by Sam Hall
"Thanks for coming, Mum," Finn said, wrapping his arm around the much smaller woman. "You got the news?"
"Yes." She looked from him to me. Like most mothers, she seemed to be able to hold a whole world of information in one word. "Finn, are the two of you OK? The things people are saying... You didn't call?"
"Sorry, Mum. Things have been just insane. I got into a dominance fight with half the single blokes..."
"He's a man who was experiencing the first flush of his mate bond and had her taken away from him in handcuffs, Grace," Ophelia said gently.
"That was..." Grace shook her head. "A bad business."
"So you're Ophelia's daughter? Kelly's sister? Sorry," I said. "The family trees here seem kinda..." Don't say incestuous, don't say incestuous. "Convoluted."
Grace went to reply, but Ophelia said, "No, though I would have been proud to have a daughter like Grace. My son, Max, was one of Finn's fathers.”
“Oh.”
Silence hung over the room for a moment as everyone noted their conspicuous absence.
“Max was sent through the gate for insubordination,” Ophelia said. I saw Grace pale as she took a seat, her hands restlessly shifting the place setting around until it was just so. “Finn’s other fathers, Grey and Rhydian, went with him into exile. But that was an ugly, ugly business. Let’s eat, shall we?”
I watched Ophelia take a seat at the end of the table, sitting between Hawk and Jack, regal as a queen. “Why aren’t you alpha of Sanctuary?” I said. I probably shouldn’t have. There was no doubt a good reason for this, one no one wanted to talk about, but I was pretty much done with the secrecy. Sanctuary was just that, a lovely safe place to land, but there was so much secret squirrel shit going on.
"I was, for a very long time, and then my daughter challenged me and she won. Now, could someone please pass me the mashed potatoes?"
The rest of the meal went by peacefully. I watched the interactions closely, trying to get a sense of how everyone fit together. We'd been existing in the hothouse of the honeymoon cottage for some time since I'd shifted, and this was one of the few chances I'd had to see how things worked on the bonded side of Sanctuary.
Ophelia was a natural leader, charismatic, keeping the conversation flowing and making sure to include everyone in it. I wondered what it must be like to be her daughter and alpha. I was supposed to be the hostess, but I was little more than a player in the scene she carefully orchestrated.
As was Grace. Finn's mum was quiet throughout the meal, smiling and contributing when prompted, but otherwise, just a silent presence on the other side of Finn. When it all wound down and dessert was finished, the two of them got up to go.
"I'll be by tomorrow," Ophelia said. "You can't be expected to come to my home now that the alpha has instated this ridiculous house arrest." She smiled when she saw my expression. "Don't worry, it won't be too early. You have quite the number of men to attend to."
"I want answers, Ophelia," I said. "I don't need therapy, just some clues about what's going on, so I can make the best decisions."
"Of course, darling. All I know is yours to command. Grace?"
Finn's mum stepped forward from where she was giving her son one last hug. "I'll walk home. Need to burn off some of that amazing food Hawk cooked."
"Very well, goodnight all."
And then it was Ophelia, out.
"Julie, can you see me out?" Grace asked, coming closer.
"Of course—"
"I'll come with," Finn said.
"No, darling, the boys look like they need some help putting all that food away in the kitchen. You go."
Her voice was gentle, her hand on his shoulder light, yet even I noted the thin note of steel within her tone. He nodded, caught my eye for a second, and then turned to leave.
The moon was high when we walked outside, the breeze cool and refreshing. Grace took in the armed men standing sentry around the perimeter of the house, then looked back at me. "You seem like a nice person, Julie."
"I'm sensing a but coming."
"But if I'd known this was coming, I might have voted that you be exiled through the gate and left to fend for yourself." Her eyes, so familiar yet not, fixed on mine. "Finn's all I have left. This place has taken everything from me. I was a stranger, like you. I fell into this topsy turvy world, where men throw themselves at women. Multiples of them, beautiful men too, not some grotty barflies. When I bonded with Max, I thought my heart would burst in my chest, unable to feel so full. Then Rhydian and Grey joined us..." She glanced over to the driveway, across the road, where the neighbour’s house sat. "Don't let them send my boy away. Fight with whatever you have, use whoever you have to. You saw it at council. They don't like powerful males, they think of him as a throwback to those who raped our forebears and left them to die. Finn was always a threat, being Ophelia's grandson and Kelly's nephew. They think they've kept him neutralised, not realising it’s his good heart that's always kept his power in check. You're his mate now, you’re ultimately responsible for him. Protect him from them."
I nodded, unable to come up with anything sensible as her words hit me hard. I blinked, staring but not seeing for a moment before I said, "They'll never take Finn from me. I'll make the place burn if they do."
She looked me over carefully, then reached out and patted my hand. “That’s what I needed to know. He’s special, my boy. All mothers say that, but in this case, it’s true. But you know that already, don’t you?” I nodded. “I’m sorry, this is not how I’d wanted to welcome anyone to our family, but… Changes are coming. I need to know he’s safe.”
I walked inside in a bit of a daze, drifting over to the kitchen as that's where the noise was coming from.
"We're running out of room in here. I sent most of the food the caterers had brought back, but still."
Hawk stood in front of the fridge, a dish in his hand, looking for a space to put it.
"Hey," Brandon said, pushing away from the sink and coming over, hands all soapy from doing the dishes. "You OK?"
"They send you guys through the gate, into... that world?"
His eyes darted to Hawk and then back again.
"It doesn't really happen—"
"But it can. If you don't toe the line? If you piss the alpha or the matriarchs off?"
"Can't be just that, love," Hawk said, coming so close, I could feel the warm length of his body behind me. "Jack'd be thrown through a million times over by this point."
"Except he's the son of the alpha. Has he got any sisters or brothers? And where are his dads?" Silence at that. "Did his dads go with Finn's?"
"It was before all of us, obviously. The nanas and the aunties don't talk about it, except in the vaguest form of a threat," Brandon said. "There was a schism of some sort, and the dissenters lost. That's all I've been able to piece together. They went through the gate, never to be heard of again."
"To that place, the one that looks like some pastoral idyll?"
"Not sure if it looks like that anymore," Hawk said. "It's only the miners who go through." I frowned slightly. I'd heard about this mine, but never seen evidence of it. "Gold's common as dirt there, just an overly soft, pretty, but useless metal. We mine it, sell it to the humans. Carefully though, we nearly crashed the market before we understood the process, apparently. But c'mon, you can't be thinking of the past on the night of taking your second mate. I made you something special, kept it to one side so that Jack, the greedy little cunt, didn’t eat it."
Hawk dug into the fridge, swiftly moving around dishes until he produced a small ramekin full of what looked like chocolate cake.
"God, is that...?" Brandon said. Hawk nodded, his smile broadening. "Jules, you're in for a treat. That's Mate's Torte. It's fucking amazing."
"Have a taste," Hawk said.
"Don't I have to wait for Finn or Slade or something?"
"He's got his own in the fridge."
"OK, well, do you guys want some?" That provoked a low moan fro
m the two of them. "What? It's just cake."
"Not just cake," Brandon said, tugging me backwards so I could feel his hard body against mine. "This shit is next level. How'd you get the recipe, Hawk?"
"My nana shared it. Kept having sons and grandsons, so no girls to pass it onto."
"I'll wash some spoons. I think they're all in the sink," Brandon said, shifting beneath me.
"Don't need to," Hawk said, and sunk his finger into the glossy dark surface. "Here."
Those coffee brown eyes watched mine as I looked at him, then the lump of cake on the end of his finger. His smile flickered when I leant forward, and Brandon's hands went to my hips when they were forced back against his, my hand wrapping around Hawk's wrist. As I opened my mouth, Brandon said, "This has meaning to it."
"Shut up, Brandon," Hawk said, but it wasn't harsh.
"She's sick of going into this shit blind."
"What?" I said, my mouth watering as I smelled the unique scent of man and cake combined. Both were going to feel so good going into my mouth.
"Sharing your mating cake is an indicator for the non-bonded, that they might be next."
I glanced around at Brandon, noting he still held me firm against him. "Like catching a bouquet at a wedding?"
"Just eat the damn cake, Jules. I'm not going to assume anything by it." Hawk said.
I cocked an eyebrow, then shrugged and sucked the sweet off his finger.
Oh... fuck. I've had a whole lot of damn good cakes over the years. Like chocolate and liqueur, chocolate and tart cherry, double chocolate and salted caramel with cream and chocolate shavings. But nothing compared to this.
Hawk chuckled when my hand wrapped around his wrist, preventing him from pulling away. Intense flavour burst in my mouth—chocolate and hazelnut, liqueur and cream, butter and sugar, coffee and something else. I licked his finger, finding every scrap of cake and rasping it away to reveal the salty, slightly nicotine flavour of Hawk. When I realised I'd been acting like some kind of ravening animal—complete with grunts—I pulled back, blinking. Hawk didn't look in any way put out, his smile twisting into something as dark and delicious as the cake itself.
"Nice?" He reached out and brushed away a spot from the corner of my mouth, my eyes watching as he licked his fingertip clean.
Goddamn.
"Do I get any?"
Brandon's voice was a low buzz in my ear, his pupils blown large when I looked around at him.
"Of course." I twisted to get him a serving, but Hawk was too quick. We both watched him hook a thick finger into the container again and pull out a mouthful.
"Here."
Hawk's hand stretched out and past me, holding his offering out to the other man. Brandon's hand gripped my hip hard as he leaned forward, forcing me to move with him. I had a ringside seat for watching Brandon wrap his full lips around Hawk's finger and suck.
"Why is this hot?" I muttered. "Why is sucking cake off his fingers so fucking hot?"
Hawk heard me and chuckled, something that sent a low thrum through me.
"Well, well, well. What do we have here?"
Jack stood in the kitchen doorway, a picture of golden indolence. His green eyes were hooded as he watched Brandon finish the job just as thoroughly as I had.
"Getting people to suck you off for baked goods again, love? We talked about this."
"Fuck off, Jack." Hawk's voice was a low growl.
"Why?" He strolled over to take position behind his lover, pulling his thick brown hair back before placing careful kisses along the muscular column of his neck. His eyes burned into mine as he pushed the man's collar away, revealing the place where a white mating scar should be before kissing over that. I wasn't sure if he was staking his claim and shoving it in my face, or trying to invite me to do the same. My Tirian paced inside me, eyes watching his every movement. "If someone's licking you, I wanna watch."
Brandon's lips pulled free with a pop, and he drew back, looking a little dazed. "God, that's good."
"Isn't it? He made an amazing batch with his Nan when his cousin was mated. We ate it all nice and neatly at the bridal table, but he had extras, didn't you, love?" Jack's voice was a hypnotic sing-song as he unbuttoned Hawk's shirt. We both watched his hands smooth the garment away, then claw through the smattering of dark hair across his chest. "Took them to bed with us, didn't we? Smeared it all over our bodies and then licked..." We watched his fingers tug at Hawk's nipples. "it all..." His hands went to Hawk's waistband, toying with the button there. "...off."
"Sounds like a good way to get a UTI."
Our heads snapped around to see Slade, Finn, and Aaron in the doorway. Slade watched me shake my head as I stepped away from the cake orgy in the making and over to them.
"The cake is amazing, Hawk," I said. The words sounded clunky and awkward, but I couldn't think of anything more intelligent to add right now. I shifted, feeling that uncomfortable slickness again.
This you again? I thought, waiting for the black wolf to reply. All I heard was a chuckle, but it was difficult to know if it was real or just my memory of today.
"Got any more?" Slade said. "You've got these two panting, so it must be good."
"Sure." Hawk stepped away from Jack, missing the other man's disgruntled expression, and retrieved a few more containers, then passed them out. Brandon seemed to recover, digging through the soapy water for a couple of spoons. The three who'd missed out dug in, and soon, the kitchen was filled with more groans of pleasure.
"Oh, my, god," Slade said, looking at the container with both desire and suspicion. "Fuck, it'd be almost worth the pain pissing. Imagine sticking the head of your dick in this and then having it sucked off. Or painting her clit with it."
"OK, what the fuck is in that stuff? Is this some kind of old aphrodisiac your grandmother makes?" I asked. God, this place was weird.
"Kind of," Hawk said, his head resting back on Jack's, no longer pulling away as the hand went south.
I felt a stab of fear at that, my eyes darting around the room. These were my guys, people I'd invited into my house, not horny randos that wouldn't take no for an answer. But will they stay like that? For a moment, I had a clear idea of exactly what we could get up to with the sex cake and the six of them, and it looked just as delicious as the dessert was. But I shook my head, wanting to be free of the close, smothering atmosphere in the kitchen. I never wanted to see that blank-eyed look of lust on their faces again. I needed to know what the hell was going on with the black wolf, and I wasn't getting nakey with anyone until I did.
"How about you guys finish up here? I'll take some food out to the blokes outside. We have too much for the fridge as it is."
Hands around spoons, sliding down well-muscled chests stopped where they were for a moment. I ignored the looks of concern and frustration, busying myself with pulling out paper plates and loading them up with random blobs of food. I didn't stop until I felt a hand on my shoulder.
"I'll give you a hand," Aaron said. He rubbed my back, taking in the slow release of tension there with a nod. The guys started to protest, but as the two of us ferried plates out of the kitchen, I felt like I could breathe properly again.
"Hey," one of the guys said as we approached. He looked at me with concern, but seemed more relaxed when he saw Aaron.
"Thought you might want some food. We've got too much to fit in the fridge," I said.
"Ah... we're not supposed to."
"Don't worry about it, Frank," Aaron said. "This is a bullshit assignment, and you know that."
Frank looked at me for a second and then nodded. "Thanks, I appreciate it." He called out to the other guys, who ambled over and took their plates enthusiastically.
"Sorry it couldn't have been your boys out here tonight, but alpha’s orders," Frank said to Aaron. "I know you would have rather had them guarding your girl."
"Hey, there's no one on base I wouldn't trust. Things seem to have settled down, anyway. I'd say you'll have a quiet rotation until
the next unit relieves you."
"From your lips to the Great Wolf's ear," one of the other men said. "This food is good."
"Enjoy. C'mon, Jules."
The tension started to wind up as I walked back inside the house. The guys looked like they'd squared away the rest of the food and had drifted off, no doubt preparing for bed. It'd been a hell of a day, the weight of it pushing down on me all of a sudden. "In here," Aaron said, and steered me into the spare room I'd slept in last night.
"I... I better..."
"Jules, get into bed. You're dead on your feet. If you're worried about stripping off, I'll go find some pyjamas for you."
"I don't own pyjamas," I said, staring at the white sheets.
"Then I'll lend you a shirt. C'mon, get in."
I watched him strip down to just his boxers. He was a good looking guy, with the high cheekbones and tawny colouring, but his body was a bloody work of art, all big, taut muscle. I felt tiny beside him.
"You keep taking care of me, and I haven't done anything for you," I said.
"You could get into bed. That'd go a long way to reassuring me."
"You know what I mean," I said as I got under the covers. I'd stripped off while his back was turned, still oddly shy around him. "Usually, we're tearing each other’s clothes off the minute you get home."
"Yeah, but I know you've had a little too much clothes tearing for one day. I can smell your fear, Jules."
"Not of you." I rolled into his shoulder when he tugged me closer, snuggling into the side of his body. I closed my eyes for a second, smelling that piney, woody scent of his.
"A little of me, of us. It's been intense bonding, yeah?" I nodded. "And today would have scared the shit out of anyone. If I was just here for sex, maybe I would be pissed, but I think we both know I'm looking for more. Jules?" I looked up at him, at those eyes so warm, I felt like I could almost put my hands out in front of them to defrost. He moved in slowly to kiss me, keeping it light and sweet when I didn't pull away. He smiled when we finally drew back. "Sleep, Jules, as much as you can. You're going to need rest before you see that bastard tomorrow."
I lay there for a while, feeling the long slow strokes down my spine, listening to the steady sound of his heartbeat. I was tired, I could feel the exhaustion beating down on me. I'd thought the previous day intense, but that had apparently been a challenge for this one. But for all Aaron's good intentions, he wasn't exactly relaxing to be around, for the best possible reasons.