Chapter Four
Carter
“What do you mean Bas is moving in?” he demanded barely above a whisper. Carter had been told that the shifters could hear most everything. And, okay, while Carter was willing to admit that made sense in this strange paranormal story he found himself in, the words his brother was saying did not.
Hudson shrugged. “We’re mates.”
Pinching the ridge of his nose, Carter forced himself to remain calm. This couldn’t be happening. Not right now. He was just starting to think that he could handle all this information that had dropped on his lap and now this.
“I could move into his cabin with him,” Hudson said. “I…I just didn’t want to leave you. Not…yet.”
Carter dropped his hand. “I don’t want you to leave either.” That was the truth. He just hadn’t expected for Hudson to bring home a man that neither of them barely knew.
“So that means Bas is going to live with us!” Hudson replied cheerfully.
Great. Awesome. It was bad enough that Hudson and Bas had interrupted what Carter was sure was going to be his and Aaron’s first kiss, but now this? It was a lot to take in.
“I mean”—Hudson gave Carter a huge grin—“you have a man here.”
Carter rolled his eyes. “He’s helping me take care of the puppies.”
“Mmm-hmm.” Hudson’s smile grew. “I still haven’t heard about how you ended up in the middle of the state park rescuing three puppies. That doesn’t sound like something you’d normally do on your day off. Unless there is something that you haven’t been telling me?”
“Don’t you have a man to help settle in?” Carter asked. He had no problem throwing his brother in Bas’s direction if it got Carter out of answering all his brother’s nosy questions. At least that would be a benefit of Bas just moving in. No notice or anything.
“He’s taking a shower,” Hudson responded. “He said it was too peopley in all the stores.”
Glancing over Hudson’s shoulder, Carter could see about halfway into the living room with the way the walls were placed.
Aaron was placing a pad and some toys into the kennel that Carter had built earlier.
He’d been planning on something simple just for the night but the excitement in Aaron’s eyes when Carter had grabbed his toolbelt made Carter want to show off a little.
Had he been showing off? Maybe a little.
“He’s cute, right?” Hudson asked.
Carter grunted. This wasn’t a conversation that he was going to have with his younger brother. Even back in Boston, Carter hadn’t been big on introducing the men or women that he dated. Hudson was a born romantic and settling down hadn’t been on Carter’s mind.
Now that they’d moved and Carter had more time to focus on a partner, he wondered if it was time to do just that.
Aaron was cute. Earlier when Carter had finished dinner, he’d gone into the living room to find Aaron with his head tilted back onto the couch cushion with his eyes closed.
He’d been drawn forward with the desire to be closer without having Aaron’s big eyes peering back at him.
Aaron had looked like an angel.
Seriously. With the lights low so the pups weren’t disturbed and Aaron relaxing, it had been hard to keep himself back. He’d ended up staring down close at Aaron, noticing for the first time the small cluster of freckles under his eyes, hidden by the dark circles.
And the almost kiss? Carter ached to feel Aaron’s lips against his.
“Fine,” Hudson huffed. “If you’re going to be boring, then I’m going to make sure that Bas is all moved into my room.”
“We should really talk about this.” Carter rubbed the back of his neck.
“What’s there to talk about? We’re mates. I want to live here with him and you. We’ll probably spend my off shifts at the cabin, but otherwise, you have a new roommate.”
Carter should say no. Offer other suggestions. Except he didn’t want Hudson living out by the state park so far away from him. “Keep down the noise.”
Hudson frowned. “It’s not like we play the music loud or anything. We’re not throwing a party in my bedroom.”
“You know what I mean,” Carter said with a growl. “I don’t want to hear you and Bas…together.” Even brothers had to have limits.
Hudson’s frown deepened before his cheeks brightened and he looked away. “Oh my god! Really, Carter?”
“I’m just saying.” Now it was his turn to tease his brother. “Either keep it down or have Bas buy you a gag.”
Hudson’s cheeks burned hotter. “Carter!”
Striding from the kitchen, Carter winked at his brother. He entered the living room just as Aaron was lowering himself on the couch.
“They asleep?” Carter asked quietly.
“Yes, finally. They really do need names,” Aaron responded.
He’d been trying to get Carter to name the three puppies all day. Carter had been hesitant. He knew once he named them, they would be his. They already were really but naming them just seemed more permanent.
He sat at the opposite end of the couch. “I’ve never named puppies before.”
“Well neither have I,” Aaron replied with a huff.
“Well…” Carter drawled. “There are three of them. We could name them…like the Three Stooges?” It was an awful suggestion and he knew it.
Aaron groaned. “Veto!”
Chuckling, Carter shook his head. “It was really all I can come up with.” He was terrible at this.
Hudson paused in the middle of the living room as he’d been heading back toward the bedrooms. He looked from Carter to Aaron to the sleeping pups in their kennel. “What about Aragorn, Legolas, and Arwen?”
Carter froze. Those…those were perfect names.
“From the Lord of the Rings?” Aaron asked.
Hudson smirked in Carter’s direction. “It is his favorite movie. We’ve seen it a hundred times.”
Narrowing his eyes, Carter pointed toward the back of the house. “Bed, brat! You have work tomorrow.”
“You’re welcome!” Hudson singsonged before scurrying from the room.
Aaron laughed softly. “I like it. Aragorn for the bigger serious boy. Legolas for our little chaos gremlin, and Arwen for our sweet girl.”
Our. Each time that Aaron said our, Carter’s heart filled with hope. “See! Now they’re named. That wasn’t so hard.”
“Because your brother named them!” Aaron reminded him.
“I’ll get them collars tomorrow,” Carter decided. He also needed to find a vet. Being a pet parent was going to be expensive. And time-consuming.
“I can take them to the office with me when you’re working,” Aaron offered. “I’m sure Aspen would love to help with puppies.”
“Aspen?” That was a new name. And why did Aaron smile so sweetly when he said it? Carter rubbed his chest, irritated, even though he knew he shouldn’t be.
“Our fae receptionist.” Aaron wiggled his eyebrows. “Sweet kid. First job and the first time in this realm. He’s young and excitable. Kind of like Legolas.”
“The blond?” Carter had remembered seeing a young man hovering when he’d carried Aaron into the office after the vision he’d had on the street.
“That’s him. We’re still setting up the office, so there isn’t much he can do yet except make coffee and help empty boxes. Eventually I hope his natural friendliness will put our clients at ease,” Aaron said.
“Your paranormal clients,” Carter replied.
Aaron nodded. “Yes. We want to offer help to those in the paranormal community who either don’t trust the paranormal council or don’t want to involve them.”
This Carter was excited to talk about. He wanted to know more about Aaron. “Why wouldn’t they trust the council? You said you used to work for them.”
“I also said they’re assholes,” Aaron reminded him.
That was true. In Carter’s experience, most government agents were kind of dicks.
When Carter had worked with federal agents before, they had always rubbed him wrong.
It seemed that there weren’t many differences between the human and paranormal world.
Other than the whole turning-furry thing.
Carter wasn’t sure how he was going to deal with knowing his future brother-in-law, or was Bas already his brother-in-law?
Anyway knowing Bastian could turn into the cat Bas was just strange.
Aaron sighed, drawing Carter’s attention back to him. “There are some good people in the council. It’s just that the missions should be about helping people and it’s more on making sure the council’s rules are being followed.”
“Like most government agencies,” Carter offered. See! He had been right. It actually made Carter feel better that he wasn’t completely out of his depth here.
“Pretty much. We’ve sat down with Axel and the other guys.
Talked to them about what they’ve run into over the years.
Where we could do the most good. Shifter communities were being used and wiped out by magic.
There was a brief resurface of a hunter group.
As far as I know, the council hasn’t done much about any of that.
We want to be the ones that people can call on when they’re really in trouble. ”
“It would be hard for them to go to human authorities,” Carter said.
What could he do if a paranormal being caused trouble in his town?
Before he’d known about the paranormal, Carter would have tried to help, but he wasn’t sure how that would have been possible. There was so much that he didn’t know.
“Exactly. These communities are at a disadvantage if they don’t have a strong alpha.
Sometimes even if they do. Bas traveled around the entire country after he retired.
When he came across communities or packs that needed helped, he stepped up.
We’re hoping some of those people can spread the word that we want to help them. That we’re good guys.”
“It can’t be easy. Organizing all this,” Carter said.
“We are in the very beginning stages of planning. It’s moving a lot faster than I’d thought.”
“But you don’t actually have anything you’re working on?” Carter questioned.
Aaron paused. “Not exactly.”
That surprised him. “Already?”