Chapter 6 A Disappearing Act
A DISAPPEARING ACT
Titan watched as Mathlin’s eyes almost fell out of his head.
The omega scrambled off his lap, tearing out of Titan’s office.
Did Mathlin know what was going on?
Titan shuffled off the couch, following Mathlin to the storefront. But only Hamilton was there.
“My perfectly coiffed updo,” Hamilton wailed, smacking at his smoking hair. “It has a hole in it now!”
“How did it happen?” Titan asked, baffled. “You’re not even in the kitchen.”
“Fuck if I know. One moment, I was crouched on the floor—Jannie threw my pen under the display case. The next moment, my hair’s on fire. And the kid just laughed at me.”
Where had the fire come from? Jannie? Titan looked around, then reached out with his hearing when he realized that Mathlin and his daughter were no longer in the building.
No footsteps.
No, there were footsteps. Just that they were quiet, almost silent. Titan hadn’t noticed it before, but Mathlin moved with grace. And silence.
He tracked Mathlin’s movements with his ears. “Get a wet rag. I’d do it, but my arms—”
Hamilton stuck his head under a faucet—only for the faucet to sink its teeth into his hair. “Nooo! Not my hair!”
Titan sighed and nudged Hamilton away, stepping on the foot-operated pedal. Water gushed from the faucet; Hamilton did a complicated dance to avoid its gnashing teeth.
“I’ll track Mathlin down,” Titan said, stepping out of the bakery.
Twin Buns was located just outside the city of Cartfalls, with dense woods surrounding the cluster of shops and homes nearby. Mathlin was running into the forest, away from everyone else.
But why was he running?
Not for the first time, Titan wished he could shift into his wolf shape so he could sprint through the forest. If he did it right now, his forelegs would buckle, and he would end up crashing face-first into the ground.
He sighed and jogged through the forest, listening to Hamilton in the bakery—the faucet was off, and Hamilton’s breathing had calmed down. This meant that Titan could focus entirely on Mathlin.
Mathlin, who was moving through the forest with exceptional grace.
“Jannie! Why did you do that? Now he’s going to fire us!” Mathlin’s voice carried on the wind. “Well, I haven’t signed any contract, so maybe I won’t even be hired at all.” He sighed.
“Hamilton, could you work on the contract?” Titan murmured, quietly enough that the shapeshifter could hear him, but Mathlin couldn’t. “Have it ready by the time I bring him back.”
“I want compensation for my hair,” Hamilton grumbled.
“I’m not sure what you’re hoping for me to pay you, considering I’m out of work and buns right now,” Titan replied. “Besides, you can just grow it back—”
“Oooh! I know!” Hamilton sounded entirely too cheerful. “Use some of those pickup lines I gave you. That will be my compensation.”
Titan groaned. “I don’t have any on me. But even if I did, I can’t take them out of my pockets.”
“Don’t worry. They’ll be readily accessible when you get back.”
“Why does that sound ominous?”
“They’ll be so accessible, you’ll see them even in your dreams.”
“Those would be nightmares,” Titan said dryly.
Hamilton cackled.
Titan turned his attention to Mathlin and Jannie, who was making cheerful babbling sounds. Mathlin’s footsteps had slowed down; he was panting a little.
“Okay, I think we’re safe now,” Mathlin whispered. “You’re not going to surprise us again, are you?”
“Baba wa,” Jannie said.
Mathlin sighed. “You’re so adorable, even if you make me freak out sometimes.”
His pulse was thundering. Was that from running, or... had he been nervous?
Why would he be nervous? Mathlin was safe at Twin Buns; he knew that.
Titan slowed down to listen.
“Here, look at me, sweetie,” Mathlin said. He waited a moment. “There we go.”
There came a soft purr, and a matching, lower one. From both of them? Titan’s heart skipped.
Mathlin came into view between the trees. Titan spent a moment watching them, Mathlin cradling his baby to himself. He looked so happy to be holding her.
Then it began to feel a little intrusive. Titan stepped on a crunchy leaf.
Mathlin jumped, looking over. “Oh!”
Quick as anything, he glanced at Jannie, as though he was making sure... of what?
Whatever he saw, it relieved him. Mathlin’s shoulders lost their tightness when he looked back up.
“You ran off,” Titan said. “I was worried. Are you okay?”
Mathlin nodded quickly. “Very okay.”
His orange eyes had turned yellow, pupils elongated into slits. Not a wolf. But Titan’s instincts sat up and took notice anyway, pressing just beneath his skin.
“You’re dual species?” Titan asked quietly. “Most people tend to mate within their own species.”
Mathlin ducked his head shyly. “I guess I am. My omega dad was a wizard, and my alpha dad was a shifter. But my omega dad wasn’t particularly strong. Just a bit of healing is enough to knock me out.”
Was and was. Titan’s heart sank. Aside from Jannie, did Mathlin have any family still alive?
But Titan didn’t know a good way to ask without making Mathlin sad.
“I heard a story,” he said instead, stepping close enough that he could see Jannie’s yellow feline eyes. “My alpha friends said you cut up and reattached Walren’s leg.”
Mathlin winced. “We were out in the wilderness when I found him. His ex had beaten him up really badly! He was going to die if I did nothing. So I tried my best to patch him up—I had to remove his shattered knee and join the rest of his leg together, but I couldn’t do a good job because he needed a lot of healing, and I didn’t have enough magic.
I only managed to stabilize him and call 911, and I waited until the paramedics got there.
Then I crawled away and passed out for hours. ”
Despite the sheer magnitude of what he had done, Mathlin still looked doubtful.
Who had taken away his belief in himself?
Titan frowned deeply. “Math, you saved his life. You did a tremendous job.”
Mathlin glanced up, surprise evident on his face. “Really? I couldn’t save his knee. He walks with a limp now.”
Titan growled. “If I had been the one who had found him, he would’ve died. I would’ve picked him up and run to the nearest hospital, but—it was far away, wasn’t it?”
Mathlin nodded uncomfortably.
“I might not have made it in time. I don’t have healing magic like you do. He was better off with you than me.”
“You would’ve just taken out his ex,” Mathlin pointed out. “And saved him from that beating.”
“Well... You have a point. But I wasn’t there. You were. And we’re all grateful for that.”
Mathlin blinked at him, wide-eyed. Then he blushed and ducked his head. “Thanks.”
Titan’s instincts rumbled with pleasure. He ached to pull Mathlin into a hug; he wanted to show Mathlin how appreciated he was. Instead, he sighed, stepping closer. “Damn arms.”
“Would you like another round of healing?”
“You’ve already done a lot today. I don’t want to wear you out again.”
“Just a tiny bit.” Mathlin moved Jannie to his hip. Then he hovered his fingers over Titan’s forearm, and held it there.
Warmth soaked through the cast into Titan’s arm, reaching all the way to his broken bones. It lasted for a few seconds before Mathlin pulled away.
“There. It’s not intense healing; I sped it up by a few hours. But if I do that often enough, it’ll add up. Maybe shave some days off your healing.”
Titan’s heart swelled again. “Thanks.”
“That’s why you’re hiring me, right?” Mathlin looked hopeful.
“Yes,” Titan said. Thankfully, he had been stashing his extra income from the Baby Service; he could afford to pay Mathlin for a while. “C’mon, let’s head back. Hamilton should have the contract ready for you to sign.”
Mathlin perked up. There was a skip in his step as he followed Titan back to the bakery.
He was just a few paces behind Titan when Jannie belched.
Mathlin made a choked sound. By the time Titan turned to see what the matter was, Mathlin was sucking in air like a goldfish out of water. Then the omega coughed and spluttered.
Titan paused, sniffing. Was that... smoke in the air? It wasn’t enough to indicate an ongoing fire. “Why are you breathing that in? It’s not great for you, is it?”
Mathlin squeaked. “I’m breathing in clean air! It tastes like nothing!”
Lie and lie. Titan glanced at Jannie, who had stuffed her hand into her mouth.
Was Titan imagining things, or was that soot on her fingers?
Mathlin looked very uncomfortable, so Titan shrugged and turned toward the bakery. “I saw nothing.”
“Thanks,” Mathlin whispered, his entire body relaxing.
Why was he trying so hard to hide what Jannie was?
“You know you can trust me, right?” Titan said.
Mathlin eyed him warily, but nodded.
The thing was, Titan had been distracted. Because of everything going on with Mathlin, he had forgotten his conversation with Hamilton.
Until they were back at Twin Buns.
A large banner had been hung up across the back of the bakery, with one sentence—in bold—printed across it:
The magical healing cock exists.
Titan stopped abruptly, staring. “What the hell?”
Mathlin followed his gaze. “Oh gods.”
Somewhere in the bakery, Hamilton cackled.
“What is a magical healing cock?” Titan demanded.
Mathlin turned to him, eyebrows raised high. “Have you never heard of it?”
Titan shook his head, his thoughts crashing together. “I’m thirty-two! And I’m older than you by, what, ten years? Why don’t I know about this?”
“It’s a huge thing in fiction,” Mathlin said, his face turning red. “Sometimes a character will sleep with their love interest, and they’ll be magically cured. Either from trauma, or physical injuries. Maybe both. It depends on the author.”
Titan tried to wrap his mind around it. “But it’s just a cock.”
“It’s magical. It helps you transcend reality,” Hamilton sang loudly from inside the bakery. “Maybe you should try it too, Titan.”
Mathlin’s blush intensified. “But it doesn’t make sense in real life! How would a cock make Titan’s bone heal faster?”
“Because you’re being boned, duh,” Hamilton said. Mathlin winced.
Titan groaned. “That’s not funny.”
“Agree to disagree,” Hamilton sang. “If you’re so desperate to be healed, then you should try every possible solution. Including the magical healing cock.”
“Are you suggesting that Mathlin’s is magical?”
Mathlin spluttered.
Hamilton was unfazed. “Mathlin’s hands are magical. Why can’t the other parts of him be magical too?”
Titan dropped his gaze to the front of Mathlin’s pants.
Mathlin whimpered, covering his crotch with his free hand. “This is so embarrassing.”
“Have you performed feats of healing with your pointy bits, Mathlin?” said Hamilton’s disembodied voice.
Mathlin cringed. “Never!”
Hamilton popped out of the back door with a gleeful smile. “In that case, how can you possibly call yourself a healer, Bread Consort?”
“Bread what?” Mathlin squeaked.
Hamilton gave Mathlin a huge wink. “If I were still under Titan’s employ, I would be calling him Bread Master.”
“That sounds terrible,” Titan muttered. “Please don’t.”
“But since I’m not, then Titan is just Titan, but you can still be the Bread Consort,” Hamilton said to Mathlin.
Mathlin’s ears turned red. “I’m just here for the, uh.” He made a vague up-and-down gesture with his loose fist.
“Ah,” Hamilton said sagely. “The Bred Consort.”
Mathlin choked, rocking back and forth on his feet.
Titan tried not to remember Mathlin’s sounds from the restroom earlier. “No one will be bred here,” he hissed at Hamilton.
Hamilton gave him an indulgent smile. “Of course. All you do is put buns in ovens.”
Titan glowered. “Go away.”
“The contract is on your desk,” Hamilton said with a flutter of his fingers. “Have fun with the cream filling.”
Titan strode into the bakery without waiting for Hamilton to disappear. Except the insides of the bakery stopped him short.
Pink satin curtains had been tacked onto all the interior walls. Each curtain bore multiple printed pages—some with crude drawings of cocks, others with medical diagrams of reproductive parts. But the most prominent additions were the long scrolls of paper printed with lines:
Bread Consort, my dough rises for you, and you alone. I want you. I knead you.
In case you haven’t heard, I specialize in brEADING. Breading YOU.
My heart is like an oven. It will make you warm and toasty. More importantly, it’s holding my big, long baguette that will fill you up inside.
Mathlin crashed into Titan’s back with a grunt. He recovered and stepped aside, then froze just like Titan had. “Um.” His gaze flitted from one printed page to the next, eyes growing wider with each passing moment.
“Hamilton,” Titan bellowed. “What the fuck!”
“Do you like it?” Hamilton yelled from somewhere out there. “I’ve been waiting for the perfect time to unleash these on you!”
“You’re fired like an oven!”
“Like a pizza oven? ‘Cause the joke’s on you, Titan, you don’t have one of those!”
Titan was about to snarl. Except Mathlin broke into helpless giggles next to him.
Stunned, he turned to stare at the omega.
“This is crazy,” Mathlin said, laughing harder. “We couldn’t have been gone that long. But now this place looks like someone’s holding a cheap, tacky birthday party in here.”
“It does not look cheap or tacky,” Hamilton howled. “One day, you will look back on this moment and thank me!”
Titan chose to ignore the overwhelming amount of pink. He headed straight for the office. “Mathlin, let’s... pretend those curtains don’t exist. If I had working arms, I would take them all down, but I can’t.”
“It’s okay,” Mathlin said. “It makes this really special. How often do you get to have pink walls in here, anyway?”
Not for the first time, Titan shook his head, stunned by the omega who had stepped into his life. Mathlin was amazing. He was incredible.
But he was here to be Titan’s employee, and nothing more. When his contract was up, he would leave.
All of Titan’s instincts snarled at that.
How do I keep him?