Chapter Three
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CRAEG BARELY MANAGED to keep breathing, waiting with bated breath, as his newly found mate decided what to do.
Gods, he truly doosna know anythin’ about our kind? How is that possible?
While Craeg couldn’t imagine how that could be possible, he knew he would find out eventually. He just had to be patient. He had to win his pretty little mate’s trust first.
With his heart thudding wildly in anticipation, Craeg watched as Silas slowly unfolded from his position. His mate’s body was lean and toned and...quite dirty, actually. He kept one dust-smudged arm across his groin area, hiding, as he slowly crept toward him on his two feet and second hand.
Craeg noticed his sweets’ face also sported a distinctly pinkish hue, betraying his embarrassment just as much as his scent did.
Not wanting to call attention to his bat shifter’s obvious discomfort, he kept his smile relaxed.
Gently, Craeg gripped the young-looking man’s hand and helped him forward and, finally, onto his lap.
Even though his mate hunched, glancing furtively at him from beneath his lashes, Craeg wrapped him in his arms. He tucked him sideways on his thighs and held him close.
Craeg tipped his head down and pressed his nose to the man’s hairline, taking in his scent while doing his best to ignore his raging boner.
Ignoring the way his mate’s pert little ass felt nestled on his thighs was quite a bit more difficult.
Now’s so not the time.
Too bad.
Once Craeg had his mate situated, he murmured, “So, I told ya my name’s Craeg. What’s yours, sweets?” He desperately wanted a name to go with his mate’s pretty masculine features.
“S-Silas,” the man replied, his voice so soft Craeg wasn’t certain he would’ve heard it if he hadn’t been a shifter. Before he could respond, his mate cleared his throat and stated in a slightly stronger voice. “My name is Silas.”
“It’s truly a pleasure to meet ya, Silas,” Craeg replied, bussing a kiss to his temple.
He silently rolled the name through his mind and smiled mentally at the soft cadence of it.
Perfect for my sweets. “Ya said ya never met another shifter before.” He figured that was the first thing that needed to be addressed. “I’m wonderin’ how that’s possible.”
Silas lifted one shoulder in a half-shrug, while keeping his arms still wrapped around his upturned legs.
“I was raised in group homes, mostly,” he told him, his quiet tenor voice filling the expansive cavern.
“I overheard one caseworker telling another about me being left at a firehouse when I was a baby.”
“Oh, sweets,” Craeg crooned, squeezing him a little tighter against him. Nuzzling his nose along Silas’s temple, he murmured, “I’m sorry that happened to ya.”
Again, Silas gave one of those half-shrugs, but he didn’t respond to Craeg’s sentiment.
Instead, he murmured, “While at the last one I was at, I started feeling these weird sensations.” His brows furrowed, his thoughts obviously elsewhere as his tone turned a bit vacant.
“Mostly in my arms. Sometimes in my legs, fingers, and toes.” His voice lowered to almost a whisper.
“Then the shakes started, and I thought I was having mini seizures. I told Misses Walsh, one of the assistant heads of the home, but she claimed I was making it up for attention.”
Craeg grimaced, his heart going out to Silas. He recognized the description as the warnings of a shifter’s oncoming first change. Craeg couldn’t imagine having to go through that alone and unknowing. His sweet mate must have been terrified.
And to have someone who is supposed to be there to care for ya blow ya off? Essentially callin’ ya a liar?
Damn them.
Craeg made a mental note to have Ovram, their tech guru, track down this Misses Walsh. He intended to get a little justice for his sweets. Pushing that thought away for later, Craeg rubbed his palm up and down Silas’s arm, doing his best to soothe.
“Those are all classic signs of your body gettin’ ready to shift for the first time,” Craeg explained softly. “It was completely normal and natural.”
As Silas nodded slowly, Craeg wondered what would have happened if that nasty Misses Walsh had actually taken Silas to the hospital.
They would have drawn blood. Their results would have triggered an alert in Ovram’s system.
Someone from their pod would have been charged with investigating and probably taking Silas out of there.
And I may have met my mate when he was an adolescent.
While awkward for the older of the two, that did happen on occasion.
Usually, the parent—or whoever would have been charged with Silas’s care—would have assisted in orchestrating interaction between the pair.
They would have formed a platonic bond, a healthy mentor-mentee relationship that would naturally morph into something more when the younger shifter came of age.
I never got that chance, though.
Another reason to track down that blasted Misses Walsh.
“S-So...all that’s normal?”
Silas’s softly spoken question drew Craeg out of his annoyed thoughts.
He bussed a kiss to Silas’s temple while murmuring, “Aye, my sweets. That’s normal.
” When his mate didn’t seem to know how to respond, Craeg hoped to get his shifter to return to his story by asking, “Then what happened?” He glanced around the cavern. “How did ya end up here?”
With a sigh, Silas hunched even further in on himself, telling Craeg that whatever happened, it hadn’t been good.
Hell, how could it be when my sweets ended up livin’ in a cave? Or is he not really livin’ here, but just enjoyin’ some animal time?
Craeg focused on Silas as he started explaining once more.
“About two weeks after telling Misses Walsh about what I was feeling, my limbs changed, and I grew fur,” he whispered.
“It freaked me out, so I hid it as best as I could.” Silas’s face grew flushed as the scent of embarrassment filled the air.
“There was a bully at the group home. Cameron. He caught me changing when I couldn’t control it.
” His voice lowered further, and if Craeg hadn’t been a shifter, he wasn’t certain he would have heard Silas’s quietly murmured admission.
“Cameron attacked me, and...things are a bit hazy after that. I—” Silas hesitated, nibbling his bottom lip.
Taking a guess, Craeg offered, “Your animal instincts took over, and ya defended yourself and fled. Right?”
After a few seconds of hesitation, Silas nodded. “Yeah.” His hands tightened, digging into the skin of his upper arms, betraying his unease just as easily as his peppery scent did.
At least the distressed aroma eased the ache in Craeg’s shaft.
“I-I think so. I remember, um, I remember clawing at him, uh, his face.” Silas’s brows furrowed as he obviously lost himself in thought.
“And he was swinging at me. Then I flew up the chimney and away from the house.” After nibbling his lip for another few seconds, drawing Craeg’s attention to his thin beautiful lips, Silas lifted a hand to wave at the cavern absently.
“I found my way in here. It took a while for the colony to accept me, but once they did, living with them has been...easier, I guess.”
Still focused on Silas’s mouth, Craeg struggled to get his brain to work properly. He wanted to taste his mate so damn badly. Barely resisting, he asked absently, “Easier than what?”
“Trying to figure out what I am, I guess,” Silas told him.
“To control it.” As he gave one of the half-shrugs he seemed to favor, he added, “Trying to go back, get ID, get a job.” After another second, Silas shared, “I never finished school, so I don’t know what I’d even be able to do. How would I support myself?”
Craeg had the impression that Silas was asking a rhetorical question, so he didn’t bother trying to come up with an answer to that. Instead, his focus snagged on something else...something important. His mate had never finished school...and it sounded as if he’d fled after his first full shift.
Most shifters changed for the first time shortly after puberty. Plus, Silas had said he hadn’t finished school.
Just how old is my mate? How long has he been alone?
Lifting a hand, Craeg gently threaded his fingers through Silas’s short, shaggy hair. He ignored the oily griminess to it, silently vowing to do something about that later. Instead, Craeg used the gentle petting to urge Silas to tip his head back and meet his gaze.
Seeing Silas’s questioning expression, Craeg asked, “Oh, sweets. How old were ya when ya fled?” He spotted the way Silas’s dark eyebrows furrowed, so he quickly added, “Just how long have ya been down here alone?”
Please be legal.
“Um, well.” Silas appeared to be doing a quick mental calculation. “I was thirteen when I ran away, and there have been...uh, six summers passed while I was a bat, so...”
Silas’s voice trailed off, but Craeg had his answers. His mate had been alone way too damn long, but he was legal.
Craeg also bet his mate was completely untried, and a feral possessiveness roared through him.
I’ll be the only one to ever touch him.
With that thought simmering in his lust-fueled brain, Craeg’s focus again fell to Silas’s lips. “I wanna taste your lips so damn bad, sweets,” he rumbled, unable to help the huskiness of his voice.
“You do?” A squeak entered Silas’s words.
Craeg yanked his attention to Silas’s wide brown eyes, seeing the shock and disbelief there.
“Aye,” Craeg claimed. “I do.” When he watched Silas gape, his disbelief clear, Craeg urged, “Can I?”
“N-Never k-kissed anyone before.” Silas whispered the admission.
Getting confirmation on just how untried his mate was, Craeg mentally reined in his raging libido. That didn’t mean he wasn’t going to get the kiss he wanted, though.
“I’ll show ya how,” Craeg assured.