11. Chapter Nine #2
“No. I just…I need to get to know you first. I wasn’t raised as a paranormal like you were. With all your customs and traditions. I wasn’t even raised knowing paranormals existed. I need to go slow. I’m not ready to meet your family.”
“So, you want to date me?”
“Yes.”
“All right. It’s a little unorthodox, but I think I can manage it.”
Lucas thought about that for several seconds. Unorthodox. The word made Lucas chuckle. “Are you serious right now? That’s how normal human beings start a relationship.”
Bennett raised one eyebrow as if to say he wasn’t a human.
“Yeah, okay.”
After that, there was an uncomfortable silence. “Mind if I hop in your shower,” Lucas hoped the guy would take the hint.
Bennett grunted a response that Lucas took to mean he could, but he never actually moved from the room.
“Can I get undressed now, please?”
Bennett’s eyes flashed to that of his dragon.
Lucas was finally starting to understand that the eyes flashing thing meant Bennett was horny or protective of Lucas, not that he was angry.
Lucas probably wouldn’t be so scared of him, but Bennett was so much bigger than Lucas.
It was hard to think of him as anything but dangerous, especially after the vampires attacked him and killed Shawn.
“Alone.”
“Oh.” Bennett gripped his nape, kissing him quickly. When he pulled back, he said, “I can’t be very far from you right now. My dragon doesn’t like it. ”
“Well, he’s gonna have to deal with it, Bennett, because I’ve had just about all the weird I can handle for one day,” Lucas said and pointed to the bathroom door. He wasn’t giving in and he tried to make his expression reflect that.
Bennett’s eyes widened with surprise and then he smiled. “Okay, baby. I’ll give you privacy.”
“Um…what about clothes?”
“I’ll lay them out on the bed for you.” Bennett kissed him one last time before he turned and left the room.
Lucas couldn’t help the smile that played on his lips.
Lucas got out of the shower with a towel wrapped around his waist. He tentatively opened the door and peeked around the corner.
He breathed a sigh of relief when he didn’t see anyone and pulled the door open all the way.
Bennett had laid folded clothes on the bed.
That small gesture melted Lucas’ heart even more.
Lucas shook his head at the underwear Bennett had given him, holding them up to his nose. He pulled them away in disgust. He didn’t need to be a shifter to know those smelled like they’d never been worn by Bennett. Brand new pair in fact. He wanted to smell like Bennett, damn it.
They were very big, but Lucas thought they would fit him around the waist. He pulled them on under the towel and then unwrapped it.
They hung off him. He smirked at himself.
They looked completely ridiculous, but it wasn’t as if anyone would see them.
He pulled the sweatpants on next and had to draw the strings as tight as they would go to keep them from falling down around his hips.
He held up the shirt Bennett had picked for him, giggling like a girl when he saw the image on it and thanking whatever god was up there that no one was in the room to hear it.
It was a white shirt with a black dragon, like the one he’d seen in Bennett’s mind .
Lucas held it to his nose and smelled that cinnamon scent all over it. The smell calmed him, relaxing him to a degree he hadn’t experienced in a long time. He pulled the shirt over his head and sighed.
There was a knock on the door and Lucas said, “Come in.”
He expected it to be Bennett or maybe Forrest, but a middle-aged lady walked through the door. She had blonde hair with gray streaking through it. She smiled kindly at him. “Oh, I can already tell you’re perfect for my Bennett. You have fire in your eyes. You’ll need it when Bennett gets stubborn.”
“I can’t imagine Bennett being stubborn.” Lucas was starting to believe Bennett was one big giant teddy bear. Or rather a soft, cuddly dragon.
“Give it time.” She shook her head at the unmade bed. “When he lived at home, he always had to make his bed.”
“I always make mine. Every morning. It’s a habit,” Lucas said and eyed her. “You’re like me, aren’t you?”
“Yes,” she said and smiled at him curiously.
“Is this the part where I let you read me?”
“If you’d like. Or we could just talk first.” She sat on the bed and patted the space next to her.
For a witch, she dressed like anybody else would.
He half expected her to be the earthy grandmother type like Cassie.
Instead, she had on a pair of Capris pants and a pink shirt that said Nashville on it. He walked over to her and sat.
It was kind of weird being in a room that smelled so much like Bennett, sitting on the man’s bed, with his mother.
“So Bennett and Forrest tell me you didn’t grow up knowing you were a witch.”
“No.”
“I imagine you’re probably getting headaches then. If no one is teaching you how to let out your abilities they’ll collect,” she said .
“I was but since I’ve been on the run I’ve learned to balance it out,” he explained to her.
“Oh, that’s a good word. ‘Balance’. Tell me, what do you practice on?”
“Practice? I don’t know if I’d call it that. It’s more like letting a plant die and giving the light to it so it will come back.”
“I’ve never met anyone that had an ability to heal. Only male witches can do that.”
“Wouldn’t I be called a warlock then? I thought they were male witches.”
“A warlock is witch-like, in that he uses magic. But a warlock has to channel the dark ancestors in order to use it.” She waved a hand at Lucas.
His confusion must have come through on his face.
“It’s a complicated business. Just know that your magic comes directly to you and can be used whenever you want, you don’t have to go through all those complicated channels like a warlock does. ”
“So warlocks are weaker?”
“Not at all. They are just different. All of the magical beings are all relatively similar to each other. Just like shifters and humans. All except for you. You’re very unique, Lucas.”
“I’ll show you how I can heal if you want to see.”
“I’d love to watch.”
“I lose control of it sometimes.” Lucas looked down at his hands.
“I’ll help you with that part. And Bennett will help you get control of all your other abilities once you mate properly.”
“I have others?”
“Oh, yes. We’ll talk about them later. But one will be the ability to help Bennett protect you.”
“He’s going to protect me from the vampires? That’s like his job now? ”
“More like his instinct. You’ll want to protect him too. Once you settle in, you’ll feel it. You’ve had a hard few months haven’t you, Lucas,” she whispered and took his hand.
He nodded and had to fight back tears at the caring in her expression. It was as if her giving a voice to his situation brought back all the loneliness of the last couple of months. And then he thought about Shawn. His friend was gone now. He couldn’t help but think it was his fault.
“Oh, my sweet boy. You have come to the right town it seems. We’ll keep you safe. My sons will make sure those men don’t hurt you.”
“I have a question about something. If you’ve never met anyone with the ability to heal, then that means I’m the only one. Is that why I’m being hunted?”
“Yes. That’s it exactly.”
“Oh.” Lucas didn’t have anything else to say. It sounded as if he would be hunted for the rest of his life and if he stayed, what kind of trouble was he bringing to their doorstep? It hardly seemed fair to drag them into his problems.
He had to really think about whether staying was worth getting people killed.
It seems he already did that once. Maybe.
Even if Shawn wasn’t dead, he was still hurting because of Lucas.
It didn’t matter that Shawn had betrayed him by handing him over to the vampires.
He had had a change of heart and that was where Lucas would focus.
She let his hand go when someone knocked.
“Are you done, mother? Can I have my mate back now? My dragon’s going crazy.” Bennett’s voice, muffled by the door, sent jolts of pleasure through Lucas.
Bennett’s mother grinned and shook her head. “Yes. ”
The knob turned and Bennett seemed to swallow up the spaces around them. His eyes flashed to the dragon and his nostril’s flared. Forrest grinned as he entered the room behind him.
“Forrest, honey, let’s leave the room.” Their mother stood. He heard the door close gently as Bennett covered Lucas, forcing him to lie on the bed.
Lucas wrapped his arms around Bennett’s neck and met his lips halfway. It was as if they had been apart for days rather than a few minutes. It had been less than an hour.
When Bennett’s tongue licked across his lips, Lucas opened for him.
That tongue invaded his mouth and he got his first real taste of Bennett, even as his mind told him to stop it.
It was too fast. And then Bennett did a biting thing to Lucas’ lip that made all thoughts go right out of his head and the blood ran straight to his dick.
Lucas wrapped his legs around Bennett’s waist and kissed him again. Bennett even tasted of cinnamon. He moaned, his fingers lacing through the dark hair on his head.
Bennett broke the kiss suddenly and panted against Lucas’ lips.
“Why’d you stop?” Lucas asked.
“You want to date, right? Like humans do,” Bennett said.
Oh yeah. Lucas was starting to think dating was highly over-rated. “Right. I lost myself.”
Bennett grinned.