Mating Song [Eternal Flames 14]

CHAPTER 1

CHAPTER 1

“Deja, this isn’t your fault, damn it,” Lon hissed quietly.

“It is, and you know it. Had I not pushed Vano he wouldn’t have stepped on that board with the nails in it and his foot wouldn’t have become infected and poisoned his blood,” Deja insisted wiping away the tears.

Casius went to his little brother, softly saying, “Deja, we were messing around. All of us. If Vano had allowed Robert to look at him sooner this all might have been prevented.”

Shaking his head, Deja sat as close to Vano as he could get, gently running his fingers through his hair. “Vano, please wake up so I can tell you how sorry I am. Please. I love you, Vano. Come back to us.”

Robert stepped closer to Deja, softly saying, “They say that even in the deepest sleep they hear you.”

“Do your thing with Vano like you do with Casius and I,” Lon said.

Shaking his head, Deja whispered, “I’m really not in the mood, Lon.”

Asbuth placed a hand on Deja’s shoulder. “It might help both of you heal.”

Deja thought for a moment and knew the perfect song. Continuing to gently run his fingers through Vano’s hair, Deja asked, “What do you think, Vano? “Hurt”, by Christina Aguilera would be perfect, wouldn’t it?”

Deja closed his eyes for a moment and took a deep breath, centering himself as he called up the song in his head, remembering the words and the feelings. Yes, it was the perfect song for the occasion.

He took a deep breath, then slowly released it. Opening his eyes, he focused on Vano’s face as he brushed his fingers through Vano’s hair and opened his mouth. “Seems like it was yesterday when I saw your face…” Deja began to sing as tears built in his eyes.

The soft, smooth, angelic sound of Deja’s voice drew bystanders closer to Vano’s door as the hallway began to fill, everyone enraptured by him. No one paid attention to the dark figure that stood just outside the room closest to them in front of the building crowd. All were focused on the sound of Deja’s voice.

“I would hold you in my arms. I would take the pain away. Thank you for…” No one said a word as Deja’s voice grew louder and filled with despair. The deep pain Deja felt for his brother touched everyone who stood by listening to the young man sing for his brother. Tears rolled freely down Deja’s face and his bottom lip trembled, but he kept singing, pouring out the pain he had inside.

His body began to shake as he continued. “There’s nothing I wouldn’t do, to have just one more chance, to look into your eyes and see you looking back,” Deja sang with such desperation that the tears wouldn’t stop and soaked his cheeks.

As the song’s tempo increased, so did Deja’s voice. He closed his eyes and sang from his soul as he belted out the words, uncaring of how loud he was or if anyone was listening. The sight brought everyone to tears.

Deja stood as a sob escaped his lips, then his voice softened as the tempo slowed, and he finished off the song in a near whisper that gave away his grief. Deja leaned down and gently kissed Vano’s lips, and then he whispered, “Please wake up.”

Hearing a few sniffles behind him, Deja straightened, then turned around and was shocked to see so many people. However, it was the huge, muscular sexy piece of chocolate looking at him from the doorway with curiosity and longing that drew Deja’s attention and he felt himself drawn to the man as he moved closer and closer until they were almost touching.

“Hello.”

The man brought his hand up, gently running his fingers down Deja’s cheek, wiping away the tears and Deja rubbed against the gentle touch. Slowly the man lowered his hand, turned around, and got lost in the crowd of people in the hall.

“Who was that?” Lon asked from behind him, but Deja was frozen in place, staring after the gorgeous stranger who had just taken Deja’s heart with him.

Where the hell had that thought come from? Deja thought. He had no idea, but he knew it was true. Whoever that man had been was supposed to be someone important to Deja and he wasn’t going to just stand there and let him go.

Suddenly it was like a building tide inside him and Deja’s feet took off without him even giving them an order. His body was running on instinct and he wouldn’t fight it. How many times had his parents, as well as his brothers told him to always listen to his gut? And his gut was telling him to find the man.

Pushing through the crowd that had gathered, Deja cleared them and looked left to find nothing.

Turning his head right, he saw that amazing large body at the end of the hall by the elevators. He took off at top speed, his gaze never leaving the man’s back. The elevator doors opened, and the man stepped in, then turned. Their gazes met, and Deja saw something... animalistic in those gorgeous glacial blue eyes.

The doors started to close just as he reached the elevator and the stranger reached out, blocking the door, stopping it. Deja stood just outside the elevator as they looked at one another, no one saying a word. After a moment the elevator made a chiming sound, notifying them the doors wanted to close.

The sound brought him out of his daze and Deja said, “Who are you?”

“I am just a shadow,” the stranger said in a sexy, deep voice, that made a shiver run through Deja’s body. The stranger dropped his hand and the elevator doors slid closed.

Deja stood staring at his reflection in the silver doors, stunned and not knowing what to do. A part of him wanted to slam on the elevator button and call the thing back to him so he could chase the man, but another part of him wanted to run in the other direction, but not out of fear.

He wanted to find someone who knew who that mysterious “shadow” was.

The doors slid open again and Deja gasped as he jumped back, but there was a couple inside, and no shadows. He turned and headed back toward Vano’s room, his progress slower this time as he tried to process all the thoughts and feelings that were swirling inside him like a storm.

As he reached Vano’s room, Deja was happy to see the crowd that had been there earlier was now gone. As he stepped into Vano’s room, the sound of his brother’s voice brought him out of his thoughts. Deja looked up and smiled as tears filled his eyes. Vano was awake. Deja ran to his bedside and threw himself on top of Vano as he hugged him.

“Damn, bro, take it easy on me. From what I’ve been told I was in a freaking coma,” Vano said and Deja could hear the smile in his brother’s voice, telling him that Vano was teasing. That and the fact that as Vano spoke, he wrapped his arms around Deja, returning the hug.

* * * *

“So what was up with tall, dark, and chocolatey?” Vano asked, teasing as Deja sat in the chair he had been sitting in earlier.

“Who?”

Vano smirked at him. “Don’t give me that innocent look. The guy you ran out of here after. I opened my eyes and the first thing I see is you taking off out the door after some hot guy. Nice to know you were worried about me.”

Deja’s brows drew down as he frowned, anger filling him. He reached out and pinched Vano’s arm. “Ouch! Hey, what the hell was that for?” Vano asked as he rubbed the area.

“I sat here for days worrying and praying over your ass,” Deja replied angrily as he crossed his arms over his chest and huffed.

Vano’s eyes softened and he gave Deja a small smile. “I know. I heard you. Well, I heard your beautiful voice singing to me. It’s what brought me back.”

Deja dropped his arms as he sighed. How could he be mad at his brother after saying such things?

“But I do want to know what was up with the big guy?” Vano asked.

Deja shrugged one shoulder as he replied, “I don’t know. I’ve never seen him before today, but there was... something about him. Something that... forget it.”

“No, what was it, Deja?” Lon asked from his seat on the other side of Vano’s bed.

“I don’t know how to describe it. When I saw him I just felt... connected to him somehow. I know, it sounds crazy so just forget it.”

“No, I think we need to explore this. It almost sounds like...” Casius stopped speaking as he stepped closer.

They all looked to him. Casius stood at the foot of the bed with his three mates, Asbuth the gargoyle, Benji the cute little demon, and the doctor, Robert, who was a phoenix shifter.

“I agree, mate,” Asbuth said as he placed a hand on the small of Casius’s back.

“Agree what?” Vano asked.

Casius and his mates looked at one another, something passing between them, Deja could see it in their eyes.

“It doesn’t matter. Whatever it is, it’s gone. He wouldn’t even tell me his name, he just said he was a shadow,” Deja huffed as he crossed his arms over his chest again and sat back in his seat.

Asbuth chuckled. “Did he now? Well I have a snippet of information to share with you, brother-in-law. That is his name. Well, it’s what everyone calls him, I don’t even know his real name.”

Deja looked at his new brother-in-law like he was crazy. It was his name? What?

Asbuth must have seen the question in his eyes because he smiled as he answered Deja’s

unspoken query. “Shadow. His name is Shadow, and he works for the Crystal PD. He is one of Wade’s men. His Navy SEAL brothers-in-arms and his Black Ops team. They all recently moved to Crystal and some of them, like Shadow, started working for Nash over at the police station.

Some have moved into the gargoyle compound—those who haven’t found their mates that is.”

“Shadow,” Deja whispered, trying out the word on his tongue.

It seemed to fit the man. He was there one minute and gone the next, and there was a whole mysterious vibe about him. Now that he had a name and knew where to find the man, Deja was going to find out what that connection he felt meant. That pull.

Suddenly a thought hit him, and Deja sat up straight in his seat as his eyes popped open wide. He looked at Asbuth and said, “Mate?”

Asbuth gave him a knowing smile. “Does it feel like you’re being led by your d**k and it’s hard, throbbing, and in need? Does just the thought of him make you think of running to him and never leaving his side? Do you feel a strange connection, or pull, to be with him?”

“Holy s**t!” Deja gasped. “That’s exactly how I feel.”

Vano chuckled. “You feel like your d**k is a divining rod?”

Deja rolled his eyes at his brother, then stuck his tongue out at him. “Ha ha, asshole. But, actually, yes, that’s how it feels since the moment I saw him.”

“Strange for a human to have such a reaction to the mating pull. Usually they feel something but not as strongly. Humans don’t usually know what it is and ignore it,” Robert said.

“Yes, but our Deja is different,” Lon replied. “He’s always been more in tune with people than anyone we’ve ever met. Like a sixth sense.”

A nurse came in, her eyes wide open and looking like she was about to panic. “Doctor, you’re needed in the ER, stat.”

Robert quickly kissed each of his mates, then ran from the room.

Deja looked at Casius, then Asbuth. “He’s my mate, isn’t he?”

Casius stepped closer and took Deja’s hand. “I don’t know for sure, bro, but from everything you’ve said, it sounds like it.”

Sadness filled him as he accepted the truth of his words and theirs. “Is he a shifter?” Deja asked in a whisper.

“Yes, he’s a black panther,” Asbuth replied.

“Then he would know that we’re mates just by sight or smell or whatever, right?”

Asbuth sighed heavily, his face also turning sad. Deja knew Asbuth was on the same track of thinking that he was. “Yes.”

Deja nodded absently, then stood and wrapped his arms around his waist and turned away from them and whispered, “Which means he knows and ran. Which also means he doesn’t want me.”

Deja left the room feeling dejected.