Chapter 6 Isaac
Isaac
Eventually, reaching Rafael's bed turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Isaac's carpet-burned knees and hands were thankful, as well as his back—for the same reason and more.
Isaac was far from complaining, though. And he'd gladly go another few rounds throughout Rafael's space again.
Even if his body felt sore, some areas were more affected than others.
Like his ass. Nothing could have prepared Isaac for a knot lodged in his ass for hours.
Hours because Isaac kept moving, which kept Rafael in a state of arousal, which in turn kept Isaac in the same state, and therefore they could not unlock themselves.
However possible they had shifted from missionary position to doggy-style while knotted, and Isaac distinctly remembered the feel of rotating on Raf’s bulbous cock. Glorious. There was no other word. He wanted to figure out how to do it again.
Would it be a problem later in their lives, always being stuck together? Maybe. This could be particularly problematic if Rafael found himself unable to move when they had places to go. Luckily they were ensconced in Rafael's apartment without the outside world intruding.
For the moment.
Isaac knew life always came knocking. Like being woken up by his bladder.
Extracting himself from Rafael's grip, Isaac padded to the bathroom and relieved himself before washing and heading back to the warmth of their shared bed.
Would it be as simple as his grandmother had once explained to him? That he would find his carousel horse, fall in love, and embark on the journey of his life. It sounded crazy when she once spoke it; now it sounded so simple.
Obviously Isaac still needed to fill in the blanks some, but after their wild night of coupling, Isaac just wanted to relax.
And that was just what he intended to do as he crawled back underneath the covers and snuggled up next to his sleeping mate.
Holy hell. He couldn't believe it. His grandmother was right. Fated mates were real. Soulmates. Gifted by the Fates themselves. All of it was true. She wasn't a loon after all. Which meant everything else held true, too.
“What has you thinking so hard?” Rafael's sleepy, groggy voice was cute, and Isaac hoped to wake up to it for the rest of their lives.
“Just about Granny Love. My grandmother was a special woman. And I wish I had paid her more attention.”
Rafael turned closer to Isaac, tucking him deep into the cove of his body, his arms securely wrapped around Isaac's back. “If you want to remember everything she ever told you, we may have people here for that.”
“Huh?” Isaac wanted to question everything, yet didn't want to move.
“Once you meet my family, you'll understand.”
Isaac stiffened, his breath coming out in short pants. “Family?”
Rafael chuckled at him. “Yes, sweets, my family. This park is a giant modge podge, blended, chosen family.”
“Oh.” When he put it like that, it made sense. “How old are you exactly?”
Rafael groaned in exasperation. “I don't want to talk about it.”
“But you knew my grandmother before she got married, so that makes you at least eighty or older.” Which just boggled Isaac's mind if he were to think about it too long.
Rafael readjusted, burying his head into the cove of Isaac's neck. Thankfully, on the opposite side of his bite mark. Isaac shivered at the thought of how Rafael used the bite mark to turn him into a puddle of goo.
Then Isaac realized Rafael had spoken and missed it.
“What did you say?” Another mumble. No, he couldn't have.
“Did you say nine hundred two? Or nineteen hundred two?” Was it a year or an age?
If it referred to a year, then Rafael would be over a hundred years old.
If it were an age, all Isaac could think about was what a lonely life.
“Fine,” Rafael whined, drawing out the word. “I was born in nineteen oh two.”
Isaac had no words. He even opened his mouth like he was going to speak, yet no sound came out.
“You cradle-robbing man, you!” Isaac finally said with a laugh, thankful when Rafael joined in.
“You’re not helping,” Rafael joked. “I felt ancient when I met Laverne. How do you think I feel now? Knowing I'm shacking up with her grandson?”
“Wait,” Isaac shouted and pulled back to arm’s length between them. He needed to see his mate's face, complete with crease lines from his dreads. “Please tell me you didn't have a relationship with my grandmother?” Because icky, ew, ew, ew!
Rafael held his gaze for a beat before he busted out laughing. “Oh, gods, no. Although I can't say if she did or didn't have a small crush on me, but you have to remember, back then, I was in a traveling circus to hide not just what I was, but who I was.”
Isaac found himself nodding. “Good. One day I want stories. Just not yet.”
“Although your grandpa…” Rafael trailed off cheekily.
“Don't even jest!” Isaac slapped Rafael's chest playfully. “We are not playing that game.”
“Your grandpa was a good-looking man. Only had eyes for Laverne after he put his foot in it a time or two.”
Isaac began laughing at Rafael's antics.
“Oh, God! I remember one of their stories about how they met,” he reminisced, settling back against Rafael's shoulder.
“About how Grandad Des followed her around for a week before Granny Love would even talk to him. He paid for reading after reading, yet she always refused.”
Rafael grinned and nodded. “Sounds accurate. The circus was in town that week. He was a carny with us. Although I had already met Laverne the previous times we'd shown up, Desmond was new.”
“I don't remember them ever talking about the circus.” Isaac wanted to know more. For all his history lessons chasing carousels, learning from a source was his favorite. A history buff in disguise.
“Probably because your granny got up to some interesting stuff with us at the time. That was around the mid fifties I believe. Carnies were slowing down, and our band of misfits had some unique abilities.”
“When did you settle here?” He remembered the history of this park being short and simple, but Isaac was learning it was anything but.
“Early fifties, I believe. But there was a time when we stayed to ourselves and away from the public eye.”
Excitement took over Isaac as he wiggled and forced his way on top of Rafael. “Tell me more! I know I said later. But I need to hear everything!”
Rafael's laugh shook Isaac from his perch on his mate's thighs. “In due time.” Rafael coaxed Isaac down to hover over him before their lips touched in the sweetest morning kiss ever.
Yet when Rafael pulled away with a slight cringe marring his brow, Isaac wondered what he'd done wrong.
“Not you. But we're being summoned.”
“Huh?”
Rafael rolled Isaac under him, kissed his nose, then tapped the side of his head. “Our family has a mind link of sorts. Telepathy is how we communicate. Well,” Rafael slanted his head, “Some of us, anyway.”
Isaac was left with his mouth hanging open—in shock and awe—when Rafael jumped from the bed and sauntered into the bathroom.
It seemed he had a lot to learn.
After a quick impromptu shower, where very little cleaning happened, Isaac held hands with Rafael as they strolled leisurely to the administration building of the park.
Despite Rafael's summons, they took their time, with Rafael introducing Isaac to several members of his family as they passed. Isaac had even been offered free coffee and pretzels from Lucian and Alexi for life. Isaac couldn't pass that up.
Spying Rafael's amused expression over the top of Isaac's coffee made him feel all warm and mushy inside, and it wasn't because of the coffee, which was delicious.
Tossing his empty cup in the nearest recycling bin, Isaac vowed to find a fitting to-go travel cup if he planned on sticking around. He had every intention of doing so. He'd be crazy if he didn't. Besides, where would he go? What would leaving do to Rafael?
Isaac's heart squeezed painfully in his chest as that thought briefly fluttered through his mind.
Rafael must have picked up on his emotions when he flexed his fingers where he held Isaac's hand. Darting his eyes to his mate, Isaac could sense the acceptance coming from Rafael—mirrored glasses be damned.
Even if Isaac wanted to look into Rafael's eyes, he understood the necessity for the glasses. Especially considering the nature of their job and home.
While Misfit Park boasted of oddities and the unusual, that didn’t mean the tourists wanted to see horse pupil eyes as Rafael wandered around the park. That thought made Isaac’s heart ache for his mate. To always be on guard, to hide a part of himself.
Yet… if his mate was a carousel horse seat shifter—boy, that was a mouthful—did that mean he was a seat that people sat on during the day?
Isaac did not know how that made him feel. Not. One. Bit.
Was he jealous of the fact that people got to sit on his mate in his shifted form? Hell yea. But, was Rafael cognizant in that form? Huh, Isaac figured they needed to have a few more conversations. With their clothing on. And maybe in public, ish, so that they wouldn’t become distracted.
Isaac’s list of questions grew as they wove through the crowd and eventually made their way to a building near the front of the park. Isaac had briefly wondered why a theme park needed a state-of-the-art security station, but now he understood.
The inside of the building looked like the standard lobby for an office suite.
A few chairs under the window and a secured door and a lobby.
Unlike a standard doctor’s office, Rafael didn’t head to the sliding frosted glass for the reception area and instead stepped up to the door, waited for it to click open, and held it for Isaac.
Down a short hallway with a few scattered doors, Isaac was led into what felt like another building entirely when they entered what resembled a command center.
“Thank you for coming so quickly,” a voice came from the side and sounded distinctly sarcastic. Although Isaac didn’t know the man well enough to be certain, Rafael’s middle finger gesture indicated that he must have been teasing.
“Damien,” Rafael growled in way of greeting, pulling Isaac closer to him, which caused the sarcastic man, Damien, to laugh before he moved to the other side of the room.
A gorgeous black woman sat in a computer chair and spun it back and forth before standing up and making her way to stand just in front of Isaac.
Her eyes narrowed as Isaac felt himself tremble at the intensity of her gaze. The moment snapped like a rubber band as she smiled and offered a hand. “Yvonne. Lovely to meet you, Isaac.”
Rafael groaned to his side as Isaac hesitantly placed his hand in hers. “Nice to meet you too?” Yes, he phrased it as a question because he wasn’t certain how to accept her knowing survey of him.
“What’s going on, Yvonne?” Rafael asked as his shoulders relaxed, the tension held within easing.
Isaac gulped and swallowed his chuckle as Yvonne did Vanna White’s reveal wave to the screens behind them. Screens they hadn’t paid much attention to, or else they would have known precisely why they were summoned.
On one screen a missing person's flyer showed a man who resembled Isaac in an eerie way at first glance. Yet the longer Isaac stared at the man in the photo, he could easily discern the differences. Another screen played an interrogation room with two police officers sitting across the table from another man that Isaac couldn’t see from the angle.
It was obvious, though, that the police officers were angry, judging by the tapping of their fingers against the table, as well as the rigid set of their shoulders.
“What do you sense?” Yvonne’s voice intruded on Isaac’s musings as his attention flitted between screens, always landing back on the interrogation footage with the police officers.
At Yvonne’s question, a chilled shiver ghosted over Isaac as Rafael became paralyzed with fear. Isaac could easily feel it through their bond, the sensation intensified by Isaac’s sense that he had always ignored. Until now.
Isaac tried to soothe his mate through their bond as well as squeezing Rafael’s hand in reassurance.
It didn’t seem to help though when Isaac dragged his eyes away from the screen and Yvonne to meet Rafael’s fierce stare, sans sunglasses.
Was it bad that Isaac’s first thought was that his mate was sexy without his glasses?
And they looked good sitting on top of his head?
Feeling his cheeks heat, he swallowed roughly once more, his eyes traveling back to Yvonne.
“If it's the two cops from yesterday,” he paused, not sure how to proceed, “I feel unease and uncertainty. Shifty, and not the fun kind. I felt they were acting suspicious then, which I thought strange at the time. Those were my top feelings toward them when I passed them.”
Yvonne held his stare for a moment longer before she nodded and released him from whatever trance had held him. “You'll do well here. Once you're settled, have Rafael bring you to the coven house, and we'll work on your abilities.”
Isaac held the groan deep within his chest. He had questions. For Yvonne and her coven, for his grandmother, for his parents. Yet he feared he'd only get some answers, and not ones he wanted.
His biggest concern remained Rafael. His mate still stood rigid, confused. More conversations were needed between them, to say the least.