Irish Mist (3 page)

Ippy’s face pinched instantly and Caelum squeezed his hand, fearing that he would take off. But he didn’t. Instead he stayed right there with him, barely breathing as he opened those beautiful blue eyes and looked over at Caelum.
Thank you.

Caelum smiled at him and leaned forward for a gentle, chaste kiss. “You’re welcome,” he said when he pulled back from the kiss.

“Guys! Dinner!”

Caelum turned to look over his shoulder at Hannah as she yelled at them from the front of the cottage. Smiling at her, he lifted his free hand to give her a wave. Ippy got to his feet first and Caelum followed right behind him as he helped Ippy gather up his clothes. Minutes later they were in the cottage, their wet clothes dripping on the old hardwood floor, as they both watched Hannah move about the kitchen as if she’d always lived there.

“Spaghetti and red sauce,” she said before either of them had a chance to ask. Her back was to them as she busily stirred something in a bowl on the counter.

“Smells great. I’ve got to go get cleaned up before dinner though,” Caelum said. His shorts needed to be changed at the very least, since he couldn’t very well go around with wet shorts the whole time.

Ippy nodded.
Me too.

“Hurry,” she called to them as they took off. Caelum went to his room and hesitated as he watched Ippy go to his. He curled his hands around the door frame, wondering what his own problem was. Ippy didn’t even look at him as he walked into the room and closed the door behind himself.

Biting back a sigh, Caelum went to change as well. He had to get himself under control. Just because he’d been thinking about having a relationship with them both, and everything that went with it, for years, didn’t mean that Ippy and Hannah were ready for such a thing. He was mad at himself and thought he’d been rushing things already, but tried to force himself to calm down as he tossed his wet shorts into the laundry hamper in the corner and quickly dried himself off before putting on a pair of flannel lounge pants. They were a bit too big for him and so were extremely comfortable. The sun was starting to go down, but he left his feet bare as he walked out of the room and went to see them.

“Have fun out there?” Hannah asked him as he stepped out of the room and came toward her.

Smiling, he pulled her into a tight hug as soon as she’d finished putting down a big bowl of pasta on the table. “Yep. You’ll have to join us.”

Hannah shook her head and danced out of his hold. “Right. Maybe when the water isn’t freezing.”

Caelum snickered and went to the counter to bring over some buttered pieces of bread she’d left on a plate. “It’s the sea, it’s always cold. Always.”

He flicked his gaze over to Ippy’s still closed bedroom door and he felt like an idiot. A selfish, bloody idiot who was bordering on being a prick.

“What’s wrong?” Hannah asked him.

Caelum looked down at her, at her cute pixie-shaped face and bright hazel eyes, and forced a smile. She raised her eyebrows, clearly not impressed by his attempt to show her that nothing was amiss. He gave in, unable to do anything else as she waited for him to say something. “I don’t know if I made the right choice bringing you both here,” he whispered as quietly as he could.

Her face instantly fell. “We’ve been here for four hours and you’re already changing your mind!” she hissed at him, her hands balling into fists on his chest.

“No!” he put his hands over hers on his skin, still cold from his swim. “No, never that. I’ve wanted you both for years. Ever since I met you. But I don’t know if you’re ready for what I want.”

Her expression softened and though she didn’t relax against him, she no longer looked like she wanted to punch him out, either. Some people might not have been afraid of a girl almost half their size like Hannah was. Caelum didn’t make that mistake. He knew what she was capable of at fifteen and he had no doubt she’d go even further now that she was an adult. He waited until she softened, her expression no longer looking murderous. Only then did he let go of her hands on his chest and let her take a step back from him.

“It’s going to be an adjustment,” she mumbled softly.

He nodded, sure of it. “I’ve never lived with anyone but my family.”

Hannah gave him a soft smile, looking as if she understood what he meant. “Me neither. And now it’s the three of us. It’ll take some getting used to.”

Caelum was very glad she seemed to get what he was saying, even if he didn’t really know. “Now I know why my family has always had polygamy and not polyamory. This is freaking complicated.”

Snorting, Hannah shook her head. “Yeah, too bad you’re stuck with us. We’ll make it work. Promise. We’re both just tired from the plane ride over here. I’m sure that’s all it is. I just wish…”

“What?” Caelum asked her, his heart speeding up. Whatever she wanted, he’d try to give her. No matter what. They’d both given him his life back and rescued him from men that had kept him in a cage. He owed them both everything that he had.

Hannah shook her head and wrapped her arms around herself. “I guess I just wish that things were as easy as they had been in our dreams. I had this idea of the three of us hanging out and watching movies. We’d come home from work and order take out and go for swims and it would be perfect all the time.”

Caelum nodded, knowing exactly what she meant. He reached forward to tuck a stray lock of hair behind her ear that had come loose from her thick ponytail. She gave him a soft smile and took his hand before he could pull it away. “It’ll be like that. I’ll do whatever you need. Both of you. I just want you both with me,” he said, knowing that he sounded like he was begging and not caring one bit about it. He’d thought about them both for too long, pictured them here with him for too many years, to let it all go out the window on the first night just because he couldn’t control what he wanted.

“What did you picture?” Hannah let go of him and moved to gather the last of the things for dinner as they took their seats. A place was set for Ippy, though Caelum didn’t know if he’d be coming out anytime soon.

Caelum gave her a little shrug, unsure of how to put such a broad idea into words. “Going swimming with you both, going dancing at the clubs with you, going on walks with Ippy…” He licked his lips and looked down at his empty plate, unsure of how she’d take what he wanted to say next. “Waking up next to you both each morning.”

He heard the fork she’d been twirling in her hands drop noisily to the plate and he looked up at her, wondering how far he’d crossed the line. She was blushing deeply and looking at him, too. “We haven’t…I mean, Ippy and I, we haven’t…”

Caelum nodded, he’d figured as much. “Yeah, I kinda figured that out.”

“And that’s not happening tonight,” Hannah continued, her voice as firm as her words.

Caelum’s cheeks heated and he looked away again. “I got that. Hannah, I’m not an idiot. What I want, I know it’ll take some time. I didn’t ask you both to come out here and stay with me just because I wanted to have sex with you. But I also need you to know that I want is a full relationship. With you both. Not just friends—as mates, or whatever the word is. I spent too much time in the US watching TV and lost so much of my vocab that my cousins still make fun of me.”

The side of her mouth tilted up and she gave him a little nod. “I think that can be worked out, Caelum. I really do. What you want is what I want, too. And what I know Ippy wants.”

“It is?” Caelum asked her, daring to hope.

Yes.

Caelum turned to see Ippy coming toward them. He’d changed and had a hoodie on over a pair of shorts. Caelum got up from the table and opened his arms a bit, silently asking Ippy to hug him. He could feel Hannah watching him, but didn’t let his gaze stray from Ippy as he slowly made his way across the open space between them. Without hesitation, Ippy walked straight into his arms and Caelum wrapped them around him, resting his forehead against Ippy’s.
I’m struggling,
Ippy slowly admitted.

“With what?” Hannah asked him as Ippy wrapped his arms around Caelum’s shoulders. Caelum would have liked to stand just like that for a good hour or two as he breathed in the smell of saltwater on Ippy’s skin.

I don’t have a pack here. There’s no alpha, no one to be dominant over me. What do I do with no pack? Where do I fit in?
He sounded like if he’d been able to speak aloud his voice would have been breaking, and Caelum hugged him tighter. Hannah got up from the table and came up behind him, adding her comfort to Caelum’s as she hugged Ippy as well.

“I didn’t even think about that,” Caelum softly admitted. Selkies had families, not packs, and the dynamic was completely different for them.

Hannah met his gaze over Ippy’s shoulder. Caelum could see how worried she was in her gaze. “I didn’t either. I’m so sorry, Ippy. Whatever you need, we’re here for you. We’ll call Daddy Liam and do a video chat with him tonight. It’ll be fine. We called him from the plane when we landed, but we’ll call him again. He’ll help. I’m sure of it.”

Caelum felt Ippy nod against his chest and he lifted his left hand from Ippy’s back to rest it against Hannah’s side. They’d figure this out together, they had to. There was no way he’d let someone he cared so much about be unhappy being so far away from home.

“I could leave here and go back with you,” Caelum whispered. As soon as the words were out he had no idea where they’d come from, but he knew that they were true. He’d do that, give up his life here and go to the states to live with them. If that was what Ippy needed, he’d do that in a heartbeat.

Hannah gasped and Ippy froze in his arms. “Let’s not jump to that, alright?” Hannah said, her voice tight.

You just got this place, too,
Ippy reminded him. They’d talked about it in their dreams last night and yeah, Ippy was right, but Caelum was still glad that he’d offered that up as a solution, because when they broke away and slowly moved to the table Ippy was looking slightly better. He didn’t look perfect, and Caelum could still see the ghost of worry in his blue gaze, but there was relief there as well. He tried not to let it bother him that Ippy’s relief came from the idea of leaving his own home.

They sat down to eat. Though there was a little conversation, they largely ate in silence, which none of them looked exactly happy about, but neither did they do anything to change it. As soon as the last of the food was eaten and the dishes were cleared Hannah went to get her laptop from her bag and Caelum found himself on the couch with them, Hannah on his right and Ippy on her other side as she opened the computer and she called her dads.

“Hey,” she said as soon as the call connected and the video popped up. It was late evening in Ireland, but her dad had bright sunlight streaming in behind him.

“There you are,” Travis said. He looked off the screen to someone and waved them over. “Hang on, let me get your dad. Liam, Hannah is on the call. Come over here. No, I don’t think she cares that you have peanut butter on your face. Really, you don’t have to—” He turned back to the camera and gave the three of them a tight smile. “Honey, your dad is going to be just a second. He’s washing his face.”

Hannah giggled and Caelum was glad to hear her sound so happy. He put his arm across the back of the couch behind her and saw Travis follow the movement with his gaze. They shared a look, but Caelum didn’t look away. He’d had plenty of talks with both Travis and Liam, most of them archaic and about his intentions toward Hannah. Caelum had answered them honestly and without hesitation. He intended to spend the rest of his life with both Ippy and Hannah. End of story. The first time he’d said that, it didn’t seem to have gone over all that well. Maybe now it was getting a bit better, because her dads hadn’t asked him that recently.

Caelum was surprised to see Ippy lift his arm as well and his fingers brush over Caelum’s arm as he put it behind Hannah’s back as well. Caelum looked at him and offered him a small smile and though Ippy didn’t return it right away, he did return it and Caelum was glad of that.

“Alright, I’m here,” Liam said, pulling up a chair and sitting down next to Travis.

“Hey, Dads,” Hannah said brightly, sounding like she was happy to see them both again. Caelum felt his heart constrict. He knew she was close to them, yet he’d insisted that they both come to him because he’s spent so much time away from his family as a child. But this wasn’t exactly fair to them either, was it? That was her family and Ippy’s pack. And his family was off vacationing somewhere warmer and hadn’t even had a destination in mind when they’d shifted and taken off into the sea this morning.

Liam leaned forward and smiled at her. “Hi. I see you made it.”

“Yeah, no thanks to Samson. Would have been nicer with the pack plane. All those people in coach. The snoring, the coughing, the crying children…” Hannah groaned loudly.

Travis looked sympathetic and Caelum cringed as he looked over at Ippy. If things had been bad for Hannah, he couldn’t imagine how much worse they must have been for Ippy, who didn’t do well with crowds or strangers in general, and especially not with people touching him.

“Were you against the window at least?” Caelum asked him.

Ippy looked surprised, as if he didn’t think that he would be included in this conversation, before slowly nodding.

“That’s good.”

Hannah shot him a quick smile and Caelum returned it, though he had no idea what he’d done to get such a reward from her. She turned her attention back to her dads without missing a beat. “We’ve got a mini issue.”

“What?”

“Already?”

Caelum cringed as two angry gazes turned to him. They were thousands of miles away and only looking at him through the computer screen, but he still knew they blamed him for it without even hearing what the problem was.

“Ippy isn’t okay here without a pack.” Hannah cut off their glares and brought their attentions back to her.

Liam’s face pinched. “Oh. Well. Alright then. So…” Her dads shared a look and Travis shrugged before waving his hand at Liam’s chest. Caelum knew them a little, but he didn’t have to know them all that well to be able to interpret that gesture. It was simple a very simple, “you’re the wolf, you fix it.” Only Caelum was pretty sure that Liam couldn’t do it from there.