by Shea Balik
“It was,” Iniko assured him, not that he really had any clue if it was or not. He enjoyed the rich dessert but Iniko wasn’t a foodie like Jari and Harper were. “So why do you want to give that up to be a logger?”
It was as if he flipped a switch causing the light that had been in Cotton’s eyes to turn off. The way Cotton lowered his head and once more stared at the ground reminded Iniko of the way his mom acted whenever his dad came home. “Cotton,” Iniko prodded. “I can’t help if you don’t talk to me.”
Surprised he had managed to sound so calm instead of demanding who was bullying Cotton, Iniko almost missed Cotton’s next words. “There were just some guys joking around in the diner…”
Cotton’s voice trailed off as his face turned a bright red. He shifted his feet, clearly uncomfortable talking about it. “I know baking isn’t exactly considered manly…”
Obviously, Iniko needed to spend more time in the Mousetrap if that kind of talk was happening. Iniko had no problem disabusing anyone of the idiotic notion that a job defined what being a man was. Better yet, Iniko would have a talk with Krill. That man would tear apart Miracle to find the jerks who dared to disparage his mate.
Everything stilled within Iniko for a moment at that thought. He couldn’t deny wanting exactly what Harper and Krill had. For that matter, what all the other mated pairs in Miracle had. They all loved each other and never once had Iniko witnessed any of them treat each other with anything but respect and kindness.
Was Harper right about his father’s abusive ways because his parents weren’t true mates? He wanted to believe. He did. He just wasn’t sure he was brave enough to take that chance.
Refusing to dwell on it any longer, Iniko forced himself to deal with the problem at hand. He reached out to Cotton, who practically crumpled like a cheap paper bag into Iniko’s embrace. “Hey,” he whispered. “You are every bit a man as those Neanderthals who teased you. More so. For you have something they don’t have.”
Cotton lifted his head from Iniko’s shoulder. His gaze spoke of pure unadulterated misery, although Iniko thought there was a spark of hope in his dark chocolate eyes. “What’s that?”
That spark of hope was something Iniko was going to encourage every damn day. No one deserved to think they were less than anyone else. “A heart.” Hoping to add some levity in the situation, Iniko cocked his head to the side and pretended to give it some thought. “You know. Now that I think about it, you also have a brain, which they clearly don’t have. That actually might be the problem with a lot of the men around here. Maybe we have a horde of zombies that snuck into Miracle and we just don’t know it.”
Cotton giggled. It was the first time since moving to Miracle that Iniko thought he might have found his place in the small town. Because, even though he’d pissed off nearly a dozen people, he’d also helped each and every one of them in the end. Well, all but one, Jazz, who had no real skills and was so negative, he refused to try anything new.
In the end, Iniko would find a way to help the poor guy, just as he was determined to help everyone in Miracle discover their niche in life. Satisfied that he’d done his job, Iniko wrote baker down next to Cotton’s name.
The man’s eyes widened a bit in fear, but Iniko wasn’t going to allow him to worry about what others thought of him. “It was what you were born to do, Cotton. It makes you happy and anyone who thinks that’s a bad thing can go fuck themselves.” To add emphasis to his words, Iniko leaned conspiratorially closer and loudly said, “And you can tell them all I said that.”
There was a moment when Iniko didn’t think Cotton believed him but eventually he gave a nod as the tension eased from his body. “Thank you, Iniko.”
“Any time, Cotton.” He watched Cotton head back across the street to the diner with a spring in his step. Iniko had done that. He’d actually helped.
“Did you see that Giles?” Iniko asked as Giles walked up to take the next slot of Iniko’s appointments for the day.
Giles glanced to where Cotton opened the door of diner with a flourish. “Looks like Cotton finally got over what Wallace, Kofi, and London said the other day.”
Iniko whipped around to face Giles straight on. “Were they the ones who said it wasn’t manly to bake?”
It wasn’t until Iniko noticed how panicked Giles suddenly appeared just how harsh his voice had been. Then again, if it got him the truth, Iniko would have grabbed Giles by the collar and shook him until he told Iniko everything.
“Um, well…I mean I didn’t hear everything.” Giles blew out a steadying breath. “That’s not true. I was just too terrified to stand up to them so I pretended I hadn’t really heard them correctly.”
That feeling was something Iniko understood completely. He’d been that way for years after being kicked out of his house. Oh, he hadn’t been able to keep his mouth shut despite the magnitude of times it had gotten him beaten up, but it didn’t mean he wasn’t terrified. He was pretty sure that fear is what had caused him to start talking in the first place, as weird as that sounded.
It would have been better for everyone, especially Iniko to keep his lips zipped shut. However, it was as if his mind reeled for a way out of a bad situation and logical reason fled, leaving his mouth on autopilot.
Feeling like shit for making Giles feel worse than he probably already felt for not helping Cotton, Iniko took pity on the man. “No one’s blaming you. Those guys can be intimidating.”
“Yeah and Hitler was misguided,” Giles deadpanned as if he were just making a casual statement.
Taken by surprise, Iniko found himself holding his sides as he laughed harder than he had in a long time. “Damn, but I forgot how funny you are.”
“Anyway,” Giles glanced around to be sure no one could hear him. “Those guys were teasing Cotton last week when he’d been practicing making various flowers out of icing. He was crushed and I’m pretty sure they’d made him cry.”
“Assholes.” Iniko would be sure to put those three on the worst jobs he could find for the next year. He just hoped Edrick didn’t counter his choice. It pained Iniko to admit, but all three dipwads were good at cutting down plenty of trees to nearly eliminate the need for costly lumber to be shipped to Miracle in order for their building projects to continue.
As much as he wanted to deal with the evil musketeers, Iniko still had at least five more appointments before he could head home. “Thanks for telling me what happened, Giles. Now. What kind of job do you think would be a good fit for you?”
CHAPTER 8
There was no way this was going to end well. Even knowing this, Greyson still found himself in Krill and Harper’s home waiting on his mate to return home so they could all eat dinner together.
Logically, Greyson didn’t believe for a minute that crowding his mate was anything but a bad idea. But his head wasn’t in control at the moment. His heart was.
He was desperate for some indication, no matter how small, that Iniko would accept him as his mate. He tried to reason with his stupid emotional organ that they’d only met a few hours ago and there was no way Iniko would have suddenly gotten rid of all the irrational fears he had stored inside him and changed his mind.
Unfortunately, his heart hadn’t been willing to listen. Then again, Greyson wasn’t entirely sure his brain was really trying as it, too, found excuses as to why this might work.
Greyson let out a long steadying breath as he desperately tried to calm his nervous energy. A heavy hand landed on his shoulder. Startled, Greyson reacted with a snarl before he could bite it back when he realized it was only Krill trying to reassure him.
“Sorry,” he muttered, even though he wasn’t sure what he was apologizing for. He was a black panther. He hated touch of any kind but from those he considered friends. Krill and Harper may have been trying to help him at the moment, but he hadn’t known them long enough to consider either man a friend.
Krill just chuckled as if finding Greyson’s unease hilarious. “Stop worrying.
I’ve known Iniko a long time. He’ll come around.”
For a split second Greyson wanted to cling to Krill’s words, but then he caught Harper’s expression and knew Krill didn’t know anything about Iniko. It was there in the way Harper bit the edge of his lower lip. His face was too pale and his gaze kept darting toward the window that overlooked the front porch.
Harper, like Greyson, knew this wasn’t going to go well. If Greyson had to guess, Harper thought it was going to be much worse than even Greyson imagined.
“Maybe I should leave.” Even as Greyson said the words, his mind and heart screamed in denial. Who was he kidding? Good or bad, Greyson needed to at least be near his mate.
If only Harper’s expression hadn’t relaxed somewhat at Greyson’s suggestion. Iniko’s best friend clearly thought leaving was the right choice. Greyson just didn’t think it was something he could actually do.
Thank God it was at that moment he spotted blue and pink coming his way. Greyson hadn’t really ever thought about the color of a person’s hair before meeting his mate, but he had to admit he loved Iniko’s bright, bold colors. It seemed to reflect his mate’s personality perfectly and Greyson wouldn’t have it any other way.
Okay, well, if he were being honest, he would prefer Iniko wasn’t quite so honest about not wanting a mate, or what he thought of Greyson, but at least his mate was able to stand up for himself and not be a wilting flower who just did what he was told.
The thing was, Iniko hadn’t been lying when he’d mentioned some mates basically enslaved their other halves. All too often Greyson had seen the same thing and he’d shuddered, imagining that type of relationship for himself. It was one of the reasons he hadn’t really cared to meet his mate before laying eyes on Iniko.
Now, all he wanted was the chance to run his fingers through his mate’s colorful locks and touch his porcelain skin. The contrast between Greyson’s own darker skin would be stunning, especially when their naked bodies were pressed up against each other, hopefully with his cock buried deep within Iniko’s body.
“Unless your goal is to have Iniko run for the hills, you might want to get rid of that whole, ‘I’m a predator and you’re my prey’ vibe you’ve got going on,” Harper said as he opened the oven to pull out a casserole dish and place it on the table.
But Greyson didn’t have a clue how to accomplish it when Iniko chose that moment to walk in the door. Hell, the moment he walked in, his mate’s sweet peppermint scent wrapped around Greyson practically calling to him to jump the little man.
If he wasn’t careful, Greyson was going to screw this whole evening up before it had even begun. The slight sting of his nails biting into the flesh of his palms as he struggled to remain where he was barely registered. All Greyson knew was the pure need to touch his mate. To make the man his for all eternity.
“What the fuck is he doing here?” The wariness under the anger of Iniko’s tone was like being dunked in an icy cold river.
All it had taken was seeing the anguish in his mate’s eyes for the all-consuming need to fuck Iniko to vanish. Instead, he wanted to hold and comfort him. If only it wasn’t obvious in the rigid lines of Iniko’s body that any touch from Greyson would be unwelcomed at the moment, if ever.
“We invited him for dinner.” How Harper could maintain a breezy tone when the tension was so oppressive that everyone else remained in place as if rooted to the floor. “So be nice,” Harper warned by pointing a wooden spoon in Iniko’s direction.
There was no telling how Iniko would react but not even on a bet had Greyson imagined Iniko would nod. That is, until he said, “Not a problem. I’ll just go to my room until he leaves.”
As heartbroken as he was hearing his mate didn’t want to even try and get to know him, Greyson couldn’t help but feel proud that Iniko had no problem making his feelings known. There was no way in hell he’d ever be the kind of mate who just meekly followed behind Greyson.
No. Iniko would stand tall next to Greyson, facing down anything that came their way. Well, assuming Greyson could find a way to woo his mate. He really should have paid better attention to his friends’ relationships, because Greyson hadn’t a clue how to woo, court, or, hell, even flatter someone.
It wasn’t a part of Greyson’s DNA. Even his own parents never showed any real affection. Whenever they got angry, his mom would throw things and his dad would… well, basically stalk her around the house. When he finally caught her, he’d throw her over his shoulder and they would disappear into their bedroom.
The sounds that came through the door after that terrified him the first time. He’d pounded on the door, begging them to stop. But when they finally did come out, they both wore huge smiles and his mom told him to go play. After that, Greyson went running outside by the time they’d made it to the bedroom just so he didn’t have to listen to them.
It wasn’t until he was older that he understood what sex was, but even then, it had been his friends who’d explained the difference between down and dirty sex to making love. To this day, Greyson had never allowed himself to experience either.
Between his parents’ fights and the mobs that tended to chase him and his friends when one of them had been caught having sex with another man, Greyson didn’t want any part of it. Until now.
Yet, as much as his body, and panther, demanded to stake a claim on his mate whether Iniko wanted it or not, Greyson didn’t want that. Now that he’d met his mate, Greyson wanted love, not just sex. If it meant fighting his instincts to claim the gorgeous little man and figuring out a way to woo him, then that was what Greyson would do.
He just hoped he didn’t screw it up.
CHAPTER 9
“No. No fucking way am I being forced to endure eating with someone who wants to enslave me.” Harper was crazy if he thought Iniko was going to be anywhere near that man. “He’s a goddamned cat and I’m not about to be some sort of sick toy for him to play with until he gets tired and starts smacking me around.”
The color leeched out of Greyson’s entire body as Iniko shot off his mouth. Not that he cared. He didn’t. Nope. Not even in the slightest. Just because the man claiming to be his mate looked sick at what Iniko had to say didn’t make the words any less true.
The jackass was probably just putting on a show for Harper and Krill to lower their defenses. Then again, considering it was Harper and Krill who most likely invited Greyson to dinner, it was obvious they didn’t actually need any convincing. Traitors.
Two steps were all Iniko managed before Harper said, “Sit. Now.” No. Not said. Demanded. Iniko didn’t even know his meek, somewhat shy friend had it in him.
Iniko glared at Krill. He blamed the behemoth for giving Harper the guts to stand up to Iniko. Never once in the past would Harper ever insist he do anything much less command him to do his bidding.
Logically, Iniko knew he should be happy that his friend had been secure enough to do so, but that was impossible when it was being used against him. Did that make him a bad friend? Probably, but Iniko didn’t care, or maybe more correctly he didn’t have the ability to focus on any of that when it meant he was going to have to sit at the table with the one man who had the ability to destroy him.
“Now,” Harper said again as he yanked a chair out from under the table for Iniko.
Reluctantly, Iniko shuffled over. The whole way he glared at Krill, sure this was all his fault. And no, he refused to admit the real reason he kept his gaze on Krill was because who he really wanted to stare at was Greyson. To drink in his dark looks, dark hair, and dark chocolate eyes that reminded Iniko of hot fudge poured over chocolate ice cream.
His gaze darted to the man he’d been trying to ignore and Iniko swore softly. He had to stop trying to sneak a peek at all those hard muscles beneath his form fitting shirt or Iniko was going to end up drooling.
And seriously! Did the man have to smell so damn good?
Harper dropped the spoon he’d been using to dish out whatever was in the casserole
onto their plates while Krill chuckled. Iniko closed his eyes in despair. He’d done it again. Said what he was thinking instead of keeping his mouth shut.
Dreading what he’d see in Greyson’s eyes, Iniko slowly lifted his gaze. He was positive he’d find the man laughing at him, but instead what he saw was so much worse. Desire burned in those dark chocolate depths taking Iniko’s breath away.
Oh, he was so fucked.
The edges of Greyson’s firm lips curled upward and his eyes burned even brighter. The scent of the man’s lust curled around Iniko, inviting him closer.
A sharp crack rang out as Harper slammed the spoon he’d dropped earlier against the table. “No. Just no. There will be no fucking in the kitchen.”
Krill let out a grunt of displeasure causing Harper’s cheeks to turn pink. “Let me rephrase that. No guest may fuck in the kitchen, or anywhere else in the house but your room, Iniko. Got it?”
Iniko wasn’t sure what irritated him more. That he was sitting at a table that his best friend and mate had most likely used to have sex on, or that he’d once more blurted out what he was thinking instead of keeping his damn mouth shut. When was he going to catch a damn break?
He let the anger at himself cool the desire that had been building within him until he was positively glacier. “That won’t be a problem,” he assured his best friend. “Hell would have to freeze over before I let that oaf touch me.”
Iniko refused to feel bad when he saw Greyson wince. Nor was he going to apologize for the hurt that shone back at him from those beautiful brown eyes that had Iniko’s own heart breaking. He just wished it didn’t require him to bite his tongue to stop the words from spilling out.
What was it about Greyson that had Iniko wanting to believe in fairytales again? Because that was what a happy mating was – nothing more than some stupid fantasy told to the weak so they would willing accept the servitude they would be forced into.