Chapter 6
Tane
Elias kept bringing me martinis. I lost count, staring into the hearth fire.
My main living room was too large to feel warm.
I’d chosen the second living area off the kitchen to spend the evening in as I usually did.
TV on, laptop beside me. Sometimes I went to my basement gym and pounded the treadmill.
Sometimes I pedaled the bike. Sometimes I used the indoor pool at midnight and swam until I couldn’t feel my muscles anymore.
I was always busy. People wanted things from me. A constant barrage of messages and emails.
Tonight, I ignored everything but the alcohol. Malin and his friends made lots of noise coming down through the house. He called out he’d be gone for the night. Maybe the next night, too. He never said a word about Kirion.
As I drank and picked at the food Elias had brought me, I began to regret everything I’d done today.
The drinks dulled my senses but with that came a slow clarity.
I’d made a huge mistake. I’d thought maybe with this extravagant act I could control Malin again, bring back the son I’d once adored. Who had had a heart at some point.
I shouldn’t have been confused about that now. He was a grown alpha. He had his brat crowd he loved and nothing could be done to change it.
“What do you really want, old man?” I asked the empty room.
In the past, Tanekan, my dragon, might deign to answer. But though I shifted weekly to give him exercise, he hadn’t spoken in eleven years since our bondmate had died.
I’d gone out of my way to purchase Kirion.
So unlike me. It was something I’d never thought of doing before.
Not until I started seeing ads and homed in on one wolf pack’s website.
The idea that a set might solve some of my family problems took hold quickly.
I read all the sales hype on the site. I clicked on the highest priced sets in the region, the ones not going to public auctions but being sold privately.
Now that I looked back on it all, I realized I had acted on impulse alone. My only thought was that Malin would have a beautiful mate, be happy again, heal our rift, and that would be that. I could stop worrying about him.
When I saw Malin’s reaction to Kirion, I knew I’d done something ridiculously stupid. This act of mine hadn’t been for Malin, but my own peace of mind. What a fucked-up plan.
After Malin left, I was very aware I was alone with the omega now, except for servants, and that I was the one who technically owned him.
That sent a chill through my body.
I always swore to myself that no matter how wealthy I got, I wouldn’t allow myself to believe I could cross any ethical line and my money would take care of the consequences.
I would never be one of those guys who used others.
Who treated people as pawns. Or objects. I hadn’t cheated my way to my wealth.
But here I sat, new owner of another person. A person!
“Another martini, sir?” Elias kept his tone flat.
“Yes, thank you.”
New ideas began to tumble through my mind. I needed to right this wrong. Malin didn’t want Kirion. Hell, he didn’t deserve him.
I drank the new martini down in seconds. It helped something deep inside me loosen. Was it guilt? Shame? I didn’t know.
I’d signed a contract and now I was stuck. Kirion was my responsibility. How had I not foreseen this outcome?
Elias returned. “The guest has not found the tray I left by his door.”
“He didn’t eat?” My words slurred.
“It seems not, sir. But there are snacks in the room’s bar. Would you like me to knock on his door and check on him?”
“No. He’s probably tired. Sleeping. Don’t disturb him.”
“Of course not, sir.”
But with those words came a horrible thought. Did Kirion know he could come out? I’d told him he had the run of the house, but did he understand that it meant for anything he might need, including meals? Did he realize Malin had not and would probably never claim him?
I was in no condition to go up and see him. It would all have to wait until morning.
The hot shower revived me. I didn’t normally drink so much.
I had awakened late and groggily delegated everything for the day to my offices in the city. No one was to bother me.
My hair still damp, I made my way to the third floor. There was no sound save the low hum of the cleaners polishing the floors on the second level.
When I raised my hand to knock on Kirion’s door, I froze.
I had made no plans. I had no idea what I was going to say.
I’d created all my businesses by listening to my gut when things weren’t making sense.
I needed to do the same here. I’d brought the omega into my home. He was now my responsibility.
I lifted my head, took a long breath through my teeth and knocked.
No sound.
I counted to ten and knocked again. Nothing.
As I opened my mouth to call out his name the door finally jerked open.
Kirion stood barefoot before me. His gilded vest was gone, but he still wore the white shirt from the day before, untucked over black leather trousers.
“Oh um,” he said. “The door was unlocked.”
I had to remind myself he was owned. He had no rights. “I wasn’t planning on barging in. This is your space. I’m just checking up on you.”
He frowned. “Why?”
“You haven’t been down for a meal or to see the house.” Quickly, my mind worked up an excuse for my being here. “I thought you might like a tour.”
“Does Malin want to….”
“Malin left. It’s just me and I am, uh,” I cleared my throat. “Responsible.”
Kirion shifted from foot to foot. His hair was messy but still bright and shiny, hanging to his shoulders like rays of light.
I usually didn't notice things like that about people.
There was a sort of place in my mind that I stayed in most of the time.
Work mode; some people would call it that.
It was also self-preservation mode. I had gotten in the habit of living there even after my grief for my husband waned.
As a result, I was aware I was an absent father to Malin for most of his teenage years. I was responsible for him and his character now. I knew that. Which was why I probably wasn't thinking properly when I purchased Kirion.
“Responsible?” Kirion looked confused.
“For you.”
“Oh. I guess I don't know how all this is working yet. What I'm supposed to do. What’s expected of me. What did you expect to happen?”
The question made me shift my shoulders as if there was an unexpected itch.
Honestly, I couldn't quite answer. My reasons remained vague.
I only saw a future where everything worked out and Malin fell in love and settled down and was happy.
I wanted to give my son that at the very least. Things perhaps that were missing from my own life.
I had no idea how to put all that into words for Kirion. Instead, I said, “I suppose I expected you and Malin would find that you were somewhat alike and hit it off.”
“I guess you surprised him too much….” His voice trailed off and he glanced down the hall.
“Don't worry, Malin has left. They'll be gone if few days at least. I never know and he never checks in with me anymore.”
Kirion’s eyes widened. He still wouldn't look at me. He said nothing.
I let out my breath slowly so he wouldn't see my frustration. “Well, come. Follow me. You need to know your way around.”
“Yes, sir. May I get my slippers?”
“Shoes. We’ll be walking the grounds.”
When he returned, he had on soft black walking shoes.
I turned, trusting he'd follow me down the stairs. His footfalls were light. Different from Malin’s constant stomping about, or the scurrying of servants. Or my own footsteps echoing too loudly in my ears. It was sort of nice.
He’d already seen the second floor. Well, the main part which was Malin’s game room. I showed him what was through the other doors. One led to Malin’s bedroom, another to a large spare suite with two separate bedrooms for his friends if they stayed over.
Kirion kept his head down. This was where he would spend a lot of time if Malin did claim him. I hurried through that floor, disliking the awkwardness. The discomfort.
I turned, stretching out my arm without thinking to let him pass and go down to the first floor in front of me.
It was manners. Letting the guest go first. Damn, my mind must’ve been still half asleep.
He was a guest, yes, but owned. So not really.
He was living here now and would be for who knew how long.
Until Malin decided he didn’t want to be here anymore.
I tried but could not see that future. Or any future, at the moment. Just the thought of giving him to Malin now had my stomach curdling.
The downstairs had the largest, most lavish rooms. It was a world of shining parquet tile and arched double doorways and high ceilings with ivy carved into the beams.
Out the corner of my eye, I saw Kirion barely glance at anything I pointed out.
Why should he look? Why should he be interested in any tour, or anything I had to say, for that matter, when he knew I wasn’t his and never would be. Not even technically as a father-in-law?
I reminded myself he wasn’t impressed by mansions. By things. He’d grown up in luxury. But it was luxury he knew would never be his. He wouldn’t inherit. He wouldn’t even be able to join his known pack to become a productive member. And here, dragons would see him only as breeding stock.
“Let’s go outside.”
He followed silently.
Elias met me on the way out the back door. “I’ll have breakfast on the table when you return, sir. Shall I set two places?”
“No. I mean, yes. Of course. Kirion can have breakfast down here with me this morning.”
“Very well.”
When he heard what I said, Kirion looked up for the first time.
“You don’t mind eating here in the dining room, do you?” I asked.
“No, sir.”
“Not sir. You can call me Tane.”
He gave me a single nod.
French doors opened onto a veranda with steps that led down to the back acreage.
There was a fenced outdoor pool and tennis courts.
Open stretches of lawn seemed to go on forever with ample room for shifting.
Beyond that stood rows of trees leading into a wildwood forest. But between two vast stretches of lawn lay my sanctuary.
Half of it was a pond with a little waterfall surrounded by a brick path. The other half was my flower garden.
A white picket fence made its winding way around the area. I led Kirion past the pool and over the lawn straight to it. He followed quicker, head up. When we walked through the gate, he stopped and sniffed the air as butterflies and moths flitted before us.
He spoke in a whispered voice. “There are so many flowers.”
“The season is turning. These will fade but I’ve got patches of winter flowers to take over.”
“My father didn’t like flowers too much so we didn’t have flower gardens on the grounds, just flowerpots and carefully landscaped hedges. These are beautiful. You have talented gardeners.”
“No gardeners in this area. This is my terrain.”
“You?”
I nodded. “Twenty-three years in an office is like being in a cage.” I felt heat hit my face at the unfortunate use of that word cage but plodded on. “Shifting parties and trips to the gym didn’t cut it. I needed sun and wind. And my hands touching the earth.”
“But your dragon flies. That’s wind and sun. That’s probably amazing, too.” His words were in a different tone, one I realized was the real Kirion, not the scared young man, not the unloved captive.
“It is. But my human body needed more, too.”
As we walked the paths, Kirion touched petals of bright daisies and graceful lilies and a dozen others.
His fingertips lingered on each one. Cupping.
Bending to smell them. I had created these beds of flowers.
I had hoed and watered and weeded with my bare hands.
Some days I spent hours out here until my arms and face were sunburnt, not noticing the time going by.
“You must’ve spent lots of time every day here.”
Maybe he would judge me. Maybe he would think my time here was time I should have spent with my son. Still, I answered truthfully. “Almost. Weekends mostly, at first. I have some help with the automatic sprinklers for water.”
“Can I—can I ask you a personal question?”
I blinked, wondering what it could be, but nodded.
“Where is Malin’s omega father?”
My mouth went dry. The air filled with wings and late summer pollen. My world spun.