Chapter 28
Braun
“My mother says we need to walk past the coffee shop so we can give her a first-hand account of the situation.” Checking texts from her was always dangerous.
My mate was smart enough not to react too strongly as I read through the message again because even he knew it could’ve been about literally anything. “What situation? I don’t understand.”
Dorian was frowning as I looked up from my phone. “Well, first of all, Emeric is safe, having a blast, and might need a nightlight in his room tonight.”
I was really hoping that wince wasn’t aimed at me.
“But evidently the new guy is hot and everyone is taking bets on if they’re going to have sex on the sidewalk.” I wasn’t sure what was going on, but the new guy in town had the phone tree buzzing.
He blinked at me a few times and set down the candle he’d been studying too hard. He wasn’t ready to go back to the ghost conversation, but I wasn’t sure what his inner monologue looked like at the moment. “Okay.”
My boy really didn’t want to talk about possibly having a ghostly ancestor.
I thought dead was better than being related to someone like the people he worked with but that just might’ve been my perspective.
“Who is doing what again?” Dorian cocked his head like he was reviewing what I’d said about her text. “I think I missed something that made that make sense.”
Probably not…it was weird for several reasons.
“Treymane found his mate through that matchmaker everyone has been using lately.” Marium, the shop owner, couldn’t hold back her excitement. “I’d have gone to check it out, but my wife will pitch a fit if I close the store again to see what everyone is doing.”
Yep, because she did it at least three times a week.
“I’m sorry.” Looking slightly confused, probably because he didn’t know what the social rules were for the situation, Dorian scrambled for a response. “Would you like us to stop back by and let you know what happened?”
“Yes.” Her smile said Dorian was now her favorite person in the world…
which now made it completely impossible for us to get out of the errand.
Had he done that just to get out of the ghost conversation?
“The texts are confusing. I’m not sure how a polite greeting can be so steamy half the coffee shop wants to explode. ”
Treymane was kind of dramatic, so if anyone could do it, he could.
“Vampires.” Shaking my head, I didn’t react when Dorian squeezed my hand. “They always look so restrained until they meet their mates. I remember my uncle telling stories about the first one who moved here years ago.”
That’d been before all of our times, but the stories were still being passed around as cautionary tales.
Don’t have sex in the town square unless you want everyone to talk about it for the next hundred plus years.
“I know.” Her sighed-out response had Dorian fighting off a laugh or possibly giggles, but she was too wrapped up in fantasies and gossip to see it. “Don’t hold back on the good stuff. Oh, and can you get me a coffee while you’re heading that way?”
Dorian managed to give calm, human-in-the-know kind of responses until we managed to escape. However, once we were out the door, his eyes went wide and his voice dropped to a whisper. “Vampires?”
Had I not mentioned them?
What did that expression mean?
Was I in trouble or not?
“Okay, in my defense, I don’t hang out with the guy and we’ve only got one.
” He was kind of stuffy and really didn’t like how exuberant shifters could be.
He thought we were annoying…and he was probably right…
but it kept him from socializing much with us…
or in general. “He stays home a lot and doesn’t do a lot of entertaining.
I’d have remembered to mention him at some point. ”
“Vampires?” Still blinking at me, Dorian’s brain was either going too fast or too slow. “Really?”
Still no help.
“They’re generally polite but ridiculously territorial, so there’s usually only one in an area.
Ours is Treymane and he’s like the definition of old-school European snobbery.
” At least he wasn’t causing chaos around town, though.
“He’s not dangerous and donated a large amount of the funds to help renovate the stage at the school. ”
“Oh.” Coming back to life, Dorian’s blink that time seemed to reset his brain. “That was nice.”
So we were good to keep going?
I wasn’t in trouble for forgetting to mention something cool?
Glancing around, he took a deep breath. “Which way are we going?”
I pointed down the street and on the other side of the road. “Over there, just past that ghost who looks like he wants to lecture you about finding God. He probably won’t but he died frustrated and on the way to church and he just can’t let that go.”
It’d taken ten years to get him to stop trying to save everyone’s souls, but lately he mostly just grumbled and stomped around the area where he’d died.
He blinked out of view as someone came out of the coffee shop, but Dorian’s quick inhale said he’d guessed who the couple was. “I can see why everyone is calling them combustible…and I’m confused.”
Me too…Treymane wasn’t that hot no matter what the women in town said.
“Would it be accurate to tell my mother they look like they just walked out of a dirty romance novel?” That much barely restrained passion was not Hallmark appropriate, so we weren’t even going to try to describe them as a made-for-TV movie.
Dorian made a cute thinking sound that said he was taking the whole thing seriously but shrugged after a few moments. “I think that would be very accurate…but they’re not doing anything.”
Pressing against me, Dorian was at least trying to look subtle as we watched the men slowly walk down the other sidewalk. “Is it a vampire thing? They’re just walking together but it’s like the temperature went up a few degrees.”
It might be a vampire thing, honestly.
Oh, had anyone said what the other guy was?
“How is them walking together making me want to lecture them about being inappropriate in public?” Dorian seemed very confused but he had good questions. “I lived in California for a while. I can keep my thoughts on behavior to myself.”
He’d lived in weird places.
“Um, I think it’s a vampire thing.” I’d seen a lot of mates finding each other but they’d never looked like the start to a gay porn.
Maybe it was just two guys being repressed for too long?
“Most of the couples I’ve heard that met through the matchmaker are laid-back and content kind of matches—not the combustible kind—so I don’t think that’s an issue.
” I’d kind of thought that was her focus, so this was a surprise.
“One of the Bigfoots was matched through her and they seem like a sweet couple based on what I’ve heard.
Daddy-boy with age play, but they don’t play in public, so we don’t have to talk about how to socialize appropriately with them. ”
We might have to figure out how to ignore the steam coming off Treymane, though.
And his desperate-looking…human?
“How do you get any work done if all you do is get gossip from everyone?” The curious tone in his voice made it funny and not insulting. “They need to let you get your work done. This is ridiculous.”
He was so cute.
“Okay, technically I don’t discourage it because it’s useful to know what’s going on.
Most of the time it’s silly stuff like this, but once in a while it’s important information that affects the overall magic in the community.
” Like realtors who…well…no point in dwelling on that on my date.
“But yes, I do probably need to slow them down a bit.”
It wasn’t easy to stop, though.
People were always so excited to talk about what they’d learned and I didn’t like disappointing them. It seemed to be a side effect of being the Alpha, but I might’ve let it get a bit out of control.
Maybe Dorian could get it under control?
He was the Alpha Mate after all.
Yes. That was definitely his job.
“What about…” Dorian paused, either getting distracted by the steamy couple or his thoughts…or both.
Definitely both because he was pressing closer and smelling like candied bacon again.
“What about encouraging people to send you voice notes? And…and your mother could give you a weekly report of what she’s learned.” Blinking a few times as they turned the corner and moved out of sight, Dorian looked up at me. “That’s weird. It’s like they’re addicting.”
Oh.
“We might need to figure out what the other guy is? He might be?” Half the town was leaning out their doors or peeking out windows and it looked like even the local ghosts were following them as far as they could. “I might need to make some calls about that.”
Giving his head a shake, Dorian took a steadying breath. “I’m not naturally this nosy.”
I wasn’t going to say that was just because he’d been trained not to ask questions, but he had a point.
“We’ll figure it out.” Pulling him closer, I took advantage of everyone being distracted and stepped back into the shadows by the corner of the bank. “And worst-case scenario, I’ll figure out how to have dinner out next to them on our next date and I’ll make sure that we have privacy afterward.”
His shocked inhale made me fight back laughter. “We can’t do that.”
“Why not? If they’re getting the whole town hot and bothered it’s their own fault.
” We didn’t have enough privacy at the moment for what I was imagining, but I leaned down and nibbled right under his ear before teasing him with a whisper.
“We’d see all that heat and passion being held back in public and then I’d drag you out to the car. ”
His whine was sexy but still made me want to grin. “We’d…we’d get your car dirty.”
He was hilarious.
“Oh, Wolfchen.” Licking around his ear, I moaned as he shivered. “There’s nothing that smells better than your desire.”
Best air freshener ever.
“You…” Biting back a moan, Dorian fought to get a deep breath, but I wasn’t helping and continued to nibble on his ear. “You like having a clean car.”
That was his only issue?
“I have a wonderfully smart mate who’s already started stocking my car with essentials.” So I was very sure he had enough stuff to clean it up afterward, no matter what we did. “I love the way you’re marking your territory. It’s sexy.”
So was his huff.
“I’m not…that’s…” There wasn’t a good way to argue about what he was doing, so he focused on sound effects and shaking his head as he straightened. “Come on. We need to go get coffee and then I need you to tell me if any of the candle scents were overwhelming to you or might be to Emeric.”
More good questions from my mate.
“This might be rude or just an unreasonable fear, but I never thought to ask if you have allergic reactions to any scents or foods.” He peeked over at me as I took his hand and we started wandering in the direction of the coffee shop. “I’m not trying to point out anything that might be speciesist.”
Like the fact that dogs couldn’t eat chocolate.
“I’ve heard that regular canines have reactions to a variety of things but I’ve never heard of any wolves like myself having a reaction to things like that.
Our sense of smell is stronger than a human’s but it’s turned out that we can get food allergies if we end up with too many humans in the family tree.
We still shift and can feel the magic but something fucks things up and we can end up with stuff like a surprise peanut allergy. ”
That’d been a shock in a pack over in Florida, but they’d made sure everyone knew once they’d figured out what happened.
“Emeric’s family is all magic-based and mostly shifter, but I think one of his great-grandparents was a low-level mage if I’m remembering his parents’ information correctly.
” We might not have great notes but we at least had some basic files on everyone in the pack.
“That shouldn’t affect things like allergies, though. ”
Although watching him for magical shenanigans might not be a bad idea because in wolves sometimes that stuff didn’t show up until after puberty.
“Okay good.” Looking brighter, he glanced back toward the knickknack shop. “Then will you help me pick out a few scents that you like or don’t mind? I’d like to find a color that complements the blues in the house.”
“Sure.” Kissing his head, I squeezed his hand. “Then we’ll do a walk around the area and we’ll pick out something that sounds good for dinner. I was thinking about driving over to the highway and get something like steak?”
I wanted privacy more than I wanted anything specific, and we wouldn’t get that eating anywhere the locals hung out on a regular basis.
“That sounds good.” Relaxing, his smile came back and his scent went back to normal.
Candied bacon should be just for me, so I didn’t mind that.
“You’ve got to introduce me to people in the coffee shop, though.” His brain was already off in a new direction, making me smile. “I’m really curious to know if I’m going to see any of my student’s parents.”
That would be interesting.
“I’m going to be able to get much more helpful information in the parent-teacher conferences going forward.” His pleased tone was filled with excited confidence. “I’ve got a few students who might need extra help but I know I’m missing something.”
Only my mate could step into an entirely new world and his first thoughts would be about his students.
But I was blessed because his second had been about dirty romance stories.