Smirking, Logan bent down and kissed his mate before murmuring, “You knew I would agree, didn’t you?”
“Absolutment!” Kieran giggled, throwing his arms around Logan’s neck and giving him a lip-smacking kiss.
Logan cupped Kieran’s butt with his hands and lifted him up against his chest, then whispered in his mate’s ear, “Are we finished with the tour of Ian’s castle because I think it’s time for some hanky-panky.”
“Yup and yup!” Kieran exclaimed, hooking his ankles over Logan’s ass. “Let’s go!”
Grinning, Logan headed for the door, but before he reached it, his phone buzzed. “Oh shit,” he growled, stopping. “I'd better get that.”
“Don’t you dare put me down,macushla, I can do it,” Kieran ordered, reaching his left hand into his mate’s jacket pocket. After a few moments of digging around, he triumphantly pulled Logan’s phone out and held it up. After opening the text, Kieran read it, then said, “It’s from the Alpha of English Wolves. He wants to know if we can come tomorrow since his wife wants to meet her new son-in-law, Tristan.”
“How did he know we planned to see him?” Logan asked,with a frown, before he resumed walking.
“Heath told him. According to our spirit, Heath’s mother is eager to meet me, but she already had the trip to see Tristan planned so now Heath’s father is trying to figure out a way they can meet me and keep their original plan to travel to California.”
“We can’t go tomorrow because I’m not finished here.”
“Yes we can,macushla. Your dragon can fly us there tomorrow night, and we can stay for a couple of days before we come back here. See? Easy-peasy!”
Chuckling, Logan said, “No, my love…I can’t arrive there in my dragon form without raising a ton of questions.”
“Duh, I didn’t mean you should land in the middle of their pack, but we can find a place outside their border to land and go the rest of the way on foot.”
“I don’t know,” Logan murmured cautiously. “I would prefer to arrive during the day…it makes it easier to see who’s around.”
“Right,” Kieran murmured, thinking about the problem, before suddenly shouting, “O.M.G.! I just got the bestest idea ever! Sawyer can cloak us, then you can shift into your dragon…we can fly there tomorrow during the day cause no one will see us and then after we land, Sawyer can uncloak us. See? Easy-peasy.” When his mate didn’t respond immediately, Kieran pleaded, “Please,macushla…our spirit said it’s important we go tomorrow.”
Unable to resist his mate’s plea, Logan agreed. “But only if Sawyer can cloak us, okay?”
Nodding happily, Kieran gave his mate another kiss before ordering, “Move it,macushla! You promised me hanky-panky!”
“And that is what you shall get,” Logan growled.
~/~/~/~/~
It was the buzzing of his mate’s phone that woke Steel up at dawn. After rubbing the remnants of sleep from his eyes, he glanced at Jackson and found him in a deep sleep. It didn’t surprise him since yesterday had been pretty stressful for his mate. Unwilling to wake him, he reached over and grabbed Jackson’s phone. Holding it up, he blinked several times before the notification came into focus. Reading it, he cursed silently before setting the phone back on his mate’s nightstand.
Weighing his options, Steel decided to let Jackson sleep while he solved the problem. Gently sliding out of bed, he padded over to the closet and slipped into jeans and a t-shirt. After checking the baby monitor, he grabbed his phone and headed towards the door. Opening it quietly, he stepped into the hallway and, closing the door behind him, headed toward the location stated in the text message.
Reaching the library, Steel pushed open the heavy door and entered, surveying the room for their missing human. He wasn’t sure if Jackson would be pleased that Cain had finally left his bedroom or pissed that the human had been out all night. If it were up to him, Steel thought it a good sign Cain felt comfortable enough to leave his room, even if it was when everyone else was asleep.
His eyes finally located Cain, curled up in the oversized and overstuffed chair, surrounded by books and sound asleep. Walking over to him, Steel’s bare feet made no sound, but whenhe pulled over another chair to sit on, the slight scraping noise it made was enough to wake Cain up.
Startled, it took Cain a moment to realize where he was, but when his gaze landed on the man sitting across from him, a small yelp escaped.
“Sorry,” Steel said softly, “I didn’t mean to wake you.”
Remaining silent, Cain stared at Steel for a moment before lowering his eyes. It was another lesson he’d learned in prison—never lock eyes with another inmate because it could be regarded as a challenge. Even though Steel reminded him of Sarge, he wasn’t sure of his reaction, so it was best not to look at him directly. Afraid of why the Alpha Mate was there, he murmured, “Sofia said it was all right for me to be here. Was she wrong? I’ll go, but please don’t send me away.”
Cain’s actions surprised Steel. They were unlike those of the humans he’d known through his work at Dire Enterprises. He was used to them showing off. His father often referred to them as braggin’ and struttin’—each human wanting to be the biggest, baddest alpha male in the room. But Cain, here, was behaving more like an omega, quiet and shy—totally opposite of his behavior stated in his file.Which description is correct? Only time will tell.“No, you’re fine,” Steel replied. “You can go anywhere in the house.” His gaze fell on the books stacked on the table next to Cain. Pointing to them, he asked, “Do you enjoy gardening?”
Running his hand over the book in his lap, Cain smiled at the roses pictured on the cover. Nodding, he whispered, “One of my foster moms had a garden, and she used to let me help her.”
Steel chuckled. “I love looking at flowers but didn’t spend any time growing them. It was easier to just buy a bunch for my mother’s birthday.”
Cain said quietly, “Most of my foster dads did that.”
“The hardest part for me was deciding which flowers to buy. There were so many to choose from in the florist's shop.”