Chapter 15
Hoping Morgan would be up, Brian knocked several times on the back door of the Wolf Pack Pub. Backing up a step when the door opened, he found himself looking at an irate face, sleep still clinging to it. Ignoring that he’d awakened his friend, Brian asked, “Do ye know the name of the shifter?”
Looking bleary-eyed at Brian, Morgan growled, “Good morning to you, too, asshole.”
Oblivious to Morgan’s retort, Brian pushed past him, replying, “Guid mornin’ to ye, too.”
Grabbing Brian’s arm and swiveling his friend back to face him, Morgan, staring in disbelief, asked, “You’ve been claimed by a mate? By that shifter?”
Gritting his teeth, Brian cursed his decision to come here, having forgotten the kiss changed his scent to match his mate’s, marking him as taken—a serpent’s version of wolf shifters’ claiming bites.
Gazing back at his friend, Brian could play it one of two ways, but not one for deceit, he admitted, “Ay, at least I think it was he.”
“Wait. You think it was he? Don’t you know who you kissed?” asked Morgan.
Looking over his shoulder, Brian saw no one but was uncomfortable about discussing his mate where they could be overheard. Lowering his voice, he said, “Can we go to your office?”
Nodding, Morgan shut the back door and waved Brian ahead, following him down the hall to his office. Then, seated across from him and feeling more solicitous, Morgan asked, kindly, “What happened?”
Still embarrassed to talk about what happened, Brian reminded himself it was now a matter of life or death—his life to be exact. After explaining about the kiss, Brian said, “I was hoping ye might know the shifter’s name.”
“Are you planning to claim him?” asked Morgan.
“Ay.”
Morgan’s eyes dropped down to the phone in Brian’s hands, then flicked up, locking onto Brian’s eyes.
For a split second, the emotions he saw swirling in them made him wonder how long his friend would live.
Given that Brian’s mate had ghosted him once already, Morgan wouldn’t lay odds on the mate staying around for serpent claiming, part two.
Needing an answer to the question that hung in the air, Morgan asked, “What will you do if he doesn’t let you claim him? ”
Brian knew the answer, but did his friend want to hear it—he didn’t think so.
It wasn’t something he wanted to face either but he didn’t have a choice.
And that’s what pissed him off—which is why he was baring his soul to Morgan.
If he could find his mate, he could take back control of his life.
Unwilling to talk about the death sentence he was facing, Brian said, “I came by this morning to see if you knew my mate’s name.
I’ll be meeting with the Shaman next and it would help if I had a name to give him. ”
Searching Brian’s face, Morgan found the answer to his question, the one his friend was avoiding. Inwardly sighing, he replied, “Give me a second to look through the receipts for that day. I should have done that last night but it was late and I just didn’t think of it.”
Grateful his friend wasn’t pushing him, Brian nodded as Morgan started flipping through credit card slips.
Gazing at his mate’s photo on his phone, he realized the hope the Shaman gave him last night about claiming his mate was razor thin, yet he was desperately clinging to it by his fingernails.
Three days…three fucking days. Three fucking days to save my life. How fucked up is that?
“Here it is,” Morgan said, handing a receipt to Brian. “His name is Reif Markos. Sounds Greek.”
“Yeah, it does,” Brian replied, looking at the broad scrawl before handing it back to Morgan. “Can ye make a copy of this for me?”
“Sure. Do you think it’ll help you find him?” Morgan asked.
“Me? Naw, but the Shaman has the resources I dinna have.”
“You mean the Blackwood Pack, don’t you? Someone else told me it’s a very special pack but other than their Alpha having enormous power, I don’t know anything else,” Morgan said, passing over the copy of the receipt.
“Ay? Powerful Alpha? Well, that’s guid to know for David is in guid hands then.” Taking the copy, Brian stood, “Thank ye for this. I’ll be on my way—the Shaman is waiting for me.”
“C’mon, I’ll walk you out,” said Morgan. “You’ll let me know what happens, right?”
“Ay, I will.”
~/~/~/~/~
“Macushla, Brian’s here,” Kieran said, hustling out of their bedroom.
“I know, Groose is bringing him up,” Logan said, his eyes traveling over his mate, thankful his new outfit was just a tad more sedate, even with the hot pink t-shirt. But when he saw what was written on it, Logan erupted in laughter, shaking his head at his mate’s audacity.
“What?” Kieran asked, seeing Logan’s reaction. Looking down at his hot pink sneakers that perfectly matched his t-shirt, he found nothing amiss.
Pointing to the words on the t-shirt, Logan asked, “Taken, but not blind?”
“What’s wrong with it? It’s the truth,” Kieran said sassily.
Chuckling, Logan pulled his mate onto his lap, and said, “It is at that. I love it, babe. Be sure to wear that when we go to the Meat Locker on Friday.”
Clapping, Kieran exclaimed, “Macushla, thank you, thank you, thank you! I can’t wait to tell everyone.”
“Tell us what, Ki?” asked Theo, leading everyone as they entered the living room.
“We’re going to the Meat Locker on Friday!” Kieran shouted.
“Doesn’t your brother, Steel, own that?” Dakota asked his mate.
“Yep, he does,” Slate answered. “Have any of you been there?”
After seeing hands go up except for Zane’s, David’s and his own, Dakota asked, “I take it you all had fun?”
“We did, that is, until some dudes tried to kidnap Fionn,” replied Norm.
Kieran jumped off Logan’s lap when he saw Brian. “Hey everyone, take a seat, we got important stuff to do today,” he said, walking over to the sea serpent, “Brian, you sit next to me. My spirit told me you have some good news?”
After claiming his seat, Brian slipped his phone from his pocket and, after selecting a photograph, said, “Ay. I have a picture of my mate and his name.”
“That’s fantastic,” Logan said, leaning forward to see the image on Brian’s phone. “Can you send that to Zane? What’s his name?”
“Ay. Reif Markos,” replied Brian.
“He’s Greek?” asked Dakota.
“Sounds like it,” replied Slate.
“Do you know what kind of shifter he is?” Ian asked.
“Naw,” said Brian.
“That’s not exactly true,” Kieran said.
“Ye know what he is?” asked Brian, surprised.
“Babe, did your spirit tell you?” asked Logan.
“Nope,” Kieran said, “but I know he’s some kind of serpent.”
“How?” asked Colton.
Kieran looked at Brian, “May I tell them what happened?”
Through years of keeping to himself, Brian’s automatic response would have been ‘no’, but if there was any hope of finding his mate, he had to take it. “Ay.”
“He kissed Brian yesterday afternoon, claiming him,” Kieran said. “Serpents claim their Fated Mates by kissing. The only problem is Brian was sleeping when it happened so he hasn’t claimed him back…yet.”
“Oh, pooh bear,” crooned Theo, “that’s so romantic! Just like Sleeping Beauty.”
“If I remember correctly, isn’t there a deadline for sea serpents to claim their mates?” asked Ian.
“Absolutment!” exclaimed Kieran. “Which is why we have only two days to find Reif.”
“What happens if we don’t find him? Does Brian get another chance?” asked Zane.
“No,” replied Logan.
Listening carefully, David knew there was more to the story. His eyes roamed over to Brian, seeing the tension in his body, observing Kieran’s hand resting on his arm. Now, worried about his friend, David asked, “What happens to Brian if we can’t find his mate within two days?”
Kieran exchanged glances with the sea serpent and, after getting a nod from him, said, “Brian will die.”
David’s cry filled the room as a tear rolled down his cheek. Turning to Zane, he pleaded, “Please, please save my friend.”
Lifting his mate onto his lap, Zane murmured, “I’ll try, babe, I promise.”
“All of us are going to do everything we can to save Brian,” Logan said. “That’s why you’re all here. So let’s get to work. What do we know so far?”
“His name.”
“What he looks like.”
“He’s a sea serpent… some kind of one.”
“He can swim and breathe underwater but can disappear on land.”
“Don’t forget, he doesn’t leave a scent.”
“Maybe not his own, but that changed when he kissed Brian who now carries his mate’s scent,” Kieran said.
“A lot more then we knew yesterday,” said Logan.
“Zane, see what you can find out about him. Also, he has to be staying someplace, so get on that, too. Ian, can you research if there’s a way to extend the time Brian has to claim his mate?
Slate, speak with your mother and see if she can offer any light on what kind of sea serpent he is. ”
“What about the rest of us? We want to help, too,” Norm said.
“You will, but first let Zane do his magic,” replied Logan. “How about we meet back here in two hours?”
“I’m not sure I’ll be finished by then,” Zane said.
“I don’t expect you to be, but concentrate on where he’s staying first, that way the rest of us can follow up on that while you continue,” replied Logan. “Brian, I’ve arranged for you to stay here in case we need to ask you anything. Fionn, can you stay behind? I have a question.”
Standing, Kieran said, “Chop! Chop! Let’s go everyone. Brian, c’mon, I’ll show you to your room.”
When they’d all left, Logan asked Fionn, “Do you have an inventory of your horde?”
“Yes, but why do you want it?”
“No, I don’t want it, but Jackson pointed out something last night. Your uncle knows you’re an adult already,” Logan said.
“How?” asked Fionn.
“Correct me if I’m wrong, but when a dragon is born don’t they receive gifts from family members?” Logan asked.
“Fuck! Of course, they do. The gifts would be listed on my inventory. Mind you, not that it’s needed; I know every piece in my horde,” replied Fionn.
“Did your uncle give you a gift when you were born?”
“Yep, it’s a gold chest from the Renaissance, filled with 1,000 gold coins,” Fionn said.
“Is it listed on your inventory along with the date you received it?”
Suddenly putting the pieces together, Fionn shouted, “That fucking asshole! He knows I’m an adult so what the fuck is he trying to pull?”
“Who recorded the gifts on your inventory? Your mother?”
“No. It’s always done by someone who isn’t a dragon. In my family it was our attorney.”
“Would he have a copy of it?” asked Logan. “A certified copy?”
“Yes…he should. Do you want me to call him?”
“Not yet, but I want you to tell Penn.”
“I’ll send him an email right away,” Fionn said.
“Oh, one other thing?” asked Logan. “Did your mother’s family give you any gifts?”
Grinning, Fionn answered, “Yes, they did.”
“Be sure to mention that to Penn, too.”
~/~/~/~/~
UGH!!! Punching his pillow, Hunter’s brother, Mason, turned on his back, nestling his head in the hollow his fist created.
There’d been too many nights with too little sleep ending with eyes wide open.
He stared at the ceiling, wondering when he’d get answers to his many questions, but they never came.
Sighing, his hand reached and turned his alarm off; there wasn’t a chance in hell he’d fall asleep again.
Giving up on the ceiling providing any answers, Mason rolled to his side, his gaze shifting to the forest, just beginning to become visible, outside his bedroom window, remembering the day Hunter told them he wasn’t going to become Alpha.
The silence that had greeted Hunter’s statement was deafening as Mason and his other brothers tried to make sense of Hunter’s decision.
In the end, everyone accepted that Hunter would step aside—but not he.
Later that night, he cornered Hunter in their father’s office, demanding to know why his brother had done it.
It was the first time he and Hunter nearly came to blows but, in the end, he backed down, settling for his brother’s lame-ass excuse.
It was a turning point in his relationship with Hunter.
Never had he been shut out by his brother; no matter how hard he tried to figure out what caused the change, nothing rang true.
Being closest in age, he and Hunter always shared everything, but now the closeness was gone and Mason missed it, dearly. He was lonely.
What he wouldn’t give to go back in time before that phone call changed their lives forever.
Fuck! Kicking that thought out of his mind for the hundredth time, Mason forced himself to think of his future and the changes their trip would bring to his life.
California! It would be the first time back for him since he left with his family when they moved back east and he’d be lying if he claimed he wasn’t looking forward to it.
Jackson, now the Alpha of a pack…the Blackwood Pack…
a pack my cousin started on his own. Fuck!
He was still wrapping his head around it but why it was such a surprise wasn’t yet clear.
Jackson was firstborn and heir apparent, so why wouldn’t he be Alpha—just another question with no answer.
Watching the darkness lift, he smiled, remembering how Jackson always followed Hunter around.
Mason would tease Jackson, calling him The Shadow, but his cousin never wavered, ignoring all the teasing.
He wondered if Jackson would remember it.
Yawning, his many sleepless nights were beginning to take a toll on him and Mason hoped his brother, Sawyer, wouldn’t say anything to Mac.
The last thing he wanted was to have Mac nagging him about how important it was to get the right amount of sleep—as if he didn’t fuckin’ know.
But knowing and doing were two very different things as Mason had found out in the months since their mother’s death.
Ugh! And that’s the last thing he wanted to think about; his mother’s death.
Nope, absolutely not! Casting around for different thoughts, Mason finally settled on the RV he was going to buy today, but that just led him back to the reason they had to go to California.
Shit! The uncertainty of their reception had him on edge, but he had to trust Hunter to handle it, even if he had to use his Alpha power on Jackson.
Noticing the sky turning pink, Mason rolled out of bed, figuring it was late enough that Sawyer wouldn’t throw a fit about getting up.
He—they—had a three hour drive there and another one back, hopefully with him driving their new RV.
But first, a shower, and then he’d probably have to haul Sawyer’s sorry ass out of bed before making them both breakfast. Realizing their trip to California was really going to happen, Mason grinned as he walked to the shower.