Chapter 5
Five
Miles
By the time we left the haunted house, it was lunchtime, and since neither of us was in the mood to cook, we headed to an Indian restaurant nearby.
While the food was good, it wasn't as good as it'd been when Trick, a human clan member, had worked there as the head chef.
He had his own food truck now, and while he served during the day on weekdays, weekends were evening-only, so we'd have to settle for this.
The few humans who still lived or worked here were used to strange pets and stranger people by now, and no one gave Duckie a second look as he padded in between Mateo and me. We picked a booth in the corner that offered some privacy, and Duckie stood on the curved bench seat between us.
Once we'd placed our order, Mateo turned to Duckie. Are you having a good time?
I am. The people we met today, they were all so... good, Duckie said through the link, sounding almost awed by the fact. I could understand his surprise. Before we came to Mistvale, I'd thought everyone was out to get you in some way. That I couldn't trust anyone except Mateo.
Now? Now I had a contacts list full of people I knew I could trust with my life. With Mateo's life, and now with Duckie's too.
Right? We thought the same when we first got here, Mateo said, and Duckie tilted his head.
You've said that before. Have you not lived here long? he asked, and I blinked, then realized we hadn't told him much about ourselves.
Not exactly, I said, and he turned his head to look at me, his small dark eyes focusing on me with an intensity that looked strange on his duck face.
Our fathers, Cassian and Gus, adopted us when we were ten.
We'd been orphans, and then we'd been abducted by these dark witches who wanted to use our blood for dark magic.
We were rescued by a man named Maximus, and he brought us to Mistvale along with the other kids who'd been held with us.
Our dads adopted us, while Raphael and Jai adopted three siblings, and Cam's dads adopted Amelia, the oldest of us.
Duckie stared at me in silence for a long moment, which was understandable.
It was a lot to unpack, and I'd give him the Cliff's Notes version, leaving out the whole horrible experience before Maximus had found us, or the coin he'd given us to summon him and how long we'd clung to it before we felt safe enough to stash it away in a drawer.
I wanted Duckie to know that we understood whatever he was going through, and we didn't need details to empathize with him.
The server appeared with our food, and since he was a supe, he didn't care in the least as he placed the dish in front of Duckie. Once he'd left, Duckie spoke, even though the supe wouldn't have heard him anyway.
That sounds terrifying. I'm glad you were rescued.
So are we, Mateo chimed in with a smile. Okay, enough with the serious talk. Let's dig in. Duckie, are you okay meeting our dads? You can say no. They'll understand.
I want to. They sound like wonderful people.
They are, I said, smiling at the thought of the men who'd raised me.
Are there a lot of queer people in this town? Duckie asked as he slurped some of his curry. I mean, there's your dads, Raphael and his mates, your brother and his mates... and the woman at the shelter, Rebba, she has a wife.
Mateo snorted, sharing an amused glance with me. Uncle Raph's daughter came out as straight. That should tell you everything.
Wow. Yeah, okay. That's awesome.
The depths of Duckie's knowledge was fascinating. While he'd spent most of his life in his duck form, it was clear he hadn't let that stop him from learning. He was clueless about some things, but he also knew a lot, and I was curious to learn how he'd gained all his knowledge.
I think Fate has a hand in this. There's no way so many queer people could be drawn here without anything to draw them in, I said, and Mateo hummed.
What if Fate is queer too? Duckie asked, and I blinked. I hadn't thought about that, but why not? Fate could be queer. Hell, it was our assumption that she was a woman, but for all we knew she was nonbinary. Or trans. Or a gay man.
That would be awesome, Mateo chimed in, and I nodded.
We chatted about inane things as we ate. Why was it easier to talk to Duckie when it wasn't the two of us? Mateo made things easier, like he always had. Fate no doubt knew how useless I would be without him.
After our lunch, we drove back home, Mateo and Duckie joining me in the car instead of flying back.
Mateo asked to borrow my phone to call our dads, and I handed it over with zero hesitation, eager to dodge that particular bullet.
I listened in as Papa ripped him a new one, with love, of course. Our papa was a 500-plus-year-old vampire, and yet he'd never gotten over his dramatic-teen phase. He would've been right at home in a Shakespearean play.
"The three of you should come over for dinner instead," Papa suggested when Mateo asked them to come over, and I glanced at Duckie in the backseat, sure he could hear the conversation.
I don't mind, he said through our bond, and Mateo passed the message along, which mollified Papa a bit.
The call ended as we reached our place, and I got out before opening Duckie's door so he could hop out. He held my gaze, then sent a soft Thank you through the bond before flying out, and I closed the door behind him, a smile on my face.
Once inside, Mateo started talking about some show he'd been watching, and Duckie listened with interest, so I left them to it, making my way upstairs and to my room.
Sitting down on my bed, I took a deep breath before slowly letting it out, then repeated the process over and over again until my shoulders loosened.
I'd always struggled with letting go of stress, with overthinking and getting anxious about everything and nothing.
I was ecstatic we'd found Duckie, but at the same time, I couldn't help finding the whole situation stressful.
Mateo was handling everything so much better, like he always did. Even when we were kids, he'd dealt with everything so much better.
Relaxing my shoulders, I tried to clear my mind the way Dr. Griffin—the therapist both Mateo and I had seen when our dads first adopted us—had taught me, focusing on my breathing as I cataloged the things in my room, using my various senses to observe and be.
The scent of eucalyptus and peppermint from the candle I liked to burn sometimes, the soft woven blanket under my palms that Noel had gifted me for Christmas one year, the warm orange-and-brown walls that reminded me of the comfort of my childhood home, the framed picture of our dads, my brothers, and April dressed in matching Christmas sweaters—yes, April too—on my desk.
I breathed in deep, then fell back into the mattress and closed my eyes. A few more minutes, and then I'd go back downstairs.
Duckie
Is Miles okay? I asked in concern, then wondered if he could hear me too. I wasn't quite sure how our bond worked.
He is. He gets overwhelmed sometimes. He'll come down when he's ready. Do you wanna watch the show in the meantime?
Yes, please.
Grinning, Mateo turned on the flatscreen, then fell onto the couch, patting the space beside him.
I flew up onto the couch, then settled down beside him, pressing against his side as he flicked through some shows until he found the one he'd been talking about.
He started the first episode, and for a while, we watched in companionable silence.
Having a friend was a new thing for me, but if this was what it was like, I had missed out on something wonderful all these years.
What would my life be like if that night had never happened? Would I be as carefree as Mateo?
But his life hadn't been all rainbows and sunshine either, had it? In some ways, Miles and Mateo had had it much worse than me. And yet here they were, living their lives without fear, without hesitation. Why couldn't I do that too?
"Hey, you okay?" Mateo murmured, and his voice pulled me out of my thoughts.
Yeah, I said through the link, and he accepted it with a smile, then glanced back at the screen.
Was it unfair that they'd told me about their past but I hadn't shared mine? It wasn't like I didn't want to. Mateo had changed the subject before I could say anything—though I wasn't sure I would've found the words to say it then—and I didn't think I could bring it up.
Shaking my head, I focused on the show, deciding I could worry about it later.
Miles came downstairs around twenty minutes later, and settled in on my other side without a word. I fluffed up my wings so they brushed his arm, and jerked my gaze away when his eyes flicked to me.
If I was in my human form, I was sure I'd be blushing like mad. Could they hear my heartbeat? Could they hear how it was racing like a horse?
It took me a few minutes to calm down, but once I did, it was easy to lose myself in the show. Something in my chest felt loose and relaxed by Miles and Mateo's presence, and I wondered if that was our mate bond I was sensing.
"We should get ready and head over," Miles said as Mateo was about to start the next episode, and Mateo glanced over at the clock, then sighed.
"You're right."
Can we watch more later? I asked, curious how the story would go.
"Of course!" Mateo agreed with a grin. "I knew you'd like it."
Mateo and Miles went upstairs to get dressed, and while neither of them had explicitly asked me not to follow, I stayed downstairs. It wasn't like I needed to change.
Ten minutes later, my mates came back downstairs.
Mateo was dressed in a light blue t-shirt and navy jeans, while Miles wore a form-fitting dark blue button-down and faded jeans.
My eyes lingered on his rolled-up sleeves, but I forced my gaze away.
Mateo grinned at me, and waggled his brows when our eyes met, and I wished I could stick my tongue out at him.
"Our dads live quite close. How do you feel about walking there?" Mateo asked, and I shrugged.
I don't mind walking. It would also give me a chance to see the town in a different light. I'd seen it from the sky, and through a car window, so it was only fair to experience it this way as well.
Once Miles had locked up, I fell into step with the twins as they walked down the street, pointing out various houses and telling me a bit about their residents. While not all of the supes in town were members of their clan, the clan still had some basic information about them.
When I was younger, my parents and I had lived in a big town surrounded by humans.
We'd always been careful, and we hadn't even known the names of all the people in our neighborhood, let alone the whole town.
I wondered if that night would've taken a different direction if we'd lived in a town like this, if we'd had neighbors who looked out for each other.
"Okay, here we are," Mateo declared, and I glanced up at the house we'd stopped in front of.
It was a large, stone bungalow, and it reminded me of something from an old gothic movie.
A short driveway led up to a wide porch and dark wooden doors, and I took it all in, my eyes wide in wonder.
On either side of the driveway were flowering bushes, and trees that butted up against the street.
It's... amazing, I said, making Mateo chuckle.
A large owl—an eagle owl maybe?—hooted from one of the trees, then flew down toward us as Miles held his arm out. It landed on his arm with a practiced precision as Miles smiled at it.
"Hey, April. Did the dads ask you to keep a lookout?" he asked, then turned to me.
"Duckie, this is April. She's Dad's familiar," Miles introduced. "April, this is Duckie, our mate."
April glanced over at me, then chirped. I ducked my head in greeting, admiring the brown-and-white eagle owl with orange eyes.
Now that I knew they were adopted, everything made a lot more sense, including the fact that their father was a mage.
"She's also our third parent, in a way. Or maybe our nanny," Mateo added with a grin. "We spent a lot of time as owls when we were younger, and she kept us in line so our dads wouldn't worry."
Miles smiled with a hint of a flush coloring his cheeks, then shook his head. "Come on. Let's head inside before Papa comes looking for us."
"Or it starts raining," Mateo added as he glanced at the darkened sky where the moon was barely managing to peek through the clouds. He'd told me all about how unpredictable the Mistvale weather could be because of the storm dragon watching over it, though I hadn't gotten to see it myself.
As Miles and Mateo headed up the driveway, I trailed after them, taking in a deep breath to brace myself.
They hadn't told me much about their dads except that they'd adopted them and were wonderful people.
I hoped they liked me, and that they weren't put off by the fact that I wouldn't—couldn't—shift back.