The Coolest Prince of Cats [Milson Valley 3] (Siren Publishing Classic ManLove)

by Jo Penn

  And he had the opportunity to enjoy life once more with a creature that piqued more than just Chane’s interest, but rather spoke to him on so many different levels. He very much wished to know everything about Dominic and wanted to be close, physically and mentally. As for the annoyance, well, of course there would be some when life suddenly changed and you were left scrambling to catch up! He wasn’t annoyed at the tiger, nor himself.

  “I want to scrub your back, mate.” The tiger wiggled his brows. “And stroke your front. Why do you smell annoyed?”

  “This mating be…adjusting.” Chane let go of his annoyance, sitting up and grimacing at the wet stickiness over his stomach and groin.

  “Adjusting? Huh? Oh! An adjustment? Yeah, sure, mateship always is. We’re fortunate though, Chane, not all paranormals find their mate, or mates, as is the case for my kind—”

  “What?!” Chane lurched off the shifter’s lap, leaping back a foot and forgetting about the sticky wet mess down his front. “Mates?”

  “Okay, let’s just settle down.” The tiger was up, hands up in a supplicating gesture and watching Chane with wariness and lust. “Honey, let’s not get ahead of ourselves—”

  “You tell moi moment!” Chane hissed, jerking a finger at the shifter in agitation.

  His mind was racing. Mates? No, no, definitely not! He did not enjoy multiple partners and was not interested in changing his beliefs and ways.

  “What? Honey bun, we really need to get you some English lessons.” Dominic smiled and put his soothing gift to use.

  Chane snarled, fangs descending, and with a little push of his own gift and a twist, he turned it on his mate and sent the tiger hurtling back onto the sofa, gasping and grasping his chest. Stalking the surprised man, he got close, looming over him. He placed his face only an inch from his mate’s.

  “Let me be clear, Dominic Sanchez. I do not have more than one mate. I will not accept more than one mate. If there is another out there because you are a feline, I will be gone,” he snapped out concisely in French.

  Not awaiting a response, beyond annoyed, Chane turned and was gone from the room swiftly.

  * * * *

  “What do you mean he’s not in the palace? Where the hell is he?” Dominic growled, frustrated as hell. “And where is Archie? Did they take off?”

  Drake watched his brother prowl the security room and rant at their cousin, Baron. Dom usually wasn’t one for losing his cool, he had patience, that soothing gift and had a more collaborative nature. It took a lot to get him to this stage and Drake could well understand why his littermate had reached it. Drake would be the same if either of his mates disappeared.

  In fact, one once had. His little human mate had suffered moments of insecurity and took off when they had just found each other. Fortunately, Drake and his other mate, Xavier, managed to track Keeley and bring him home, so Drake knew what Dom was feeling right now, though not what caused the vampire to take off.

  “No, Archie is with Sebastian at the clinic.” Baron was looking at Dom with a mix of exasperation and wariness. Baron didn’t do well with panicking creatures. He tended to just swat them until they shut the hell up.

  “Brother, why do you think Chane has disappeared?” Drake asked.

  Dom turned on him, snarling. “Because I can’t find him! What the hell? Are you going to help me find my mate or just waste my time?”

  Drake stood and clasped a hand on his brother’s shoulder and squeezed. Tight.

  “Calm the fuck down. We’ll find your mate and lock him down with bodyguards. He won’t be going anywhere without security knowing from now on. First, I want to know what caused this. Did he not want to mate? Has he gone to try to fight his ex again? Or—”

  “Not his ex,” Dom mumbled, pulling at his hair with both hands. “An obsessed, psycho maniac.”

  “Okay, we can go with that. What triggered this, Dom?” Baron asked firmly.

  Wincing, Dom dropped his hands. “I mentioned felines often have two mates. I had no idea he didn’t know! He’s five hundred years old. Why would I think he didn’t know about other creatures?”

  “That freaked him out?” Baron asked quietly, frowning deeply. “Having two mates? I’m surprised. He’s a paranormal. He knows how important mates are, the feelings associated. What’d he say?”

  “That he’d be gone if there were another mate.” Dom sighed. “I don’t get it. I realize that some people are not keen at first on having two mates, but we’re paranormals…”

  “And you did not have the chance to let him know he is your one and only,” Drake said sympathetically.

  “No. He was a little annoyed before I even got to say that, not really at me by the feel, just the suddenness of the situation. When I said mates, Chane was a tad pissy and used his gift against me. Shit. I should have been more diplomatic. Too much has been thrown at him at once.” Dom began pacing. “He must be here somewhere. I have to get to him before his energy runs out again. I read the reports. If he isn’t monitored and doesn’t stay on his meds, he’ll collapse, and could lapse into a coma.”

  “We’re not going to let that happen. The soldiers have tracked your mate. Let’s go collect him and you can let him know he’ll be the center of your world,” Baron said a little sarcastically.

  Drake growled at his cousin. “Not helping, cuz.”

  Not all felines had two mates, either because they never found both mates, or it wasn’t their destiny to. Alpha Urian of the Starters wolf pack was mated to Finn, a seer, and a short time ago Finn had a vision Dom would meet his mate. When it was Drake who very soon after the vision met his mates—Xavier and then Keeley—they figured Finn mixed up which of them was in his vision. They went to see the Alpha-mate, and Finn just smiled, saying Dom would find his mate soon. Finn also mentioned this one would be Dom’s only mate, the same as Emile.

  That had caused a bit of a shit storm, and Finn had been alarmed, but after they talked and calmed down, Dom took it well. For a while, he hadn’t even wanted a mate, and then to be told he’d only have one, well, that changed everything. Drake knew his brother would do all he could to make his vampire happy. And Dom was more of a one-person-at-a-time type anyway. Quality over quantity, was Dominic’s motto.

  Fortunately, Drake had received two quality mates.

  The brothers had been more concerned over Emile. They could only hope their littermate received a mate who was big and strong enough mentally and physically to gain and keep their brother’s attention. Two mates would have been better, so they thought, but Finn said that was not going to happen, not now, and Drake and Dom knew immediately that one of Emile’s mates had died.

  Baron shrugged. “Fine, fine, but we’re keeping guards on this mate of yours, Dominic. Come on, he’s out in the garden. Apparently he’s studying all the plants.”

  Chane was indeed in the palace gardens, and Drake could see the man’s appeal. Not that Drake was interested—he had his own mates and couldn’t be happier—he just noticed Chane was hot and had a sensuality that must draw a lot of attention. It wasn’t a leap to see someone becoming obsessed. The creature was a vampire and those creatures had an allure that caught others’ attention. Drake had a vampire mate and had been fortunate that his was affectionate, though PDA wasn’t Xavier’s thing.

  Chane rose as Dominic rushed to him, those exotic eyes blank of emotion. Dominic went to hug his mate, but then frowned and dropped his hands.

  “Where did you get those clothes?”

  “From suite. While you pace and see family.”

  Dominic gaped. “What? You just strolled back in—”

  “This no important.” Chane cut Dominic off with a wave of his slender hand and mangled English. “I shock, mayhap under react. Mate be important and I remind this fact of feline shifter had more than one mate.”

  Baron gave a strangled noise and coughed to cover his laugh. Drake turned to his cousin to hide his smile. He was liking his brother’s mate. Chane would keep Dominic ver
y busy, too busy for some of his wilder escapades that ended up with him in trouble. And his English was atrocious, but funny as hell.

  Dom breathed out a sigh of relief. “Overreact, honey—”

  “You non call me honey bun!” Chane said testily.

  “Okay, okay!” Dominic grinned and grabbed his mate, sniffing deep. “Baby, it’s just you and me. Always. There won’t be any other mate for either of us, and I feel like the luckiest son of a cat to be fated you.”

  Drake sniffed the air. Baron frowned and looked around, but it was Chane’s reaction that put them all on alert. The vampire spun Dominic around and with a very impressive move, had Dom falling backward just as there was a rush of air, a slight displacement, and a very faint sound. Both Drake and Baron moved at the same time, Drake pulling Dom the rest of the way down to the ground while reaching out, snagging Chane’s wrist, and tossing the vampire backward a foot where he struck the ground, hard, unfortunately.

  Baron’s body jerked. He stumbled, then fell. Dom stilled, shocked, then pushed Drake off him, and crawled over to Chane. Drake scouted along on his stomach to Baron. He could smell blood.

  “You okay?” Drake was scanning the surroundings but couldn’t see anyone. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and put it to his ear and put the order through. “Pull the alarm.”

  “Fine, just winged me. Let’s get these two inside—Shit!”

  There was another shot, a soldier rushing toward them went down. The next shot landed in the soil beside Dom, who had scooped Chane up and was running back to the palace. Drake and Baron gave chase, flanking Dominic and shielding him. As soon as they were inside, Linc came rushing over, but Baron shooed him. Baron quickly headed to the security room to orchestrate the soldiers.

  Knowing his cousin was merely grazed, Drake snagged Linc and dragged him along to the lounge where Dom laid an unconscious Chane on a sofa. The fall had been hard and knocked the vampire out, and it seemed his natural healing wasn’t kicking in again.

  “Sorry, brother.” Drake felt like shit. “I was trying to get him down and out of the way—”

  “Don’t worry. I know. I need to take him upstairs and get the medicines into him. Thank you, Drake, for protecting us. Thank Baron for me also.”

  Drake watched his brothers go. They needed to find the son of a bastard who had dared attack his family.

  * * * *

  Linc checked Chane over once Dominic returned his mate to their suite. The medic gave Chane the medicines and said he had a contusion on the back of his head and a concussion. Both would go in time, but for now, Chane would need to be kept awake for a few hours and would require rest and quiet. Dominic made them comfortable in his bedroom, Drake joining them half an hour later to provide an update. When Chane woke, Drake went to fetch tea and something light to eat. Chane was a little annoyed at Drake about pushing him and causing the concussion and ended up snapping a few times before taking out a book and quietly reading.

  Right, his mate was being pissy, fine, as long as he was okay. Though he was concerned this Carlo was so fixated on Chane that he would attempt to kill Dominic and then try to abduct his ex-boyfriend. Avenger Vicus was lethal. He would find the vampire, when, though, was the concern. Dominic would really like to get his claws into the little bastard.

  He would obviously require a different tactic with his mate right now though.

  “What were you reading?”

  Chane studied Dominic a moment, quietly, studiously, before seeming to lose some tension. It had been a long day for both of them, and perhaps now they should just spend some quality time together and get to know one another. Honestly, the rollercoaster ride they’d been on since Dominic had found Chane on the road being attacked by Sandstone was wearing a bit thin.

  Chane picked up the book he had been reading. He held it up briefly before opening it.

  “Shakespeare. As You Like It. I despise Shakespeare.”

  Dominic blinked. “Oh, ah…”

  “Enjoy, you enjoy Shakespeare,” Drake said.

  “I say this.”

  “No, no, you really didn’t,” Drake retorted cheerfully.

  His brother was lying on the chaise by the fire and resting. He refused to leave the room, then rolled over, and pretended to be asleep again. Chane glared at Drake a moment, though it was without heat, rather as though he were trying to figure something out.

  “Okay, I like Shakespeare. A Winter’s Tale.”

  “Je despise this.”

  Again, Dominic wasn’t sure if Chane meant that or not, so he decided to leave it be and ignored Drake’s quiet chuckle. He tried another tactic.

  “So, you’ve been traveling the last year?”

  “For eighteen years, moi.”

  “Months. Eighteen months,” Drake murmured.

  “I say this.”

  “No, no, you really didn’t.”

  “English excellent.”

  “Yeah, so, you enjoy traveling?” Dominic decided to cut in before the conversation digressed out of his control again.

  “Hmm? Oh, oui, much so.” Chane smiled. “I go many place, I see most different thing. I travel more, see more. D-do you travel?”

  Wow, when his mate smiled like that, genuine, soft, Dominic would pretty much give up his entire world to keep the man happy. But, man, Drake was right. Chane’s English was not excellent.

  “Yeah, I travel a lot, with work and for pleasure. We’ll go together from now on, do a few trips. Where have you been?”

  It took a bit of work to get his mate talking, and there was the language barrier, but once Dominic figured out it was easier to speak French, Italian, Korean, Chinese, or Russian, the language issue dropped aside as his mate was fluent in five languages and still learning English. Once they fell into the groove of talking, it was like they had spent years together.

  And Chane came alive. Where before he seemed cool, a little reserved, except for the few moments of prissiness, now he relaxed and even moved closer on the bed and was animated in telling of his travel adventures and his life in France, of a little apartment he’d lived in one hundred and fifty years ago when wishing to be independent of the coven, and how he ended up returning in defeat when he couldn’t figure out how to get the heating to work, that the landlady was forever trying to feed him, and the water pipes kept breaking.

  He listened and laughed, talked, and lightly touched Dom’s chest.

  “I’m sorry about Carlo. We were together a few years, and I am ashamed to say I never saw this side of him,” Chane said quietly in French. “It was by chance I realized he was very different from what he projected to me.”

  Dominic barely, just barely, held his growl in. “You are not responsible for what Sandstone has done, or may do. He is a threat to you, Chane. Were there any instances in the past, anything you felt was peculiar, inappropriate?”

  “Non, this behavior— What be word? Strange?”

  “Hmm. Tell me about you. What do you do for the coven?”

  Smiling, Chane lay down beside Dominic, though left a good amount of space between them, covering a yawn and closing his beautiful eyes.

  “Nothing. I retired a few years ago.”

  “Oh? Saved all your money for retirement, did you?” Dom teased, amused he had an older mate.

  The vampire laughed. “Non, non, I am not the best at budgeting. I saved a little, but Carlo is younger—” He sighed and shrugged helplessly. “This does not make sense.”

  No, to Chane, his ex’s behavior would make absolutely no sense. Dominic began telling Chane about his work, how he mediated between parties to find a collaborative solution, how he guided and matched orphans, that he was a diplomat, and on the councils, and how he loved water sports, mountain climbing, and going out with friends and family. He could clearly see Chane was tired, his body healing slowly, but the vamp was interested and engaged Dominic, even touched him, stroking Dominic’s chest and stomach.

  Their connection was strong and growing stron
ger. He saw that Chane was very open and truthful, that he had been prepared for demise and that his brother’s and friends’ safety from the threat of Sandstone had driven him from his nest, as it were, where he wished to just let nature take its course.

  It was an adjustment, but with fated mates, the pull and connection was quick and forever.

  “I be…happy to lost you, tiger.”

  Frowning, Dominic continued to stroke his mate’s silky black hair. He smiled, purred, and rubbed his face against Chane’s head.

  “Find me, mate?”

  “I say this,” Chane murmured tiredly, voice soft with sleep.

  “Of course you did, beautiful.” Dom smiled, watching his mate fall asleep.

  It didn’t take long, the vampire succumbing quickly and going under deeply, not disturbed by Dom touching his arms and face, or the bed moving as Dom shifted closer.

  Drake rose and walked over to the bed, looking down at them. “I like him.”

  “Hmm, I’m in love with him already.”

  It was true. Within a few short hours of meeting his mate, being close and connecting, and then just lying on his bed talking, Dominic had fallen hard and fast for his vampire mate. The creature was a touch dramatic at times, wasn’t afraid to laugh at his own follies, gladly admitted what he couldn’t do and wasn’t good at, and it sounded like he had made the most of his life, enjoying it to the fullest in his way.

  Chane was quite amazing, and Dominic couldn’t wait to discover more of his mate as their time together grew.

  “This ex feels the same way. And he made it clear if he couldn’t have your mate, no one could.”

  Dom snarled in displeasure and rage. “I will hunt him down.”