by Tigertalez
Heath watched Katie hop off of her stool and disappear around a corner. He gave Havana a worried look, but all she did was give him a shrug. A minute later, Katie returned, leading the twin girls who had cornered him that first day. Heath nearly launched off the stool to get away from them, but Havana seemed to have sensed his terror, and placed a hand on his shoulder, effectively holding him in place.
“You were never properly introduced. These are Lira and Lita. Lira was the one you saw shift, and Lita is the one you almost puked on.”
Both girls gave him an apologetic smile and a shy wave. Katie continued. “They are both survivors from the first rescue. I’ve been working with them in overcoming their fears. As you can imagine, they have quite a few of them.”
Heath began to feel guilty. He hadn’t thought about it before, but now their underweight appearance made sense. And he wasn’t an expert on animals, but he had an uncle who acted out aggressively when he would get scared. It was his mechanism in dealing with the fear.
“Guess you got really afraid when you saw a stranger,” he said to them.
The one named Lira nodded, and answered. “And you saw me shift. My sister and I are really sorry for scaring you so much. We didn’t know you were given permission to be there, and we didn’t know you were the beta’s mate.”
Heath thought, as he observed their body language, that they looked like they thought they were going to be whipped or something.
“It’s okay, I didn’t know I was the beta’s mate, myself,” he said with a smile, trying to lighten the mood.
The girls smiled, and some of the others in the room snickered along with them.
“So,” Katie interrupted in a kindly voice, “I propose that you go back out to where you three met, and re-enact the scene, only control the outcome. When you see the girls in their wolf form, and respond to you in a friendly manner, the first event shouldn’t have the hold over you that it does now.”
Havana perked up. “Hey, and I can go with you. I can be a support for you, and we can all pick some of the flowers to put around the house to greet the survivors. I’m assuming they mean something good, if you were going to pick them for Enzo.”
“Yes, the hydrangeas you have are beautiful. I hope you don’t kill them when you fix up your home.”
“I know, I know,” Havana waved her hand dismissively. “The house probably needs to be demoed, but I love the spot. So, what do the flowers represent?”
“They mean perseverance.”
The room went quiet for a moment, until Betty spoke. “I can’t think of anything more perfect to greet the survivors. I’ll get some vases.”
“I always loved the bouquets you sent Enzo,” Katie said with a large smile. “If you were picking hydrangeas for Enzo, what flowers were you going to put with them?” Katie asked.
“Gladioluses. They mean strength of character. It was going to be my subtle message that one day, I would stand strong, and persevere in my goal to finally approach him. I always explained everything to him in all my letters to him.”
“That is the sweetest thing ever.” Lita sighed out. “I hope when I meet my mate, that he is as romantic as you.”
Heath blushed a little bit. “Uh, thank you,” he said, uncomfortably.
“I can call in an order of those for you?” Havana offered.
“Oh, no, don’t worry about it. My mom and dad own and run the flower shop, and they always let me have whatever I want for free. I’ll need to borrow a phone though. I have several other flowers I want to use.”
Havana quickly took out her cell and handed it to him, giving him a huge smile, and an expectant look as she did.
After he was done asking his father for the order, he, along with Havana and her mate, Dultyn and the two twins, took the dozen vases Betty brought out, and drove out to the house with all the hydrangea bushes.
Heath felt his anxiety rise a little bit as he looked around, remembering what had happened that evening.
“Hey, chill, little flower bud, you’re gonna be fine.” Havana lightly slapped him on the back of his shoulder. “When we’re in our shifted forms, we are every bit as cognizant as we are in our human forms. The girls won’t hurt you.”
“You are?”
Havana gave him a look that said it should have been obvious. “Of course. Didn’t Enzo explain all of that to you?”
He shook his head. “I guess he knew how much talking about the shifter part freaked me out. We were still just starting to get to know one another. But he did tell me a little bit about the hierarchy, and, uh, mating.” Heath’s cheeks flamed when he admitted that last part.
Havana laughed. “Figures he would focus on those parts. It’s simple to explain, really. Our animals are the same as us, only cuter.”
Heath laughed at the goofy look she directed at him. “Seriously though, you think you were introduced into our world in a bad way, you should hear about Bronya’s experience. She was attacked, and my sexy mate here flew down in his gargoyle form, and fought the wolf off, all in the middle of the night, in the forest.”
Heath lost his humor, and he could feel his stomach knot up. “Seriously?” His mind spun a little bit. Heath noticed that the entire time, Dultyn had remained quiet. He hovered over Havana and looked at her with absolute love. I want that with Enzo. I can do this. I need to do this.
“Yup. Her mate is Nix. He’s a falcon, and one of the pack’s trackers. I’ll tell ya the story sometime. But she was fine, and you will be, too. There’s a lotta stuff we face that will terrify you, but we got your back, and Enzo will die before letting anything bad happen to you. So you’re golden. I can scent the girls are coming, and I can hear they’re in their shifted form, so go over there, and give them a chance to show you how right I am.”
“Wait, how can you hear them, or tell they are in their shifted form?”
“Simple, the patting on the ground sounds like paws, rather than feet, and their breathing comes out different.”
“You can hear all of that? I don’t hear a thing.”
“That’s because I’m a shifter, goof. If I had the rank, I’d chuff your mate for not explaining any of this to you. We retain our heightened senses when we are in human form.”
“Like scent and hearing?” Heath asked as he looked up and saw the two wolves casually trotting in their direction.
“Yep. Look, see, told ya. Now relax.”
Heath stiffened when the two grey wolves, still so very skinny, approached him. He closed his eyes, and held his breath. He heard a wolf whine, so he peeked an eye open, and saw them both sitting about six feet away with their heads cocked to one side, then the other. They whined again and walked their front paws forward, resting their bellies on the ground.
Heath let out a breath, and relaxed. Ok, so I’m not chow, yet. I can do this.
Havana walked forward and squatted down, petting one. “Come here and touch one.” Havana held out her hand, indicating for him to approach the other one.
Heath slowly made his way closer, and when he was close enough, he carefully reached down and ran his fingers over the top of the wolf’s head. After stroking it once or twice, he relaxed and used his whole hand to smooth down her neck. She barked, which made Heath jolt and fall back.
Havana fell on her butt and laughed. Heath held his chest, trying to calm his startled heart as he watched the wolf he pet, roll around and do a bark-like laugh. He laughed, too, only he was sure his sounded a bit more hysterical.
After that, Heath felt much more confident around them. Katie had been right. He watched the two wolves as they got up and loped around the area, playing. As he watched them, he asked Havana, “So there are gargoyles, vampires, and different kinds of shifters here?”
“That’s right.”
“Can I ask what, uh—” Heath grimaced as he thought how to work his question. “Uh, shifter kind you are?”
The mischievous look Havana gave him concerned him.
“I’m a bear. Don�
��t worry, I won’t maul you, unless of course, you had honey.” Havana then winked at him, which caused the towering man behind her to growl.
Heath gulped. His voice was slightly shaky. “Not helping, Havana.”
Havana laughed out loud. “You’ll be fine. You know I’m playing with ya.”
Heath gave her a skeptical look that only caused her to laugh more. The girls rejoined them, fully clothed, and they started to pick the flowers. They eagerly accepted his teachings when he showed them how to cut the flowers.
They picked a large bundle of flowers and returned to the farm. Once they arrived, Heath saw Dylan, the delivery driver for his parents, drive up. He waved to him as he approached. Off to the side, he saw Enzo stop at the opening to the garage, and watched them.
“Hi, Heath, so you finally met your man? How’s it going?” Dylan asked as he opened the side door of the van.
“Uh, yeah. It’s going great.” Heath paused and nibbled his bottom lip. Here goes nothing. “Uh, it’s going so good, actually, that I’m, uh, going to move in with him.”
Dylan’s shocked expression froze on his face a moment, before his face spread wide in a large, openmouthed smile. “Wow! That’s huge. You never move this fast. He must be something else. Do your parents know?”
“I haven’t talked to them about it yet, but when you know, you just know. Enzo is the one, and I’m going to go all in. When you find the one, you can’t hold back. You gotta take a leap of faith.”
“Wow,” Dylan responded, as he handed bundles of flowers over to Havana and the twins. “I’m blown away, man. I get it though. You can’t expect the Taj Mahal if you only invest enough for a mobile home. If you don’t want me telling your parents, I won’t say anything, but I gotta say, your parents have been a little bit worried about you the last couple days, so you might not want to take too long to have a talk with them. And you know how your mom gets when she’s worried about someone.”
Heath huffed out a chuckle. “Yeah, let them know I’m good, and I’ll talk to them soon, but don’t tell them anything more. I want to get settled before I talk to my parents about it. Maybe I can take them out on a date, with my date.”
“Sounds cool.” Dylan shut the van door. “If he’s got a brother, let me know, I could use a happily ever after.”
Heath watched Dylan walk around to the driver’s side and get in. He backed up and drove back down the driveway.
An inviting wall of heat warmed his back.
“Move in?” The voice that spoke from behind him sent jolts of pleasure down his spine, and seemed to ping the bottom of his balls.
Heath turned and tilted his head to get a full view of the hopeful look on Enzo’s face. His belly started doing happy summersaults with the hope and desire he clearly saw burning in his eyes.
“I was hoping to, I mean, if that’s okay with you.” Heath was so breathless, it was hard to put the words together, and push them out of his mouth. It didn’t help that his mouth had suddenly gone cotton dry. But he lost his breath completely when Enzo’s smile spread across his face.
Enzo’s hands reached up and dug through his hair. He pulled him forward until his lips were pressed against Enzo’s soft, moist mouth. Enzo’s tongue poked through their parted lips and dipped into Heath’s mouth, stroking along and around his tongue.
Heath reached his hands up behind Enzo’s shoulders and pulled himself up a little more. He fully returned the kiss with vigor. His mind was lost in a haze of lust that made him feel like he was flying through the clouds. It stopped when those tasty lips pulled away. Enzo fisted his hair, and a sharp pain, which was oddly pleasurable, tugged at his scalp. Heath whimpered. He didn’t want to stop.
Enzo kissed his temple. “I don’t want to stop, but I still have a lot to do, and if I don’t stop, I would spend all that time showing you, and your ass, just how happy you’ve made me. I promise to make this up to you, but right now, a lot of people are needing our help.”
Heath nodded. “I know. Uh, later, can you show me your wolf?”
Enzo pulled back and looked down at him. His face expressed uncertainty. “You sure? You don’t have to rush yourself.”
“I know, and thank you for that, but I got some advice, and all of it worked so far, and that’s the next thing on my list.”
“What advice? For what, sweetheart?”
“I wanted to stop being afraid. I really want to be with you, Enzo. So Betty, and some others, gave me some suggestions. One of them was to face my fear. Another one was to make a large leap of faith. That’s the moving in part. I’m really, really, glad you didn’t freak out.”
Enzo’s deep chuckle caused him to shiver. “Sweetheart, shifters move fast. Doc says everything in the paranormal world moves fast, and he’s right. We fall in love and commit ourselves to our mates just about instantly. I’ve wanted you permanently by my side since I got wind of you. You think you’re moving fast, but I would say you still need to catch up.”
Heath’s eyes opened wide. “Oh, good to know.”
“So the other bit of advice is to see my wolf?” Enzo gently asked him.
“Yeah, and from what I’ve already seen with the twins, I think they’re right.”
“I agree with them, it will help you see I am fully me even in my wolf form. At the next available time alone together, I’ll shift so you can see my wolf.”
Heath immediately missed Enzo’s heat when he pulled away to go back to the office.
Heath’s heart was light and happy as he joined the girls inside. For the rest of the day, he instructed the girls how to arrange the flowers, and even where best to place each unique arrangement. He felt almost giddy, and he kept finding himself humming happy songs, even after the survivors arrived. In turn, he was able to see the shifters he helped Katie and Havana with smile a little, and like Havana said, a little bit goes a long way.
Chapter Eleven
Ryker adjusted his position in his seat again. His side still ached with discomfort, but at least his mate was back in human form again. Not that he could see to enjoy that sexy, chocolaty body. Ryker was back in Erie, but both Gavin and Neto were with Rudo back in Waterford, gathering all of his remaining possessions. He smiled at that. Ever since the raid yesterday, when he had been shot, Rudo had been extra attentive to him. Ryker was surprised that his beloved actually agreed to leave his side long enough to return to Waterford to finish retrieving his things, and complete the legal paperwork.
“Why don’t you go lie down for a little bit?” Rudo told him through their link.
Ryker sighed then shook his head, something asinine since his beloved could not see him at this moment. “I’m fine. Just a bit uncomfortable is all. I want to make sure everything worth finding in all of this stuff from your ex-alpha, is found. And we need to find who was working with him. I’m just glad Matteo is helping by taking over the investigation into the hard drives taken from the raid in Philly. How about you? You’ve been gone all day.”
“I’m glad we decided to keep my property, instead of selling it. It was a lot to deal with the human insurance company for both the theft and the fire, and the shifter council on the claim against my alpha. I am grateful for the sheriff’s help, and a tip from Neto that worked to hurry the humans along. They wrote us a check, which I deposited, along with the check the council gave me for the claim against my alpha. He’s now in their custody.”
Ryker closed his laptop, and rubbed his eyes. “What about your safe?” he asked as he leaned back in the leather tub chair, and propped his feet up on the table. “You never told me if everything inside survived.”
“The safe was the only thing left standing, and it protected everything from the fire. I’ll need to buy a new safe, but right now all of its contents are riding in the cab of the van, with me.”
Ryker’s head rested against the back of the chair, and he closed his eyes, enjoying the sound of his beloved’s voice in his mind. “How many stolen items were you able to get back?”
Ryker gave a contented sigh, hearing Rudo call the farm “home”. He relaxed and yawned, as Rudo continued.
“I got back a few pieces of furniture that I made. The most important ones to me are a dresser, a bookcase, and what is going to be our bed.”
A wry smile spread across his face. “What? You don’t like the bed I’ve got back home?”
Ryker felt Rudo’s mirth. “I would rather sleep on the floor than to continue to sleep on that atrocity you call a bed. It bites me. The only one I want biting me, is you.”
Ryker’s dick jerked awake with the picture he now had in his mind of his mouth pressed against his beloved’s neck, and the feel of his sensitive fangs sinking into his hot flesh and piercing his artery. His mouth began to water with anticipation to the taste of his beloved’s blood coating his tongue.
Ryker tried to get his mind off of the ache that was now in his pants. “So are we driving the van back to Bancroft?”
“Gavin said he would. Alphy called and wants the rest of us to fly back. After we get back, I want to open a joint banking account with you.”
The warmth of affection spread across Ryker’s chest. Before he could respond, Rudo continued. “I am ten minutes away. When I get to our room, I will expect you naked in the bed, and preferably stretched and ready for me.”
Ryker’s cock began to fill to its max with the thoughts his beloved was sending him. Ryker jumped up and stripped, nearly tearing his clothes off in the process. His rigid cock slapped his lower belly as it bobbed up. Ryker hurried over to his suitcase and pulled out his large bottle of lube. He returned to the bed, ready to put the lube to use, to stretch himself for his beloved, when his cell rang. The tone was his alpha’s.
No! Damn it!
Ryker picked up the phone. His voice was a bit breathy when he answered it. “Hello?”