Love's Misconception

by Flynn Eire

  “It’s not a problem,” I assured him and then glanced over at my friends. They all were smiling widely, and I knew what they had on the brain, but I didn’t know if that would help or not. “If it makes you feel any better, my idiot friends were all trying to call dibs on you when you walked in. It’s gotta make you smile that at least they think you’re hot.”

  He glanced over and frowned. “Yeah, the straight guys did too and would fuck me to get their rocks off, but then call me the queer around the others. I think I’m done with the talkers and players. There’s going to be enough talk soon.”

  “Well, you wanna meet my boys then?” I tried again as I sat down.

  “Now that I know you mean your dogs,” he chuckled, opening a bottle of water before taking a swig. “How come they’re all boys? Doesn’t that seem sexist and—”

  “We just lost Polly,” I muttered, glancing at my tray. “She died while pregnant with Frodo’s litter. The other female died last year. She was old. It was her time. I haven’t been able to replace her. I thought new pups coming into the family would be the right move, but it just wasn’t meant to be.”

  “Wow, you’re really tight with those dogs,” he murmured.

  “You didn’t catch where Alexander said my gift was to communicate with animals, did you?”

  He moved his hand over mine on my tray and squeezed. “Oh god, I did, but I was distracted. I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to be a jerk. It’s just, I’ve never had a pet. I guess I could see how someone got attached to one, but training a bunch I would think kept distance, but if you could really talk to them, then yeah, that has to be like losing friends. I’m so sorry.”

  “Thanks. It was hard on all of them and me. We don’t have a vet here, and I couldn’t get her to one in time. Everything seemed fine and then it wasn’t.” I shut my mouth, realizing I was rambling about the dogs when our camp had been through a lot worse in the past six months and London had been through shit now.

  I think the counselor at La Salvezza was surprised that I had wanted to talk about the loss of Polly and her litter than most anything else. But I know Shane had been talking to them about Kevin, and well, I could talk with the dogs, it was hard on me when we lost one.

  “I’d love to meet your boys,” London finally said, clearing his throat. I blinked at him and realized I’d gone off in my head.

  “Sorry, my gift is hard sometimes. It’s not exactly easy to explain. I more than hear them. I mean, it’s not like animals communicate like we do and talk, talk in their barks or whatever. I know what they’re saying with every lick, every nudge, it’s…” I trailed off, unsure of how to say it without sounding crazy.

  “Intimate.” I felt my cheeks heat at his suggestion. “You can be intimate with someone and it not be dirty. It’s intimate because you guys share something, your own language because of your gift. I get having a hard gift—” His eyes went wide, and he choked on the bite he’d just taken, smacking himself in the chest. “I mean, I could get having a hard gift. I don’t know mine yet.”

  Oh, he’s a big fat liar. Must be a doozy if he’s so worried about it. “It’s cool. I won’t tell. You’ve had enough crap coming in here already it seems. Not my business.” I grabbed some fries, shrugging it off as he got himself under control.

  We were quiet after that and both of us ate fast I think to avoid the silence from getting awkward.

  When we were done, I showed him where to dump things off, cleaning up that tray and the one I’d left at the other table my friends had vacated. Next I showed him to his new room, biting back a smile when I saw it was only a few doors down from mine. We had a few more rooms than warriors, especially now that some had mated so it was nice he didn’t have to move directly into Kevin’s old room.

  Then I took him to see my boys.

  As soon as I opened the door to the heated barn, I was overwhelmed by barking which to me was shouts of “Drake!” Yeah, it was an interesting gift. Then I got a few who jumped right on me. “Treat? Treat? Want treat!”

  “No, no treats and you know you don’t get any by jumping.” Instantly, the troublesome few sat down, tails wagging.

  “Impressive,” London chuckled.

  “New guy. New guy have treats?”

  “This is London. He’s joining us here. He didn’t bring treats this time. He just arrived. So we’re making him feel welcome, and if all of you are good, maybe he’ll come back with treats. So line up and greet him.” I smiled as my boys formed a line, youngest to oldest and moved towards London.

  “This is amazing, Drake,” London whispered as he squatted down. “You’re not giving commands, I mean, you are, but I’ve never seen dogs do this with commands.”

  “I train them, so they do know the command line up, but they hear me like they talk to each other, not just as human. It’s hard to explain.”

  “It’s totally awesome,” he chuckled as Bilbo got feisty and licked his face. He leaned in and kissed his face, scratching the massive German shepherd behind the ears. “They’re amazing. Beautiful animals.”

  “Well anytime you want to come by and play with them, you’re more than welcome to. We let the pre-trans sometimes, just because it’s good for them to get some loving during a tough program, but after that, I think no one likes to admit they want to play with all the big puppies.”

  “Yeah, the search dogs at our camp were always locked in their crates unless they were going on runs with us. They were never nice and playful like this. I mean, they were kinda scary and we drink blood.”

  “That’s not right,” I hissed, hating when animals weren’t treated well. No one ever had to be mean to an animal to get them to listen to them. They wanted to please their owner or trainer, wanted to do the right thing by the ones that loved them. A person simply had to be consistent and firm at times… Like with kids. Or so I heard, because I didn’t have any and my boys were enough kids for me.

  And they were my kids. It was so true, and made clear by how I gave Gandalf a swat on the butt when he snuck his nose in London’s groin to get a good sniff.

  “Hey, we don’t sniff cock or butts around here,” I reminded him. He immediately lay down with his face under his paws before rolling over and showing us his belly to apologize. “Okay, I won’t ground you, you big baby. Keep your nose clean.”

  “You’re too funny with them,” London chuckled, smiling at me as his eyes shined. I felt a shot of lust go right through me seeing him like this, younger and happy. He had needed it.

  “We like funny, don’t we, guys?” I teased the group and then looked at London. “Want to see a trick?”

  “Sure.” He plopped down on his butt and watched me.

  “It rubs the lotion on its skin or else it gets the hose,” I quoted, smiling as all the dogs howled and ran to find hiding spots in the barn. A few seconds later, every single one of the ten German shepherds was gone.

  “Are you kidding me?” London burst out laughing, falling over onto the barn floor when he lost it so bad. “You taught them to howl and hide if anyone quotes Silence of the Lambs?”

  “Hey, I can’t think of a better time to run and hide than if anyone’s around me saying that shit,” I chuckled as I walked over and plucked a bag of treats off the shelf. “The hard part was explaining to them why it was a goofy trick and not something they should attack a person for since they’re search and attack dogs if we ever need it.”

  “They wouldn’t stand up much to Zakasacs,” he hedged, glancing up at me with a curious look.

  “No, but if the circumstances are dire and the mission is important, their lives aren’t as valuable as ours so they could buy us time.” It killed me to say that, knowing it was protocol and one of the reasons we had the dogs, brought them on certain escort missions.

  “You wouldn’t ever give that order,” he scoffed as he stood and took the treats from me. “You’d tell your dogs to hide and go fight the Zakasacs yourself. They’re totally your babies. Use them to search, hunt some
one hurt if need be, but you don’t waste any life to buy time. That’s bullshit.”

  “Yeah, I couldn’t,” I sighed, shaking my head. Then I whistled for all of them to come out. “Don’t tell anyone, okay?”

  “It’s cool. I won’t tell. Not my business.” He shot me a smile, saying back to me what I’d said earlier about his gift and I felt my heart flutter. Oh yeah, I was gonna have it bad for London Aberdeen, I could feel it already.

  “Boys, I’m going to show London his new assignment after you’re done getting spoiled. You can come with us if no one wanders off. Someone want to bring a ball?” That was all I had to say before the treats were forgotten and the race was on to find the nearest squeaky Kong ball. It had to be those because tennis balls were too easy for the big lugs to almost swallow when they caught them and then others kept eating them. These were bigger, and unfortunately, I spoiled them with always getting more when I ordered supplies for them.

  Sure enough almost a dozen were dropped at our feet.

  “I think their answer is yes,” London chuckled as he bent over to pick one up. “Okay, which way is the gun cage?” I pointed, wondering why he was asking, but then he took off like a flash out of the barn, all ten dogs chasing after him.

  “Oh, you shouldn’t have done that. Big mistake. They like to chase,” I chuckled, jogging after them. I left the barn door open so it was easier to corral the herd back in later. Maybe London might tire them all out.

  Nah, they’d tire him out most likely.

  When we got to the gun cage, London tossed the ball, and I showed him the code to open it before the group was back on us.

  “You can throw it much, much farther. These aren’t suburban pets who don’t get fetch. They’re search dogs. Make it challenging,” I explained as I took the ball out of Pippin’s mouth and launched it as far as I could. London’s eyes went wide and he nodded.

  I spent the rest of the afternoon showing him what I knew of his assignment as Alexander had asked and much, much more, just because I liked London and I thought he needed something to go easy for him. Someone to be on his side maybe? Plus, I was captivated to watch him smile and light up as he did when the boys brought back the ball and asked him to throw it again.

  He helped me feed all the crazy kids and then we went to the cafeteria ourselves.

  “Buck up, it’s Taco Tuesday, and they’re better than Taco Bell here, I promise,” I chuckled when he looked ill at the idea of going into a communal area again.

  “Yeah, thanks for the tour and introducing me to your boys, I’ll see you later,” he mumbled before ducking into the bathroom outside the cafeteria.

  I wanted to follow him and check on him but that seemed to push over the line with someone I’d just met. So I let it go, my stomach churning a bit as if I’d failed because I’d thought he was feeling more comfortable and we were becoming friends. Okay, so I liked him as more than a friend already, but whatever, I just wanted him to be all right.

  I loaded up my tray, falling into the pattern of a nervous eater, plus, having gotten some extra exercise playing with the dogs and London after already having a vigorous workout that morning. At least that was what I told myself as I saw the half of cow on my tray in steak tacos instead of me simply being upset that London didn’t like it at our camp.

  Fine, I was a total dork who wanted everyone happy. I think it came from spending too much time with sensitive animals like dogs who were so in tune with other people and being able to hear things from their perspective.

  “Jesus, Drake, did you have marathon sex you’re refueling from?” Lynx teased me as I sat down with my overflowing tray.

  “No, I wish. He’s really nice,” I mumbled before biting into the first one. I realized my friends were all quiet as I chewed and I glanced up at them, swallowing loudly. “What?”

  “Nothing,” Jeston hedged, glancing at the others. “I just don’t think we’ve ever seen you really like someone. I mean, think they’re hot, whistling after sex? Yeah, not that you ever give many deets, but you think he’s really nice? And Cornelius saw you playing fetch with him and the dogs. I mean, it was like a picnic date.”

  “No, I was showing him where stuff was and the dogs made him smile.” Thinking about him smiling made me do the same without even realizing it at first.

  “Fuck, you’re totally smitten,” Cornelius hissed as he smacked me in the chest. “Dude, you’re done for. You’ve got the dope look.”

  “Do not,” I grumbled, knowing full well I probably did. I glanced up and saw London walk in, his head down, and go straight for the trays. I kept watching, not in a stalker kind of way, but in the hopes we’d make eye contact and I could let him know he was welcome to join us so he didn’t feel like he had to eat alone.

  It didn’t happen. He picked a back table and ate so fast I wondered if he’d end up sick later.

  “Guess you were the only one that was smitten,” Jeston said with pity in his voice.

  “Probably, but he’s got other stuff going on.” I shrugged it off, hoping they’d let it go, knowing they probably wouldn’t, but I didn’t get a chance to find out.

  “What’s Evan doing here?” Lynx asked.

  I looked over my shoulder to see the warrior who used to be there with us standing in the doorway of the cafeteria with Helios as his mate breezed past them. He kept going until he was in full view of everyone there. “Sorry to interrupt Taco Tuesday, but I need to speak with Councilwoman Aberdeen’s son immediately. Thank you.”

  I almost choked on my next taco, but kept it together as my gaze darted over to London. I caught the last name immediately but I didn’t know his mother was a councilwoman. London looked like he was ready to chew nails as he stared at his tray, hands fisted on the table.

  “Which one of you is Councilwoman Aberdeen’s son?” Theo called out again, glancing at Helios. “What is the boy’s name?”

  London slammed his hands on the table and stood. “Who the fuck are you to waltz in here and announce to everyone that I’m a councilwoman’s son, which is private information in my file, and just order me to come fucking talk to you as if you matter?”

  I winced, knowing the answer and really feeling for London right then.

  Theo just smirked at him. “I’m Councilman Ashton so I get to. I need—” Something whizzed by Theo’s head and the room went dead quiet, Theo slowly turning and looking at the steak knife in the wall behind him.

  “Fuck you, Ashton,” London snarled, fangs and claws out. “If you’re thinking some kind of K&R, you can forget it. One, my mother won’t pay shit for me, and two, I don’t care what remote corner of the world I was banished to, but you don’t have the kind of pull to take me from here and no one won’t do anything about it.”

  “Threaten or throw anything at my mate again and I will end you,” Evan bellowed, pushing Theo behind him in a flash.

  “Wait, tone it back, kids,” Theo drawled, shoving Evan aside after a few tries. “Look, I get the feeling you know my name, and from your mother. Right, a lot of people hated my father. I’m the new Councilman Ashton.”

  London’s pose relaxed slightly. “How long have you had your seat?”

  “Almost a year,” Theo hedged, glancing at Evan who nodded. “Yes, end of the year makes it a year officially, I believe.”

  “Then it doesn’t matter,” he hissed, going right back on guard. “My mother still talks of you like you’re the evil in our own people worse than the Zakasacs.”

  “Well that’s interesting news to file away for later,” Helios drawled, rolling his eyes. Then he glanced at Alexander. “What the hell kind of welcome did you give the kid that makes him assume a councilman coming to talk to him means he’s being abducted?”

  “This is not me,” Alexander sneered, crossing his arms over his chest.

  The look London gave him said otherwise.

  “We don’t have time for this,” Theo chastised and looked back at London. “Look, I’m not your enemy, and I’m not
here to take you anywhere. Alexander called me about some of the information you provided.”

  London lost his aggressive edge right then and looked like he wanted to die, melt right into the carpeting before us all.

  “Did he tell us any of this willingly?” Evan asked, seeing what I did.

  “Of course he did. He was under no duress,” Alexander assured them.

  That didn’t always mean someone was willing either. Alexander got several looks that told him just that.

  But then London picked up his tray and turned with it behind him, and I wasn’t the only one who gasped as he connected with Helios who had blurred in his Wyrok way to sneak up behind him.

  “Holy fuck!” Dimitri exclaimed, pretty much what the rest of us were thinking. “How did he see Helios coming?”

  “You must be the Wyrok Alexander threatened to sic on me if I didn’t tell him everything,” London hissed, smashing his tray into a stunned Helios again. “Fuck you. I don’t care what your gift is. I’m not—”

  “You threatened to sick Helios on him?” Rune bitched as he hurried over to his mate, waving off London like a little annoyance. “Alexander! You know he hates to use his gift on people for investigations. You think he’s going to do it on some new arrival who clearly didn’t want to talk!”

  “That was not what I said,” Alexander defended, moving his hands to his hips and staring at the ground, shaking his head. “The situation was volatile, and I can see now how it could have been perceived that way. I was simply telling him we were not the bad guys. I was not. If I was, I could call the Wyrok we had here and force the information out of him.”

  A few people groaned and his mate cracked him in the chest. “Babe, that sounds like a threat. A commanding officer ordering a new warrior and new to here to spill, saying we’ve got someone who can make him talk, and yeah, I bet he’s looking for every way to escape. No wonder he thinks Theo’s here to abduct him or do him in.”