by Liv Rider
“I don’t understand how you can drink that stuff.”
“We’ll try you on hot chocolate later today,” Dev promised. “Everyone has a beverage weakness.”
While Dev made himself coffee, Aidan fed Marshmallow, who acted as if she hadn’t been fed for a year. It all felt weirdly domestic, and Aidan found himself daydreaming. Was this what every morning would be like, with a mate by his side? But there was a small, wary part of him that didn’t quite trust it to last, pointing out nagging uncertainties: Dev’s unresolved wolf issues; Aidan’s unresolved shapeshifting issues. He pushed the uncertainties away. It would be fine.
“You up for some human activity this morning?” Dev asked.
Aidan canted his head. “Does it involve more sex? Because I’m not gonna lie, that’s currently at the top of my list of human activities I want to try more of.”
Dev’s eyes danced, and the playful happiness in him took Aidan’s breath away. Dev didn’t smile nearly enough. “No, but it does involve using your hands. And leaving the house. We could also get you your own clothes while we’re at it.” He gave Aidan a leering once-over. “As the expert on all things human, I’m thinking you need a lot of too-small shirts.”
Aidan laughed, but he remembered the alarmingly large pile of documents Dev had brought with him. “Don’t you have work stuff to do?”
Dev shrugged. “Some. But I can do it tonight. Besides, I just found my mate, and I’d like to take him out on a date.”
Aidan rocked back. “A date?”
“Hey, you wanted to experience the full gamut of human activities.”
Aidan grinned, his heart melting into butter. “How can I refuse that kind of offer?”
Dev grinned back. “So, what does your brother think of your new two-legged state?” he asked as he fiddled with the espresso machine.
“I, er, haven’t told him yet. They weren’t exactly expecting me to call as a wolf!” he added hurriedly at Dev’s piercing look. “And they’re a little busy. I don’t want Mahon to rush back here to fret over me—he needs to be with Oscar right now. It’s pack business.” Dev made an inquisitive sound, so Aidan expanded. “There was an incident with the ruler of the local fae court that they have to go convince the Triumvirate wasn’t an act of war.”
Dev’s hands stilled. “Your brother was involved in Lord Piron’s death?” His tone was…odd.
“You know about that?”
“Every fae in the city knows about that, including my family. Everyone’s keeping their heads down, waiting for the court to work it out between themselves.” While the high fae looked down on lesser types of fae, the courts they formed protected all local fae. The ruler extended an invisible blanket of protective power over their people, sort of like an Alpha did with a pack.
Aidan always kept that observation to himself—he was one of the few people who’d lived in both a pack and a court, and he knew neither would appreciate the comparison.
“Do they know who the new ruler will be?” he asked instead.
Dev gave him a long, slow look, putting his cup to the side. The smell of freshly ground coffee warmed the air. Marshmallow meowed again, and they both ignored her.
“I have more family loyalty to fae than werewolves.” His gaze lingered meaningfully on Aidan’s blue hair.
“So, you’re not going to tell me?”
“There’s nothing to tell. If anyone were strong enough to pull a court together, they’d already be ruling.” Something like anger sparked in Dev’s eyes. “Did the wolves think about the impact of a power struggle on the rest of the city’s fae when they took out Lord Piron’s court?”
Aidan could’ve kicked himself. Why had he brought up a subject basically guaranteed to make Dev remember all his prejudices?
Before he could find the right words to reassure him, the doorbell rang.
“That’ll be Sabas,” he said with a sigh.
Chapter 16
It wasn’t Sabas. A man and a woman Dev didn’t know stood on the doorstep, and he could tell they weren’t human. Both of them gave off a lesser version of Sabas’s overpowering predatory aura. The woman was maybe mid-thirties, darker skinned than Dev, with her curly hair worn naturally. The man was all lean, sharp angles, and the whitest guy Dev had ever seen, with frozen grey eyes and white hair despite the fact that he looked younger than Aidan.
“Hot damn, you clean up nice!” the woman said to Aidan, giving him an appreciative up-and-down.
“Always said I was the hotter twin.” Aidan spread his arms. “Dev, this is Jamila and Idris. They’re Seconds.”
That was the highest rank after Alpha, wasn’t it? Dev remembered from yesterday. How many Seconds were there?
Jamila considered the space between Dev and Aidan, and her eyes widened. “You want to talk about the mate-spark coming off the two of you like dandruff?”
Aidan slung an arm around Dev’s waist. Dev could feel the tension in him despite his casual attitude. “Not unless you want to congratulate me.”
“Huh. Well, congratulations, I guess.” Jamila held out a hand, which Dev shook warily. She had a firm, almost testing grip, and she narrowed her eyes at him when he didn’t flinch. “You’re lucky, Mr. Morimoto.”
“I know I am.”
Jamila’s expression softened slightly. “Good.” She released his hand. “Sabas couldn’t make it. Fae problems. So, we’re here for the debrief instead.”
Idris didn’t say anything, just grunted an acknowledgment, but his frozen eyes bore into Dev’s for a second, the expression in them hard. Dev wound his fingers with Aidan’s and glared back.
“Fae problems?” Aidan queried, stepping back out of the doorway and waving the two inside. Dev followed him, even though it made his skin itch having those two predators at his back.
There was a pause. Dev glanced back, met Jamila’s eyes, and realized neither of the Seconds trusted him. Fae problems. Christ. Dev knew that the wolves had been mixed up in Lord Piron’s death, but it was different, somehow, knowing that it wasn’t just some anonymous wolves but Aidan and, probably, these guys too.
“Just some hothead juveniles stirring up stuff,” she said carefully. “But Sabas doesn’t want it setting off anything. You know how it is at the moment.” She changed the subject, deliberately. “How big’s your radius, before you change back?”
Aidan shrugged. “A bit over a hundred feet, more or less.” He led them all into the living room, sitting down on the sofa. Dev sat next to him. Jamila perched on the armchair opposite, but Idris stalked over to stand next to the empty fireplace. He watched Dev with unblinking and almost feline intensity, reminding him strangely of Marshmallow for a second.
“We quartered the plaza you tracked the attacker to yesterday after dark,” Jamila said. She grimaced. “Thanks for the heads-up on that scent bomb, by the way. Nasty stuff. He got into a vehicle, we think, because there’s no trace of him leaving that plaza. The scents were too muddied to find the vehicle in the mess.” She turned to Dev. “And you don’t remember anything else about whoever attacked you?”
Dev hadn’t climbed to the top of a successful business empire without learning to read a room, and this one was thick with suspicion, as if Dev had set this situation up on purpose. As if he were the one on trial for his own attack! The injustice set him bristling. If anyone should be on trial, it should be the pack that had brought down the local fae court and sent every fae in the city into a spiral of uncertainty.
“No,” he said shortly.
Jamila’s eyes bore into Dev’s. “Who would want you to be a werewolf?”
Dev’s temper snapped. “Dunno, you guys all seem pretty keen on the idea. As far as I know, only Alphas can make new werewolves, and apparently yours is the only one in the vicinity. Maybe you should ask him where he was the other night. And maybe tell him he’s not as all-powerful as you seem to think, since I’m not turning any time soon.”
Idris growled. Actually growled. It made the hairs on the bac
k of Dev’s neck stand on end, and the beast rose in his chest, wanting to respond to the challenge. He shoved it down and scowled instead.
Jamila didn’t react. “Try spitting denial at the full moon next week and see how that works out for you. In the meantime, you sure no one else would like to see you as a wolf, Mr. Morimoto?”
“If I think of someone, I’ll let you know.”
Then Idris finally spoke, in a cold, clipped voice that matched the rest of his frosty appearance. “What about your father? Carl Jackson was a wolf too, correct?”
Dev tensed. “How the hell do you know his name?”
Jamila answered. “Standard protocol, investigating potential new pack members’ backgrounds.”
“Then you know it wasn’t him,” Dev grit out. “He hates me, sure, but he’s in prison and has been for more than twenty years.”
Aidan added, “Zeke said he’d see if he could dig up any info.”
“All right then.” Jamila pursed her lips and met Dev’s eyes. The simmering power he’d sensed in both Seconds sharpened. “I certainly hope you’ll be a positive addition to the pack, Mr. Morimoto. I’d hate to be wrong.” She pointed meaningfully at Aidan. “We protect our own.”
Idris growled menacing agreement as she got up.
“Oi!” Aidan protested, standing in a sudden jerk. “Did you really need to make us sound like the bloody werewolf mafia?”
Jamila grinned, unrepentant, and that simmering sense of power folded away. “Wolf Club still on this week? Lilah’s looking forward to it,” she said as if she hadn’t just threatened Dev a second earlier.
Aidan folded his arms. “Yes. It is. Now get out of my house and stop melodramatically threatening my mate.”
“See you on Friday then,” she said cheerfully. “Let us know if you figure out any more about our mystery attacker. We’ll keep our ears pricked.” She looked between Dev and Aidan. “And hit me up if you need courtship advice.”
Chapter 17
Aidan swore, long and fluently, after Jamila and Idris left, all his previous good mood lost. “Bloody wolves. And tigers,” he added conscientiously.
“What?” Dev startled out of his brooding.
“Idris is a tiger shifter,” Aidan said. “The pack includes a few non-wolf shifters. There aren’t any other tigers in the city.” Explanation done, he continued to grumble. “I can’t believe them!” How was he supposed to persuade Dev that being a wolf was a good thing with the Seconds being so hostile?
Dev, to his surprise, began to look amused rather than outraged.
“Aren’t you pissed off too? They pretty much accused you of turning yourself into a werewolf for funsies!” Aidan knew—he just knew—that the entire pack would be talking about his new mate before the day was out. It wasn’t that he didn’t want them to know about Dev, but dealing with a bunch of over-interested werewolves while everything still felt so new and fragile…. Fuck. And what if one of them told Mahon and then he’d have to deal with his twin’s over-protectiveness as well?
Dev shrugged. “I guess it’s good to know that someone else is looking out for you too.” He wrapped his arms around Aidan, burying his nose in his neck. “Want to learn how to make pancakes?”
Aidan grumbled, but it was hard to hold onto his irritation with Dev in a playful mood, with his barriers down. “All right.”
They made pancakes, Dev showing Aidan the trick to flipping them in the hot pan.
“Aha! I’m a goddamn pancake master!” he cried triumphantly when he finally managed it. Dev chuckled, the sound going straight to Aidan’s groin.
After breakfast, they took Dev’s fancy car and hit the shops. It was more fun than Aidan had expected, watching Dev watch him with heavy-lidded bedroom eyes as he tried on different stuff. He liked running his hands over racks of clothing, enjoying the texture of different fabrics.
“One more stop before lunch,” Dev promised as they stowed the bags containing Aidan’s new clothing in the trunk.
To Aidan’s surprise, they pulled up in the parking lot near an open-air market. Dev led them through chattering crowds and stalls of knick-knacks to a building with a sign that said Custom Ceramics on it.
Dev looked uncharacteristically uncertain. “I thought, because you’re into the whole hand-eye coordination thing, and I noticed you don’t have your own coffee mug….” he trailed off. “I came here with my sister once. I thought it might be fun.”
Aidan blinked, a lump lodging in his throat. “Lead the way.”
It was fun. The paint was a lot harder to control than expected, but to his delight, he was better at it than Dev.
“What are those supposed to be?” He pointed at the blobs of red in a sea of green and brown squiggles. “Spaghetti Bolognese?”
“Trees,” Dev said serenely. “It’s an apple orchard, obviously.”
“Why are there hippopotamuses in the apple orchard?” Aidan pointed at a lopsided four-legged shape.
“Those are llamas. My family keeps a couple,” Dev said with great dignity.
Aidan began to laugh. He wanted to kiss Dev, but his hands were covered in paint. He was trying to paint a wolf pack under a full moon, with mixed success. At least they didn’t look like a bunch of hippopotamuses. It felt good, not being automatically the worst at a human thing. Maybe he really was getting the hang of hands.
They left their mugs with the shop to be fired and wandered out into the chilly early afternoon, hands entwined. “I know a good place to eat near here,” Dev said. “My cousin owns the place.”
That warmed Aidan right through. Dev wanted Aidan to meet his cousin? Or at least, didn’t object to Aidan meeting his cousin? He was in such a sappy mood that he foolishly didn’t join the dots until after they’d parked, and Dev led them to a building along the waterfront. The café was an old wooden villa squashed between apartment blocks, overshadowed by their taller shapes. The sign was in one of those handwritten script fonts, and it read: CaFae.
Even if it hadn’t, the scent of the people going in and out would’ve clued him in: fae, every last one of them.
Chapter 18
He dug in his heels. Dev took a few steps further before he realized Aidan wasn’t following. He turned, raising a puzzled eyebrow.
“Something wrong?”
“This is a fae place,” Aidan said.
Dev blinked. “Yeah. I said my cousin owned it. Also does great coffee, if you want to try that again.” He grinned. “Maybe second time will be the charm?”
“A fae café,” Aidan emphasized. “I’m a werewolf. We don’t—I can’t just walk into a fae-owned business!”
Dev closed the distance between them and took his hand, giving it a gentle tug. Aidan moved a single reluctant inch. “Why not? You’re more fae than I am, and I’ve been coming here for years. It’ll be fine.” His thumb soothed the back of his hand. “Don’t worry; I’ll protect you from the big, bad fae if need be.”
Aidan spluttered. His gut told him this was a bad idea, but Dev seemed perfectly relaxed. “All right. Fine. But keep in mind BlackEdge is currently trying not to start a turf war with the local fae.”
“Hey, not that I’m suggesting it, but the food in this place is totally worth starting a war over.”
Aidan let himself be led into the building. There were anti-vampire wards on the door—vampires loved fae blood, if they could get it—but they didn’t activate as he and Dev crossed them. Not set to repel shifters, then. He didn’t relax. In wolf form, his hackles would’ve been up, but as a man, it just felt like the skin between his shoulderblades was really itchy. Was everyone staring at him? How long till they noticed a bloody wolf had wandered into their midst?
He came to a halt just inside the doors, this time in surprise rather than alarm. His main experience with fae was with daoine sidhe, who trended towards ultra-traditional and over-the-top Palace-of-Versailles style décor.
This wasn’t that.
“Nice, right?” Dev said, looking around with a
pproval.
“It’s like a jungle and a hipster had babies,” Aidan murmured. There were a lot of plants. Living greenery draped the walls, and above them crisscrossed a canopy of vines, punctuated by shafts of natural light that cast dappled shadows throughout the café. The café’s wooden furniture was mismatched, solidly built, and painted in a variety of colorful designs that looked to be based off Alice in Wonderland-style playing cards. Through a screen door, he could see an outdoor courtyard containing a trickling fountain.
He craned his neck, trying to figure out how so much light was getting in. Skylights, maybe? Magic skylights? He sniffed the air and got a mix of plants and food smells. Hard to pick out magical signatures in that.
“Hipster jungle is basically the idea. My cousin’s a dryad. And a hipster,” Dev added after a moment’s consideration.
The café was doing brisk business, but after a few seconds, a tiny pixie woman wearing a staff apron bustled over to them. Her hair was bright lime green and Aidan got flashes of dragonfly wings of the same color through her glamour.
“Hey, Dev!” she chirped, then blinked and did a double-take, at Dev rather than Aidan. Was she registering Dev as wolf rather than human now? Why had Aidan let himself be talked into this?
“Hey, Trix.” Dev looked like he was wondering the same thing, his shoulders tensing.
After a long pause, the pixie woman shook herself. “Same table as usual? It’s free.” She sized up Aidan curiously but with no apparent hostility.
“Sure.”
She led them over to a table next to a window overlooking the courtyard. Apparently no one had told the courtyard it was inside, because it looked like half a forest out there. Their table was painted with a wide-grinning Cheshire cat.
Trix snatched another puzzled glance at Dev as they sat down.
“What?” he growled. “You keep looking at me like I just sprouted another head.”
She gave a bright, false smile. “Don’t mind me. I’m just away with the fairies today.” She giggled at her own joke. “I’ll give you the specials.” She ran through them hurriedly. “You got a drinks order now for me or shall I come back?” She held up her pad expectantly.