The Carpenter's Destiny_Family Secrets

by Noah Harris

  Knowing what was awaiting him inside would usually make Dean hurry in his self-appointed task. However, he knew it would take Mikael a little while to get to the house, get dressed, and find a way to shoo Apollo upstairs. That, and he knew full well Mikael would take some time to raid the fridge. He was always ravenous after running around for several hours. Dean would still have time to soak in the atmosphere of his plants, bathing in the warmth within the building and making sure each individual thing in there was growing well.

  “Babe?”

  Dean looked up from the book in his lap, blinking questioningly at Mikael. It was only at that moment that he realized that Mikael had been talking to him the whole time. His eyes slid to the side as he tried to remember just what Mikael could have been saying but he knew it was a lost cause. Nothing that Mikael had said had sunk into his consciousness, just the presence of the soothing sound of his voice.

  “Er, sorry, what?”

  Mikael snorted, leaning forward to rest his elbows on the back of the couch, “I was asking if your books were really that interesting after three hours, but apparently they are.”

  Sheepishly, Dean looked at the book in his lap, and the ones piled up on the table beside the chair he sat in. Most of his daily work was reduced to simply making sure that the animals were fed, clean, and warm. Other than that he only had those tasks he assigned himself that didn’t require him standing out in the freezing cold for hours at a time. He could certainly fuss with his plants in the greenhouse from sunrise till sundown, but there were other things to do. Minor repairs around the house for one, but learning more about the lore and history behind werewolves, shamans, and now druids seemed pretty important.

  “Sorry, just got a little absorbed I guess.”

  “Yeah, I notice you haven’t dragged out the books Mother gave you.”

  True, the books he was currently sorting through were old, but they weren’t as old as the texts Matalina had given him. “I’ve pretty much memorized those. I get that the mythology in them is a good source of information, but it’s… I don’t know how to explain it. There’s not enough there, so it feels like parts are missing.”

  “You think they left things out?”

  “Wouldn’t be the first time a culture did that. They’ll tell the parts they think are important, and make them look good. Everything else is left out. The stuff your mom gave me focuses on werewolves, which helps in understanding you guys and that’s definitely important. But, now I have this whole druid thing falling into my lap and I don’t know a thing about it except what I can strain my brain to remember.”

  “Didn’t you say something about them being a bunch of weird dudes that walked around in forests wearing robes?”

  Dean squinted at Mikael, “I doubt I said that, since that describes like… half the pagan cultures out there. I mean the druids most people think of, were dudes who wandered around in robes in the forests of what we now call Germany. They were big on giving back to the earth, sacrificing for the planet, literal sacrifice at times actually, things like that. But other than the Romans calling them black magic users, there isn’t much on them other than rumors.”

  “I thought mythology was a good starting point?”

  “Mythology of the group, from the group, not rumors spread around by a bunch of conquering jerks in robes.”

  “Not a Roman fan huh?”

  “Why does it sound like you’re making fun of me right now?”

  Mikael snorted, sliding around the couch to flop gracelessly onto the cushions, “I’m not. I like it when you get nerdy. You probably could have been a good teacher.”

  “Yeah, I could teach ‘supernatural races of the world 101’. It would be great. I could teach them that shamans deal with spirits, and the druids apparently deal with the physical world. Werewolves actually exist and they’re A+ cuddlers. That there’s actually some form of intelligent force out there bent on destroying existence as we know it, and… there’s probably more than that. I’d be a hit.”

  “Wow, already jumping to teaching college level classes, not even gonna bother with the younger minds, huh?”

  “This your roundabout way of asking if I want to have kids with you in the future?”

  Mikael jerked at that, staring at Dean with such an expression of open surprise that it made him laugh. Gently, he closed the book and set it on top of the pile of other books beside him. It had really been a bit of a shot in the dark, but he loved those moments when he took the chance and managed to hit the nail on the head so well that it threw Mikael off his game.

  “How did you even…”

  Dean chuckled, leaning forward to stare across the distance between them, “Well, it kinda makes sense. You’re gonna be pack alpha after your dad either passes or steps down right? Kind of a big deal for you to have kids, even if your sisters could step in to pass on the name. But you’ve always wanted to do what was right for the pack and having kids yourself seems like the sort of thing that you would want to do. Plus, it’s not like I haven’t thought about having some of my own in the future.”

  Mikael looked thoughtful, all but squirming on the couch, “So that’s something you want to do?”

  “I mean, it’s not something I’m against,” Dean shrugged, “just so you know. Nothing I want to do right now. Never seriously considered it before, just haven’t thought about it. Never was I with anyone I saw myself having a family with, either that or they didn’t want kids at all. Gonna take some time for me to get used to the idea that it’s even something I could do. But yeah, down the road I’m sure we could talk about actually doing it. But, uh, how would that even go?”

  At that Mikael looked uncomfortable, “I mean, there hasn’t really been an alpha that, um, wasn’t with a woman in quite awhile, at least not with our pack. There’s probably some other packs out there that have had that happen, but I haven’t heard of them. We had one alpha into both, like me, but he chose a woman to mate with and that was that. We’re not exactly a giant pack, so the number of dudes into dudes has been pretty low historically.”

  Dean blinked, sitting up straight, “Wait, hold up. You’re bi?”

  Mikael looked wary, “Technically.”

  “Technically?”

  “I mean, there’ve been a couple of women I was… involved with in the past. Wasn’t anything serious, just sexual. But I mean, I was attracted to them and enjoyed the sex. It’s really only been guys, at least with dating, mostly guys for sex.”

  “I… did not know that.”

  “Is that a problem?”

  Dean felt his face stiffen as the realization of Mikael’s fear hit him. Sometimes he could be so utterly brilliant in his understanding of the future alpha, and then there were times like this, where the mark had been so obvious but he had still missed it. In his surprise of learning something new about Mikael, he had totally forgotten that people who didn’t stick to one side of the sexuality fence tended to get hell for it from both sides.

  “Babe,” Dean stood up and plopped down on the couch next to Mikael to curl one of his legs over Mikael’s. “I’m not going to give you shit because you’re occasionally attracted to women. I take it you’ve had issues before?”

  “Had a guy I was dating freak out on me once over it,” Mikael shrugged, obviously trying to appear as if it didn’t bother him. “Said I should have told him sooner, like it was this awful secret that I was keeping from him. I guess me having been with women before, willingly, grossed him out and he didn’t want to ‘deal’ with the ‘competition.’ I don’t know, he said a bunch of other stuff before stranding me in the middle of the damn town he lived in, a few towns over.”

  Dean huffed, nuzzling his face into Mikael’s shoulder, “His loss then, and my gain. I don’t care who you slept with before we got together Mikael, so long as you’re only sleeping with me now.”

  He could feel the muscles of Mikael’s body relax at his words, feeling the chuckle against his cheek, “As if I would want to sleep wit
h anyone else after being with you.”

  “Flatterer,” Dean chuckled, planting a kiss on Mikael’s jaw, “Seriously, though. I was only surprised because I didn’t know. I don’t care if you’re only slightly into women, and I wouldn’t have cared if you were only slightly into guys. You chose me and that’s all that matters.”

  “Someone’s feeling sweet today,” Mikael murmured as he caught Dean’s mouth with his own. Dean felt the pleased sound rumble up from his own chest at the touch, as Mikael’s fingers slid over his hip pulling him closer into the warmth of his body. Dean loved that damn body, and the feel of it, hard and shifting against him, never failed to take his thoughts in a considerably naughtier direction.

  A soft noise behind them gave them pause, followed by a soft gagging sound. By the time Dean’s head jerked up, he was only able to spot Apollo’s uncovered foot disappearing behind the door post as he passed. He looked at Mikael in surprise, seeing his amusement.

  “Did… did he just gag at us?”

  Mikael nodded, trying not to laugh, “maybe we’re being too lovey dovey for him?”

  “Well, maybe someone,” the last word spoken loudly, “needs to get woken up by energetic sex again to appreciate some nice peaceful sweet shit on the couch instead!”

  Another gagging sound from the kitchen made Mikael laugh, “I don’t think your tactic is working.”

  “It will when I make it so that our sex noises are blasted through his stereo system.”

  “Please don’t traumatize my cousin by making him listen to us having sex in high definition sound. Bad enough that he can hear it sometimes as it is.”

  “Well he’s safe now, since he had to go and ruin the mood. You were gonna get laid for that line of yours you know.”

  “Dammit Apollo!”

  Dean laughed and he could hear the quiet man give an audible, even to his ears, snort from the kitchen. Dean hadn’t been all that sure about Apollo being here in the beginning, though he had truly felt it would be better for him than being stuck in The Grove. The man had been even quieter than usual, which Dean had understood completely. Over time however, Apollo had begun to show some of his personality again, and at moments like this, when he could actually see more of Apollo than he had before, he didn’t mind that his sex life had taken a bit of a hit due to his presence. It still happened, just not as freely, nor as expressively as he would have wished.

  “Plus,” Dean continued from the earlier thread of conversation, “if I was going to leave you over something, it would have been something that was an actual secret. You know, like you being a werewolf and all.”

  “Yeah, I’m sure that would have gone over well, what the hell can you even say to that?”

  “There goes my dry cleaning bill?”

  “I’ll be sure to add lint rollers to the list.”

  Dean cackled, appreciating Mikael’s equally dry comeback, “I mean, you do have some light colored fur that shows up horribly on most of my clothes.”

  Mikael stared at Dean, “Have you really found hair of mine?”

  Dean scoffed, “Babe, you turn into a wolf with a thick coat of fur. Of course I’ve found your hair all over the place. Do you not remember last week when you tore around this house in wolf form with Jax until I chased you outside?”

  “I also remember you throwing Apollo out.”

  “He needed the exercise.”

  Another snort came from the kitchen, which Dean chose to ignore. “Plus it got me a couple hours of peace until you half frozen idiots came back in. So yeah, your fur is all over this house. When spring comes around and we air the place out, the whole damn house is probably going to end up with enough hair to knit a few sweaters.”

  “Could give them to Mrs. Williams.”

  “That would go down great, I’ll just give her the sweaters made out of my boyfriends fur, who is actually a werewolf.”

  “Could always tell her we talked about having kids she could spoil, that might make it easier.”

  “I feel like that would lead to a bunch of awkward questions, like, how does that happen? Actually, that’s still a good question since you didn’t answer it earlier, how would that happen?”

  Mikael looked thoughtfully down at Dean, the half-smile still on his face, “Well, like I said, it’s never been an issue before, not with our pack. Then again if it had been, they probably would have just bitten the bullet and had a volunteer female help them.”

  Dean knew the amusement was showing on his face. “Oh yeah? That’s your solution? Find a woman in the pack willing to have your kids and you just… soldier through the torment of having sex with her?”

  Mikael gave him a dirty look. “Or since, you know, it’s the 21st century, we could always find a willing one in the pack to go through the In Vitro process.”

  “Seems like less fun for you.”

  Now Mikael just squinted at him. “Are you saying you would want me to do it the old-fashioned way?”

  “You know, I don’t know. I feel like you should at least have a chance to enjoy the process of having kids. I do realize you wouldn’t leave me for whatever woman. Yet part of me totally isn’t down with you just sleeping with someone else either.”

  “Something to think about for the future, huh?”

  “Definitely. I think we’ll probably end up having some kids running around one day. Only seems right, ya know? Hell, we still have to do the mating thing. Which again, you said something about a bite?”

  Mikael shifted so that he was looking at Dean’s face a little more clearly, “It’s a specific kind of bite. I have to be partially transformed for it to happen. Gotta be when the wolf and man in me are both awake, and I guess the way to put it would be for them both to be front and center.”

  Dean thought about that, a horrible thought entering his mind, unable to help his eyes from wandering to Mikael’s crotch as he spoke, “When you say partially transformed…”

  Mikael laughed, yanking Dean’s legs so that he lay across his lap and he was staring down at Dean with a wide grin, “Not that transformed. Enough that the wolf is out there like the man is, and lets me bite you. It… puts a piece of myself in you, ties us together. You know it’s going to hurt right? There’s probably sharp fangs involved.”

  Dean reached up and took Mikael’s hand in his own, twining their fingers together. “I think I’ll be okay with that Mikael. We just need to decide when and where is all.”

  “Soon then… when we actually have the freedom to do it. Don’t want it to be something we do all secretly in the bedroom in the middle of the night.”

  Dean nodded, smiling again. “Agreed. Now, is there any chance I can convince you to make some steaks for dinner? I might be good in the kitchen but you’re the king of steak.”

  “Sure, your payment can be for a service at a later date.”

  Dean rolled off Mikael’s lap with a quiet snicker, knowing full well what kind of service would be expected of him. Hmm, probably should add lube to the list, just in case.

  “Holy shit!”

  In a flurry of movement, Dean shoved himself back under the warm embrace of the blankets. What had originally been an attempt to force himself out of bed had quickly become a hasty retreat from the freezing air of his and Mikael’s shared room. The room was unexpectedly freezing, to the point that he could see his own breath puffing out as he tried to bury himself in the covers once more.

  Mikael’s sleepy voice was muffled, although his amusement was obvious as he said, “That’s what I was trying to tell you before you tried to do your normal zombie shuffle out of bed, babe.”

  “Why is it so cold?”

  “I’m guessing the furnace went out, hadn’t got up to check yet.”

  “Jesus, it must have gone out hours ago. Oh shit,” Dean pushed the blankets away from his face to eye Mikael, “Where are Jax and Nix?”

  “Pretty sure Jax did his normal leaving-us thing, and for some odd reason, Nix is curled up under the blanket, but on my othe
r side.”

  Dean reached under the blanket to the other side of Mikael and breathed a sigh of relief at the feel of familiar fur. The cat was an odd one, one that Mikael still hadn’t quite figured out yet. Jax was obvious in his affections, but then again, he was also a dog. Nix was pure cat, and then some. Mikael found the cat weird, since she rarely came near him, but then she would turn around and curl up with him, rather than with Dean, at the strangest of times. Dean knew the cat genuinely liked Mikael, if only because she always found her way into the same room as the weirded-out man.

  “You put out a lot of heat Mikael,” Dean explained with a snort, “She’s a cat, she’s going to be drawn to that.”

  “So why not lay between us?”

  “You are thinking way too hard about the behavior of a cat, Mikael.”

  Grumbling, Mikael hunkered down under the blankets to push his body against Dean’s. Dean groaned in protest, if only because he knew that they would eventually have to venture out to deal with the furnace. If the pipes weren’t frozen already, they soon would be. The damned thing must have gone out shortly after they all had gone to sleep. At least he had the forethought to splurge on a newer one that wouldn’t gas the house or blow them up if the pilot light went out, something he was now thankful for.

  “You make it difficult to get out of bed,” Dean huffed even as he curled himself into a smaller shape to allow Mikael to wrap himself around him more completely.

  “Isn’t a freezing cold room a good enough reason to stay in bed? It isn’t like the house is on fire.”

  “Frozen pipes are kind of a big deal, Mikael.”

  “True, but they aren’t going to freeze right this second if they haven’t already.”

  Desire suddenly flashed through Dean as he felt the press of both Mikael’s body and groin flush against him. Dean knew full well when he was being manipulated, since both of them knew how easy it was to get him riled up. If the warmth of Mikael’s skin wouldn’t do it, the fact that he was hard and pressing it against Dean’s hip would certainly finish the job. Dean’s only comfort was that he knew damn well that Mikael was just as easy to manipulate, if not easier.