Prologue
Taggart
Out of day care and changed, Taggart worked to put back the barriers in his mind to cope with what Cosmo was asking of him. His little side stopped him spiraling into the depths of despair some days. His jean-clad legs ate up the distance in long strides and, without ceremony, he plopped down on the stool beside Cosmo. He didn’t so much as acknowledge anyone sitting near Cosmo because his focus was on the milkshake he knew washis. Reaching for it, he took a long slurp from his straw, sighing contentedly, before he burped.
“Where is your home training?”
The rumbly voice was all Daddy and did something very weird to Taggart.What was wrong with me?
He glanced down at the guy who spoke, and his insides had a party with fireworks, and he snarked, “In the dumpster behind the pizza shop on Mulberry Lane.” He slurped on his straw again, finding it impossible to focus when…
The silence amongst those who sat at the bar lasted a second before the huge guy grunted, then let out a long series of loud, rumbly snorts and chuckles.
“Whoa… I didn’t know you could laugh, Arlo,” Cosmo said, looking like he was struggling to hold his giggles back, making Taggart want to snigger at achieving something Arlo didn’t do when his brain fired multiple things at him at once.
When Arlo muffled his laughter and shot a look at those at the bar Taggart couldn’t interpret, his innards ramped up the party for one.
“Alright guys,” the giant muttered, though his lips quivered several times and, holy shit, he was fucking hot, or was it that Taggart felt hot?
Taggart smirked at the rhino, hoping like fuck he was coming across as cute and sassy, rather than dorky, which was usual for him. Because this huge dude was…is my mate!
The sense of knowing grew, and with it came a deluge of pheromones that left him struggling to hold it together.
“Let’s get down to business,” the rhino grumbled in a rumbly tone that set Taggart alight.
Way to fucking go!
Keep it together.
Come on, don’t go losing it.
Taggart had that on replay as he did his best to act all casual, listening to the rhino chuckle-snort. The guy was fucking huge, andhis mate.I have a mate. A huge mate. Someone bigger than me. Holy flip balls, he can bounce me on his knee!
With how his senses were screaming at him in a way they never had, Taggart was surprised he wasn’t dancing off the seat. He felt like he could at any moment. He had a lot of energy and hoped that it would get used up by the rhino.
What would his horn feel like against his fur?
Would he let him scamper up his back? Lie on his belly and bask in the sun? Taggart loved to do that in his animal form. The questions never stopped, he was used to it. His mind was often like the computer code he loved to play with, full of twists and turns.
“Straight to business, as always,” Bash, Romy’s mate, muttered, eying the other rhino in a way that Taggart didn’t understand.
“It’s what Taggart is here for,” the rhino replied, and Taggart was sad that the rumbly snorting had stopped.
The guy—Arlo Taggart watched out of the corner of his eye as he sucked on his straw, wishing he could drop his gaze just a little to see what Arlo was packing. Taggart had a sensitive mouth, which was why he preferred to suck his thumb. He did his best not to appear all starey in Arlo’s direction because a niggle of worry wormed its way past the happy vibe. Didn’t Arlo feel the pull between them?
Taggart did. It was smack bang right in the center of his chest. Not knowing the others well, except for Cosmo, Taggart had no clue how to act. Had he been too cheeky? Arlo had laughed, so he had to have given just the right amount of sass—hadn’t he?
“What experience do you have mining information from computers?” Arlo went straight to the business end. Talking about the computers they had found somewhere they didn’trefer to as an actual place. Not that the data pack Cosmo had given him hadn’t smelled of death, giving him a clue it was bad and also no wish to ask.
No, Taggart had spent years mining information on the dark web, seeing untold nasties, so he preferred to avoid talking about things. They often got stuck in his head and wouldn’t shake loose. When things got bad, he came here, Little PawsHavenwas exactly that for him, a haven, despite many of the Daddies not paying more than a cursory amount of time with him. Being big and liking to be Little for him had not always been easy. He got he wasn’t a cute, dainty Little, like Cosmo, but he tried.
The straw popped out from between his lips when everyone looked to be waiting for his answer. He swallowed the sigh. “I’ve lots of experience with computers. Working with code. Creating programs to search through information looking for keywords,” he offered Arlo a flirty smile. “Stuff like that.”
“So, do you think you can retrieve whatever is on the computers we got?” Bash asked, arching a brow in a way that suggested that Taggart could have missed something vital.
Taggart gave a cautious nod. It was tricky being overconfident, when some folks could out smart even the best techy guy. “I think so. The data box Cosmo gave me, I’ve got set up at home, I’m running a virus scan right now, once it’s done, I can start mining the information.” He spoke directly to Bash, but his gaze flickered over to Arlo, who looked to be listening intently. “You might need to give me some clue as to what I’m looking for, otherwise it could be a needle in a haystack—type situation. Which isn’t impossible to find, but could waste a lot of my time.”
“We don’t wanna do that. I’m sure you’ve got folks who wouldn’t want us monopolizing all your time.” Arlo’s skin darkened when Bash grinned. “Work, I’m sure you got a job.”
