Hunter’s deep raspy voice sent shivers down Fionn’s spine. Dropping his backpack and quickly concealing thegift, he turned around and found his mate’s half-opened eyes staring at him. “Good morning, mate,” Fionn replied, joining Hunter on their bed. “I forgot to give you something yesterday.” Sitting cross-legged in front of his mate, Fionn kept his hands behind his back. “When I was at my hoard, my dragon insisted I had to bring you a gift…”
“Not necessary, pet, because you are my gift.”
Touched by Hunter’s comment, Fionn leaned forward, giving his mate a quick kiss. “Thanks, but my dragon was quite insistent and if you know anything about dragons, it’s just easier to do what they want sometimes, instead of arguing, because you don’t want to get them pissed off. So, I searched for the right gift but in the end, it was my dragon who picked it.” Fionn then held out the gift for his mate to see.
Blinking once, then again, Hunter half rose and stared at the statue his mate was holding. He couldn’t believe it. It was a gold wolf with enormous wings, looking as if it were about to take flight. “You knew my wolf was going to get wings?”
“Nope but my dragon did. When I found it, I thought it was supposed to symbolize you and me together. Only after I claimed you did I realize it represented my dragon’s gift to your wolf. Do you like it? It’s solid gold. I inherited it from my mother.”
“Then I’ll treasure it all the more,” Hunter replied, taking it from his mate. “Wow, it’s heavy.”
“I’m not sure where my mother got it since the inventory lists the giver as ‘unknown’ which is kind of unusual.”
“Why?” Hunter asked.
“Because every time a dragon adds to his hoard, it’s added to their inventory list that gives a description, the date of acquisition, and where it came from,” Fionn answered. “My mother told me the inventory list became mandatory after the last dragon war.”
“How come?”
“It’s supposed to stop dragons stealing from other dragons’ hoards. That’s what caused the war. So after peace was made, it was ordered that all dragons keep track of what they own.”
“Ahh…but can’t a dragon steal something from another’s hoard, then list it on their inventory claiming they got it somewhere else?”
“Nope, because the list keeper is always someone who isn’t a dragon and who has to post a bond…in my family it was our attorney. There’s also a team of auditors that go around checking the lists to make sure they’re correct.”
“What kind of bond?” Hunter asked, seeing lots of ways someone could cheat.
“A life bond…if the list keeper fails at his task, he forfeits his life.”
“Holy shit! That’s certainly an incentive to be honest.”
“Yes, it is. But for some reason, the auditors allowed our attorney to list the source of the winged wolf as unknown. Very strange.”
“Did you ever ask why, when you inherited your mother’s hoard?”
Shaking his head, Fionn replied, “I didn’t care. Her hoard was just a bunch of things as far as I cared…what I really wanted was my mother back. I’m glad my father never got her hoard, but that doesn’t make up for losing her.”
Hearing the sadness in his mate’s voice, Hunter placed the statue on the nightstand. Then, gathering him in his arms, he lay back down, holding his mate on his chest. Slowly rubbing his back, he began to hum the same melody his mother hummed to him when he was young. He understood how Fionn felt; it was the same with him when thoughts of his parents’ deaths escaped from the box he tried to keep them in. Though the pain of his loss had slowly begun to fade, it had to be much worse for his mate who was so much younger—and alone—when it happened to him.
Fighting back his tears, Fionn clung to his mate, desperately needing his strength. As his grief receded, he took deep gulps of his mate’s scent, reminding him that he was home, safe and protected. When Hunter’s touch finally drove the pain from him, Fionn whispered, “I love you so much.”
Chapter 29
Mid-morning found Fionn and his mate following Jackson to his study for their meeting with Oracle. He was about to find out his gift, something he didn’t want, but something he’d now have to learn to live with. The best he could hope for was that the gift wouldn’t change his mate’s mind about loving him.
“Guys, why don’t you take the love seat? Oracle can sit there when she arrives,” Jackson said, pointing to a club chair across from it.
Hunter sat with his arm draped around Fionn’s shoulder; tension was seeping back into his mate’s body. Surrounding him with his Alpha power in an attempt to soothe him, Hunter tried to get him back into the relaxed frame of mind he was in after their morning shower, but he had to admit their escapades in the shower probably had more to do with relaxing him than anything else. Nevertheless, his goal for today was to keep Fionn from getting uptight about his gift.
After they’d dressed, Hunter had intertwined his fingers with his mate’s, leading him down to the great room where Fionn was rushed by Theo, Norm, Kieran and Quin who surrounded him, separating Hunter from his mate. He was unruffled about their close encounters as he watched Fionn’s joy-filled face thank them for last night’s dinner and concert. Reclaiming Fionn when it was time for breakfast, he introduced him to the brothers he hadn’t yet met before both of them sat down.
Mealtime was filled with joking, teasing and laughing, most of it aimed at the newly-mated couple, but Fionn took it all in stride, even teasing Sawyer about Hunter getting blamed for Sawyer’s misdeeds when they were young—and that led to an impromptu contest betweenHunter and Steel. In the end, Hunter conceded—agreeing the blame Steel had to take for Slate’s shenanigans far exceeded what he’d experienced with Sawyer. But best of all, at the end of the meal, Robin gave Fionn a complete set of his CD’s along with an autographed manuscript of his songI Will Love You,promising to record it just for him.
But now, sitting in Jackson’s study, the thing his mate dreaded most was upon them and Hunter, anxious to give Fionn as much support as he could, leaned down and, whispered into his ear, “It doesn’t matter to me what Oracle tells you…I will always love you. Remember that today, okay?”
Fionn’s eyes flashed up, staring at his mate, finding the reassurance he desperately needed. “I love you, too,” Fionn answered, leaning into the side of Hunter’s chest.
Jackson was pleased by the affection he saw growing between his cousin and Fionn. He first noticed it at breakfast and now, here. When Oracle entered his study a few moments later, he stood to greet her before sitting again at his desk.
