Fangs with a Heart

by Tempeste O'Riley

“But that means Sean is healthy and safe shifting?” Jason asked.

  “Yes. There is no reason we can find not to let him act as a normal, healthy lynx kit.”

  Sean let out a little whoop. “Yay! No more doctors? I get to play with Zeke and the others and be me?”

  “Yes, sweetheart,” Keith said, hugging Sean. “You can go back to just being a normal little kid. No more doctors all the time.”

  Sean wiggled so much Keith ended up putting him down. They all watched as he ran around the room acting like the hyper little kid he was.

  “Is there a way to know for certain if these findings will help other mixed couples?” Duncan asked from the far side of the group. Until he spoke Trace had forgotten he was there.

  “Without test subjects, not really,” Lili replied. “With what you are being a mix of genetic and magic, it’s more than just pure science that has to be taken into account for any research. I’m sorry, sir.”

  “No need for sorrys. We can take the results back to the council as a whole and decide how to go from here. If it proves to help, we might need to find a way to let the wolves know. I know they suffer the same limitation.” Duncan frowned. “We don’t have the best relations with them in most areas. As you and your tribe do here, Alpha Keith, perhaps in time you may again be called upon.”

  Keith looked up from Sean, all smiles. “If that proves to be true for all lynx, I’d be happy to speak to the wolf alpha and let him know so he can try to find out if it is for them as well. The Hunters are good people.”

  BY THE time the meeting broke up, Trace was nearly bouncing out of his fur, and his fur wasn’t even out. He’d asked Duncan to stay behind. Now he awaited Sasha’s return, as Sasha’d chosen to walk the others out of the mansion—Sasha carried a sleeping Sean curled up in his arms.

  “What’s up, Trace?” Duncan asked while they waited. They were sitting in the same area they had been in for the meeting.

  “I’ll explain once Sasha is back. But until then, how are you? I know you need to get back to Toronto and the council lands soon.”

  Duncan nodded, his lips curling up slightly. “I do. It will be good to get back to things, though I will miss you. I’ve not been able to see you as much as I’d hoped while I was here, but keeping Lili on task was too important, and you working things out with your mate was even more so for you.”

  “I am sorry for that. You could have visited. Even though you’re part of the council, Sasha has given you leave to visit anytime I am here. The guards know this. I’ve also spoken to Sloane, my personal guard, so he knows who you are and will never bar you from anywhere I am.” Trace truly missed seeing Duncan all the time, though they did e-mail and visit on the phone often. Ever since he’d moved to Seattle, away from the council lands, he’d seen less and less of his mentor and adoptive father.

  “I know, son. But you needed time with your mate. I can’t tell you how happy I am that you’ve finally claimed him and that things are working out for you. He’ll be a good mate for you, even if he is lacking proper fur.”

  “There’s nothing wrong with my fur. My fated heart just wears it for me, that’s all,” Sasha said from the doorway.

  Trace hopped up and hurried over. “You’re back.”

  Sasha slipped an arm around Trace’s back and pulled him into a hug. “You knew I wouldn’t be gone long. What’s wrong, mal’chik? Why are you so worried?”

  Taking a deep breath, pulling the scent of Sasha into his lungs and holding it there a minute, Trace forced himself to settle and release Sasha. He stepped back and slid his right hand down Sasha’s left arm until he reached his hand, then entwined their fingers. “Come here. With me. Please.”

  Brows scrunched, Sasha nodded slowly and squeezed Trace’s hand once. “Of course, mal’chik.”

  Trace led Sasha over to where Duncan sat, the male watching Trace with wide, concerned eyes. “Trace? Son? What’s going on?”

  Trace stopped in front of Duncan and took a couple of deep breaths. “Um….” He turned to Sasha. “Sir, I’d like you to officially meet my… my real father. The one of my heart.” Trace heard Duncan’s gasp but ignored it, knowing if he didn’t get it all out at once, he wouldn’t get the rest out at all. “Duncan. D-Dad.” Goddess, he’d never called Duncan that outside his own head before. He hoped Duncan was happy with it, but he didn’t look up to meet either male’s gaze. He couldn’t. “I’d like you to meet my mate. Not just my fated mate, but my real mate.”

  Sasha wrapped his arm around Trace’s waist again, holding him tight. “Love you too, mal’chik.”

  Duncan cleared his throat. “Dad?”

  “You’ve been more a father to me, more family to me than any by blood ever were. You call me son, and I know you’ve referred to me as your pseudoadoptive son. So, um, yes. If you please.”

  “Of course I please. Nothing would please me more. Just one question before I can welcome Sasha.”

  “Yes?”

  “Do you love him? Not just did you give him the bite, but did you open your heart to him too?”

  Trace finally looked up, meeting Sasha’s gaze. “Yes, sir. I love him. And I know he loves me. It took nearly losing everything and then some to see what was in front of me, but I do now. And I’m never letting him go again.”

  “Nor am I, mal’chik. Nor am I.”

  Epilogue

  “SO,” LIAM Hunter, the alpha of the local wolf shifter pack, said as he stepped up with two young male wolf shifters in their human skins at his heels. He had others with him, but the others hung back or were part of the security detail. “What is all this about and to what do we owe the… pleasure of the vampire prince’s attention tonight?”

  “For two reasons. First, to formally reintroduce Jason as Jason Tolstoi Skyler and Trace as Trace Tolstoi. Secondly, and more importantly, we are here because we have possibly important information about mating and children for mixed couples,” Keith replied, Jason at his side. Liam’s reaction to Jason no longer being human had been a bit comical—at least in Sasha’s opinion. The double take had been cute; the turning to Sasha and asking if it had been a trade since he’d mated a lynx, not so much. No other comments had been made, though, so Keith pressed on as planned. “Depending on if your wolf-human couples produce shifter or human children, of course.”

  That got Liam’s attention.

  “Excuse me?”

  What got Sasha’s attention was the sudden scent rolling from one of the two males with the alpha. The problem was, Sasha wasn’t certain which one it came from—they were too close together, and both were standing too rigidly to tell which might be reacting to someone. He thought it was the new male, not Caleb Hunter—Liam’s younger son. The problem was, Sasha didn’t know who the other boy was. The pack sometimes took in other pack’s sons to train, which could explain his placement at the alpha son’s side. He hoped it was that and not that the male was supposed to be something important to Caleb. Of course, he’d heard Caleb was straight, so that ought to mean there was no possibility of anything between the two. He hoped he remembered right.

  The two alphas continued to discuss the news about how to possibly help mixed couples, which Sasha was honestly happy for them over, though it had nothing to do with him. Early on Sasha noted Liam’s nostrils flare and concern flit across his face for a moment but he quickly schooled his face and continued with the discussion, not missing a beat. Sasha however, scanned the group gathered, hoping to find who the match to the wolf might be, but couldn’t place the mate. Lynx didn’t give off the same mating scent to call their mate that wolves did. And whoever it was did a bang-up job of not letting anything show. Dammit!

  So one of the young male wolf shifters and he presumed one of the lynx shifters, as he didn’t think it could be one of his vampires. Fated hearts were so rare, and with him having found his, he wouldn’t have believed another close to him would be so blessed so quickly. He could but hope, though.

  “What about the vampires? What are the
y doing here?” Liam asked, drawing Sasha’s attention back to the conversation.

  “Which ones?” Keith asked, his tone hard.

  “Prince Sasha of the Konstantin Coven, not your mate. We have no issue with Jason being here. He may have fangs and strange eating habits now, but he’s still viewed as a lynx, just as he was when human.”

  “And he is, thank you. As for Prince Sasha, he is here because it was partly through his help we discovered the information about how to help our mixed couples as we just relayed to you. Also, he’s Jason’s brother.”

  Sasha stepped forward. “Besides, with all the extra vampires in the area, thanks to Trace’s and my bonding ritual tomorrow, it’s also for your protection and safety that we are here. Our visitors are all bound by my rules and laws, but just to keep them honest, I felt it best to accompany my family here. Besides, Trace is going to explode if I don’t let him share our news with the tribe soon, so we had to come to where they would be.”

  Liam frowned. “You think we can’t protect ourselves from your kind?”

  “I believe that you ought not to have to, Alpha. They are here in my territory because of the bonding ceremony tomorrow. But that means we all have to deal with the influx of outsiders. I have excellent guards and warriors, but most covens are not like mine, as we all know. It is no slight to you that I wish to make sure that my visitors behave, good wolf.”

  “And with both alphas in one spot, some might be tempted to take advantage,” Keith added.

  “Exactly.”

  “That’s all f-fine and dandy,” Jason interrupted. “What I want to know is what’s Trace’s news. Sasha said there was something and Trace is nearly b-bouncing.”

  Trace laughed lightly. “Let’s make sure Alpha Keith is ready for us to move to the announcement portion of the evening and then I will tell you our news.”

  “As I’m going to have our pack healer get with the doctors that have been working on the children issues for the tribe, I’m interested now in your news. Since we have a pact with your coven—and we recognize you, Trace, as being a part of both the tribe and the coven, so don’t even go there, boy—any big news of yours might be important for us to know as well.”

  “That was actually why we wanted to wait until tonight to share, so both tribe and pack could be told together.”

  “So, out with it, Trace,” Keith rumbled, his brows rising as he smirked down at Trace, his arms folded across his chest. Liam mimicked his stance—Sasha wondered if they realized they matched as they stared down at Trace.

  Trace beamed as he pressed against Sasha’s side. Sasha slipped an arm around Trace’s waist, but couldn’t give him more physical shelter, as Trace was taller—dammit. “Jason, Keith, you know how some within the coven have been pushing for Sasha to have an heir, and how some outside the area have been grumbling about Sasha taking a male for a consort for that very reason? Or that’s been one of the excuses, at least.”

  “Y-yes, of course.” Jason stepped closer, his face darkening. “That’s why you chose a s-surrogate finally, though I still don’t like that others believe it’s their place to butt into your lives like that.”

  “Jason, hon, it’s okay. You know I want children. I just wanted to have them once I’d found a partner so any child I had could be raised like I was, as a child of love, not merely as an heir with duty and obligation as my only function.”

  “Exactly. That’s the way to do things.”

  “I know. Relax.”

  “But what has that to do with things? You chose the surrogate. Surely that appeased them.”

  Trace sighed loudly and mock glared at Jason. “The news is that—” Trace’s expression flipped from scowl to brightest grin, his voice rising slightly as he continued. “—Dr. Niko confirmed that she is with child, Jason. Sasha will finally have the heir the coven is so worried about him having, and we will have our first child to spoil and teach and love.”

  Before he registered the movement, Sasha found himself scooped up in Jason’s arms. “That’s wonderful! I’m so happy for you, hon. I can’t believe you’re going to be a daddy!” Jason hugged him tight.

  Sasha laughed, returning the embrace. “We will be fathers. The child is Trace’s child as much as he or she is mine. The fact I own a hospital and keep in touch with human science and insist my personal physician is so well trained is no coincidence.” He winked. “The child will be ours, in both heart and genetics, and you and Keith will be uncles. Again.”

  Jason let out a whoop, and everyone laughed as Sasha wrapped his arms around Trace, happier than he thought he could or would ever be.

  “I love you, mal’chik,” he whispered.

  “And I you,” Trace replied.

  More from Tempeste O’Riley

  Chain of Fate: Book One

  Jason Grant runs his own IT business from home, owns his own home, and has the best friend he could imagine. What he doesn’t have, or believe he will ever have, is love. When Jason catches a glimpse of his new neighbor on moving day, his libido ignites and his fascination in piqued. He even manages to concoct an excuse to go over and meet the man who makes him hope and want for more than he has in years.

  Keith Skyler is a shifter in a world where his kind is known only to a few, but they don’t often mix and they never mate. Keith has been hoping for a mate since before he can remember, but gay lynx don’t have true mates. As far as he knows, they don’t have mates at all. However, while moving his little family across Seattle—and away from their tribe—his reality tips and spins more than he thought possible.

  When these two men meet over a dish of five-cheese broccoli-noodle casserole, sparks fly. Who knew a welcome-to-the-neighborhood gift could give both of them their chance at love?

  Kaden Thorn, a dental surgeon who lives a quiet life, has no hope of finding the love he craves. A vicious gay bashing cost him the use of his legs and confined him to a wheelchair. He has given up hope of finding a Dom or even a nonkink partner to love him. When his best friend practically forces him to attend a dinner party, the last thing he expects is a strong Dom who can see beyond his wheels.

  Deacon James is an architect and a demanding Dom, but he has spent the past couple of years without a sub or partner. When an employee invites him to a dinner party to meet his girlfriend, Deacon smells a setup but agrees anyway. He prides himself on being an excellent judge of character, and when he meets the younger dentist, he sees past the chair and finds a sweet submissive man who more than piques his interest.

  Kade’s fears and demons continue to haunt him, challenging Deacon to use everything he’s learned as a Dom to earn Kade’s trust and submission. Deacon’s determined, though, willing to battle all of it to have Kade by his side and at his feet.

  Liam Grady is the owner of the Feathered Quill, a quirky little bookstore in Asheville, and—though he doesn’t realize it yet—a dream walker. His last relationship failed almost a year ago, and he’s not had the interest or nerve to pursue anyone he’s met since.

  Cameron Danu is a tattoo artist from rural Georgia. Cameron is left without a job after his boss, José, is forced to close the shop after a heart attack. When Cameron learns José has set up an interview for him at a small tattoo parlor in Asheville, he hopes for a fresh start in a new town.

  Fate brings Cameron and Liam together, and they realize they’ve met before—in their dreams. A chance encounter and a winged tattoo might lead them to their destiny—if fear doesn’t turn their dreams into a nightmare.

  Desires Entwined: Book One

  Artist James Bryant has forearm crutches in every color from rainbow for fun to sleek black for business. He even has a pair with more paint splatters than metal. After his family’s rejection and abuse from a man he thought loved him, James only just gets through the day by painting. He lives in constant fear that he’s not worthy of anything, let alone love.

  As CEO of his company, Carrington Enterprises, Seth Burns is a take-charge kind of guy, and he is instantly s
mitten by the artist helping with his newest project. When he witnesses James suffer a panic attack, a protective instinct he never knew he had kicks in. He truly believes nothing is unobtainable—including James—if he’s willing to put in the time and effort.

  James is shy and confused by Seth’s interest in him as a person. With Seth’s support, can he work through his fears to finally find the true love he deserves, or will someone finally land the crushing blow he won’t survive?

  A Spin-off of Designs of Desire

  Desires Entwined: Book 1.75

  Despite his past abuse, James has come to terms with his relationship with his Dom and lover Seth. Seth treats James with all the trust and love his sub desires. There is only one thing left to do to make it all complete: Seth needs to put a collar on James.

  Readers love Whiskers of a Chance by Tempeste O’Riley

  “Whiskers of a Chance was a cute story that incorporated a few different tropes that I enjoy, melded together seamlessly.”

  —Joyfully Jay

  “Okay, let me just say that Tempeste O’Riley has done it yet again. I really enjoyed this book.”

  —Love Bytes

  “The characters were complex, enjoyable and relatable—the sex was hot—the attraction and tension between Keith and Jason was palpable—and overall it was a lot of fun.”

  —MM Good Book Reviews

  “A thoroughly entertaining love story—Whiskers of a Chance gives Keith and Jason the chance of a lifetime. An excellent adventure.”

  —Joyfully Reviewed

  TEMPESTE O’RILEY is an out-and-proud pansexual genderfluid person whose best friend growing up had the courage to do what they couldn’t—defy the hate and come out. He has been their hero ever since.