Chapter Fourteen

"Well, are you going to tell me what this morning was all about, or do I have to resign myself to being claimed by a shifter who'll keep disappearing every time he goes to the bakery? Because, I have to tell you, if that's the case, then you've put me in a bit of a quandary. A pixie like me can't go without their sweet treats, but I can't keep running off and saving your butt every time I need a donut. So cough up. Tell me what's going on." Pax stuffed the last of the honey buns into his mouth and chewed. His eyes could let Storm know how serious he was.

From what he'd gleaned so far, which wasn't much, but from what he'd worked out, Storm was suffering from family issues. Pax could relate. But considering his uncle preferred it when he was out of sight, and would likely keep driving past if he saw Pax sprawled on the road, or squish me flat and leave me as roadkill, Pax needed to know what he was dealing with when it came to Storm's family.

"Today was a total fluke," Storm said slowly. They were curled up on his large couch, the coffee table littered with the remains of some of the bags and boxes from the bakery. Not all of them. Pax wasn't a complete heathen, and he had graciously, in his opinion, shared two donuts with Storm after the crocodile had demolished his two pies. "Today was the first time I've seen any of my family in a very long time."

"Okay. A fluke." Pax understood that could happen. "However, my concern is, and I think I'm being totally reasonable here because you did tell me we were mates, but my concern is that you disappeared off to parts unknown with a random slob on a rickety bike, and worse, you fell off it."

"The fall was intentional. I had to wait for him to accelerate so it could look like an accident."

It was intentional? Pax wanted to slap his knee, or his mate, but he was working on learning more, so he worked on projecting calm. "Of course. Marvelous plan. Sheesh, what to do they teach you in assassin's school these days, but fine, fine. I'm not going to make a fuss about it anymore. Tell me why you got on the bike in the first place? We were going to buy donuts. We were at the door of the bakery."

"Bullet had a gun and threatened to shoot out the window of the bakery if I didn't get on the bike."

"He did what?" Pax wasn't normally an angry person, but just the idea of his new-found bakery being under threat was enough to make him want to punch something. "I wish I'd have known that when we were back on the road. I'd have gotten that demon to punch him."

"You wouldn't ask me to punch him instead?" But Storm was smiling so he clearly wasn't upset.

"You were meant to be unconscious, which when I think about it was a really idiotic plan to begin with. You're a shifter, so didn't need a hospital. He was a shifter and should've known that. He had to know Python was a demon, even if he didn't know what I was. I can't believe he fell for it at all." Pax sighed.

"That might have had something to do with you saying you were going to the police about the car, which was a good idea. Bullet wouldn't have wanted anything to do with the authorities for any reason."

Pax could see where that made sense. "Fine, it was a good idea, but why don't you want anything to do with your family? You even changed your name when you left them, didn't you?"

"I did. I wanted absolutely nothing to do with my family from the moment I left – not even my name." Storm nodded. His smile disappeared. "Put bluntly, my dad's not right in the head. He's very old…he was ancient when I was born, and he has the temper of a crocodile who's had a stake stabbed through his foot. He's always been that way. He killed my mom while the rest of us were sitting around the dinner table when I was about five. Apparently she forgot to put the saltshaker on the table, and yeah... Let's just say in the time between then and when I left, his behavior hadn't improved."

"You saw him do that?" Pax scuttled his butt across the couch, grabbing onto Storm's arm – well, that was his intention, but as soon as he moved, Storm raised his arm over the back of the seat, so he cuddled around his hero's torso instead. "That had to suck."

"It was shit at the time. My siblings just seemed to accept the behavior as normal, but I fumed about it for a long time. I started fighting my father when I was ten."

"Physically fighting?" Pax put a fist up.

Storm nodded. "Dominance is a big deal among our kind, and I wanted to strip him of his. I thought I could get revenge for my mom, but that didn't happen. The closest I got was when I was fifteen. I was able to shift by that stage. I tore some big chunks off him that day and really thought I could win. But there he was, bleeding everywhere, and then all of a sudden my brothers and sisters turned against me and drove me out."

"That sounds…" unfair, barbaric, horrific, monstrous, gory… "Awful. But hang on—" Pax had another thought. "If your family hates you, then why did that smelly one on the bike force you to go with him?"

"Now that, my sweet little pixie, is something I don't know. Cyrus is putting out some calls to his contacts to see if anyone knows anything. My family are known drug runners, among other things, so there are authorities keeping an eye on them… or there used to be. I stopped worrying about them or what they were doing a long time ago. After I was driven out, I made the conscious decision to never go back, even if it was expected of me."

"Do crocodiles do that?"

"Sometimes. Even when a crocodile leaves their home territory, or are driven from it, they still seem to circle back when they're bigger." Storm was looking down at him – a look Pax recognized, although there was a lot of affection mixed with the interest. It caused a flutter below the belt, and Pax's body heated. "Bullet said Razor had been talking about me. Maybe I was the only one who got away, maybe I'm the only one who never went back, and he just wants to see what state I'm in now."

"More likely your brother just couldn't stand the thought you had clean clothes on and wanted to take you to some ditch somewhere and mess you up. Although I have every confidence you could kick his ass, even if you did just about bring a shed down over my head."

"I haven't done very well by you so far, have I, my precious pixie?" Pax wanted to melt when Storm ran a gentle finger down the side of his face.

"You're doing all right. You kept your cake promises and they're the important ones." Pax nipped the finger as it brushed over his lips, and felt his magic flutter. "We can work on everything else."

"There're still some cakes left." Storm leaned closer and suddenly Pax wanted to taste those lips more than cake. "We could take them to bed if you wanted."

"Or," Pax said, slipping his fingers left by the gap in the buttons of Storm's shirt, "you could take me to bed, and we can have the cake for dessert."

"Hmm, I like that idea."