The Lynx Who Claimed the Sun (7 page)

“It’s nothing really,” Nicolas said again. “I’m sorry for cursing.”

He dabbed his lips with a napkin and offered his lover a smile he didn’t feel. “I’d better go.”

Garth looked torn. He stole a glance and his boys and then at Nicolas again. At last, he sighed. “All right, love. I’ll call you tomorrow, okay?”

Garth leaned in for a kiss, and Nicolas turned his head. Garth’s lips landed on his cheek, instead of his lips, like they’d been meant to.

Nicolas didn’t want to be cruel to his lover, but kissing in front of the kits would only make things worse.

They broke apart, and Garth led him to the door in silence. “I’ll deal with this,” Garth promised as Nicolas put on his coat. “I promise.”

Nicolas nodded and smiled again. “I believe you.”

He pecked Garth, this time on the lips, and slid out of his lover’s apartment without looking back. As he left the building, he looked at the darkened sky. Raindrops were starting to fall, and people began to run in an attempt to find cover from the approaching storm.

Perhaps Nicolas should have gone back upstairs, but he didn’t.

Instead, he walked into the rain and headed toward the subway. The walk would do him good. Hopefully, it would make him feel better, at least.

* * * *

As the door closed behind Nicolas, Garth returned to the living room. The kits had fled, having probably taken refuge in their room
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while Garth was leading his lover out. Angry and frustrated, Garth started gathering the dishes.

He’d had many talks with Preston and Corbin regarding their behavior toward Nicolas. Every time, they promised they would stop with their pranks, but they never did. Garth couldn’t understand it.

Sure, he knew his boys weren’t the easiest kits to be around. They gave their babysitters regular trouble and thought up all sorts of pranks. However, at the beginning of Garth’s relationship with Nicolas, the two children seemed open-minded, even accepting of the hummingbird.

Had Garth pushed them too far, too fast? He’d never taken stable lovers since Bella had abandoned him, leaving him to raise the kits alone. He simply hadn’t found the time or the energy to do so.

Meeting Nicolas shattered that way of thinking. He knew he should have been more considerate to his boys, but he’d genuinely thought they had come to like Nicolas at one point.

With a sigh, Garth prepared his children plates of food. He couldn’t allow them to go without a meal. They were growing lynxes, and they needed to eat. He put away all the rest and tossed the stupid salad that had been the cause of it all. He’d cooked it himself. When had the kits managed to add the egg and the chicken to it?

Shaking his head, Garth made his way to the boys’ room. He knocked at the door and slowly opened it. “Boys? Come on. Get something to eat.”

He stepped inside and looked at his sons. They were huddled together on the bed, looking miserable. When he approached them, they obediently took the plates of food and started to eat.

Garth waited until his boys finished their dinner. They seemed to drag out each bite, obviously reluctant to start any conversation with him. At last, they put the plates away and looked at him. “So, what do you have to say for yourselves?” Garth asked. He’d have liked to believe his sons had an explanation for what they’d done. Hell,
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perhaps it had all been an accident. Perhaps the kits hadn’t been behind it after all.

The boys didn’t even try to deny it, though. “Why does he have to come here?” Corbin inquired, instead. “He doesn’t belong with us.”

Garth couldn’t deny the pain that coursed through him at his son’s words. He wanted his boys to love Nicolas as much as he did. He dreamed of having a family, just the four of them, like he’d never managed to achieve with Bella.

He knew it was unusual for a lynx to want that. As a rule, his kind weren’t very family oriented. Case in point, Bella. Many times, lynx kits were abandoned in the wild with their animal counterparts once they were old enough to care for themselves. Garth had grown up like that, and it was one of the reasons why he’d ended up working for the Cunninghams. He’d sworn no child of his would ever be without a family, but unfortunately, the woman who’d mothered his sons had disagreed. Garth hadn’t loved her, not really, but he’d been angry and hurt for the kits.

He shook himself and forced himself to smile at his sons. “Of course he does. You’re just not used to it.”

Preston shook his head. “He’s prey. Mom told us that.”

Garth froze. “Pardon me?”

Corbin elbowed his sibling in the stomach, but it was too late.

Garth had already heard the phrase that explained more than he’d have liked. “Your mother’s been in contact with you?”

At first, his sons didn’t answer, so Garth glared at the two kits.

“Answer the question.”

Even the more stubborn Corbin blanched in front of his tone. “She comes by sometimes when you’re at work. Gina lets her in.”

Gina. Right. The fucking babysitter. Skylar had told Garth he shouldn’t have trusted her. Christ.

“When did this start?”

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“A month or so ago,” Preston provided. “Daddy, she said that she’d come back if only we made the hummingbird go away. Please, tell him to go away.”

Preston’s expression was so eager that Garth could only imagine what lines of bullshit Bella had been feeding them. He couldn’t blame the kits. After all, she was their mother. But he couldn’t give up Nicolas either. Jesus, what a clusterfuck.

“I can’t do that, Preston,” he answered. “I love him.”

“But he’s a bird, and a man,” Corbin protested. “It’s not right. It’s against nature.”

Garth frowned. Seriously, what had Bella been teaching them?

Garth always pointed out to his sons that love was love, no matter what form it took. Sometimes, he’d taken the kits to the adoption agency, and they’d been quite intrigued to see the same-sex couples finding children to raise. They had never once said such things though. “Boys, don’t you remember all the times you visited the place I worked?”

The two kits nodded and Garth went on. “When you saw those people together, did it seem wrong to you? A woman loving a woman and a man loving a man?”

“Not right then,” Corbin grumbled, “but then Mom started to explain, and it makes sense. I mean, it’s obvious things are not supposed to be that way. We’d go extinct.”

“Oh, son.” Garth sighed. “The world is all about diversity. It isn’t so clear cut as your mother put it, but the first thing you have to understand, relationships are not about breeding. They’re about love.”

“But Daddy, don’t you love Mom?” Preston asked.

“Of course I do. After all, she gave me you two. But I love her in a different way than I love Nico. And on that note, your behavior today was unacceptable. I expect better of you. Think about what you’ve done. Nicolas could have gotten seriously ill.”

At the reprimand, the two children looked away. “Are we grounded?” Preston asked.

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“For the moment, no more visits to Soren’s until I can see some improvement.” Both kits let out cries of dismay. On Soren’s pack lands, they could really commune with their animals without fear of being seen. It was one more frustrating thing for Garth that the kits could get along with Soren’s pups so well and accepted Soren and Daniel’s mating, but refused his own.

“But, Dad...” Corbin tried to protest.

“No buts.” He wrapped his arms around his sons and pulled them close. “I know this is difficult for you, but remember you’ll always be my first loves. Nothing will ever change that.”

“Really?” Corbin asked.

He didn’t sound like the restless, naughty kit he seemed all time, but like a child uncertain of his parent’s affection. “Really,” Garth replied. “Give Nico a chance. You’ll see he only wants the best for us.”

“Okay, Daddy,” Preston answered. “We’ll try.”

“Good. Now you need to get some rest. Tomorrow, you have lessons, and I won’t be responsible for you claiming tiredness.”

He left the bed and kissed his sons’ foreheads. “Good night.”

With that, Garth left the room, distantly wishing he’d have found Nicolas earlier. Things would be so much easier had the kits been younger. At this age and after growing up without a second parent, they’d find it difficult to accept someone else in their lives.

And now, Bella had shown up. Garth clenched his fists as anger coursed through him. He refused to allow her to use his kits against him. She didn’t know him, not really, but she would find out it wasn’t smart to mess with Garth Mckenna.

* * * *

Corbin cuddled into the bed, feeling miserable. He was upset that because of him, they would no longer be allowed on the pack lands
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owned by Soren, but most of all, he was upset because he’d hurt his dad.

He knew he’d made a mistake in putting the chicken in Nicolas’s salad. He’d never actually thought he could make the hummingbird sick. But Nicolas was an intruder, right? That was what his mother always said, and she must know better.

His conviction faltered when his brother’s small voice inquired,

“Corb, Daddy’s hurt, isn’t he?”

Corbin didn’t answer, but in his heart, he felt worse than ever. He wanted to believe he’d done the right thing, but… God, he needed to talk to his mother. He needed to know what to do.

“Go to sleep,” he told his brother. “It’s going to be all right, you’ll see.”

As his brother clung to his side, Corbin closed his eyes. Before he knew it, the exhaustion of the day claimed his consciousness and he fell asleep as well.

* * * *

Nicolas reached his home soaking wet and feeling a bit calmer. It was quite late by now, and he knew he should get some rest.

Tomorrow, he would need to get up bright and early to open the bookstore.

But sleep refused to come, and Nicolas left the bed. He made himself a cup of tea using his special nectar sweetener. After he finished his drink, he sat down at his desk and booted up his laptop.

He typed his password, making a mental note to change it soon. He knew he was paranoid, but he never stuck to the same passwords for too long.

He opened his browser and logged into his Twitter account. It was quite astounding that a hermit like him used Twitter, but it entertained him for two main reasons. The obvious one was the very logo of the website. He got a kick out of being the hummingbird tweeting in
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cyber-space. The second reason was a bit more private. It amused him that people would willingly allow him to stalk them without knowing him. They freely offered bits and pieces of their lives which, when connected, could give Nicolas important information. It wasn’t something obvious to the casual eye, but Nicolas was a hummingbird.

He saw beneath appearances.

True enough, there was another motive for his using of the social platform. It made him feel…normal. He might have created the account upon losing a bet with Shiloh, but following his friends online cast aside his loneliness. Liam and Brody also had an account, and they sometimes posted updates about their sons—harmless things, of course, that wouldn’t make anyone suspect their shape-shifter nature. Daniel also logged in from time to time, and they ended up talking with each other via Twitter. It felt strange, but it made Nicolas smile.

Sometimes, he just watched other people speak. Favorite musicians or authors, other store owners or clients, they were all there, the spectacle of mankind at his fingertips.

Nicolas’s brows shot up as he realized he had a personal message.

His thoughts immediately went to Garth. Perhaps the lynx had decided to log on as well. Sometimes, Garth had an uncanny feel of what Nicolas was about to do.

He clicked his inbox and was surprised when he saw the sender. It seemed to be from one of his clients, a little old lady who always came by on Saturdays and unerringly bought a travel guide and a classical music vinyl record. Nicolas’s store was among the few who still sold such products and nostalgic old-timers loved it.

The message said simply, “Check your snail mail.”

Nicolas always forgot to do that, since he rarely got anything except bills and random fliers. But what made cold shivers run down his spine was the last word of the message. Nico-Chi.

It couldn’t be. No one knew the issues of Nicolas’s past. He’d never confessed his true name to his friends. In the end, the one he’d
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chosen was close enough so he didn’t feel a fake when he talked to them.

And yet, Nico-Chi seemed so far away now. He’d held the terror of being followed by an unknown shadow for many years. He’d travelled from town to town, doing odd jobs, raising money, and leaving before anyone could get close. Finally, fifteen years after he’d woken up in the odd clearing, he’d settled down in LA. And then, one fateful day, he’d met Shiloh Holden, and the rest was history.

His hands trembled as he got up in a daze. He didn’t want to check his snail mail. He didn’t want to see whatever was there. But something inside him pushed him onward, as if a hidden force were forcing him to do it, manipulating his limbs.

He reached the small coffee table where he kept his correspondence far too soon. Among all the expected fliers and bills, a big manila envelope caught his eye. He didn’t know how he could have missed it in the first place. It was quite bulky. His only excuse was that he’d had quite a lot on his mind lately.

Taking a deep breath, Nicolas retrieved the envelope and opened it. His hands trembled, though, and in his nervousness, he handled the item wrongly. The open envelope fell to the floor. As Nicolas knelt to pick it up, he realized its contents had spilled on the floor. His eyes widened in horror. There were pictures, dozens of pictures, all with Nicolas and the people he loved. Nicolas and his friends at the bookstore, Nicolas with Garth, out walking, and even long-distance shots of them fucking. There were even individual pictures of Daniel, Soren, Skylar, Garth, and even Carson. Christ, even Carson who now lived on his own land away from all this mess. And the children…Even the children had been under watch.