Now that they're together, things should be easier, right? Not always.
Caelum, Ippy, and Hannah have found a sense of completeness with each other. They're best friends and they love each other, everything should be perfect, exactly like they always talked about it being. But finding a place in the world for their unusual relationship might become a lot harder than any of them had imagined, especially when complications arise from a werewolf pack that is intent on driving them apart. They've fought hard to stay together so far and are determined not to let anything stand in their way now.
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Irish Mist
Copyright © 2014 Caitlin Ricci
ISBN: 978-1-77111-966-5
Cover art by Carmen Waters
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.
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Irish Mist
Song of the Sea 3
By
Caitlin Ricci
Dedication
As always, Scott helps me with each of my books. He's my strength, my source for inspiration, and my best friend. For this book there's also another man I'd like to thank, even though I never found the guts to tell him about my writing. He's been with me since the beginning and helped fuel my love for books even before I could walk. My dad passed away shortly before this book was released. I wish he could have known everything I never told him, everything I always meant to say but thought that there would be more time to do so. He knew I loved him and I suppose that will always have to be enough. Thank you for everything Dad.
Irish Mist
Excited didn’t really cover what Caelum was feeling as he stepped out of the Irish sea and walked the short path up along the rocky beach to the little cottage his family had owned for generations. He stopped at the door and turned back to look over the grass hillside that lay around his little patch of the world. He’d signed the deed to the house only just the night before, claiming the house for himself. And the two people he loved.
He expected them to come in today and wondered what they’d think of his home, a place they’d never seen, but that he’d been trying to show them for the past five years. Loving people he’d barely spent a few days with in person might not have been conventional, and loving two people like that was definitely odd for most, but he knew in his heart that they could make it work. They were his and he was theirs. End of story.
The tea kettle sang and he went in to pour himself a cup. And he should probably think about getting dressed at some point, too. Living alone, he rarely thought about clothing, but he supposed that might have to change today. At least for a little while. He wouldn’t rush Hannah and Ippy into a physical relationship. He didn’t have much experience with dating people that he could actually touch, but he knew that pushing was bad.
Caelum poured himself a cup of ginger tea and let it steep while he went through the open bedroom door to the hand carved dresser his grandfather had made for one of his wives. It was his now, along with everything else in the house, as his family made their way down the coast to warmer waters. He wasn’t worried, as he was sure they’d let him know where they were tonight in his dreams. Selkies were good at that. He tugged out a pair of shorts and slipped them on before going back to his drink.
He could hear the sea from anywhere in his house, a constant comforting sound for someone like him that needed to experience it at least once a week. Daily was better and over the past few years he’d spent far more time as the dark, spotted seal he could turn into at will than as the man that hid inside. Looking around the cottage, he was glad he’d spent some time the day before to clean the place up. He was naturally tidy, a skill only reinforced during his captivity, but there’d been a few things to pick up and wipe down before Hannah and Ippy arrived. He’d made up both of the extra bedrooms and moved his studio into the living room.
He hadn’t told them about painting, though he didn’t know why. Maybe at first it had been out of shyness. But now, five years later, he wasn’t so sure. He didn’t fancy himself an artist, but he had sold a few pieces over the years and his family seemed to enjoy his work. Though he was fairly certain that’s what family was supposed to do, so he didn’t know how much faith he could really put into their compliments.
Sitting down in front of the easel, he put the tea onto a little plant stand he’d commandeered for his tea and put a new piece of canvas up. He didn’t have a plan because they were often trampled by so many other possibilities. And so he went with it and let the paint and the brush go where they wanted to as he watched the sea crash over the beach just down the hill in front of him.
An hour later he was pulled out of his painting as a car rolled up in front of the cottage. In a rush he got up from the stool, took his now cold tea to the sink and washed his hands as quickly as he could before swinging open the front door to greet his visitors.
Hannah ran into his arms first and he was quick to hug her close. Her long brown hair, full of waves and wild like the sea from their plane ride over from the states, tickled his face and hands as he squeezed her to him. “My selkie,” he heard her whisper against his shoulder.
That term of endearment, so common between them in their dreams, was one that he hadn’t heard from her lips in years. He’d missed it, and hearing it now warmed him. “My Hannah,” he said in response, knowing that she was smiling against his skin as he did so.
He lifted his gaze to see her companion, a young man he hadn’t seen in person in years. Caelum had been in Ippy’s dreams plenty, but like Hannah, Ippy had left off a few details when he’d projected himself into the dream. Caelum realized Ippy hadn’t really shown him much of himself, not really anyway. He was smaller in the dreams, his curly hair even more unruly, and his features weren’t as fine. Caelum gave him a smile, appreciating the man Ippy had become as he brought a hand away from Hannah’s back to reach for him.
At first it looked like Ippy might not take it, and for a moment, Caelum was worried. But then Ippy dropped the bags he was carrying and his hand came up to brush against Caelum’s. Caelum didn’t let go of Hannah, he definitely wasn’t ready to do that anytime soon, but he did pull Ippy toward him, bringing the younger man closer to him until he could put his arm around Ippy, and Ippy did the same to him.
“Missed you both,” Caelum said as Hannah moved aside to make more room for Ippy.
Hannah titled her head back and smiled up at him. “Missed you, too. The plane ride was so long, and my dads almost made us late since they kept hugging us at the airport. I didn’t think they’d ever let us go. It was a mess. We had to run through security just to make it. I had thought Samson would let us take the pack plane, but he said it was busy or something. Really, I don’t know. I think he
was just trying to make us suffer. Coach is not my preferred way to travel at all.”
With Hannah talking excitedly in his ear Caelum looked over at Ippy. He hadn’t said anything to Caelum, and though he knew Ippy couldn’t talk out loud, they’d always been able to communicate through Ippy’s thoughts. “You okay?” he asked Ippy, hoping nothing was wrong already. They hadn’t even made it inside the door.
Ippy nodded and gave them both a tentative smile before stepping back and getting the bags. Caelum frowned and Hannah’s smile died on her lips. “Ippy?” she asked him.
I’m okay. Just tired.
Caelum knew that might have been it. He’d certainly never be able to sit in a place for nine hours straight. But he wasn’t completely convinced, either. “Okay, well, your beds are made up already if you want to take a nap. It’s not yet dinnertime, but there’s stuff in the fridge if you want it.”
Ippy nodded and Caelum watched him go into the house, a heavy looking duffel bag in each hand. Caelum was still frowning when he saw Ippy go into one of the unused bedrooms and close the door behind himself. “What’s going on with him?” he asked Hannah as he turned back to her.
She shrugged and he saw that her attention was on the bedroom door as well. “He’s been quiet lately. Well, just this past week really. I thought it was nerves, but now I’m not so sure. Think he’ll be okay?”
“Dunno.” Caelum really had no idea. Sure, he’d spent nearly every night for the past two years in Ippy’s dreams, but that didn’t mean much. Not when being in a dream and then being here were so different.
Hannah stepped out of his arms, but she didn’t go far, instead taking his hand and looking around. “It’s just like in the dreams. We’ve walked this path right here that goes down to the beach. We’ve lain down there together and watched his sky. You really were able to capture all of it.”
Caelum blushed. “Selkie talent,” he softly reminded her as he ducked his head.
She gave him a grin, and it looked so easy on her face, like she didn’t have a care in the world. “Well, it’s awesome. And, by the way, your fur is looking pretty fantastic right now. I can completely see him, even his little whiskers.”
She reached forward and Caelum ducked his head a little since she was a good foot shorter than he was. She touched the side of his face were he knew the whiskers were and he came forward further, hesitating only a few inches from her lips. She closed the gap and put the hand that had been on his cheek around his shoulders. They’d kissed plenty in the dreams, but this was so much different and far better than anything they’d done in those private moments. He let go of her hand and put them both on the base of her spine, right over the waist of the low jeans she was wearing. Caelum experimentally dipped his hands lower and she gave his shoulder a swat without breaking the kiss. Smiling against her lips, he relented and brought his hands to her waist.
Blushing fiercely, he broke the kiss when he needed to breathe again and was glad to see bright pink color streaming across her cheeks as well. She pulled him into the house with a hand on the front of his shirt as she walked backwards. “C’mon, show me around. Maybe Ippy will be feeling better soon, too.”
“There’s not much to show, and you’ve seen it all in the dreams, but sure,” he said, trailing behind her. Until he nearly ran over her when she stopped in the middle of the living room.
“I didn’t know that you painted.”
Now he was blushing for an entirely different reason. “It’s nothing. Just a hobby.”
Hannah gave him a quick smile over her shoulder. “I like it.”
Caelum let out a little mumbled “Thanks,” before moving her attention away from what he’d wanted to be a landscape, but was looking far more like a blob of blues and greys. He hadn’t even remembered using gray in the piece, so how it got there was a mystery to him. Oh well. It was just paint. And it could be fixed easily with a bit more work. That’s what he liked about art—it was easy to fix when he messed up.
“I like it here,” Hannah said when she’d finished looking around the room.
Honestly, there wasn’t much to see. He lived pretty simply overall. Three bedrooms lay against the left wall from the front door with a single bathroom between the last two smaller ones. He’d been sleeping in the biggest bedroom, thinking that they’d eventually all migrate there anyway, but if either of them wanted it he’d gladly give it up. Across from the bedrooms lay an open space that opened to the sea. It used to be a few smaller rooms, but over the generations the house had been opened up and expanded as his family grew. The outside still completely matched, for the most part, the original old weathered stone that it had always been. But the inside had been updated with a full kitchen and bright windows that let in the natural sunlight.
“I’m glad you do,” Caelum said softly as he looked at the back of her head, or, more specifically, the way her hair fell over her shoulders and down her back. It was longer than he remembered it being, but he knew that she’d had it cut recently.
Ippy emerged from the middle bedroom and almost seemed startled to see them there in the living room as he stopped short and looked at them closely for several long minutes.
“Ippy?” Hannah asked him, her voice coming out hesitant, like she was uncertain.
Caelum frowned. “Want to go for a walk along the beach with me, Ippy?” he asked him.
Ippy perked up a bit at that and Caelum was glad when he nodded after seeming to consider the offer for a good minute or so. Caelum pulled Hannah close and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. “You’ll be okay?” It was a simple question, but so much more. Would she be okay here, by herself? But also, this was the first time that the three of them had been together in five years, and he was asking for time alone with Ippy after they’d just arrived. A poly relationship wasn’t going to be a cakewalk, he knew that. But was she ready for it like he was? Like he hoped Ippy was?
She gave him a smile, though it did look a bit stiff, and nodded. “Sure. I can start unpacking. We brought the essentials and a bunch of clothes, but will probably be bringing back a few suitcases when the three of us go back to visit for the holidays. Anyway, you guys have fun.”
“There’s biscuits…er, cookies, in the cupboard,” Caelum told her as he went up to Ippy.
Hannah gave them both a wink and a little wave of her fingers as she disappeared into the same bedroom Ippy had come from. Caelum watched her go before offering Ippy his hand. He wasn’t sure if Ippy would take it, or if he was even upset, and so he was relieved when Ippy put his own hand into his and Caelum turned to lead him out of the house and down the hill toward the sea.
He walked slowly, wondering why Ippy was being so quiet, as their hands swayed between them. Once they got to the beach, a place they’d spent plenty of time on in their dreams, Caelum had to ask. The silence was bothering him too much to simply let it go. “Ippy, what’s wrong? I don’t think I’ve seen you this sad since the night you told me about your parents kicking you out.” he asked as he sat down on the cool sand and pulled Ippy down with him.
Ippy leaned toward him and Caelum put an arm around his shoulders. When he didn’t answer, Caelum tried a different tactic. “Did I do something already? Do you regret coming here?”
Ippy shook his head. You’re…
“I’m?” Caelum pressed him.
Beautiful. Ippy rounded his shoulders, hiding himself from Caelum’s view.
Caelum raised his brows and tried to get Ippy to look at him by moving toward him, but Ippy kept turning away. Getting annoyed, Caelum put a hand on Ippy’s shoulder, pulling him back and pushing him into the sand as Caelum got on top of him, pinning him down.
“You think I’m beautiful?” Caelum asked him as he leaned over Ippy, putting a hand on either side of his shoulders in the sand as Ippy stared up at him.
Slowly Ippy nodded. Yes. You are. I’m out of place.
Ah. So that’s what it was. Caelum smirked and leaned clo
ser, nearly pressing his face against Ippy’s. “Would you believe me if I said I like the way you look, too? That I’m surprised you didn’t show me the real you when we were in the dreams?”
Shrugging, Ippy turned his head to the side as Caelum lay down on top of him, no longer supporting himself with his arms and instead using his hands to run down Ippy’s sides. He felt Ippy shiver under him and Caelum smiled into his neck as he got comfortable against Ippy’s warm chest. He was only a few inches shorter than Caelum, but a good deal lighter if Caelum had to take a guess. Taking a chance, Caelum kissed the side of Ippy’s neck. Ippy pulled away, but Caelum was glad to see him smiling when he lifted his head and looked down at Ippy.
That felt good, Ippy admitted.
Caelum smiled back at him. “You’re not here just because Hannah wants you with her. I want you here, too. You’re mine, Ippy. If you want to be. We’ve been together plenty in the dreams. Why’s it weird now?”
The smile quietly fled Ippy’s face, but what Caelum was left with wasn’t exactly a frown either. Instead, Ippy’s face was a mask of uncertainty that made Caelum ache for him. In the dreams it was so easy and everything felt completely right. Had he so misjudged what could happen with the two people that mattered most to him?
It took a while, but finally Ippy did answer him. I don’t really touch people much, just you, Hannah, and sometimes other people in the pack. But I don’t seek it. It’s better since my wolf and I connected a few years ago. Actually a lot of things are better now that he’s here. I can concentrate and I feel better most days. But there’s still so much that I’ve never done, with Hannah or anyone else. And she could just run into your arms and kiss you and I wanted to do that, too, but I have no idea how.
Irish Mist Page 1