Chapter Twenty-Six
IN SILENCE, Rael passed the phone to Dellan, and Horvan inched in to take a closer look. Dellan made a choking sound, and Horvan dropped the phone onto the desk as if it had burned his fingers.
“This is getting too fucking weird,” Horvan muttered as he handed the phone back to Jake.
“I’m with you on that one,” Jake murmured. “But once you see this, there’s no choice but to accept the rest of it. Seth was right. When you read that line, When he who can see is freed from his shackles , and then you see this? It could be me they’re talking about.”
Dellan gazed at Jake. “Please, tell me that’s all of it. I don’t think I can take any more shocks.”
“You and me both. Of course, the Gerans might claim it’s a forgery—well, they’d know all about that , wouldn’t they?—but I think once it’s undergone tests, they’re going to have a hard time explaining this away.” Jake stared at the image.
“Do you think Theron hid it under the fabric? Because if he’d seen it, he’d know straightaway it was us.” Rael huffed.
“I have no idea.” Jake sighed. “This makes my head ache just thinking about it. I have to believe if he knew of its existence, he would have destroyed it so it could never be used against him.”
Dellan shook his head. “This is going to take some getting used to.”
Horvan’s eyebrows shot up. “What is? That we’re all part of some mystical prophecy? That me and Rael saving Dellan has somehow started something? Because I gotta tell ya, I’m having a hard time getting my head around this. I ain’t no legend.”
Rael managed a smile. “Oh, I don’t know. You’ve always been a legend in my mind. Now everyone knows it’s true.” He took a deep breath. “We need to get used to it—fast. Once word gets out, there’s going to be a long line of people wanting to gawk at us, like we’re in— ”
“A zoo?” Horvan flung at him.
“I was thinking more along the lines of an exhibition, but yeah, something like that.” He held out his hands to Dellan and Horvan. “And we’re going to need each other, more than ever.” Rael gazed at them, his heart full of love. “As long as I have you, that’s all that matters to me.”
Their arms around him had never felt better.
“So does this mean I’m holding a couple of legends?” Horvan murmured.
“I don’t know, but I’m pretty sure a legend has his arms round me right now.” Then Rael remembered they weren’t alone. He broke the embrace.
Jake stood by the office window, gazing out at the lake.
Rael went over to him and touched him lightly on the arm. “You need to rest. And decompress. Go find Doc. He needs you right now.”
Jake frowned. “Is he okay? He didn’t mention anything in our calls.”
“That business with Alec hit him pretty hard, and then Aelryn had a talk with him about stuff they’d discovered in the records from the Maine camp. His head must be as full as yours.”
Jake squeezed Rael’s hand. “Then I’ll see you all at dinner.” He hurried from the room, closing the door behind him.
That is one overloaded man .
Horvan and Dellan were at his sides in an instant.
I feel so useless.
Rael kissed Dellan’s cheek. Let them take care of each other. That’s what mates do, right? Then he gasped as Horvan hoisted him over one shoulder. What are you doing?
Taking care of my mates—in bed. He walked out of the office, Dellan behind them, shaking his head.
That’s our mate. Trying to cure all of our ills with his dick.
Horvan snorted. It works, doesn’t it? If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
He had a point.
“THIS FEELS wrong.” Except that was a lie.
Nicholas was in Jake’s arms, the bed was warm, and all was right with his world.
Well, for about thirty seconds before his tumultuous thoughts kicked in.
“What’s wrong about it?” Nicholas murmured into the pillow. “Apart from the fact that we were in this bed about fifteen minutes after you came through the door. And five of those fifteen minutes, you spent in the shower.” He chuckled. “Not that I’m complaining. Some afternoons were made for this.”
“It feels so… lazy. Like we should be using our time for more—”
“Can’t you switch your brain off for five minutes? And enjoy a little downtime?”
Jake sighed. “I’m sorry, I—”
Nicholas cut off his words with a kiss. “You have nothing to apologize for, okay? Anyone would be in a tailspin if they’d learned all the things you have. But now you need to rest.”
“How can I do that? There’s still so much to do.”
“Yes, there is, but what I’m saying is… let others take the lead in this battle.
You need to acclimate to your new life, and that requires time.
” He rolled over in Jake’s arms and cupped his cheek.
“I know you want to keep on fighting too, and you still can, but in a different way.” Nicholas smiled.
“I guess the concept of working from home is new to you, but it’s one you could benefit from. ”
“I need to tell people what we discovered. They need to know shifters shouldn’t be divided, that there were never meant to be Fridans and Gerans. They—”
“And you can tell them.” Nicholas stared at him. “Only, you’ll do it online.”
Jake stilled. “That’s what Orsini said too. He thinks I should talk about the artifacts, the prophecy….” The final parts of which had floored him.
No way can anyone argue with that.
Nicholas smiled. “Wise man. I agree with him. So I guess the first order of business is to determine where ‘home’ is going to be.”
Jake had been thinking about that too. “I want to stay close to Dellan, but… I can’t live here. They need their privacy, and so do we.”
“I agree.” Nicholas kissed him. “I’m glad you said it. I have a house, but that’s all it is. I’d be willing to sell up and choose a place closer to here. A place that would be a real home.”
“Big enough for three?”
He laughed. “Definitely. I must say, I’m intrigued to discover who our mate is.”
“Are you hoping they’re male? ”
“Not really.” Nicholas smiled. “You’ve already asked me that, remember? Whoever they are, we’ll love them, because they’re part of us, whether they’re male or female, shifter or human.” Another gentle kiss. “But right now, this is our time.”
Jake hadn’t asked the question he’d been dying to get out, but he couldn’t wait a moment longer. “Are you okay?”
Nicholas blinked. “Why do you ask? Don’t I seem okay?”
“It was something Rael said, about Alec….”
He sighed. “I thought I’d seen everything. And then the universe shifts on its axis and reveals a little more, and….” His face tightened. “I can’t talk about this yet, all right? I need time too, to process it all. To make sense of it all, even though right now that feels like an impossible task.”
Jake kissed him on the lips. “When you’re ready, we can talk.”
Nicholas’s face glowed. “Thank you.”
Jake held him close. “Do you think we might find time for a vacation?”
He blinked. “Of course. Did you have anywhere specific in mind?”
“Actually? Yes. Somewhere an elephant wouldn’t be out of place.
” He smiled. “I’ve always wanted to ride an elephant.
” Nicholas chuckled, and Jake swatted him.
“Get your mind out of the gutter. I’m not talking about that kind of riding.
” Then heat barreled through him when Nicholas’s breathing hitched, and Jake caught a glimpse of what was in his head.
“But you’re thinking about it, aren’t you? ”
“Not riding, exactly. But ever since we spoke last night, there has been something on my mind.”
“What?” The word came out as a whisper.
“I’ll get to that in a minute.”
Then Nicholas was kissing him, touching him, and Jake couldn’t help but respond with equal passion.
The feel of warm skin beneath his fingertips, the sight of Nicholas’s chest, covered in a dense mat of graying hair, some black still showing, the scent of him, something that hadn’t changed since they were both a lot younger.
“Now I know why we didn’t recognize each other as mates all those years ago,” Jake murmured between kisses.
“Hmm?” Nicholas chuckled. “You expect me to think when you’re playing with my nipples? ”
“Oh, so you like that, huh? Good to know.” Jake closed the gap between them and flicked his tongue over the taut little nub, loving the shiver that rippled through his mate, the low moan that fell from his lips.
“You… you were saying?”
Jake stroked Nicholas’s neck. “We couldn’t have recognized each other because it wasn’t time.
We were waiting for the prophecy to click into place, and that didn’t happen until Rael saw Dellan in that cage.
” And then Jake lost his train of thought as Nicholas kissed his neck, tracing a line with his tongue from earlobe to collarbones, dipping into the hollow at the base of his throat. “ Now who’s making it hard to think?”
“Is it?”
Jake blinked. “Huh?”
“Hard.”
Heat rushed through him, along with most of the blood in his body that seemed to be making a beeline for his cock.
Nicholas’s eyes focused on his. “Kneel, Jake, facing the headboard. In fact, you’d better hold on to it.”
Oh gods.
Jake moved slowly, the mounds of pillows against his stomach as he leaned forward to rest his arms on the wooden headboard, his breathing quickening. “Aren’t you going to tell me what’s on your mind?” His voice sounded raw.
“No. I thought I’d let my fingers do the talking.”
And suddenly, there were indeed warm fingers sliding under the hem of his shorts, teasing his asscheeks, the crease where ass met thigh, and then they were gone, replaced by fingernails raking up and down his sides.
The mattress dipped, and Nicholas pressed his chest to Jake’s back, pulling him upright, his hand on Jake’s face as he tilted Jake’s head back to kiss his neck, his chin, and finally his lips.
Nicholas’s hand was on his chest, toying with Jake’s nipple, tweaking it, and Jake swore he felt that all the way through his body to his balls.
“Nicholas,” he whispered.
A gentle kiss on his ear sent a shiver through him. “Uh-uh. Right now, I’m Doc. Too many goddamn syllables in Nicholas. Save your breath.”