Caelum’s expression softened as understanding came over him. “What would you like to do? If you could, I mean.”
Ippy raised his eyebrows. Anything I want?
Caelum didn’t hesitate as he nodded. Whatever Ippy wanted, he’d likely imagined it and wanted it as well. “Anything.”
A smile slowly came over Ippy’s face and Caelum shared it. I want a kiss, he slowly admitted.
It was an easy request to grant. More than easy, actually. Caelum leaned closer and put one forearm above Ippy’s head for balance and used the other hand to cup his cheek. Soft stubble brushed over his palm as Caelum lowered his mouth to Ippy’s. At first it was just the barest brushing of their lips. Caelum’s were chapped from the sea, he knew, and wished he’d thought of using some lip balm before they’d arrived. But Ippy didn’t seem to mind all that much. Caelum lifted his head, wondering if Ippy had done enough and wanted some space now, but Ippy followed him up, so Caelum gave him what he was clearly seeking as he slowly opened his mouth, letting Ippy kiss him.
Ippy’s arms came around his back and rested on Caelum’s shoulders, holding him close. He appreciated the contact, but there was no way that he was going to leave Ippy right now. Ippy’s tongue slipped between his lips and Caelum moved his hand from his cheek to the tangle of dark brown curls that was Ippy’s hair. He loved that wild batch of hair on top of Ippy’s head, always had, and trailed his fingers through the soft ends now.
Though he would have loved to keep kissing Ippy, his need for air sadly won out and Caelum pulled away first. When he looked down at Ippy there was a soft glow around him, likely invisible to humans, but completely clear to someone like him. And probably to Hannah, too, since she could see so much more than either of them.
“You’re glowing,” he whispered, his voice likely too soft to hear over the sound of the waves crashing over the beach behind them.
Ippy nodded and when his gaze focused on Caelum, he saw Ippy’s pupils dilate until the bright blue of his irises nearly outshone everything else. It’s my wolf coming awake. He wants to run.
“Do you want to?” Caelum asked him eagerly as his heart sped up. He’d only been out of the sea a short time, but shifting and getting to see Ippy as his wolf was too tempting of a prize to give up on so soon. He hadn’t seen the wolf at all in his dreams. He’d asked, repeatedly, and shifted for Ippy so that he could see his seal. But he had yet to see the wolf that shared his soul with Ippy.
Though he looked a bit uncertain, Ippy did eventually nod. Are we safe here?
Caelum smiled. “Absolutely. Do you need some help?”
Just need some room so if you could get off me… Ippy said pointedly.
Blushing, Caelum rolled onto his side on the beach. His shift would come easily enough, he didn’t worry about that. But he’d never seen a werewolf shift before and wanted to pay attention as he got to his knees next to Ippy on the sand. Ippy quietly rose to his feet and started shucking off his clothing as kept his back to Caelum.
It’s weird undressing in front of you, Ippy said, his voice sounding tentative as his shirt came off after his shoes and socks were gone.
Caelum hadn’t thought of that. “I can turn around if you want.”
Do you want to?
“No.” Caelum figured he probably should, but no, he didn’t want to look away. And if Ippy wouldn’t make him, he’d stay right where he was and enjoy the view.
He thought he’d get a look, but Ippy proved him wrong because as soon as his shorts dropped to the sand at Ippy’s feet Caelum saw him crouch down and a swirl of mist and light closed around him. He’d expected something bigger, something bloodier and painful when a werewolf shifted. At least that’s what he’d always seen happen in the movies. But from one of his rapid heartbeats to the next, Ippy was there, and then he was a wolf. Caelum went to him, eager to put his hands into dark brown fur that looked coarse, but he found was actually soft when he touched Ippy’s shoulder. A large ear flicked back at him and then Ippy turned his head and looked up at Caelum with large, bright blue eyes that nearly stole his breath, just as they had the first time he’d caught Ippy’s gaze.
He ran his fingers along the thick fur of Ippy’s shoulder. “Can you still hear me?” he asked the wolf. He knew what Ippy had told him in his dreams, that he retained everything and every thought. But Caelum also knew that it hadn’t always been that way for him and that stress was a trigger for Ippy. Certainly he’d had plenty of stress over the past few hours, what with being in a plane full of people and all, so Caelum was naturally careful.
Ippy dipped his head and pushed against Caelum’s bare shoulder. I’m here. Still me. How was my shift? Did it look okay?
Caelum didn’t know what Ippy was getting at or how it should have looked and so he simply nodded. “Mist and light normal?”
Yes. He walked off, heading toward the surf, and Caelum moved quickly to catch up to him. As a seal he was fairly useless on land, but once he had his shorts off and was running toward the water, he knew that he’d soon be diving through the waves. His skin, a precious thing to a selkie like him, was kept in his room. He didn’t need it on him to shift, not anymore. But he did need it close by. The cold water hit him as he leaned forward and let himself fall. He didn’t move for a long second as the waves washed over him, pushing him toward the beach before pulling him back, and in that moment he felt welcomed by the sea as he always had before. He belonged to the salt water, with the sky above him and the land little more than a place he went to rest when he needed sleep.
He supposed some things would be changing about that soon. Hannah wasn’t an ocean spirit and neither was Ippy. But he’d never be able to leave the sea and he knew that they’d always live near it. He called on his old magic, carried through the generations in his blood and fuelled by the sea, as he started to shift. He closed his eyes and welcomed the change over his body as his arms shortened and his legs fused together. Seal skin covered his body, not his own, but a mirror of it that he called on for short swims, and he was off swimming through the waves and welcoming the cold water that chilled him.
The water moved near him, pushed aside by something big, and he popped his head up to see a dark brown wolf swimming along beside him. If Caelum could have smiled right then, he would have been grinning as he ducked and swam over to Ippy. Hey, Caelum said as he rubbed up against Ippy’s side.
Hi. I’ve never seen you shift before, Ippy replied. They moved to the shallower water where Ippy could stand without having to swim, but where Caelum could still move around in the surf.
I doubt that it’s as pretty as yours, Caelum quickly said as he dove through the water. He came up often, making sure that Ippy was all right where he’d left him.
Ippy as the wolf was watching him, his ears pricked forward as he sat down at the edge of the surf. I couldn’t see much since you were hidden by the waves. But I did see some.
There was something Ippy wasn’t saying, something Caelum caught instantly. He’d seen bits of Caelum naked. He didn’t mind that Ippy had looked and wouldn’t tease him about it. After all, he’d been trying to catch a peek as well. He was still a bit curious about what Ippy thought, though. It might have been vain, but he really did want to know. And he thought that was pretty normal. He stopped swimming along the beach and came up to Ippy again. Did you mind? he asked Ippy as he floated on his back in the surf.
Ippy shook his head. You said that you dated another guy, right? When you first came back?
Caelum hadn’t thought about him in years and couldn’t imagine why Ippy would want to bring him up now. Yes.
Ippy turned his head away, focusing on something that Caelum couldn’t see off in the distance. How far did you go with him?
Caelum instantly understood. We kissed and held hands. That’s it. Though he hadn’t been swimming long he shifted back, eager to be in his skin again as he spoke to Ippy about something that was obviously an important topic to him. Coming
back to his human self wasn’t as easy, or as much fun, as going to the seal. But soon enough he came out of the water and reached for his shorts on the sand next to him with human fingers and got dressed.
He gave Ippy some privacy by turning around until Ippy laid a hand on his shoulder, letting him know it was okay to look again. He’d only put his shorts back on too, leaving his socks, shoes and shirt further up the beach. Caelum pulled him back down onto the sand. It was wet where he sat, but he didn’t mind too much as he stuck out his legs and smiled when the sea lapped against his legs up to his calves.
Ippy sat down next to him, and Caelum instantly took his hand as Ippy made a face, probably at the feeling of the wet sand beneath his butt. “Were you worried?” Caelum asked him as he tilted his head back and let the sun shine down on him.
Ippy nodded and put his head back, too.
Caelum watched him close his eyes and he moved closer to Ippy, barely leaving a few inches between them.
Why didn’t you? Ippy asked him.
Caelum knew he could lie, he could say that he hadn’t seen that many attractive guys around or that no one caught his fancy. But those were lies, and he’d known for a long time how much Ippy didn’t like lies. Even the smallest ones. And so Caelum went for the truth. “I was holding out for you.”
Ippy’s face pinched instantly and Caelum squeezed his hand, fearing that he would take off. But he didn’t. Instead he stayed right there with him, barely breathing as he opened those beautiful blue eyes and looked over at Caelum. Thank you.
Caelum smiled at him and leaned forward for a gentle, chaste kiss. “You’re welcome,” he said when he pulled back from the kiss.
“Guys! Dinner!”
Caelum turned to look over his shoulder at Hannah as she yelled at them from the front of the cottage. Smiling at her, he lifted his free hand to give her a wave. Ippy got to his feet first and Caelum followed right behind him as he helped Ippy gather up his clothes. Minutes later they were in the cottage, their wet clothes dripping on the old hardwood floor, as they both watched Hannah move about the kitchen as if she’d always lived there.
“Spaghetti and red sauce,” she said before either of them had a chance to ask. Her back was to them as she busily stirred something in a bowl on the counter.
“Smells great. I’ve got to go get cleaned up before dinner though,” Caelum said. His shorts needed to be changed at the very least, since he couldn’t very well go around with wet shorts the whole time.
Ippy nodded. Me too.
“Hurry,” she called to them as they took off. Caelum went to his room and hesitated as he watched Ippy go to his. He curled his hands around the door frame, wondering what his own problem was. Ippy didn’t even look at him as he walked into the room and closed the door behind himself.
Biting back a sigh, Caelum went to change as well. He had to get himself under control. Just because he’d been thinking about having a relationship with them both, and everything that went with it, for years, didn’t mean that Ippy and Hannah were ready for such a thing. He was mad at himself and thought he’d been rushing things already, but tried to force himself to calm down as he tossed his wet shorts into the laundry hamper in the corner and quickly dried himself off before putting on a pair of flannel lounge pants. They were a bit too big for him and so were extremely comfortable. The sun was starting to go down, but he left his feet bare as he walked out of the room and went to see them.
“Have fun out there?” Hannah asked him as he stepped out of the room and came toward her.
Smiling, he pulled her into a tight hug as soon as she’d finished putting down a big bowl of pasta on the table. “Yep. You’ll have to join us.”
Hannah shook her head and danced out of his hold. “Right. Maybe when the water isn’t freezing.”
Caelum snickered and went to the counter to bring over some buttered pieces of bread she’d left on a plate. “It’s the sea, it’s always cold. Always.”
He flicked his gaze over to Ippy’s still closed bedroom door and he felt like an idiot. A selfish, bloody idiot who was bordering on being a prick.
“What’s wrong?” Hannah asked him.
Caelum looked down at her, at her cute pixie-shaped face and bright hazel eyes, and forced a smile. She raised her eyebrows, clearly not impressed by his attempt to show her that nothing was amiss. He gave in, unable to do anything else as she waited for him to say something. “I don’t know if I made the right choice bringing you both here,” he whispered as quietly as he could.
Her face instantly fell. “We’ve been here for four hours and you’re already changing your mind!” she hissed at him, her hands balling into fists on his chest.
“No!” he put his hands over hers on his skin, still cold from his swim. “No, never that. I’ve wanted you both for years. Ever since I met you. But I don’t know if you’re ready for what I want.”
Her expression softened and though she didn’t relax against him, she no longer looked like she wanted to punch him out, either. Some people might not have been afraid of a girl almost half their size like Hannah was. Caelum didn’t make that mistake. He knew what she was capable of at fifteen and he had no doubt she’d go even further now that she was an adult. He waited until she softened, her expression no longer looking murderous. Only then did he let go of her hands on his chest and let her take a step back from him.
“It’s going to be an adjustment,” she mumbled softly.
He nodded, sure of it. “I’ve never lived with anyone but my family.”
Hannah gave him a soft smile, looking as if she understood what he meant. “Me neither. And now it’s the three of us. It’ll take some getting used to.”
Caelum was very glad she seemed to get what he was saying, even if he didn’t really know. “Now I know why my family has always had polygamy and not polyamory. This is freaking complicated.”
Snorting, Hannah shook her head. “Yeah, too bad you’re stuck with us. We’ll make it work. Promise. We’re both just tired from the plane ride over here. I’m sure that’s all it is. I just wish…”
“What?” Caelum asked her, his heart speeding up. Whatever she wanted, he’d try to give her. No matter what. They’d both given him his life back and rescued him from men that had kept him in a cage. He owed them both everything that he had.
Hannah shook her head and wrapped her arms around herself. “I guess I just wish that things were as easy as they had been in our dreams. I had this idea of the three of us hanging out and watching movies. We’d come home from work and order take out and go for swims and it would be perfect all the time.”
Caelum nodded, knowing exactly what she meant. He reached forward to tuck a stray lock of hair behind her ear that had come loose from her thick ponytail. She gave him a soft smile and took his hand before he could pull it away. “It’ll be like that. I’ll do whatever you need. Both of you. I just want you both with me,” he said, knowing that he sounded like he was begging and not caring one bit about it. He’d thought about them both for too long, pictured them here with him for too many years, to let it all go out the window on the first night just because he couldn’t control what he wanted.
“What did you picture?” Hannah let go of him and moved to gather the last of the things for dinner as they took their seats. A place was set for Ippy, though Caelum didn’t know if he’d be coming out anytime soon.
Caelum gave her a little shrug, unsure of how to put such a broad idea into words. “Going swimming with you both, going dancing at the clubs with you, going on walks with Ippy…” He licked his lips and looked down at his empty plate, unsure of how she’d take what he wanted to say next. “Waking up next to you both each morning.”
He heard the fork she’d been twirling in her hands drop noisily to the plate and he looked up at her, wondering how far he’d crossed the line. She was blushing deeply and looking at him, too. “We haven’t…I mean, Ippy and I, we haven’t…”
Caelum nodded, he’d figured as much. “Yeah, I kinda figured that out.”
“And that’s not happening tonight,” Hannah continued, her voice as firm as her words.
Caelum’s cheeks heated and he looked away again. “I got that. Hannah, I’m not an idiot. What I want, I know it’ll take some time. I didn’t ask you both to come out here and stay with me just because I wanted to have sex with you. But I also need you to know that I want is a full relationship. With you both. Not just friends—as mates, or whatever the word is. I spent too much time in the US watching TV and lost so much of my vocab that my cousins still make fun of me.”
The side of her mouth tilted up and she gave him a little nod. “I think that can be worked out, Caelum. I really do. What you want is what I want, too. And what I know Ippy wants.”
“It is?” Caelum asked her, daring to hope.
Yes.
Caelum turned to see Ippy coming toward them. He’d changed and had a hoodie on over a pair of shorts. Caelum got up from the table and opened his arms a bit, silently asking Ippy to hug him. He could feel Hannah watching him, but didn’t let his gaze stray from Ippy as he slowly made his way across the open space between them. Without hesitation, Ippy walked straight into his arms and Caelum wrapped them around him, resting his forehead against Ippy’s. I’m struggling, Ippy slowly admitted.
“With what?” Hannah asked him as Ippy wrapped his arms around Caelum’s shoulders. Caelum would have liked to stand just like that for a good hour or two as he breathed in the smell of saltwater on Ippy’s skin.
I don’t have a pack here. There’s no alpha, no one to be dominant over me. What do I do with no pack? Where do I fit in? He sounded like if he’d been able to speak aloud his voice would have been breaking, and Caelum hugged him tighter. Hannah got up from the table and came up behind him, adding her comfort to Caelum’s as she hugged Ippy as well.
“I didn’t even think about that,” Caelum softly admitted. Selkies had families, not packs, and the dynamic was completely different for them.
Hannah met his gaze over Ippy’s shoulder. Caelum could see how worried she was in her gaze. “I didn’t either. I’m so sorry, Ippy. Whatever you need, we’re here for you. We’ll call Daddy Liam and do a video chat with him tonight. It’ll be fine. We called him from the plane when we landed, but we’ll call him again. He’ll help. I’m sure of it.”
Irish Mist Page 2