Fated for Forever [Kindred of Arkadia 3] (Siren Publishing Classic ManLove) (2 page)

He glanced at the clock again and sighed. Time was moving so slow. It was only four thirty—still

another thirty minutes before Gabriel would call. He was about to check his topping supply when he heard

the tinkling of the bell over his door. It was Marcus Evans, a lynx shifter who worked in the bank. He was

constantly coming in here to harass him.

“Mr. Evans, what can I get you today?” Ashby asked, turning to take his place behind the ice cream

case. Then a hand grabbed his arm.

“It’s so rare to catch you when you’re out from behind your counter, pretty little Ashby. Feeling braver

since you bonded with the new Alpha Mother?” Marcus sneered and squeezed down on his arm harder.

“You’re hurting me, Mr. Evans. Please let go.” Ashby said, trying to keep his voice and emotions even.

The last thing he needed was Rebecca racing in here due to a spike of fear from him. He could handle the

likes of Marcus Evans.

“You keep forgetting your place now that you’re bonded with the Rebecca Arkadion. Do you think

being bonded makes you better than everyone else?” Marcus said, jerking his arm.

It keeps me safe.
“Being bonded with the Alpha Mother is a great responsibility as I help her connect

with the people of the town, nothing more,” Ashby said, tugging on his arm. Marcus laughed and pulled

Ashby closer, leaning down until their lips were almost touching.

“How about connecting with me?” he leered. Ashby’s stomach rolled and he felt like he couldn’t

breathe. He was so caught up in his blossoming fear that he didn’t hear the door’s bell chime.

“Is there a problem here?” a deep voice asked. Ashby turned his head and nearly fainted in relief. It was

Moe. There were very few men in town whose very size seemed to mandate a voice that deep. It seemed to

reverberate up the man’s barrel chest.

“No problem here Mojo,” Marcus said, not letting go of Ashby.

“Good, because I would hate for you to impede me getting my ice cream. It might impede me serving

you beer later, catch my drift?” he said, crossing his thick arms and staring down at the smaller man.

Marcus finally let go of Ashby’s arm.

“I’ll see you later pretty little Ashby,” Marcus said, grinning and then left, the door’s bell tinkling as he

left.

“That asshole still messing with you?” Moe asked.

Ashby nodded. “He now thinks that I am putting on airs by being bonded with Rebecca. Maybe in his

own way he thinks I’m playing hard to get.” Ashby rubbed his upper arm. He would have bruises for sure.

“If he keeps fucking with you let me know, I can usually persuade people to see things my way,” Moe

said, cracking his knuckles and grinning. Ashby smiled back. It was hard to imagine that this intimidating

man was one of the main volunteers at the school. He worked with the kindergartners at that.

“Enough of that jerk. Your usual?” Ashby asked, reaching for the bananas.

“Yup, extra chocolate today. It’s going to be a long night. I’m breaking in Caleb’s replacement at the bar

tonight, Peyton Miller. The poor kid looks like he’s been through the wringer. I was going to ask if you

have any clothes you can spare. The kid doesn’t have much and you’re the only one in town, uh, about his

size,” Moe said wincing.

“So he’s a shrimp like me?” Ashby said, trying to make Moe feel better. Moe grinned at him thankfully.

“Yup. You can tell he’s nervous, keeps looking over one shoulder expecting someone to walk into the

bar and get him. I’d like to meet up with whoever has that poor boy jumping at every sound,” Moe said

darkly.

Ashby felt his heart sink. That was him only a few short years ago.

“Give me a few minutes, I’ll run upstairs, I have a ton of stuff he can have,” Ashby said, handing over

the six-banana split with extra chocolate syrup. Moe took the large bowl in one hand and got comfortable at

one of the tables.

Ashby ran upstairs to his apartment and grabbed the gym bag he never used. He started going through

his clothes. He actually had a lot he could part with, and by the time he was done the bag wouldn’t zip. He

shrugged and hefted the bag up to carry it downstairs.

“Holy crap Ashby, I didn’t mean for you to give him your closet,” Moe said, taking the bag. Ashby

shook his head, his blond curls swinging.

“Please tell him if he needs anything else to let me know. I’ve been where he is, I know what it feels like

to be without anything and reliant on the kindness of others. It’s my way of paying back everyone who

helped me,” Ashby said, looking up at Moe earnestly. Moe gave a slow smile.

“You’re a strong man, Ashby Fairfax, don’t let anyone tell you any different. Thanks for the clothes, I

know Peyton will be happy to have something else to wear.” He motioned to the overflowing bag. Ashby

blushed at the praise. He had been called many things, but strong was never one of them.

“Catch you around,” Moe said and walked out. Ashby smiled. It felt good knowing that he had helped

someone.

He looked at the clock. It was well after five, then as if by willing it to happen his cell phone rang. He

jumped up and ran to pick it up.

“Hello?” he asked breathing hard.

“Why do you sound so out of breath,
mon ange
?” the melodic voice asked. Ashby felt his insides

quiver.

“I ran to my cell phone to answer it. You’re late today,” he said smiling. He heard a chuckle and knew

he was right to tease him.

“My apologies
mon ange,
how can I make it up to you?” Gabriel asked smoothly. Ashby thought about

it for a second. The episode with Marcus and hearing about Peyton had really made him want to celebrate

how far he’d come.

“Is your offer still open for me to visit?” Ashby blurted out. There was silence on the phone. He felt

sick. He knew that Gabriel would change his mind. “I mean it’s OK, if it’s not…” That was as far as Ashby

got.

“Do you need an escort? Do you have transportation? I can send my car. Will you be hungry? I can

arrange for dinner?” Gabriel asked. Ashby could hear him barking orders in the background between

questions to prepare his personal VIP room. Ashby smiled. His normally calm and cool prince sounded

frantic.

“No I don’t need an escort and no I don’t need transportation, I have my own car. I’ll be stopping at the

diner for dinner, so don’t put anyone out. And you don’t need to prepare a VIP room, it’s just me,” Ashby

said softly.

“I will prepare the VIP room, because it is you,” Gabriel said, his deep voice soothing.

“What time should I expect you?” Gabriel asked.

“I’ll be swinging by the diner after I close then coming back to my place to get ready. So is ten o’clock

OK?” Ashby asked.

“Ten o’clock is perfect,
mon ange
. I will be waiting anxiously for you to get here,” Gabriel purred.

“See you then,” Ashby said and hung up the phone. He took a deep breath. He had done it. He had

agreed to meet his vampire prince at last. He grinned, that’s how he referred to Gabriel in his head, as
his

vampire prince. Shaking his head he decided to close the shop early to give himself extra time to get ready.

He made sure everything was closed and put away for the night and flipped the sign to “Closed.” He had

just enough time to eat, shower and then agonize over what to wear.

Chapter 2

“There he is! You’re in early today,” Rebecca said. When he first met Rebecca Arkadion she had been

Rebecca Morgan, a human in a shifter-only town destined to be mated to Aleksander Arkadion, the eldest

Arkadion son. When Aleks’s parents fully retired, Aleks and Rebecca would take over in leading Arkadia

and the other Arkadian sister cities. Aleks and Rebecca had already started stepping into their roles and

making decisions for the town.

When they first met, Rebecca had looked at him with wide eyes and said, “It’s like your beauty is

wasted on my eyeballs.” Though he had known he was gay from the time he was eleven, he fell a little bit

in love with her. She was the only one who ever looked at him as though he were something special, as if

she could see into his very soul.

He had been kidnapped with Rebecca from Purgatory, Gabriel’s nightclub, months ago. She had

bounced back from her ordeal and was now experiencing her first pregnancy and due to the bond they

shared he was experiencing it right along with her, especially the morning sickness. There were days when

the very smell of waffle cones sent him running to hurl in the bathroom, though he never admitted as much

to his best friend.

“Marcus Evans dropped by again,” Ashby said, sliding into the chair between Rebecca and his other

friend, Kate Edwards.

“That guy needs to eat out of a feeding tube for a while,” Nic said, taking a French fry from what

looked to be the communal fry plate on the table. Rebecca frowned and swung her head back to Ashby.

“Did he hurt you, Ashers?” she said, making sure she made eye contact. He looked away and shrugged.

She grabbed the hem of his shirt and manhandled it up over his head. It got stuck around his ears, but she

had somehow managed to get his bruised arm free.

“Kate! Look at this. That asshole Marcus Evans has hurt Ashby, we need to arrest him!” she said,

waving Ashby’s arm around. Ashby got his arm free and managed to pull his shirt down from where it had

been lodged around his head and put his arms through the sleeves.

“It’s OK, Moe ran him off. Even Marcus isn’t stupid enough to mess around with Moe,” Ashby said

grinning.

“No kidding, Moe would eat him for breakfast before coming to you for his banana split,” Nic said,

laughing. Kate snorted.

“Mojo,” She chortled.

“Kate, it can’t still be funny,” Bran said from across the diner, where he and Caleb waited for their order

holding the trio’s twin sons, Landon and Lucas.

“Mojo, Jojo,” Kate giggled. Rebecca, whose anger was fading, smiled.

“OK, it is kinda funny,” Rebecca said.

“As long as it doesn’t hurt his feelings, it could hurt him to hear something like that all the time,” Ashby

said quietly. Rebecca nodded. Kate grinned.

“Ashby you’re so sweet,” Rebecca said hugging Ashby’s arm. He blushed.

“He’s OK with it because I told him that he was totally hot and that’s why it was so funny, because it

was completely opposite to how he looked. The man is downright fuckable,” Kate said and two ominous

growls were heard from the counter. She blew kisses to her mates. Rebecca nodded.

“I’d totally do him,” she said without thought, and a long low rumble echoed from the door. Rebecca

turned in her chair and her eyes brightened.

“Hi, baby, how was work?” she asked, turning her face up for a kiss.

“Do who?” Aleks demanded and he stalked over to where his tiny mate sat and kissed her lovingly.

“Moe Jones. Kate and I agreed the man is fuckable,” Rebecca said.

“Girls, language!” Ma yelled from the kitchen.

“Yes Ma!” both women called out and then grinned at each other.

Aleks looked down at his mate frowning.

“You don’t need to think about doing anyone but me,” Aleks said, bending down to stare his mate in the

eyes. She looked up impishly.

“Aleks, Marcus Evans went into Ashby’s shop and hurt him today. He has bruises on his arms. I’m

getting a bad feeling about him,” Rebecca said as Aleks easily lifted her up, sat down in her chair, and

settled her in his lap.

“Ashby, do you want to press charges?” Aleks asked, concern on his face. Ashby shook his head.

“No. He has never done anything more than harass me. I have a feeling if I press charges it would only

escalate the issue. As long as he keeps his hands to himself then I don’t want to press charges,” Ashby said.

“If he hurts you again, I’ll shoot him!” Rebecca said and Aleks looked down at her panicked.

“Becca, baby, did you bring your gun?” he asked gently as if approaching a wild animal. All of the

shifters at the table picked up on his edginess and subconsciously scooted back a bit.

“Of course! It’s not going to do me much good in a box under the bed is it? The next time hyenas come

to town it’s open season,” she said, patting her purse.

“Is the safety on this time?” Aleks asked, inventing new shades of pale. The purse had shifted down

between their bodies and was resting in his lap.

“Of course it is,” Rebecca said, picking up the purse and patting it. She dropped it to the floor and a

loud bang echoed throughout the diner.

“What in the hell!” Connor demanded coming out of the kitchen. Rebecca stared down at her purse and

then looked up at Aleks.

“OK, I swear the safety was on.” She tilted her head the way she normally did when she was thinking.

“Maybe...” She looked around the table and Nic and Kate were trying not to laugh. Ashby was trying to

get his heart to stop beating out of his chest. Aleks began to shake.

“Aleks, are you OK?” Rebecca asked. At the sound of her calm and rational voice Aleks snapped.