“Get here?” Devlin sighed. “I’ll need to talk to Zac about that, Chase. It’s kind of against the rules for covens to associate with each other. Let me make sure that this is something Zac feels comfortable doing. He’s kind of—hold on.”
Chase pulled the phone away from his ear and stared down at it for a moment before putting it back up against his ear. He heard someone talking, two voices, but they were muffled so he couldn’t quite make out what they were saying.
“My prince has informed me that not only am I dumb shit for even questioning his willingness to help you and your mates, but we will be on our way to Prince Dominic’s estate just as soon as Albert can get us packed.”
“Uh, thanks.” Chase could barely hold in his grin as he replied to his brother. It seemed that Devlin’s mate had his brother’s balls in a vice. “It will be great to see you.”
“Yeah.” Chase could hear the amusement in his brother’s voice. It was good to hear his brother so happy. “Maybe I should call Donovan, Flynn, and Elliot, and drag them along with me. We can have us a regular family reunion.”
“As nice as that would be, maybe we should hold off for a little while. Things are kind of dicey at the moment, Dev. Besides, last I heard, Flynn and Elliot were visiting with Mom, Dad, and Tereza at some lake.”
“Oh, yeah.” Devlin chuckled. “Dad mentioned something about that.”
Chase smiled despite the situation he found himself in. Devlin never was good at remembering things like that, especially if they didn’t involve his prince. When it came to Prince Zacarius, however, Devlin remembered everything.
Chase wondered if it would be the same between him and his mates.
“It would still be nice to get together at some point,” Chase said. “I still haven’t had that much time to get to know Tereza or Elliot, and—” Chase lifted his head and cocked it to one side, a sound from outside the prince’s study catching his attention. When he heard it again, the sound of someone yelling, Chase knew he had to go investigate.
It sounded like Justin.
“Let me call you back, Dev,” Chase said and then he hung up before his brother could say anything else, his mind already turning to the sounds coming from the hallway. Ignoring the confused look on the prince’s face, Chase stood and walked toward the door. He opened it and stepped out into the hallway, listening again.
“Marco!”
Chase grinned and started walking down the hallway.
“Marco!”
He could hear Justin coming closer, but he was pretty sure the man was upstairs from him. Chase quickly made his way to the bottom of the stairs and waited until he saw Justin come into view, and then he snuck around the side of the staircase and hid from view.
“Marco!” Justin called out again.
Chase pressed his lips together to keep from laughing out loud as Justin walked down the stairs, calling out “Marco” every few steps. It was absolutely adorable. The man was obviously lost in this gigantic home, and Chase thought it smart as hell, and comical as well, that Justin was walking through a vampire coven shouting.
As Justin reached the bottom of the stairs and started down the hallway Chase had just come down, Chase stepped up behind the man. He liked this game.
“Marco!” Justin called out once again.
“Polo!” Chase called out as he swept Justin up into his arms, ignoring the man’s small yelp of surprise as he grabbed him.
“Chase,” Justin whispered, tilting his head to one side and giving Chase more access to the creamy arch of his throat. Chase took full advantage, licking a line up the side of his mate’s neck. “I was looking for you.”
“I heard.” Chase laughed. The pure delight he found in holding his mate in his arms astounded Chase. He knew he would be possessive, and might even be slightly obsessive, but he never realized that just holding Justin would bring him such joy.
“You were gone when I woke up.”
Chase could hear the accusation in Justin’s voice, along with the hurt. He knew what Justin thought even without the man saying anything. Justin thought he had left. He knew his mate had grounds to feel that way after his recent behavior.
“I didn’t go anywhere, mate,” Chase whispered against the side of Justin’s neck. “I was simply talking to Prince Dominic about you and this whole vampire thing. I wanted to know why he believes you are a vampire. That’s all.”
Justin sighed deeply as if a great burden had been lifted from his shoulders, and Chase felt like crap. He turned Justin in his arms and cupped his hand around the man’s chin, tilting Justin’s face up to his.
“I’m not going anywhere, Justin.” Even though he spoke the right words, Chase could see the disbelief in Justin’s eyes, and he knew only time would prove that he spoke the truth. “I’ve claimed you and Taylor as mine, and I’m not giving either of you up.”
Justin’s eyes dropped, and his finger started fidgeting with the buttons on Chase’s shirt. “I know, I just—”
“You just have no reason to believe me after the way I have behaved.”
Justin’s green eyes were filled with surprised wonder when they flickered up to meet Chase’s. “Yeah.”
Chase smiled because of the shocked look on Justin’s face, almost as if the man didn’t think that Chase would understand his uncertainty, which, sadly, Chase knew he was totally responsible for.
“I know it will take time, mate,” Chase said as he rubbed his thumb over Justin’s lush lips. Gods, they were such perfect lips. “But you will believe me eventually. All I can promise you is that I will not be leaving either you or Taylor again. I don’t know what the future holds for us, but we are a team now.”
“I like that.”
Chase felt a huge sense of relief when the sadness and hesitation in Justin’s eyes began to fade, replaced by a sparkling green that was filled with happiness. That was the look he wanted to see on his mate’s face every day, not the sadness that had so filled Justin over the last couple of months. Chase was starting to see what Taylor was talking about.
When Justin smiled, it was like touching heaven. His green eyes were shining like twin fireflies in the midsummer night. The man was simply breathtaking.
“Maybe we should go upstairs and be there when Taylor wakes up so he doesn’t think we’ve both abandoned him.”
Oops.
The fireflies fluttered away, being replaced by a dull and murky green as Justin’s eyes quickly dropped down to Chase’s chest again. That was not what he meant to happen. He just didn’t want Taylor waking alone and thinking the exact same thing that Justin had thought.
“Yeah,” Justin said quietly, “he’s pretty mad at me right now.”
“He loves you, baby. You really scared him when you left.”
Wow, he was really winning a lot of points with his words. He thought about keeping his mouth shut but decided that Justin needed to hear how agonizing things had been for Taylor. Chase’s chest still ached every time he thought about how upset Taylor had been.
He didn’t even want to think about how scared he had been not knowing where Justin was or what was happening to his mate out there all alone. Never in life did he want to feel that way again and he wanted Justin to know this.
“Taylor loves you more than the air he breathes. When you left, he thought his life was over. You can’t do that to him again, Justin. If you have a problem, you need to talk to Taylor about it, not leave.”
Justin’s eyes were vivid green when they snapped up to Chase’s. They were filled with reproach, well-deserved reproach. “I could say the same thing to you.”
“Yes, you could. We’ve all made a lot of mistakes in this relationship, Justin. What we need to do is learn to work together, and share what we are thinking and feeling instead of trying to hide it from each other.” Thank fuck all the right words were coming out now. Chase was beginning to think his foot was going to stay permanently lodged in his mouth.
“Do you think we can?”
“It will be hard, but if we want it enough, then we can do it.” Chase smiled and moved his hand from Justin’s chin to the side of his face. “And I know that I want it enough to do whatever it takes to make this work.”
Justin stared at Chase for a long, intense moment. Chase didn’t know what to think. Justin’s expression was totally unreadable. And then Justin snickered. “Wow, when you switch gears, you don’t mess around, do you?”
“All or nothing, baby. When I fuck up or do the right thing, I give it my all.”
Apparently Justin didn’t find that funny.
Chase had. He was only trying to ease the tension between them.
Chase sighed and stepped away from Justin. He pushed a hand through his hair as he turned away, dragging his hand down his face to rub his chin. So, okay, it had been just a few hours since he had claimed Justin, a few more since claiming Taylor.
Chase knew he couldn’t expect either man to forgive him for denying them in that short amount of time. He just hoped that at some point, they would begin to understand where he had been coming from.
“Chase?”
Chase shoulders slumped when he turned around at Justin’s soft call only to find his mate looking at him with such worry in his eyes. “Come here, baby,” Chase said as he held out his hand to the man. Once Justin stepped forward and was safely enclosed in Chase’s arms, Chase rested his chin on the top of Justin’s head.
“Now, you listen real carefully to me, Justin. I explained this to you and Taylor last night. I didn’t claim you both because I was afraid for your safety. I’m still afraid. But don’t ever think it was something I did easily. The time without the two of you was just as agonizing for me as it was for you, only I didn’t have some to console me like you and Taylor did. I had to live my nightmare all alone.”
“I just don’t understand why you’ve suddenly changed your mind after all of this time,” Justin murmured against Chase’s chest. “According to you, we’re still in danger, so what’s different? What changed?”
“I guess you kind of changed things for me. I thought my heart had stopped beating when Joe called me told me that you were missing. And the pain that Taylor was in when I arrived at Joe’s, I never want to see that on his face again.”
Justin’s quiet sob made Chase’s heart ache. Chase knew deep in his heart that Justin never meant to make Taylor upset. While he understood that, he still didn’t quite understand Justin’s motives in leaving Taylor. And he wasn’t sure he had the right to question Justin about it.
But he had to ask anyway.
Call him suicidal.
“Why did you leave Taylor?” Justin’s shoulders moved against Chase as he shrugged. Chase smiled slightly. “That’s not an answer, Justin.”
Justin’s burst of laughter was muffled from the way that he had his face buried in Chase’s chest, but he heard it anyway and it brought a smile to Chase’s lips. “Tell me, baby.”
Justin sniffled as he leaned back and tilted his head up to Chase’s. He stared into Chase eyes just long enough for Chase to wonder what the man was thinking for the strange look on his face.
“Taylor has always taken care of me, even before we were lovers. Since the day we met, he seemed to make it his mission to make sure I was cared for and safe. He’s done so much, even going against everything he believed in just so that I would be safe. And I guess I thought maybe if I wasn’t around, he’d have someone to take care of him for a change.”
“You thought I’d claim Taylor if you weren’t around?”
“Yeah, sort of.” Justin shrugged again. “I hoped, anyway.”
“You know Taylor is going to be pissed when he finds out.”
Justin chuckled. “Yeah.”
“I am pissed.”
Chase’s head snapped around and up. He grimaced. Taylor stood at the head of the stairs, staring down at him and Justin with a grim look on his face. Chase watched him come slowly down the stairs, staring intently at Justin the whole time.
Chase frowned when Justin started to shake. This wasn’t good. If they were going to try to make a go of this thing between the three of them then they needed to work together, not make Justin so upset that he was shaking.
“Taylor—”
Chase’s eyebrows shot up when Taylor held up his hand. Had he just been silenced?
Taylor finally stopped when he reached the bottom of the steps, and he crossed his arms over his chest. He looked imposing. It was actually kind of hot, but Chase didn’t like the way it upset Justin.
“Taylor, this is—” Chase snapped his mouth shut when Taylor held up his hand again. Taylor never took his eyes off of Justin.
“Justin,” Taylor said, “look at me.”
Justin shook his head.
“Justin.”
“I don’t wanna,” Justin murmured against Chase’s chest.
Chase felt a growl building in his chest when Justin’s shaking increased. This was not the way to settle things between them. Justin was not a child. The three of them were adults, and Taylor needed to start acting like one.
Okay, so he had run from his mates, but he had good reason, Taylor did not.
“Please?”
That was better.
Justin slowly lifted his head and turned to look at Taylor over his shoulder. “I’m sorry,” Justin whispered.
Chase felt his eyebrows climb up his forehead again when Taylor suddenly smiled. He knew he was new in the relationship already established between Taylor and Justin, but he really felt out of the loop.