“That must’ve been a shock to a lady like that.”
“I don’t think anything shocked Eugenie. She just smiled, in that gentle way of hers, and said that god had a purpose for every being, and then she asked me if I was a good man. I told her no, I wasn’t, but that maybe I’d like to be.” Beaumont sniffed, blinking rapidly. “She said she’d help me, and she did. She taught me how to be a better man.”
It was comforting, Duron’s heat, his presence, the solidness he represented. Duron was also a shifter, with an instinctive possessiveness of goodness knows how many animal spirits he had who fought for domination inside. Beaumont wasn’t sure what else Duron would want him to say, but when Duron asked, “What happened?” the words came spilling out.
The fact he’d been away for so long, coming back early for James’ birthday. A lack of fire in the chimney, the horse shut in the stable with no food or water. The boys’ steps that had been missing when they’d usually be first in the yard to greet him.
It was an emotional vomit. Once he started, Beaumont couldn’t stop. There was a part of him that understood Duron’s position as a trained assassin meant there hadn’t been a horror he hadn’t seen. For the first time in his life, he could speak clearly and without censoring his words or their impact. He described finding his wife and daughter dead—the bloat, and the flies, and the incessant stench. The panic in looking for the boys and not finding them. How his alligator went on a rampage through the beautiful home Eugenie had crafted for them, searching for the boys and any clues that might have been left behind.
And then the long months afterward. Tracking scents that disappeared—as if it were waifs that had stolen the lives of his family. The hope was dashed time and time again as leads just disappeared into thin air. The notification about the body, and having to identify his oldest son…
The burning of the house, and how Beaumont knew deep inside that James was probably at the bottom of the ocean, never to resurface. “A hundred years I’ve been looking for answers to what happened to my family. A hundred long damn years.” Beaumont’s throat felt raw. “I even got on the shifter council, hoping that something, somewhere, would give me the answers I was looking for. And you know, in all that time, do you know who it was that gave me hope that there still might be answers to be found? It was your friend Marvin.”
“We think Marvin’s one of the original experiments,” Duron said slowly. “But I doubt even he’s old enough to have had anything to do with the death of your family.”
“No, no. Sorry, I never meant to give the impression he had anything to do with it.” Beaumont closed his eyes. He was so damn tired of the craziness of the Putney household, the trouble with the Devil, and that constant search for answers that always seemed just out of reach. The only light had been Duron. “Marvin told a story about Riley to the Council members—how his father had thought he was dead, and then Riley just turned up one day.”
“You still think your youngest son will come home one day?”
“No, not that.” Reaching over, Beaumont took hold of Duron’s battle-scarred hands. “James was half human. I don’t even know if he’d have been able to shift once he’d hit puberty or not. But if he’d lived a human life, James, Beau, Victoria, and Eugenie would’ve all lived out their natural lifespans, and I’d have had to have buried them by now, anyway. I do know that.”
“Wouldn’t that have been just as hard? Watching them age and die.”
“It wouldn’t have been easy, but I’ll never know now.” Beaumont’s grip on Duron’s hand firmed. “For the longest time, after their deaths, I blamed myself. I should’ve been home, I should’ve protected them better, I should’ve been there for them, and I wasn’t. Someone crept into my house, more than one person, and stole my foundation away from me. They cut four innocent lives short, for no reason, and that’s what I don’t understand. Why? Why did they have to die the way they did?”
Duron was quiet for the longest moment and Beaumont wondered if he would share anything about where he came from, and the family that might’ve loved him before his life was taken away as well. But all Duron said was, “We’ll find the answers. That changeling on the council, Urt, and that other walking-dead human, Andromeda—they’d been doing their experiments and stuff on shifters for a lot longer than a hundred years.”
“I realize that. Scant hope, but I’m closer now than I’ve ever been to finding the answers I’m looking for.” Beaumont looked down at their joined hands. “You don’t feel I’m comparing anything, do you? What I had with Eugenie was totally different from the life I’ll have with you, but it doesn’t make either one of them less important.”
“How would you compare me and a gentle human woman?” Duron’s chuckle made Beaumont look up. “Those Fates felt you and me were perfect for each other. I don’t think they’re wrong, do you?”
“No.” Beaumont put every ounce of conviction he could into that word. “I loved Eugenie and the life we had together, and I would never disrespect that time by saying otherwise. But that was a very long time ago. I’ve spent a long time alone. I am totally thankful to have you in my life. Totally.”
The answering nod was enough. Beaumont could feel through their bond that Duron accepted what he’d said, and better yet, his mate believed him. It was a heady feeling. Before he could suggest they make better use of the bed they were sitting on, Duron asked, “Is that why you were upset about the girl? Because she was lost?”
“It’s another one of the reasons why I got on the council, and why I accepted the council lead position, even though politics does my head in,” Beaumont said honestly. “There’s been too much corruption for too damned long among those who ruled the shifter world, and I want to do something about it. What happened to my family is just one part of it. What happened to you, and your friends—also under council watch—none of that should’ve happened. I can’t change the past, but I’m going to do everything I can to make sure nothing like any of this shit happens again in the future.”
“I’ll help you.”
Duron was right. There was no comparison between Eugenie’s offer to help him be a better man all those decades ago, and the offer from his mate to help him find answers and prevent anything like the assassin training program ever happening again. Eugenie’s smile was of hesitant anticipation that day she confronted him in the graveyard.
Duron’s glare was of cold, hard determination.I’ve truly been blessed twice over,Beaumont thought as he wrapped his free hand around Duron’s neck and pulled him closer for a kiss.
Chapter Thirteen
Duron
The kiss was hard and possessive as Beaumont encouraged him back on the bed. It didn’t take long for Duron to rid them of their clothing and find the lube. Beaumont was as dominant as Duron, and they rolled over the covers, each wanting control.
Duron’s blood burned with desire. Having a full picture of Beaumont’s past somehow opened a door into Duron’s heart. His mate wasn’t upset to have found himself mated to a shifter, even one such as Duron. Fuck no, he was happy about it in ways Duron couldn’t comprehend.
Family for him was the assassins who’d banded together to keep themselves sane. Marvin was the one who’d helped to bring them together. His visits had brought with it an understanding that the trainers didn’t know everything. Somehow, it formed a bond between them. Yes, there were others in cages with them, but Duron’s animals were good at reading who would keep quiet about their plans. And they’d never steered him wrong.
He had no memory of his own family, except of a den where he’d felt warm and safe. No faces, no names, just a feeling of connection, which he’d lost with a chain around his throat that tightened until he couldn’t breathe.
His mind wanted to travel back. Only Duron wasn’t playing that game. Desperate to stay present, he rolled Beaumont and pinned him to the mattress, with his arms above his head. Duron growled at the dark flush of desire coating his mate’s skin. He feasted on his neck, inhaling his scent, then moved down to hard, pebbled nipples, swapping between them to bite and suck until the air was thick with the scent of arousal, and Beaumont was gasping his name.
They wrestled once more, exciting Duron to the point his cock wanted to explode all over Beaumont’s rippling muscles. As if sensing his nearness to coming, Beaumont’s large fist slipped between them, taking hold of both their cocks. Squeezing them together, Duron rocked his body, driving his leaking cock through the tunnel of Beaumont’s fingers and rubbing against the steely hardness of his mate’s arousal.
