Chapter 18
Aiden was dreaming. He had to be. He dreamt he finally shifted into his beast. He’d felt safe inside the warm, massive creature. He’d felt the firebird’s strength and power. He’d seen Jamie staring at him in awe, like he was proud of him. Too bad it was only a dream. It would be nice if it had been true.
“You did shift, silly human” The phoenix’s deep voice echoed within his head.
“No, I’m sleeping,” Aiden wordlessly replied.
“No, you’re just feeling the aftereffects of your first shift. You need to wake up. Your mate is worried.”
“Jamie?”
“I’m right here.” Jamie answered.
Woops, he must have said that out loud. He tried to open his eyes, but they felt heavy.
“Can you open your eyes for me?” Jamie asked. Aiden could hear the slight hitch in his voice. He must really be worried. Maybe I really did shift.
“Told you,” the phoenix answered haughtily.
“His vitals are stable,” Mac said.
“Good, good,” Jamie mumbled. “Aiden, try to open your eyes.” His tone was urgent.
“Why’s he nagging?”
Jamie chuckled. “I’m not nagging.”
Oops, must have said that out loud, too.
“I just want to make sure you’re alright. Come on, open those blue eyes for me.”
Despite not wanting to leave what he had thought was a cozy sleep, Aiden forced his eyes open. He blinked slowly to clear his blurry vision. He was lying on Jamie’s lap, his blue eyes focused on him with an intensity that made him shiver. Mac was on his right side, firmly in her “doctor mode.” Heath, Deacon, Iris, Piper, and May stood close by. They all had varying degrees of concern on their faces except for Heath. Heath was beaming like the Joker.
“Hi there,” Jamie said to him. Because of how he held Aiden, he had to peer down and to the side to look him in the eye.
“So, it wasn’t a dream?”
Jamie gave him a warm smile. He shook his head. “No, it was real.”
Aiden moved to sit up but fell back against Jamie. “Why can’t I move?”
“You’re exhausted. It happens with people when they first begin shifting. It’ll go away the more you shift,” Mac said. “Being close to your uh,” she flicked her eyes to Jamie and back to Aiden, “being close to Jamie should help heal you,” she told him in a much quieter voice.
Aiden nodded. She was going to say mate. He felt more and more that that was what they were. He wanted to tell her it was alright to say the word ‘mate’, but he was so tired. He felt Jamie’s arms tighten around him. He glanced down at himself and flushed with embarrassment. “I’m naked.”
“Yeah, that happens when you shift,” Deacon said. He grabbed a blanket off the back of the sofa and tossed it to Jamie who immediately tucked it around Aiden’s lap. “I’ll go upstairs and see if I can grab you something of Heath’s to wear.”
Aiden heard the thud, thud, thud of Deacon plodding up the stairs, but Iris stayed close to Aiden. Worry creased her brows.
“Do you need anything else? A drink maybe?” Piper asked.
Aiden’s throat felt as dry as a desert post-shift. “Sure, some water’d be good. Thanks.”
“Come on up with me,” Piper said to May.
“What?” May looked mutinous. Aiden held back a grin. He’d learned quickly that May hated to be left out of the action.
“Let’s go. You can tell your parents you saw a full-grown phoenix in their basement,” Piper teased. She held a hand out to May.
“Ugh, fine,” May said. She let Piper pull her upstairs.
Why was Heath smiling like that? It was weird. “I’ve never seen Heath grin so much,” Aiden commented to Jamie and Mac.
Mac gazed up at her mate and scowled. She turned back to Aiden with a kind look. “I know. He’s just excited that you shifted. It was amazing to see up close.”
Heath nodded. “How did it feel?”
Aiden managed to move one hand up to rub his temple. “I can’t really remember being the phoenix. But when I thought I was dreaming, it felt like a wonderful dream. I felt strong. Powerful.”
“It was like being in the presence of a unicorn. You seemed as if you were on fire, glowing and all, but your feathers were so soft. It was incredible,” Jamie said in hushed tones. “You don’t remember?”
“Not exactly. Wait, you touched my feathers? You weren’t afraid of me, or rather my beast?”
Jamie huffed a laugh. “No. I could tell you wouldn’t hurt me.”
“But, what if I—”
“Stop right there. I knew you wouldn’t hurt me. Your phoenix spoke to us telepathically. He was calm. Well, maybe a little excited to be out in the world, but he never felt threatening, at least not to us,” Jamie said.
“Yeah, he seems very nice,” Iris offered. “Like a gentleman. One that can fly and set things on fire,” she added with a grin.
“I think he was relieved you let him out. He wants to train so he can protect the town,” Mac said.
“How do we train a phoenix?” Heath asked. It seemed as if he were speaking to himself.
Deacon bounded down the stairs with a bundle of clothes and a large tumbler. He must have heard Heath’s question because he answered, “I think we have him do some flying drills. The flight shifters can help. We can also see how accurate he is with his flamethrowing abilities. Make sure he can keep the collateral damage down.” He placed the pile of clothes on the sofa and handed the drink to Mac, who leaned in and helped Aiden take a drink of water.
“Whoa,” Jamie said. “It seems like you’ve been thinking a lot about this.”
“A little bit,” Deacon said. “It’s kind of like the drills we used to do when we were teenagers and first shifted. It normally takes quite a while for us to get used to our beast form, but we don’t have that luxury with Aiden.”
Jamie had stiffened at Deacon’s assessment, but his brother-in-law was right. Aiden needed to begin training ASAP. He turned to Mac. “When do you think I’ll be able to shift again?”
“If you get some rest and eat plenty of red meat to refuel, you could be ready as soon as tomorrow evening,” she answered.
“Tomorrow?” Jamie croaked. “People usually take a week to recover after their first shift. You think he’ll be ready in a day?”
“If he eats well and rests, it’s possible. Besides, he’ll recover faster with you close by,” she added.
“That’s if we’re really mates…” Jamie said under his breath.
“Oh, I think we are,” Aiden replied.
“You’re suddenly sure?” Jamie asked in hushed tones.
“Pretty sure.”
“It’s good that the bakery’s closed tomorrow. You guys have no excuse to leave the house. You can stay there and rest. Just do nothing but eat and sleep,” Iris said.
“You’ll have to stay close to take advantage of the mate healing,” Mac said to Jamie. She leaned closer to Aiden. “Is it alright if I say that? I don’t want to make you guys uncomfortable.”
“It’s fine with me. You can call us mates. I love him,” Aiden said. He tilted his head and saw a flushed Jamie smiling down at him. The man he loved was so hot, but he was too damn exhausted to do anything about it. Aiden’s chest burned. He was going to be home all day, resting with Jamie.
“I’ll make sure he eats and rests,” Jamie said. “In fact, I’d like to get him home now if that’s alright with everyone.”
“Of course,” Mac said. “Do you need help getting dressed?” she asked Aiden.
“No, I’ll help him,” Jamie said. “We’ll be fine.”
“You sure?” Iris asked.
Aiden nodded. “Yeah, can you guys give us a few minutes? I feel strong enough to move around a bit now.”
“Sure,” Mac said. “We’ll wait upstairs.” She grabbed her mate’s hand and gestured for Deacon and Iris to head upstairs. “Holler if you need any help.”
Aiden and Jamie watched them head up. When the door at the top of the basement slammed shut, Aiden mumbled, “I never thought they’d leave us alone.”