Chapter 8 #3
“That’s my boyfriend,” I answered, trying not to sound supremely annoyed as I did.
Though Ethan was no boy, and the term boyfriend kind of made me cringe based on how deep our relationship actually went, I wanted to stake my claim before any of the waitresses on this shift got any dumb ideas of trying to pick him up.
“Lu-u-u-cky!” She returned with absolutely no malice, just pure respect for my good fortune.
I tried not to laugh at her childish response.
As much as I wanted to scratch her eyes out for noticing how good Ethan looked, she was harmless.
Plus, I was “lucky” as she’d stated. The hot ware with the killer bod was mine, and no amount of pretty women throwing themselves at his feet, or cock, was going to change that.
I might not have been a shifter for long, but I knew what I felt for the man.
He was my mate. If that meant half as much to him as it meant to me, I knew he’d forever be faithful.
Though, truth or not, I still wanted to scalp Carly for noticing.
The afternoon rush hit around eleven and Carly, Kevin, and I all began to run around like chickens with our heads cut off. The boom lasted for a good hour and remained fairly steady until the end of my shift at two.
Ethan came in with a frilly bag in hand as he waited discreetly at a corner table for me to clock out. When I came over to join him, he stood, relieved me of my coffee, pulled me into his arms for a very hot kiss, then presented me with the frilly bag he’d been carrying.
“I got you something,” he said, watching with an indulgent smile as I squealed with delight over the pretty package.
“I love presents,” I declared gleefully, as I shoved aside the colorful layers of tissue paper to reveal the gift inside. “My favorite chocolates! How did you know?”
Ethan grabbed my takeaway coffee off the table and led me out the door as he reminded me about something I’d forgotten. “Your dad used to get them for you every year on your birthday. When I saw the shop, I knew I had to get you some.”
If I wasn’t already in love with this man, I think that would have sealed the deal.
Yes, I loved him. I had for some time now.
Long before he’d saved my life and I’d learned I was a ware.
Like the moon and the stars above, it had always been.
No need to define or dissect it. Like Ethan had just done, sometimes life handed you a precious gift.
Best to just accept it instead of ripping it apart looking for further meaning.
On the ride home from work, Ethan explained that there would be some men staying with us at the cabin for the foreseeable future.
Though I’d known since the mystery texter had threatened me that Ethan would have to call in reinforcements, I wasn’t happy about it.
I mean, Flint was bad enough, but now there needed to be a slew of nosey wares hanging around the cabin when I just wanted to be alone—and naked—with Ethan.
“That’s not all,” my mate said then, his gaze flicking in my direction as he drove. “Gavin is going to be one of the men staying with us.”
The kid who had attacked me while I was showering the first night I’d spent at the cabin!
“What? Ethan, no! You promised I wouldn’t have to see him again after what he did.”
“I know, Princess, but things have changed. And so have you. Since we’ve mated, your scent now has mine mingled in with it. Gavin won’t be attracted to you in the same way as he was before,” he carefully explained.
“But he will still be attracted to me?” I angrily asked.
“All wares will be attracted to your scent, Millie. You’re an omega. You’ll smell divine to any ware, no matter if you are mated or not.”
Pouting, I sort of shrieked, “That’s not my fault! I can’t do anything about that!”
“Of course it’s not, but it’s still our problem. That’s why Gavin is coming to stay with us. He’ll protect you from whoever was in the woods last night. I know he hasn’t shown you as much so far, but he’s a great kid and I trust him.”
“Whenever he’s not trying to attack me,” I muttered under my breath.
Knowing what was good for him, Ethan didn’t react to my barb.
“There’ll be other men there as well. Brothers who I know from Cascia House,” he explained, as he took the turn-off onto the dirt road that led to the cabin.
I’d heard so much about Cascia House over the years.
My father had often peppered our conversations with stories from his youth that had incorporated Laurence and his friends.
Every time it was mentioned by Ethan now, I felt myself getting ever more curious about the men who had lived there, wondering what their experiences were like.
“Did my father know the men that will be staying with us?”
Ethan nodded. “He did. Though not as well as I do. Most of them are younger, but whenever they were in town, they’d stop in for a beer to catch up and Calvin would sometimes join us.”
Intrigued, I asked, “Who are they?”
Smiling, as he knew he’d piqued my interest, Ethan began to list off the names one by one. “Well, you know Gavin,” he slowly began. “He’s the youngest of the group and just left Alaska to learn what it’s like living outside Cascia House for the first time since he was ten.”
I didn’t say anything, as I’d already made my point where he was concerned.
“Next, there’s Stark. Like Flint, he’s in the military. Unlike Flint, he doesn’t act like a prick and never has to be told to shut up. I mean, the man hardly speaks. Also, he and Flint don’t get along very well, so they need a buffer between them to keep them from fighting.”
I smiled at his very blunt description of Flint and Stark’s turbulent relationship. “Why don’t they get along?”
Ethan sighed. “Not sure. I think their personalities just rub each other the wrong way. Also, they bunked together during their stay at Cascia House, so I think there’s some water under the bridge there that they’ve been harboring for some time and simply don’t want to discuss.”
“Interesting,” I said, wondering how I could weaponize this knowledge the next time Flint pissed me off.
“The buffer between the two men that I mentioned is Colt. That man gets along with everyone, when he’s not exploring the world solo. He’s a wildlife expert who leads groups of people into nature’s most dangerous places both domestically and abroad.”
That sounded awfully dangerous. In fact, it seemed all of these men had an eye for both adventure and danger in their lives.
Even though Ethan was in finance, the entire time I’d known him he’d been jumping out of planes, going on big-game hunting trips, and deep-sea diving all over the world.
Like many men, the Cascia House boys liked the great outdoors.
Like most wares, apparently, they liked those great outdoors to be down and dirty, dangerous and rough.
“Is that it?” I prompted.
“It might be,” Ethan hedged. “I’m still waiting on one more person to call me back. My brother Logan.”
As he said his brother’s name, Ethan’s face kind of went blank.
“Who’s Logan?” I gently queried, wanting to know why he was being so evasive right now.
“My brother,” Ethan repeated, before glancing my way. “My blood brother,” he clarified after a moment of silence.