Chapter One #3
“Can you at least get a cold cloth or something to put over his eyes?” the deep voice demanded.
Aaron really needed to figure out who this bossy man was.
“I’ll get it.”
Okay, that voice belonged to Hudson, Bastian’s mate, the newest member of their makeshift family. Which meant, oh shit, it was starting to come back. The attractive stranger with the deep voice and strong grip? That would be Hudson’s hot cop brother.
Aaron groaned. He did not to be drawing attention from the human authorities. He pulled his hand away, attempting to push up off…where was he again?
“No,” Hudson’s brother said as he pushed Aaron’s shoulder back down. “Stay.”
“Bossy,” Aaron mumbled. What was the brother’s name again?
A snort was his only response which in itself was a good response since Aaron quite liked being bossed around. Normally. Maybe not when his head felt like it wanted to split open. And he really needed to figure out what was going on.
When he was younger, Aaron was often caught off guard by a vision when he touched something or someone that was powerful.
Living in the council compound had been hell until Leo had figured out some of Aaron’s triggers.
Once Bas arrived, the three of them had been thick as thieves.
Leo and Bas knew everything about him. Took care of him at times like this.
Aaron’s senses might not be as strong as a shifter’s or one of the other paranormal creatures around, but even with his eyes closed, he could feel the auras around him. Leo wasn’t there. Just Bas and the stranger. Oh, and Hudson, as he stepped back into the room.
“Here, Carter.”
Carter! That was the brother’s name. The cop.
Aaron jumped as a cold cloth was placed over his eyes.
“Shh,” Carter said. “It’s okay. That should help with the pain.”
It at least helped with the light that was cracking through his closed lids.
“Now, will someone tell me what the hell is going on?” Carter demanded.
“Uh,” Hudson said. “It’s a really long story.”
“A long story?” Carter repeated. “This guy seizes, your guy is talking about visions. I think I have time to hear this story.”
Hmm, maybe Aaron would just lie there and pretend it was too painful to talk.
The vision, from what he could put together, had been a repeat of the dreams that he’d been having since he arrived in this small town.
The dreams started not long after Aaron started chasing after the little heathen that had stolen Leo’s RV.
That had led to Leo finding his long-lost brother, which had shocked them both.
The decision to stay had been hard to make.
Not when Leo had family once again, Bastian had found his mate, and for Aaron he’d formed a special bond with the paranormal family that had welcomed them in.
Now they were opening an office in hope of helping the paranormal communities that had been neglected for far too long.
None of that explained why Aaron was dreaming about rainbows, flowers, and a litter of puppies.
Like, puppies. A pile of black and white dogs that looked to be days old that Aaron was certain weren’t shifter but like regular canines which made no sense to him.
He’d been having the same dream and visions for over a month now so surely they wouldn’t be puppies much longer.
It didn’t make sense. Not that Aaron’s visions or dreams ever did.
All his life, Aaron had tried to control or at least figure out what he saw. Why he saw it what he did. The fractured images, flashes of objects, people with no faces, none of what Aaron saw was easy to figure out.
The council instructors had informed him that Aaron was an oracle after years of not knowing what to do with him.
In the olden days, oracles were highly sought after and protected by many of the paranormal clans.
Unfortunately, oracles had been wiped out, along with some of the oldest paranormal creatures during what was called the great hunt.
A time when humans hunted down paranormals with the intent of killing them all.
Aaron didn’t have a lot of memories of his family. He’d had a mom and dad. A little sister. There was a clear picture in his head of them all dead, bodies laid out on the living room floor, blood covering every inch of the house that Aaron had been raised in for the first few years of his life.
What happened before or after? Aaron had no clue.
He’d been standing over his dead family when the paranormal council guards entered the house and grabbed him. Aaron was taken to the council’s boarding school, where he’d met Leo. Then later Bastian. The two men that would become his family.
Being thrown into council’s authority had been confusing and scary. Aaron hadn’t even known that he was paranormal. Even at the boarding school that was a cover what was the council’s true purpose which was training them as soldiers Aaron hadn’t fit in. Only Leo and Bas had looked out for him.
Clenching his eyes, Aaron had to push the thoughts away. Why was he thinking about his family? Or the council? That all happened so long ago. Old wounds. Wounds that didn’t need to be picked at unless he wanted the pain to fester inside him like it used to.
He jumped as Carter yelled again.
“Tell me what is going on! Now!” Carter demanded.
Aaron sighed and removed the cloth over his eyes. He pushed up even as Carter turned back toward him.
Aaron was on the couch in his new office.
Bas and Hudson were standing in front of the door like they were blocking anyone from entering or exiting.
Carter was still sitting on the couch beside him.
Tentatively, Aaron reached out to touch Carter’s arm.
Relief flooded him when there was not another vision.
Mate.
There was more to his vision than what he had been seeing in a dream. Him and Carter together, walking somewhere, hand in hand.
Mate.
The word had slammed into his brain before Aaron had lost control.
He’d wondered if there was a mate out looking for him. Since he wasn’t a shifter who could scent their special person, Aaron wasn’t even sure he would know if he ran into the person who’d been chosen as his perfect match. Now he knew that he would recognize his mate.
Carter.
Hudson looked from Aaron back to his brother as he shifted from side to side.
Bas placed a comforting hand on Hudson’s lower back and his hard gaze pinned Aaron.
Shit! Bas was going to make Aaron explain. Which was fair but still sucked. He didn’t even know Carter! Except his heart, his entire body, recognized something about Carter and screamed mine!
“I…I can explain,” Aaron told Carter.
Carter turned his head and scowled. “I don’t think you’re in any condition—”
Aaron rolled his eyes. Carter being so protective and bossy shouldn’t be so fucking sexy.
It was though. Instead of getting to bask in that feeling, Aaron knew it was time to confess.
Hopefully Carter didn’t run away in terror.
Not that Aaron would blame him. Carter’s entire world was about to change.
“I’ve been having visions my entire life. I bounce back fast.”
“Visions,” Carter said.
“I am an oracle.” Aaron’s voice was calm and controlled. It even surprised him. He’d said those words very little in his life.
“What the fuck is an oracle?” Carter asked.
The little furrow between his eyes was adorable.
Aaron wanted to smooth out that spot. Probably shouldn’t touch the guy when he most likely thought Aaron was nuts.
If not now he would by the time Aaron got through explaining that shifters, vampires, demons, and magic was real.
And Carter had landed smack dab in the middle of them.
Aaron laughed. “That is a question I have been asking my entire life.”
Carter threw his hands up in frustration. “That’s not an answer!”
“You know those books that you like to read?” Hudson said, suddenly stepping in front of the couch. “The ones with dragons and swords and all that?”
“What does my love for fantasy books have to do with any of this? I mean it, Hudson. I am losing my patience,” Carter told him.
“All of it’s true,” Hudson said.
“All of what?” Carter rose from the couch to pace across the room.
Watching him, Aaron really did have to admire the way that Carter filled out that uniform.
And this tall, hot, muscular man was supposed to belong to Aaron?
What a joke! Every minute of Aaron’s life had been filled with chaos and mayhem.
Of course, the fates would give him one last fuck-you.
There was no way that Carter would ever be with a man like Aaron.
“Guys!” Aaron held up his hands. Carter didn’t owe Aaron anything no matter what the fates had planned.
He didn’t have to be involved. It was unfair really.
Maybe they should just let Carter go on living in bliss and without all the paranormal stuff being thrown at him.
“You don’t have to do this.” They didn’t have to do this.
“Do what?” Bas asked, glaring at him.
Aaron gestured toward Carter. “This is unnecessary. I appreciate that you guys are trying to help but…just…stop.” Nothing in Aaron’s life went the way it should.
Having a mate was a dream that Aaron didn’t deserve.
Not with how…broken he was. Only a true asshole would pull another person to the chaos that Aaron lived.
Bas raised an eyebrow. “Stop what? Stop explaining what is going on to your mate? Why would we do that? Huh? Unless you don’t plan on telling him at all.”
Aaron sighed and dropped his hands into his lap. Bas could always see right through Aaron. Nearly reading his mind at time. Bas might just be a shifter but there was more to him than many knew. “Asshole.”
Bas snorted. He’d obviously heard Aaron’s murmured word.
“Mates?” Carter shouted. “Are you guys on drugs?” Rushing over to his brother, Carter grabbed Hudson’s upper arms. “I’m getting you out of here.”
“Carter—” Hudson tried to pull away.
“Get your hands off my mate,” Bas ordered with a growl.