The Dom Unites Wolf and Panther [Unchained Love 5] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (10 page)

“The series of advertisements we’re filming right now is going well. We’re able to reuse the same sets for a lot of shots, which is saving us both time and expense. A morning off work won’t hurt,” said Nicholas.

“Good. Likely we’ll meet in the barn then. See you,” said Larry, clicking his phone off.

Nicholas looked at Curtis and grinned, then they high-fived each other.

“I reckon we can pull this off,” said Nicholas, happiness rushing through him almost like an orgasm.

“It’ll be a huge amount of work, but we’ll be able to contract for a lot more projects once we have the extra land. Besides, if some of the community there are willing to work for us that’ll be even better than just hiring whoever turns up on the day. We’ll keep the good workers and try to use Carnal Connections to fill all the gaps.”

“I agree with you, and I really think this will work.” Nicholas was trying not to bounce up and down like a little kid at a birthday party.

“And then we claim Autumn and mate with her.”

“Fuck yes!” Fucking Autumn. Now that would be the best part of it all.

* * * *

By Friday morning, Nicholas had spent a lot of time planning and preparing for this meeting with the people from Carnal Connections. Since mating Autumn was his main aim for the future, it was intensely important that he not antagonize them over the move. He and Curtis had gone over and over every possible consideration until his head was aching, but the worry about their proposal being rejected was enough to make him physically sick, so he sat in his office and went through everything one last time.

“Raegan!”

“Huh?” asked Curtis, looking at him with a puzzled frown and raised eyebrow.

“Larry said JB would be at the meeting. We need Raegan to come with us. If they start talking algebra and geometry, I’m going to be lost.”

“Why would they talk geometry and algebra? This isn’t a mathematicians’ convention, you know.”

“Yeah, but that’s how builders talk, isn’t it? I just know that if I can see everything through the lens of the camera it’ll shoot just fine. But Raegan will understand if they start talking about angles and distances and stuff.”

Curtis patted his arm. “Whatever floats your boat.”

Nicholas raced out of the main building and over to the storage shed where he knew Raegan was working.

“Can you come with us to Carnal Connections in a half hour, please? Larry said their builder, JB, would be at the meeting and I just know he’ll ask me some question I can’t answer but that you can.”

Raegan straightened up from the pile of lumber he’d been working on and waved a hand at his paint-stained coveralls. “I didn’t wear my society clothing,” he said laconically.

Nicholas grinned. “Go see Zara. You’re a standard size. She’ll have something suitable for you to wear.”

Raegan shrugged. “I’ll see you in half an hour in the parking lot, then.”

“Thank you.” Nicholas walked back to his own office thinking, thinking, thinking. Was there anything else he’d missed? Dammit, this meeting was important. Things were looking really good for them to get that land beside the BDSM community, and not only would it help their careers, it’d ally them closer to Autumn’s pack and Nicholas knew her friends were important to her.

He could understand that. Finding Curtis had meant so much to him. A business partner and a best friend. Then finding Autumn, who fulfilled them both, was even more important. She was the final link, the piece that completed the jigsaw of their lives, that made them a family. Staying here wasn’t going to work for them to have a home. He’d actually been shocked to realize how old-fashioned the shower room really was. To be a family, especially a threesome having regular sex, a well-equipped bathroom was essential. That and a bedroom. For a moment he wondered about having a room where Autumn could work on her crafts, but she seemed happy to use that little sitting room over in the main building where people could visit with her. Still, before they planned a home, he really needed to check out her opinion on the matter. Meanwhile, he’d better get his act together. It was nearly time to go.

Nicholas jogged back to his office. Carefully, he filled his briefcase with the papers he thought he might need or even thought might be faintly useful. Soon the bag was bulging.
Better to be safe than sorry, though. Like a Boy Scout, I need to “be prepared.”

Then he laughed. He was speaking in clichés. Which one of Autumn’s friends was it who liked to tell people where the clichés they used came from? Not Ramona or Gaynor, the ones he knew best. Nor was it Leticia, who had that nutcase father, Sam.
Ah, Jubilee. That’s right.
She and Carey had some kind of long-running trivia battle going on. Jubilee would know all about why he was thinking in clichés because he was worried.

Glancing at the time on his cell phone as he shoved it in his pocket, Nicholas hurried to the bathroom to wash his hands and face and check his hair looked neat before picking up his briefcase and walking out to the parking lot. He hadn’t talked about it with Curtis, but he knew the other man would be driving their SUV. It was back to its original white at the moment but would be painted red for the next advertisement they planned to shoot.

He wondered how many people who watched the series of advertisements would notice that somewhere in each one was exactly the same vehicle, just a different color each time. Or would they think they were different cars, but with the same number plate on each one? It was going to be fun waiting to see if the company that had hired them even worked it out.

Raegan was leaning against the SUV looking quite respectable in navy jeans and what appeared to be a hand-knit blue jumper with a cable pattern winding up the front of it. Nicholas grinned inside himself. Before he’d met Autumn he never would have noticed such a thing. “You look smart,” he said.

“One of Autumn’s failures. It looks mighty fine for a failure to me,” said Raegan.

“Huh? Failure?”

“Yup. See, the cable pattern twists to the right here”—Raegan pointed to an area near his breastbone—“and to the left here.” Raegan pointed at his shoulder.

Nicholas looked hard at the two places, finally pulling the middle of the jumper up near the top so he could compare them. “Well, only by looking at it with a magnifying glass,” he joked.

Curtis arrived then and they all climbed into the vehicle and Curtis took off toward Carnal Connections.

“I can’t imagine how Autumn made a mistake like that,” Nicholas said, continuing the conversation.

“What mistake?” asked Curtis.

“This sweater I’m wearing is one of her failures. Apparently, she followed the directions precisely but the cable pattern had an error in it. She knitted the sweater as per the instructions then photographed it and asked the people she works for why they wanted something with an error in it. None of them had even noticed, so they paid her then sent her more yarn and asked her to invent the right instructions for it,” said Raegan.

“I always knew Autumn was talented, but I’d never seen that sweater before,” said Nicholas.

“She gave it to Zara because she guessed it wouldn’t show up on anything other than a really close-up shot.”

“Even then as long as we don’t have the person wearing its middle and shoulder in the same shot we’d be fine,” said Curtis.

“I can’t imagine anyone other than a professional noticing it anyway,” said Nicholas, shaking his head.

This was just another reminder of the wonderful woman he ached to mate. To bite, to claim, to make his own. Theirs. His and Curtis’s forever.
Soon. Soon. As long as this meeting today goes well.

Superstitiously, Nicholas crossed his fingers as he got out of the car then grabbed his briefcase, straightened his back and shoulders, forced his face into a grin, and followed Curtis and Raegan over to the large barn the community used as a meeting place.

Curtis was already heading across the room to a circle of chairs by the long windows as Nicholas entered the barn. There was a group of people sitting there. No women, Nicholas noticed.
Well, wolves usually have the men decide so panthers likely do, too. It’s interesting the humans haven’t gotten any women here, though.

“Hey there, Curtis and Nicholas. How about you introduce your friend and I’ll introduce my people?” suggested Larry.

Nicholas was about to sit in the chair beside Curtis when he realized Raegan was standing stock-still and his face was dead white.

Raegan raised a trembling finger and pointed at Tor. “You’re Aramintha’s child. The baby she said died. You have her eyes, and wolves don’t ever have eyes like that.”

Raegan dropped to the floor with a resounding crash, unconscious.

As always when the men held a meeting, the women gathered together as well. Autumn giggled. The men seemed to have no clue that the women always worked out what their decisions would be long before they announced them. But more recently they’d added a secret weapon to their skills of reading body language and understanding human nature. Leticia, Oliver, and William could communicate telepathically sometimes, since they’d mated.

The men’s meeting hadn’t even started yet, but already Leticia had gone very still.

“What’s happening, Leticia?” asked Jubilee.

“Omar’s upset about something,” Ramona interrupted, fingering her collar, which was made of three strands of white leather braided together.

“Omar has called for William to come to the barn urgently. One of the visitors has had a heart attack or a stroke or something. He said Tor was Aramintha’s child and then fell to the floor. Tor’s looking after him, but Tor’s pretty shaken, so Omar has sent for William as well to help,” explained Leticia.

Autumn nodded. That made sense. Both Tor and William were nurses, but if Tor had just found out who his mother was—or may be—of course he’d be shocked and wanting more information. Still, he was an excellent nurse. The visitor would receive good care.

“Have they called the paramedics?” asked Lucy, pulling out her cell phone, presumably to do it.

“Yes, they’re coming,” said Leticia.

Gaynor started pacing up and down the small room. “This will be a huge adjustment for Tor. He’s never known anything about his parents,” she said.

“Who is the visitor? Is it someone from the movie studio who knew about Tor?” asked Autumn.

“Oliver said Omar is sending most of the people out of the barn. The meeting’s postponed for now. Just Kurt, William, Tor, and Larry are staying.”

“Here come the paramedics,” said Jill, standing by the window of the room.

“I wish I could be with Tor. Cameron’s at work,” said Gaynor softly.

Autumn went over and gave her a hug. “It’s kind of abrupt and unexpected, but overall, Tor will likely be glad to find out about his own family.”

Gaynor gave her a tiny smile. “You’re right.”

Jill stood at the window and gave them all a running commentary of what was happening. “Nicholas and William are going in the ambulance with the man, so you’ll be able to talk to Tor soon,” she told Gaynor.

“The man’s name is Raegan. He’s an artist who paints all the sets at the movie studio,” said Leticia suddenly.

Autumn wondered who told her that, Oliver or William. If it was William, likely Raegan was conscious again. “I like Raegan. He’s so talented. I hope he’s all right.”

“How would he have known about Tor?” asked Gaynor.

“I don’t know, but he’s older. Perhaps about the same age as Kurt,” she replied.

“I ought to get back to work,” said Lucy, jumping up and leaving the room.

Yes, as Larry’s personal assistant, if there were things to be done he’d be needing her help. Plus she’d find out everything there was to know as well, guessed Autumn.

Gaynor was the next to leave, quietly slipping out the door after Lucy. She’d be looking for Tor, ready to help him adjust to the startling bit of information he’d received.

There was no sense in Autumn going anywhere. Nicholas had traveled with the paramedics and Curtis likely would drive their car and follow the ambulance to the hospital. She had a crochet project she should be working on, so she opened her purse and pulled out the most revolting color of yarn she’d ever seen. It was the worst possible combination of blackish-purplish red, so dark a color it was hard to see her stitches at night and ugly at any time of day. Nevertheless, she was paid to crochet not to act as their color consultant, so she started stitching.

* * * *

Nicholas, Curtis, Larry, and Tor were sitting beside Raegan’s bed in the emergency room. William was dealing with the paperwork and the paramedics.

Curtis, as the only human in the room, was feeling rather outnumbered, so he was really glad when Tor asked very gently, “Who was Aramintha, Raegan?”

Raegan smiled at Tor. “Your mother. She was the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen. We were both scarcely eighteen, but for three months that summer we were so passionately in love. I couldn’t keep my hands off her and she was always pulling my clothes off me the second we were alone. Looking back, it was inevitable you’d be conceived and just as inevitable that we’d fall out of love as fast as we fell into it.”