Page 27 of Mated to the Human: Volume One

Calliope reappeared in front of them, setting down two drafts of a dark, reddish beer and three shot glasses. She turned around, grabbed the bottle of Jameson off the shelf, and filled the shots to the brim. She picked up one of the shots and held it out in front of her.

Jake picked his up, too, then turned expectant eyes on Cane. Lifting his, he brought it toward Calliope’s and Jake’s.

“Love and loyalty,” Calliope said.

Jake smiled, adding, “Family and faith.”

They both looked at him. Jake seemed ready to give him an out, but he didn’t need one. Clinking his glass against theirs, he said, “Brash and balls.”

Jake sputtered, nearly choking when he did his shot. Calliope laughed, a short, warm sound that made him think the sister might have more of a rebellious streak than her brother.

After she cleared their shot glasses, Calliope nodded toward the menu in front of him. “Do you know what you want?”

“We want the pretzels to start, and I think I’ll try the chicken sandwich.”

“Good choice.” She took the menu and walked away.

Jake coughed one more time and pressed his palm to the bar. “You about killed me.”

“Sorry.” Cane pointed toward Calliope. “Did you want to order something?”

“Oh, she knows what I want.” Jake shrugged, looking a little sheepish. “I’m a creature of habit.”

Pursing his lips, Cane took that in with everything else he’d learned about his mate so far.

“So, uh, you didn’t say much on the way here, but I got the feeling you didn’t really want to do this.” Jake wasn’t looking at him. He was focused on the TV hanging above the bar with some football game on and the volume muted. That was one thing about this bar. There were only two TVs in the whole place. One with sports and the other with some show he’d never seen before. The clientele was pretty varied as well—men, women, young, old.

“Did you?”

Licking his lips, Jake took a drink of his beer. “When the idea was first brought before the council, I was hesitant. But…in some ways, it does make sense. You and I, for example, I doubt we would have given each other a second look otherwise.”

“I might’ve looked twice,” Cane said with a twist of his lips.

Jake looked over at him, shock written all over his face.

Cane shrugged. “You’re sexy. In that whole good boy way.” Leaning close enough, he could feel Jake’s breath rush over his lips, he whispered, “Makes me want to dirty you up.”

A blush crawled up Jake’s neck and into his cheeks. Cane wanted to give him grief for it, but Calliope chose that moment to set down their pretzels. She smirked at them. “Not at the bar, you two.”

Jake waved her off and drank more of his beer. Shit, he was easy to rile.

Acting innocent, Cane picked up one of the pretzels, tore off a chunk, and dipped it in the pot of cheese. The pretzel was perfectly chewy with just the right amount of salt, and the cheese was sharp, spicy, and entirely decadent. “Damn,” he said, tearing off another hunk of pretzel to dip. “That’s fucking good.”

With a chuckle, Jake grabbed one for himself. “Told you.”

They ate in silence, the blush slowly receding from Jake’s cheeks. Cane almost felt bad about the hard time he was going to give Jake, but there was no way he was letting his mother off the hook for pushing him into this—even for this sexy, sweet man.

3

It had taken Jake a while to fall asleep. First, he wasn’t really used to having anyone else in his apartment. Even though Calliope lived on the floor below him, this space was his and had been since he’d claimed it when he turned eighteen. Second, it seemed that even with Cane in the guest bedroom, he was painfully aware of the other man’s presence. The erection he’d sported behind the zipper of his jeans for half of dinner came back with a vengeance once he was closed up in his bedroom alone.

Still, he’d managed to fall into a fitful sleep. He was awake now, though. Something had woken him, but he couldn’t say what. Listening intently to the apartment beyond the bedroom door, he heard nothing.

Climbing out of bed, he went to the door and opened it. Immediately, he knew he was alone. He could feel it. Walking down the hall to the guest room where Cane was supposed to be, he pushed the door open and flicked on the light. No Cane. The covers on the bed were mussed, like he’d at least laid down, but there was no other evidence he’d been there at all.

“Shit.” Jake turned from the room and went to check the rest of the apartment, just in case. No Cane.

Some dark feeling crept into his chest. Something was wrong. There were no signs of a struggle, and the protection charms he had in place would have alerted him to an intruder. Cane had left of his own accord—there was no reason to think otherwise—but he couldn’t shake the feeling that his mate was in danger.

---