“Hi, Kota, Slate, how’s everything?” asked Zane.
“Good. Thanks for helping out,” Dakota said.
Waving his hand, Zane said, “No problemo.”
Laughing, Slate said, “I see Kieran has left his mark.”
“Yeah you could say that. He is something else. Dakota, you should tell Slate about the time Kieran decided Cody and Dylon needed help with their sex life.”
“What? Why did he think that?”
“From what I understand it all started when Kieran thought they were letting themselves go because they were new parents and then it took on a life of its own.”
“I gotta hear this,” Slate said, looking at Dakota. “Tell me what happened.”
“I don’t know exactly because I was in the kitchen, but afterwards Lizzie told me Kieran wanted her to help pick out sex toys for Cody and Dylon, you know, to spice up their sex life.”
“Oh, my fucking gods, they must have been pissed. And in front of Dylon’s mom?” Slate asked, trying to keep a straight face.
Giggling, Dakota replied, “Lizzie told me Dylon was furious at Kieran, and Cody had to step in to make peace.”
“He better not try to do that to us,” Slate growled, refusing to think about his mother looking at sex toys.
“Well hopefully, Logan now has him under control so we’re safe from Kieran,” Steel said.
“No offense guys, but I don’t think anyone will ever have Kieran under control,” Zane snorted.
“Maybe,” said Steel, “but I need to get cracking or I’m going to face one disgruntled, hungry crowd. Now out you two, and have fun.”
Slate took Dakota’s hand and led him from the kitchen to a sofa in the deserted great room. Sitting down, he tugged on Dakota’s hand until he joined him.
“Babe, when we talk to my mom, do you want Jackson to be there also?”
“I don’t know. What do you think?”
“Well, it depends on whether you want him to know what happened. If you want my opinion, I have no problem with him being there. I don’t know what happened to us but I’ll bet it has to do with your gift. Since he already knows about it, I figure he should hear the rest of it too. He is our Alpha, and I don’t like keeping those kinds of secrets from him.”
Nodding his head slowly, Dakota realized Slate was right. “Okay,” he said, “then he should be there.”
“Good. The other thing I have to do is to discuss with my father and Steel my decision to stop traveling so someone can be hired to do it instead of me.”
Worrying his bottom lip, Dakota asked, “Do you think they’ll object?”
Slate pulled Dakota onto his lap as he heard the concern in his mate’s voice. Reaching up to smooth the crease that had appeared between Dakota’s eyes, he said, “Not at all. My father will want what’s best for me and that’s staying with you and our pup.”
Smiling, Dakota said, “I’m glad. It must be nice to have a father like that.”
“Yes, it is, but I never really appreciated him when I was growing up. It wasn’t until I saw so many cases of bad fathers in my travels that I began to consider myself very lucky to have him as my dad.”
“I agree,” Dakota said softly, thinking about his father and how different he was compared to Maximus.
“Babe, he’s your father now too,” murmured Slate.
“I know, but I don’t think he wants somebody like me for a son, not when he has you and Steel.”
“Stop it, babe. Stop putting yourself down. There’s nothing wrong with you, in fact, quite the opposite. Only a very few are ever given what you got from the Fates and the fact that you’re one of the few, says more about the person you are than anything else. When I was taught about all the gifts the Fates could bestow, empathy was only given to shifters who cared more about others than themselves. Do you know how rare those shifters are, babe? Well, let me tell you, they are fucking rare. I’ve met thousands of shifters in my life and the only ones that even came close to being that way were Colton, Cody and Kieran. The Fates gave Colton and Cody other rare gifts. With Kieran, the Fates also gave him attitude and a mouth!”
Snickering, Dakota said, “That, they did, but I think that is exactly what my brother needed…someone who could make Logan young again. You haven’t met him yet but trust me, my father’s hatred did a number on him too. I don’t know how he survived…all I know is it changed him in a way that sucked all the happiness out of his life.”
