by Flynn Eire
“Dude, you seriously just go balls out,” I chuckled, hugging Barry to me. “You didn’t need to do all of this.”
“You’re my bestest buddy ever, and I’m always on your side,” he muttered, hugging me back. I swallowed a sigh. I was his first and only true friend who didn’t care about his money. Given that’s how he’d grown up, he was lacking in normal knowledge of how to be a friend.
Then again, I wasn’t much better, and I’d pounded a bunch of people who so much as teased him meanly.
“Now I get how the tiny mates feel,” Eugene Harris grumbled, looking up at me when I let go of Barry.
“I’m sure I’m super tall to balance the scale of the shorty mates versus the hounds,” I drawled, accepting a frozen drink from Rafe who was using some massive three pitcher system that had like a big bag of ice holder on top.
Garnet showed up with some contraption he’d built just for the party, asking Huckabee and Sandro to help him even though those two didn’t really get along. I didn’t know the whole backstory there—didn’t want to even—but it seemed to be getting better, which was nice instead of feuds.
Wasn’t fighting against Hell enough of a damn feud?
I looked over the range of the food and glanced at Barry. “How did you even swing all of this so fast?”
“My mate said I needed a mental health day,” Ana, the psychologist who helped so many on the estate, admitted. “He heard from Castillo what he and Barry were working on and got involved, asking me to reschedule patients just for one afternoon and have fun. I love trying new things, and I’m like you, I guess, always asking how some weird fried thing could taste good or wondering if it would be better fried. But I draw the line at fried butter.”
“Yeah, that just sounds gross,” I agreed, glad at least people were having the fun they needed.
“Okay, so I have a corn batter option since not everyone can have gluten,” Daniel announced. “And I mixed up a potato coating that might work, but I give no guarantees.” He shrugged when we all shot him a confused look. “Tristan asked me to. He hates when you feel like the only one left out.”
“My mate is so awesome,” Barry muttered, his cheeks heating.
I swallowed down my jealousy, not having felt that about them before, but now that I had my mate too, I was apparently. Then again, they’d had their problems as well. Then again, they worked through them, and I wasn’t sure I would with my mate.
The food started out easily enough. A huge basket of French fries were dumped on a platter, and we all stood around the counter dunking them in the different options, laughing when a few went with BBQ sauce instead of ketchup and then someone did mayo and ketchup and we started tossing fries at them.
And yes, while drinking. We were all going heavy on the different flavors of margaritas.
“Onion rings, awesome,” I groaned as Daniel set down a huge platter. Again, it was funny to see who wanted honey mustard—like I did—or whatever other dips.
“Dude, has anyone looked outside?” Trojan asked, looking back at us with wide eyes. “We’re being invaded by hounds.”
Garnet just shrugged. “I told my mate there was food and competition and his litter was absolutely in. There are like three bazillion Hales.”
“My mate was in, and so were the other Sethoses,” Shane agreed.
“Oh boy, because my mate and his litter were in too,” Barry chuckled, not even trying to count up how many hounds that was.
The answer ended up being all of them. All of them not on guard shift were there wanting food and fun.
“I guess we’re moving the party to the patio,” Rafe chuckled, shaking his head.
“I’ll get extension cords,” Landan called out, heading towards the shed as we all grabbed food, dips, and drinks to bring out to all the array of outdoor seating Rafe had.
All while Garnet gave us an instructional on what to do with his food slingshot. Really there was only one rule—use the paper bowls. That way the grease didn’t get on the leather and the bowl wouldn’t go far, just the food out of it so really it made it easier for us. Done and done.
“You’re up,” Garnet told me, nodding to the slingshot. “This is your party, so you get to shoot the food first.”
I shrugged, loading a bowl with onion rings and setting in the right spot. I pulled it back and let go… Only to watch it flop right to the ground.
“So that was fun,” I drawled, feeling like an idiot when everyone burst out laughing. Gasping when one of the hounds moved in a blur, I realized it was Trevor eating up the mess. He picked up the bowl in his teeth and handed it to me, clearly saying try again. I gave a slow nod and took it from him, a weird feeling forming in my stomach. Why was he backing me up like that? He wanted more food?
No one ever did that unless they wanted something from me. Catching Barry’s gaze, I changed my answer. No, one person had. It might have started out as him helping me with school and my keeping the bullies off of him, but it had become more.
Was that what I could have with Trevor but better?
“Anything you want?” I asked him while Garnet made some adjustments to something, muttering about tension. I smiled when Trevor gave me a confused look, tilting his head like a dog wondering what was going on. “I know you can’t talk, but like tap twice for appetizers or three times for seafood.”
Instead he jumped on me. I hadn’t been ready for it, so we started to fall, and really it looked more like a huge hound had tried to hump my leg instead of give me a hug. I assumed that was what he had been going for because if he tried to hump me as a hound, I would beat him. I burst out laughing when I landed on my ass, shoving him off of me as I shivered from the rest of my frozen drink spilling on me.
He had a fix for that too. He licked it off of me, and I got a bit weirded out when I got excited. I shook my head. He wasn’t a natural dog but the man I’d had in my bed dozens of times. Right?
God, someone tell me I was right on that one and I wasn’t screwed in the head.
“Okay, test two,” Garnet announced when I was cleaned up. Well, mostly. My shirt was still a bit sticky.
I handled that by taking it off, knowing Trevor was watching and he liked my body. Except that hurt my heart for some reason. Yeah, everyone loved my body.
Barry tossed me a wet towel, and I wiped up the rest of the mess, turning when something bumped my leg. It was Trevor again, and he was gently holding a long sleeve t-shirt in his mouth.
“You don’t want me naked?” I wondered, unsure of how to take that.
“Dude, don’t read into it and make problems where there aren’t any,” Barry suggested, and I realized he was right, thanking Trevor for the shirt.
I slid it on before reloading the slingshot, this time it working as planned. Some of the onion rings got decent distance even, but something light like fries would probably flop.
“Right, I forgot the one request,” Rafe said and hurried back into the house. I laughed so hard as he came back out with a case of beer and a huge bowl, shrugging at us. “My mate said if they were the entertainment, they didn’t want to miss out on the beers and chilling too.”
“Fine by me,” I agreed, helping him out.
Next came corn dogs and fried mushrooms, most of us laughing when a few of the hounds whimpered when the mushrooms came at them. Like they were kids upset they had to eat their vegetables.
“None of the weirdos in my mate’s litter like mushrooms,” Shane explained, taking another sip of his drink with a smirk. “I told him being a picky eater is bad and if he teaches that to Norberto, I would start covering myself in mushrooms before sex.”
“You have an evil streak in you,” I accused.
He just smiled at me, gesturing to his body. “This is prime, grade A meat, and if he wants to partake, he will appreciate it and work for it. Isn’t that right, Colton?” One of the hounds barked loudly, and Shane just smirked.
“So what about us who do the partaking and please you so well?”
I challenged, not liking I had to do all the hoop jumping.
He simply raised an eyebrow at me. “And you do nothing for Trevor? Is it all about you and he’s just a hole?” He shook his head when I opened my mouth. “I’ve heard how open he is and offers you whatever you want. What have you done to deserve that? Given him orgasms? I’m fairly certain he could get that other places too.”
My heart sank in my stomach, making me feel like I was a selfish prick. Until my mate moved in front of me protectively, growling at Shane in a way that clearly told him to shut up but wasn’t aggressive like he was going to hurt the guy who was someone else’s mate.
Shane didn’t even flinch though. “You’re trying to win him back after messing up, I get that, but don’t be a doormat. It makes all of us look easy and disrespects the bond, the love of—”
Trevor snapped his teeth at him and shifted back, carefully angling his body to keep covered. “Don’t lecture me on seduction and sex when you are about five to us. You and Colton do things your way, and if others want your help and guidance, that’s fine, wonderful of you to give it even, but do not for one second think you know all. You don’t. And honestly, you’re a bit of a sadist or Dom.
“You like making people jump through your hoops. I grew up around that. I have absolutely no desire to live my life, have my mating be like that. Dublin gives me everything I’ve ever wanted as he’s honest, tender, and very respectful. Just because I don’t make him jump through hoops and we like our sex life doesn’t mean we’ve failed or messed up somehow. The world turns because of differences, kid, so don’t lecture my mate because you’re twenty seconds older than him.”
“Fair enough,” Shane agreed after a moment. “The conversation has to be had if that’s what you want though, not just people assuming. That’s how people get taken for granted—”
“Dude, are you capable of not lecturing?” Trevor drawled. “I’m not your kid. You’re not parent of us. If I was as judgmental and nitpicky as you, I would say it was your lack of friends before mating Colton that is the reason you talk to other adults like that. Have you properly shown him how grateful you are for that, or is it all about you?”
I moved my hand to his shoulder when I saw Shane’s eyes fill with hurt, silently telling Trevor to back off. He nodded he got it, turning and kissing my hand before shifting back and rejoining the others.
“He’s not wrong, but that was harsh because you poked where you shouldn’t,” I gently said to Shane. “I was taken for granted all my life by everyone I ever knew. I wouldn’t ever do that to my mate or even my friends. The games don’t interest me either, even if benign like you play with your mate. If that works for you, awesome. Teach the others if they want, but you’re not the new sexual religion we all have to live by, Shane.”
“I know that,” he muttered, getting to his feet. “I do. I also know I lecture. But I am a dad, and it’s not lack of friends or whatever, it’s just hard to shut off. It’s my job to handle everything, so I tend to. I’m sorry.”
He walked off, his shoulders slumped, and two seconds later Colton was at his side, bumping his leg. They went off to the side of the house, and I didn’t worry about it. His mate would cheer him up.
“Some of us just have the bossy gene,” Kellan defended as he went to launch whatever was next. I nodded I heard him but then groaned when I smelled what Daniel had fried up next. He’d brought some cakes from the cafeteria that weren’t frosted yet so it was sort of like fried cake fritters.
“Shit, can we do this without someone getting dumped or whatever?” Trojan Reed asked with a moan. “All my sweet teeth are happy.”
“Amen, Brother,” Flower Power chuckled, propping his feet up on the table. “Shit, this is like heaven. Drinks, treats, and my mate giving me looks like he’s going to eat me later. Sign me up again and again.”
“Egg rolls next?” Daniel asked, laughing when mates and hounds alike made it clear we were on board with that.
Even better was the distance they got in the launcher. I almost fell over as I watched hounds realize they were too close and trip over each other as they backed up. Several barks came as if telling us to reload, all of us laughing so hard I was worried someone might crash into the fryer since we were also drinking.
A bunch took a break while the next round—chicken tenders this time at Landan’s request—cooked and went over to the beer bowl. It was then I remembered my mate didn’t like beer. I shook off the worry I was referring to him like that as some sort of acceptance or forgiveness, but maybe that wasn’t so bad. Or maybe it was just good for me to friggin’ deal with the fact he was my mate when I’d been worried I’d freak out.
I went back inside and brought out another bowl and some Coke for Trevor, knowing about his addiction. He always seemed like he wanted to hide it as if he was setting a bad example or he acted like a kid when he had pop. Maybe it was because of my health background or working at the clinic? I mean, there was no one who said pop was good for you.
It was just good.
He gave me a lick as a thank you, guessing correctly it was for him. Then he went back by the others, a bounce in his step as if he was happy I thought of him.
After chicken tenders came mozzarella sticks, shrimp, wontons, and corn bread which I would not have thought was as good as it was. Like seriously, yum.
“What are you doing?” Daniel growled at Flower.
“I wanted fried pickles,” he muttered, frowning as he glanced between the man and the fryer.
“You can’t just drop in a whole big dill pickle! You have to cut it up and put batter on it first, idiot.”
“Oh, well, chop, chop,” he giggled, obviously half in the bag.
“I’m gonna chop, chop you,” Daniel warned. “Go get more from the kitchen, you drunk.”
“Yes, darling,” he sang, heading inside and coming back out with a tray about as big as him. I hurried to help, visions of him dumping all the food in my head. “Thanks.”
“No problem, but you’re eating that pickle. Don’t waste food.”
“I’ll try it,” he agreed with a shrug.
We did have pickles, so those went next, then alligator, which was surprisingly good and I couldn’t believe someone finagled. Big batches of hush puppies, calamari, cod, crab cakes, and more shrimp, and I wasn’t the only one who hit their seafood limit. Just to be mean, we did jalapeno poppers and didn’t warn them.
“They have stomachs like iron,” Daniel chuckled when most of the hounds didn’t even flinch. “I think they could eat just about anything and be fine.”
“Must be nice,” Barry grumbled, Daniel bumping his fist as he knew how Barry felt. He didn’t have an intolerance for gluten but lactose and ulcers if I’d heard right.
“We need more fun stuff or I’m going to get fried food overload,” Rafe declared as he brought a massive box of Twinkies to Daniel. “I get called this often enough, I want to try them.”
“Me too and no one’s ever called me that,” I chuckled, giving him a wink.
Unfortunately they were disgustingly good. I mean, we all looked at each other in shock they were so good, and we didn’t want to share with the hounds. Which they were not happy about. Suddenly Castillo appeared with a few huge boxes, rolling his eyes at us.
“Please don’t exclude my mates. It’s why I asked my siblings to take over guard shifts so they could have fun and all the hounds get a day off.”
“They’re really good though,” Rafe defended, handing him one.
Castillo blinked at us after taking a bite. “I would never have guessed these were so good.”
“Right?” Rafe giggled, plopping his butt down on a chair. “Crap, I’m such a lightweight when it’s tequila anything.”
“You’re not the only one,” Kellan agreed… With a hiccup.
“You guys kept taste testing every flavor you made up, so it’s no wonder you’re half in the bag,” I drawled. I glanced out at the hounds. “Okay, we need their mates to tak
e care of the drunks.”
“Hey, I can manage,” Flower defended as he started sliding out of the chair.
I caught him in time, but seconds later Georgi Markova was there to take him from me, getting kisses from his mate for the help.
“You better brush your teeth before kissing me if you ate anything off the ground, Boris Markova,” Qbert warned his mate, sitting happily with his plate of food. “This is really fun though. I think we should do it again also.”
Fried ravioli and zucchini was really good which shocked me, and by then even I was getting full, so Daniel made more for the hounds while we took a break and regrouped on what we wanted next… While drinking too much.
“Hey, the point of this was to try weird stuff, remember?” Barry interrupted. He handed Daniel a big box of frozen White Castle sliders. “This is for Dub, and he likes to try weird stuff.” He looked at me with a big smile. “Tequila’s really good.”
“I just bet,” I chuckled, knowing he was pretty sauced. We tried the sliders, and I shook my head. “I don’t know if this is horrible or genius.” I glanced around and waved Trevor over, tossing it to him. I laughed so hard when he laid down and tucked his head under his paws as if saying no, that was just wrong.
“Yes, yes, I have clams and curly fries for you,” Daniel cooed at the hound I hoped was Hugh, otherwise Hugh would be pissed he was talking to another hound like that.
“Hey, no playing favorites,” Eugene teased his brother-in-law.
“Hey, you glad none of it was burnt?” Daniel threw right back. “You get to drink, so shut it. It’s not safe for me to do it, and I’m a lightweight so everything would be burnt.”
“Thank you for your devotion to fun,” Eugene said, toasting his drink which made others cheer for Daniel as well.
The fried avocado was good, and the cheesecake was awesome. The cookie dough was gross, which was weird because I loved cookie dough and cookies.
“Wait, spit it out,” I gasped as Trevor finished what I didn’t want. He gave me a funny look, and I hurried over to him. “Dogs can’t have chocolate. Spit it out.”