Chapter 29
Logan was uneasy as he watched his mate finish his breakfast, waiting for the right time to pose his questions about Kieran’s life.
No longer caring what his mate was, he’d given all of himself last night and now carried Kieran inside him.
In his past, that news would have been unsettling at the very least, but now Logan welcomed it and found he wanted more.
Seeing his mate place his fork on his empty plate, Logan began.
“Mo anan cara, can we talk this morning?”
Sighing, Kieran responded, “Sure, I guess you want to know what I am and what happened last night.”
“Nope,” Logan said, smiling at the surprised look on Kieran’s face.
“I mean, I suppose at some point, yeah, but not right now because I don’t care.
I mean I care but it isn’t important to me because I love you, all of you and as far as I’m concerned, it’s immaterial.
I want you to know that it is you I love, not because of who you are or what you can do, but just you…
my pink-loving mate…who came into my life and made it far better than I ever thought it could be.
So, my first question is why do you love pink? ”
Kieran nearly swooned at his mate’s declaration of love because it was what he’d been looking for his entire life.
Someone who would see him—just him—not someone who could be sold and traded at will or someone with powers, but a mate who would want him with no thought of how to benefit from who he was.
He gazed at Logan, love shining in his eyes, and said, “Because pink represents unconditional love and understanding…and hope…the three things that are me…the three things that define me and give me my power.” Then grinning impishly, he added, “Besides, it’s so gay, isn’t it? ”
Chuckling, Logan said, “Yes, it is, but why do you feel the need to tell everyone you’re gay?”
Thinking about the question, Kieran’s solemn face stared back, “Because it makes shifters’ feelings that are normally kept hidden rise to the surface and I can immediately see who has hatred in their hearts.”
“Kinda like waving a red flag in front of a bull, eh?”
“Exactly! The other reason is that pink makes me happy. When I was locked up in a cage at Arald’s, the thing I missed most was seeing the sunrise. Have you ever seen one?”
“I guess. But I haven’t seen one in a while.”
“Oh, no! That has to change! Tomorrow we’ll get up early to watch it.
It is freaking amazing. Just before the sun peeks over the horizon…
before you can see it…for a brief moment in time, the sky is pink signaling a new beginning, a new hope.
When Cody freed me, the next morning I rose in the dark and stood at a window looking at the sky, waiting to see my pink, wanting to see my new beginning and wanting to fill my soul with hope that my life would be different,” Kieran said, his voice low and filled with emotion.
“When I saw the pink…the day after I’d gotten everyone free who’d been in Arald’s house of horrors…
I vowed I would always watch the sunrise whenever I could because during all those days, when I was caged, I couldn’t see the one thing that would have given me hope. ”
Logan reached out his arms, inviting his mate to come to him, and when Kieran jumped up and sat on his lap, he encircled his mate with his strong arms, hugging him tightly. “I think I need to see a sunrise with you,” Logan said, his voice rough as his eyes filled with tears.
Nodding, Kieran added, “You won’t be disappointed, I promise you.”
“I agree,” Logan said. Standing, while keeping his mate in his arms, Logan moved to the sofa and sat down with Kieran on his lap. “Do you mind if I ask you about your childhood?”
“Nope, but it wasn’t very interesting or fun.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Well, I told you I was found under the ancient oak tree by my father, and then he gave me to my Shaman for money. I lived with my Shaman until I turned eighteen…that’s when the Alpha gave me back to my parents and, well, you know the rest.”
Nodding, Logan said, “I got all that, but tell me about your time with the Shaman. What did you do as a child? As a teenager?”
“Studied.”
“School? Yeah, so did I, but what did you do for fun?”
“Nothing, I just studied.”
Shocked, Logan stared at his mate. “Nothing? I don’t understand. Didn’t you have a hobby? Or a pet?”
Shaking his head, Kieran tried to figure out how to describe his life.
“From the time I can remember anything, my Shaman was always teaching me about anything and everything. For instance, I spent years learning about being gay…like how to have sex and what was required if I was a top or a bottom. And I was taught to trust my instincts and wear what I wanted, regardless of what others thought. He took me to my first gay club, so I would feel comfortable in one. I studied everything he could find about gay wolf shifters, so I knew the world I was a part of. I never suffered like Theo and Norman or you, for that matter…you know, made to feel ashamed…in fact just the opposite.”
“Wow, ahhh, yeah, that is quite different from my experience.”
Giggling, Kieran said, “One time my Shaman gave me a book and told me to read it and then he would test me. Guess what I learned?”
“Not a clue. What?”
“The meaning of emojis for gays! It was so much fun…my Shaman would send me some and I had to tell him what he was saying.”
“You mean he taught you sexting?”
Giggling ended up as laughter when Kieran saw the look on Logan’s face. “Uh huh, my Shaman wanted to make sure I knew everything about being gay. Do you wanna see?”
“Yeah, go ahead send me one.”
Kieran pulled out the phone he’d bought at the mall, entered Logan’s number, and then entered some emojis before hitting send.
Logan’s phone dinged, and he looked at it. “A donut and a tongue?”
“Yes, it’s what I asked you to do to me yesterday.”
Logan thought back on their day and then smirked. “You want me to rim you!”
Giggling, Kieran nodded as he started to grind his ass against Logan’s groin, before sending another text.
Logan looked at his phone again and smiled. He knew this one. “You want to give me a blow job?”
Laughing, Kieran swatted his mate. “No I want one!”
“Hmmm, I’ll think about it,” Logan said, giving Kieran a quick kiss. “Other than sexting, what else did you study?”
“Designing clothes! One day, my Shaman saw me drawing an outfit I wanted to make for myself and he asked if I enjoyed designing clothes and I told him ‘yes’ so the next thing I knew he’d signed me up for an online course.
I loved it and then I started taking the stuff I learned and used it to redesign my room.
Once I asked him why he wanted me to do it when that wasn’t my purpose on earth. ”
“And his answer was…?”
“He wanted me to have a trade in case I never met my Fated Mate.”
“What do I have to do with it?”
“Cuz when I meet my Fated Mate, my powers grow to full strength. I know you love me but…”
“Mo anan cara, I think it’s time we talk about what you are. Is that what you were going to say?”
Kieran lowered his eyes and bit his lower lip, because now that the time had come, he was frightened about how his mate would react.
Up until now, he could pretend he was just a normal wolf shifter who fell in love with his mate and they’d live happily ever after, but that wasn’t necessarily how it would be.
The sooner he faced it, the sooner the last, little doubt would become dust and fly away—or he would once again face rejection.
Kieran opened his eyes just as a knocking sound echoed through the room.
Logan called out, “Come in!”
Thomas entered with Oracle behind him. “Sir, you have a visitor and she insisted on following me up here. Do you want me to show her to the downstairs sitting room?”
Logan felt Kieran stiffen in his lap and felt his apprehension. “Kieran, do you want Oracle present while we talk?” he said in a very low voice.
“Yes,” came the whispered response.
“Thanks Thomas, but that won’t be necessary.
Hello Oracle, won’t you join us?” Oracle’s gentle smile graced her face as she glided into the room and sat opposite them, setting a small bag at her feet.
As Thomas backed out of the room, Logan said, “Please see that we are not disturbed. I’ll let you know if we need anything. ”
“Certainly, sir,” Thomas said as he left the room and closed the door.
Logan glanced at his mate and then at Oracle. “I assume you are here to tell me about my gift from the Fates.”
“Yes, I am, but I am also here for Kieran.”
“For me? Why?” asked Kieran.
“To tell you the story of your birth, why you were selected by the Fates, answer any questions you may have and to support you in any way needed,” said Oracle.
“I know the story of my birth.”
“I am afraid not, Kieran. You know the story your parents told you, but it was based on their limited knowledge,” said Oracle.
“Mo anan cara, do you want to hear the story, or would you prefer not to know,” asked Logan.
“Please, I want to.”
Logan then said, “Oracle, if you would.”
“Kieran’s birth parents were Irish wolf shifters and Fated Mates, and very much in love.
To their dismay, they remained childless, but they had each other and by all accounts were very happy as they worked their little plot of land for many years.
But your birth mother continued praying to the gods, the Fates, anyone who might help her conceive a pup.
“She held on to her hope for a long time and, just as she was about to lose the last of it, the Fates granted her wish and your mother became pregnant with you. While your parents were overjoyed and looked forward to your birth so very much, there were dark forces in play that eventually found their way to Ireland.”
“What were the dark forces?” Kieran quietly asked, enthralled with the story.
“There were a group of humans whose self-appointed mission in life was to destroy all wolf shifters. They developed a virus which would weaken a wolf shifter until he was unable to survive. They used meat…a staple of wolf shifters…to spread the virus and they started in Ireland.”
“Is that what happened to my parents…my birth parents?” asked Kieran.
“Yes, your father lived long enough to see you born and it was the happiest day of his life. He named you Kieran because of your dark hair.”
“My wolf is black.”
Oracle nodded, “Yes, a true contradiction.”
“What do you mean by that, Oracle?” asked Logan.
“I cannot tell you as that is under Kieran’s control.”
“Oh, for goodness sake, she means I’m an Omega wolf shifter, Logan,” said Kieran.
“An Omega? A male Omega Wolf Shifter? But they have to be white!” exclaimed Logan.
“That’s why she said I was a contradiction. Is this a problem for you?”
Logan stared at his mate—surprised but elated—and shook his head before finally finding his voice, “Never in a million years, mo anan cara!”
Kieran beamed, one of his fears banished, then he said, “Please go on, Oracle. What happened to my birth mother?”
“You were only a week old when she realized she had caught the virus through some meat she had bought from a passing salesman. Her anger was swift at the Fates and gods who would be so heartless to leave you alone in the world, with no hopes of surviving on your own. Then she cried…cried for her dead mate, cried for herself, but most of all cried for you because she had no way to protect you from all the evil in the world.”
Logan held his now-crying mate tightly, crooning words of love to Kieran while listening to his sobs of sorrow.
Tears welled in Logan’s eyes as he wondered how much more of this heartbreaking story Kieran could take.
When the room grew silent, and his mate’s tears stopped, Logan murmured, “Mo anan cara, what do you want to do? Do you want Oracle to go on?”
Kieran raised his tear-streaked face to Logan’s, giving him a gentle kiss, then whispered, “Please…”
After receiving a nod from Logan, Oracle continued, “Realizing her time was growing short on earth, she pleaded with the gods and Fates who had given you life to take you as one of their own and protect you. No one had ever asked the gods and Fates this before and, after much discussion, they agreed, so your mother was instructed to take you to the ancient oak tree near the Hill of Tara, a sacred site.”
Oracle paused before continuing, “Your mother was very sick and knew her end was near, so she bundled you up, wrapping you in the clothes and blanket she made and, tucking in a letter to you, she made the trip. She was close to death, but by sheer grit and her love for you, she arrived at the spot where she made a bed of grass for you to lie on. Then saying a prayer of thanks to the gods and Fates, she died with her arms around you.”
A loud wail filled the room as Kieran felt his mother’s pain and suffering.
Clinging to Logan, needing his mate’s strength to comfort him, Kieran realized how perfect they were for each other as Logan soothed him.
His mind was filled with images of his mother and her last few minutes on earth, her whispers suffusing his soul, giving him all her love.
Finally, Kieran understood where the love had come from and why it endured when his world fell apart after he was sold to Arald.
My mother was with me all the time! I was wanted, I was loved!
And as that realization hit him, a new wave of tears streaked his cheeks. But they were tears of happiness.