Chapter Four

It had been a quiet morning. Showered, fed, and having consumed enough coffee to sink a ship, Ness was stretched out in the small conservatory at the side of the house. His inner animal was peaceful – he always was after a big swim. Ness had his feet up, an open book resting on his knees, but he was basically looking out the window watching plants grow.

I need to do this more often, he decided. No people. No business. Ness gave a passing thought to his laptop that was charging in the office. Just that thought was enough to cause a spark of stress – remembering the work he should be doing, work people were expecting him to do. But this time Ness squashed it down. I’m not playing that game today. He chuckled quietly. After centuries of doing business, surely a man deserves a vacation.

Vacations were not something that were valued or appreciated by any member of the Duncan family. Ness remembered his father as a hard working man who had no time at all for people he declared lazy or lacking ambition. To Ness’s father, that lack of ambition was the key thing wrong with the world today…something he’d been ranting about since about the fourteen hundreds. The man had never seen the good in anything, not even his wife.

Ness, on the other hand, had eagerly researched and pursued all the new technologies as they’d come into being. He was fascinated by the quirky, the interesting, and unique ideas that so many talented people had. While he never considered himself an “idea man,” he was a go-to person for someone who had a good idea and simply needed the capital to see that idea come to life.

Father never approved of me doing that either, although it had proven really lucrative to Ness over the centuries. Letting out a long sigh, Ness closed his eyes. The pale sun was warm on his legs through the glass, and he focused on his breathing, enjoying the quiet.

My dick’s hard again. Ness wasn’t opening his eyes for that. For fuck’s sake, if the damn thing kept popping up without invitation then Ness was just going to keep ignoring it. When he wasn’t pressuring himself to do anything, when he was just sitting in the moment being thankful for the sun and the quiet…

A loud knocking on the door had Ness’s eyes flying open. Who the heck can be here? he thought as he put his book aside and got up from his chair. It can’t be for me. No one knows where I am. Maybe it’s a lost tourist. Ness couldn’t remember ever being disturbed in the family home by a visitor before, but then there were more people around now – everywhere – and no one thought anything about knocking on a stranger’s door.

Making sure he was covered – no need to frighten anyone – Ness unlocked the front door and opened it. “Can I help you?”

The man standing on the doorstep wasn’t a delivery guy, or a lost tourist, although he was carrying a package. Ness had never seen a delivery guy in designer clothes. The man was an inch or so shorter than Ness, slender with that shifter-strength aura about him. He had black hair trimmed close to his skull on the sides and longer on top and piercing gray eyes that met his. A small smile hovered around surprisingly full lips. He was holding a large basket that smelled deliciously of cooked meat.

“Why yes, Farness, I believe you can help me. The name is Cyrus Marinus. I thought I’d bring you food as a way of introducing myself. In case you haven’t picked up on it yet, I’m your mate.”

“Mate?” Ness felt his knees wobble as his cock started throbbing. As soon as he said the word his whole body was tossed into chaos. His beast was surging forward trying to get free. Ness was desperately pushing it back – there was no room for his shifted form in the entranceway of his family home. Black spots danced in front of his eyes as his brain struggled with both the beast’s instincts and his belief that what the man was saying had to be impossible. His animal side was screaming it was true, and the man himself sounded so certain. In the end the struggle was too much. “Doc was right?” He whispered as he fell to the floor in a dead faint.

/~/~/~/~/

Chuckling, Cyrus assumed he would be allowed in, stepping over Ness’s prone body, looking for somewhere to put the food basket. The entranceway was small, and Cyrus found the kitchen quickly enough. Depositing his offerings on the counter, he went back to where his mate was groaning and rubbing his head.

“I probably should’ve caught you,” Cyrus said, shoving his hands under Ness’s arms and helping him to his feet. “But I genuinely hate wasting food. Are you all right?” He reached up, rubbing at his mate’s head. Ness’s hair was redder where the sun hit it, and up close the man was stunning. Cyrus realized he’d only seen Ness’s back view up untill now. The front was worth appreciating.

“I feel like such a fool.” The words were soft, but there was a strength there that Cyrus’s body responded to. “What must you think of me?"

"A lot of things, if you want to know the truth, but how about we save that conversation for after we’ve eaten.” Cyrus widened his smile. “I’m not that crass, or that young, that I’ll start stripping you in the hallway, although I’d love to, and that’s all I’m going to say about that for now. You’ve had a shock. I totally understand. It’s not every day a mate comes knocking on your front door. Let’s go through to the kitchen.”

He put a gentle hand on his mate’s shoulder and steered him through to the kitchen. “Here, you have a seat,” he added, leaving Ness by a bar stool before going around the other side of the counter. The man was just so tempting, so it was better that way. “You can direct me on where to find plates and cutlery, if you’d like. Do you have any coffee made? I’d kill for a cup right now.”

“I can make a fresh pot.”

Glancing over his shoulder, from where he was looking for plates, Cyrus smiled again and shook his head. “You just stay on that side of the counter, mate of mine. I can’t promise I won’t jump you and take you to the floor if you’re on this side with me.”

Ness’s cheeks were almost as red as his hair. “You’re not from around here, are you?”

“Did my accent give it away?” Chuckling, Cyrus found the fixings for the coffee pot, and quickly got that set up before searching for plates and cutlery. “I’m originally from Sicily, and I travel all over, although I spend most of my time in Vegas.”

“How did you end up in Scotland, or more specifically, here?”

“Through a set of random coincidences, definitely orchestrated by the lovely Fates I believe. I saw you at the Vegas airport – you were just getting on your plane. I knew then, or rather my shark knew, that you were the one for us, and as I wasn’t inclined to go running down the runway trying to get your plane to stop, I had to think a bit more strategically. One of the lovely people at the check-in desks let it slip who you were and that you were heading here, so I canceled my appointments, fueled my plane, and here I am.”

“The Fates, right.” Ness’s voice sounded a bit wobbly. “That also explains why you called me Farness at the door.”

“Is that a problem?” Cyrus turned, putting the plates he’d found on the counter between them. “What do you prefer to be called?”

“Most people call me Ness or Nessie. I don’t mind either way.” The big man’s blush couldn’t get any sweeter.

“Don’t be surprised if I start calling you darlin’.” Cyrus busied himself collecting up the cutlery and taking the covers off the food he’d brought with him. “So yes, I tracked your plane, followed you here, but then with customs and everything else, we lost you at the airport. As I didn’t want to turn up on your doorstep in the middle of the night, looking like a disheveled madman I got a hotel. My animal side woke me this morning – isn’t it just amazing that our animal spirits have a connection already?”

“They do?” Ness tilted his head to one side and then nodded. “I guess they do. Sorry, go on. You were explaining how you found me.”

“All my animal side. I got woken up before first light and went for a drive until my other half encouraged me to park in this little remote place by the side of a body of water. I have to tell you that I’ve never been so glad to be up that early in my life. I got a ringside seat of seeing the most incredible shifted form I’ve ever seen. And from there that’s how I found your house. Ta-da.”

“You saw me? All of me? In both of my forms and you still came here with food for me?”

Ness’s hands were gripping the side of the counter, his knuckles white.

“Hey.” Reaching over, Cyrus stroked over the back of Ness’s hand. “Why wouldn’t I follow you? I know we’re mates and all I could think since I saw you at Vegas was how much I wanted to get to know you in every way.” Cyrus hoped he didn’t sound like too much of a sleaze, but that was the biggest truth that had ever left his lips.

Ness stood up, both hands pointing at the substantial length only partially hidden by his baggy shorts. “Most people see this, and they run the other way. My bulk in either form is intimidating to people.”

Cyrus licked his lips and swallowed. “I’m not most people, darlin’. Please sit down again, or this food is going to go to waste, for sure.”