“Babe, are you cold?” Zane asked when he felt his mate shiver.
“No-o-o-o,” David said, embarrassed his mate sensed his panic attack. Doing breathing exercises the doctor had prescribed hadn’t helped as they’d done before. The last one he remembered was when Morgan found him sleeping in a garbage pile behind the Wolf Pack Pub, homeless, hungry and cold. Why he ever thought Scotland would be the perfect place for him in the dead of winter was beyond comprehension. By the time he discovered how brutal the weather could be compared to sunny Tuscany, he’d used up the money he’d stolen, and it was too late to go anywhere else.
His fear when Morgan grabbed his arm, dragging him out of the heap of trash he’d wormed his way into, triggered a panic attack so fierce, he couldn’t disappear, though where he’d go to, he hadn’t a clue. Realizing his precarious state, Morgan lifted him up, carried him inside and called a doctor who calmed him down. Then he shoved David into a shower, produced some clothes for him and had a hot steaming meal waiting for him when he emerged. Just how lucky he was, became apparent the next day when Morgan offered him a job and a warm place to live. David knew he owed his life to Morgan because he would have frozen to death that night without his help.
“What’s the matter, babe?” asked Zane, pulling David tight against his body while sending out his Alpha power. “Are you worried the shifter might find you here?”
David’s body and wolf immediately responded; his panic attack faded, and his body stilled. “Sorry, I tried to stop it, but I couldn’t do it this time.”
“What triggered it?”
“I was imagining what the High Priestess would do to me if she found out I claimed my Fated Mate.”
Zane grinned. “You want to claim me?”
“Yes, if you’ll have me after I tell you everything.”
“Oh, babe, don’t worry about any of that. Of course, I want you, no matter what you tell me.”
“Well, there’s something else you should know about me claiming you.”
“What?”
“I don’t know anything about a claiming ceremony because they never taught me that one. But I’m a fast learner and if someone can give me the words I have to say, and help me make the robes I need, it won’t take me long to be ready. I’ll try not to embarrass you in front of your family.”
It took Zane a few moments to unscramble David’s conception of a claiming, but once he did, he smiled to himself. Davidwasa virgin and no other had ever touched his mate—nor ever would. “Babe, I can explain all about what’s involved when we claim each other so don’t worry. No words to learn, no special clothes to wear.”
David turned his head to see if his mate was telling the truth and, after finding it in Zane’s face, he smiled. “That’s a relief. I was worried because I didn’t want to mess up.”
“Babe, trust me, you won’t. Now, how about breakfast? I can smell coffee so I’m pretty sure Brian’s up.”
“Don’t you want to call your brothers first?”
“Nope, it can wait till after we eat. I also have some stuff I want to talk to our host about,” Zane said, sliding slowly out of bed, already missing his mate.
“I guess we’ll have to wear our pajama pants to breakfast.”
Zane glanced down, then gave David a wry smile. “Yeah, well, Brian did say he liked mine.”
Giggling, David scooted out of bed and, taking his mate’s hand, led him from the cabin.
Smiling, Brian looked at the two of them, holding hands and laughing, surmising they’d reached a decision between last night and this morning. “Breakfast will be ready in a trice so if ye’d like to wash up, the door to the head is that one,” Brian said, waving his pancake spatula at it.
David glanced at Zane, then laughed at the confusion he saw in his mate’s face. “Babe, I’ll use the head first, okay?”
Wide eyes looked at David then over to Brian. “The bathroom is called a head?” Zane asked.
“Ay, laddie,” Brian said with a wide grin. “Yer mate did nae know that either.”
Snapping his head around, Zane found his mate shaking quietly with laughter. He swatted David’s chest, saying, “I owe you for that!” then motioning him toward the head, smirked. “Laddies, first.”
After David shut the head door, Zane sat at the table, looking at Brian. I wonder if I can trust him, but shit, what other fucking options do I have?“David has agreed to claim me,” Zane said, quietly.
“Ay, and what about ye?” asked Brian.
“I knew I was going to claim him last night, if he’d let me,” Zane said. “Before we claim each other, we need a private place to talk without David fearing for his safety. That means the hotel is out, but I don’t know anywhere else we can go. I was hoping you could help us.”
Brian flipped over the pancakes, stirred the scrambled eggs and forked out the bacon that was done, before asking, “How fancy?”
