Gifted with Hydrangea (9 page)

As they entered, he took a moment to take in
everything with a better light, now that he wasn’t so stricken with terror. The
house was filled with warm colors and soft furniture, tucked into an open floor
plan. Not as many people were in the house this time. He knew several were
working outside, since he saw them as they walked passed them, on the way to
the house. But he wondered where everyone else was, and what it was they did.

Enzo led him to the kitchen and sat him down at the
breakfast bar. He noticed Havana doing the dishes, and smiled at her.

She smiled widely at him, but her hands were busy
using a scrub brush on a dish. “
Mornin
’, Heath. Are
you feeling better?”

“
Yes, thank you.”

Another girl that looked to be about Havana’s age
plopped down on the seat next to him. She held out her hand.

“
Hi, I’m Gale,
Alphy’s
mate.
I’m also human, if that might help you feel better.”

“
Hi, Gale. I’m Heath.” Heath shook her hand. He liked
her right away. She had something about her that made him feel comfortable.

“
If you need help with anything, you can ask me,” she
told hi
m.

Another woman placed a plate, overflowing with a
breakfast bake and biscuits and gravy, in front of him and Enzo.

Heath sat there with his eyes wide open.
How on earth am I supposed to eat all of
that?
Before he knew it, a tall glass of orange juice was added to the
feast.

Gale laughed beside him. “Shifters and gargoyles eat
heaps of food. The vampires, not so much. Their appetites are closer to
humans’, but they can still pack away a large amount. Don’t worry, if you can’t
eat it all, we can either save it for you, or I’m sure Enzo would be more than
happy to finish off your plate, just as soon as he licks his own plate clean.”

Heath’s eyes darted around the plate. He was unsure
where to start. He picked up his fork, and began to eat. The flavors were rich
and comforting. He closed his eyes and hummed in pleasure.

“
I know, right?” Gale said, interrupting his thoughts.
“Betty and my mom, Connie, make pretty good grub here. If it weren’t for my
increased metabolism, thanks to my mating, I would be five hundred pounds
already, and I’ve only been here a month and a half.”

Heath rolled the food around his mouth, slowly
enjoying the flavor. He wasn’t meaning to be rude, but to respond would mean to
interrupt the orgasm in his mouth. Gale didn’t seem to mind. She leaned over
and directed her conversation to Enzo.

“
So what are you guys going to do today?” she asked.

“
I haven’t talked to him about it yet, but I know for
sure that we need to head over to his place and pick up some clothes, and his
pet.”

Gale wiggled happily in her seat. “Yes, we’re all
excited about the arrival of Tinkerbell.”

Havana guffawed. “That cat is going to be a superstar
around here. I heard some of the other kids beg their parents to come and see
her when she gets here.”

“
I know, totally,” Gale said excitedly. “I told
Alphy
we should think about other pets.”

Havana closed the dishwasher and started it up. “And
what did he say to that?” Havana asked.

Gale slouched. “I don’t want to talk about it. It
wasn’t nice. He totally doesn’t get us humans and our affections for
non-shifting animals. It’s not like I can pull a string around and have Slate
chase it, or ask Enzo to play fetch with me.”

Suddenly beside him, Enzo started choking, and Havana
started laughing so hard, she nearly fell to the floor. Heath patted Enzo’s
back until the coughing subsided.

“
But hey,” Havana said, in between chuckles, “I bet if
you asked
Kace
to roll over to let you scratch his belly,
he would.”

“
Yeah, but then
Alphy
would
gut him. Hey!” Suddenly, Gale jumped up. “I can use that as a prod to get
Alphy
to change his mind. See
ya
.”

The woman who served him his breakfast shook her head.
“That girl is going to get
Kace
killed, without the
wolf even knowing why.”

“
Nah, I’m sure
Alphy
will
only maim him a little. Sea can stitch him up, and he’ll be fine in no time,”
Havana said, teasing him. Or at least Heath hoped she was teasing.

As if reading his thoughts, Enzo leaned over and
whispered into his ear. “Don’t worry, sweetheart,
Alphy
won’t really hurt him. Paranormals are super jealous when it comes to their
mates, but unless
Kace
really did do something to
Gale, which he wouldn’t,
Alphy
won’t hurt him.”

Heath decided to leave that subject alone for now. He
nodded silently as he chewed on his breakfast.

Heath learned that his car was retrieved earlier that
morning, so after breakfast, Enzo drove him over to his small apartment. The
first thing he did was grab his pet carrier, which was in the closet by the
front door.

“
Tinkerbell. Where are
ya
,
Tink
? Kitty, kitty, kitty?” He stopped calling for her when
he heard her meow. He got down on his hands and knees, and looked under his
rundown couch. Golden feline eyes looked back at him, but instead of the look
of benevolence, he saw terror.

“
What’s the matter,
Tink
? I’m
home. You’re okay.”

“
It’s because of me, Heath,” Enzo said from behind h
im.

Heath leaned up a little, and looked back at Enzo, who
was still standing by the door. “What? Why?” he asked.

“
Because she senses my wolf. She knows I’m a predator,
but she doesn’t know that I’m not going to hurt her. She’ll get used to me and
the others over time once she realizes we won’t hurt her.”

“
Oh.” Heath didn’t know what to say. He had actually
never seen Enzo shift, so it was easy to see him only as a man. He bent back
down and talked soothingly to his cat.

“
It’s
okay,
Tink
.
Come on, we’re going on a little vacation,” he tried to soothe her.

“
I can go start to packing for you. Where’s your
suitcase?” Enzo asked.

“
Uh, in the bedroom closet.” He blindly pointed in a
direction, which he hoped was towards the bedroom, as he kept his eyes on his
frightened kitty.

Heath struggled for ten minutes with his cat, but he
was finally able to snap her into her pet carrier with minimal amount of blood
loss on his part. He left her in the carrier beside the couch as he cleaned up
his scratches. After they loaded up the car, they stopped by a store for pet
supplies.

“
What do you want to do when we get back?” Enzo asked
as they were traveling back to pack property.

“
Uh, I don’t know. What is there to do?”

“
Well, we can go for a walk, or we can stay in and
watch movies. I got a TV in my room, so we don’t even have to be out in the
main living area, if you don’t want.”

Heat burned through Heath’s cheeks when he thought
about lying in bed with Enzo, watching movies. His dick started to twitch and
fill. Enzo’s nose flared. His eyes darkened, and his voice lowered.

Enzo swore and reached down to adjust his dick. “The
bedroom idea sounds like we’d get sidetracked. As much as I want to explore
your body, sweetheart, I think we better go for a walk. I need to tell you
about our culture, and most importantly, what you mean to me.”

Heath remained silent as they turned onto the gravel
road that led to the farm. He took his pet carrier into the house, while Enzo
brought in his suitcase. They didn’t make it more than a few feet into the
house when several girls and two tots swarmed them, or more precisely, his pet
carrier.

Enzo held up his hands. “Whoa! Hold on!” Everyone
froze. “Tinkerbell has had a traumatic morning. You should give her time to
settle down and adjust.”

A little brown haired tot came up to the carrier and
placed both her hands on either side, then placed her face against the gate. “
Tink
ok? I take care of you.”

Heath’s heart melted. He loved kids, and wanted to
have at least one, someday, and this little girl was so angelic.
Tink
seemed to have liked her, too, because he heard her
give a mixed purr and meow, and saw her rub her head against the cage near the
girl’s face.

“
Oh, that is so sweet,” Gale said in a cooing tone.
“Heath, why don’t you let us set up everything for the cat in Enzo’s room while
you two go do something?”

“
Sounds like a fantastic idea, Gale.” Enzo hurriedly
answered for him. He put his bags down, took Heath’s hand, and led him out of
the house.

Heath was worried at first, but Enzo assured him
everything would be fine.
Weird how I
always believe him,
he thought.

Enzo walked him over to a building and opened it up.
The space was huge, and smelled of wood and metal. It had a tractor and trailer
parked in it, and a forge. Another kind of station was off to the right.

“
Wow, this place is huge,” he told Enzo.

“
That’s a woodworking area that Ryker’s mate,
Rudo
, is going to use. They also used to do blacksmithing
here, hence the forge. But it has enough space, if we moved the tractor and
trailer, for something else, say, space for a mechanic.”

Heath whipped around to look at Enzo. “What? N-no. Why
would you say that? I thought you were going to let me go after you guys did
the background check on me.”

Enzo wrapped his arms around him, which dampened his
rising panic.
Damn, he’s got a lot of
power over me.

“
Easy, sweetheart. If that’s what you want, we will. I
just wanted to show you there were other options. Maybe even something you can
do while you’re here, to pass the time.” Enzo held him for another moment
before backing away again. They made their way over to the trailer and sat down
on the end.

Heath’s panic dissipated, and he looked around the
space again. “So why is there a tractor and trailer in here? I didn’t see any
crops, or farm animals, other than the chickens.”

“
It’s for pack runs.”

Heath listened as Enzo explained about how important
pack-members were to each other.

“
Because of the long lives we live, and other
challenges we have in keeping our secret, we can’t rely on humans, so our pack
is the social stability that we need. Pack runs help to strengthen that bond.”

“
So are you guys, like, your own government?”

Enzo winced and tilted his head. “Sort of. We abide by
human laws as much as we can, but we do have two paranormal councils we also
have to abide by. They are the highest ranking in our class. In a pack, the
highest rank is alpha.”

“
And that’s
Alphy
.”

“
Right.
Alphy
makes decisions
and rules for this pack. What he says goes. If we disobey, it could be seen as
a challenge to his status, and in our world, that can be deadly.”

“
You mean like last night, when you challenged
Alphy
?”

Enzo looked uncomfortable. He squirmed a little bit,
and scratched his ear, and cleared his throat. “Uh, yeah. But it isn’t like he
would blindly attack just anyone.
Alphy
and I have
been best friends for years. He knew I didn’t mean to challenge him. That’s why
he just yelled, to remind me of my rank, and what I was doing.”

“
Your rank? Does everyone have a rank? What is yours?”

“
Whoa, slow down. Before I answer that, let me explain
a little more. So in any group, we need leaders. It gives everyone stability
knowing where they stand, and who to turn to for whatever occasion. So we have
our council, then the alphas who run the packs. There is always a beta, then
enforcer, trackers, and the rest you can call the civilian pack. You either
have a rank, or you don’t. If you don’t, you are equal to the other members of
the pack who don’t, no matter their age or wealth. An alpha can make anyone,
any rank that he chooses.”

“
So what’s your rank?”

“
I’m a beta.”

“
Wow, that’s a pretty high rank. So what does a beta
do?”

“
I govern the more minor issues that would take up too
much of the alpha’s time. I support him in his decisions, and I’m the one in
charge when he’s gone, or sick, or whatever.”

“
Who are the others with ranks? I don’t want to
accidentally overstep my bounds.”