Chapter Nine
They didn’t make it out of the cottage for another hour.
Redford left first, as Damon had some group chats to respond to.
Damon thought it was cute Redford felt those chats were part of Damon’s private life and didn’t have anything to do with him, but as the contractors had already arrived, Damon let it go for now.
He’ll realize he’s part of the pack soon enough.
But by the time Damon finally stepped outside, showered, dressed, and with a full belly, he was still carrying his contentment from the night before.
The sun had climbed higher, and the contractors were busy.
Through their bond, he realized Redford was thinking about the night before as well, and “thought” about things a little harder.
Stop distracting me, Redford sent through their new connection.
You’re the one who kept kissing me in the shower.
You started it.
Damon grinned and headed toward the castle, where voices echoed from inside the partially restored great hall. Everything looked sharper today, for some reason. Hellhounds already had incredible eyesight, but Damon put it down to his mood.
The morning mist still clung to the hillside, the ancient stones gleamed with moisture, and he could hear the contractors’ conversations even from a distance.
The bond hummed beneath his ribs, a constant warm presence that connected him to Redford. He could sense his mate’s location inside the castle without looking, feel the slight frustration as Redford was clearly studying something.
“Morning,” Damon called as he entered through the main doorway.
Three heads turned toward him. Malcolm, the lead contractor, stood near the far wall with his two assistants, all of them pausing mid-conversation. Their expressions shifted almost immediately - surprise, then knowing smiles that made Damon’s face heat.
“Well, well.” Malcolm set down his measuring tape, his grin widening. “Someone had a good morning.”
“Don’t start.” But Damon couldn’t stop smiling if he tried.
“I wouldn’t dream of it.” Malcolm’s eyes sparkled with humor. “Though I have to say, it took you two long enough.”
“It’s barely been ten days.”
“Felt more like watching paint dry, the way you both kept circling each other.” Malcolm jerked his thumb toward the western wing. “Mr. Stone’s over there looking at the foundation work. You might want to go help him before he lifts something he shouldn’t.”
Damon headed that direction, ignoring the snickers behind him. He felt Redford’s anticipation at his approach, followed by satisfaction when Damon rounded the corner and found him crouched near a section of exposed stone.
“Apparently, you need to stop lifting heavy things without me,” Damon said.
Redford glanced up, his dark eyes warm. “I’m five hundred years old,” he muttered. “I can handle a few stones.”
“Your back and the contractor crew disagree.” Damon could feel the dull ache through their connection. “You’ve been crouching there for twenty minutes.”
“Has it been that long?” Redford straightened, wincing slightly. “I lost track of time just thinking about things.”
“I know about most of those things. Of course, it could just be because you’re stubborn.” Damon moved closer, sliding his hand along Redford’s lower back in a touch that was both soothing and possessive. His hound rumbled contentedly at the contact. “What are you looking at?”
“The foundation needs more work than I thought.” Redford leaned into the touch, and Damon felt his mate’s pleasure at the simple contact. “We’ll need to shore it up before we can proceed with the outer walls.”
They spent the next hour working side by side, clearing more of the debris and assessing damage. The contractors moved around them as they worked on their own tasks, but Damon noticed their glances, and especially the way Malcolm kept smiling whenever he looked their way.
Humans couldn’t sense mate bonds, but they clearly recognized something had changed between him and Redford.
Of course, it could be because they didn’t see the need to stop touching each other, and admittedly they appeared to move in sync without needing to speak, but that was the way things were between a mated pair.
Apparently, though, those little things painted an obvious, if slightly distorted picture, for their audience too.
Around midday, a familiar voice called out from the courtyard. “Special delivery!”
Damon’s head snapped up. Duncan. Of course, the postman would show up today of all days. It wasn’t that Damon wasn’t proud of his relationship with Redford, but if Duncan knew, the whole village would know before sunset, and Damon wasn’t sure how the villagers handled same-sex relationships.
“I’ll handle it,” Redford said, but Damon was already moving toward the entrance.
Only one way to find out.
Duncan stood in the courtyard, holding a package and practically vibrating with curiosity. His eyes widened when he spotted Damon, then immediately tracked to Redford emerging behind him.
“Well now.” Duncan’s grin could have lit up the entire Highlands. “This is interesting.”
“It’s not what you think,” Damon started, then stopped. “Never mind, it probably is what you think. What do you have for us?”
“Papers for Mr. Stone.” Duncan handed over the package but made no move to leave. “Though I have to say, when I delivered that letter mere weeks ago, I didn’t expect things to progress quite so quickly.”
“Duncan…”
“Not judging, not at all.” Duncan held up both hands, still grinning at the gathered contractors.
“Just glad to see our Damon finally settling down. He’s been living up here alone for three years, has barely spoken to anyone except me and the occasional hiker.
Now look at you – you’ve moved a handsome man into your cottage and everything. ”
Heat crawled up Damon’s neck. Behind him, Redford’s amusement pulsed through the bond.
You find this funny?
Extremely.
“We’re just…” Damon paused. What were they supposed to say? That they’d known each other ten days but were actually fated mates bound together for eternity? “It happened fast.”
“The best things usually do.” Duncan’s expression softened. “You deserve this, lad. We’ve all been watching you up here, keeping to yourself, looking like you were waiting for something. I’m just glad you found it.”
The warmth that unfurled in Damon’s chest had nothing to do with the mate bond. He’d chosen his remote location specifically to avoid people, but Duncan had still checked on him, and the people in the village were always friendly, despite Damon’s standoffish behavior.
“Thanks, Duncan.”
“You’ll be wanting me to spread the word, then?” Duncan’s eyes sparkled with barely contained glee. “Let everyone in the village know you’re off the market?”
“I…” Damon glanced back at Redford, who’d moved closer. “Yeah. I guess you probably should.”
“Brilliant!” Duncan clapped his hands together. “Margaret at the pub will be thrilled. She’s been trying to set you up with her nephew for months. Poor woman’s been so worried about you being lonely.”
“I’ve hardly been lonely.” But Damon made sure he smiled as he said it. Duncan didn’t have a clue about his packmates.
“You were.” Duncan’s expression turned knowing. “But not anymore. That’s what matters.”
After Duncan finally left - promising to stop by the pub immediately to share the news - Damon returned to find the contractors taking their lunch break. Malcolm waved them over to where he and his assistants had set up near the partially restored western wall.
“Congratulations,” Malcolm said, his tone genuine. “You two seem good together.”
“Thanks.” Redford’s hand found the small of Damon’s back. “I think we can all agree it happened faster than either of us expected, but when you know you know.”
“Sometimes that’s how it works.” Malcolm unwrapped his sandwich. “My wife and I knew after two weeks. Moved in together after three. Married within the year. That was thirty years ago when things like that were frowned on, but we still did it.”
One of the assistants, a younger man named Jamie, shook his head. “See, I don’t know if it’s like that now. My sister dated her boyfriend for five years before they moved in together. Everyone’s different.”
“True enough.” Malcolm studied them both with the careful assessment of someone who’d seen plenty of relationships come and go. “But you can tell when something’s right. The way you two work together, move around each other - that’s not something you fake.”
Damon felt Redford’s quiet pleasure as if it was his own. “You could be right about that.”
They ate lunch in companionable silence, listening to the contractors discuss the next phase of work. Damon found himself relaxing into the normalcy of it, the simple pleasure of sitting beside his mate while the contractors discussed foundation repairs and material orders.
This is nice, he sent through the bond.
It is. Redford’s fingers brushed against his. Though I’m already thinking about tonight.
You can stop thinking like that right now. We’ll never get anything done.
Can’t help it. Amusement and desire pulsed through their connection. You’re distracting.
After lunch, they split up to tackle different sections of the castle.
Damon helped Jamie clear debris from what would eventually become a kitchen area, while Redford worked with Malcolm on the foundation repairs – they were clearly the biggest issue with the renovation.
But even separated by stone walls, Damon could feel his mate’s presence.
It was like the pack bond, but so much more intense.
Every so often, Redford would send something through the bond - a flash of satisfaction when they made progress, mild irritation when a stone wouldn’t cooperate, and warmth whenever his thoughts drifted to Damon, which seemed to be often. Not that Damon was any better.
“You’re smiling a lot today,” Jamie observed, hauling another load of broken masonry toward the growing pile outside.
“Am I?”
“Yeah. Not that there’s anything wrong with it.” Jamie grinned. “Just different from how you’ve been the past week. You seemed pretty intense before.”
“Intense?”
“Like you were trying really hard not to notice Mr. Stone.” Jamie wiped sweat from his forehead. “Which was funny because he was doing the same thing. Malcolm and I had bets on how long it would take for you two to get together.”
Damon raised an eyebrow. “You bet on us?”
“Malcolm said three weeks. I said one.” Jamie’s grin widened. “Technically I won, since it’s been about ten days.”
“I hope it was something worth winning.” Damon couldn’t help but laugh.
“Hey, we’re happy for you. Malcolm especially - he’s a romantic at heart, even if he pretends not to be.
” Jamie hefted another stone. “Plus, you’ve been good for the work.
Mr. Stone’s way more relaxed now. Earlier this week, he kept looking like he wanted to say something but couldn’t figure out how. ”
Through the bond, Damon felt Redford’s embarrassment at being so transparent.
They noticed, Damon sent.
Apparently everyone noticed.
We weren’t subtle.
No. Affection warmed their connection. But I wouldn’t change anything.
Me neither.
By late afternoon, word had clearly spread beyond Duncan’s initial announcement, although he had a reach similar to an old-time town crier.
Three different villagers found excuses to stop by - one claiming to be lost despite being local, another saying she’d heard about the castle renovations and wanted to see the progress, and a third bringing a basket of baked goods “to welcome Mr. Stone properly.”
All of them congratulated Damon with knowing smiles.
“Margaret from the pub sent these,” the third visitor, an elderly woman named Mrs. Donaghue, said as she handed over the basket. “She says you’re to bring your young man down for dinner sometime this week. On the house.”
“That’s generous,” Redford said, appearing at Damon’s side as he always seemed to when strangers arrived.
“She’s been worried about this one.” Mrs. Donaghue patted Damon’s arm. “Living alone up here for all this time, rarely coming down to socialize. We’re all pleased you’ve found someone.”
After Mrs. Donaghue left, Damon turned to find Malcolm and his assistants packing up their tools.
“Are you all heading out early?” Redford asked.
“Figured you two might want some privacy.” Malcolm winked. “Plus, we’ve been listening to well-wishers show up all afternoon, and we’re starting to feel like we’re in the way of something.”
“You’re not…”
“It’s fine, Mr. Stone. We’ve done most of what we had planned today.” Malcolm clapped Redford on the shoulder. “You’re newly together and should take time to enjoy it. We’ll be back tomorrow to finish the foundation work.”
After the contractors left, silence settled over the castle ruins. Damon leaned against the partially restored wall, watching the sun begin its descent toward the horizon. Through the bond, he felt Redford approaching before he heard the footsteps.
“Well,” Redford said, sliding an arm around Damon’s waist. “That was a day.”
“Everyone knows now.”
“Does that bother you?”
Damon considered the question. A week ago, he would have hated the intrusion into his carefully maintained solitude. But now, with Redford warm against his side and their bond humming contentedly beneath his ribs, he found he didn’t mind at all.
“No.” He leaned into his mate’s embrace. “It actually feels good. People are treating us like we’re a real couple.”
“We are real.” Redford pressed a kiss to his temple. “Very real, probably a lot more real than they could ever imagine, but there are some things they don’t need to know.”
It was nice, just taking in the scenery together. Damon realized that everything felt different now, even though in theory it hadn’t changed at all…except for Redford now sharing his life with him.
Home, his hound rumbled. This is home.
And for the first time in three years, instead of always thinking of himself as a tenant and someone who would be made to move on eventually, Damon leaned into his hound’s assessment and agreed. Duncarrick was his home now.