Carl let just a hint of relief creep into his soul. “You do?”
“Yeah, I do. He’s like if you took every horrible stereotype about Australia and crammed it up one guy’s ass, then added steroids and an ADHD Crocodile Dundee, you might come close to a tenth of his douchebaggery. I’m surprised no one in his pack has fragged the sonofabitch yet. He’s not even a damn Prime.
“Hell, I’m surprised he still has a pack. I know at least three Primes have left Australia and settled in Europe because of him. Peyton refuses to deal with him, the rat bastard. He makes me do it. The two times I’ve had to talk to Dorland in person, it took every last ounce of self-control I had not to kill him. Fucking Peyton.”
She used air quotes. “‘Don’t want me to start a pack war, do you Dewster?’ Like I won’t reach down the guy’s throat and pull his intestines out and strangle him with them.” She rubbed her face with her free hand. “What the hell is it with douchey pack Alphas lately, anyway?”
He couldn’t help it—he liked Dewi.
He was still legit terrified of her, despite his age and size, but he liked her.
From the way she shifted position, he could tell she reholstered her gun. Then she leaned forward in her seat, propped her elbows on the table, and held her hands out.
Her intent was clear. He put his hands in hers and he felt her Prime presence there, in his mind.
“Where’s your dad now?” she quietly asked. “Still in Hawaii?”
Carl shook his head. “I don’t know,” he whispered, because he still felt choked up about it. “He disappeared while I was deployed. I don’t know where he went, or if he’s even still alive. He’d moved by the time I returned on leave to visit him. He never responded to e-mails or letters, left no forwarding address, got rid of his number. Before I shipped out following basic, I went home for a visit. While we were out to dinner, we ran across Ray’s brother-in-law, his mate’s brother. I don’t think he saw us, but Dad acted terrified. Mostly for my safety.”
“How long since you’ve seen your dad?”
“Over twenty years now.”
“He just up and left you? You sure he wasn’t killed?”
“He sent me an e-mail. I received it a couple of weeks after that visit with him. He told me he loved me, and that he wanted me to be safe. To never forget how much he loved me, and that he was sorry. I replied asking what he meant, but he never responded.”
God, that hurt, having to admit it, again.
She blew out a breath and gently squeezed his hands. “Sorry.”
“Thanks. I’ve tried to find him, but after a few years, I gave up. I didn’t have any other family, or the resources to find him, so I kind of…emotionally drifted. I was in the Navy, so I focused on my job, my training.”
“Your father had no pack of his own?”
Carl shook his head. “Dad was orphaned and raised by a guy who grew up with Dad’s father, but he wasn’t part of a pack. That’s why he headed to Australia after college, to try to find a pack of his own.”
“Tell me about Mateo, and Brianna, and how you got wrapped up with the Seguras.”
“That’s a long story.”
“I’ve got time. And, FYI, I’ve got two other Primes on their way here right now. So you’re going to hang out with me until they arrive. Might as well fill me in.”
He had to ask it. “It doesn’t bother you that I’m gay? I know some packs have a problem with that.”
“You fuck children?”
“No!”
“Animals? I mean, non-shifting animals, obviously.”
“Of course not.”
“You fuck people against their will?”
“No.”
She smiled. “Okay, then. I’m a bitch, not a prude. I couldn’t give a shit that you’re gay. We don’t roll like that. One of my cousins is gay, and he and his mate are welcomed at the Musters and at the dinner table. We have another pack member who’s gay, who I personally had to give protection to not so long ago. Trust me, that’s not an issue for us.”
Carl nodded. “Thanks.”
“Where do you want to begin the story?”
He thought about it. “I guess with how I met Mateo.”
Chapter Nineteen
Sixteen Years Ago …
“God, I fucking hate this part of the world.”
Carl looked at the guy, thought his name was Jack or John or something like that. Guy was fresh out of basic, and this was his first cruise. Carl was the ranking officer on watch tonight.
“Not so bad, actually,” Carl said. “Been worse places.”
Like Australia, he mentally added.
“Can’t even get a fucking drink on shore. You’d think with a shipload of Mexicans helping—”
“Hey.” Carl glared at him. “Don’t think I won’t report your ass for that bullshit, because I will.”
“What?”
“Wherever you were going with that statement, knock it the fuck off.”
The guy stared at him for a moment before his eyes widened. “Dude, no, man. I meant tequila and shit. I’m no fucking racist. Damn.”
“Well, it sure sounded like you were going there.”
“No, man. I ran into a couple of them on shore yesterday and asked if they’d be interested in trading for booze. They told me they didn’t have any, either. I thought for sure they’d have something.”
“Doesn’t matter. We’re dry for the duration. Local laws.”
“The local lawmakers can suck my sac,” the other guy muttered. “Maybe that’s what this part of the world needs, is to get hammered and laid and—”
“One more word out of you that’s not a goddamned alert, and I’m putting you on fucking report, right now.” Weary exhaustion swept through Carl. He hadn’t been sleeping well the past few days. He’d dreamed about his dad, which reminded him that he had no clue where he was or how he was.
Fortunately, the guy shut his pie-hole.
Carl had a couple of hours free and off-duty the next afternoon. He opted to go ashore with a couple of guys, to hit the PX. But then a scent smacked him in the face so hard turned and nearly ran into one of their own guys.
Mate!
There was no mistaking that scent, or what it did to him.
His pulse throbbed in his veins, every heartbeat screaming at him that he needed to find the source of that scent.
And his cock had hardened like iron.
Except…he was here, in the middle of a goddamned port in the middle of the fucking Middle East…
And he was gay.
One of his buddies stopped and turned. “You all right?”
“Yeah. I…I just remembered something I was supposed to go do. I’ll catch up with you guys later.”
“Okay, sure.”
Carl waited until they were out of sight before he detoured and quickly caught up with the source of the smell, like warm, earthy tobacco, with a hint of bourbon and cinnamon.
A guy walking with a group of three other guys, all of them speaking Spanish and wearing uniforms signifying they were part of the Mexican naval contingent taking part in their multi-national exercises that month. They’d just arrived two days ago, and would be there for the next four weeks.
He started following them when one of them stopped, told his compatriots to go on, and then slowly turned.
Gorgeous green eyes and black hair, his skin tan and darker than Carl’s, he was fucking gorgeous.
They slowly approached each other, both of them glancing around as they moved off to the side, out of the path of foot traffic.
It was a damn miracle they weren’t ripping each other’s clothes off.
That’s when Carl realized the other man was also wolf, or at least had some wolf blood in him, because he raised his nose to the air and sniffed him.
Mate!
When they were finally standing within a couple of feet of each other, Carl tried something he never thought he’d be able to do with someone else from his own kind.<
br />
He sent his thoughts to him. “Carl.”
The other man smiled. “Mateo. Wolf?”
Carl smiled back. “Alpha. Single? And gay?”
Mateo’s smile widened. “Single, and gay.” His gaze rose skyward. “Our Lady of Guadalupe, you do answer prayers!”
* * * *
It wasn’t easy to find a dark and quiet nook that was secluded enough to allow them to do what they needed to do, but it was enough. As they sat clinging to each other after, Carl realized they now had an even bigger problem.
“I’m still in for a year,” Carl told him.
“I’m in for three more.” Mateo’s English was better than Carl’s Spanish, but Carl knew he’d be spending every spare minute he had brushing up on it. “I can’t leave, either. I need the money for my sister.”
“Sister?”
“Yeah.” As Mateo told him about sending every spare penny he had to an aunt to care for his little sister and keep her safe, Carl’s joy quickly faded, replaced by the stark realization that he’d just found his mate and they wouldn’t be able to be together for years.
It made him sad enough to want to throw back his head and mournfully howl at the unfairness of it all.
Like him, Mateo and Brianna had no pack. His parents were killed by gangs, caught up in violence. Their father was a shifter, their mother was human, and the aunt—their mother’s older sister—was clueless.
Carl closed his eyes and breathed in the scent of his mate. They’d both have to be damned careful, especially Mateo. Carl would just get thrown out of the military.
Mateo could end up dead.
His beautiful boy was nineteen, six years younger than him. All Carl wanted to do was sit there with their limbs wrapped around each other, but they’d already risked too much.
Carl had even thought to mark him high on his inner thigh. It’d be damned near impossible for anyone to notice it there unless they took an unusually keen interest in him during shower time.
He’d put a proper one on Mateo’s shoulder, where it belonged, when he could get him alone after they were both free of the military.
Or, at least once they were in a port where Mateo could claim he’d spent time with a woman.
Over the next four weeks, they managed to see each other nearly every day, even if only for a few minutes where they could stand and talk. Their planned excuse was that their parents had gone to college together and they knew each other.
At least when they were talking, Carl could close his eyes, inhale, and pretend it was just the two of them alone together.
* * * *
Fourteen Months Later…
Carl stood on the woman’s front steps and struggled to remember his Spanish. Mateo’s Aunt Eleana didn’t speak English, and Mateo had painstakingly drilled into Carl what to say to her. How to explain his presence there, and what he wanted. And that he didn’t speak much Spanish yet.
Right now, Mateo’s ship was on maneuvers, and he was practically unreachable.
Carl took a deep breath and stared down at the angry-looking older woman and imagined Mateo’s calm voice in his mind before he tried again.
“I am a friend of Mateo’s from the military,” he said to her in Spanish. “I promised him when I got out that I would come and help you take care of Brianna. I don’t have any family of my own.” He held out the letter again, a sealed envelope Mateo had given him to hand to her upon meeting her.
She finally took it and hesitantly opened it.
They’d had one fucking week together last month. Carl, fresh out of the service, had traveled on his own dime to the port where they were docked and got a hotel room.
He’d finally been able to mark his boy the right way, they’d fucked each other’s brains out, and they’d been able to hold each other without worrying about who might stumble over them.
At that port, Mateo could easily lie and say he’d hooked up with a woman.
At their last port together, where they’d first met, it would have been an impossible lie to stitch together.
One week with each other that already felt like a forever in the past, and made Carl’s heart ache anew. At least with Brianna to focus on, he could deal.
He was doing this for the man he loved. Helping him fulfill a promise.
Family.
He pulled his phone out and swiped to one of the few pictures he could show the woman of them together.
The rest of them were locked behind another password, because they were naked pics.
“Mira, por favor.” He held out his phone to show her.
The two of them with several of Mateo’s shipmates at a sushi restaurant. The waitress took it for them.
This year would be the roughest on them. Next year, at least, Mateo would likely be stationed in a port there in Mexico. Even if he couldn’t get home every night, they could see each other a few times a month.
Hopefully.
Depending on where he was stationed.
Her scowl softened and disappeared when she saw the picture. She finally read the dang letter. That’s when a sigh he didn’t need translated escaped her. She nodded and waved him inside.
He nodded before he picked up his bags and followed her inside. “Gracias.”
First barrier…passed.
* * * *
Brianna was ten years younger than Mateo and barely remembered their parents. Carl took any job he could get that was reasonably legal and brought in money to support them. He slept on the sofa when it was damp and cool, and on an air mattress on the back porch when it wasn’t, because he didn’t want to make Brianna and her aunt share a room or disrupt their lives.
It wasn’t like he needed the privacy. He could jerk off in the shower, and wasn’t like Mateo was in his arms.
Once he was, they’d still have to pretend around his aunt, who was very…old-fashioned.
They even had a few boxes of some of Mateo’s clothes in a closet, and sometimes, late at night, Carl would sneak something out and use it for a pillow. It all bore faint traces of his boy’s scent.
It helped his heart ache a little less.
Carl walked Brianna to school and home again every day, his imposing presence more than warning creepy men off from her. Some people thought Carl was her dad, and he was fine with that mistaken identity.
He taught her English and she helped him improve his Spanish.
And, fortunately, he was with her the day her aunt was murdered on her way home from the store, killed by a couple of petty thugs going after members of a rival cartel. Aunt Eleana had been caught in the cross-fire.
Mateo was able to take emergency leave and come home so they could do paperwork to give Carl custody of Brianna and transfer all the utilities and the mortgage and everything into Carl’s name. Meanwhile, Mateo’s application to receive an early discharge due to family hardship, or at the very least be transferred back to a station close to home, was winding its way through the military channels.
Then Carl got the job working for Abundio Segura. It was reasonably legal work—more to give the impression of a badass than actually having to do any nasty work—paid decently, and Abundio Segura felt sorry for Brianna when Carl told him the story.
Abundio allowed Carl a flexible schedule, so he could take her to school and pick her up to bring her back to work with him at Abundio’s office. She sat with Abundio’s secretary and did her homework while Carl worked security in the main lobby.
When Mateo was discharged six months later, Abundio hired him, too. The men could finally be a family.
Not that anyone besides Brianna knew the truth. Even at her age, the little girl was smart and insightful, watched a lot of TV from the States.
Hadn’t yet been tainted by irrational hate.
Promised never to tell anyone their secret, that her brother and tio were actually a couple.
They also opted to hold back the info from her about their shifter lineage, until she was an adult and Carl could demonstrate to her, s
ince Mateo couldn’t shift.
While the work wasn’t always pleasant, Carl and Mateo could always close their eyes and sleep at the end of the day without being plagued by guilty dreams.
It wasn’t like they worked for a drug cartel. They didn’t dare risk reaching out to other packs, either. Mateo didn’t even know anything about the pack his father was from. With his aunt not knowing that part of their lives, no telling what knowledge was lost to time. She’d had no clue about who Mateo’s extended family was, or where they might be—if they even lived.
It didn’t matter. Carl and Mateo could take care of Brianna, and each other.
They would send her to the best schools they could afford, even if it meant a lifetime working for Abundio Segura.
At least they were together, and could keep her safe.
* * * *
After Carl finished telling his tale, Dewi released his hands and sat back. The sympathy in her gaze was almost more than he could bear.
“So Mateo is with Manuel right now?” she asked.
“Yes. We haven’t let him go off on his own. Once I realized we were likely dealing with wolves, Mateo and I agreed that if we thought you’d be amenable to taking us in, we’d turn him over to you. I just need to get word to Mateo about when and where.”
She slowly nodded. “Look, you help us with this, the pack will pay for Brianna to finish school. But I need to deal with this situation first. Immediately. The sooner Manuel Segura gets run through my wood-chipper, the better I’ll like it.”
“You aren’t the only one who will like it.”
“Am I going to have to worry about Abundio Segura sending more men after you?”
He shrugged. “Doubtful. We’ll disappear, along with his brother. He’ll probably think we met an untimely end. I hold no illusions about my relationship with Abundio. He’ll probably miss me, and Mateo, as trusted employees, but he’ll already have replacements for us by the time we’re officially overdue reporting in. I have no expectations of loyalty from him.”
Bleacke Spirit (Bleacke Shifters Book 4) Page 15