CHAPTER 2
2522 Words
CHAPTER 2
“Asbuth, I need for you and Sylux to come to Twixie’s with Wade and me,” Suneth stated,
walking to the door with his mate.
Sylux clapped his hands together. “Oh yeah! Hey, isn’t it meatloaf night?”
Shaking his head, Asbuth replied, “Nope that’s Tuesday nights.”
“Well that’s cool, I can always get the fish and chips,” Sylux said with a grin.
Suneth stepped out, saying, “It will have to wait, I’m afraid. We need you two to take guard point outside the diner. Something’s going on.”
“What’s up boss man?” Asbuth asked.
“I have no clue and neither does Illan. It seems that Twix called Illan about the new group that moved in recently. He didn’t go into detail but said Illan needed to gather his clutch together and go to the diner. Illan thought Wade and I should go as well, in case there’s a problem,” Suneth answered, getting into the car.
Asbuth allowed his wings to spread wide before taking off into the sky. It didn’t take him and Sylux long to get to the diner, landing next to Illan and the rest of his clutch.
“Dad, you do realize no one is watching the station? We’re all really tight on men right now,”
Day said.
“Twix doesn’t just call us on a whim. If he feels that we all need to be here, then we need to be here,” Illan insisted.
Angelo smiled. “That’s good with me. I have been craving a meatloaf sandwich all day.”
“Angel, we just ate,” Morgan said with a laugh.
Angelo looked at his mate. “I am eating for two you know?”
“The way you eat, Angelo, you’re eating for two hundred,” Ethan replied with a laugh.
Angelo narrowed his eyes at his best friend. “You would think that the godfather to our child would be nicer to the birthfather.”
Rhys stood there decked out in a lavender embroidered gauze dress with neutral tone Gucci Sylvie leather pumps. Asbuth smiled. “You look lovely, Rhys.”
Smiling wide, Rhys replied, “Thank you, Asbuth. Between being the father of twins and still running Maddox with my father, I don’t often get the chance to dress up and go to dinner. I wasn’t going to let this opportunity pass.”
“Where are the kids? I thought Twix said you were taking care of them all?” Justice asked.
Rhys laughed. “Relax gramps, Dad, Rune, and Kerrick have them.”
“They spoil those three rotten. It’s going to take days for us to get Amelia to understand the word
“No” again,” Day muttered.
Ethan laughed. “I have to admit; the grandparents learned the position fast.”
Suneth and Wade pulled up and parked, quickly getting out of their car. “Well the gang is all here. Asbuth, you and Sylux cover the exits.”
“Okay, but who are we watching out for?” Asbuth asked.
Illan pointed to the four men sitting inside eating as if they hadn’t had a meal in a month. They looked harmless enough, but Asbuth felt his gargoyle moving and fluttering within him when he saw the large man with short black hair. When he tossed his head back, Asbuth’s c**k about popped out of his jeans. The man was absolutely beautiful.
“Asbuth, wake the f**k up. We’ve got guard duty,” Sylux said, smacking Asbuth on the back of his bald head to jar him back to the here and now.
“Touch me again and I will kick your ass,” Asbuth muttered getting into position across from the diner, but in a way that he could still see the handsome man.
“I don’t get it. They look harmless. What do you think is up in there?” Sylux said.
“I don’t know, Sy, but whatever it is, I have a feeling I’m going to be forever changed.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Sylux asked.
Shaking his head, to clear his thoughts, Asbuth turned to Sylux. “Nothing. Just get into position.
I’ve got the front, you take the back.”
Sylux grunted and did as he was ordered.
* * * *
“Where the hell did they come from?” Rhys asked.
Arty set a plate down in front of Angelo who immediately picked up his meatloaf sandwich and took a big bite, moaning in pleasure. Saying with a full mouth, “Thanks, Arty.”
Illan replied, “Deja and Vano came to me asking permission to settle in Crystal. They’d been traveling with the gypsy tribe and wanted to settle down. Their tribe leader vouched for them and there was no deceit in what they said, so I approved their move.”
“Rory caught them making camp in the north woods. He and Snake went to check on them and
discovered they had no home. He said from the few supplies they had, he could tell they didn’t have much money and talked to Donny. Donny offered his place to them for half of what they would normally pay for rent,” Wade stated.
“One of them is hurt,” Arty whispered.
Illan immediately asked, “One of the dragons?”
Shaking his head, Arty softly said, “No, sir. The one with the dark low fade long fringe hair and pretty green eyes.”
Illan gave Arty a blank stare and Rhys laughed. “It’s okay, boss man. He’s talking about the one sitting next to the blond dragon.”
Nodding, Arty said, “From what I can smell, it’s pretty bad.”
“You’re a possum shifter, aren’t you Arty?” Ethan asked.
Nodding, Arty pushed up his glasses, saying, “Yes, sir. My possum has an elevated sense of smell to make up for our lack of sight and hearing.”
“Illan, if one of them is hurt, we need to help them,” Justice insisted.
Illan patted his mate’s hand. “We will.”
Twix sighed. “That’s not going to be easy. I had to come up with a way to give them a free meal, and the injured man was extremely insistent that they will not take charity. I gave the cutie a job and when I did the paperwork for Deja, he didn’t know what a social security number was.”
“But healthcare in Crystal is free. It’s one of the reasons we don’t have to worry about the humans letting out our secrets,” Marco said.
“But they don’t know that. We haven’t had time to give them the welcome to Crystal talk,”
Avery replied.
“Plus, we need to figure out where the hell these two dragons came from. I know every dragon in every clutch and I have never seen or heard of them,” Illan stated.
“What did they say their names were again?” Suneth asked.
Vik replied, “The one with the dark hair is Casius and the blond is Lon, I didn’t get a last name.”
“The tiny cutie is Deja and the grumpy proud man is Vano,” Twix finished.
“Day, call Doc Rob and tell him I said to get his ass over here and bring his black bag. Arty, go get those four men and tell them I want to see them,” Illan ordered.
Justice and Avery gave Illan a look. Rolling his eyes and with a deep sigh, Illan gritted his teeth, saying, “Please.”
Both his mates smiled at him.
Day let out an annoying growl, “Doc, you have been ordered by…. you ….”
Illan put his hand out and Day handed over his phone. “You have a choice, get your ass over here, or I go in full dragon mode to you and get your ass myself. I look forward to seeing you in five minutes.”
Justice and Avery looked at Illan and with a low growl, he said, “Thank you.” Then hung up the phone.
The sound of a throat clearing had everyone looking up and seeing the four men standing there.
Vano looked pissed, Deja’s teeth chattered in fear and the poor guy looked as if he was about to piss himself. However, Lon and Casius looked confused.
Justice immediately got up and went to Deja. “Hey there, it’s okay. We just wanted to talk. No one in this room is going to hurt you. I give you my word.”
“Would you all join us… please,” Illan said in his gruff way.
“Why?” Vano asked defiantly.
Illan felt his dragon ready to knock the little s**t down to size for having the audacity to question the leader of all paranormal and shifters. Instead, Illan gritted his teeth, saying, “Because I said please.”
“And I say no thank you. See we both were half ass polite, but the answer is still no,” Vano stated with a smart-ass smile.
“You do know who you’re talking to… right?” Avery asked none too nicely.
Vano gave a sneer. “And you do know I don’t give a s**t… right?”
Illan stood to his full six-foot eight height, his eyes flashed from reptilian and back to human,
“You speak to my mate like that again and I will show you who I am. Now you will get the f**k over here, or I will not only kick your ass out of Crystal, I will——”
Casius quickly stepped forward. “It’s okay, sir. We’ll sit.” Turning to Vano, Casius hissed,
“Knock it off. I don’t know who this man is, but trust me when I say, he is extremely powerful and not even Lon nor I could save you if he chose to attack.”
Lon nodded. “There is a great deal of power in this room.”
“And we don’t even have Jett, Zev… well let’s say some of us aren’t even here,” Avery replied.
“He’s Illan by the way. He’s the guy D and I talked to about moving here,” Vano said as the four of them started making their way into the room, Vano had to be helped by Lon because of a bad limp on his right side.
“Great, he’s the leader of this town and you thought pissing him off was a good idea?” Lon asked in exasperation.
The bell over the door sounded and York walked in with Timmy and Benji. York saying, “Benji, why don’t you go to the booth over there and order something, my treat.”
Timmy rushed to Vano. “Oh you’re hurt. Can I help?”
“No,” Vano snapped.
York growled and grabbed Vano out of Lon’s arms. “Talk to my mate like that again and you won’t have to worry about an injury, because I will rip that f*****g leg from its socket and use it to kick your ass.”
“York, let him go,” Illan ordered.
York continued to hold onto Vano, until Illan gave a low grumble. Tossing the i***t back to Lon, York hissed, “I meant what I said.”
Sitting with the others York opened his arms and Timmy immediately snuggled in, patting his mate’s chest.
Illian indicated for the men to sit across from him as Casius tilted his head, sniffing, “Do you smell that?”
Lon asked, “Smell what?”
“Is there a problem?” Illan asked.
Casius shook his head. “No sir. It’s nothing.”
Once everyone was settled, Illan looked directly at Lon and Casius. “What are your full names?”
Casius and Lon looked at Illan, baffled. Casius murmured, “I’m Casius and this is my brother Lon. Is there a problem, sir? I mean, I know my brother and I weren’t with Deja and Vano, because we were setting up camp at the time.”
Shaking his head, Illan replied, “No, it isn’t that. What I want is your full names.”
“Sutherlan, sir. Casius and Lon Sutherlan,” Casius replied.
“Are you purposefully being an ass?” Day angrily asked.
Casius turned to Day. “I’m not understanding why you’re angry. You asked our full names and we told you.”
Illan held up his hand. “Where are your parents?”
Illan saw sadness in the young dragons’ eyes. Neither said anything for a few moments, and then Casius replied, “They were killed in the war. Our father was killed defending the pixies and our mother didn’t find out until afterwards, that she was with child. She stayed hidden until we were born. The war was getting closer to our hideout, so Mom took us to this cave and left to find help. She said she was going to the dragon king. She was killed there, or at least that’s what we think. We really don’t know any more than that.”
“How do you know that much?” Justice asked.
“Our mother kept a diary. She said her good friend Savage always told her how keeping records of one’s life was important, so that’s what she was doing. That way, if anything happened to her, we would always know who and what we are,” Lon replied.
Illan turned to his son. “Day…”
“Already on it,” Day said, putting the phone to his ear.
“Do you know the names of your mother and father?” Illan asked.
Nodding, Casius replied, “Our parents weren’t mates, but they were in love. They married in the human way, but never mated in case they ever did find their true mates.”
“That’s sweet, but what were their names?” Illan asked once more.
“Casimir and Lena,” Lon answered.
Everyone gasped, exclaiming, “Holy s**t!”
“f**k!”
“Oh, Jett and Ollie are going to be so pissed they weren’t here,” Finn whispered, grabbing his phone.
Illan never took his eyes off the two men sitting across from them. “Rhys…”
Rhys had the phone to his ear. “On it. Dad. Hey, can you get Cassy for me? It’s really
important.”
Lon and Casius looked at Illan, however it was Vano snarling, “What does any of this have to do with our being in Crystal?”
“Nothing and everything,” Illan said looking towards Vano, then he turned back to Casius. “Do you know who and what I am?”
Casius and Lon both shook their heads, as Casius said, “I only know you have great power, Sir, and Vano said you were the leader here. You must understand we know we’re dragon shifters, because Mom said so. However, we have only shifted a couple of times and we really don’t
understand much about it. My brother and I got lucky enough that when Mom left there were some gypsies using the same cave, further in, as a hideout from the war. They took us in and raised us. We’ve been with the descendants of those men since that day.”
“Well, I am the leader of all paranormals, shifters and mainly dragons. My name is Illan
Sutherlan and my brother is Casimir Sutherlan. He was married to Lena Sutherlan. Do you see where I’m going with this?” Illan asked.
Deja gasped, “Oh, Cas! This man is your uncle! Oh, Cas… Lon… I’m so happy for you.”
The bell rang over the door and Doc Rob walked in. His shoulders pulled back as he carried his black bag. “I’m here. What do you want oh ruler of all rulers?”
“Doc, knock it off,” Justice snarled.
Doc Rob walked forward. “I was in the middle of stitching up Mr. Roarke’s son when I got this demanding ass calling me to come to the diner right away. He never gives a thought as to what I may be in the middle of when he calls. He barks an order and I’m just expected to come like a good pet. Now why am I here?”
“This man is hurt. His name is Vano and we want him checked out,” Justice directed.
Doc Rob looked at Justice, disgust evident on his face. “He’s human.”
“I realize that, Doc, just check him out,” Justice ordered.
“I don’t do humans,” Doc Rob stated.
Illan snarled, “You do now.”
Vano hissed, “I do not need nor want a doctor.”
“See, he doesn’t want me to check him out as much as I don’t want to,” Doc Rob stated in that cold tone he often used.
Illan ground out, “Well, he will let you check him out and you will do so now. Do I make myself clear?”
Doc Rob got closer asking, “Where’s the injury?”
Deja immediately answered, “It’s his foot. He hurt it when we were traveling. He stepped on a rusty nail on the road. We’ve been cleaning it with soap and water, but it just seems to be getting worse.”
“We can’t afford a doctor,” Vano snapped.
“Well, good thing we don’t charge humans now isn’t it? Take off your shoe and I…” Doc Rob stopped speaking as he looked left then right. “What is that smell?”
“Hey asshole, I clean my feet like four times a day,” Vano snapped.
Shaking his head, Doc Rob replied, “Not that, although you may clean it, that infection is rank.
However, I am talking about the smell of fresh linen hanging on a line.”
“Hey, York, do you mind if I get a piece of pie with my order?” Benji asked.
Doc Rob and Casius both turned to the man and growled. The bell rang over the front door, as Asbuth walked in. “York, you’re not answering your phone and Qavex is trying to get ahold of you. It seems as if some of your animals got out and are scaring the hell out of his horses. He said…” Asbuth’s words stopped as he looked at Benji, and then Casius and Doc Rob. Growling,
“Mates.”
- Writer
