Chapter 15 #2
“I wasn’t sure what Troy liked to eat,” Milo said, gesturing at the table covered in three coffees and five plates of treats. “I got you a chocolate chip muffin, myself an apple cinnamon, and Troy three others to choose from.”
“It had better not be long now,” Troy murmured to Rowan as he passed by and took the seat with the three muffins in front of it. “Thanks, Milo, you didn’t have to, but we’re going to miss lunch today, so I am very thankful you did.”
“Oh,” Milo said, their fingers grasping for the hem of their skirt. “I’m sorry, is this not a good time? We could take everything to go.”
“It’s fine, baby. I’m happy to make time for you,” Rowan said.
Milo batted their pretty lashes up at Rowan…and so did Troy, while stuffing half a muffin in his face. Rowan ignored him and took a seat, scooting the chair until he was sitting right up next to Milo.
Troy swallowed his huge bite of muffin and gazed across the table at them. “So, what are you most excited about when it comes to dating and mating with Rowan?”
Rowan nearly choked on his lukewarm coffee. “Wow, really jumping right in there,” he grumbled.
Milo straightened their spine and rolled their very padded shoulders back.
“I’m excited to keep going on all the fun excursions and adventures we’ve already been going on, but now as actual dates.
It might not seem like such a big difference, but to me it feels worlds apart.
” They were perched on the very edge of their chair, their knee bouncing under the table.
“What’s been your favorite excursion thus far?” Troy asked.
“Oh, strawberry picking, for sure! It was pretty much the perfect day, even with a minor interlude from Ray and Ruben,” Milo said, casting Rowan a small, intimate smile.
Rowan pressed his leg open so his knee rested lightly against the outside of their thigh.
“And what’s your take on that? If my best friend was fated mates with Ruben, I would honestly be a little skeptical,” Troy said.
Rowan placed his coffee cup back on the table. There was no use trying to drink it with his stomach in knots and a lump lodged in his throat.
“I was a little skeptical at first, too,” Milo admitted.
“But I’ve talked with Ray about it pretty much every day this week, and it seems like, at least for Ray, this time really is different.
Whether that means things are different for Ruben remains to be seen, but I’m choosing to trust Ray. And Ruben.”
Troy’s eyes were fixed on Rowan throughout Milo’s answer.
“I think trusting the process is a really important part of the fated mate bond. I never would have imagined finding and mating with my fated mate all in the same month, but that’s how it worked for Raina and me, and I’m thankful every day for it. ”
Milo leaned across the table, keeping their leg pressed firmly against Rowan’s. “Okay, I’ve always wanted to know. Can you feel each other’s emotions across long distances? Or hear each other’s thoughts?”
Troy laughed, sitting back in his seat with his second muffin in hand.
“We definitely can’t read each other’s thoughts, which I think is a blessing and a curse.
I actually can sense her feelings, but only when we’re in close proximity, and it’s much easier if we’ve spent a prolonged amount of time together, recently shifted together, or, uh, been intimate with each other. ”
Rowan’s hawk chirped in agreement, but Rowan shook his head. “I didn’t know that. Is that why you two go to the shifter park so often?”
A rare blush lit the apples of Troy’s cheeks as he took a long drink of coffee. “No, your sister really likes ‘being tall,’ as she puts it.”
Rowan barked out a laugh, and for the first time that morning, his shoulders relaxed. “Is ‘being tall’ when she sits on top of your antlers?”
Troy tipped his head in acknowledgment, and Milo gasped. “Are you a reindeer?”
“I’m a moose,” Troy said, very proudly.
Milo stared at him with huge, glittering gray eyes.
“Oh my gods, that’s amazing. Rowan, you could totally sit on my pony’s head, but if you’re going for height, you’d be better off just sitting on my human head.
I could always rent stilts and walk around the shifter park like that.
Is that a thing for hawks? Do you like high-up perches?
I feel like that’s probably a universal bird thing, isn’t it…
If I lived on a higher floor, I’d offer to set up a nest on my balcony for you—oh no, and Ray is even shorter and lives one floor below me!
Maybe we could sneak up onto the roof? It’s only three stories, but—”
“Baby, it’s alright,” Rowan tried to say as Troy burst into hearty laughter.
“We have a four-story townhouse, and Raina has a perch out on the rooftop terrace. You, Rowan, Ruben, and Ray are welcome to visit anytime.”
Milo was practically vibrating in their seat, even as they fought to keep their leg still against Rowan’s. “That would be amazing! I also still need to meet Riley, but it sounds like she’s very busy.”
“She is. She’s actually only made it out to our place a few times. It’s a fair way up north of the city, but we love the open woods around the house. It’s not quite as far of a drive as Rowan’s mountain cabin, but it’s not down the street either.”
Milo turned their big eyes on Rowan. “You have a mountain cabin?”
“I do,” Rowan said, reaching for his muffin just to have something to do with his hands other than reach for and probably fail to touch Milo. “I use it for weekend getaways.”
“And rutting season,” Troy added, very unhelpfully.
This wasn’t something Rowan would usually tell someone he’d just started dating, but even without Troy’s prompting, he found himself wanting to tell Milo about the cabin.
He’d designed it himself, with all the warm, rustic features from home, mixed with modern appliances and glass to feel a little like his apartment in the city.
When the sun rose over the mountains, it streamed directly into the primary bedroom and the kitchen on the floor below.
It was one of his favorite places on earth, but he’d never brought anyone who wasn’t family there before.
“Yes, also for my hawk’s version of rutting season,” Rowan said. “My hawk insists on being shifted for most of it since I’ve always handled it alone.”
Milo’s fingers were back in the hem of their skirt.
“That makes sense. Obviously, I don’t have to deal with ruts or heats, but when my pony and I get lonely, I prefer spending more time shifted, too.
I’d love to see your cabin, if or when you’d like to share it.
If it’s private, though, no pressure at all. ”
Rowan’s hawk fluffed out his wings and began parading around, very excited to show off the cabin and his shifted form, even as he shed several feathers.
He was about to hit the peak of spring molt, and he would typically be spending every weekend at the cabin, so his hawk could comfortably shed his heavier winter feathers in time for summer.
“It is private,” Rowan said, and Troy narrowed his eyes as Milo dropped theirs to the floor. “But…” he forced himself to swallow around that lump in his throat. “I would love to show you. We could even go this weekend, if you’d like.”
Rowan wasn’t sure whose smile was bigger, Troy’s or Milo’s.
Troy was like the older brother Rowan had never known to want.
He’d always thought all brotherly relationships were like his and Ruben’s: sometimes tense, sometimes frustrating, but always with an underlying love that kept them coming back to each other throughout the years.
Things with Troy, though, had always been easy, even when he let some of his protective side show, like right now.
Clearly, there was no need for concern because Milo continued being their quirky, sweet self throughout the rest of their coffee hour, and they even offered to send Troy Anabelle’s blueberry muffin recipe, which they swore was way better than the café’s.
“I think getting away to the cabin for the weekend would be great for both of you,” Troy said as they entered the lobby of their office building. “You just have to get through dinner and your first therapy session and then you’ll have the whole weekend to yourselves.”
“Is that why you brought it up?” Rowan asked, and Troy did a very bad impression of innocence.
Rowan shook his head and pressed the button for their floor, even while his hawk flapped around in excited circles.
“Thank you,” Rowan said, for the second time that day.
“Literally any time, man. You know I’m Team Rowan all day, every day.”
“You’re Team Raina.”
Troy shrugged his big shoulders. “True, but we all know she’s always had a soft spot for you.”
She did, just like their omega mom had a soft spot for Ruben, and Riley and their alpha ma had no soft spots for anyone except maybe their omega mom.
“I’m going to tell her next week. In person,” Rowan said.
Troy nodded his head firmly. “You deserve for your relationship to be celebrated, and we both know Raina will be shouting about it from the rooftops.”
She probably would, and even though Rowan would complain about meddlesome sisters, he would secretly love every second of it.
“So, I wasn’t entirely sure what you had in the way of snacks, so I came prepared,” Milo said, dropping their overly stuffed backpack onto Rowan’s kitchen table.
It was red, of course, as was the tassel dangling from Milo’s wallet, which they’d left on Rowan’s front table.
“I brought popcorn, chocolate-covered peanuts, regular peanuts, a few apples just in case, annnnnnd—” Milo struggled to pull out the final item, sticking nearly half their arm into the backpack before pulling out a large paper sack. “More muffins! From the café, not me, of course.”