Chapter 9
Eran
Guardians of Glitter Bomb Territory
The look in Vatten’s eyes told me I was in for a treat. He narrowed them on me and his nostrils twitched. He vibrated all over and then I found myself on my back at the foot of the bed with him straddled on top of me. His slick arousal dripped onto my skin and his scent filled the room.
Someone knocked on the apartment door and I swore to all the gods and cats that I was going to disembowel them if they knocked again.
I pulled Vatten down into a long, slow kiss.
I slid my hands up and down his thighs, caressing his soft skin and fine hair there, before sliding them over his hips to grope the full, round globes of his ass.
Our tongues met between our mouths. I loved how he followed my lead and ignored the knocker.
Then they knocked again. He went rigid and I gave his ass a squeeze, trying to keep him in the moment.
My dick throbbed under him and I wanted to crawl inside his brain to know all of his secrets.
He leaned closer to me and started nibbling on my earlobe.
He kissed down my neck to its crook and licked little spirals over my skin.
He kissed to the front of my throat and licked down my chest. His tongue teased me, following the ridges of my pecs and then flicking over one of my nipples.
They knocked again harder and Vatten glanced toward the door. I shook my head. Whoever it was needed to go home. We were locked down.
“ERAN!” Jacand’s voice bellowed. “ERAN! I KNOW YOU’RE HOME! brENT SAID YOU WENT HOME!”
“Shit!” I swore under my breath as my dick fell soft.
“Who’s that?” Vatten asked.
“My kid brother,” I groaned. “Give me a minute to get rid of him. I’m so sorry. I thought he was at the farm. Maybe he saw us driving by the bus.”
I hated pulling my pants back on. It felt so backwards. Anyone else I would’ve ignored until the cows came home but like any kitten Jacand would’ve stood in the hallway screaming his head off and scratching at the door.
“Yes?” I opened the door.
“Uh… Why are you sweaty? They called the lockdown off. Dewie’s ex did some weird, crappy magic because he cheated on her.”
“Of course,” my cat rolled his eyes inside his inner sanctum.
“How did you get here? Weren’t you supposed to be at the farm?” I asked.
“Yeah but the party ended early because of the scare and everyone came home. Your truck is at the club. Thought that was weird but Brent and them were there, talking plans or whatever, and he said you went home but to leave you alone. Am I really that annoying?”
Jacand would’ve been mortified at the expression on his own face. His eyes went big and kittenish, reminding me just how young teenagers were.
“It’s special circumstances, buddy. You’re not that annoying.”
“What circumstances?” he asked, trying to peek inside. “Are you hooking up with someone or something?”
“UH…”
“I’ll leave you to the hooking up,” he rolled his eyes. “But I need to pee first.”
I almost told him he should’ve peed at the club, but he had already ducked under my arm and scurried down the hallway. He had to cross right in front of the bedroom door where he was bound to see my naked mate. I sprinted after him as he turned into the bedroom.
“You got a dog!? That’s what you were hiding?
I get that some people would say that it’s strange, but I always thought you were a dog person,” he said, staring at Vatten who had mercifully shifted into dog form before Jacand reached the door.
Vatten was beautiful shades of brown and tan.
I wanted to run my face through his fur as soon as I got the kitten home.
“Uh… He’s not a dog,” I said, wanting to facepaw as soon as the words were out of my mouth.
“Brother?” Jacand looked at me over his shoulder. “He is too a dog.”
“I mean, yeah, he is, but he’s not a dog-dog.”
“What’s that even mean?” Jacand laughed.
“He’s my shifter,” I said, my brain scrunching he’s my mate and he’s a shifter into one sentence.
“What’s that slang for? Are you old people inventing new words again?”
“No, we leave that to the kittens,” I said. “Jacand, this is my mate, Vatten. Vatten, this is Jacand. He’s not my youngest sibling, but he is the one you’ll see most often.”
“Why are you making him stay in dog form?” Jacand turned to face me, his brows knitted together in confusion.
Vatten smelled more than a little amused.
“I’m not making him do anything,” I said. “Now, go down the hall and pee.”
Vatten let out a bark that sounded a bit like a laugh. He called me bossy.
“Sheesh!” he turned back to Vatten sitting on the bed. “Bark three times if he’s delusional and holding you hostage.”
Vatten just wagged his tail, and I ushered my baby brother from the room.
“So, if he’s really your mate, does that mean I really can’t have the extra bedroom?
I figured I could live here when there wasn’t any school,” Jacand said as I walked him to the bathroom to ensure he didn’t make any other detours.
I stayed by the door until I heard him lift the toilet seat and then sprinted back down the hall to apologize to Vatten.
My mate was back in human form pulling his pants over that glorious ass I was groping only minutes before.
“Sorry about that,” I said. “He’ll be gone in a few minutes.”
“Don’t kick him out on my account.”
“If I don’t kick him out, he’ll move in,” I laughed, leaning against the doorway.
“He’s young. I think it’s sweet that he wants to hang out with you instead of his friends.”
I almost said what friends, but that wasn’t quite true. Jacand had some friends even if they didn’t seem that close. It was hard to fit in as a domestic shifter in a city full of dragons and large mammal shifters.
The toilet flushed and the sink turned on.
“At least he’s washing his hands,” my cat chimed in, licking his paw inside his inner sanctum.
“Really, let him visit for a bit and then he’ll probably leave on his own,” Vatten said. “I don’t want my first real contact with your family to be you kicking out a kitten because of me. That—That makes me seem like an ass.”
“I’m the ass. They know I’m the ass,” I said.
“We do,” Jacand said, coming out of the bathroom. “But like Dad says, you’re our ass.”
Vatten pulled his shirt back on and I fought off the urge to swear under my breath. Everything inside me yelled to pick up Jacand and set him outside in the apartment’s hallway. He’d be fine. He knew his way home.
“Is there anything to eat?” Jacand asked.
“Isn’t that a question for Nashen and Bernard?” I teased him.
“You think I’d take food from a stressed out pregnant man who thought his sister tried to kill a bunch of cuddlers?” he asked, walking to the kitchen.
Vatten followed him and that meant I did too. Jacand opened the fridge and grinned at finding the box of danishes left behind.
“Want one?” he held out the box to Vatten who took one.
“Did they find Melbie?” I asked.
“Who’s Melbie?” Vatten asked.
“So get this,” Jacand said and took a bite of the danish, nearly swallowing half of it in a single bite like only a teenager could.
“This coyote shifter named Dewie is just about to have a chosen mate ceremony with this shebear named Melbie. Well, Dewie can’t keep it in his sheath and starts seeing this omega bobcat named Dammi.
Melbie finds out and she’s like super pissed and she’s a witch.
So, she attacks him at work because that’s where he is when she’s ready for the attack.
She nearly takes off this new guy’s head before she gets a few whacks in on him and she’d have gotten a lot more if the new bear guy didn’t haul him over his shoulder and make a run for it.
Now, they can’t find Melbie or Dammi. Rumor is they both ditched him and ran away together. ”
“I doubt that,” I said as Jacand started on his second danish. “Melbie is probably hiding out somewhere because she knows the guards are looking for her.”
“How did they find out it was her?” Vatten asked.
“One of the vampire guards followed the magic line straight back to her house – to the little altar thing she used to do the spell. She wasn’t there and they couldn’t find her anywhere. Like zero scent trail. She just disappeared,” Jacand said, popping up to sit on the counter.
“It’s called pheromone blocker spray,” I said. “You can take the danishes with you.”
“Where?” he blinked.
I shared a look with Vatten and just when I thought he’d agree with me that it was time for Jacand to leave he threw a curve ball.
“You two should hang out. I should go meet my client anyway.”
“Client?” Jacand asked.
“I’m a dog therapist,” Vatten said.
“Hiss at the kitten until he runs away!” my cat chimed off in my thoughts.
“Cool! There’s this dog shifter in town who works at the temple. He’s Mac and he’s in a wheelchair and he plays basketball and—”
“Jacand, shouldn’t you go home and do your homework?” I asked.
“There’s no school tomorrow,” he shrugged.
“You should get started on it anyway,” I said.
Was he doing this on purpose or was he just so used to occupying my kitchen that he hadn’t connected the dots?
“Where is your client?” Jacand asked Vatten.
“At the farm,” Vatten said.
“Oh cool! I’ll come!” he said.
“I’m walking.”
“That’s a really long walk! Why are you making your mate walk all the way to the farm, Eran? The truck isn’t that precious! Sheesh! Hold on! I’ll call Dad-Mom. They’ll come get us.”
“I’ll drive but you’re riding in the back.”
“I most certainly am not! You’re trying to blow me away!” Jacand said.
“I’ll ride in the back,” Vatten volunteered.
“No one is riding in the back,” I sighed.