by Deja Black
Shocked, Dan stood paralyzed in all of his naked glory, shaking. Yes, Dr. Kavanagh had seen him exposed before, but it hadn’t been with morning wood that was so happy to welcome him.
Dr. Kavanagh cleared his throat. “Well, well, Dan. You may sheath your weapon. I’ve not come to pillage you, yet.” A swipe of tongue against soft lips followed.
Dan’s mind caught the innuendo, and he flushed. If nothing else got Dan moving, the look of blatant hunger on the doctor’s face certainly did. Dan turned, presenting him with his back so he could quickly cover himself with at least a sheet.
“Interesting. You don’t just blush on the top now, do you?”
Dan snapped around again, body wrapped in the sheet, embarrassment reddening his ears. He was warm, and the heat currently suffusing his entire frame had as much to do with the shock of having his fantasy in his bedroom as it did with having Dr. Kavanagh flirting with him, his eyes taking in every bit of visible flesh, not an ounce of regret in his heated look.
“What… why… why are you here?” Was he awake? Maybe this was a dream… or a nightmare? He wasn’t awake. Dr. Kavanagh wasn’t actually in his room wearing a pair of fitted pants hugging his flesh like a glove, riding boots swathing his feet. Motorcycle riding boots? He wasn’t wearing a tight shirt displaying round nipples Dan could almost visualize himself taking a bite of, and no, he wasn’t moving toward Dan like he owned him, like he was going to reach out and strip him of his sheet like a marauder of old and claim his prize.
Before he could touch him, though, Conner stalked into the room, his father at his left. His brother, his father, Dr. Kavanagh, and of course, Kristoff. Shelly was the only one missing, and when Dan heard her familiar ringtone from his phone, he grabbed it, needing to escape all the eyes in his room.
“Dan?”
“Yes.”
“Shit, he’s there already, isn’t he? I tried to warn you.”
“I’m assuming when you say he, you mean Dr. Kavanagh?” Dan looked at the doctor, who smiled at him, all virginal innocence, his sexuality dampened now that Dan’s family stood in the room. The heat hadn’t left his eyes, though. They were doing all kinds of things to Dan’s body that were not helping to soften his cock.
“Yes, look. Your father is worried. Conner told me about last night. Yeah, he called the hospital, who contacted Dr. Kavanagh, and your father spoke to my uncle, who confirmed with me since he knows we’re friends. Anyway, for now you have your own personal doctor while he has his own ‘sub’ at the hospital indefinitely.”
It took a moment for Shelly’s words to sink in. “I… what!” What had his father done?
“Uhm. Maybe I should let them tell you. Kisses.” And with that, Shelly was gone, the rat.
“Well, Danny. From that look on your face, your deirfiúr has spoken to you, so let us speak, then, yes?” Jeremiah entered the room farther. He nodded to Kristoff, who inclined his head and receded from the room, then turned back to face his son. “I have contacted Dr. Kavanagh as Shelly said. He has stated he understands our situation and feels a certain amount of responsibility for you, for what you are experiencing. Is this not correct, Dr. Kavanagh?”
“Yes, Al… yes, Mr. Tolliver. I consider myself a watcher of sorts, and when one suffers as you have been made to suffer, Tolliver, I find it is my duty to see you are healed of the pain that tears at you. I can guide you through this, which Mr. Heimann has agreed to grant me time to do. The nightmares. Will you tell me of them?” Dr. Kavanagh’s gaze caught Dan’s. The glow was there again—topaz, then citrine, then a white gleam. So unusual to see and to feel the sparks from them as they crawled inside Dan’s psyche.
Could no one else in the room see this but him? Surely his father, with his abilities, knew something about Dr. Kavanagh was different, but no, his father was watching Dan instead, following his reactions. He was searching, and Dan wondered exactly what he was hoping to find.
When Dan stayed quiet, Dr. Kavanagh went on. “Sir,” he said to Jeremiah. “I think it would be best if we gave your son some time to dress. Maybe a walk as we discuss these dreams he’s having. Perhaps some breakfast, fruit, water, or juice, maybe even a little toast we can take with us to your garden might be prepared?”
“The garden? No, I don’t think….” Dan was still trying to grasp what was happening.
“No, you’re right. Instead, we should probably have a muffin. I agree. I like blueberry myself. You? Well, we’ll leave you to get ready and figure something out.”
Kavanagh had totally bulldozed him. No, Dan did not want to go back to the garden where he dreamed of the creature. He certainly didn’t want to walk next to the one who was playing such a starring role in his fantasies, which left him grasping his shaft in the shower and shooting his seed against the wall. No, Dan wanted to stay in his room, but before he could say anything further, Jeremiah had agreed, the door was closed, and Dr. Kavanagh had tagged along with him, discussing the best way to traverse the labyrinth of flowers. With no way out apparent, he decided to simply dress and see where this could go. He wasn’t going to deny that he needed help.
Help had arrived, whatever the vessel. Conner stood nearby watching.
“Danny Boy.”
Dan refused to look at his brother, but that would not dissuade the oak tree from talking.
“I cannot claim to know why Father has chosen to bring in the doctor. There is more to this, but if it will help give you peace, I will support it. You grow weaker.” Conner neared him as he spoke, the fiery streaks of red capturing the sun as he bent close to Dan. His voice deepened with emotion as he spoke. “We have taken you from the hospital, yet you have not bloomed and walk through each day here a shell of yourself. There is more needed for you than even our father can provide, and I am limited in my skill set to give aid.” He placed a hand upon Dan’s shoulder. “I saw you when your gaze lay upon the doctor. There was a light there. There was something more than the ghost haunting this room. If I saw it, surely Father did, and therein lies the cause of all this.” Conner’s gaze sought his brother’s.
“And if there was, Conner? I’m not ready to pursue a relationship. Hell, I haven’t even been to my own classroom or anywhere near the theater since this happened with Keith. If I can’t go to work or meet with my drama club students, what chance do I have?”
“Wait, pup. No one is asking you to marry the man. I believe the Alpha sees an individual who brings life to his son and is hoping this will cast illumination elsewhere, remove you from the eclipse you have used to hide your sunshine. Shelly and I…. No, listen before you argue. She is still your friend, your deirfiúr, before she ever became my lover. She sees something in this Kavanagh. We all do. There is nothing that occurs in life without reason, without purpose. These dreams you have, the dreams involve him, yes?” Conner smiled gently.
Dan sighed. Who else had heard him cry at night? In a home filled with one of nature’s greatest predators, each one’s sensitive hearing better than the next, and especially with a brother who was a hunter and Enforcer? Of course, when streaks of cum spurted from his dick, even when he swallowed his gasps of pleasure, they would have heard his noises. He sighed in frustration.
“Conner….”
“All I ask, Danny. All any of us asks is that you at least talk with the man. Perhaps the fates have connected you for this moment. Who is to say what will happen in an hour, tomorrow, or even in a year? Just talk to him.” Conner drew Dan into his arms, and Dan pressed his face into Conner’s warm chest and allowed himself to be held. “It may be the man is simply there for the healing. Nothing wrong with that, eh?”
THE KNOCK on the door was quick, and it opened before Dan even had a moment to turn the knob.
“Well, your brother has left. Your father has positioned a guard at the door who will walk with us. Now, if I only had a guide.” Dr. Kavanagh stood before Dan, no less sexy than the last time Dan had seen him just a short while ago. He placed a tanned index finger against his chin in
thought. “Now, who might that be? Ahhh, Rapunzel, here? Shall we, Tolliver? With you as my only patient, I would love to begin to earn the chips your father is shelling out for my individualized services, yes?”
Dan could hate him. It would only be fair, right? He couldn’t hate his father. He knew Conner was right. The family was eager for change, as was the pack. Why not invite the man who last helped him, who had promised to help him now, into the home? And, yes. Yes, he had taken notice of the doctor. Shelly was right when she said the man had a nice ass. He did, one Dan could only follow as Kavanagh turned with the full expectation that Dan would shadow him as he left the room.
Dan wasn’t a top, never had been, but he could see himself sinking into that luscious bottom, grabbing on to those tight cheeks, and plunging away. He wanted to sink his teeth into that neck, feel all that hair tickle his nose as he claimed what was his. He wanted to swallow Dr. Kavanagh’s blood and savor him.
What. The. Fuck.
Dan immediately stopped. He didn’t have thoughts like this—primal thoughts, better suited for his brother than for him—but the longer he was in Dr. Kavanagh’s presence, the more that need crawled under his skin. He wanted that magnificent body that sauntered in front of him. Dan shook himself and tried to focus on what the doctor was saying.
“Now, I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait to feel a little of the sun on my skin. Your father has promised there is a place for us to sit and talk, eat an apple or two.” Dr. Kavanagh turned back to Dan and smiled a knowing smile, and Dan fell farther down the rabbit hole.
CHAPTER 10
“THIS IS as good a place to stop as any,” Dr. Kavanagh observed, pausing with the full picnic basket in hand.
The scent of fresh bread wafted from its contents, as well as the hint of strawberries. He could never get enough of Mrs. Dunham’s bread, and the strawberry spread she made was the perfect accompaniment. Add real butter, not that fat-free stuff, and it was nirvana. This was special, and her unspoken blessing was granted in every loving detailed preparation.
“Let’s sit. Mrs. Dunham was eager to have you eat, rest, get a little sun… I do believe her words were: Problem with the sun there, Tolliver? Practicing for your new role as a vampire? I don’t believe I need to tell you about the importance of vitamin D. Dr. Oz is stamping his own brand on that.” His lips were so gorgeous, the way they moved, caressed each syllable. Snap out of it, Dan.
He couldn’t stand the wait any longer. “Dr. Kavanagh, I don’t understand my father’s rationale for your being here,” Dan whispered.
“Sit down, Tolliver. And it’s Aiden. Let’s get used to it, shall we? As we will be spending a great deal of time together, first names would be more appropriate, don’t you think? Now, I will call you Daniel, and you will call me Aiden. We can add the Tarzan yell later if you want.” More changes already. Dr. Kavanagh—Aiden—placed his hand gently on Dan’s arm, encouraging him to sit on one of many benches that lay among the flowers and bushes in the gardens. Each was comfortably made from an aged oak wood, sleek to the touch, and created to woo the weary wanderer to rest.
Aiden sprawled next to him, placing the basket at his feet. Lifting a bottle of water from it, he checked the label and granted his approval. Smiling, he spun off the top and drank.
Dan watched the doctor swallow, enthralled. He could imagine him swallowing other… uhm… liquids.
“Nothing like cold water on a warm day, Daniel. Here, have a sip.” Aiden placed the bottle against Dan’s lips and watched him as he drank. Dan was entranced as Aiden’s smile was almost tender, his eyes thoughtful. Aiden followed the water as it entered and then moved down Dan’s long neck. He leaned closer, easing into Dan’s space, his body looking as if it was doing so of its own volition. He blinked suddenly, caught himself, and then quickly thrust the bottle into Dan’s hands and returned to studying the vivid layout of the garden.
Dan contemplated the angles of Aiden’s face, the way his dark hair hugged his neck and played with the collar of his shirt. He wanted almost desperately to feel the strands against his fingertips, wanted to use Aiden’s hair to turn the man back to him, anchor him, meld their flesh together. He wanted to do some serious tongue wrestling. The urged burned in him. Flustered, he, too, looked toward the garden.
“I’m not sure why you are here, Aiden, what my father thinks your presence here will do to help my dreams.”
“Do you trust your father, Daniel?”
“I do.”
“Then trust him to know how to help you. He’s a man well versed in things out of the ordinary, beyond a mortal’s perspective at least.”
“Yes, but….” Mortal? Before Dan had a moment to digest Aiden’s meaning, he continued.
“Well. Then trust him to know why I need to be here to watch over you, to help you.” Aiden studied Dan, then reclined farther as he bit into one of the juicy fruits from the basket, teasing him with glimpses of his tongue. “Be a shame to waste the effort he is going through to see his son healed. It would probably even give him further worry that he is not doing all he can to help. Should I tell him that bringing in a doctor is not enough? That the family he cares for so much is in danger of remaining broken, that there is no way for him in all his greatness to protect you, the son of his heart because even a blind person can see it’s not by blood?”
“I… wait a minute… you.” How could Aiden have known how much it meant to Jeremiah, earnest in his need, to help Dan and be unable to? Better to just work with Aiden rather than have his father come up with yet another solution. It was selfish of Dan to continue to be a burden to his father when he had the responsibility of an entire pack upon his shoulders.
From the look on his face, Aiden was confident he had won this round. “So, talk.”
“The dreams….” Dan sighed.
“Before you begin, when did the dreams start?”
Dan paused to think. When did the dreams begin? He’d always had an inkling of a shadow in his mind, a lurking presence even before he met Keith. “A few weeks—no, days before Keith and I started dating, there was a shadow in my mind.” Dan hesitated to say this. How crazy would Aiden think he was? A shadow? Yeah, next stop loony bin, all right.
“A shadow? Did it talk to you, tell you to do things?”
Dan looked at Aiden sharply. “You know, uhm, Aiden.” Getting used to saying his first name was going to take Dan a bit. “I know you’re an ER doctor, right? Not a psychiatrist. Believe it or not, I’m not crazy. There are times when I feel like I may be, but there aren’t any voices telling me to do things, whispering dark secrets, willing me to take over the world, or Goddess forbid, shoot up a school, like a great number of tragedies are blamed upon today.” Yet, whatever was going on in Dan’s head was dark, and it was controlling; therefore, maybe cutting the crap now and just talking with a person who was not family or even friend would actually help him. If anything, Aiden was playing a major role in those dreams, and that alone made him a part of this.
“Yes, ER doctor. That’s me. More importantly, I am your doctor right now, so….” Aiden rolled his hand, prompting Dan to continue.
“Okay, well, it’s not telling me to do anything. It’s like a living, breathing muddiness, and it’s always there, playing the background soundtrack to my life. Before that last night with Keith, it was quiet but hovering. Lately? It’s taken on a form. A monster, oily and insidious. It attacks me.” Dan peered up, tried to determine what Aiden thought about all of this, but he was quiet, just listening without judgment, or at least not where Dan could see. “I fight, but it wants to take me over, claim me.” Dan’s breath quickened, his heart racing while he spoke. Aiden rested his hand on Dan’s upper thigh, his fingers radiating warmth where he touched. Dan shared a grateful glance.
“Recently, though, even when I was in the hospital, something or someone new shows up in my thoughts, protects me. It’s bright, glowing. I can feel it pulsing with heat, and it holds me, keeps me safe. And all of this is
going on while I’m sleeping. I don’t know what to do. I…. Father.” Dan sighed, agitated, and took a sip of water from the bottle to wet his suddenly parched throat. “Last night, my father and our people returned to find me after yet another dream, or let’s call it what it was. Another damn nightmare. The—” Dan paused as he searched for a word to identify the creature. “—being in the dream, not the monster or the creature, but the being had rescued me again. The two of them argued over me, I think. One called the other brother, tried to reason with it. They knew each other. These two existing in my head knew each other.” Didn’t know how he knew it, how he even remembered it as well as he did, but, yes, the glowing being in his dream had talked to the other, the monster. The monster had taunted him, but the glowing one had refused to be daunted, had been the only thing that made the other go away.
As Dan thought back to his visit at the hospital when his father had walked with him in his mind, he remembered him mentioning the presence of an “other”—two, in fact. This was all tied together. He wasn’t crazy.
Aiden gave him some time, allowing his breathing to regulate. He didn’t remove his hand, though. The quiet support and the gentle kneading comforted Dan. His grip on the water bottle loosened, a little of the pressure lessening. Maybe, just maybe, this would help.
IT WAS the way of things for a time. Every few days Aiden would arrive to walk with Dan in the gardens, sometimes early in the morning, other times at lunch, or at dinner. Dan was spending fewer days in his room and looking forward to the light from the sun, as well as the moon. If he were truly honest with himself, he was looking forward to time spent with Aiden.
There were points when he would talk about his mother and how much he missed her. He would share stories of himself as a child, of life growing up with Conner and his family. He skirted around conversation that might reveal the secrets of the great many people that resided on his father’s land, but he was healing, growing, and gaining a little more of himself. The dreams hadn’t stopped, but the crippling fear was slowly dissipating.