Chapter 6
During dinner, Logan kept an eye on Zane and David, wondering what was so special about the newest member of the Blackwood Pack that Jackson would ask for a picture of him.
He hadn’t told his brother about what happened when Zane and David shook hands, but he’d get to that when he called him later, back in the privacy of his hotel suite.
“David, are you coming back to the hotel with us tonight?” asked Theo.
Zane spoke up, “We haven’t decided what we’re doing, Theo.”
“Where are you from?” asked Norm, then adding quickly, “Not that it matters but I was just wondering.”
“No problem,” David said. “I’m from a region in Italy called Tuscany.”
“I know all about it,” Kieran said. “It was one of the areas my Shaman made me study. I always wanted to go there to see the Church of the Four Gods. From the pictures my Shaman showed me, it’s magnificent, but he told me I couldn’t really appreciate it unless I stood exactly in the center of it, looked up and turned around in a circle and then I’d understand why so many paranormals chose to follow that religion. Have you ever been there?”
Unsure if Kieran was trying to expose him, David felt the urge to vanish again and it was only Zane’s hand holding his that kept him there giving him a sense of calmness. “Yes, I have,” he answered, “but I never did that. What happens when you do the circle thing?”
Shrugging his shoulders, Kieran said, “I don’t know. My Shaman never told me that, only that I would find understanding, but that doesn’t matter to me, I just want to see the architecture…oh, macushla, did you ever go there?”
“No, but I agree with you…it’s a stunning piece of workmanship,” answered Logan, “and it’s one of the finest examples of Ancient High Gothic Celestial architecture left on earth.”
“It’s a church for paranormals? I never heard of it. Can humans go there too?” asked Theo.
“Only if they’re mated to a paranormal,” Kieran said.
“You mean a shifter can have a human for a mate? Pooh bear, did you know that?” Theo asked.
“No, I don’t remember learning that in school,” Norman answered.
“My Shaman,” continued Kieran, “told me it was more common a long time ago, but after humans started to hunt shifters…and when shifters began to go underground, so to speak…the gods decreed it should stop. They also forbade any shifter from disclosing the existence of another.”
Dakota then joined in. “Slate told me the original owners of this pub were a wolf shifter and a human and that’s what saved it when the war against the Scottish wolf shifters occurred.”
“Very true,” Ian’s mother, Lili, joined in. “Your parents would bring you here, Ian, whenever they had to visit Edinburgh. Do you remember?”
“So that’s why I had a déjà vu moment downstairs.” Ian chuckled. “I was chalking it up to my pregnancy hormones.”
Smiling, Lili’s husband, Samuel, said, “Remember dear, we would come here every year for our anniversary.”
Lili ducked her head, giggling, as she remembered what they did afterwards, and said, “Of course I do…and I also recall how beautiful the nights were.”
Seeing Ian blush at his mother’s comment, Colton smirked at the thought his mate wasn’t comfortable about his parents reminiscing about their sex life, so he steered the conversation back to the original topic.
“If I understand you, Kieran, the Church of the Four Gods is also a religion?” asked Colton.
“Uh-huh. My Shaman told me about it but I wasn’t too impressed at the time because my belief in our gods and the Fates was very strong, but seeing the Church of the Four Gods was always something I wanted to do. Hey, macushla, I have a great idea!”
“Oh, no, here we go again!” groaned Theo.
“What do you mean?” Zane asked.
“Anytime, Ki says he has a great idea, beware,” answered Norman.
“P-u-u-leeze, that is so not true,” Kieran said. “I was thinking Logan and I could stop there on our way to Mykonos.”
“Why are you going to Greece?” asked David.
“Oh. My. God. David, you and Zane must come with us since you are newly mated also.”
“What about Slate and me?” asked Dakota. “We’re newly mated too.”
“Absolutely!” cried Kieran. “The more the merrier I’ve always said.”
“Ki, why Greece?” Zane asked.
“It has the very best gay parties with lots of music and dancing, and fabulous theme parties where we can make our own costumes. And then, there are also pool parties with lots and lots of hot sexy men that are about 99% naked.”
“What are they wearing if they are 99% naked?” asked Theo.
“Speedos!” exclaimed Kieran. “Teeny, tiny swim suits that highlight everyone’s assets, if you crotch my drift!” he said, giggling at his play on words.
Theo’s eyes widened then, turning to Norman, he said, “Pooh bear, I want to go there too. Can we, please?”
Norman smirked, he knew exactly why his honeybunch wanted to go. “Sure, if Ki agrees.”
“Oui!” Kieran answered, clapping at the thought of the fun everyone would have.
“Babe, before you buy tickets, I’ll have to check in with Jackson about the work he wants done,” Logan said.
“Oh, I know, macushla,” Kieran said, “I’m just making plans.”
Groaning, Logan murmured, “That’s what concerns me.” Then he lifted his mate onto his lap, nuzzling Kieran’s neck and giving him soft kisses and gentle nips until he got to the mating scar, which he licked.
“Macushla!” Kieran exclaimed, shivering in excitement. “Oh, my gods, that’s what rim…”
Watching Logan place his hand over Kieran’s mouth confused David because, as far as he could tell, Kieran wasn’t doing anything other than talking.
Bile rose in him—the sight of physical restraint brought back bad memories of his time with the High Priestess.
If the Alpha allows this, I don’t want to be in the Blackwood Pack.
Calling forth his ability again, David disappeared, taking Zane with him.
~/~/~/~/~
Zane felt himself sucked into a black hole before emerging in the break room with his mate.
Taking a moment to regain his equilibrium, he looked at David.
“What happened? Sorry, I know what happened but why did you bring us back here? Weren’t you enjoying yourself?
I know my pack can be a little loud, but they don’t mean anything by…
Oh fuck! Did someone insult you? Tell me who it was, and I’ll take care of it. I promise it won’t happen again.”
Staring at his mate, David couldn’t believe his eyes.
How did I bring my mate with me? Nobody told me I could do that.
They told me everything else but why not that?
He looked down, seeing his hand still grasping Zane’s.
Is that why I could do it? Because I was holding on to him?
David raised his hand bringing Zane’s with his, studying them, thinking the secret could be found there.
Finally, when his mind registered what his mate was saying, David looked over at Zane quickly, and said, “Sorry, Zane, I was distracted, but that wasn’t the reason I had to leave.”
“Then, why?”
“I can’t join your Blackwood Pack,” David said, softly. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to bring you with me.”
Pain slashed deeply through Zane when he heard his mate reject him.
Listening to the mournful howl of his wolf, he knew he had to convince David to give him another chance.
“I don’t know what I did wrong, but please give me a chance to make it right, David.
If you don’t want to be in the pack, we can leave and go somewhere else and start our own pack…
just the two of us. I can get a job writing software, so I can take care of us.
If you want to do something else, tell me, I don’t care just as long as we can be together. ”
Seeing the truth of Zane’s words reflected in his eyes, David sighed, knowing it was already too late to think of leaving Zane. His feelings for his mate were too strong, so truth was the only answer. “I can’t stay where physical force is used on someone.”
Zane’s brow furrowed as he tried to figure out what his mate meant. Physical force? No one was doing that. I was only looking at Ki and Logan but…Oh shit! “I think I know what you’re referring to, but Logan wasn’t hurting Ki, he was only trying to shut him up.”
“With a hand…a hand connected to a shifter who’s bigger and more powerful than Kieran?
” David spat, pissed that his mate thought behavior like that was acceptable.
“Is that what you are going to do to me when you don’t like what I’m saying?
You and I both know you have more muscles than I do so can I look forward to the same treatment?
Oh right, it’s okay because you won’t hurt me just force me to be quiet. ”
Stunned at the anger in his mate’s voice, Zane was speechless, not sure how to proceed and, worse yet, as despair settled into the pit of his soul, the fear he’d somehow screwed up his last chance to make things right with David.
~/~/~/~/~
“What the fuck?”
“Where did they go?”
“Is Zane okay?”
“How are we going to get him back?”
“Quiet,” Logan said. “Was anyone watching them?”
“I was,” Dakota said. “Everything seemed fine until you put your hand over Ki’s mouth; then David became frightened, and…poof…gone, like he did before, but this time Zane went with him.”
“What scared him?” Slate asked, looking around the room. “Nobody came in and nothing else changed.”
“I think it has something to do with Logan and Kieran because he was staring at them,” said Dakota.
After listening to their spirit, Logan growled, “Dammit! David didn’t understand we were only joking around.”
“How do we find them now?” asked Theo, worried.
“Our spirit says they’re both safe and down in the break room,” said Logan. “I better go and straighten this out. Babe, you should come too. I think David needs to hear this from you more than from me.”
“Righto,” Kieran said, jumping up from Logan’s lap. “C’mon, macushla, Zane needs our help pronto.”
“Guys, we’ll be right back…hopefully…so when Morgan comes back, tell him to hold off on dessert for a little while,” Logan said, before leaving the dining room with Kieran.
Steering his mate down the hall to the break room door, Logan suddenly heard a loud muffled voice and knew it belonged to David. Exchanging a glance with Kieran, Logan said, “Babe, go knock. I think you should talk to him without Zane or myself in the room.”
“Good idea,” Kieran said, walking the few steps to the door.
Then, knocking loudly, he called out, “David, it’s Kieran, please can I come in?
” Angry footsteps could be heard before the door swung open, slamming back against the wall.
“Hi guys. Zane, please leave David alone with me, okay? I promise he’ll be quite safe with me. ”
Zane looked at his mate, then at Kieran who nodded encouragingly. “Only if it’s all right with David.”
Turning his back on Zane, David said, “It’s fine. Go.”
Touching Zane’s arm, Kieran sent love and reassurance to him before he walked out of the break room, shutting the door behind him.
Standing near the door, Kieran waited until David turned around, then said, “Hey, do you mind if we sit down on the couch?”
“No, I’m sorry, my manners seemed to have left me. Please, have a seat,” David said.
Sitting down, Kieran patted the seat next to him, and when David joined him, he placed a hand on David’s thigh. “Hey, the reason I wanted to speak with you is to correct your impression of what you saw my mate doing to me upstairs.”
“You don’t have too. It’s not my business what your mate does to you.”
“You’re right,” Kieran said, sending love through his touch.
“But I don’t want what we do to affect your relationship with Zane.
I can see how you might have gotten the wrong impression of what was happening when Logan covered my mouth with his hand and I’m betting it happened to you in the past and you didn’t like it.
Maybe hate would better describe how you felt.
” Kieran paused, until David nodded in agreement.
“It’s different with me and Logan. When he does it to me, it’s just foreplay to the great sex we’ll have afterwards.”
Surprised, David looked up at Kieran, assessing the truth of his words. “I don’t understand. How can that be?”
“Hmmm, maybe I should start from the beginning. You and I may have had similar childhoods except my religious teacher treated me very well. I spent most of my time studying and that included everything to do with being gay, once I told him I was only attracted to men. And when I say everything, I mean everything including all the sexual acts gay men engage in. One of the lessons was about rimming…”
“What’s rimming?”
“Ahh, basically when your mate licks around your hole before fucking. Well, anyway, from that time I always wanted to have it done to me so when Logan and I mated, I asked him to rim me.”
“And did he?”
“That would be a big ‘yes’ and it was fantastic so now it is one of my favorite things to have done to me.”
“Sorry, I’m missing something,” David said. “How does that have anything to do with him forcibly shutting you up when you are speaking?”
“I’m getting to that. Sometimes I start talking about him rimming me when there are other people around and my mate doesn’t like to discuss sex in front of his brothers, so he covers my mouth with his hand.
He’s not forcing me to be quiet cause I can pull his hand away at any time I want, but I don’t. ”
“Why not?”
Giggling, Kieran said, “Because I lick his hand, so he knows I want rimming as soon as he can do it.”
“Ohhh,” David said, eyes widening in understanding, “that’s why it leads to having sex.”
“Exactly. It’s a bit of foreplay we can do in front of others without them knowing. They think Logan is doing it because I’m talking about cocks and fucking, but it isn’t.”
“Is it that good?”
“Uh-huh. Wait until you see how it ignites your whole body and drives your need through the roof.”
“Do you think Zane would do it if I ask him to?”
“The only way to know is ask. Don’t be shy, the best thing for your relationship is to always talk to one another.”
David shook his head, before saying, “This is all so unexpected that I’m still getting used to the idea of even having a Fated Mate.”
“You’re doing fine. So what else do you want to know? Might as well take advantage of my vast knowledge of sex,” Kieran said, collapsing into a fit of laughter.