and a small cluster of houses and an apartment building, also. Prides come and go, families get bigger and smaller.” Drake shrugged. “We have a lot of tradespeople in the pride, and they’ve worked hard day and night the last few days to get the place up to standard. Of course, there are a few things that still need doing, but we can schedule those in. So, what do you think?”
Keeley just gaped a bit and then seemed overwhelmed and fidgeted, looking away. Xavier, meanwhile, was studying the grounds and the building. He began a slow walk around before heading inside.
“These will be perfect for my offices,” Xavier mused and waved a hand, drawing Keeley close and hugging. “It will be perfect for us, my light.”
“Yeah? It’s just…we keep moving. I didn’t mind the palace, I guess…”
“You can set up a games room and I was thinking, if you want, we could have a couple of rooms here for the kids to come hang out, even a jungle gym in the yard and stuff.” Drake smiled and nuzzled both mates. “You’re a big hit with the kids, and I know you love hanging out with them.”
“I guess. But I’m not trained and I find it difficult to study, so I’m not qualified to look after them.”
“Hush, you are perfectly capable of looking after them, and I also know a couple of the parents always come along on their playdates. Plus, we could hire a few of the cats here and provide them with the job opportunities and training.”
“Yeah?”
“’Course, my mate,” Drake reassured him. “I love you both and want you happy, all of us, together. We’ll work on our trust issues.” He kissed Keeley’s cheek. “Secrecy.” Kissed Xavier. “And my sharing of plans. Now, I really want to show you both the bedroom, particularly the bed.”
Keeley giggled. “’Course ya do!”
Xavier smiled and drew Drake close, cupping one cheek. “You have my heart, my moon.”
Everything in Drake settled. He felt absolute harmony and peace. And joy. He had his mates, his family and pride, friends. He was one lucky tiger.
THE END
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jo Penn has been writing since she was six years old and has written in numerous different genres until falling in love with ManLove. Milson Valley was inspired by finding a particular place that feels like home. Comforting, fun, lively. Where you can always be yourself. There are so many characters to explore and bring their stories to life.
For all titles by Jo Penn, please visit
www.bookstrand.com/jo-penn
Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com
