by Lisa Oliver
“Do it,” Seth whispered and that was all she wrote. Ra’s fangs found their mark and Seth’s scream of jubilation pierced his ears as the body beneath him tensed in climax. Ra’s hips thudded to a stop, his cock pulsing inside of his mate, marking him, branding him as clearly as the bite on Seth’s slender neck.
Pulling his teeth out carefully, Ra’s instinct was to slump, but he remembered just in time and rolled instead, pulling a shaking Seth with him as he collapsed on the covers.
“Mine. Love you,” he muttered, his eyes closing, his body barely able to move.
Seth chuckled as he snuggled against Ra’s chest. “Sleep tiger,” he said softly and Ra didn’t need any further invitation.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
“We need to go into town,” Ra said abruptly, causing Seth to look up from his painting.
“Right now? I’m in the middle of this wall.”
The small room next to their bedroom was connected with a new door thanks to Steven and Sebastian, and Seth was in the process of painting the boring white walls a more child-friendly pastel yellow. The paint, ordered in especially on his father’s advice was toxic and scent free and after a lot of badgering on his part, Ra finally agreed to let him pick up a paintbrush. Ra was helping but had gone off about twenty minutes before to take a call. Seth assumed he was taking care of last minute details for their wedding, but seeing the tension on his mate’s face, he dropped his brush in a handy water jar and carefully got up. Eight days since his scan and two before their wedding, Farriday’s prediction was spot on and Seth was finding the additional weight hard to adjust to.
“What’s wrong?” He asked, stepping over and laying his head against Ra’s chest. The thump under his ear was unusually fast.
“Damn it,” Ra groaned. “I didn’t want this to happen. Mal said I needed to be honest, Rocky said you should see for yourself. Simon pulled his snake-eyed look and Liam and Lucien almost killed themselves laughing because they know I’ll fuck this up. I don’t know what to tell you, but we have to go into town.”
“Be straight with me. That’s how it is with mates, right?” Seth was sure he had paint on his hands and arms, but he wrapped them around his mate’s waist anyway.
“I told you, I’ll muck things up,” Ra said anxiously. “Farriday said you weren’t to be upset under any circumstances, but you have to know about this and if I don’t tell you then he’ll come here and I don’t know if that’s better or worse.”
Seth pulled his head away from the warmth of Ra’s chest and stared up at his mate’s conflicted face. “Who will come here? It’s not Gareth, is it?” There was no way Seth was ready to see his ex-friend.
“That asshole will feel nothing but teeth if he shows up here. No, it’s your father.”
Seth was confused. “Dad was here this morning, dropping off more paint. Why shouldn’t he come here?”
Ra inhaled deeply, which did nothing for his racing heart. “Not your adoptive dad, some sparkly dude claiming to be your real dad.”
“That’s not possible.” A wave of dizziness hit him and Seth would’ve fallen if it hadn’t been for Ra’s firm grip. “Ra, I have a Dad. His name is Charles Carmichael. I saw him this morning. I can’t…I….” Tears rolled unbidden down his face and Seth struggled to breathe.
“Shit, see. I knew this would happen,” Ra cursed, swinging Seth off his feet and holding him close as he went through into their room, seating them both on the bed. “Babe, I’m not going to let him harm you. But, I’ve just had Mrs. Hooper on the phone. He’s in town asking about you. Mrs. Hooper’s damn sure he’s genuine. He knew when you were left and where.”
“Well, it’s taken him long enough to come back,” Seth growled, angrily wiping the tears from his face. “I don’t need him. I have a life. I have you and the guys and my family.”
“He said he’s come because of the babies. He said it’s urgent he speak to you.”
“My babies,” Seth’s hand on his stomach was instinctive by now. He felt a tiny flutter under his palm and gasped. “Feel this,” he whispered, grabbing hold of Ra’s hand and putting it in the same spot.
Ra frowned and moved his hand a bit. “What am I…?” Then the sun shone from his beaming smile. “That’s him, one of the tibits?”
“Probably the bigger one,” Seth smiled despite his anxiety. “I thought I’ve felt him before, but it’s more like butterflies in my stomach, you know. I thought I had gas. Try talking again and see if he responds.”
“Hello, tibit, it’s Daddy Ra,” Ra said in a sing-song voice that made Seth’s smile grow. “I can’t wait to meet you.”
Seth chuckled but then he felt a distinct brush against his stomach. “It worked, babe. He heard you.”
“I felt it. Oh, sweetness,” Ra’s voice was hushed and full of wonder. “That’s life, you have life in there, I never…I mean I knew, but….”
“It makes it more real somehow, yeah?”
“Yeah, it’s real,” Ra caressed Seth’s stomach one more time, and then Seth felt that same hand on his face. “That’s why I think you need to meet this man. I don’t know how he knew about the little ones, but if there’s anything we need to know, something to do with the Fae half of your heritage, then you owe it to our little ones to hear him out.”
Seth rubbed against Ra’s hand. He was torn. Charles and Ella had always been good to him. Okay, maybe sometimes Ella’s tongue could be hurtful, but Seth never doubted her support if he was in trouble and Ella only ever wanted him to do well in life. His memories of childhood included a lot of laughter and fun time. Somehow, he felt he’d be betraying the two people who cared for him and wasn’t sure it was worth it for a fleeting visit with someone who never wanted him enough to stick around.
“For the babies, sweetness,” Ra said softly, somehow guessing where his thoughts had taken him. “Just see him this one time. After that, if you don’t want him in your life, me and the guys will make sure he never bothers you again.”
“I’d like to see how you’re going to achieve that, tiger,” a strange voice said sharply. “If I want to see my son, I will.”
Looking over his shoulder, Seth saw a tall, slender man leaning against the wall of their bedroom. His hair fell around a delicate face like spun gold. Damn, cut it out, this isn’t one of my characters. “How did you get in here?” He asked sharply over Ra’s deep growl. “How did you find me after all this time?” It was clear he was staring at one-half of his genetic contributors. The similarities between them were too strong to ignore. But the Fae didn’t look happy to see him and Seth’s stomach lurched for a totally different reason this time. Any thoughts of a tearful reunion were quickly banished and that was confirmed when the Fae opened his mouth.
“Oh, I always knew where you were,” the stranger said dismissively. “And while you lived like a good little rabbit shifter, not causing any problems for anyone, I was happy to leave you in your pathetic little life. But now you’ve gone and done this,” he waved a hand at Seth’s stomach, “I’m forced to intervene.”
“What on earth are you talking about? There’s nothing wrong with being pregnant.” Seth clasped his arms around his stomach. “I couldn’t have gotten pregnant if it wasn’t for you. I thought I was a pure shifter until a month ago.”
“And that’s what I always intended for you to think. I could smell the animal in you when you were born. This should never have happened.”
“I think you’d better click those fancy heels of yours and get the hell out of my house,” Ra snarled.
“Make me,” the Fae sneered. “Shifters have no defense against magic users. Now shut up before I turn you into a chair and sit on your face.”
Seth’s anxiety levels grew and he turned so he could face the Fae head on. “Say what you’ve got to say and leave,” he said with as much firmness as he could muster. “My true mate and I are happy. I didn’t look for you; I never wanted to find you. You left me when I was too young to remember anything. I don’
t need you. Why the hell are you here?”
A flash of shame crossed the beautiful Fae’s face, but only for a moment. “Your children have Fae blood,” he said curtly as though that explained everything.
“So do I, but apparently it doesn’t mean anything to your kind.”
The Fae huffed. “I had to leave you, my position was too important to have sullied by a child who reeked of animal.”
“Whoop-di-do,” Seth refused to show the hurt he was feeling. “So my dad is some important guy in the Fae world, who dipped his wick where it didn’t belong and then got rid of the evidence. I’m surprised you left me alive.”
“We don’t kill children,” the Fae said hotly.
“No, you just leave them in the woods and pray like fuck someone finds them. Blah, blah, blah. I don’t want to hear your excuses. If that’s your idea of parenting, then you can stay the hell away from me and my children.”
“I can’t.” The arrogant sneer fell from the Fae’s face, replaced with sadness. He clicked his fingers and a chair appeared and he slumped on it. Seth hurriedly looked down and made sure he was still sitting on Ra’s legs. The rumble against his back was reassuring and Seth took comfort from his mate’s presence.
“Explain yourself,” he said quietly. “You clearly don’t want to be here and until half an hour ago, I believed you left me for dead when I was hours old.”
The Fae, Seth refused to give him a parental moniker, ran his fingers through his hair. “Diane, your mother, was nothing more than a weekend fling. She knew it, I knew it. I wouldn’t have touched her, but she was so full of life. She didn’t care about anything except having a good time. I was going through a rough patch. My family expect a lot from me, but for that weekend, I was just a guy, having fun with a woman whose laughter could make the angriest man smile.”
Seth’s heart ached for a woman he’d never met. Ra nuzzled the back of his head and Seth leaned back on him. “Go on.”
“That last day. She was backpacking across the country. I remember her wave and smile as she got into a van full of strangers without a care in the world. She wanted me to go with her, but I’d already told her my family expectations wouldn’t allow it. Would have been nice,” the Fae seemed to lose himself in memories for a moment, but then the arrogant mask fell back over his face.
“I went back to my family duties and about two weeks later, I got called into my father’s office. He was furious. He told me my carelessness resulted in a half-breed child.”
“How did he know? Did Diane get in touch with him?”
“She didn’t know who I was.” The Fae’s anger was back. “A Fae’s magic creates a spark our seers can see. Every new spark is recorded. These sparks all have an individual signature showing the parental line. They picked up on yours before you were born and reported it to my father.”
“There’s nothing wrong with having half-breed children, it’s not their fault they’re born,” Seth said, trying not to get angry at the assumption he was nothing more than a mistake.
“For most people, I agree,” the Fae looked up and Seth’s saw his eyes looking back at him. “But for me and my family, it had the potential to be a huge scandal.”
“I take it you didn’t marry the lovely Diane and make an honest woman out of her?” Ra snarled.
“I was already married.”
Oh great. I’m the illegitimate half-breed son of a cheating asshole.
“It’s not what you think,” the Fae said hurriedly. “My marriage was purely for political reasons; a business merger. We never shared a bed and the marriage was never consummated. I’m not a complete asshole.”
You are from where I’m sitting, Seth thought, but he waved his hand. “Go on. I’ve been painting all day. I’m going to need some sustenance at some point.”
“Painting,” the Fae shook his head and Seth was conscious of the mess on his hands and arms. “Anyhow, I traced the spark, your spark, and found Diane. She already knew she was pregnant and spent the last two weeks of her confinement complaining bitterly about it. Having a child didn’t fit with her bohemian lifestyle. I paid for her to stay in a discrete hotel, tried to get her to see a doctor, but she refused.”
“Did she survive the birth?” Somehow Seth didn’t see this story having a happy ending.
“Oh yes, she survived all right,” the Fae scowled. “I was with her when you were born, helped her with the delivery. Tucked you into a blanket I’d magicked for her because she hadn’t gotten anything ready. We’d talked about her going home, back to her herd. She wasn’t keen, but it was the sensible thing to do. It wasn’t as though I could take you home.”
“No, of course not,” Seth murmured. Chances are the wife in this equation didn’t know of his existence even now. “What happened?”
“She fucking left.” The Fae stood and started pacing. “I closed my eyes for five fucking minutes. It’d been a difficult birth and we were both exhausted. She refused offers of help and wouldn’t let me call anyone. I slept less than an hour and woke up to a screaming baby and a fucking note. It was fun, see he’s raised right. That was it.”
Seth covered his mouth quickly so his grin didn’t show. He could see it now; a hippy rabbit mother leaving an uptight Fae with a screaming baby. If he wasn’t the baby concerned it would have been hilarious. “That was when you decided to dump me, was it?”
“I didn’t dump you,” the Fae sat back in his chair. “I called the council. They told me to take you to the nearest herd. Apparently, according to the council, rabbits are extremely family orientated animals. Shame no one told your bitch of a mother.”
“Hey, knock it off. You weren’t any better,” Ra grumbled. “You could have gone to the Alpha of the herd and made sure Seth was taken into a family before you went back to your precious wife and position. You didn’t have to leave him under a tree.”
“I kept an eye on him. Made sure he was safe. I’ve checked on him over the years.”
“I have a good life,” Seth said. “Which is why I don’t understand you showing up now?”
The Fae’s eyes were ice cold and Seth shivered. “Your children all carry the spark. Two are half-shifters, one is pure Fae. My father sent me here to unbind your magic and to make arrangements to take the Fae child home with me.”
“My magic….What?” But Seth didn’t have a chance to say anything more. His ass hit the bed and Ra’s giant tiger form soared through the air, landing dead on target. The Fae’s chair crumpled and the man’s head made a sickening crunch on the wall.
“Ra,” Seth called out as a low rumble, not the sexy kind, came from the tiger’s chest. “Don’t kill him. They’ll take you away from me, from the kids.”
Ra yowled, the loud noise bouncing off the walls. Seth covered his ears as heavy footsteps running fast thumped down the hallway; Brutus and Simon flung themselves into the bedroom.
“What the fuck? I thought you were painting? Who the hell is that and how did he get in here?” Simon hissed, pushing Ra aside and checking the Fae’s pulse.
“It’s my biological dad,” Seth said, trying to clamber off the bed without kneeing his stomach. “He said I have magic but it’s bound up somehow and he wants…oh my god, he wants to take one of my babies!” Blood roared in his ears and he felt like someone thumped him solid in the chest. The spots in front of his eyes got bigger and he could only just make out the bright orange and white of Ra’s stripes. “I…can’t….” He fell back as darkness hit him.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
“Shift back, Ra. Brutus grab the cuffs from the trunk in my room. Call the others. He won’t be out for long.” Simon shouldered Ra, pushing him off the prone man. “I said shift back, damn it. Seth’s fainted. He needs you.”
Ra’s human form emerged. “Oh fuck, Seth. Seth, I’m sorry. I’m sorry. Please be all right,” he crooned as he plucked his limp mate from the bed. He listened intently to Seth’s heart rate, it seemed abnormally fast. “Maybe we should call Farriday,” he
said, looking up at Simon who was busy cuffing the Fae to a chair. “That’s not going to hold him. He’s magical.”
“Special cuffs,” Simon said tersely. “Don’t ask where I got ‘em. Let’s drag this guy into the living room. You don’t want his stench in here. Liam, call Farriday, ask him if there’s something else we should be doing for Seth. Rocky, call Deputy Joe. Ra can’t afford to go to jail for this and Ra, for fuck's sake put some clothes on.”
“Clothes?” Ra’s mind was a mess. When he walked in the room all he was worried about was how Seth would take the news his biological dad was looking for him. Now he had a cuffed Fae threatening his unborn children, an unconscious mate and he was naked. He carefully laid Seth back on the bed. The smaller man moaned and Ra hoped that meant he was waking up. Two strides and he was at his dresser, pulling on the first things that came to hand.
Simon and Brutus dragged the Fae out of the room, still attached to the chair. Liam was on the phone. Apart from a lot of “uh huhs,” he wasn’t saying much, but his eyes were wide. Rocky came over and slapped Ra on the back.
“Good thing Seth didn’t shift, right? He’s got more control over his animal than you.”
“See how controlled you are when someone threatens to take your child away,” Ra growled, pushing past his friend, and gathered Seth into his arms again. He arranged Seth’s face so it was pressed into his neck, hoping his scent would calm both man and rabbit.
“Fuck. That slimy git did that?” Rocky stormed out of the room and Ra prayed he wouldn’t do anything stupid.
Answers, we need answers like who this fucker is and why he thinks he can just take one of our tibits without so much as a by your leave.
“Ra,” Seth whispered.
“You back with us, babe?” His body still trembling with anger and two quick shifts, Ra managed to brush the curls from Seth’s face without being too harsh about it.
Seth immediately looked around the room. “Where’s the Fae?”
