Warm, safe, and close to his lover had a certain appeal, but the curiosity about his surprise got the better of him. So, when Demitrius eased down on the sofa, Oscar ducked back into the guy’s shirt and ran down his chiseled torso, across his thigh, and finally slid down his denim-clad shin to the floor.
“Okay, gimme.”
* * * *
Careful not to squash his mate, Demitrius rose from the cushions and sauntered over to the open space on the floor near the fireplace. Oscar scuttled across the carpet, his short legs moving rapidly as he hurried to keep up. Demitrius wasn’t really the rainbows-and-butterflies sort, but even he had to admit that the guy was damn adorable.
Settling down on the hearth, he pointed to the large sheet of white paper he’d spread across the floor. The sheet crinkled under Oscar’s paws as he walked across it to investigate. Stopping in the middle, he sat down on his butt, looked up at Demitrius, and tilted his head to the side.
“I don’t get it.”
Instead of answering verbally, Demitrius reached behind the chair to his left, moving large, shallow bowls of paint and lining them up side by side on the edge of the paper.
Oscar looked from the paint to the paper and back several times. “I still don’t get it.”
“Come here.” Lifting the hedgehog around the midsection, he dipped his feet into the blue paint and then sat him back on the paper. “Go for it.”
The shifter didn’t look like he much cared for the sticky goop on his paws, but once he saw the prints on the white sheet, he let out the cutest squeak of excitement. Oscar ran to one corner of the paper and back, poking his nose at the different colors before finally settling on the yellow.
“You did good,” Braxton complimented as he plopped down in the chair beside Demitrius. “He looks happy.”
“This is so awesome!”
Demitrius watched the hedgehog dance around as he created his art and smiled fondly. “He likes it.”
“I have an idea.” Keeton flounced across the room, snatched Oscar up, and held him with his belly pointed toward the ceiling. “Calm down,” he chastised when Oscar started to squirm and squeal.
“What the hell is he doing to me?”
“Keeton,” Demitrius said warningly.
“Relax. I’m not going to hurt him. Trust me, little dude.” Then he dipped Oscar’s back into the red paint, covering his quills with the bright color. Plopping him back down on the paper, Keeton laughed and scratched under Oscar’s chin. “Now roll.”
After a moment of hesitation where he simply stared at Keeton, Oscar curled himself into a ball, causing his spines to poke out all over his body, and started to roll. When he reached the carpet on the other side, he flopped over on his belly, stretched out, and Demitrius swore he heard a happy purr.
“Holy crow! This is freakin’ awesome!”
It didn’t take long for him to get into the spirit of things after that. Demitrius eased down to the floor and crossed his ankles, chuckling quietly when his mate did a belly flop into the purple bowl and twisted around in the paint.
His heart swelled with love, and it warmed him to his soul to see Oscar so happy. The guy had been through so much. He deserved far more than Demitrius could ever give him, but by some miracle, Oscar found him to be enough.
Keeton sprawled across the stone hearth on his back and stared up at the tiny, white ladybug crawling over his hand. “Isn’t Cicero so cute? He’s my new lucky charm.” He rolled so his shoulder bumped against Demitrius’s back. “Your aura looks much better, by the way.”
Demitrius shrugged as he glanced over his shoulder. “I feel better.”
He’d spent too much of his life being angry or depressed about the hand he’d been dealt. It was fucking exhausting to hold onto that level of animosity, especially over something he couldn’t control.
There had also been too much time wasted going out of his way to avoid people. No matter what he said—and had even convinced himself for a while—people really weren’t meant to be alone. Haven made a small difference. Oscar had done all the rest.
“Because of Oscar?” Keeton asked cheekily.
Returning his gaze to his mate, Demitrius smiled affectionately and bobbed his head in agreement. “Because of Oscar.”
Chapter Ten
“You wanted to see me?” Demitrius knocked lightly on the doorframe before stepping into Stavion’s office. He hoped whatever it was didn’t take long because the snow had finally melted, meaning he could resume his walks with Oscar to watch the sunrise—which was only an hour away.
There were only two other men in the room besides the coven leader and himself—Xander and a small, geeky-looking man he’d never met before. Alarm bells instantly went off inside his head when the stranger rose from his chair and gave him a cold smile that didn’t reach his eyes.
“This gentleman here,” Xander began, only to be interrupted.
“Joseph Mahoney.” The newcomer took a step forward and held his hand out to Demitrius. “And you are?”
Demitrius fisted one hand at his side and reached up with the other to remove his sunglasses, snarling as he did so to show off his jaggedly pointed teeth. Being a monster wasn’t always a bad thing. As much as he wanted to fit in, he wasn’t above using his appearance to intimidate an asshole like Mr. Mahoney.
Clearing his throat to gain everyone’s attention, Xander rested his hip against the top of Stavion’s desk and crossed his arms over his chest. “As I was saying, this gentleman is under the assumption that we have something that belongs to him.”
“Is that so?” He knew exactly what that “something” was, but he had bad news for the guy. Oscar wasn’t going anywhere. “Sorry. I don’t know who you are, and I’m sure that I have nothing that belongs to you.” With that, he turned to leave, wanting to get to his mate as soon as possible.
“I’ve seen you together,” Joseph said to his back. “I’ve been watching you for days.”
The news sent a chill of dread down his spine, and Demitrius whirled around to loom over the pint-sized asshole. Before he could say anything, however, Xander stepped between him and Joseph with his hands upheld.
“If Mr. Accola says he doesn’t have anything of yours, I believe him. I think you need to leave.”
“I’m not leaving without my property.” Reaching into the inside pocket of his jacket, he extracted a stack of folded papers and waved them in Xander’s face. “I have signed contracts for all four Desirables. They belong to me, and you will bring them here immediately.”
“Ah, I see,” Xander answered calmly, extracting the papers from Joseph’s hand. “You don’t mind if I look at these, do you?”
Joseph waved his hand uncaringly as he glared up at Demitrius. “You might think you have some kind of claim to my Desirable, but you are sadly mistaken. I paid good money for the four of them, and I expect to have each one returned to me.”
Demitrius opened his mouth to tell the guy exactly where he could shove his expectations, but a glance at Xander had him pressing his lips together. It was only a minute movement of his head, and he didn’t even look at Demitrius, but the action was received loud and clear—keep his caustic remarks to himself until they could figure out a plan.
Seemingly unhappy with Demitrius’s lack of argument, Joseph crowded closer and jabbed a finger into his midsection. “Your little whore is leaving with me. Maybe you should go say your good-byes.”
The slight to his mate accompanied by the threat of having Oscar taken from him snapped Demitrius’s self-control. His right hand darted out, wrapping around the fucker’s throat and lifting him off his feet in the span of a heartbeat.
“Maybe you should say your good-byes,” he growled viciously, taking great satisfaction in watching the man wiggle in his grasp as he fought for air. “Let me tell you how this is going to work. You’re going to walk out that door and forget all about Oscar, all about Haven. If you even speak his name again, I’ll know. People have a way of disappearin
g when I’m unhappy, and I don’t imagine anyone will miss you.”
With a lazy flick of his wrist, he sent the man sailing across the room to land in a heap on the coffee table, reducing the stylish piece of furniture to a shattered mess.
“I really liked that table, too,” Stavion mumbled as he pushed a hand through his dark hair.
“I think I just got wood.” Xander glanced between the groaning man on the floor and Demitrius with a smirk on his lips. “Impressive, man.”
“Oh, dear,” Stavion gasped in mock surprise as he lit a match and dropped it onto his desk, igniting the contracts binding Oscar and his friends to Joseph. “Well, that is a shame.”
“Accidents will happen,” Xander added with a shrug. “Terribly sorry about that, Mr. Mahoney.”
“You won’t get away with this,” Joseph said breathlessly as he struggled to his feet. “I’ll be back, and I won’t be alone.”
“Uh-huh.” Rolling his eyes, Stavion pushed a button on his intercom and leaned closer to the desk. “Raven, Demos, could you please escort our guest to the front gates?”
Two Enforcers appeared in the doorway almost at once, both looking very pleased to carry out their task. “Should we give him a friendly reminder?” Raven asked with a shit-eating grin.
Stavion seemed to consider it but shook his head. “I think Demitrius took care of the warning. Have someone follow him to make sure he leaves town, though.”
“Got it, boss,” Demos responded with a dip of his head, taking Joseph’s elbow and jerking him around roughly.
“Don’t call me boss!” Stavion called, garnering only laughter from the Enforcers as they shoved Joseph out of the room hard enough to actually send him to his knees.
“Oops.” Raven grabbed the man around the collar and hauled him to his feet. “Watch that last step, dude. It’s a doozy.”
“Why him? Oscar says The Hive is huge. Why haven’t they come for him?” Once the vampires were out of sight with their unwelcomed guest, Demitrius turned back to Xander and pointed toward the pile of ashes on the desk. “Did you get anything useful?”
Reaching behind him, Xander extracted a stack of folded papers from his back pocket and wiggled his eyebrows. “There’s an address on here,” he answered as he unfolded the contracts. “I doubt it’s legit, but it’s a place to start.”
“Also a registration number,” Stavion added with a curl of his nose. “Oscar and his friends were microchipped like fucking animals.”
“Is there a way to remove the chip?” They’d have to find it first, and with a shifter’s ability to heal without scarring, that could prove tricky.
“We’ll figure it out,” Xander assured him as he continued to peruse the papers in his hands. “This Hive place is smart. According to this, once a contract is signed, a Desirable becomes the responsibility of the Master.”
“Meaning?”
“This agreement hereby absolves Redway Corporations from any further obligations in relationship to the Desirable in question. Should the Desirable become lost or stolen, the Master is responsible for the reclamation, as well as any costs incurred relating to search and seizure of property. Unless the Master wishes to sign an additional contract, all communications with Redway Corporations will cease upon the signing of this document.”
Demitrius grinned smugly as he listened to Xander read. “So Mr. Mahoney is shit out of luck.”
“Yes,” Stavion answered slowly as he shared a look with Xander that Demitrius couldn’t decipher. “We have bigger problems, though.”
As far as Demitrius was concerned, anything that threatened the health and safety of his mate was top priority. Still, curiosity got the better of him, and he couldn’t stop himself from asking, “What problems?”
“You know why Haven was formed, right?” Pausing for Demitrius’s affirmation, Stavion pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed before continuing. “The abused paranormals coming in from all over the country are directly related to one man—Cyrus Redway.”
The figurative light bulb clicked on, and Demitrius wasn’t any happier about it than the vampire. “Cyrus Redway as in Redway Corporations.”
“As in, The Hive,” Xander added in a subdued tone.
“Well, where is he? How do we find him?”
The alpha shared another one of those annoying looks with Stavion before shaking his head somberly. “We don’t. He was killed almost two years ago.”
“Someone is continuing his work.” He’d seen the abused and broken flowing into Haven, but he’d never given much thought to where the problem had started.
Hanging around the mansion, Demitrius had heard snippets of discussion about an illegal slave trade and strange experiments, but since none of it related directly to him, he’d pushed the information to the back of his mind and continued on about his business.
With Oscar now under threat, he wanted to know everything, and he wanted to know it in a big damn hurry.
* * * *
“No.” Oscar stopped in his tracks and jerked his hand out of Demitrius’s grasp. His knees trembled, his hands shook, and bile rose up in his esophagus. “They found us. Oh, gods, they found us.”
While scared, a small part of him was pissed that Demitrius had chosen their routine walks to deliver the damning news. It was the part of the day that he always looked forward to, rising well before the sun in his excitement. Why did the man have to ruin this special time?
“Oscar, breathe.”
How in the hell was he supposed to breathe? He’d become complacent, almost arrogant that he’d been able to outwit his enemy, and now he was paying for his arrogance. “Where are they now? How many are there?” His thoughts strayed to his friends, and the panic almost overwhelmed him. “We have to go. I have to get the others and go.”
“Oscar!” Demitrius grabbed him by his upper arms and held him still. “No one is here. You’re not listening to me. It was one guy, and he’s gone.”
Maybe it was one guy now, but others would come. “Demitrius, let go of me. I have to get the others. We have to hide. I’m not going back there!”
“Goddamn it, Oscar, stop!” Dropping to his knees on the dirt path that led to the pond, Demitrius held Oscar’s face in both hands, forcing him to finally meet his mate’s gaze. “I’m not going to let anything happen to you. Do you really believe there is anything I wouldn’t do for you? If I have to face an entire army, I’m not letting anyone take you.”
Time stood still while they stared into each other’s eyes. Oscar heard, felt, and saw the truth in the words, but it only caused his heart to beat more frantically. It was his fault. He’d brought this danger to the coven, his new friends, and now his mate. How could he live with himself if something happened to Demitrius because of him?
Throwing his arms around his lover’s neck, he clung to him with all his strength. “You don’t know these people, love. They won’t fight fair.”
Demitrius actually laughed as he held Oscar close and kissed the side of his neck. “Have you looked at me lately? I’m not afraid of these assholes. Besides, I’m not above using every dirty trick in the book if the need arises.”
“I love you, Demitrius. Please don’t get yourself killed.”
“If I die, you die. Keeping my ass alive is equal to keeping you safe. I don’t want you to worry, but I won’t lie to you, either. I will do anything—and I do mean anything—to protect you.”
His body was starting to calm down, but Oscar’s mind was still a snarled mess of confusing, conflicting thoughts. “Can we go home?” He needed to talk to his friends, let them know what was happening. It didn’t seem very smart to be standing out in the open anymore, either.
“Have you ever seen your contract?”
Oscar shook his head. “Why do you ask?”
“A man named Joseph Mahoney signed the contracts for all four of you. He was stupid enough to bring them with him to Haven. Stavion has them in his office right now.”
Loosening his hold en
ough so he could see his lover’s face, Oscar tilted his head to the side and frowned. “He signed the contracts before we escaped?”
“Not sure, but it would seem so.” Demitrius dipped his head and pressed their lips together. “Your contract says that this guy is on his own to reclaim you. The Hive releases all claim or knowledge of you, and will not get involved in the matter.”
That sounded way too good to be true. “Do you think it’s for real?”
“They’ve put a lot of time and money into you guys, not to mention all the secrets you know. A ten-year investment and they’re just going to let you walk away? I don’t see it.”
Those were Oscar’s thoughts exactly. “You think he was a spy.”
“I’m thinking more of a scout to find out how much resistance we’ll put up if they try to waltz in here and take you. I believe, and Xander agrees, that the contracts were just smoke and mirrors to make us lower our guards.”
Oscar nodded slowly as he mulled it over. “If you think The Hive is disassociating from this, you’ll get lazy and won’t be expecting an attack.”
“Exactly.”
He would have said more—there was a lot to say on the subject, after all—but a loud, terrified scream interrupted his thoughts. Jerking around, Oscar stared in the direction of the pond with wide eyes. “Someone’s in trouble.”
“Stay here,” Demitrius commanded, rising to his feet and taking off toward the sound of the scream at a jog.
Oscar had no intentions of doing anything of the sort. He wasn’t a fighter, and there wasn’t a whole lot he could do, but he wouldn’t just stand around and twiddle his thumbs if there was even the barest chance that Demitrius was in danger.
Reaching the clearing that surrounded the pond, Oscar spotted the damsel in distress immediately. Her jeans were ripped at the knee and covered in blood, her hair a tangled mess of blonde curls, and Oscar swore he could hear her heart pounding against her sternum. She didn’t look in his direction but stared straight ahead toward the sleek mountain lion stalking her.
Let the Rain Come Down [The Moonlight Breed 6] (Siren Publishing Everlasting Classic ManLove) Page 9