Chapter 32 #2
Was it a lie? Cole had slept under the stars when building the cabin, and Akai had slept in his nest, watching him. Together, yet alone.
“You, yes. Most humans prefer roofs.” The bigfoot looked at him. “Not nests.”
Was he supposed to say something? “Akai makes beautiful nests. He has one near the cabin I built.”
The bigfoot’s eyes widened, and his gaze flicked from Cole’s head to his toes and back. “How did you get into his nest? I know he can’t fly carrying that much weight.”
“I climbed.”
A few of the monsters at the table behind him gasped.
Cole shrugged and sipped his coffee. “It wasn’t that hard.”
“It was for me,” Akai said. “I worry about him falling. Once my wing has healed, we will be building a ladder to make it easier.”
Oh, would they? It was the first Cole had heard about the idea. But a rope ladder that could be raised would make it easier to climb up, while still keeping the nest hidden. It could also be relocated if they moved somewhere else. What was he even planning when the ladder would never be made?
“There is plenty of food, help yourself. I do have some wild food over there.” The bigfoot pointed to a separate table, and Cole made the mistake of glancing over.
Wild food. As in bugs and things still wiggling around.
He returned his attention to the bigfoot. “I smelled the bacon from outside. Do you have any buns and sauce?”
“I do. Follow me.” He led Cole over to a table loaded up with bacon and fried eggs, as well as whole raw ones from the label…which monster ate them? “Is there anything else you need?”
“No, this looks great. Thank you.” There was a lot of food. Steaks—some of which looked like they were still mooing on the inside from the puddle of blood around them—cheese, butter, butter cut into thick slices like cheese, two different kinds of buns, and three different sauces.
Cole slapped together a bacon-and-egg bun, making sure to add a slice of cheese, not a slab of butter, and topped it off with some barbeque sauce. A nice, normal breakfast.
Akai already had a bowl of bugs and was sitting at the table dipping them in honey. Cole swallowed. He needed to act as if he’d seen it a hundred times before.
He had seen Akai eat bugs and greens foraged from the woods. But he had never seen him eat at a table surrounded by other monsters, some of which he didn’t have names for. Cole drew in a breath; if he couldn’t handle this, he couldn’t handle solstice.
Maybe if Akai hadn’t lied about them being mates. it would’ve been easier.
Still, they were here now and up to their necks, so they needed to press on.
He grabbed his plate and cup and sat next to his fake-mate.
Akai smiled at him, and Cole smiled back.
Then Akai picked up something wriggly, dipped it in honey, and popped it in his mouth.
If they’d been alone, he’d have said something about it being gross and reminded him to brush his teeth before kissing him.
As it was, he just widened his smile and concentrated on his own plate.
That was safe. And more importantly, everything on his plate was well and truly dead.
After several moments of near silence, one of the monsters spoke. “Are you going to tell us how you met? I love to hear those stories. How does a human go from panic to passion?”
Cole took a bite of his bun and glanced at Akai.
“Cole was building a cabin on one of my flight paths, so I saw him long before he saw me.”
“What he means is he watched me build the cabin and bathe naked in the steam before deciding to introduce himself.”
“And you didn’t scream?” the monster asked.
“I thought he was a wolf at first. Then I realized what he was, and I thought he was the local legend, but that’s his uncle.” Cole smiled; he could also tell half-truths. “Then we had a drink around my fire and got to know each other.”
All other conversations had died off.
“And?” the monster pressed.
“And that’s all there is to it,” Akai said.
“And your injured wing?” the bigfoot asked.
Cole nodded and picked up his cup before taking a drink.
“I work in town, my cabin is in the mountains, so I was away. When I returned on the weekend, I found him, and that’s when things changed between us.
” He glanced at Akai, hoping that he was doing a good job of weaving their story.
They were going to have to repeat the same lies at solstice.
“He sewed up my wing and invited me to stay in his cabin. His nest.” Akai put his hand over Cole’s.
“Is it true what they say about humans?” a scaly monster asked.
Cole narrowed his eyes. “What do they say about humans?”
The bigfoot slapped the table. “That’s enough. We do not disparage human mates. They are not the same as other humans.”
“Bullshit. The only difference is they’re addicted to monster cock,” the other scaly monster on the other side of the room said.
Cole really didn’t like those monsters. “Unfortunately, there are always bigots who hate for no reason.”
“And they do nothing to make the world better for anyone,” Akai finished. He placed his hand on Cole’s thigh and gave it a gentle warning squeeze.
This was no different from walking into a locker room, knowing that some of the guys would hate him if they knew he was gay. The only difference was that he couldn’t hide that he was human in a room full of monsters.