Fated for Forever [Kindred of Arkadia 3] (Siren Publishing Classic ManLove) (9 page)

oblivious to the chaos she had created.

“Absolutely not!” Aleks roared.

“Aleks hush, you’re being loud.” Rebecca whacked him on the shoulder.

“No I won’t hush. That perimeter is there for a reason, to keep us safe. Specifically to keep us safe

against vampires, and you want to invite them in! Woman, this is too far even for you.” Aleks vented.

“I’m not saying I’m one hundred percent against it, but we have the boys to consider Rebecca, you have

a baby on the way. Do we really want vampires in town?” Kate asked gently. Rebecca nodded quickly.

“I know that I come off as, well…a bit of a flake, but I’m not. It’s just I have a lot swirling around up

here,” Rebecca said, pointing to her head and Aleks snorted. Her eyes narrowed dangerously and he

scooted a fraction of an inch away from his tiny mate.

“Anyway. I have been digging around in the archives and found out that the original plan for Arkadia

was for it to be a paranormal safe haven. Something happened and it became shifter only. I can, as Alpha

Mother, invite each coven member in individually. That will allow them access, but not allow them to invite

or bring anyone else into town. I can even word it so that if they turn feral the invitation is negated. I can

make it so that it’s just this town, not all of the other sister towns,” Rebecca explained. Nearly every face

around the table showed varying degrees of doubt.

“Rebecca, how come you can modify the perimeter, but couldn’t undo what Ethan did when he invited

the hyenas in?” Bran asked curiously.

“I think it’s because I will be creating new exceptions. I don’t think anyone could undo a breach. It

involves someone’s willing intent to allow harm, that willingness to do harm to a neighbor is old magic and

only their death could close the gap. I’ll just be creating tiny little loopholes,” Rebecca explained.

“I know you want to help Ashby, Becca, but I’m not sure this is the answer,” Aleks said softly.

“Give us time to think about it.” Bran said, and Kate nodded to Rebecca.

“OK, but let’s try to reach an answer soon. I have a bad feeling something bad will happen to Ashby. I

want him home,” Rebecca said, sitting down in Aleks’s lap. She rested her head on his chest, trying to

ignore the growing sense of danger.

Chapter 9

“Are you sure this looks OK?” Ashby asked, turning around in the mirror again. Daniel and David

nodded enthusiastically. After Gabriel had finally let him out of his sight Ashby went to the twins with the

slight problem of not having anything to wear for the night. They were more than happy to raid their closet

as they were close in size.

“You look hot!” Daniel said, grinning.

“Gabriel is going to love it!” David said, fluffing Ashby’s soft blond curls.

“It’s not really me,” Ashby said unconvinced.

“Exactly!” the twins said together.

“Which is why it’s going to have the kind of impact you need. This is like your coming-out party as

Gabriel’s mate. You have to look the part, send a message,” Daniel said. Ashby looked down at his low

riding jeans and sheer white button-down.

“What exactly is the message I’m sending with this outfit? Twenty-dollar blow jobs?” Ashby asked.

“Hey! We wear this, too, you know,” David said, frowning. Ashby ran his hands over his face.

“I’m so sorry, this outfit is amazing. It’s just so…” Ashby paused.

“Sexy?”

“Provocative?” the twins asked. Ashby nodded.

“I guess I’m not used to being center of attention,” Ashby admitted. The twins looked at each other and

burst out laughing.

“What?” Ashby demanded.

“Sweetie, you have looked in a mirror right?” David asked, gently turning Ashby around to look into

the full-length mirror.

“Darlin’, in the vampire world you could get any man you wanted. You are so beautiful it borders on

being sinful. If he hasn’t already, I will bet you my iPad that Gabriel has already called his favorite artist to

commission a painting of you…” David explained.

“Probably in the nude…” Daniel interjected. David shot him a dirty look.

“As I was saying. You are gorgeous, how could you not know that?” David asked. Ashby shrugged.

“With shifters, strength is nearly everything. You need to be strong to hunt, to kill, to eat, to protect your

pride or pack and young. I’m small and girly. My hair is long and my voice is squeaky and I’m short and

my animal is a small fox, the smallest fox in the world. In fact I’m small even for a fennec. Throw in the

fact that I knew I was gay and I was always picked on,” Ashby admitted, staring down at his feet.

“You stop that right now! If those Neanderthals couldn’t see the beauty in front of them, then fuck

them. You’re ours now, you look down for no one. There is a coven full of men and women who would

happily kill anyone who insulted you. You may have been picked on before, but that is a thing of the past.

You’re our prince now Ashby. If you allow others to look down on you, you insult the ones who care about

you, and in the vampire world you are second only to Gabriel. So when you walk down those stairs and

into the public for the first time as our prince you need to sell that outfit,” Daniel said, his voice full of

emotion.

“You won’t be charging for blow jobs, honey, they will be lining up to offer them,” David said with a

wink. Ashby wiped his hand across his eyes and just grabbed both twins in a fierce hug before pulling

back.

“Nic was my only friend for the longest time. He always looked out for me. Then Rebecca came along

and she opened up everyone’s eyes that people were more than our animals and we met Rian, Damian, and

Kate. They are the only ones who really made me feel good about myself until you two,” Ashby said,

smiling shyly.

“Oh my God he is so damn adorable! I just want to eat him up!” Daniel hugged Ashby in return.

“Don’t let Gabriel hear you say that,” David joked and Daniel went pale.

“True,” he said wincing.

“You know, he’s not the big, bad monster you think he is,” Ashby said, getting kind of mad at the way

people kept getting scared of his mate.

“To you he’s not. You’re his mate, to the rest of us, he is one badass motherfucker that you don’t ever…

ever…want to piss off…like ever,” Daniel said.

“Think of it this way. Good parents are parents that instill the fear in their children, that if they screw up

they would rather die than face their parents right? It doesn’t mean those parents don’t love their child or

try to do the best they can for them and protect them, it just means that child has a sense of right and wrong

and consequences.

“Vampires are like really strong, powerful children. Gabriel has to be cold and calculating to instill that

type of fear into an entire people. But we as his coven know more than anyone exactly how caring he is. He

has sacrificed a lot to try to keep our people safe. But in order for him to pull that off, the very people that

he loves have to fear him more than anything,” David explained, his eyes sad.

“Which is another reason why tonight you have to be more than Ashby the ice cream parlor owner. You

have to be our prince, you have to show everyone that you not only support Gabriel and everything that he

does, but you also have the strength to stand beside him.

“I don’t think I can do that,” Ashby said, looking at Daniel and David, panic growing in his eyes.

“Of course you can. I think you can do a lot more than you think you can,” Daniel said fluffing Ashby’s

curls.

“And will be right there beside you, every step of the way,” David said smiling.

“Then what are we waiting for?” Ashby asked taking a deep breath.

“Exactly!” Daniel said grabbing both of Ashby’s hands.

“Let’s go downstairs and show everyone exactly what you’re made of,” David said. Ashby took a deep

breath and felt butterflies swarm in his stomach.

It was just dancing at the club his mate owned, with every paranormal in a fifty mile radius standing

by and judging his every move, he could do this. Right?

* * * *

Ashby felt like he was going to be sick. When he walked downstairs with the twins he knew people

were staring at him trying to figure out if he was Gabriel’s mate. He plastered a smile on his face,

straightened his back and stepped out into the club as if he owned it.

He made sure to keep his face up and met the eyes of any new people the twins introduced him to. He

pretended like he was a sultan or emperor from the fairy tale books he loved to read as a child.

“I thought you didn’t know what to do?” Daniel asked amazed. Ashby turned to him and winked.

“I pretended I parked my flying carpet next to the elephant caravan outside,” Ashby said, dramatically

brushing the bangs out of his eyes.

“Is that why I caught you humming
Prince Ali
from Aladdin?” David asked, eyes wide.

“Yup, how am I doing?” Ashby asked, his eyes filling with the earnest innocence that the twins had

come to care for. The twins began to crack up.

“You’re totally play acting! We thought you had split personalities or something. Thank God!” Daniel

said, bumping shoulders with Ashby.

“It was the only thing I could think of to get in the headspace I needed,” Ashby shrugged his shoulders.

“It’s cool, the other paranormals and vampires are eating the act up. No one would second guess you as

a prince,” David said as he nodded to the cluster of local vampires smiling at Ashby in a fawning way.

“Ass lickers,” Daniel said rolling his eyes.

“Can we dance now?” Ashby begged. He had been dying to move his body, the DJ had been spinning

his ass off. The twins nodded and made their way from the VIP level where the gathered paranormal

leaders had congregated, to the dance floor where the everyday people were gyrating and swaying to the

music.

He danced between David and Daniel as the music moved through his veins. People pressed against him

on all sides, the dance floor moving as one. After about an hour Ashby felt a hand on his shoulder. He

looked up into the face of a handsome man who wore a sardonic smile. The man pulled Ashby against his

body, keeping a hand on his lower back.

“I think you should play with me tonight, little one.” The man smiled showing even white teeth. Before

Gabriel, Ashby would’ve been flattered to dance with such a man, now his touch seemed revolting. This

man wasn’t his mate.

“Thank you, but I’m here with someone,” Ashby said, trying to pull away.

“You can’t be here with anyone important, otherwise they’d be watching over you,” the man said.

“Trust me, he has made arrangements for my protection,” Ashby said, still tugging.

“Baby, I’m over five hundred years old. There’s no one here that can take me,” the man said, leaning

forward as if to capture Ashby’s lips.

“You better let him go!” Daniel said from one side.

“Yeah he’s spoken for!” David said from the other side.

“Please let me go!” Ashby said. His skin felt hot where the man’s hands touched him. He was just about

to call for Gabriel, when they heard a low, animalistic growl. The music stopped, the people quieted, the

club went silent.

“Take your hands off my mate,” Gabriel said quietly and coldly. The man began to choke. His hands left

Ashby’s body and grasped in vain at the invisible force around his throat that had levitated him off the

ground.

“The next time a man tells you his is spoken for I suggest you listen,” Baptista said from behind the

man. The choking man looked up into Gabriel’s face and his entire frame began to shake.

“Sir—I didn’t—know…” the man stammered gasping for air.

“Even if you did not know he was mine, he clearly stated he was here with someone. That alone should

have been enough to leave him be. Baptista, please escort this gentleman out,” Gabriel said from the VIP

balcony. The man dropped to the floor struggling to pull air into his lungs. Baptista nodded and hefted the

man toward the front doors. Gabriel turned his eyes and met Ashby’s.

“Are you well,
mon
ange
?” Gabriel asked, his eyes softening.

“Yes I’m fine, he didn’t hurt me.” Ashby rubbed his arms. Gabriel nodded.

“I hope that you join me soon.” Gabriel turned back to the VIP room, disappearing from sight. It was

clear that Gabriel was trying to give Ashby choices instead of demanding that he join him in the VIP room.

Ashby smiled. Maybe things would be all right after all. Slowly the music resumed and hushed whispers

were heard throughout the club. Ashby, David, and Daniel tried dancing on the dance floor again, but it was

no longer any fun. Where before he felt like he was part of the club as he moved to the bass of the music,

and melded with the people, now he felt like a circus attraction. Even on the dance floor, everyone stayed at

least four feet away. Grimacing, Ashby looked at David and Daniel, and the twins shook their heads.

“Let’s head over to the bar area and have a drink,” Daniel said.

“Yeah, let’s take a break,” David said. Ashby smiled and nodded. They easily made their way from the