The Manx Cat Guardians Boxed Set

by J P Sayle

  Not sure Ellie was still following, Nick kept going. He was aware he was going all round the houses to get to his point, but he was still trying to figure out how to tell Connor what had happened tonight.

  “Louise has been sacked, and after she was shown the video evidence, there wasn’t much she could say or do. So it all ended well, and Brody had a happy client.” He rubbed his sweaty palms down his jean-clad legs and chewed on his thumbnail.

  “Nick, why are you telling me all this?” Ellie asked, his hands fluttering while they played with the half-eaten sandwich.

  “I’m trying to fill you in on all the background so it makes sense,” he said defensively.

  “Don’t talk to Ellie in that tone, Nick. He asked a reasonable question. A question I’d like answered as well.”

  Nick barely kept from hunching as Connor’s headmaster voice assailed him. He could still remember how he used it in the class to get the students to behave. “I don’t know how to say it, all right. It’s hard enough when you know this shit, without trying to say stuff sensitively.”

  Connor held up his hands. “Yes, I’m sorry. But you’ve been waffling now for about half an hour, and we still don’t know what the problem is.”

  Seeing no way out of it, Nick blurted out, “Christina is like some all-powerful-type thing, being, creation. You pick, but she is more powerful than god, by the sounds of it. She was bound by the previous king of the Otherworld to protect her and shield her”—Nick shrugged—“from what I’m not sure, but something happened that broke the spell. And she is now free to do god knows what, to god knows who—” Fear gripped him by the throat, and the words died.

  Ever since Max had returned just a couple of hours earlier, Nick had been in a state of panic. Brody and Aaden had gone out to meet a client in a restaurant, and Greg and Gemma were out, leaving him alone in the house.

  At the sound of scratching at the lounge door, he’d thought it was Princess, who’d taken up residence with them ever since she’d found out she was Max’s soul mate. He’d been shocked to see Max after his body had been lifeless for days.

  His subsequent explanation about Christina and what had happened was enough to drive Nick out of the house and in search of someone to share what he knew. Connor had always been the person he’d turned to, so he’d ended up on his doorstep.

  As he carried on and explained this, he saw Ellie wilt into the chair. “No, Ellie, it’s not like that between Connor and me. It never was, I promise. Please don’t get the wrong idea. Connor was always there to listen to me, that’s all.” He rushed to reassure Ellie as he crouched in front of him, gripping his hands.

  “I believe you. Stop worrying. It’s just a lot to take in all at once. I’m more worried about what the… witch… will do to you, to us,” Ellie stuttered, his gaze moving to Connor.

  “Why would she do anything to us? We haven’t even met her,” Connor said in a calm voice that was belied by the way concern flickered over his face.

  Ellie

  Ellie worked to keep the panic from choking him. His heart was permanently glued to the wall of his chest and was fighting to escape his rib cage. Witches, there were witches in the world.

  Don’t forget talking cats!

  No matter how many times it went round and round his head, he couldn’t quite grasp the reality of it. Even with the sincerity of Nick’s explanation and the honesty shining in his eyes. Who could make this stuff up?

  Filmmakers, that’s who.

  That is so not helping right now.

  No longer able to sit still, Ellie eased his hands out of Nick’s grasp and skirted around him to get up. Any thoughts about having anything more to eat were vetoed by the knots that were where his intestines used to be. Absently he rubbed at his stomach while he paced the kitchen floor.

  Unable to focus on one thing, he glanced at Connor. “What are we going to do, Daddy?”

  When he’d used the honorific earlier, he’d kept his voice down. Now, not so much. Too late he realised what he’d done, hearing Nick’s loud, indrawn breath. Ellie trembled, and his gaze went to Connor, not sure how he was going to react to being outed in front of his friend.

  “It’s all right, boy,” he said to Ellie while he glanced at Nick. “Ellie and I have a different dynamic in our relationship. I’m sure you won’t judge us for that, will you, Nick?”

  The air crackled with tension as Ellie sucked his thumb into his mouth, waiting for Nick to respond.

  He sagged when Nick shrugged it off, saying, “Whatever floats your boat, man.”

  The concern and lack of condemnation allowed Ellie to breathe a little easier.

  “Let’s get back on track. Ellie, I think it’s a lot for you to take in. You need time to digest it all,” Connor said.

  A pinched smile was the best Ellie could offer under the circumstances. “You’re right, Daddy. I don’t know what to think right now. First the cat, then the whole witch thing, or whatever she is. How is anyone supposed to get their head around all that in one go.” He sighed and kept pacing, not convinced he’d be able to sit still.

  “Ellie, it is real. Don’t you believe your own mind?” Morgana asked.

  Ellie halted and pivoted towards Morgana, who was sitting on her cushion, staring at him like he was silly. “Will you stop doing that? It’s freaking me out. How am I supposed to believe it? When you talk in my head, all it does is make me think I’ve stepped into an episode of Dr Who.”

  Her whiskers twitched, and her brow scrunched so much Ellie laughed. “You don’t know who Dr Who is, do you?”

  The other two men burst out laughing and the tension Ellie hadn’t been able to shift since Morgana had first spoken eased a little.

  “That’s right. Laugh at me,” she huffed at him.

  Ellie’s hands rose to his ears at how loud she came across. “Hey, that’s not fair. Why are you shouting at me? They’re the ones laughing at you.”

  “My dear boy, you made them laugh at me,” she explained like he was clueless.

  He eyed her, his nose wrinkling, “You need to behave if you don’t want to find yourself outside, with no access into the house,” he quipped back, only half joking.

  “I think we all just need to take a breath and chill for a minute,” Nick said while trying to smother yet more giggles.

  With that, Ellie walked and sat on the chair at the table and took hold of Connor’s hand. “I’m sorry I got cross before. It was all a little bit too much. Not that it still isn’t, but I get why you had difficulty trying to explain all this. It’s not easy.” Ellie chuckled at how much of an understatement that was.

  “Yes, it is, and as much as Morgana seems to think it’s easy to blurt it out, I didn’t want to hurt you, sweetheart.” The sincerity of Connor’s reply warmed Ellie right through to his core, and his fingers clasped Connor’s tighter. The love that he’d barely had time to acknowledge with all the other crap fizzed and flowed through him, making his system buzz and dance, just like taking a drink of his beloved Pepsi Max.

  Those feelings had kept him awake half the night after Nick had left, and Connor had insisted he stay the night. Now, as he sat at his desk at work, Ellie wasn’t sure if the other shoe was about to drop. He absently played with the pen, clicking at the cap repeatedly.

  “Are you going to do any work today, or are you just going to sit there playing with that pen and staring into space?” Brody asked when he walked out of his office towards him.

  “I am working. This is my considering face.”

  Brody laughed. “Your considering face, hey? It looks more like a constipated face to me.”

  With an arched brow, Ellie glared at Brody. “I’ll have you know I don’t suffer from such issues. But evidently you do if you know what the face looks like. Though god knows how. What do you do? Go and watch people take a dump, or worse, watch your own face?” On a roll, Ellie laughed at the horrified expression Brody now wore.

  “You started it,” he said before Brody cou
ld retaliate.

  “And I’ll be finishing it,” Aaden said as he walked out of the kitchen, holding a cup. “The conversations I keep walking into make me wonder if you two are a good combination and if you both shouldn’t have come with a warning label.”

  When Brody shrugged and grinned at Aaden, Ellie rolled his eyes. “The only warning label needed here is: be aware there are alphas on the prowl.”

  Both men laughed and went back to their offices. Why didn’t either man mention last night? Surely Nick had to have said something by now?

  The questions brought him right back to what had him doing nothing in the first place. This whole witch situation, along with a talking cat, was too much. He pulled out his phone after checking the list of dates Gemma had given him of her work pattern. Seeing she was off and figuring that she shouldn’t be sleeping, he dialled her number. He needed someone impartial and not involved in the whole crazy mess. Was she impartial if she was Greg’s friend?

  He didn’t have time to figure it out before she answered. After arranging to meet her at the Tea Junction, his new favourite cake shop, Ellie hung up. On a sigh, he opened the file he was supposed to be working on and made notes in the margin.

  Ellie packed up his desk and went to tell Brody he was off for a late lunch. The sunny blue sky brightened his mood as he strolled through the town centre. When he reached the tea rooms, Gemma was sitting at a table tucked towards the back of the room.

  She was already slurping at a large creamy drink. “You started without me,” he said, winking, and pointed at the glass. “What’s that you’ve got there?”

  “It’s to-die-for hot chocolate and why I didn’t wait. I mean, look at it,” Gemma said, her face alight with delight as she lifted the glass and waved it at him.

  Ellie eyed the glass, his belly grumbling. “I think I’ll have one. I’ll go order. Do you want anything else?” At her headshake, he skipped to the counter and chatted with the owner before he went to sit down with Gemma and wait for his drink.

  Gemma launched into a funny story about something that had happened at the hospital, making him laugh. About to blurt out what he wanted to talk about, he got a sense that someone was watching him. He turned his head, and his mind blanked, all colour draining from his cheeks. What? Why? How?

  As if in slow motion, he blinked, trying to make the image disappear, but no, not more than ten feet from where he sat stood Seb. His hands trembled, and whatever Gemma was saying was lost under the buzzing in his ears. His vision dimmed, and for a minute, he thought he would pass out as he sucked in a breath. How did he find me?

  “Ellie, fucksake, what is it?” The desperation in Gemma’s voice got him to shake off his stupor.

  “It’s someone from my past. Listen I can’t explain now. Just give me a minute.” Wearing a troubled expression, she gave him a nod and squeezed his hand as he rose.

  His eyes moved to the open door behind what appeared to be a frozen Seb, then back to Seb’s shocked face. Not sure why he looked so upset, Ellie marched across the shop. Enough was enough. He had a new Daddy now who loved him, and Seb was going to have to stop all this shit.

  It was only then that Ellie noticed the guy standing by Seb. He didn’t miss the arm that pulled the pretty dark-haired man closer, as if to protect him. His eyes widened at seeing Seb’s lips a hair’s breadth from the ear of the man he held, speaking so quietly Ellie couldn’t hear.

  But with the buzzing in his ears returning with a vengeance, he wasn’t sure he’d have heard anything. Blood pounded at his temples, so much so he gave them a quick rub as he stopped in front of both men.

  His eyes locked on Seb as he waited for him to acknowledge his presence.

  “Hello, Ellie. It’s good to see you. You’re looking well,” Seb said in such a casual manner Ellie saw red.

  “Are you for real? I look well! What. The. Fuck. Are. You. Doing. Here?” Ellie enunciated each word, pushing his chin at Seb.

  He saw the second Seb bristled at his angry retort.

  “Don’t talk to me in that tone, boy—” Seb froze, his face a fatalistic mask of misery.

  The man Seb held wrenched himself free of his hold and ran out of the shop, sobbing. Seb froze, looking torn between staying and running after the man. The minute Seb swung round and headed for the door, Ellie followed hot on his heels.

  When Seb stopped outside the door, his head moving from left to right, Ellie figured he was searching for the guy. He didn’t have time to look past Seb when he swung his head to glare at him. “I’ll answer your question.” He jabbed his finger at Ellie. “I came to say sorry and resolve the way things were left between us. But as usual, you didn’t give me time to work up to—”

  Ellie shouted over the top of him, “I gave you seven years to work up to it. You never bloody listened to me. What was I supposed to think? Tell me. You’ve been stalking me for a bloody year. Showing no signs of letting go. Then you waltz into the tea shop like your shit don’t stink. Telling me I look good. I look good because I thought I’d finally escaped your crazy arse, but no. The universe decided to drop you right back in my bloody lap.” He puffed, his chest heaving as he ran out of steam.

  Mouth gaping open, Seb stood staring at him as if seeing him for the very first time.

  Seb’s eyes flicking behind him and the angry red climbing up his neck said they had an audience. His spine stiffened when he glanced back at Ellie. “I’d like to go and find a place where we can talk in private.”

  Ellie was about to refuse when Seb tagged on, “Please.”

  Having never once heard Seb use that pitiful voice, Ellie grumbled at how it worked on his sympathy and gave in. “Okay, but out in the open. We can go down and sit on the prom, on one of the benches.” He stalked past Seb back into the shop, glancing over his shoulder. “I need to let my friend know. Hold on.” Not waiting for a response, he walked off.

  After giving Gemma a promise he’d ring her later, Ellie directed Seb to the promenade and found an empty bench to sit on.

  Ellie sat and kept his distance from Seb. Getting straight to the point, he asked, “Do you have any idea the torture you put me through? The fucked-up stalking, your attempts to stop me from moving on and find someone else, it wrecked my head. I couldn’t settle. I was jumpier than a cat on a hot tin roof. I couldn’t go out and act like a normal twenty-two-year-old, because I was too frightened you’d be there, hulking around some corner, doing your best impression of the Hulk to anyone who showed any interest.

  “Months I’ve stayed hidden, like a big scaredy-cat, until Brody gave me a chance at a new beginning. Then you come along trying to fuck that up for me. At the same time, you bring another boy with you and shove him in my face. I’ll ask again. What is your fucking problem?” Ellie’s knee bounced as he finished talking.

  Seb’s dejected sigh pulled him away from his misery.

  “I didn’t think about your feelings. I was so caught up in my own despair. I know you said I didn’t love you, but I did.” He raised his hand to stop Ellie when his mouth opened. “Please. I let you have your say. Give me the same courtesy,” Seb asked, his broad shoulders heaving. “I did love you, but you were right, not enough to change for you. To accept you for who you are. I was wrong, and I’m sorrier than you’ll ever know.”

  Seb swallowed before continuing. “I haven’t stalked you for months. The last text I sent was more to see if you realised it was a year since you’d left, and I was trying to come to terms with my feelings for Richie.”

  Ellie lost the train of the conversation as it dawned on him that he’d been running scared for nothing, that Seb hadn’t tried to find him for months.

  While Seb explained everything, the worry of the last year melted away, and Ellie visibly relaxed. Why hadn’t they talked about this sooner?

  Not having any answer, Ellie tuned back into Seb.

  “So you love this Richie. Does he know about you and your Daddy fetish?” he asked tongue in cheek, barely keeping the smir
k off his face and the laughter at bay.

  “Yes, he does, you insolent sod.” There was no heat in his words as he joined in with Ellie’s laughter. “He’s straight to boot and doesn’t want to hide what we have,” he mumbled.

  Ellie’s eyes widened. “What! Seriously? You fell for a straight guy. Oh, that’s too funny.” His giggles turned into full-blown laughter. He clutched his sides, hiccupping past the laughter. “You are in so much trouble.”

  “You don’t have to rub it in,” Seb grumbled halfheartedly.

  “Oh yes, I do,” Ellie panted, wiping his cheeks as a fresh wave of giggles had him rocking on the bench. “Come on. You have to see how hilarious this is. You, who likes to control everything, fell for a straight guy. And as you pointed out, I might remind you, doesn’t want to hide. How the hell are you gonna cope with that Mr Super Anal Pants.” Ellie sniggered.

  Seb was now the colour of beetroot as Ellie continue to poke fun at him.

  When Seb growled at him, Ellie held up his hands. “Okay, I’ll stop, but you need to get your game head on if you have any chance of fixing this. He looked devastated when you inadvertently called me boy. You need to go and find him and sort through all those pieces of crap you’ve used to keep people at bay. He needs you to man up.”

  “You’re special. The moment I met you, I knew that, and I think that’s why I struggled to let you go. You have a light that draws people in to bask in its glow. Only I was too selfish to share that. Instead all I did was smother you.” Seb spoke with such sincerity tears welled in Ellie’s eyes.

  “Hey, don’t cry. You know it’s my weakness.”

  Ellie gave him a watery chuckle. “Listen, I have to go. I was only supposed to be having a quick bite before going back to work. Aaden will skin me alive. He still doesn’t quite know what to make of me.”

  Seb’s brows drew together before he spoke again, “Listen. Do me a favour, will you? Tell Brody to watch out. I found out you were here from Luke, Brody’s ex. There is something decidedly off about him. Especially if you consider Luke hired a private detective to find out who Brody is dating. It sends warning bells clanging in my head, that’s for sure.”