To Have A Human (8 page)

“Yours,” Carey agreed.

Chapter Five

Broden woke up smiling with Carey cuddled in his arms. Carey had agreed to be his. His mate might have said it in the heat of passion, but Broden would hold him to his agreement. It would only take a quick phone call to Linda to arrange a pride meeting for next week. They could plan a mating ceremony at the same time. He’d even spread the invitation to Carey’s friends and father if he wanted. Broden wondered what kind of person had raised his rather complicated mate.

Broden brushed the hair from Carey’s face as he slept. For a person who always appeared on the alert while awake, Carey slept hard like a child safe in his bed. Broden hoped Carey always felt that level of security when sleeping with him.

With a quick kiss to Carey’s cheek, Broden slipped out of bed, then pulled on his jeans. He kept his steps quiet when he left his bedroom to start some coffee. No reason to wake his lover, they had no work today. That reminded Broden he still needed to talk to Isaac about Tony.

“Good morning, Mr. Lyall,” a strange voice said.

Broden’s claws popped out of his fingertips in response to an intruder in his house. A wiry blond man with the coldest eyes he’d ever seen sat on his counter. A pistol rested beside him in plain sight. Dressed in a bland outfit of off-brand sneakers, khakis and a beige polo shirt, the man wouldn’t stand out in a crowd. The average person wouldn’t remember the stranger two seconds after he passed him on the street. Broden felt chilled at the ease with which the man would blend into a crowd, just a regular every day guy who comfortably fingered the weapon at his side.

“Who are you?” Broden was quite pleased his voice didn’t shake. He needed to get this guy out of here before Carey woke up. His jaguar swished its tail as if waiting to pounce and protect its mate. Except the man had an oddly familiar smell and Broden’s fears were confirmed with the man’s next words.

“No need to get uppity, little cat. I’m just here to talk to my son.” Somehow Broden didn’t feel reassured. If the man had been a shifter, he would’ve been something with big claws and sharp teeth. Examining the intruder, he took note of the similarities. If his sweet Carey were twenty or so years older, half as pretty and slightly homicidal, the men could’ve been twins.

“He’s sleeping. Come back later and try knocking.” Broden didn’t take his gaze off the man as he issued his demand.

Carey’s father gave Broden a low dangerous smile that sent chills across his skin. “I’ll wait for my boy. He doesn’t tend to sleep in much.”

As if to prove his words right, Carey shuffled into the room, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. He smiled when he caught sight of the gun-toting intruder. “Hey, Dad.”

The joy in the man’s eyes at catching sight of his son made him look like a completely different person. The fast transformation from cold killer to caring father made Broden a little dizzy.

“Hey, Care.” Carey’s father jumped off the counter and hugged his child like any other parent. As if he hadn’t just broken into Broden’s secure condo and brought a gun with him.

Broden watched Carey’s expression carefully, surprised to see nothing but affection on his lover’s face. Whatever the man did on the sly, he obviously adored his son and the feeling was returned.

After greeting his father with hugs and manly back-slapping, Carey turned the man to face Broden. To Broden’s relief, he left psycho dad’s side to give Broden a quick hug before making introductions.

“Broden, this is my dad, Aden. Dad, Broden Lyall, though you obviously know that since you figured out where he lives,” Carey added.

Carey’s casual acceptance of his father’s break-in skills startled Broden a bit. Of course, he did hire Carey to hack into other people’s systems. Maybe the Gale family had flexible morals. But while he found that trait adorable in Carey, he found it nerve-racking in his father. Next to Aden, Carey’s crocodile friend looked like a baby gecko.

Aden nodded to his son. “I need to talk to you, alone.”

“Anything you want to tell Carey, you can share with me. He’s my mate.” Broden crossed his arms over his chest. No way would he let this psychopath alone with Carey despite his obvious affection for his son. Aden wouldn’t be the first father to kill his young. The man all but vibrated with violence.

Aden ignored Broden and kept his eyes on his son, waiting for his response, as if Broden didn’t matter.

“It’s okay, Dad,” Carey agreed.

“A dead body was left by your front gate this morning. I went there first and found it with a warning note. The Greben wolf pack is after you. I’m guessing it has something to do with your work for this guy.” Aden pointed disdainfully at Broden.

“Did you get rid of the body? Eaton can’t see a dead body!” Carey snapped.

Aden nodded. “Don’t worry, I told the boys, but got rid of the evidence. I grabbed his driver’s license.” He pulled a wallet out of his pocket and tossed it at Carey.

Broden intercepted it and flipped it open.

“Is it Tony?” Carey asked.

“Yeah.” Broden didn’t try to sugarcoat it. They both had suspected who it might be as soon as Aden had mentioned a dead body. “I wonder why they did it.”

“Because I kept blocking their hacking. They’ve been using him to try and get into our system. I guess once they figured out it wasn’t working, they had no further use for him,” Carey answered.

“Why did he go to them in the first place?” Broden asked. “He had a good life. A stable pride and a good job, what else could he want?”

“Maybe he had debts we didn’t know about,” Carey offered. “You never really know about someone else’s life. Everyone has things to hide.”

Broden resisted that obvious invitation. “You need to come and stay with me for a while. I’m not letting you go home
—
the Greben pack knows where you live.”

Aden gave a snort. “You’re an idiot if you think he’s going to leave his friends.”

“Hey! You weren’t even invited here, you can leave any time now,” Broden snarled.

“Don’t talk to my father like that
—
he’s right, I’m not leaving my friends,” Carey replied, his face set in mutinous lines.

“Fine, we’ll find them an apartment to stay in, too,” Broden answered. He paced as he began to make plans. His mind worked better when he was in motion.

“I’m not leaving my house either,” Carey said between gritted teeth.

“Have you seen anyone strange hanging around recently?” Aden asked.

Carey paused. “Harris thought he smelled a strange wolf following us the other day.”

“If the Greben pack is after you, I’ll pull some people off break-in jobs and have them protect your house,” Broden offered. The Greben family manufactured some of the worst drugs. They even made some that affected shifters. Both the shifter and human authorities were leery of the group because they weren’t afraid to hire assassins to take out any enemies.

“You know them?” Aden asked.

“Not personally, but I’ll see that Carey is protected. I run a security agency,” Broden explained as fear chilled his heart. How could he keep everyone protected when Carey wouldn’t even be reasonable enough to move into Broden’s secure building? Of course it couldn’t be that secure if Aden just wandered in.

Aden tossed back his head and laughed. “You think my son needs protection? I just wanted him to keep an eye out. He’ll be fine.”

“Your lack of concern for your son is appalling!” Broden growled.

“My son is more than capable of taking care of a few shifters,” Aden said, his gaze challenging Broden to deny his statement.

Broden was more than happy to oblige. “He’s a human against shifters. He doesn’t have a chance,” Broden snarled.

Carey turned to face Broden with an expression he’d never seen on his lover’s face before. “Are you saying I’m inferior because I’m a human? Is that what you really believe? That somehow I can’t take care of myself because I’m too fragile?”

Oh shit!

“No. I’m saying you aren’t equipped to fight shifters,” Broden explained. He flexed his claws to prove his point.

Carey turned and stormed back to the bedroom.

Aden shook his head. “You stepped in the litter box this time, cat boy.” Aden reached behind him and collected his gun.

“What did I do?” Broden had no idea how wanting to protect Carey had turned so wrong. He wasn’t making things up. It was dangerous for humans to fight shifters, everyone knew that.

“You disrespected my boy. He’s not going to stay with you now.” The glee in Aden’s voice shredded Broden’s last nerve.

“I don’t need the advice of a homophobic anti-shifter asshole,” Broden snapped.

Aden shook his head sadly. “Don’t lay this on me, cat man. I don’t care if my son loves a man as long as he has someone. Unfortunately, you don’t seem smart enough to keep him.”

Carey returned, wearing his clothes from the night before. “Let’s go,” he told his father, not looking in Broden’s direction.

“Wait!” Broden said. “I’ll assign someone to watch you.”

“Don’t bother, Broden. I can take care of myself.” Without another word, Carey walked out of the condo.

“If he gets so much as a scratch on him, I will hunt you down,” Broden growled at Aden.

Aden shook his head. “You know nothing about my son. Maybe you should talk more and fuck less. Getting to know your mate is just as important as claiming him.”

With those parting words of wisdom, Aden tucked his gun into the waistband in back of his pants, covered it with his shirt, then followed his son out. Somehow Broden lost both his lover and the respect of his future father-in-law in one fell swoop.

“Damn.”

Broden dropped onto the couch in defeat and rubbed his face in his hands. After a few minutes of self-pity, he fetched his phone and called Isaac’s personal cell phone.

“What’s up, boss?” Isaac answered.

“I want you to put a guard on Carey Gale.”

“What’s up?” Isaac asked.

“He’s a target of the Greben family. They just left Tony dead on his doorstep. His psycho father thinks he can take care of himself.”

“Against a pack of wolf shifters?” Isaac asked incredulous. “I mean I know he’s got shifter friends, but what there’s only three of them and one human against an entire pack.”

“I know.” Broden felt better now that his friend agreed with his assessment. When Carey and his father were there, he was beginning to think he was the only sane one.

“I appreciate a confident man, but are you sure he’s not crazy?” Isaac asked.

“Not entirely.”

“What’s his address?”

Broden froze. “I don’t know.”

“You’re dating a man whose house you’ve never been to?”

“We haven’t been dating long,” Broden protested. “Besides, it’ll be in his employee file. Look it up.”

“You’ve had time to mark him,” Isaac countered.

Broden growled. “Just find his address and put security on him. If anything happens to him I’ll never forgive myself.”

“We’ll keep him safe,” Isaac answered cheerfully.

“Thanks.” Relief filled Broden. Isaac would take care of Carey just like he handled everything else with ruthless efficiency.

“No problem, boss, I’m interested in discovering more about the guy you’ve fallen in love with. I mean I like him and all and he’s a great hacker, but he never really shares anything personal.”

“I know,” Broden agreed. When all was said and done, he really didn’t know his lover that well. Maybe he could learn more about Carey and keep him safe at the same time. “While you’re checking out his address, do a background check on his father. He came to my apartment with a gun and he looked more than capable of using it. I’m thinking he has a military background of some kind. He might even still be active. His name is Aden Gale.”

“Got it. You know if Carey finds out you’re investigating his father he might not be so forgiving,” Isaac warned. “Some people try to learn things through conversations with their mates
—
you might want to try it sometime.”

“It should concern you to know that you and Carey’s father agree on that point,” Broden pointed out.

“I’m just letting you know you might be taking the wrong approach to this whole thing,” Isaac said.

“Carey is my mate. He’ll forgive me.” Broden had confidence that his lover would get over his ire. Didn’t he have to?

* * * *

Carey was still fuming when he entered his house twenty minutes later with his father on his heels.

Eaton, Denton and Harris were lounging around the mansion, eating wings and pizza.

He frowned at the eagle shifter. “Don’t you feel cannibalistic when eating something with wings?”

Eaton laughed. “I think I can overcome any kind of wingy taboo. Besides, you’ve seen me eat chicken before not to mention eagles hunt smaller birds.”

“True.” Carey plopped down beside Eaton. “And each time it freaks me out a little bit.”

Denton and Harris laughed while Eaton shook his head.