Navigating Sanctuary

by Flynn Eire

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  Trevor Hale is the runt of the first litter of the two that arrived during the latest attack. It’s complicated and with history that’s hard to keep up with, but they made their choice to go against Hell and their family, praying they would be welcomed at the sanctuary their cousins ran to… Except they seemed to have missed the boat of new hounds being welcomed.

  Dublin Carey’s been used all of his life by everyone who was supposed to care about him except Barry, so he trusts his friend when he says Dublin should give the hounds another chance. Imagine his shock when he meets a surprising hound without the attitude. And he’s hot. Can’t forget he’s hot. The feeling is mutual and fun is had… Until Dublin learns it’s not a fling but his mate and Trevor’s been plotting behind his back.

  Is there any way for Trevor to convince his mate that it was for the right reasons, or has he not only lost his mate but ruined the chance of his brothers having a sanctuary?

  1

  No one wanted us around. They weren’t even hiding it. We’d stayed working for Hell longer after our cousins to get more information, find out the new plans—as Hell and demons always had more plans. But then we’d come at the attack, and they didn’t trust us.

  But we’d come to help, so we weren’t the enemy or they’d never let us onto the estate. However, we’d gone against our father and elder Hales. We’d betrayed our side. And apparently that was shady since we hadn’t done it right away because they’d changed sides, and that was fine.

  Not that they’d ever asked us. They’d only asked Father and whichever archangel had taken the answer for all the Hales. I was pretty sure we couldn’t be blamed for that as we were our own men and centuries old.

  We tried at first, we really did. We gave them everything we knew, ratting out family even that would always be on Hell’s side. That might have been more what made people distrust us. Hounds weren’t disloyal, especially to family or mates.

  What was the right answer? Be on Hell’s side who wanted to hurt and kill people and bring the apocalypse, or go against our family? In the end, we went with our conscience. We’d been forced to work for Hell because of what we were born as. If we didn’t have to anymore, fuck, sign me up for a different side.

  My siblings were tired of being snubbed and left out. Months of it and they were over being a community, keeping to only Hales at the Lundberg castle where we were tolerated. I wanted more though. I wanted the tension and resentment to stop because soon my siblings would get angry, and they would be valid in it.

  So I came to the Friday night dinner, getting looks from my siblings like I was a glutton for punishment, and even the younger litter thought I was nuts, and they were the ones who took the guard shifts so all the other hounds could go have fun. Nice, right? We didn’t even really get invited, but everyone knew about it, and being a hound was the price of admission.

  Moments after I accepted a glass of wine and snagged some appetizers, my eyes landed on the sexiest man I’d ever seen. Human or maybe one of the unbaptized Nephilim, but not a hound. I wasn’t close enough to sniff if he was someone else’s mate, so I wasn’t sure why he was there.

  “I’m glad you came,” Rafe greeted, dragging his mate behind him. He was the Nephilim mated to Stryker and who had started this whole thing, and it was his estate the schools and everything were on. “Is it just you? I’m sorry, I don’t know your name.”

  “Trevor,” I answered, giving a slow nod as I glanced at his frowning mate. “I thought I’d give it another try since we’re all on the same side.”

  “I’m glad you did,” he said firmly, elbowing his mate.

  “We are.” Stryker started to say something but then closed his mouth, shaking his head.

  “Why is it so hard for you guys to be nice to the Hales?” Rafe demanded. “They helped us on the night of the attack. We accepted the other Hales. Why are they so different?”

  “They’re too old for us to read, and they survived the normal retirement trap,” Stryker grumbled. “Only the Lundbergs and Arnolds were supposed to know, as it’s always been one of them managing things.”

  “Hales don’t retire,” I filled in before they started arguing. They both glanced at me in shock, and I nodded. “It’s always been tradition that Hales don’t retire. You don’t retire for a job you’re born into, and we’re needed to keep the balance. In our family, it’s a life sentence.”

  “That sucks,” Rafe grumbled. “That seriously sucks. Are there more of you who want to get free?”

  “Are we free here?” I challenged, raising an eyebrow at him. He was being nice, but others weren’t to us, and that was very clearly why we weren’t recruiting. What would we say? Come to the other side and not work for Hell, but they treat us like crap, so just ignore that part?

  Yeah, that would go over well.

  It was Rafe’s turn to do an impression of a fish. “Some of us want to try. There was a lot of fear and upset after the attack and history of other hounds snubbing us. I’m not excusing it at all, but planting people here with a history of being loyal to Hell would be a smart play, and they’ve been smart over and over again.”

  “And our cousins had a reason to seek sanctuary,” I added, sighing. Yeah, not wanting to raise the next generation as we were would push most mothers to run. “Would it help if you knew we were due to try and breed a litter of female hounds soon and none of us could stomach the idea of some accident happening like it did to them? We would have left with them, but something was going on so we stayed.”

  “I know, I know,” Rafe muttered when I started to get upset. “You aren’t the bad guys. You are the unknown guys. The Lundbergs were too, and that changed.”

  I wanted to ask how, but I had a feeling I wouldn’t like the answer. I nodded, not sure I felt better or worse when they moved on. Grabbing some more food, I looked back at the sexy man, noting he was the strong, silent type. He nodded a lot, didn’t say much, and mostly seemed attached to Tristan’s mate, Barry.

  About ten minutes went by, and Barry glanced over at me, and I realized I’d been staring the whole time like an idiot. He excused himself and came over by me, smiling brightly.

  “I don’t think we’ve officially met. I’m Barry Lowell,” he greeted, extending his hand.

  “Trevor Hale, youngest of Gerald’s litter,” I replied, taking his smaller hand in mine.

  “Are you interested in Dublin?” he asked, getting right to the point.

  “Is that his name? Your friend?”

  “Yes, my best friend who y
ou’ve been staring at since you arrived. He didn’t notice, but I did.”

  “I didn’t mean to be the creep who stares, but he’s gorgeous,” I muttered, feeling like a goober.

  “He is,” Barry chuckled easily. “Will you be nice to him if I send him over?”

  I frowned. “Of course. We’re not the bad guys.”

  “Not what I mean. Even the good guys can be stupid. I don’t want that for him after I dragged him out to have some fun and get more used to hounds.”

  “I’m not all that used to humans either,” I admitted, bobbing my head. “Certainly not Nephilim, but we’ve tried.”

  “I’ve heard. Most kept thinking you were going to upset the balance everyone had just gotten used to after several upsets. Most of it is tension you feel, and most of it isn’t even meant for you but a reminder of the attack, which is when we met you. My mate says you’re all very nice and take helping seriously. If you asked me, I would try something relaxed.”

  “I don’t get it,” I admitted.

  He shrugged. “Come to the greenhouses and help out. Do something that shows you’re really planning on staying instead of keeping to the Lundberg castle after things didn’t go well because of an attack and fear. Tonight was a good first step, and already you’ve learned it’s not as bad as you thought, right?”

  “I’m hopeful, but I wouldn’t say my opinion is set on that,” I corrected.

  “Fair enough. I’ll go tell Dublin you want to meet him.”

  “Wait, that’s—”

  “You don’t want to talk with him?” he challenged, raising an eyebrow.

  “Well, yes, but that’s…”

  “I’d go with efficient,” he chuckled, giving me a nod of goodbye before walking back to his party.

  I watched—horrified, curious, and excited all at once—as he leaned in towards Dublin and whispered something I couldn’t hear. Gorgeous caramel eyes looked at me as he nodded with what Barry said. He raised an eyebrow and slowly eyed me over before looking back to his friend.

  And then he didn’t come by me. He kept talking with his party. I tossed back the rest of my wine, dejected and obviously rejected, and headed over to the bar for a refill. When I turned around, he was standing in front of me, studying me carefully.

  “So you’re interested in getting to know me?” he asked, smirking at me like he knew he had the goods to back up his attitude.

  While I barely kept my head as I went on the ride of my life at the sound of his voice. This huge, gorgeous man was my mate. I tried several times to make my mouth work, but it wouldn’t.

  Which made him smirk more as he boxed me in against the bar, taking in a slow breath. “Cute. Most of the hounds are big and loud and annoying, but you’re cute.”

  “I’m the runt,” I grumbled, knowing I wasn’t very big for a hound. Oddfinn Lundberg was about the only hound I’d ever met who was smaller than my six-two frame. The Nephilim before me had me beat by at least six inches, and the girth on him was a joke. I didn’t think humans or Nephilim got so wide without steroids.

  “Well, Mr. Runt, do you want to join us for dinner and then we can have dessert together?” He smiled when I nodded, about swallowing my tongue at how sexy his offer was. “Good, but you should know I don’t keep people, and I don’t do exclusive. Is that fine?”

  “What?” I whispered, horror filling me as it sank in my mate was offering me a one night stand. “No repeats?”

  He shrugged. “If you’re fun, we can repeat as often as you can handle it, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to clear my calendar or kick other repeats to the curb.”

  “You’re seeing other people?”

  He frowned, anger filling his eyes at the possible judgment from my statement. “Everyone knows the score and it’s for fun, so just because the hounds made some stupid pact not to touch any of us doesn’t mean the rest of us have to do something so stupid. Maybe there wouldn’t have been so many fuck ups if they hadn’t been such idiots and learned a bit of balance.”

  “Yeah, no, I get it,” I lied, glad he wouldn’t be able to tell that. “I just don’t like to step on toes.”

  He lost the anger in an instant. “I feel you. It’s cool. No toes in the way. I have fun until it’s not fun and then move on, no drama, no problems, no worries.”

  “How many are you having fun with right now?” I asked, carefully keeping any emotion out of my tone to act as if I was just curious instead of panicking my mate would have sex with others.

  The smirk came back. “You like to hear about fun, or are you interested in a threesome? A mom of a saved soul I hook up with is very into that thing if you want.”

  “I’ve never been with a woman,” I admitted, unsure I could handle that. I did know some hounds that brought people to their beds for fun, or even Castillo who had two hound mates. But I didn’t know if I could do it.

  He moved his hand under my chin when I lowered my head, making me look into his eyes. “Be good and maybe I’ll do you while you’re inside her and you can see if you like that.”

  I gave a quick nod, excited about the promise of him topping me, not caring about the rest. My brothers would flip if they knew I wanted to bottom for someone bigger than me. We were hounds. We were Hales and top of the food chain. Being gay was fine.

  Being the bottom who got fucked wasn’t.

  “Um, you don’t like to talk about this sort of thing with others, right?” I asked, worried given how fast he went to talking about his sexcapades.

  Understanding filled his eyes. “It’s not anyone’s business. I keep it all on the DL.” His intense gaze seemed to see right through me, and I worried he knew. “Would your brothers be pissed you were hooking up with a Nephilim when it’s against the rules?”

  “Something like that,” I muttered, my tone clearly saying to let it go.

  “Dinner’s starting,” he said, taking the hint.

  I nodded, following after him. He gestured to the seat next to the one he stopped at, making sure he was on the other side of Barry. I glanced at the other man as I sat down, wondering if there was something there.

  Barry caught me looking as he set down his wine, muttering under his breath so I would hear but Dublin wouldn’t. “I’m not his type. We’re just best friends.”

  I nodded that I heard him, but then Dublin sat down, blocking my view of Barry.

  Dinner was fine once I ignored the looks people gave me when they realized I was there. No one was impolite, and everyone was totally fine when I joined conversations, just hesitant. And that would have been enough to upset my brothers and make it a thing. I got hesitant and was fine with that. It was progress from mostly hostile like when we’d first arrived.

  Dublin stood when the meal was over and nodded for me to join him. We went into the kitchen, and he snagged us two pieces of cake on disposable plates to eat as we walked over to the school.

  “You’re not at the castle?” I confirmed, giving him a confused look.

  “I was going to take one of the rooms for those training, but I had just snagged a nicer room at the school, and it’s better for me since I work in the clinic too,” he explained in between bites. “Plus, I have adopted little brothers here, and given how busy everyone is, they can miss a lot. I didn’t want to be far away if they need me since they have no one else.”

  “That’s very kind of you,” I praised.

  “I have my moments,” he chuckled, giving me another smirk. “Do you want me to be kind to you?”

  “Of course.”

  “Good.”

  I finished my cake as well, and he showed me where one of the garbage cans was tucked away in a supply closet before we reached his room. Once inside, I wanted to peek around, get a feel for my mate, but apparently that wasn’t on the agenda.

  “Get naked,” he ordered, blinking at me when I froze. “You want to play or not?”

  “Yeah, yes. Yes,” I mumbled, hurrying with my clothes, noting he was staying dressed. The pleased look
he gave me was well worth my embarrassment.

  “Suck me off while you get yourself ready for me,” he said next, reaching over and grabbing lube from his nightstand. “I’m big, so stretch good.”

  “Prove it,” I challenged, glad when he smiled that he liked my not just giving in and doing whatever.

  He slowly undid his pants and pulled out his massive fucking cock that wasn’t even hard yet. I gave him a shocked look, and a slow, evil grin formed on his lips. Yeah, he more than deserved the ego and smirking.

  “I never thought a human could have such a massive cock,” I admitted, moving closer. “I’ve only seen them on seriously big hounds.”

  “All the crack my mom did made the brains I should have gotten go to the size of my dick,” he said under his breath as he took off his shirt. He flinched when he realized I’d heard it. “Sorry, don’t normally—I’ve not spent any personal time with hounds. Ignore me.”

  “I could never do that, but if you don’t want me to comment on what I heard, I won’t,” I countered, moving in front of him when he sat on the bed. “I want to play, but can I kiss you first? It’s been a long time for me.”

  “Sure,” he agreed, giving a shrug. I leaned in, and he fell back onto the bed, challenging me to follow him.

  Gladly. I straddled him as I lowered my mouth to his, the zing going through my entire body. He blinked up at me with shock, and I knew he felt it too. I didn’t give him time to analyze it and went for another kiss. He growled and rolled me over so he was on top, kissing me stupid.

  “Now I really want to fuck you and good,” he groaned as he kissed along my neck. “Shit, you are too cute and can kiss. If your ass is half as good as I hope, I might play with you a lot.”

  “I’m up for almost anything,” I swore, wanting him to play only with me.

  “Almost?” he challenged, raising an eyebrow at me.

  I shrugged. “I’m not into like pissing or icky stuff.”

  “Yeah, none of that,” he agreed before kissing me again. Then he rolled us so he was back to sitting up and I slid to the floor. “Hurry.”