“You have got to stop moping. He’ll come back. No one can stay away from their mate for long, not even a human.” Kalel’s voice from the door made Roan jump. He thought he was alone in the house. He quickly closed the screen on the laptop Sin had given him and gave Kalel a quick smile.
“I’m not moping.” And he wasn’t. He’d promised himself he wouldn’t mope, even though he had every reason to. With a yo-yo relationship that was currently on a downward slide, anyone would feel depressed, but Roan’d been doing some thinking since he’d seen Mace last, and he’d decided to be more proactive about his life.
“Whatcha hiding on the computer then, watching porn? Can I see?” Kalel bounced in and sat on the arm of Roan’s chair, wrapping his arm around Roan’s neck. That was one of the loveable things Roan liked about Kalel. He was always affectionate, and Roan’s wolf soaked up the positive attention.
“I’m trying to find a job, if you must know,” he said, opening the laptop again, knowing Kalel wouldn’t leave him alone until he saw what he was doing. “Unfortunately, everything in here either requires a high school diploma, or a college education. Unless I became a stripper, and even then I’d probably have to have a birth certificate or another form of ID. And I can’t see Shane or Dimitri being pleased about that choice of vocation.” Or Mace either, for that matter, but Roan didn’t mention that. It was easier for him not to.
“I thought Dimitri was handling that side of things for you,” Kalel said, looking over his shoulder at the screen. “Yeah, I see what you mean. Slim pickings. What sort of things are you looking for?”
Roan felt his face go hot. “I’m not good at much,” he said, trying to hide his embarrassment. Kalel was his biggest cheerleader, but the cat shifter hated it when he put himself down. Roan preferred to consider it being realistic.
He didn’t have much choice, especially since he’d overheard Trent mumbling something to Dimitri about Mace going out on a date Friday night. Roan didn’t hear the whole conversation, just snatches of it, but it was enough to have him hiding in his room for the next two hours. And now here it was, Friday, and Roan wasn’t going to torment himself with visions of Mace burying his nose in some woman’s cleavage. He was going to try for this independence option Shane and all of the others kept suggesting. “I’d like to do something with cooking, but I think I need training in that as well,” he added quickly, hoping to divert Kalel from his negative comment, and his own mind from thoughts of Mace out with someone else. Mace might not be able to actually fuck anyone else, not with a floppy dick, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t hold some woman close, tease her lips with his own, run his hands…oh, Gods, he needed brain bleach.
“Cooking. That could work,” Kalel said thoughtfully, totally unaware of Roan’s inner turmoil. “Or you could sing. You don’t need a college degree, or a high school diploma for that. Peter told me that Dimitri was singing praises about that wicked little gift you have for mimicry.”
Singing. Roan hadn’t thought of that. “I could.” Roan knew he wasn’t bragging when he said he had a good voice. He could belt out any song, after hearing it just once. “But won’t that seem weird?” he said, his mind warming up to the idea and cautioning him all at the same time. “I mean I can sing songs and sound like anyone, but surely they’ll think I’m, you know, when people just move their lips to the song, but there’s no sound coming out of their mouths.”
“Lip-syncing,” Kalel supplied helpfully. “They might, but then you look pretty so I don’t think anyone would care. If you stuck to popular stuff, the crowd would eat you up, and there can be some good money in it, what with tips and stuff. Tell you what, let’s go….” Roan would never find out what Kalel was going to suggest next because suddenly they could both hear the ring of the doorbell, and then knocking on the front door. Kalel’s eyes widened; everyone else was out working, or studying, and it didn’t look like Kalel was expecting any visitors. Roan felt a shiver run down his spine, his years of fending for himself on the streets making him instinctively wary.
“Let’s go peek out the living room window; see who it is before we open the door,” Kalel whispered.
“Or we could just sit here quietly and hope whoever it is goes away.” Roan tended to freeze when he was scared.
“Oh hush, this is our house and it’s broad daylight,” Kalel said, jumping to his feet. He ran close to the door and yelled out, “Who is it?”
“Flower delivery for a Mr. Roan Turner,” a strong voice came through the door. Kalel threw him a wink and opened the door accepting a giant bunch of flowers and giving the man a generous tip. Roan stayed in his chair. The only person who could possibly send him flowers would be Mace and he was probably getting ready to go out with someone else. Maybe Mace had them delivered to him by mistake.
“Don’t open that,” he yelled, when he saw Kalel open the card. “It might be for someone else.”
Kalel’s eyes scanned the message. “It is, it’s for you. Mace is asking you out on a date, tonight. He’ll be here at six thirty and apparently you have dinner reservations for seven thirty.”
“It’s for me? It wasn’t a mistake?” Roan hurried over to take the card. Maybe Kalel read it wrong.
“It’s got ‘Dear Roan,’ on it,” Kalel said, leaping out of Roan’s grasp and heading down the long hall to the bedrooms. Roan chased after him.
“Give it back,” he yelled, “let me see. Where are you going?”
“Your room of course,” Kalel said, stopping at Roan’s bedroom door. “Got to make you pretty for your date.”
Oh Gods. Knowing Kalel that could take hours. Roan opened his mouth to say he wasn’t even sure if he wanted to go on a date with his mate, but then he shut it again. What was the point in kidding himself? He’d crawl over broken glass naked for the chance to see Mace again. No matter how the man acted, and he hadn’t been doing that well so far, a mate was a mate. Although, Roan could do without Kalel’s interference. He’d rather be shut in his room, having a private panic attack all by himself. Heaving a sigh, Roan headed into his room to see Kalel was already buried in his closet, clothes being tossed on the bed behind him. It was going to be a long afternoon.
/~/~/~/~/
Mace was ready. He had a bunch of papers, among other things, in the inside pocket of his jacket. He was wearing his best suit. His boots were shined, he was cleanly shaved, and he’d even run the clippers over his scalp. He’d cleaned his car. Made sure the house was tidy and even found time to do a huge grocery order. After hour-long chats with Trent about being in a relationship; and Shane and Dimitri about what it meant to be the mate of a wolf shifter, Mace was as ready as he’d ever be. It was time to bring Roan home, this time for good.
Over the past two days, Mace didn’t think he’d ever talked as much as he had when he set about learning how to be the perfect mate for Roan. He was not the type of guy who was comfortable talking about feelings, or emotions, or how he was doing inside. But all the soul searching and living with the feeling he was nothing more than a socially awkward idiot had paid off. Once his three friends had realized how serious he was, right down to coming out to his coworkers over time, they all pitched in with advice, tips and practical solutions.
Now it was time for his plan to come together. Mace knocked on the pack house door and then stood back, squaring his shoulders. You can do this. The door opened seconds later, and even though Mace knew he was expected, he was disappointed to see Gabriel standing in front of him. The man was bigger than Mace, which was saying something, but then having bear shifter genetics probably had something to do with it.
“Come in. Roan will only be a few minutes. Kalel’s been getting him ready all afternoon from what I’ve heard.” Gabriel stood back, and Mace stepped inside the house. In the living room Sin and Ben were sharing one couch, Peter was in an armchair, and Shane and Dimitri were sharing the loveseat. Great. All we need now is Trent and the whole gang would be here.
“Feeling nervous?” Shane teased with a grin. “You can sit down, you know. It’s not as though you haven’t been here before, more than once.”
Yeah. Sitting down. That could be a good idea. Mace edged himself over to the nearest seat, and sat down, although he couldn’t relax. Every eye in the room was on him.
“So how’re things going at the gallery?” Mace asked Ben when the silence got too much for him. “Still getting plenty of people through?”
Thank the fates, Ben seemed to realize that Mace was nervous and happily chatted about how he was learning to tattoo, and how well the sales of his pictures were going. Gabriel joined his two mates on the couch, but Mace kept looking down the hallway that led to the bedrooms. His knee was starting to jiggle and he slammed his hand down on it, to stop it.
Finally, he heard voices, and Kalel and Roan came into sight. Mace stood up, rubbing his hands down his pants to keep from sweating. He hadn’t been in touch with Roan at all, except for the message with the flowers and now he cursed himself because he probably should have phoned, or text or done something. He patted his jacket pocket. Roan’s new phone was sitting there safely. As soon as Roan’s eyes met his, Mace felt his mouth go dry.
“And here he is, yet another product of my amazing styling skills if I do say so myself.” Kalel swept his arms open as if to showcase Roan, before hurrying over to plop on Peter’s lap. “Doesn’t Roan look amazing? Oh my goodness, I feel like I’m sending my baby out on prom night.”
“You look amazing,” Mace said, forcing his feet to move forward. He reached out his hand, and when Roan took it, he felt a calm fall over him. Roan had his hair loose, falling down his back like an obsidian cloud. His suit was well cut, a pale grey, although his tie, shoes and shirt were all black.
Roan gave a small smile and looked as if he was going to say something, but Dimitri cut in. “Now Mace; this is it. I know you guys are mated and I’m not expecting Roan home tonight. But if you muck this up one more time….”
“I won’t. You have my word on that. I won’t,” Mace said, although he couldn’t take his eyes off of his mate. He had a mate, a beautiful man who was sweet and gentle and who deserved to be looked after. In that moment Mace didn’t care about anything at all except letting Roan know he could and would be that person. “I owe you an apology,” he continued, speaking to Roan, knowing the others could hear, but what he had to say couldn’t wait. “I’ve been a bumbling idiot and my behavior at the precinct was inexcusable. I could make excuses, I’m human, but ultimately there’s no excuse for what I put you through. Please tell me you’ll forgive me and give me another chance.”
“I wouldn’t have spent all afternoon being pulled around and treated like a dress-up doll by a maniac cat shifter, if I wasn’t prepared to give you a chance,” Roan said with a hint of a smile. “You have no idea what I’ve been through – facials, manicure and pedicure, and that’s without the tons of advice. Kalel even tried to pluck my eyebrows.”
“Ouch.” Mace could totally sympathize although…he looked at Roan’s eyebrows. “There’s nothing wrong with your eyebrows.”
“Not now,” Kalel yelled out. “But even one stray hair can mar perfection. And everyone, male or female can benefit from a facial once in a while. I’m thinking of doing you next, Mace.”
“Er, yeah. Thanks. Maybe later.” There was no way Mace was letting Kalel get anywhere near his face. That man had claws.
“You guys had better get going. I know you’ve got a lot to talk about,” Dimitri said, standing up and pulling Shane with him. “We’re going to be watching our suspect tonight, and then the Captain’s agreed to put two uniforms on Clark for the next twenty-four hours. You can call it a mating present, well that and Shane let him know we could benefit from a night in our own bed as well for a change. You and Trent will be back on from 11pm tomorrow night. Don’t be late.”
Mace was sure he said he wouldn’t be, but things got a bit blurry for a while. He knew he escorted Roan out of the house, to the good-natured ribbing of the others. He was fairly sure he managed to drive his car okay, because they arrived at the restaurant he’d chosen without causing an accident. The hostess was lovely and even though she was wearing a low-cut gown and had an impressive figure, Mace didn’t even look. He just wanted them to get the social niceties out of the way so that he could show Roan, with all of the things he’d gotten organized over the previous two days, just how good a mate he could be.