Luckily, Keeton had an affinity for such things as well, so no one had ever batted a lash at the things he liked. He’d been trying to keep things very casual with Demitrius, however, and now, he honestly didn’t know what to do. How would his mate react to the things Oscar found appealing?
“Be yourself,” Keeton said as though he’d been reading his mind. “I learned that the hard way, so believe me when I say it. He’s gotta like you for you, not for who you pretend to be.”
“What if he doesn’t, though? I mean, what if he doesn’t like the normal me?”
So far, he hadn’t hidden much from Demitrius, and the guy had yet to complain. This was a bit different, though. Demitrius Accola was the epitome of masculinity, and Oscar was more than a little nervous about what the man would have to say if he showed up with eyeliner and nail polish.
“Then tell him to fuck off,” Zavion answered with a shrug. “Demitrius is freakin’ cool. Plus, he kind of adores you. I don’t think he’d care if you showed up with a clown nose. If he does, though, well, what do you want an asshole like that for, anyway?”
Oscar didn’t think it was quite that cut and dry, but he supposed the guy had a point. He couldn’t spend his entire life being what he thought Demitrius wanted. The topic had never come up in their conversations, so he really didn’t know how the guy would react. It was a bit shitty of him to play the whole thing out and decide how it would end without even letting his mate in on the fact that there was an issue.
“Okay, let’s do it.”
An hour later, Oscar was dressed in a pair of jeans so tight, he was pretty sure his balls were going to suffer permanent damage. The skintight shirt he wore was a gorgeous pastel green, but it was made of such thin material that it was see-through, clearly showing off his erect nipples.
Keeton had insisted on giving him a facial, buffing his skin until it practically glowed. His wild curls had been trimmed, styled, and now had streaks of copper mixed with the auburn locks. Some mascara, a bit of eyeliner, a smidge of lip gloss, and a full manicure—complete with neon green nail polish—finished off his new look, and Oscar couldn’t have been more pleased with what he saw in the mirror.
“Wow, you’re fucking hot,” Zuriel exclaimed as he bounced on his toes. “Me next!”
“You are definitely in good hands.” Turning to Keeton, Oscar pulled the guy into a crushing hug and planted a smacking kiss on his cheek. “Thank you.”
“You’re going to knock his socks off, Oscar.” Keeton smirked as he wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. “I want full details.”
“Awesome. Wish me luck!”
“Whoa, hold up, Oscar.” Braxton placed a hand on his shoulder to stop him when he started walking toward the door. “Where are you going?”
“To see Demitrius. That was kind of the point of all of this.” He held his hands out to the side and twirled in a circle.
“He’ll be here in a couple of hours. Can’t you just wait?”
“No.” Crossing his arms over his chest, Oscar took up a defensive posture and frowned. It was nice to have friends who cared about him, and he appreciated Braxton’s protective attitude, but he wasn’t a child.
Braxton looked like he would argue further, but a quick glance at Keeton had him sighing in resignation. “It stopped snowing, but at least change into some boots and grab your coat.”
Deciding it was solid advice, Oscar darted down the hall to his room, pulled his snow boots on, and hustled back before anyone had time to come up with a good reason to stop him. “I’ll be back,” he said a bit breathlessly as he waved to his friends.
“Get your coat!” Braxton ordered.
“Yes, Dad,” Oscar groused with a roll of his eyes. Reaching for his puffy coat that hung on a hook just beside the front door, he paused with his hand still outstretched and examined the green polish that adorned his nails.
“No, sir,” Keeton said firmly, grabbing Oscar’s coat and holding it up for him to slip his arms through. “If he doesn’t think you are the sexiest thing on two legs, he’s a damn fool.” Leaning closer, he lowered his voice and whispered into Oscar’s ear. “Red and gray, yes. There was also a whole lot of very warm purplish blue in your mate’s aura. Demitrius is crazy about you, honey.”
Armed with the encouraging information, Oscar zipped up his coat, smiled at his friends, and slipped out the door before he could second-guess himself again. His outward appearance wasn’t as important as what was on the inside, but he definitely couldn’t wait to see Demitrius’s reaction when he walked through his mate’s door.
Chapter Eight
Demitrius grumbled under his breath the entire way to his little cabin near the back of the property. Going to the main house had been a spur-of-the-moment decision, but he was glad he made the trek. Though the sun was still up, the mansion had been buzzing with activity. Twenty-two new paranormals had been brought in, all malnourished, naked or nearly so, and frightened of their own shadows.
It had taken months for the Enforcers to locate the coven in the nearby mountains that they’d been searching for, since the vampires were continuously moving to throw them off the trail. In the end, Bannon Murphy had come through, though, and a lot of people had been saved. It was a day of victory, and Demitrius was happy to have been even a small part of it.
He wasn’t nearly as happy about the damn snow, though. Gods, he hated the crap. Seeing Xander standing on his front steps with his arms crossed over his broad chest didn’t really give him the warm tingles, either. The guy looked like he had something on his mind, and judging by his body language, Demitrius wasn’t going to like what he had to say.
“Why the fuck do you live all the way back here by yourself?”
Well, that certainly wasn’t what he expected. “I like the privacy.”
“Bullshit,” Xander replied at once. “I didn’t even know there were cabins this far back here.”
It really wasn’t that far from the dorms where Oscar stayed. Xander made it sound like Demitrius lived on another planet or something. The reality was that his home was barely a quarter mile from the dorms, though it was on “vampire” lands rather than the new acreage purchased for the shifters. It just happened to back up to the forests.
“What do you want, Brighton?” If the guy was there to give him shit about Oscar, he could take his concerns and shove them right up his sanctimonious ass.
Surprisingly, Xander sighed and relaxed his aggressive posture. “Braxton called. I’m sure you can guess why.”
Yeah, he knew why. Gossip had spread like wildfire about his mating to Oscar in the last couple of weeks. He was honestly surprised that it had taken the alpha so long to come speak to him about it. While most were happy for him and his mate, there were still some who were frightened for Oscar’s well-being. Apparently, Braxton was one of those people. It hurt a little, because he’d thought he got along okay with the little twerp, but he supposed he should have known better.
On the other hand, he did like knowing that Oscar had someone so protective of him, someone other than Demitrius to look out for his best interests. The connection between them was too strong for him to see things objectively, but if he was causing Oscar more harm than good, he hoped someone would be brave enough to point it out to him.
Xander arched an eyebrow at him and smirked as if he knew exactly what was running through Demitrius’s head. “Look, I’m not here to bust your balls. However, when my mate says jump, I ask how high, how far, and how many times. So, let’s pretend that I gave you the big brother spiel, you told me to fuck off, and everyone lived happily ever after.”
“You tell me that you’ll feed me my sac if I hurt Oscar. I tell you my intentions are honorable. You don’t believe me. I don’t care. Is that kind of what you’re looking for?”
Xander bobbed his head a couple of times while he chuckled under his breath. “If you didn’t go out of your way to be such a dick, people might actually like you.”
“I seriously doubt
it. Are we done here?” He knew what the majority of people thought of him, knew that despite Xander’s words, the shifter had warned his pack to be on guard because Demitrius was dangerous. It wasn’t anything new, but he wouldn’t have someone stand on the steps of his home and lie to his face.
He got along well with the Enforcers. Stavion respected him. Oscar’s friends were very much in favor of him hanging around all the time. So far, Oscar had shown no signs that he wasn’t perfectly happy sharing Demitrius’s bed, and Demitrius really didn’t give a flying fuck what the rest of the coven thought of him.
“Yeah, we’re done, but only because you have company.”
“I don’t…” Demitrius trailed off when he heard the crunch of snow coming from the distance. “Oscar.” He should have known that the guy wouldn’t stay safely inside his dorm like Demitrius had ordered. There was a flicker of fire in his eyes that proclaimed him a fighter, and more than once Demitrius had been on the receiving end of the man’s stubbornness.
“I didn’t come here to be a fucking babysitter,” Xander continued. “Oscar is grown, and he knows his own mind. If anything were to happen to him, though, Braxton would be very unhappy. When Braxton is unhappy, I end up sleeping on the couch. Do you see where I’m going with this?”
“Don’t worry. I’m not going to eat him. He’s too thin. Probably be chewy.” Demitrius backed away a couple of steps, barely resisting the urge to turn and run to his mate.
“Let’s just address the elephant in the room right now.” Xander descended the stairs to face Demitrius head-on. Standing that close, there wasn’t much of a height difference between them, but Demitrius was definitely the wider of the two. “Yes, I told Braxton to keep his distance and that you could be dangerous. I tell him that about everyone until I get to know them. He’s my whole world, and I won’t apologize for protecting him.”
“And you shouldn’t have to.”
The explanation didn’t exactly appease him, but he did understand Xander’s position. Not only did he have his mate to worry about but an entire pack that looked to him to make the tough decisions. Now that he had a mate of his own, Demitrius could respect the guy’s suspicious nature. He’d just ignorantly thought that after nearly two months of working together, the alpha might trust him just a little.
“Go get him before he ends up burying himself in all of this damn snow.” Xander wrinkled his nose as he stared down at the ground. “This is unnatural.”
“You’ll get no argument from me.” Demitrius hated the shit.
Shaking his head as though clearing it of unwanted thoughts, Xander rested his hands on his hips and stared out toward the direction of the new property. “I’ll bring the rest of the guys to the dorms before sundown, but I’d appreciate it if you could stick around to keep an eye on things tonight. I don’t like leaving Braxton and Keeton alone while we hunt.”
“If you take the twins and Cicero, I’ll stick around the dorms with Oscar, Braxton, and Keeton.” Oscar was too small in shifted form to be out in the knee-high snow anyway, so hopefully, he wouldn’t put up a fight about running around the common room instead of roaming the woods.
“Do you have any idea what kind of shifter Cicero is?”
Demitrius opened his mouth to respond, but closed it just as quickly and frowned. “Actually, no. He doesn’t talk when I’m around.”
“He doesn’t talk at all,” Xander corrected. “I’ll definitely keep an eye on the twins, but maybe you could ask your mate about Cicero. It might be a good idea to keep him at the dorms tonight as well if he’s a small shifter.”
“Right. Got it.”
“I really do appreciate it, man.” Xander clapped him on the shoulder, giving him a little push. “I’ll let Braxton know that everything is on the up and up.”
“Right,” Demitrius repeated as he glanced over his shoulder. He couldn’t see Oscar, but he knew the guy was there, and it was killing him to be so far away.
“Go get him,” Xander said with a chuckle, giving him another shove to get him going. “I’ll see you at the dorms tonight.”
Dipping his head once, he turned on his heels and jogged back toward the dorms, though fighting the packed snow wasn’t an easy task.
“Oscar!” He wasn’t sure what prompted him to yell the man’s name like some bad eighties movie other than the fact that he wanted his lover to know he was on his way. He could feel Oscar’s frustration, laced with just a hint of fear, and he wanted him to know that he wasn’t alone.
“Demitrius? Crap, am I glad you’re here. I’m stuck.”
Cresting a small incline, Demitrius couldn’t stop himself from smiling when he spotted his mate struggling to walk but repeatedly falling like a drunken hobo. “Just be still. You’re only making it worse.”
“Gee, I would have never guessed,” Oscar shot back sarcastically, clearly irritated by his lack of progress. He did stop moving, though, fisting his hands on his hips and huffing indignantly. “Well, are you going to help me or just stand there and laugh?”
Reaching Oscar in just a few strides, Demitrius lifted him easily, swinging the man around so that he clung to his back like a monkey. “What the hell are you doing out here? Didn’t I already save your ass once today?”
It was a bit of an exaggeration. He’d simply dug the guy out of the snow near the front porch of the cabin where he’d been attempting to make his first snow angel. He had, however, told him to stay put until he could return at sundown.
“Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize there was a limit. Is there a point system? Do they roll over into next week? Is there a rescue fee if I go over my minutes?”
Biting the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing, Demitrius pulled Oscar’s legs tighter around his midsection and held him in place as he started the trek back home. His mate was spitting mad, and Demitrius didn’t have a clue what to do about it. He thought it was pretty damn cute, though.
“You never answered my question. What are you doing out here? I thought I told you to stay inside until I got back.”
“I did for a while, and just for the record, you’re not my mom.” Oscar paused for a moment and his arms tightened around Demitrius’s neck. “I have a surprise for you.”
“Oh, is that right?” It had to be a pretty damn big one for Oscar to brave the foot of snow on the ground to come see him. Demitrius hoped it involved them both naked, but he seriously doubted he was that lucky. “Nice coat, by the way.” It wasn’t really flattering on Oscar’s small frame, but he supposed it was functional.
“Well, it completely swallows me, and it’s black.”
The first part of that sentence made sense, but Demitrius didn’t know what the hell the color of the coat had to do with anything. “Why does it matter what color it is?”
“Black is boring.” That was all Oscar said, and a wave of unease wafted off of him. It was damn strange to be able to feel someone else’s emotions, but Demitrius wasn’t complaining. The connection could mean the difference between life and death if they were ever apart and Oscar needed him.
“Well, this is it,” he announced as he stepped into the warmth of his home and helped Oscar slide down his back to the floor. “You know I’m going to have to carry you back, right?”
“Oops. Sorry.” Oscar beamed brightly, not sounding apologetic in the least. Slowly unzipping his jacket, he kept eye contact with Demitrius until the material parted, and he slid the coat off his shoulders, letting it fall to the floor behind him. “Surprise.”
Holy mother of hell, Demitrius suddenly couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t think, either. All the blood in his body had rushed south to pool in his groin, hardening his cock in record-breaking time.
He hadn’t really gotten a good look at his mate out in the snow, but he was definitely looking now. Oscar’s hair was much shorter, but it looked good on him—lighter with the addition of a copper color that Demitrius found extremely alluring.
Though subtle, the dark liner adorning his botto
m eyelid was provocative in a way he couldn’t explain. It didn’t make him look feminine or even edgy, but it made the greens of his irises even brighter, and Demitrius could feel his heart pounding faster the longer he stared into those mesmerizing depths.
His lips were shiny, almost glistening in the sunlight that spilled through the windows, and they called to him, begging to be kissed, licked, and nibbled. The clothes covering his tight, firm body looked painted on, molding to each dip and curve in pure perfection. The outfit would have looked cheap and slutty on someone else, but Oscar wore it with style. Demitrius wanted to drop his knees and worship the angel before him.
“Please say something,” Oscar whispered, tugging self-consciously on the hem of his shirt. “It’s okay if you don’t like it. I can change.”
The neon green polish on his nails made his slender fingers look even more delicate, and Demitrius found himself wondering if his lover’s toenails matched. Not that he’d had many previous lovers—it was kind of hard looking the way he did—but none of them had come close to the physical perfection of Oscar.
“I’m going to come in my jeans if you so much as breathe in my direction, sweet baby.” Makeup, barely there clothing, and nail polish weren’t things he normally found attractive, but he was ready to hump Oscar’s leg like a bitch in heat if the man gave him any indication that it was okay to do so.
“You don’t think it’s too girly? I mean, I don’t want to embarrass you.”
Closing the distance between them, Demitrius took Oscar’s hand and brought it to his zipper, pressing hard so the guy could get a good feel of exactly what his appearance was doing to him. “Does this feel like I’m embarrassed?”
Let the Rain Come Down [The Moonlight Breed 6] (Siren Publishing Everlasting Classic ManLove) Page 7