CHAPTER ONE
Their Tony was sad. Taron wasn’t sure why, but as the weather changed and the year came closer to an end, he felt more and more that something was wrong with their mate.
He was more quiet than usual, and he sighed a lot, and sometimes when he thought no one was looking, he kept checking his phone.
But no matter how many times Taron pestered him, Tony only said he was okay. Which he clearly was not.
“You’re seeing this, right?” Taron demanded of Zephyr.
“Let it be, T,” Zephyr replied calmly, his focus on prepping dinner. They took turns, and Taron definitely looked forward to Zephyr’s nights when he made recipes from home, but it was hard to enjoy it when he was so concerned for his Tony.
“Are you saying you’re not worried?”
Zephyr sighed, putting down the knife to look over his shoulder at where Tony was sitting outside on a kitchen chair he’d dragged outside to enjoy the nice weather.
Taron had read online that humans were like plants.
They needed plenty of sunlight to be happy.
But even the sun and the view of the ocean wasn’t making a difference anymore. Tony still looked unhappy.
“I am worried, but we can’t force him to talk to us before he’s ready. You know that.”
True, he did know that. He also knew he couldn’t just sit there and let Tony be so unhappy. He couldn’t take it. It hurt his heart to see his mate so sad.
Pulling out his phone, he shot off a text to the two people he knew could help him. If anyone could figure out what was wrong and how to fix it, it was them.
“I’ve got a meeting with Ozen this morning,” Taron said airily as he came out of his office.
Tony looked up from his computer, considering him. “I don’t have a meeting on the schedule. Did it come up last minute?”
There was no judgement in his tone, only patience and affection.
Taron loved him so much. Not even Alanna was as understanding as Tony was.
She’d at least give him a look of annoyance if he didn’t inform her of a meeting beforehand.
Tony just pulled up the schedule on his computer and inputted the information.
“Yep. Ozen texted me last night. Sorry I didn’t mention it sooner.”
Tony scanned the schedule thoughtfully. “You have a meeting with research at ten. Will you be done by then, or should I delay it?”
Gods, he hoped it wouldn’t take that long. It shouldn’t take two hours to figure out a plan to help his mate, right?
Tony looked up at him, patient as always as he waited for Taron’s reply. Taron wanted to smother him with kisses, but he needed to get to Ozen’s office if he wanted to have any time to talk to his friend without encroaching on his own meetings.
“Nope, should be fine. I’ll text you if that changes.
” He leaned over, kissing Tony’s cheek, because he couldn’t help himself.
He knew better than to think he could kiss him on the lips and just walk away, he’d definitely end up making out with the sexy man, but not kissing him at all wasn’t possible either.
Tony’s smile was warm when he looked up at him, and some of the distance Taron had felt melted away when he murmured, “Love you.”
“And I love you, my a thaisce. Be back soon.”
He struggled to walk away, hearing another sigh from his mate as he stepped out of Tony’s line of sight, but he forced himself to keep walking. If he wanted to make Tony feel better, he needed help from his friends.
Skipping the elevator, he took the stairs two at a time up to the top floor, waving at the secretary pool already busy at work.
A few of them waved back and smiled, while a couple others gave him exasperated looks, probably assuming he was up to no good.
He’d resent that, but… his track record may have enforced that idea. He chose to ignore it.
Collette’s smile when he approached told him Ozen had warned her he was coming, because she didn’t look surprised. “Good morning, Taron. You can go right in. He’s waiting for you.”
“Thank you, Collette. And can I just say how beautiful you look today?”
She snorted, shaking her head. “Flatterer. Go on, then. He’s got a meeting in a little over an hour, so try not to get too distracted in there.”
He gave her a mock salute, heading into the office where Ozen… was not behind his desk. Taron was confused for only a second before he heard voices. Behind it?
Confused, he stepped closer, cautious to listen for noises that said he was walking into something he didn’t want to see and would probably be killed for seeing if he was being honest. That, or knocked unconscious for walking in on his friend and his mate.
But Ozen and Avery weren’t doing anything dirty.
They were both seated on the floor behind his desk, wrapping something up in pretty paper.
“Should I come back?”
Avery yelped, having obviously not heard him come in, and he shoved something behind him that made Taron curious. But before he could take a step closer, Ozen fluidly got to his feet and took Taron’s arm, leading him away from Avery without explaining what they’d been doing. Rude.
“Good morning, Taron. Let’s talk over here for today.”
He led Taron to the couch, nudging him onto it and sitting down beside him, his face a mask of innocence that Taron didn't believe for a second.
“What were the two of you doing?”
“Nothing. You said you had something important you wanted to discuss. Is it work related or personal?”
“Personal. It looked like presents, but it’s not anyone's birthday, is it?” Tony would have told him if a birthday was approaching. Taron loved spoiling his friends with birthday celebrations and gifts.
“No, not a birthday. I’ll explain later. What did you need to talk about?”
If he wasn’t so worried about Tony, he wouldn’t let this go. He couldn’t. He loved secrets. Loved to be part of them. Hated to be left out of them. He craned his neck a little to see over the desk, but Ozen grabbed the top of his head, turning him around with a shake of his head and a smirk. Jerk.
“Well, I can’t talk about it without Avery! I asked to speak with the both of you!”
He heard one of Ozen’s desk drawers open and shut, and then Avery popped to his feet, acting as though he hadn’t been doing something secretive and had just been back there to pick up a pen or something.
“Why is everyone acting so odd lately?” he muttered, frowning as Avery came to join them and sat on Ozen’s other side.
“Who’s acting odd?” Avery prompted, successfully diverting his attention like the genius author he was.
Shifting his focus back to his mate and the problem at hand, Taron explained, “Tony. He’s been… sad lately. I’m not sure why. He says he’s fine, but he keeps sighing and checking his phone, and his smile feels forced half the time. Even sex doesn’t distract him for long. I don’t know what to do.”
Thankfully, his friends didn’t argue or tell him he was being dramatic. He appreciated it more than words that they immediately set out to help him.
“Is there an important date coming up?” Ozen asked. “Something related to his time in the military?”
Taron shook his head. “I thought of that already. The day of his accident was two months ago. His healing sessions with Doctor Chapman have all been going good, too. He doesn’t seem like he’s in any pain. Not physically, at least.”
Avery cocked his head, eyes narrowed thoughtfully. “You said he’s been checking his phone. Is he hoping to hear from someone?”
“Like who? Me and Zeph are always around, and he has lunch with you and Isaac twice a week. Any of his other friends he talked to here at the office.”
He slumped a little in his seat. If his friends couldn’t figure it out, he wasn’t sure what he’d do. Something was wrong with Tony. He had to fix it.
“What about family? It’s getting close to Christmas.”
Taron shook his head. “He doesn’t talk to his family.
” Or more specifically, they didn’t talk to him.
He straightened suddenly. Tony hadn’t been the one who put the space between himself and his family.
Could he be missing them? But why? They were jerks.
Taron hadn’t even met them, because when Tony called to tell them he’d found his mates, they hung up on him.
Why would he want to talk to people like that?
He wrinkled his nose distastefully as he suggested, “I could try to call them… It didn’t go well the last time, though. I’m not sure it would make him feel any better to get rejected again.”
“No, that wouldn’t be helpful,” Ozen agreed. “Perhaps it's less about the people and more about the traditions? Avery has been teaching me about human holiday traditions. There are a lot of them. He could miss that aspect of it.”
Now that was an idea he could get on board with. He turned to Avery, eyes wide and eager. “What kind of traditions?”
“Well, each family is different, but the main things are a big meal together, decorating the house, a gift exchange–”
Taron’s head whipped to Ozen’s desk, then back to Avery. “Is that what you were doing? I saw presents. Who are they for?”
Avery sighed heavily. “I’m not answering that. You can wait until Christmas.”
A slow grin spread across his face. “Does that mean one of them is for me? Now you have to tell me.” When Avery shook his head in adamant refusal, Taron pouted. “Why not? How am I supposed to know what to get Tony if I don’t have an example?”
“Nope. You’re not talking me into telling you anything. Besides, you can’t copy what I got you. It has to be specific to the person you’re buying for.”
He frowned, shooting a questioning look at Ozen, who was kind enough to give an example without giving anything away. “Like birthday presents. Last year you bought Dorian a puzzle, but you wouldn’t get the same thing for Maverick, would you?”
“Of course not. Maverick would be more likely to burn a puzzle to bitty pieces if he got frustrated than finish it himself.” He understood what his friend was getting at, though.
He had to get presents for Tony that were what Tony liked, not a specific traditional gift.
He could do that. He loved buying presents for his mates.
“You’ll have to talk to Tony about this, too. Like I said, each family is different, and if you want to hit all his traditions, you’ll need to find out what his family did that he misses the most,” Avery added.
“But that would ruin the surprise,” he whined. Then turned that pout up a notch and locked eyes with Avery.
Avery sighed. “Fine. I’ll talk to him. I’ve gotta give him his present anyway. But in exchange, you can’t bug me about your present until Christmas. Deal?”
“Deal!”
He even shook on it, sealing his fate. He could keep his curiosity at bay if it meant finding out how to make Tony feel better.
Probably.
He’d try his best anyway.