Page 9 of A Drink of Destiny
“So do tigers with their extra eyeballs on the backs of their ears,” Raiel said, leaning back on the heels of his hands.
“Leave my ears alone,” Beal growled, but his scent was more of a playful cub than an angry big cat. “I’ll have my baby get you.”
“Dude, he already did,” Raiel laughed.
“That’s because his back eyes work.”
I knew enough to understand they were discussing the white spots most tigers had on the backs of their ears to make it look as if they really had eyes there. I wasn’t aware that it was something other big cats teased them about.
“So, in or out? Nic’s going to come down and ask why we’re cooling down the outside soon,” Beal said after their laughter died down.
“I can drive them back and I’ll stop in to check on Pierce too,” Beal said.
“Uh… Alvis put him to sleep,” Raiel said.
“You must be Alvis,” Beal said and offered his hand to me.
I shook it. It was big like Raiel’s and he had a firm grip.
“Welcome to the family. There are way more of us than Earthside would have you believe,” Beal grinned. “Make yourself at home. Don’t worry about work yet but uh…. What did you do to Pierce?”
“I have a few magical abilities up my sleeves,” I shrugged. “It’s not the first time I’ve helped him sleep. I remember Pierce when he was a baby.”
“He says if anyone can wake up Annila, it’s you,” Beal said. “Though, I’m starting to think I should’ve let Mori try first. He showed up growling about how we hired someone we’d never met and then he laid down and howled about his true-mate. I think he came to kick my ass but ran out of steam.”
“Are you sure you’re okay with us being here for a bit?” Raiel asked. “I haven’t gotten any of his gifts yet.”
“Yes, he has. Blood was the first one,” I corrected.
“Food is not a gift,” Raiel sighed.
“Food was the original courting gift,” Beal cut into the conversation.
“Yes, but it’s not like I went out and hunted for it,” my mate rolled his eyes.
“No, you gave me lifeblood. That’s even better than hunting for some poor deer or something,” I said.
“You eat meat, right?” Beal asked.
“Of course, I do. I just feel bad for deer. They’re out there bothering no one and then some giant cat or wolf comes to eat them,” I shrugged.
“They shouldn’t be so tasty then,” Raiel laughed, and his cousin held out a hand to help him up.
I raked my eyes over what I could see of his chest and stomach. His shirt was ripped halfway down from his shift, but it looked as if I managed not to bruise him when I stopped him from pouncing on the unsuspecting Mori. The wolf was younger than both of us. Sometimes you had to cut young, dumb guys some slack and right now Mori was being chewed up and spat out by spirits.
“Why doesn’t he make a charm so the spirits can’t steal him away?” I asked the cats.
“Dunno,” Beal shrugged. “Maybe he hasn’t thought of it.”
“Maybe he likes the attention,” Raiel added on, ducking past his cousin and waving me into the house. “Thanks for taking them home.”
Raiel led me straight into the kitchen as if he thought I was starving again. A dragon sat in a rocking chair holding a baby to his chest. Both the baby and the dragon glanced up at us when we walked in.
“Hey, babycakes! Didn’t mean to wake you up, Nic,” Raiel said.
It took me an envious moment to realize babycakes was the baby and not the dragon rocking him.
“Haven’t been to bed yet. We were just about to lay down when Mori showed up. All his bitching woke up the baby. I would’ve taken a piece out of him but he’s going to feel like an asshole once he’s calmed down,” Nic shrugged and ran a hand through his hair, pushing it out of his face.
