Page 184 of Beau and the Beast

“Nothing terrible, I hope,” Noah said.

“Ferryn was talking about identity theft and someone brought up your hacking days,” Violet said, stepping forward and pressing glasses of champagne into both of their hands.

“Ah,” Wolfram said, being careful with the delicate flute in his big hands. He lofted it in the air and caught Beau’s eye with a wink. “To the man of the hour, then.”

The other guests who were listening lifted up their glasses and everyone smiled.

Beau laughed, but didn’t cross the room to say hello. He excused himself, stepping down the hall. Wolfram turned to take an alternate route to the kitchen instead of trying to make his way through the crowded room. The condo had generous rooms with sparse furniture in order to allow them to have NHP guests with unusual proportions—but it was still easier to go down a different hallway than to try and cut a path in between everyone gathered.

“Is something the matter?” he asked, catching Beau by the hips and pulling him in for a kiss when he found the other man in the kitchen.

“Of course not,” Beau said, trying to wrest away so that he could busy himself with the spread of food. “I’m just nervous about getting everything together at the last minute. You know how I get.”

Wolfram knew that he was lying. He could almostsmellthe lie on him.

“No, that’s not it,” Wolfram said, still holding him tight by the hips. Beau gave up his struggle and stood still, crossing his arms in front of his chest and frowning up at him. “Tell me what’s going on.”

“Youtellmewhat’s going on. You’ve been weird for days.”

“Have I?” Wolfram asked. Maybe he hadn’t been hiding his nervousness about the night as well as he thought. “Everything is fine, I assure you. I’m just excited.”

“About what?”

“About the center. About our home. About… life. With you.”

He dipped to steal another kiss before releasing Beau. The explanation seemed to ease at least a little of Beau’s moodiness.

“Do you need help or will I just be in the way?” Wolfram asked.

“You could wrangle everyone and get them to sit down,” Beau suggested. “You and Noah were the last people we were waiting on, so I might as well serve dinner.”

* * *

The meal Beauhad put together for everyone that night wasn’t particularly ambitious, but he knew that it would be good. He’d seared steaks for Wolfram and Janet, but everyone else was going to get his typical vegetarian fare with big plates of simmered chickpeas, jackfruit ravioli, and polenta tarts passed around the table family style.

Wine flowed as fast as the conversation, and once everyone had taken their first bites and told Beau that the food was delicious finally—finally—he felt at ease.The party had taken on a life of its own and he no longer felt like he needed to supervise anyone, to make sure that every person was having fun and was comfortable.

They sat at the long, low table that Wolfram had commissioned, everyone seated on the floor with cushions for the humans and satyrs and Janet and thick pads for the Ferryn and the other centaur. Wolfram was adept at wielding the large utensils they’d found him and Janet the wendigo seemed shocked at how easy it was once she picked up her own big set.

Down on one end of the table, he could hear the pair of satyrs interrogating Geoffrey and Alfie about the first time they’d met Beau, suggesting that they kidnapped him.

“Nobody kidnapped anybody,” Alfie said loudly.

“Yeah, we kinda kidnapped him,” Geoffrey said at the same time, speaking over him.

He caught Noah beaming at him from across the table.

“What?” Beau demanded.

Noah shrugged. “Just happy, I guess.”

Noah had blossomed in the month while Beau was away from him the first time. Beau had been shocked when he saw Noah for the first time, sitting in a cell in New Whitby lockup. He’d looked confident, unashamed, and Beau had wondered just how much he changed in the time that Beau was gone.

It was as if Noah had grown ten years in a month, and the more time Beau spent with him after their separation, the more impressed he was.

Mothering him, treating him like he needed to be protected—Beau had always thought these were the things Noah needed from him. But he understood, then, that he’d been treating his brother with kid gloves. He’d never demanded anything from Noah, had been quick to forgive him without chiding. Forced to live on his own, Noah had grown up quickly.

And in the world that now included non-human people, Noah had found a new comfort he had never known before.

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