Page 42 of Secrets at Dawn
Toby bit his lip and leaned into Griffin, snuggling in until Griffin put an arm around him and pulled him closer. “Promise we can have marathon number two when this is over.”
Griffin chuckled. “I definitely promise.”
“I’m not joking. I want you again.” His insatiability was a little annoying because it wasn’t appropriate when they would be around so many people. “I want you all the time. Like every second of every day. Is something wrong with me?”
Griffin stopped them before they could go inside. He pulled Toby in for a hug. “If something is wrong with you, then it’s wrong with me, too.”
“Well, that’s just great. Now we have the same damn disease.” Toby returned the hug.
Griffin chuckled again. “I’m just that good in the sack.”
“If you are, then so am I because you want me, too.”
The door opened, and a wolf shifter with long dark hair stood in the opening. “I don’t know if you realize this, Griffin, but wolf shifters can hear far better than other people can.”
Toby nodded. “That’s true.”
Griffin grinned. “Sorry. I thought our conversation was private.” He pulled Toby to his side. “Marric, this is Toby, my mate. Toby, this is Marric, my stepfather.”
Toby raised his eyebrows because Marric was very young to be a stepfather to Griffin.
Marric huffed. “I told you not to call me that.” Marric smiled at Toby. “This one likes to tease. A lot. Anyway, I’m Iven’s mate. It’s nice to finally meet you. I’m glad you’re feeling better.”
A boy ran past Marric to Griffin. He wasn’t very old. He might have been eight years old or so, and he smelled like a witch, but his magic smelled on the darker side.
Griffin let Toby go and caught the boy, lifting him into his arms to hug him.
“Grandpa took me riding. I even got to go on the trails. Daddy said he’d learn how to ride since I learned. Can you learn, too? Then we can go on the trails together.”
Griffin grinned, but his expression softened. “I’d love to learn how to ride a horse. Thank you for including me.”
The boy took Griffin’s face in his small hands and then pressed their foreheads together.
Toby didn’t know Griffin could make him melt into a puddle more times than he already had.
“Brothers for life,” Griffin and the boy whispered at the same time.
“It’s super cute, isn’t it?” Marric stood next to Toby. “That’s their thing. Griffin started it, but Riley does the same thing with Regan, too.”
“It’s sweet.” Toby wasn’t sure what the story was with Regan, but there had to be one. Regan was a very cute little boy, buthe was a dark magic user. Griffin and Riley weren’t, which meant Regan’s biology was different. But that wouldn’t matter to Griffin.
Toby felt like fanning himself. Griffin wasn’t helping with his problem of wanting him all the time.
Not appropriate, Toby.Which it wasn’t, so Toby kept his hands down at his sides.
Griffin set Regan on his feet when they were finished, and Regan ran down the porch and to Riley, where he did the same thing, only Riley wasn’t buying into getting on a horse. “I don’t know if this city boy can handle a horse. What if I get scared?”
Griffin pulled Toby to his side again and grinned at him, which totally stole Toby’s focus away from Regan. “Why are you looking at me like that?”
Toby grinned right back at Griffin. “Because you were adorable with your little brother. It made my ovaries burst.”
“You don’t have ovaries.”
“How do you know?”
“Because I’ve done a thorough examination.” They’d gone at it for three solid days. It was amazing.
“You’d better do another one. Just in case.”
