14. Zeke

Chapter fourteen

Zeke

B ags in hand from the nearest big box store where I now had an introductory membership, Gavril and I walked into the hotel only for me to stop short at the sight of Fabian. He stood in the middle of the lobby with his arms crossed, leaning back so he had a hip cocked out, and tapping his foot.

I was about to get a world-class lecture.

But as I walked toward him, Fabian clued into the fact that Gavril was with me. Fabian stopped scowling, uncrossed his arms, and stood up straight. He waved a hand in Gavril's direction and said with clear confusion, "You have a son now?"

I kind of did, didn't I? I looked down at Gavril gazing up at me and, like it had a hundred times already, he smiled, and I forgot my worries and doubts.

"Fabian, this is Sacha's little brother, Gavril. Gav, this is my cousin Fabian. He's getting married…" I paused to think about what day it actually was and felt my heart skip a beat in horror.

"Tomorrow," Fabian said with a little venom in his tone.

"Oh, fuh— Uh, fudge knuckles. Fabian, I'm so—"

"Fudge knuckles?" he asked with a curled lip, like ew.

I glanced at Gavril watching us like a tennis match. "He's six."

"Right. Yes, well, you've definitely been a fudgey fudge-knuckler, that's for sure. While I'm very glad you've found someone to fudge with, you've completely abandoned me, and it's making me very…annoyed," he said through gritted teeth.

Gavril set his bags down and literally retrieved the half-eaten bag of popcorn he'd stashed in one of them. He looked back up at us and popped several kernels into his mouth.

I think I fell a little bit in love with the kid right then.

Fabian cleared his throat and seemed to be trying his best not to smile, too. Mentally, I thanked Gavril for taking the wind right out of Fabian sails.

"Seriously, Ezequiel, what's going on?" He crossed his arms again, but there was a lot less heat in him this time. "Because I feel like you got married and had a baby in the past few days, and that's not what I had suggested you do on your vacation."

"You're on vacation?" Gavril asked around his mouthful of popcorn.

"I am, yeah."

Gavril's eyebrows shot up and he nodded behind me. "Does he know you're not staying?"

I knew who he meant before I turned to see Sacha stalking toward me. He was frowning and had a finger pointed at one of the bags. I wasn't going to apologize for it, and so I just smiled at him.

"You didn't ," he said, aghast. " Zeke ."

"I had to," I insisted and tried not to smile too much.

"Ugh," Fabian groaned. "So what if he bought stuff for your dog? You've domesticated a man who swore off love on the plane ride here. Be proud."

I felt myself blushing as I met Sacha's eyes and he slowly grinned. I was a complete convert. Sacha had shown me his secrets, let me in, trusted me, and I was hooked. It was entirely possible I'd never leave this place for the rest of my life just so I could be by his side forever. I put a hand over my heart and grinned back at…my mate.

"Oh my gawd ," Fabian howled. "I might have a wedding planner, but I still need you, Ezequiel. You have duties ." He stomped his foot.

"And I will do them all." I abandoned my bags to wrap an arm around his slim shoulders. "I promise I will be there for you through all of tonight's rehearsals and again first thing in the morning, just like my itinerary says. I will wrangle gr— bridesmaids and make sure you feel absolutely serene before you walk down the aisle."

That was literally what my itinerary said I was supposed to do tonight and then again tomorrow from eight to eleven A.M. No details on how, but I'd give it my all to make up for how absent I'd been.

That I was also supposed to be involved in a wolf pack moon shift so that they were in fighting form come morning when the cats might invade… Well, it would be a challenge, but I'd have to try.

When Fabian looked up at me, I felt the tiny hairs all over my body stand up because I hadn't seen that level of vulnerability in his eyes since they day his mother passed. I turned him into my chest and hugged him tightly, relaxing just fractionally when he hugged me back. We'd been through a lot together, and I would not let him down.

"Where's Matt right now?" I asked quietly.

"Running around."

I nodded since I knew Matt ran for exercise. "Why don't you grab him when he gets back and go for a swim?"

"He hates swimming. Too much water."

And that I hadn't known. "I bet he wouldn't mind getting in if you were in there with him." I waggled my eyebrows at him.

Fabian rolled his eyes. "It's the middle of the day and I'm not an exhibitionist slut like someone I know." He poked me in the chest.

"Ha-ha," I deadpanned even as I blushed. "I think you could use a good fudging," I said pointedly, "so grab your man and get some. Just be together. Relax for a while."

He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. "Okay."

Right then, Matt walked in from outside, freshly sweaty and flushed from his run. A predatory grin spread over Fabian's face, so I gave him a little push in Matt's direction. As Fabian stalked his prey, Matt stood still and his blush got brighter and brighter.

Honestly, I should've probably been the one to distract and soothe Fabian since he'd come to me for help. We'd been each other's person for a long time, but now we had new people. His husband-to-be could handle things no problem, I was sure, while my new family clearly needed what I knew to get them through a difficult time. We would both be fine today, and tomorrow, I'd do my best to be fully present for the wedding and reception.

I turned back to Sacha and Gavril, who stood holding all of the bags except one. Laughing, I picked up the dog toys bag and marched ahead of them down to the basement.

Shopping had been good because it had given me a chance to wrap my head around everything that had happened. And maybe the same had worked for Gavril because he'd seemed excited to pick things out and had gotten progressively happier. Regardless of what I knew about kids—which was nothing—his happiness felt like a big success after hearing him sobbing in fear earlier.

I was a firm believer in not bad-mouthing a parent in front of their kid, but damn, I'd spent some time mentally slaughtering that woman for what she'd done. Once they tracked her down, I might just volunteer to help "interrogate" her.

Once we were on the stairs down to the basement, Sacha said, "If you have to go do wedding things, you can. We've been through this hundreds of times."

"Sure, but not this way. I mean, I'll explain everything I can think of since I will have to walk away a few times tonight, but I'm not going to be able to resist coming back."

I smelled spaghetti as I went through the door. The chairs were still there and now there were also long tables and place settings waiting for everyone. It was mid-afternoon, but they were getting ready. Which had me wondering… "How do you handle having guests around when all the employees are going to turn into wolves?"

Sacha set his bags down. "Well, we plan for it with everyone's schedules so that the human members of the pack are on duty by sunset. It's over at sunrise, and we have people who'll come on shift then, too. If we all recover as well as we're predicting, then it might mean some of us can work tomorrow instead of being in our beds all day."

I couldn't help it—I gave him a once-over because my brain thought a day in bed with him sounded like an excellent idea. He smirked at me, and I cleared my throat since there was still a child present and he was clearly hanging on our every word.

"That's great," I said, ignoring Sacha's look, "that you have human pack members. And, too, after what you said your mother told you about not coming out? I'm really glad to say I didn't see a single person flinch when you said I'm your mate."

Sacha's smirking changed to genuinely happy smiling. "Yeah, I was impressed with that, too. We have a few same-sex couples, but it was the rank that worried me. And Mother." He lost the smile and shrugged. "I'm going to have to work on forgetting her advice and the many ways she cautioned me. So much of it was probably manipulation instead of care."

I hated that. My parents might both be gone now, and my coming out to them might've been a struggle for all of us, but they'd never made me feel like I couldn't be myself. I didn't doubt the advice they'd given me as I'd grown up.

I went over to Sacha, looped an arm around his waist, and kissed his forehead. "You're already a much better leader. I can tell right now that you're going to treat every pack member like you wish you'd been treated."

Sacha leaned his head on my shoulder, and I was glad I could be his support.

I thought back to my tarot reading again. Hadn't the shop owner said I'd play an important role and something about calming the beast? He wasn't a complete nut case after all. I almost wanted to go thank him. Almost.

I looked down when I felt a little body leaning against my leg. Gavril was hugging both of us at once. I cupped the back of his head and suddenly felt fiercely protective over him and his big brother.

Titus came into the basement then, a lot of pack members behind him. Several people saw the bags and started peeking, so I went over and started laying everything out. I'd gotten ten heating pads that I thought could help with soreness in the morning and three weighted blankets that I figured might be helpful even when they were in wolf form if anyone got anxious or restless.

I felt a little righteous when they laughed at the dog toys and my reasoning that there was no reason they couldn't play if they got bored.

"But don't ever pretend to throw the ball or stick or whatever," one guy said very seriously.

"Nooo," a woman drawled, her eyes wide as she shook her head. "That would be bad ."

I was tempted to try it anyway just for a laugh, but maybe I'd give it a few shifts before I went for it. Maybe.