While awkward for the older of the two, that did happen on occasion.Usually, the parent—or whoever would have been charged with Silas’s care—would have assisted in orchestrating interaction between the pair.They would have formed a platonic bond, a healthy mentor-mentee relationship that would naturally morph into something more when the younger shifter came of age.
I never got that chance, though.
Another reason to track down that blasted Misses Walsh.
“S-So...all that’s normal?”
Silas’s softly spoken question drew Craeg out of his annoyed thoughts.He bussed a kiss to Silas’s temple while murmuring, “Aye, my sweets.That’s normal.”When his mate didn’t seem to know how to respond, Craeg hoped to get his shifter to return to his story by asking, “Then what happened?”He glanced around the cavern.“How did ya end up here?”
With a sigh, Silas hunched even further in on himself, telling Craeg that whatever happened, it hadn’t been good.
Hell, how could it be when my sweets ended up livin’ in a cave?Or is he not really livin’ here, but just enjoyin’ some animal time?
Craeg focused on Silas as he started explaining once more.“About two weeks after telling Misses Walsh about what I was feeling, my limbs changed, and I grew fur,” he whispered.“It freaked me out, so I hid it as best as I could.”Silas’s face grew flushed as the scent of embarrassment filled the air.“There was a bully at the group home.Cameron.He caught me changing when I couldn’t control it.”His voice lowered further, and if Craeg hadn’t been a shifter, he wasn’t certain he would have heard Silas’s quietly murmured admission.“Cameron attacked me, and...things are a bit hazy after that.I—” Silas hesitated, nibbling his bottom lip.
Taking a guess, Craeg offered, “Your animal instincts took over, and ya defended yourself and fled.Right?”
After a few seconds of hesitation, Silas nodded.“Yeah.”His hands tightened, digging into the skin of his upper arms, betraying his unease just as easily as his peppery scent did.
At least the distressed aroma eased the ache in Craeg’s shaft.
“I-I think so.I remember, um, I remember clawing at him, uh, his face.”Silas’s brows furrowed as he obviously lost himself in thought.“And he was swinging at me.Then I flew up the chimney and away from the house.”After nibbling his lip for another few seconds, drawing Craeg’s attention to his thin beautiful lips, Silas lifted a hand to wave at the cavern absently.“I found my way in here.It took a while for the colony to accept me, but once they did, living with them has been...easier, I guess.”
Still focused on Silas’s mouth, Craeg struggled to get his brain to work properly.He wanted to taste his mate so damn badly.Barely resisting, he asked absently, “Easier than what?”
“Trying to figure out what I am, I guess,” Silas told him.“To control it.”As he gave one of the half-shrugs he seemed to favor, he added, “Trying to go back, get ID, get a job.”After another second, Silas shared, “I never finished school, so I don’t know what I’d even be able to do.How would I support myself?”
Craeg had the impression that Silas was asking a rhetorical question, so he didn’t bother trying to come up with an answer to that.Instead, his focus snagged on something else...something important.His mate had never finished school...and it sounded as if he’d fled after his first full shift.
Most shifters changed for the first time shortly after puberty.Plus, Silas had said he hadn’t finished school.
Just how old is my mate?How long has he been alone?
Lifting a hand, Craeg gently threaded his fingers through Silas’s short, shaggy hair.He ignored the oily griminess to it, silently vowing to do something about that later.Instead, Craeg used the gentle petting to urge Silas to tip his head back and meet his gaze.
Seeing Silas’s questioning expression, Craeg asked, “Oh, sweets.How old were ya when ya fled?”He spotted the way Silas’s dark eyebrows furrowed, so he quickly added, “Just how long have ya been down here alone?”
Please be legal.
“Um, well.”Silas appeared to be doing a quick mental calculation.“I was thirteen when I ran away, and there have been...uh, six summers passed while I was a bat, so...”
Silas’s voice trailed off, but Craeg had his answers.His mate had been alone way too damn long, but hewaslegal.
Craeg also bet his mate was completely untried, and a feral possessiveness roared through him.
I’ll be the only one to ever touch him.
With that thought simmering in his lust-fueled brain, Craeg’s focus again fell to Silas’s lips.“I wanna taste your lips so damn bad, sweets,” he rumbled, unable to help the huskiness of his voice.
“You do?”A squeak entered Silas’s words.
Craeg yanked his attention to Silas’s wide brown eyes, seeing the shock and disbelief there.
“Aye,” Craeg claimed.“I do.”When he watched Silas gape, his disbelief clear, Craeg urged, “Can I?”
“N-Never k-kissed anyone before.”Silas whispered the admission.
Getting confirmation on just how untried his mate was, Craeg mentally reined in his raging libido.That didn’t mean he wasn’t going to get the kiss he wanted, though.
