I poured some ginger ale over enchanted ice and served it to him with a twist of lime. I grabbed some crackers too in case he changed his mind about being hungry.
“I didn’t mean to disturb you, if you’d like to finish your meal.” He gestured toward my plate.
“I don’t mind. I’m always happy to see you.”
He fiddled with the end of his loose braid, looking everywhere but at me, so I reached for his hand and squeezed. “Hey, sweetheart, want to tell me what’s on your mind?”
He swallowed, eyes welling up with tears, then let out a tiny, helpless whimper before the waterworks began. I immediately scooped him into my arms and led him to the couch where I could set him on my lap. With his arms wrapped around my neck, he buried his face in my shoulder and quietly sobbed. I rubbed slow circles onto his back and waited for the tempest to pass, then gently wiped his face with the hem of my shirt. I’d need to stock up on tissues for my sensitive boy.
“You having a day?” I asked and he nodded, pressing his lips tightly together so he’d not be tempted tochew. “Want to talk about it?” I’d assumed that was why he came over, but maybe he just needed to be held.
“I don’t want to trap you,” he said, which was an odd thing to say. Of all my concerns about our relationship, that was probably the farthest from my mind.Trap me, please,I wanted to tell him, but I wasn’t so sure how he’d take it in his current state of mind.
“Is this about our conversation last night?” I asked, and he blinked as if just remembering that we’d spoken.
“I summoned you?” he said and then with more certainty, “I summoned you.”
“Yup.”
“You tucked me in,” he said as a fresh round of tears flooded his pretty eyes.
“Yes, I did. I could do that for you every night if you moved in here with me.”
Was it bold of me to suggest it outright? Too soon? We’d been together for a little over a month, but I honestly didn’t care if anyone (mainly my sister) thought we were moving too fast. For me, it wasn’t fast enough. I wanted him with me all the time, in my bed and at my table. He was my lover and my boy, and he belonged with his Daddy.
Skylar glanced around my apartment as if seeing it for the first time.
“I can go through my stuff and get rid of some things to make room for you,” I offered. “You can decorate the place however you want.”
“That’s not…” He paused to gather himself. “That’s very generous of you, Hiero, but that’s not what this is about. Not exactly.”
“Okay. So, what is it about?”
“There’s something I need to tell you, and I’m not really sure how you’ll take it, but I think it’s important for you to know–”
The door to my apartment swung open and Frito barged in without even bothering to knock.
“What the fuck, Frito?” I asked, hackles raised, because my privacy was important to me, and Skylar’s too, especially when he was so clearly upset.
“Sorry to interrupt you, boss, but we’ve got a situation downstairs.”
“What kind of situation?” I growled.
“The fae prince is back and he’s brought reinforcements.”
The bar was still closed to the public, a small blessing, but that hadn’t stopped the prince and a dozen of his guards from strolling inside and cluttering up the place with their boots and their weapons. I assessed the potential damage to life and property. Before I could stop him, Skylar rushed around me to hammer the prince with some choice words.
“What the fuck are you doing here, Cedrych? Why can’t you stay in Emrallt Valley where you belong?”
“This is none of your concern, Skylar,” the prince said as he drew his steel. “And I’m not here for you anyway. I’m here for the minotaur.”
“The fuck you are. You can march your sorry ass right out of this bar before you get your butt kicked all the way back to Crystal Castle. And I’ll make sure theDaily Scrollsknow all about it. I can just see the headlines now: Prince Cedrych Gets His Nose Broken at Borderlands Shifter Bar. Your family portraits will never look the same again.”
That headline sounded pretty accurate to me, and I appreciated my boy’s sass, but seeing the prince’s sword so near to my beloved rattled my nerves, so I grabbed hold of Skylar’s shoulders and steered him toward the bar where Monica was already on guard.
“Stay back here,” I told them both. “No matter what.”
“This is ridiculous,” Skylar said, climbing onto the bar to shout at the prince from across the room. “Do you really want to make an enemy of the Wolfsbane Clan, Cedrych? What will Mommie Dearest say when she finds out you’ve been causing trouble in the shifter realm? She’ll ship you off to the icy tundra of the Northern Realm where you’ll freeze your nuts off, and your dick will never get hard again.”
