The tension in the room had risen to almost oppressive levels. Keeland didn’t understand why. Dom made that sound all the time. “Do you think I could get some coffee?” Keeland asked without turning around. He needed to defuse the situation somehow.
The hostility in the air didn’t lessen until a cup of coffee was placed in front of him. At the same time, Keeland felt Dom’s hand settle on his shoulder. He reached up to pat Dom’s hand, then grabbed his coffee.
Smiling at Chay and Gabe, he said, “So, tell me more about sharing a soul with a shifter.”
“Oh, uh, well, mates can talk telepathically to each other.”
“Yep.” Keeland nodded. “We already have that part. What else?”
“Well, you’ll live as long as Dom does.”
“Explain,” Keeland said.
“Shifters live longer than humans do. It’s different with different shifter species, but the average is about two hundred and fifty years. Now that you’ve mated, your life span will extend to Dom’s. The downside of that is if he dies, so do you, and vice versa.”
The knot in Keeland's stomach tightened even more, and he hadn’t thought that was possible. “I’ll die if Dom dies?”
“Once bonded, mates can’t live without each other. My people believe because we live so long, our mate’s life span matches our own so that we don’t have to spend all those long years alone.”
“What about your family?” Keeland asked. “If they’re shifters too, won’t you have them?”
Chay drew in a heavy breath. “That’s not always an option. A lot of the shifter groups have an aversion to gay men. In my own case, I was banished because of my preference for men.”
Gabe growled. Chay chuckled as he hauled his mate close to his side. After planting a kiss on Gabe’s lips hot enough to peel the paint off the walls, he looked back at Keeland. “That’s another delightful facet of being mated to a shifter. They’re possessive as hell.”
And that would explain Dom’s growling.
“There’s a few other things you need to know, Keeland,” Gabe said as his gaze shot to his brother for a brief moment before coming back. “I’m not sure how much Dom has told you, but hanging out with us isn’t the safest thing you could do.”
“I explained some and so did you,” Dom said, sitting down and scooting his chair so close their thighs rubbed together. “I don’t think he believed us, though.”
“I may have been a little hasty in my disbelief,” Keeland said. “Explain it to me again.”
This time, when Gabe and Dom explained who they were and how someone was trying to eliminate their family, Keeland listened with more of an open mind. Dom had already proved he wasn’t full of shit. He hoped Chay and Gabe weren’t either. Their tale was pretty outlandish, but the proof they had to back it up was undeniable…and furry.
Keeland believed they were telling the truth, but with each new thing they told him, his concept of the world changed. As much as he wanted to get to know Dom better and see if they could build something together, he was afraid there was no place for him in this crazy world they were telling him about.
By the time Chay and Gabe went silent, Keeland didn’t know how to put what he was thinking into words. This was freaking crazy. Panther shifters. Crazy men trying to kill them because they were from a ruling family. Who dreamed up this shit? It would make a great movie.
“Look, I need a little time to wrap my brain around all of this.”
Dom growled.
Keeland rolled his eyes and smacked him on the arm. “Knock it off. I didn’t say I wouldn’t be back. Just that I needed some time to think.” A small chuckle drew his attention across the table to Gabe’s smiling face. “What?”
“You just smacked a guy who can eat you if he wants to.”
“Dom wouldn’t hurt me,” Keeland protested, then realized what he'd said. He slowly turned to look at the man in question. “Youwouldn’thurt me.”
“Never,” Dom whispered.
Keeland smiled as he leaned into the big man. He wasn’t too sure about this whole shifter business, but the knowledge that Dom would never hurt him went a long way toward alleviating his fears. Being a small man, Keeland had run into his fair share of big men who thought they should rule the world and used their size to do it. He was pretty sure his heart would break if Dom was that way.
Keeland leaned back so he could look up at Dom. “I need to go by the clinic and check on the kenneled animals. I also need time to think things over. Why don’t you”—he held up his hand when Dom opened his mouth—“come by my house this evening for dinner?”
Dom’s grin was almost feral in its intensity. “I could do that.”
Keeland stood. Before stepping away, he leaned down, brushed his lips over Dom’s ear, and whispered, “Bring Henrietta and an overnight bag.”
Dom’s deep growl followed him out of the room.
