Jaden Aeryn Missing His Cage

!
Return of the Originals 6
Missing His Cage

Tormented and tortured by his adoptive family, Cage flees in the
night with only his instincts to guide him. Destination? A human
city, apparently. His confusion is cleared after a chance encounter
with a man straight out of his dreams.
Mikkal Daggart was tired of being on the run. After being framed,
he’d disappeared, waiting for the right moment to prove his
innocence. The best place to hide? A human city. Only trouble
seems to follow him everywhere and after saving a strange man’s
life, Mikkal knows his hideout is no longer safe. Not that it matters
much, he has bigger problems. They go by the name of Cage.
Was this a second chance to regain something Mikkal had thought

lost forever? Will Cage find out just what had always been
different about himself? Will finding answers help the two broken
men mend their hearts and build a happier future?
Genre: Alternative (M/M, Gay), Contemporary, Paranormal,

Shape-shifters, Vampires/Werewolves
Length: 49,109 words
MISSING HIS CAGE
Return of the Originals 6
Aeryn Jaden
Siren Publishing, Inc.

www.SirenPublishing.com
A SIREN PUBLISHING BOOK
MISSING HIS CAGE

Copyright © 2018 by Aeryn Jaden
ISBN: 978-1-64243-103-2
First Publication: April 2018
Cover design by Harris Channing

All art and logo copyright © 2018 by Siren Publishing, Inc.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: This literary work may not be

reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including
electronic or photographic reproduction, in whole or in part, without
express written permission.
All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance
to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.
WARNING: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this

copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement,
including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the
FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of
$250,000.
If you find a Siren-BookStrand e-book or print book being sold or

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PUBLISHER
DEDICATION
“Another one bites the dust!” Yay!
This is for my family. The living and the dead.

Thank you.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Aeryn Jaden loves to read. Loves it so much that some days she
doesn’t know what reality is anymore. Her friends and family usually
have to yell a bit and remind her.
The second best thing in the world for Aeryn is writing. Writing
keeps her relatively sane and clears the voices in her head clamoring
for her attention—meaning the characters’ voices, she’s not that crazy
to randomly hear voices! Yet.
She was born in Romania but cannot stay put. One year you’ll
find her in England, the next in Greece or Belgium. Who knows
where her restless feet will carry her next…
One thing remains constant and that is her totally healthy Internet
addiction.
So you can find her on Facebook, email her at
aerynjaden@yahoo.com or better yet come stalk her on Tumblr,
Twitter or Wordpress.
She’ll love to hear from you so please stop by!
For other titles by Aeryn Jaden, please visit

www.bookstrand.com/aeryn-jaden
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Prologue.......................................................................................... 8
Chapter One.................................................................................. 14
Chapter Two ................................................................................. 28
Chapter Three ............................................................................... 44
Chapter Four................................................................................. 60
Chapter Five ................................................................................. 86
Chapter Six ................................................................................. 108
Chapter Seven............................................................................. 123
Epilogue...................................................................................... 153
MISSING HIS CAGE
Return of the Originals
AERYN JADEN
Copyright © 2018
Prologue
Nigal had everything he’d ever wanted. He still couldn’t believe it

was true, that he’d found his gem of a mate in the wild Amazonian
jungle while on his annual trip. He usually visited the area during the
rainy season. Something about the wilderness of nature, the force of
it, appealed to his inner animal, surprisingly enough, as Nigal was a
feline in the end, and quite a fastidious one at that. It was a feline trait
to not really like the water, and as the Feline Original, Nigal was quite
close to his roots. Except when nature was unleashed, then Nigal
loved getting out there, feeling the force of it.
His roots were another reason he’d always been drawn to the area.
After all, his very first memories were from around there. He’d been
created in the cradle of Amazon a long, long time ago. So long, he
could hardly remember anything from that time. He could remember
the sun, the heat, and laughter, his brothers rejoicing as Nigal grew up
to be the man he was created to be. Who would have thought the very
same place would give him his mate, too? Nigal had never expected
to be lucky enough to get his mate so soon, well soonish.
He was the youngest of the Originals, the last created and he
didn’t remember any of the Ancestors or their time on Earth. He
remembered only the brothers charged with taking care of him while
Missing His Cage 9!
he matured, The Eagle and The Sea Dweller, both already in their
prime and wise beyond words in Nigal’s childish eyes. They’d not
lingered once Nigal came into his powers, though they had randomly
kept in touch during the ages.
He was still closer to them than any of the others, though with
their numbers being so low and the times so murky, they seldom kept
in contact. It was safer like that. It had been a heady blow hearing
about Eagle and his mate, Fire Witch, so shocking to be confronted
with his own mortality even as a seemingly immortal being that Nigal
had been drawn to return to his birthplace earlier, smack in the main
stifling season. Seeing all the tribes running around his beloved
wilderness reminded Nigal why he preferred the rainy season. He
maybe was a bit grumpy about it, too.
Catching a glimpse of a blond god of a man, tall and standing
proudly among the warriors of his tribe had changed Nigal’s
resentment to sudden fascination. The man was odd, not resembling at
all the indigenes with his half-shaved head of sun hair, tall as one of
the trees in the northern lands and the peculiar stillness of a predator
about him. Fascinated was not a strong enough word for what came
over Nigal and he’d taken to stalking the man from the shadows for
days before his mate finally lost his patience and demanded Nigal to
come out and show his face. And Nigal had thought himself stealthy
before. Huh. Either he had been careless in his stalking, distracted by
a pair of gorgeous legs that’d look fantastic around Nigal’s waist or
the man was more than the eye could see.
Apparently, he was more. Much more. Though Nigal had
truthfully been particularly distracted by the ass on the guy. And those
legs. And had he mentioned that ass? It was lucky that Mikkal had
never taken to smiling toward Nigal’s hiding places or he’d had more
than likely tumbled off some trees, embarrassing himself with his lack
of skill. Any type of skill, Nigal didn’t have it when his mate was
around. So when his mate finally looked at him, and their eyes met,
Nigal knew.
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Aeryn Jaden
“You.”
Mikkal had nodded as if he knew and that was it. A shy smile, a
blush, and Nigal was hooked. He took it slow, or at least he tried to.
The locals were secluded enough that they’d not forgotten the old
ways and alternated between healthy fear of Nigal and plain
veneration. Nigal preferred to meet his mate at their waterfall than
come into their village, the people’s reactions seemed to make his
mate uncomfortable.
Weeks of getting to know each other, of Mikkal learning to trust
him despite the wariness even Nigal’s name induced. He learned that
a young Mikkal had been adopted in the tribe after he’d been found
wandering the jungle not far from a camp decimated by disease, the
people there foreigners, not used to the jungle and its ways. It was a
miracle first that he’d survived, then that the locals had not killed him
on sight. This was not a welcoming part of the world. The Yatchacs,
local shamans, said that the boy was spared by the jungle for a
purpose. They’d recognized that and tended to him. Seeing Mikkal’s
connection to one of the jungle’s spirits, one as important as Nigal,
incidentally their name for Jaguar, had just confirmed it and Nigal
often wondered if the shamans had a bit of foresight going on.
Mikkal had started spending more and more time in the depths of
the jungle than in the village and Nigal thought soon, soon he’d be
ready to choose Nigal and their future. He didn’t want to put his mate
in that position, but it was what it was. The people there would die
and turn to dust and Mikkal and Nigal would still wander the earth. It
was the difference between Nigal and now Mikkal, and the seasonal
humans. Though it wasn’t that simple, and humans had some
advantages, too, but still. It didn’t concern Nigal, Mikkal, and their
connection.
So for the moment, Nigal dreamed of their future while watching
his mate steadily edging closer, his eyes blown with lust and red-
faced. Oh yeah, Nigal wanted, so he leaned and took. First, he
reverently touched his mate’s wet shoulder, glistening water warming
Missing His Cage !11
on the flushed skin, their bodies reacting to the closeness between

them and the rush of blood muting the sound of churning water all
around. The moment they collided, everything seemed to stop, and
Mikkal’s eyes widened in shock. It felt like they were made of
melding energy, and the places they touched burned with it. Nigal was
shorter than his mate, the perfect height to teasingly bite at a nipple,
feeling his mate’s manhood twitch against his belly with something
more than surprise.
Nigal was an equal opportunity lover, so he knew his way around
a cock and he could hardly wait to show his mate all his expertise,
everything until now just a training exercise for this very moment. For
his other half. He pushed Mikkal backward until he felt him hit the
ledge and abruptly sit on it. He laughed at the slightly disgruntled
expression, knowing that his mate was well aware of Nigal’s trickster
disposition by now and more than that, matched him.
The ledge was positioned perfectly for Nigal to nestle closer, their
cocks aligning as their arms went around each other, fingers mapping
every inch of skin they could reach. The friction was building, each
movement and adjustment teasingly dragging sensitized skin on skin,
their gasps loud and breathy in the stillness of the jungle. Nigal
thought he’d never seen a more gorgeous sight than his mate in the
throes of pleasure, head thrown back as Nigal was working both their
cocks, squeezing and teasing until they both felt ready to go insane.
Water sloshed around them, hiding most of what was happening
from Nigal’s hungry eyes. He resented not seeing everything, but at
the same time, the ripples felt like a velvet cradle massaging them. He
got closer still, too close to keep on moving his hand between them,
but it was okay, they could just dance with their bodies, painting wet
trails on one another. Mikkal made a low noise of frustration and
Nigal smirked in response. His mate was a firecracker, not leery about
making his desires known and that was a gift in itself. Nigal had long
ago tired of being worshipped or feared. He pushed closer still,
wedging his cock under his mate’s, the head bumping periodically at
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Aeryn Jaden
the base of the hanging sacs before tunneling further, dragging
through hot skin until Mikkal adjusted his position to get him exactly
where he wanted, and Nigal moaned, his cock twitching as he almost
spilled right then. His cockhead rammed repeatedly into the wrinkled
skin, wetness making it slicker but not diminishing the burning
feeling, catching once in a while slightly, making both of them shiver
with want.
Nigal wouldn’t do it like this. He wouldn’t mate Mikkal on an
impulse without the other man being completely aware of everything
it entitled. Still, the temptation was there. It would be so easy to work
a couple of his fingers in that tight hole, stretch it and use it until
Mikkal felt empty and needy and he craved the completion only Nigal
could bring him. Not today though.
Their relatively controlled pace got frenzied and animalistic after
another nudge, Nigal pushing harder than intended, his cock catching
on that wrinkled skin again and again until Mikkal groaned and
arched, cock trapped between their bellies where he couldn’t reach it.
Not that it seemed to matter as just a second later Nigal felt a telltale
heat spreading along their bellies, and Mikkal groaned his name like a
prayer as he let himself drop behind, his legs open, his body
debauched and all of him spread for Nigal’s pleasure. It didn’t take
more than seeing his mate like that and Nigal was coming, too, his
control sketchy as his claws emerged and slightly pricked Mikkal’s
hips where Nigal was holding him still. His mate didn’t seem to mind
it if the resulting mewl was to judge by and Nigal let himself relax,
his exhausted and drained body collapsing on its own on top of his
mate’s.
“Mine.”
Mikkal laughed against his skin, the joyful sound like light to
Nigal’s soul.
“Marking your territory, kitty? I think all the animals of the jungle
know it now, don’t worry.”
Missing His Cage 1! 3
They slept like that, happy and content in the knowledge that
nothing could keep them apart. The grass felt foreign and new under
their backs, the sky brighter than ever and the jungle around a
welcome embrace hiding the lovers from the outside world. Sure, they
hadn’t mated yet, but they had all the time in the world, and both of
them rejoiced at the thought that this was only the beginning for them.
****
Hours later, the same grass was drenched in their blood, and the
jungle stayed silent in mourning as its protector, the Jaguar, gave his
last breath, his soul torn in two with a last try to protect his newfound
love and the cherished dream of a future.
His golden mate had to live. He had to. And with that wish, a part
of him melted through their incomplete connection, mingling with his
golden mate’s essence.
“Run. Run like the wind…until we meet again.”
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Aeryn Jaden
Chapter One
Cage was used to feeling pain. Be it emotional or physical. On

second thought, could he still feel emotional pain? He thought he had
quite successfully beaten into submission any sort of weakness, like
feelings or any grand notions of rescue he may have entertained while
younger. Practically, by now he wasn’t even bothered anymore when
his brother visited him in his room in the attic, conveniently placed as
far away as possible from the rest of the family. His parents’ absence
was bliss, although it made the abuse worse. It was all routine by now.
After all, it had been happening for a couple of years and in order to
survive, Cage knew he needed to make himself not care. Not caring
had started to come easily to him lately. That was the only thing that
still scared him.
Everything that was Cage was tightly locked up in a cage inside
his mind. Yeah, he had thought it clever the first time he had phrased
it like that in his mind. It worked all too well, he had outdone himself.
It was also proving to be dangerous. Each time he visited his cage, it
was more and more difficult to peek out through those bars at the
world outside. Why did he need to do it? The world held nothing that
appealed to him anymore.
Now, one would think going crazy was a bad thing. Wrong. Being
locked inside his mind had his advantages. One, it made him crazy
thus he acted crazy. That very fact had earned him the separate room
in the attic when he had been whisked away like a shameful secret
and hidden. If he had to pay for the favor of not having his parents
paying attention with more frequent nocturnal visits from their eldest
son, so be it. It meant less pain in the end and Cage was not present
during those times anyway, so it didn’t bother him much. Cage was in
his cage. Nothing could touch him there. Nothing could reach him and
harm him as long as he stayed there. It was like he was already dead
and just the ghost of him inhabited his current body.
The thought actually managed to push him out of his mind for
once, and he cringed as the cold winter air brushed against his
exposed back. His brother was getting dressed. What a mockery, this
family. His only reason for staying had been killed already, or so his
adoptive parents had gleefully notified Cage. Keen had been born just
three years before the pack had found Cage as a baby, half-frozen in
the woods nearby. Despite the years separating them, they’d been
friends from the start and Keen had taken to following Cage
everywhere. Cage, the troublemaker. Cage, wanting to go outside and
laugh and play in the rain.
He didn’t remember when it had all changed to this horrific
nightmare, but he guessed it was about the time Stefan and Carl, the
elder sons, had found Keen and Cage touching lips to see what the
fuss was. Cage had been eight and Keen, eleven. It was right about
Cage’s first shift too if he thought about it now. That had not gone
well at all either. Maybe it was not the gay thing. After all, they’d
been clueless about what kissing another boy meant. Cage was not
stupid, he’d started to hear the whispering and seen the looks after
that first moon had happened and he’d changed.
Carl kicked him off the bed, and Cage let himself slip down,
pretending to be out of it. Pretending to not hear the slur thrown in his
direction or feel the spit painting his bruised skin.
Nowadays he was fed once a day at most if Carl remembered to
bring the food when he came visiting. Most of the time, Cage would
not eat the food. It was so disgusting that even half-starved, he could
not make himself do it.
He heard the door close and breathed a relieved sigh. Alone at
last. You would think that being closed in that cold, empty room
would have made Cage yearn for some social interaction, but Cage
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Aeryn Jaden
had learned from a young age that he was safest when alone. Keen
didn’t count, they were practically twins in mind.
Slowly and carefully, he turned on his back and pulled down on
him the torn blanket that he used for keeping the cold at bay. It wasn’t
working really, but Keen had given it to him, and he felt better with it.
Everything hurt and the places that hurt the most, he didn’t want to
think about. He blinked in the darkness and almost startled at the sight
of his pale, almost translucent arms clutching at the dingy blanket.
Wow. He was indeed becoming ghostly. How long would he last like
this? Why was he sitting on this floor and just not doing anything?
Something was wrong with Cage today. He had thoughts he’d not
entertained in ages. Thoughts of deserving better, of having enough of
this mockery of life. Of rebelling.
The first time he tried to get up he fell right back down, and it hurt
so bad he couldn’t breathe. The second time, his legs trembled so hard
that he almost toppled over a chair and still managed to hit his elbow
really painfully on the door. He listened, panicked, for anybody
coming to check on him but the house was silent, and he could only
hear soft, distant snores from the people already sleeping. He listened
for a few more minutes, but it seemed that everyone was asleep. There
was a tug in the center of his being, a demand that he get up and away
from there and Cage frowned in concentration. He shrugged after a
moment of inner contemplation. It didn’t matter what brought this on,
it was high time he got out of his head and did something. Cage didn’t
stop to think how uncharacteristic of him the new attitude was. He’d
been beaten and abused for most of his life, all rebellion had been
long ago killed in him. This didn’t feel like rebellion or even despair.
This felt like determination and a lethal decisiveness. It reminded
Cage of how he used to be before, before all of this, and he very much
liked it.
He ate the stale bread and did not think about the mold on it or the
rancid taste of the watered stew. His arms shook less with every bite,
his eyes burning feverishly in the moonlight coming through one
missing tile of the roof. He didn’t notice how the nails from his toes
had gotten thicker, black and razor sharp. He’d not shifted since that
first time. Cage had probably forgotten how to do it by now. It was
surprising that he’d not gone crazy without shifting for so long.
Another thing for which his adoptive parents feared and despised him.
Sleep came late, but he woke up more rested than in years. His
wounds had mostly healed by now, and he found himself expectantly
waiting for Carl to visit him this morning. His brother didn’t always
come during the day. To his surprise, his mother came visiting. Agatha
had been a beautiful woman, and she still kept well, her long, red-
streaked hair running down her back in waves. Her face was mostly
unlined by time but the wrinkles she had spoke of cruelty and greed.
Her mouth seemed permanently pursed, and her eyes squinted in cold
calculation. Her skin was unmarred by any scars, she was far too
ruthless and tough for that. She was the ruler of the pack, no matter
his father’s size and strength. This woman also hated Cage with every
fiber of her being.
“You need to leave your brother alone. Stop with these
perversions, and maybe I’ll see about some improvement here.”
She looked around in disgust. She could probably smell
everything that happened here, as a wolf shifter she should know
damn well Cage had been hurt recently.
“Carl is a good boy, I don’t know what happened at the domin’s
place, but we’ll sort everything out in the end. He’ll gain his wolf
back and—”
Cage couldn’t help but snort at that and got a slap for his trouble.
He only laughed harder and had the satisfaction of smelling Agatha’s
nervousness mixed with a tendril of fear. Something inside him
delighted at that.
“You are a madman. You’re a disgrace and an abomination.”
“Ha. Looked in the mirror lately? Lady, you know why I laugh?
Because you are laughable. You and all your petty plans of ruling and
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Aeryn Jaden
amassing power. And guess what? I am a madman, but I can see
clearly now. And you’re going down. Your time has finally come.”
The urge to laugh overpowered him again and the sound boomed
like thunder in the bare attic. Agatha flinched and quickly retreated to
the door, a terrified expression on her face as she tried to glare at Cage
but was too scared to even look at him properly. Cage’s chest
rumbled, and he could feel his face changing, morphing. He’d been so
terrified for so long of shifting. He’d been told countless times that his
form was defective and too dangerous to try, dangerous for himself
and others. Another life, he could finally see that. Cage was
dangerous, true. But this felt good, this felt liberating. Agatha fled the
attic before Cage could try and let loose the roar he could feel
bubbling under the surface. Cage pulled the blanket from the mattress
serving as a bed and huddled on the floor as far away as he could
from the makeshift bed. He sniffed at the blanket, catching the barest
hint of lingering smell from Keen on it and purred in contentment.
He got down to waiting for night to fall.
****
Mikkal was tired to the bone. Running for your life did that to
you. Living among humans was exhausting in itself but hiding from
others of his kind, other supernaturals were making it impossible to
bear. He wondered what the point was. He’d resisted being caught not
for himself but for…he’d forgotten even that. Ah, yes. So that the
boys wouldn’t do anything they regretted later. So that Derek, their
uncle didn’t win. But Derek was long gone, even mostly living among
humans, Mikkal had heard about the resurrected mate of Kale. About
how Aeri had defeated the traitor and jump-started the resurgence of
Originals. Caden, the Wolf. Kraken was even back, and Kanael had
stopped hiding finally. Maybe Mikkal should have trusted Kanael
more, trusted him to step up and protect the boys but the First One
already had too much on his plate, and without Kraken, Kanael was
less, not really stable. All that power just waiting to be let loose.
Mikkal more than understood that. He let out a humorless laugh as
he ducked yet again in a dark, stinky alley. He’d been followed for the
last three blocks and for once he’d not been successful in losing his
tail. Ha, what a funny joke. Losing his tail. He let his head fall not too
gently on the brick wall supporting his back, and another humorless
laugh rang in the night. Or was it hysterical? Of course, it was raining,
and his sense of smell was all screwed up. Of course, he was still too
far from the safety of his dingy apartment and the crack joint he’d
rented it in. Maybe he should stop. Maybe… His fisted hands
wrinkled the bag he was somehow still holding, and Mikkal looked
down incomprehensively for a moment. Ah. Not tonight. Tonight he
had somewhere to be. No longer willing to just wait for them to catch
up and do their worst. It had been vampires this time, bloody hell, he
hated dealing with the leeches. Mikkal took a leap to the nearest roof
and just jumped from building to building until he reached home,
sweet, rat-infested home. It was lucky this neighborhood had low, old
buildings with old-fashioned ledges, Mikkal for sure wasn’t that
Godzilla thing, capable of climbing skyscrapers.
“Shit! Man, you scared the hell out of me! Um, are you coming up
the window or am I drunker than I thought?”
John Smith looked as unremarkable as his name at first sight.
Brown eyes, dark hair. Fairly good looking with a somehow rakish air
due to the scar bisecting his left eyebrow. He was muscled but not a
tank, still he gave the impression of being larger than his six feet one
frame was, mostly because of his booming, alive voice and the earnest
way he tried to do what was right. That is when he wasn’t sprawled
on the couch, smelling of misery and too much beer with red-injected
eyes staring lazily somewhere to the left of Mikkal.
John was the only one to befriend Mikkal, on his first night in the
wilderness of the human city, too. He was a cop, which Mikkal
translated as being the equivalent of the council sentries at that time.
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Aeryn Jaden
Not really an incentive for Mikkal to get cozy and friendly with the
human. In his experience, power almost always corrupted. John
proved himself different. He didn’t mind Mikkal’s eccentricities, his
odd language when Mikkal slipped into his memories and forgot to
adapt it to modern times. He didn’t mind the odd way Mikkal sniffed
at certain things or how he was freakishly strong and agile for a
“human.”
Sometimes Mikkal wished he could be honest with the human and
tell him everything. The only thing that stopped him wasn’t the death
penalty that it would bring him, but the thought that he would doom
John, as well. The world, be it human or otherwise, needed more good
guys like his friend and Mikkal would not jeopardize the human’s life
for anything. The small apartment was the only safe place for them to
meet and drink a beer or watch those awfully confusing “games” that
were nothing more than humans running around like headless
chickens. It was safe because the apartment was magick shielded and
nobody could spy on them there.
Some nights like tonight, Mikkal wondered. John was too casual
about the strange things Mikkal did at times, no matter that the cop
had told him of some weird shit happening on the streets at times.
John also winced every time he crossed Mikkal’s threshold. He’d had
suspected the human of being something more than human, but he
couldn’t smell anything odd about his friend and nothing more than
the strange glare at his charmed protected door and that wincing thing
had ever happened.
“Hey, Mick.”
“Mikkal.”
John scrunched his nose and blinked stupidly at him. “Weird-ass
name, man. Mika, you said?”
“Stop riling me up, you know perfectly fine what my name is.”
John just grinned unapologetically at him and took another swig of his
mostly empty bottle. Now that Mikkal was paying attention, he
noticed over the TV clatter distracting him, a lot of other empty

bottles littering the coffee table.
“I brought food.”
“Yeah? Maybe later.”
“How about now? Before you throw up on my couch. Again, I
might say.”
“Bossy.”
But John stood in a more upright position and put the empty bottle
next to the others, not immediately reaching for another one, so
Mikkal considered it a success. Lately, his friend did this most nights,
always ending up snoring on the couch after vomiting his stomach
out. Rushing in the morning to work just to do everything all over
again. Mikkal was worried, and something inside him warmed a bit at
the sensation. It had been a long time since he’d had anybody to help
and protect. The boys, Kale and Dale had never really needed him and
were now stronger than ever. Mikkal felt the need to help, to make a
difference, it was just part of who he was. Of whom he’d been a long
time ago.
“Hey, Mikkal.”
“Yes?”
John seemed to sober up under his eyes, still wavering a bit but
determination plain and clear on his face.
“You’re not human, are you?”
Mikkal could feel his mouth hanging open in shock, eyes probably
flashing like a human’s never did, and John just stood there, cool as a
cucumber, rolling his eyes at him.
“Really, man? You suck at pretending to be. I don’t know why
you’re so surprised. It’s okay, I just wanted to run something by you.”
He needed to pack his meager belongings and leave. Go…
somewhere. Maybe if he was gone, if he never made contact with
John ever again, they would both be safe, and nobody would find out
he’d broken the Old Laws somehow. Lucky thing he didn’t have
much, though the protection he’d did on the apartment would be
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Aeryn Jaden
missed. He didn’t know if he could do it again, his energies were too
low for the intricacy of it, and he was running out of favors to collect.
“Wait, what?”
“Oh, good. You’re done with your freak-out. I said I knew from
the beginning and it’s not a big deal. You’re not the first I’ve met
either. You can also stop looking so surprised, you’re insulting my
brain capacity.”
“What are you?”
“That’s exactly what I wanted to ask you.”
The food got cold but was still edible by the time John finished his
story, and he dug in. Apparently, he was an orphan with no
information about where he came from. He only knew that he had a
freakishly fast recovery time for all injuries, his instincts were never
wrong, and sometimes he needed to be certain places, and he just
knew he needed to do certain things. Like picking up a stray Mikkal
from the bus station as he was in the process of being mugged.
“Also, I think I’m allergic to your door, it keeps zapping me every
time I cross the threshold.”
He laughed. Mikkal could do nothing more than laugh and laugh.
“Spell protection to keep everything not human out.”
“Hmm.”
They finished their food in companionable silence, TV muted
quickly when Mikkal explained that his ears were ready to bleed from
the noise as they were much more sensitive than John’s.
“I don’t know what you are. You smell human.”
“Yeah well, you smell like piss. What the hell did you do? Bathe
in it?”
“Back alley, vampires were chasing me.”
It was gratifying to see the unflappable human struggle for words.
“Fucking vampires are real? Man, that explains so much. A colleague
had this case a couple of years ago, the guy just woke up in the
morgue and left just like that. After he’d had an autopsy performed,
too.”
“Nah, that sounds like a necromancer playing around.” Mikkal

frowned, unsettled.
“I managed to freak you out, too, didn’t I? I did tell you police
work gets really odd at times.”
A necromancer strong enough to bring back the dead had not been
heard of in a long, long time. It wasn’t known for sure which Original
line they derived from and were very rare. Best guess would be that
they were from Kanael’s line, considering most gifted humans derived
somehow from the First One. Except Kanael had not played with
gifting skills to humans in ages. Maybe…another Original? But which
one? Only a couple of the Originals had been touched by Shadow and
could manipulate death. Kanael being the strongest sure, considering
he was touched by both Shadow and Light and the only one to be so
by what Mikkal had deducted. Not even A’Rael could play God like
that, and the guy had been amassing power and odd skills like he was
starving for them. Nigal would know who was responsible. His mate
had been sneaky as a cat, more like he invented the expression. Or
maybe Mikkal was just seeing everything through rose-tinted glasses
where it concerned his long departed mate.
“What happened to the guy?”
“The John Doe? Puff! Disappeared, just like that. Walked out of
morgue never to be seen again.”
Huh. Strange.
“Did I tell you about the animal clinic break-in? That was a couple
of months ago. A guy broke in the clinic, nothing special right? Only
he was buck naked. And trying to get out of one of the animal cag—”
“Shapeshifter.”
“Oh, man. Really? As in werewolves and stuff? That is so cool!”
“I can shift into any feline I please.”
Now why had he said that? Almost bragging about it, too. Gods,
he was a mess. Subdued and somehow ashamed that he’d forgotten
for a moment how he’d even come to be able to do the shifting in the
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Aeryn Jaden
first place, Mikkal finished his fries, not even bothering to make a
face at the greasy aftertaste.
“Hey. You can tell me, you know. After all who would believe me,
anyway?”
“Other supernaturals would. The punishment for involving
humans is death.”
John made a face at that but nodded in understanding. “Good
thing I’m not completely human then.”
Mikkal nodded back at him but kept his silence. Some things still
hurt too much for him to just get them out there. He really wanted to
though. He’d almost forgotten Nigal’s smell. He didn’t want to forget
anything.
“Humans are always wondering about their origins. Us, non-
humans know about origins. We know how everything was created.
Humans had, too, at one point. The supernaturals chose to separate
themselves from the humans as humanity was becoming increasingly
violent and distrustful of others not alike.”
John’s quiet interest urged Mikkal to keep going. “Discrimination
first. Humans were increasing in numbers, too, so supernaturals
started feeling…not safe. Then the hunts began. The panic and the
teachings of a new God perverted to suit some greedy humans’
purpose. Many perished. Children, young ones, elders, humans had no
mercy, not even toward their own kind if any dared to speak in our
defense. We chose to let humanity think we were extinct and so we
become myths and legends. Fodder for horror movies.”
John grimaced and stared at the darkened window as if he could
see it all in his mind and it made him sick to the stomach.
“That sucks. Can’t say I’m surprised though, humans as a species
are really stupid at times. Most times.”
“Yeah, well. Part of what you forgot with that was our origins’
story. You forgot that we were brothers at first, created by the same
powers. The supernatural species each had one forefather, their own
Original. The One that made the rest, either by so-called magick or
birth or bite. Humans came from one such as an Original, the First
One, the legend goes. Not really sure, it was before my time. He’s a
friend of mine, so we can ask him someday. Your eyes are really big,
John. You okay?”
“You know…God?”
Mikkal rolled his eyes but he kind of understood. The simple idea
of someone like Kanael was a lot. He was the strongest and the first.
For a human with the normal lifespan of around sixty to seventy
years, maybe less, imagining the beginning of the worlds and a God
that was real and flesh and blood—mostly—yeah, a bit
overwhelming.
“He goes by the name Kanael, and he’s just one of so-called gods.
Funny fact, even gods have their gods that created them. Don’t know
much about the Ancients though.”
“Umm, I’m not sure I’m ready for this. Especially not ready to
find out God is some punk kid that goes around the world, laughing at
our expense.”
“Hey!”
John took a deep breath and settled back on the couch.
“Sorry. I see a lot of shit with my job, and I guess I’m not too fond
of a god that lets those things happen.”
“Kanael is not involved in humanity anymore. Whatever you see
is humans’ own doing. He was almost destroyed himself a couple of
thousand years ago. Even those called gods by humans have wars and
strife among them.”
“Shit. That does explain a lot.”
Mikkal patted John’s shoulder and grabbed them some bottles of
water.
“Yeah well. I think things are going to get better. I heard through
the grapevine that Kanael found his mate again. Kraken is a good guy,
now that they’re together again they’ll probably start some damage
control on humanity. Though humans can be too stubborn for their
own good and usually don’t listen to shit. “
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Aeryn Jaden
“Ha, I resemble that!”
They laughed good-naturedly, and Mikkal let his thoughts wander
for a bit, remembering all those old times when he’d been happy if
only for a short while. Before all the strife among Originals and
before Nigal—
“Mate? God is having sex?”
“What? You think humans invented sex?”
“Ummm. I think my brain is leaking out my ears.”
They laughed some more, and John seemed to come to terms with
what he’d heard so far. More so, he seemed to be gearing up for an
interrogation.
“So when you say mates…”
“Soulmates. Bound at the center of their being. Every Original has
one, every supernatural should have one, but the new generation is so
far removed from their origins that who knows.”
“Do you have one?”
There it was. The sharp knife to his heart and the crystal-clear
image of Nigal laughing in the light, taunting him to come catch him
as they played like kits in the forest. Sunlit inky black hair and deep
green eyes twinkling at him from their waterfall as they traded lazy
kisses and sweet nothings.
“Dammit. I’m sorry, Mikkal.”
“I used to have one. His name was Nigal. The Feline Original.”
John’s eyes got round again, and he shut up fast, probably unsure of
how to act or what to say. Mikkal took pity on him and smiled in his
direction. He probably didn’t do a good job of it as John didn’t seem
particularly reassured. Not that the hesitation lasted for long, John
was a peculiar man that way.
“Well, sorry to be crass but that’s a relief. If I get this mates thing,
then it’s only one for life or something like that. For a moment here, I
was worried you were trying to tell me something. That would have
been awkward. I mean sucks and I’m sorry but. I love you man,
you’re my best bro but. Yeah. Not really into muscle studs. I like mine
a bit on the twinkie side.”
“You’re a crazy human.”
“For the most part, sure.”
They left it at that, mostly because of John starting to drop after
all the beers and the heavy conversation having exhausted him.
Mikkal brought the pillow and the blankets he kept specifically for his
friend, and if he looked at the moon, wishing for more than this, for
Nigal there beside him with his quirky humor and steady love, well,
nobody but him knew anyway. John had got it somehow, but he was
still human in his thinking, could not completely understand what
losing a mate had done to Mikkal, and frankly, Mikkal preferred it
like that. Some things were just too private.
“I’m going have to buy you a bed for how often you end up
sleeping at my place.”
“Mmm, we can go tomorrow. Lease’s coming up anyway. Sleep
better here, too. No nigh’mares.”
Huh. Mikkal could live with that. Just because he was broken
didn’t mean he couldn’t enjoy this. It had been a long time since he’d
had friends to talk to.
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Chapter Two
This was Cage’s eighth reincarnation. Of course, at the time he

was born he’d not known that. He’d not known what had been or
what was to come. In a way, he’d been happier that way. He’d been a
regular shapeshifter baby. He’d been prey. The dreadful memories and
dreams had come soon after his first shift. Slowly making him insane
for all means and purpose. Because what he dreamed of? Couldn’t be
real.
But just because he’d not known didn’t mean that others didn’t.
He knew. He knew the why’s, the where’s, the when’s. He knew the
answers for all of Cage’s questions as, in a way, he was those
answers. Cage had long questioned if his dream guy was real, if what
he thought he knew was real. Sometimes he had entire conversations
with him. In his head. Yeah, Cage was crazy, no doubt about it. Being
held captive and half-dead for the best part of his teens and some, had
occupied most of his time so Cage had often wondered if he was just
crazy because of it all. Or maybe his adoptive family was right to lock
him in the attic and forget about him, maybe he’d been defective from
the start. That would explain his defective shift, his not-possible
dreams that seemed more like memories. That would explain so
much, if Cage was just another crazy person, dangerous because of
his weird shifter genes.
Cage knew other things, too, though. He remembered living as an
animal at first, all a jumble of smell and touch and want from that
time. His next couple of lives had been short and brutal, the child he’d
been often ending up murdered or killed in some freak accident. The
memories were scrambled, mixed, and more like flashes of light in the
darkness of his despair. Only lately they’d became clearer. He still
couldn’t remember everything, only pieces of what he really wanted

to believe was indeed his past and not some sort of disillusions. He
didn’t want to be crazy.
Cage didn’t think he’d reached adulthood in any of his former
lives and that seemed really suspicious. Especially as, in this life, he
knew about the supernaturals and all their Original legends. A’Rael’s
name always resonated with terror in Cage’s heart. Yeah, Cage was
not dumb, he could do the math and see that the answer didn’t make
any sense. Or perhaps…if he wasn’t crazy, and that was a big if, if he
wasn’t though, what if Cage didn’t remember all of his lives? What if
his dream guy, the one he always seeked when asleep and sometimes
swore he could feel, taste, touch, what if he was part of a life Cage
couldn’t remember? One where A’Rael had done something to him.
Cage wasn’t presumptuous enough to think he was so important
that the Enchanter Original would bother with him but maybe this
other guy was? Maybe. Oh, how Cage wanted to believe this. What if
Keen wasn’t the only one that had an Original mate out there. One
could dream. But no, even if it was like that, Cage was…tainted.
Dirty and used. Who would want him? Pathetic. So in the end,
perhaps it was better if Cage was just another crazy person. He didn’t
know what he was hoping for anymore.
Running away from the only home he’d ever known had been
harder than he’d thought. He was weak, bleeding from all kinds of
scrapes he’d earned by punching a hole in the roof and jumping off in
the night. His shifter genes should have taken care of that, but Cage
had never been able to do a full shift and therefore could not heal by
shifting in his other form, whatever that may be. He was surprised
that he’d had the strength to get out as it was. He’d almost turned
back several times, his body tired and his mind confused.
After all, being abused was all that he knew. It should have
seemed normal to him by now, the way his adoptive family treated
him. It had never been. Cage had always known more. Had been
different. It was that feeling that nudged him further and further, gave
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Aeryn Jaden
him hope to chase his dreams, to chase after Him. Out of the forest
first. Out of the remote village area. Toward the human city.
Something was pulling at him, and Cage, functioning mainly on
instinct and raw determination, didn’t hesitate to follow. It was a last
cry of resistance, the last breath of light he had in his soul.
As it was the first time he’d left the pack compound since he’d
first shifted getting into the city was an…experience. Sharp sound,
obnoxious smells, painful bursts of brightness and speed, everything
was excessive, confusing and just too much for Cage. He ended up in
the first quiet place he found, a back alley smelling of piss and some
other things he didn’t want to name, huddled down in himself and
pretending the world wasn’t there in the hope the world wouldn’t look
back at him. He wasn’t sleeping but wasn’t really aware either when
the man stumbled in and almost stepped on him in his hiding place.
Startled, Cage retreated further in the shadows, watching warily,
waiting for the pain to come. He wouldn’t go down easily, he couldn’t
bear it anymore. He felt strong and invincible, knowing he wouldn’t
lose any other part of himself ever again. He’d sooner lose his life. He
still wasn’t aware of just how not pathetic he was. Never had been,
really.
The man, to Cage’s surprise, didn’t pay him any attention, more
focused on the entrance of the alley, visibly straining to hear
something. Cage knew the signs all too well, this man was also
hiding. Didn’t make him a good guy but it made him less of a threat.
Once he reached that conclusion, Cage relaxed a bit and took a deeper
breath, just now realizing that he’d stopped breathing as soon as the
interloper had stumbled upon Cage’s alley. One deep breath and his
brain froze, his chest constricted with stabbing pain. That smell…he
squinted at the man, wanting to see more, to see why. What was
making Cage react this way? He knew this man. He could feel the
certitude that he knew this man deep in his soul. His features were
obstructed by poor lighting and Cage was hesitant to follow his
sudden interest and leave his shadows only to get a better glimpse.
But the way he moved, the way his silhouette gracefully turned right
and left and that smell. This guy, Cage needed to get closer, to touch.
Unfortunately, as soon as a mesmerized Cage made his first step out
of the shadows, his mystery man suddenly jumped up and up,
impossibly high and quicksilver fast disappeared, leaving him behind.
Again. Again?
Odd. Cage was smiling. He was crying, too, but that seemed less
important, and he knew he’d just stumbled onto something essential.
Something more important than breathing. He followed that same tug
in his heart, smiling and laughing like a loon. He didn’t know why but
didn’t care much either. Cage just knew this was right. And the trail,
he suspected, this mystery guy was what he’d been searching for all
along. Weird. Cage really wasn’t too keen on trusting a stranger or
even making contact with the mystery guy. Especially as he was
obviously some sort of supernatural. His heart though was singing
another song, contradicting all his hard-earned wariness.
He cleared the back alleys and fell into a narrow, dirty street not
too long after and just in time to see a silhouette jumping on a
windowsill and climb right into one of the brick apartments. Okay.
What now? He knew the where. What about the why? It was getting
colder, too, the nights longer lately as autumn prepared to make way
for winter. Cage had shifter blood but no full shift form, so his fur was
nonexistent. He’d freeze in a couple of weeks. He had no money, no
papers and was so out of it that he knew he could not try to get a job
in one of the human businesses. He was odd for a shifter, he couldn’t
even imagine what humans would think of him.
He was avoiding thinking about the most important thing here. He
knew this guy. How did he know this guy? It wasn’t from the
compound. He’d gotten a better glimpse of his features when he’d
climbed up the window, and he knew that he wouldn’t have forgotten
the guy if he’d met him recently. And for Cage recently meant during
this lifetime. He needed to get a better look. His stomach made a loud
noise and Cage frowned. That could become a problem, too.
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Aeryn Jaden
****
A couple of days later, he’d perfected the art of dumpster diving,

disgusting as it was and managed to steal a winter jacket way too big
on him. He’d not seen any shoes laying around and needed to hide
during the days as he was barefoot. He’d learned the first day, humans
didn’t like the sight of his bare feet. People were so weird. He’d seen
atrocious things happening under their eyes and they just…walked
away, not bothered by anything that isn’t directly related to them but
Cage’s bare feet? They shouted and frowned and walked on the other
side of the street.
Cage didn’t much like the human world. He hadn’t liked the
supernatural one either, and he suspected he’d never find a place of
his own. He was just too weird in all the wrong places. He’d kept
watch on the apartment, never straying too far but still managing to
either miss the guy walking in and out or he was just a hermit. Never
mind, Cage had time.
Tonight, it didn’t feel safe. There was something…something was
about to happen, and Cage didn’t like it when things happened. It
usually meant pain for him. He decided to be proactive about it and
carefully scanned his surroundings, searching for anything out of
place. His senses were duller than a normal shifter’s but better than a
human’s. He suspected trouble would come from the supernatural
side, he’d seen some vampires circling the neighborhood more than
once. The vampires were not out and about today, but Cage still felt
unsettled. He felt watched. His body trembled, and he longingly gazed
at the light coming from above. Maybe he could try reaching the
windowsill? He wanted to see him. Wanted to know what was so
special about him. Before whatever was coming would happen.
He almost fell. Sorry excuse for a shifter that he was. The TV was
blasting music inside so luckily, they didn’t hear the racket he was
making trying to hold on to the bricks. He could feel his sweat chill in
the night air and made the mistake of looking down for a moment
only to almost fall from the third-floor window. Yeah, that would have
hurt.
After some deep breaths, his heart stopped emulating a heart
attack, and Cage finally looked properly inside the apartment. It was
light but not overly bright, not fancy either. Next to a door, on an ugly
brown couch, two guys were sitting next to each other. Well, not next
next, more like on opposite ends. They were both looking at
something between them, once in a while leaning to take snacks or
glasses from the coffee table between them and the TV. Just his luck,
his mystery guy was not facing the window, and the most Cage could
see was that he had very healthy hair. Sun hair that glowed and he
couldn’t imagine how he’d not noticed that even with the poor
visibility he’d had in that alley. He was big, bigger than the other guy.
Cage frowned, dismissing his mystery guy’s companion. He was
bothered by the easy familiarity between the two men, and he was
even more bothered that he’d noticed it. He had the confusing impulse
of reaching out and pushing the window open so he could join them
inside. His hand seemed to have a mind of his own, and it curled on
the ledge as he thought about leaning in and kissing the scruff of a
chiseled face while laughing and jesting at his mate—wait. What.
As if he’d said that out loud or made some other noise, his guy
turned toward the window and Cage, startled, jumped like the moron
he was. A bit too late though. He’d had the time to see. To see him.
Him. The guy. His Dream Guy. Who was real and just now opening
the window, so he could check what all the racket was. Terrified and
shaking, Cage plastered his back to the wall, keeping his breathing
slow and quiet when all he wanted to do was run, and jump and shout
and freak out that he finally knew for sure he wasn’t crazy. Cage may
be many other things, few good or complimentary but crazy? No. No.
He wasn’t. He wasn’t. He had proof now.
Somehow, he wandered for a bit until he reached the same alley
he’d first met his Dream Guy. As if his legs had been having a mind
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Aeryn Jaden
of their own. Out of it and disoriented, Cage didn’t notice the shadow
following him either. Nor did he hear the quiet laugh as his stalker
approached him fast, faster, crowbar out and up. The pain though…
that was familiar, and this time he almost welcomed the respite of
unconsciousness.
****
“Shit!”
John’s head throbbed, and he staggered in the doorway. He’d been
ready to go, shoes on, coat in his hands as Mikkal held the door open
and said something about cooking tomorrow. He really wasn’t in the
mood for this. “This” being another one of his hunches, though they
were much more than just that. Mikkal’s face swam in his vision or
was that his vision in general? There was something, something
connecting whatever this was that was happening now to his friend, a
thread that pulled John to follow, but curiously enough, whatever this
thread was should have been noticeable to Mikkal. John knew this,
not that he could explain how he knew it. His head pulsed, and the
image of the thread went away as his hallucinations usually did, thank
God.
“Hmm. Fuck, how do you help sick humans?”
“Mmmkay. Don’t worry. This is normal.”
“Huh. I never saw this type of normal before.”
“Funny. So funny.”
Something tugged at his mind, and his head stopped throbbing
only to be replaced by a queasy feeling, stomach rolling nausea. Yeah,
maybe normal wasn’t the right word, especially when he still felt this
close to barfing.
“You remember those not-so-human traits I said I may have?
Well, this is one of them. We need to go, we need to go now.”
People usually died when John didn’t heed the call. He’d learned
that lesson young and the faces of the ones he’d failed to help still
haunted him. Shit, his work. No matter. This was more important. He
quickly texted a colleague that he’ll be late and sent the same text to
his boss. Shit, this many absences weren’t looking great on his record.
“You need to be somewhere. Like you’re being pulled
somewhere? Interesting.”
“We need to be somewhere. It can be interesting later. Grab your
shoes, we have to hurry.”
Fortunately, Mikkal didn’t waste any time, and in minutes they
were in the street, turning corner after corner as if there was indeed an
invisible line pulling at him. He suspected there was. All that mumbo
jumbo New-Age energy magic crap.
“Left.”
Mikkal turned suddenly, pulling John back, fingers shushing him
before he even opened his mouth to ask what was happening. He was
way too close to his friend, squished between a brick wall and well,
another type of wall. And John was not a petite man, but in this
instant, he could practically feel the corded, coiled strength of his
friend’s body. He could also see Mikkal’s nostrils flaring, some hairs
moving with the inhalation, so not attractive.
For his part, Mikkal was totally focused on the alley entrance, the
smell of blood sweet and pungent at the same time, as only freshly
spilled blood could be. He could feel his fangs descend, a loss of
control that worried him. He’d not had an uncontrolled shift since the
night Nigal had given up his very nature to save him. He’d been
drenched in blood several times since then, as unfortunately,
supernaturals didn’t have an easy, peaceful life, and he’d never had a
reaction so visceral to the smell of it. John was pushing at him, trying
to rush into the dark mouth of the alley and Mikkal just wanted to run
and run, all his instincts warning him that whatever was in there
would have an impact on his somewhat predictable quiet life.
“Knock it off, Mikkal! We need to help.”
Their stare-off didn’t last long as just as Mikkal got ready to
move, the darkness seemed almost to part and let a hulking figure
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Aeryn Jaden
come toward them, seemingly unaware that he was being watched.
What was more surprising was the sight of the body draped over the
guy’s back, blood trickling slowly on the ground from the nasty cut
covering almost half of the unconscious guy’s face. At least Mikkal
hoped he was unconscious only.
The brown-haired guy stopped, suddenly noticing that he wasn’t
alone, blue, cold eyes snapping to their faces and their somewhat
compromising position as Mikkal still had John pressed on the wall
with his own body. The ugly sneer startled Mikkal out of his frozen
state, and his nose caught the faint scent of wolf, almost washed out
under the overwhelming stench of blood and pain. The impulse to get
the injured guy away from the bigger man was overwhelming. Mikkal
was sure the unconscious man had not gotten injured on accident. The
brown-haired asshole had guts that’s for sure. He sneered again at
Mikkal and John before simply turning his back on them and
continuing on his merry way with his victim still hanging off his
shoulder like a lifeless doll.
“Mikkal! Snap out of it!”
“Shit.”
“We need—”
Mikkal needed a lot of things but somebody telling him what to
do, wasn’t one of them. After all this time and the ages he’d lived
through, he was more than capable of handling this. Not to mention
that he was much less breakable than John. And if the guy was indeed
a wolf shifter…
“Go home. Order some food or something. Go to the pharmacy
and grab one of those first aid kits maybe. I’ll handle this.”
“I’m a cop, Mikkal.”
“Exactly.”
Whatever John saw in his eyes convinced him to shut up and
listen. He nodded slowly at Mikkal, eyes sure and expression hard.
Mikkal suspected his own face looked much less sure and much more
savage. His feet were already turned toward the direction the guy had
disappeared into the night, nose focused on the smell as his ears kept
track of the heavy footsteps getting farther and farther away.
“Okay, okay. Shit. I can’t believe I’m saying this but, make sure
not to leave any trace of yourself. Beware of lightened spots. Usually
shops have front cameras—”
“I’m not planning to tear him apart!” John’s wry expression was
almost amused.
“Right. I’ll just go and buy that first aid kit and wait for you at
home. With food. Like a goddamn good wifey. Jesus. And he has the
nerve to look offended when I tell him—”
Mikkal stopped listening to his friend’s ramble, feet already
carrying him further in the night, in pursuit. He didn’t have to hurry
up, nor walk long, and he could already see the silhouette a bit further
ahead. The feline spirit inside him was hissing at Mikkal to hurry up,
urging him to attack. Maybe John had been right to be wary. Mikkal
felt unsettled, more than saving some unknown human warranted.
Though that hint of something else, that faint smell of green, and sun
and something musky mixed with lemongrass, that scent he’d
managed to barely sniff under the stench of wolf, pain, and cruelty,
was maybe what caused his feline spirit to rebel and almost scratch
itself out just to get faster to their prey.
The wolf would-be abductor was surprisingly unaware of his
surroundings. Not that a dog could ever sniff and catch Mikkal. He’d
maybe not been born to his feline spirit, but they got along just fine—
now—after some centuries of ongoing torment. After all, the feline
was the only part of Nigal that he had left and therefore even if less
aware of human emotions, its instincts dictated that Mikkal was to be
protected at all costs. Same as Nigal had done with his last breath.
Mikkal’s steps slowed down, and for once even the cat was silent in
his mind. In front of him, the wolf was hurrying his gait, triumph and
lust rolling off him in waves. Still, Mikkal stopped. He knew
something was about to happen and he wasn’t a fan of surprises. Not
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anymore. That smell. He knew that smell and just couldn’t figure it
out. He didn’t like change. He didn’t like not knowing either.
Two steps, one jump, and Mikkal landed in front of the two. The
brutish-looking wolf squealed in response, and Mikkal let some fang
show.
“Good evening,” he purred, hearing the other’s heartbeat speed
up. His nose scrunched in disgust at the acrid stench of panic mixed
with everything else.
“Wha—look man, I don’t know what—”
“Hmmm. Do you really wanna try toying with a cat?”
The wolf closed his mouth with an audible click, his round eyes
not even daring to dart around in search for a way out. He’d taken a
step back instinctively, and seemingly he reached the conclusion that
it was pointless trying to run while carrying dead weight. That or
Mikkal was just that frightening that the guy had frozen to the spot.
Mikkal was indeed taller and more agile, but as a wolf, the guy should
have been confident in his brute force at least, not that an ordinary
wolf could even leave a scratch on Mikkal. He sniffed again,
confirming that he smelled wolf not human. The scent was strangely
diluted, washed off almost. Most puzzling. He quirked his head, and
visibly sniffed again.
“Huh. Are you a wolf at all?”
“Fuck off! I’ll always be a wolf! I would have been The Wolf if
that snobby Caden hadn’t…shit. You’re Mikkal Daggart.”
“And I believe you’re what’s-his-name that tried to overturn an
Alpha Regis that coincidentally was the Wolf Spirit. Good job in
getting your ass kicked. He took away your wolf, too, huh.” His cat
made its annoyance known by more fang being visible and talking
was becoming a challenge for Mikkal. Not that he had anything else
to say. He would love to just stick his claws through this sorry excuse
of a being, but Mikkal very much preferred to keep under the radar
and not attract any attention from the new supernatural ruling class.
Especially with Kanael back to full strength after he was reunited with
his mate.
Mikkal doubted he’d be able to explain anything before the newly
risen Originals pulverized his ass. The scum in front of him took
advantage of his moment of inattention and made the choice for
Mikkal as he roughly dumped his burden and instead of retreating, as
any sane being would, headed straight toward Mikkal in a pathetic
half-assed attack. What he did succeed in doing, was startle Mikkal
and his feline side took matters in its own hands, err claws. Which
were now almost protruding from the guy’s back as they went through
muscle and organs, nicking his heart on the way out. He was dead
before he hit the ground and Mikkal’s annoyed sigh came a second
later.
“Great. So much for keeping under the radar. Caden will know in
an instant that one of his wolves died. Dammit. I liked this human
city, too.”
A pained groan from the heap of a bruised sack of bones thrown
next to the alley’s wall answered him. Mikkal just sighed again. He’d
gotten his prey. Now what?
****
“I found Mikkal.”
Dale’s arms tightened around his newborn son, his voice drifting
off from the cooing he’d been doing. Being a father was still
relatively new and wondrous, and even with the total lack of sleep
that came with having more than one newborn at once, he wouldn’t
give it up for the world. He had thought Daliana, his stepdaughter,
was a wonder but now his soul was overflowing with every day spent
beside his loved ones.
Kale took a seat, slowly and laboriously squeezing his bigger-
than-ever body in the armchair in front of the couch occupied by Dale
and his babies. His gestation period seemed to be that of an elephant,
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Aeryn Jaden
and in his own opinion, he was starting to resemble one. Nowadays
only the sight of his stupidly smiling mate, bastard Aeri, delighted to
be responsible for Kale’s current state, was enough to sour his mood.
He was smiling now though, and Dale could more than understand.
Mikkal had more or less raised them after their parents’ deaths.
Him and their great-uncle, who’d later been proven to be the one that
had killed their parents in the end. And their grandparents and so
forth, wiping out all of Adair’s successors in an insane vendetta.
Adair, Kanael’s son, and their forefather had been thought to be mated
to their great-uncle’s mom only to be recently proven that though he’d
loved Callissandra, his mate was not yet born and ended up being
Callissandra’s much younger brother, Mallick. It was all a mess like
supernatural relationships spanning several millennia often were.
Most of it was untangled now with Adair resurrected and finally
mated to his true mate, Mallick, who was unfortunately the son of
their nemesis, A’Rael, the Enchanter Original capable of controlling
almost anybody in any way he pleased. Adair’s fathers, the Originals
Kanael—the First Original and crazy powerful—and Kraken—the
Drakon Original—were reunited not long ago and several of the old
quasi-mythical other Originals have popped up seemingly from thin
air in a short period of time. Caden, the Wolf, was mated to Dale,
Kale’s brother. Killa, the Original Drasher, was mated to Keen, a quiet
young wolf and his twin, Badar—another Original—was due to reach
their valley anytime now.
Dale was proud that his brother Kale’s willingness to make a stand
against their corrupted former ruling council had made all this
possible and uncovered their uncle’s betrayal when finally his own
mate, Aeri, was resurrected. Kale had taken the responsibility of
organizing them and the title of domin to show a more unified rule for
all supernaturals. It provided a good setting for the return of Originals,
just in time to uncover A’Rael’s dark machinations. A bit late, true, as
at that point their old friend Mikkal had been labeled a betrayer due to
their uncle’s lies.
Mikkal had taken the fall for all their uncle’s wrongdoings, and it
was only luck that had kept him hidden from their searches until now.
Dale couldn’t imagine how he’d had lived with knowing he’d killed
an innocent man that had done everything in his power to protect
them for all their lives. Dale and Kale Daminion both had long since
reached the conclusion that the only reason they had lived to reach
maturity and not been assassinated by their uncle and his manipulated
council, well, they owed their lives to one Mikkal Daggart. The man
had been a force to be reckoned with, and with him and Kanael being
Dale and Kale’s protectors, their uncle could only bid his time until he
could make a move.
Kale sighed and slowly rubbed his tense abdomen. In front of him,
Dale slowly put down his now sleeping son, next to his other baby,
trembling hand taking a moment to arrange a blue blanket with puffy
clouds around his precious children. Kale could hardly wait to have
that, too. He was so over being big as a house and crying at the drop
of a hat. He didn’t know how women did this all the time. This was
the hardest thing he’d ever done, and he’d overthrown a government
and fought a supernatural war.
“You sure? You thought the same just last month.”
“A couple of days ago Caden felt Carl Timmons die. He sent
someone to investigate, and they caught onto a trace. A peculiar smell.
I just came from reading the report. He’s there, in one of the pictures.
Rushed and a bit shaky, but the image is clear enough to recognize
him.”
“Caden?”
Dale’s tone was deceptively mild, and Kale grimaced.
“We didn’t want to get anybody’s hopes up. After all, that guy
Carl had it coming, and anybody could have been responsible for that.
It all just a lucky break. A coincidence that Mikkal was involved.”
Dale’s gaze switched from fairly murderous to contemplative. He
could understand how his mate could be overprotective, especially
now. Didn’t mean he had to like it. He wasn’t some damsel from the
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Aeryn Jaden
Victorian era needing to be sheltered, newborns or not. Still…
something was not entirely right with what Kale was saying.
“Mikkal is not stupid. He most likely knew all along who Caden
was and if not, he’s found out already that Caden is the Wolf Spirit. I
wouldn’t be surprised if he’s been keeping tabs on us, as well, as he
can while still hiding. So why kill a wolf? He must have known
Caden would investigate. He must have known he’d be spotted if he
lingered. This is too careless for him. Something doesn’t sit right.”
Kale nodded his agreement and smirked a bit. Talking with his
brother always cleared things up quickly, especially when their
thinking overlapped, as it often did. Dale just frowned his frustration
at him, having picked up that Kale was withholding some
information.
“I’m not hiding anything! Don’t kill me with your eyes.”
“Funny. Not.”
“It’s just that he wasn’t alone in that picture. Here, have a look.”
Bending and leaning to give Dale the photo he’d maybe been hiding a
bit was not an option, so Kale just threw it at him.
“Keen saw the picture. See that other guy, there on the left? Said
it’s Cage, his brother. He was planning to storm out there and comb
the city for him. Kanael stopped him. After he got this intense,
mischievous look on his face.”
Kale angled his head to better study his smirking brother. “Kinda
the same look you’re sporting right now. Anything you guys want to
share with the rest of the class?”
“Hmm. Not yet. This is something for them two to find out first.
Without any interference so don’t send anybody else out there.
They’ll come to us when the time is right.”
Kale really wanted to insist that he was let in on all this, but his
elephant bump chose that exact moment to remind him that he’d not
been to the bathroom in the last twenty minutes, miracle of all
miracles. He simply didn’t have the energy for more than dragging
himself around and randomly checking in with Keen, Caden, and Aeri
at the office where they were holding down the fort before they
steamrolled him into taking a nap or putting his feet up. That
reminded him, a foot massage would be great right about now. After a
bathroom visit. Still. However distracted he was, Kale needed to make
sure he could leave this on the backburner.
“You sure? Not that I doubt you guys but I would very much like
Mikkal to stop believing we want him dead.”
Dale waved his concern and smirked again. Must be something
good if his brother was this excited, Kale thought to himself.
“He’ll get the message when nobody comes after him with a gun.”
“Felines need silver to be killed. Or is that a myth? Though who
knows if even that would work on him.”
“Focus, Kale. Stop worrying. He’s a smart guy.”
“Maybe he’s getting old. For such a smart guy I can’t explain why
he’s still in that city, where we can find him…aaand you’re getting
that look again. Fine. Be that way.”
Dale just laughed at his frustration and Kale pushed himself up.
Or tried too before collapsing back again for a second attempt.
“Patience would be a good skill to learn before your little ones
arrive.”
“Nope. Nopenopenope. I’m just gestating an elephant, I’ve
decided. One. Not several. You all crazy people are just yanking my
chain, I’ve decided.”
He slowly but determinedly pushed up again and rose to his
aching feet, shuffling off as fast as he could these days, mumbling
along something about killing someone.
“Avoidance doesn’t become you, brother mine!”
Kale shoved the finger back at him. Oh yeah, Dale quietly laughed
as the door closed. He gazed at his small miracles, now fussing a bit
from the raised voices and felt his heart melt.
Yes, things were starting to mend.
!44
Aeryn Jaden
Chapter Three
Carrying an unconscious, bleeding man home was not one of

Mikkal’s wisest choices. Even with the late hour, he was still living in
a city that seemingly never slept, and he gathered more than one wary
look thrown his way, even with mostly keeping to back alleys and
once or twice jumping over some dead ends. His unforeseen cargo
had not even stirred and if Mikkal couldn’t hear the human’s…and
that was odd, Mikkal could swear the guy was not human, but at the
same time he couldn’t recognize the scent signature and if not for the
faint heartbeat, he’d have thought the guy was dead. In the middle of
their journey, he’d started snoring, though, so Mikkal figured the guy
was just a bit banged up if he could sleep so deeply while upside
down and being jostled all over town.
He wanted to take the window route and not attract attention from
his neighbors by carting the unconscious man in, but that idea was
rendered moot when John was waiting, patiently pacing in front of the
building, pharmacy bag in one hand, take out in the other.
“I was ready to put an APB on you, man. But then again, I don’t
know how we could have explained this situation away.”
Mikkal nodded, though he had no clue what the human was
talking about. He needed to watch some TV these days and pick up
some more human lingo. Living as a council member for the better
part of his long supernatural life had not really prepared Mikkal for
blending in the human society.
“What are you standing there for? Inside before my colleagues
feel obligated to arrest both our asses.”
“I would, but you’re kinda in the way.”
John rolled his eyes and stepped aside, and Mikkal quickly made
his way to his apartment. As if by design, he was barely in sight of his
door that his burden started to groan and fidget.
“Shit. Inside, inside.”
“What do you think I’m trying to do?”
“Zumba?”
John got the door, and they both rushed in as the fidgeting
escalated to full-out trashing around.
“Hey, take it easy. I’ll put you down, all right?” Curiously enough,
the guy had not uttered a sound, and at Mikkal’s voice he froze, body
tense as a board as Mikkal carefully deposited him to his not-so-stable
feet, arms still around the guy’s waist to catch him in case the
wobbling degenerated to crashing to the floor. Not quite his usual
behavior, he couldn’t help but notice. Mikkal didn’t do fluffy
worrying. Except now he seemed to be doing it. John’s amused snort
was not welcomed either. He forgot to be annoyed when his rescue
finally raised his head and looked straight at him. The guy’s eyes
seemed to sparkle with emerald fire on his pale skin framed by almost
inky black hair. He stood unnaturally still, expression frozen but still
somewhat distrustful and Mikkal couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t think,
was surprised to be still standing. Those eyes, that smell. Mikkal
knew them as he knew himself.
“Nigal.”
He was just standing there. Why wasn’t he saying anything, why
wasn’t he speaking or doing anything? It was as if…as if he didn’t
know Mikkal, and Mikkal felt his heart beat fast with hope while
breaking at the same time.
“Wait, what? Your Nigal? The one you told me is dead?”
“Yes. Oh my gods, oh. Nigal!”
His hand clutched and squeezed. His body almost panicked at the
idea of being separated for even one more second from his mate and
his cat was silent, so silent. He gathered the man closer to him,
needing—
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Aeryn Jaden
“Who are you?”
His body jerked as if hit and his mind reeled. He’d noticed that
Nigal was unresponsive, but until the moment he heard that small,
terrified murmur voicing incertitude and confusion, Mikkal had not
realized that the body he was holding was not only frozen but stiff and
slightly shaking. Nigal was afraid. Nigal didn’t know him. Was it
even Nigal or only a look-alike? How could it be him? His mate was
dead.
“Who?”
His hands were cold but strong as they grabbed onto Mikkal’s
wrist and held on. Mikkal felt the touch like a branding, and he was
almost sure he saw the flicker of a flash where their skin collided. He
felt a bit light-headed and the shock of the last couple of minutes
made him plain dumb, so he was still staring into those sharp eyes and
not capable of speech. He hoped the muffled hearing wasn’t a sign of
imminent blackout.
“You all right, man?”
“Who are you? I know you?”
Mikkal managed to nod toward John, his instincts not wanting the
man anywhere close to him and the man he was still holding. He took
a deep breath and one by one, unclenched his fingers, forcing himself
to step back and release Nigal. If it was him.
“Sorry. I’m…you. Ugh.”
Niga…the guy wasn’t trembling anymore at least. Apparently, not
being touched by a lunatic not capable of ordinary means of
expression helped. Mikkal was just so—he was stunned. He didn’t
know what was happening. Yeah, he didn’t know what was
happening. It could very well be a trick. After all, A’Rael was back
from his otherworld prison. Still, Mikkal couldn’t stop that small part
of him from hoping.
****
“What’s your name?”

“What’s yours? And where did you bring me?”
They frowned at each other and Mikkal was glad to notice some
color coming back to the guy’s cheeks along with his bravery. He
heard John muffle a laugh as his friend retreated to the kitchen,
presumably to dish the food while Mikkal recovered his wits and took
care of his rescue. Blood was not dripping anymore, but the guy
looked like a horror extra, caked in it and who knows what else.
Mikkal really wanted to stop referring to the guy as “the guy.”
“My name’s Mikkal.”
He got a jerky nod in response and a fugitive look around for
escapes routes. Great.
“Yours?”
“What does it matter? Is it important? Who sent you?”
“Suspicious much?”
The guy stopped mapping the room and raised an eyebrow at him.
“I’m in an unknown place where I’ve been, most likely, carted while
unconscious, soaked in my own blood and with my head almost split
in two. What do you think?”
“You can drop the attitude. Me”—Mikkal pointed to himself,
gesture court as his nerves were becoming more and more stretched
—“savior, all right? Found you being carted, as you so kindly put it,
by someone else, who may I add seemed to have big plans with you if
you know what I mean.”
His suggestive eyebrow wiggle froze mid-action as the guy
blanched violently, eyes full of terror. Mikkal knew with sudden
clarity that his companion knew all too well what kind of intentions
those had been. With a sickening feeling in his stomach, Mikkal
realized that Carl Timmons had not always been weak as a human and
even as it was, he’d managed to overpower the man in front of him.
He stopped his running thoughts before he really lost it and went to
kill the son of a bitch a second time, this time taking his time to
properly enjoy it, and cast his eyes around for something, anything to
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Aeryn Jaden
relieve the tension and make the wary man in front of him feel more
at ease.
“Umm. Do you want me to clean your wounds a bit? Maybe take
a shower after?”
He waved the medical kit around like a moron and almost gave
himself a black eye.
“Cage. You can call me Cage.”
“Cage.” The name rolled off his tongue, feeling foreign and out of
place. It didn’t suit the other man. Cage looked like a stiffer wind
would break him, and the shadows in his eyes spoke of already being
broken, maybe even beyond repair.
“All right, Cage. John, that’s my friend in the kitchen, will be in
soon with food. Let’s get you cleaned a bit until then, all right?”
Mikkal wanted his hands back on Cage. It felt wrong to not touch
the man somehow. It also felt wrong to feel so strongly for someone
not Nigal, resemblance or not. He needed more info.
“So where are you from and what did that Carl Timmons want
with you?”
****
Cage felt off-kilter and dizzy. Most of it was his head wound, but
Cage knew himself, and his reactions to various types of wounds and
this unnerving, sparkly sensation in his stomach was new. Was it the
guy, Mikkal? His dream guy. Well, nightmare guy also because every
time he dreamed of him, Cage had woken up feeling bereft and
inconsolable. Had they been together? Was Cage just insane? But the
proof was standing in front of him, gently wiping at the blood on his
forehead. He existed. Cage wondered what else he’d dreamed was
real.
“How do you know my brother?”
“Brother?”
Cage shrank a bit at the violence in the man’s tone. He didn’t have
a chance if the guy wanted to hurt him, he knew it. A part of him also
knew he didn’t have anything to fear from Mikkal.
“That son of a bitch was your brother?”
“Yeah?”
Cage ignored the swearing that followed and stayed still as
Mikkal finished cleaning his wound, eyes averted as his cheeks paled
further. He knew Mikkal had realized his brother had not-so brotherly
feelings toward Cage and Cage being adopted didn’t make it any less
wrong.
“Well, he’s dead. I’m sorry for your loss.”
“I’m not,” Cage snorted, his shoulders suddenly less tense. With
Stefan and Carl both dead, he felt like he could finally breathe easier.
“Good. I kinda want to kill him again.”
Cage’s eyes flew open at the stranger standing too close to him,
expression wary but resolute. He should really be afraid. Right about
now he should be trembling in fear. Not that Cage considered himself
weak, no, not anymore. It was just that experience had taught him to
be wary of everyone. He got lost in those eyes for a couple of
seconds, their brown hue reminding Cage of warmed honey and
laughter he’d dreamed of in what seemed more and more like another
life. The sudden coughing from the kitchen doorway almost made his
claws pop and just like that he was right across the room from both
males.
“Food’s ready. I hope you like Chinese.”
“Chinese?”
Mikkal and John shared a look, and Cage really didn’t have to be
a mind reader to know that he looked clueless and for pretending to be
human, he was really out of it. Cage had never been in the human
world, neither had he been allowed to watch their TV or read their
books. His parents had been purists, insisting on a close to nature
lifestyle, ruling the pack with an iron fist, though some of them had
sneaked and on the sly adopted some useful human technologies.
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Aeryn Jaden
“Here, we’ll dish, shower is second door though there if you want
to take one before.”
“Umm, no.”
One step at a time, Cage, he thought to himself. First learn what
food this is, after figure out what a damn shower is. He hated feeling
at a disadvantage. Not to mention that he preferred not to appear
vulnerable in front of strangers. Mikkal and John didn’t seem to be
fooled by his nonchalant act, but Cage was feeling off-kilter here and
didn’t know exactly how to act or react. True, these strangers had
probably saved his life, not to mention that Mikkal had wiped Carl
from existence, a good deed in Cage’s book. Still, they were strangers,
and Cage was hurt. He should be even more cautious most likely. He
was just so damn tired, and his instincts were all over the place even
without Mikkal’s familiar face.
“Dig in, there’s plenty. Umm, Mikkal. We should talk while
eating. It’s quite late, and some people have work you know.”
“Nothing to talk about it.”
Cage stuffed his face with some sort of vegetable roll and felt his
eyes go round at the flavors. At that, Mikkal and John ceased their
staredown and burst into laughter.
“You look like a chipmunk.”
“Idunut.”
He chose to stuff his face again and not try talking for a while. His
stomach was cramping, and it had been some time since he’d last
eaten. Not to mention that he’d never tasted food so good. He noticed
that the other two men were mostly picking at the food while
somehow managing to push most of the cardboard containers closer
toward him, but Cage couldn’t care less. He wanted to stuff some of it
in his pockets, for later, though with the two men watching him he
really couldn’t. Maybe they’d give him the leftovers?
“Mikkal. We need to talk about the body. I’m guessing there is a
body.”
“Of course there is a body! I didn’t eat the guy!”
“Christ! That was not what I meant. Wait. Was that a possibility?”
“In times of crisis, like war of extreme hunger, people used to eat
their dead. Or even their living, less desired relatives.”
Yeah, maybe Cage should stick to stuffing his face and not talk.
He made guileless eyes at the two pale men staring at him and
pretended he’d not said a word. Sometimes that worked.
“Um, okay. Thank you, Cage. That was…most illuminating.
Mikkal, pass your plate to him, he still looks hungry.”
Mikkal did it without a word, and Cage fell on it with renewed
enthusiasm. Perhaps he should talk more if he was rewarded like this
for it. He smirked before taking another forkful. And by the looks of it
these guys would be easier to deal with than he’d first suspected.
Cage didn’t see Mikkal’s amused glance, too busy demolishing the
best meal of his life.
“Nobody will connect him to me. He looks like he was attacked
by an animal. Not to mention that PMS will take care of it before too
many humans get involved.”
“PMS?”
Cage chewed a bit slower, his legs tense, body ready to spring. He
almost chewed his tongue when Mikkal’s large hand dropped on his
shoulder and pinned him to the chair.
“Relax. Yes, I’m a shifter. No, I’m not going to kill you or
anything. Eat your food and stop panicking. And to answer your
question, John, PMS is the supernaturals’ own version of a police
institution. It stands for Paranormal Monitoring Service and deals
with any leaks of the supernatural’s existence as well as policing
conflicts among ourselves.”
John looked particularly red-faced even after the explanation.
Cage chose to rest, eat and observe. He couldn’t run for the moment,
and he didn’t want to either. Plus, where would he run to?
“Err. PMS. Right. Ugh, really unfortunate acronym there.
Whoever came with that had a blast.”
“The new ruler most likely, Kale. Or his mate. Why?”
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“Eh, never mind. It’s all right. Great name for it. Good to know
you guys have something like that. PMS, oh my god.”
John mumbled something, and Mikkal’s face froze in shock. Cage
was feeling particularly uncaring as he finished the last of the food
and felt his body almost sink into his chair, heavy and lethargic. He’d
eaten too much. Logically, he knew he shouldn’t have, and he’d
probably regret it later if not sooner. He always got tired and sleepy
after he ate, Cage should have done best to remember that before. He
was helpless and in a shifter’s company, as well as a human’s? Most
likely human. His brain was seemingly offline though, and he no
longer had any survival instincts left as he felt his eyelids close by
themselves. His head dropped to the table, and he was asleep before
he knew it.
****
“So he’s your mate.”

“Maybe.”
“Maybe? Your face said something else when you got a good look
at him.”
“Appearances can be faked. If it had been only that but—”
“Yeah?”
Mikkal’s hair was in a state of disarray, his mind not too far either.
He sighed and continued to watch the man softly snoring only two
feet away. Two feet too many.
“His smell. I’ve almost forgotten but his smell…”
“So he’s your mate, your Nigal.”
He sighed in frustration and opened the front door, impatient to
get rid of his friend and his inconvenient questions. Some things hurt
too much to say out loud.
“He can’t be. Nigal was an Original. We were both under attack at
that time. I did tell you that the only way to kill Originals is to kill
them at the same time with their mates. We were not bonded yet, we
wanted to, but he was a romantic at heart and wanted to wait. He also
liked to tease us both, so we were taking it slow. He was courting me.
We were…he was—”
“Hey, you don’t need to tell me.”
“It needs to be said. I can’t avoid it and make this more than it is.
Nigal sacrificed his vital force to save me. He could do that because
he was the Feline Original, something about spirit transference that
ignited all that cats have nine lives bull—”
“Wait, this doesn’t make sense. You’re contradicting yourself.”
“I don’t know! I just know it’s not possible!”
John grabbed his coat and turned to silently watch his friend
almost tear his hair out.
“Well, seems to me that you’re not really clear what Nigal actually
did or could do. Don’t fight this just because you’re afraid it may not
be true because maybe he really is your mate, resurrected or
reincarnated or oh my god, I can’t believe what’s coming out of my
mouth. Just, go with it. Take it slow, sure, but keep an open mind.”
“Considering he looks as if he’d been abused all his life and on
the brink of collapsing, slow is the only variant.”
“Good man. Now let me go to work. My colleague is probably
ready to kill me, I’m four hours late.”
“About tonight…I know I said I’d buy a bed so we can room—”
“Dude, no. Did you see your claws? Every time I get too close to
your boy there, those sharpies glint at me. Thanks, no thanks.”
“They do not.”
“Do too.”
“Go away already.”
“Oh, I can really feel the love.”
Mikkal laughed and watched John head down the hallway, almost
reluctant to close the door and find himself alone with the Nigal look-
alike. Why couldn’t he be attracted to someone like John? He was
funny, smart, good looking. No, Mikkal had the luck of being
“special,” an Original’s mate. For the good that had brought him. Two
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millennia of loneliness could make a bitter old man out of anybody,
Mikkal was no exception. Oh, he’d been attracted to other people,
been tempted, too. Unfortunately, sharing your spirit with the essence
of a Shifter Original didn’t bode well for any of that. If he could stand
to touch someone else, which he’d never could no matter that he and
Nigal had not consummated their mating and they had not been
bonded properly, there was the matter of his feline side getting
aggressive. Which happened at times even toward Mikkal. He’d not
been born a shifter, he actually was not one, no matter that he could
shift. No, his body was a host for a part of Nigal’s spirit. Therefore,
his cat was not really Mikkal. If this boy…
He reluctantly closed the door and glanced at the still-sleeping
Cage, his feet almost involuntarily carrying him closer. He should
probably wake up the guy and show him the spare bedroom. He’d
sleep better there.
If Cage was really Nigal, reincarnated or somehow still alive,
Mikkal didn’t know what to feel. Anxious? Excited? Happy? Did
Mikkal want him to be Nigal or had he gotten so used to his
loneliness that he didn’t know how to be happy anymore?
One way or the other, he had the feeling that it was out of his
control now.
He slowly got his hands under the lax body draped over his wood
table and inched closer, trying not move Cage too much. The poor
guy looked like he’d collapsed not fallen asleep and Mikkal suspected
that Cage would be too tense to fall asleep under normal
circumstances in an unfamiliar environment. He froze when Nig—
Cage snorted and his head fell on Mikkal’s chest with a thud. After a
second, the guy seemed to just nestle in his arms and Mikkal squeezed
them tighter around the warm body, his heart thumping as if it wanted
to jump out of his chest. Well that settled one of those questions.
Excitement? Check. He looked down at the pale face trustingly
burrowed in Mikkal’s chest, almost nuzzling at it. The distance toward
the spare bedroom was at the same time enormous and too short. After
he got Cage settled and maybe stared creepily for some minutes there,
Mikkal’s feet reluctantly trudged back to the kitchen, and he poured
himself a glass of water, mourning not for the first time the fact that
alcohol did nothing for him anymore. He could have used a stiff drink
for what he needed to do now. He got the crumpled piece of paper
from his wallet and looked at it unseeing. The ink was almost faded,
not that it mattered much, he knew the number by heart. He’d gotten
it from an old contact. He’d helped the guy escape the council’s claws
a long time ago, so Mikkal knew the number to be correct. Jafar was
too loyal and grateful for his life to set him up or give him false info
even when the evidence was stacked against Mikkal.
This was Kale’s number. His quasi-adopted son. The domin now
and the one leading a witch hunt to find Mikkal. Derek, Dale and
Kale’s uncle, had done a terrific job of framing Mikkal. He could not
blame Kale for being easily duped when the evidence all pointed to a
seemingly psychotic Mikkal. Not to mention his protégé had just lost
his mate at that time. Mikkal knew all too well how that messed you
up. He just hoped that with the resurrection of Aeri, Kale’s mate and
former council assassin, the domin will be willing to listen before
jumping up to arms. One could only hope.
The phone rang once before it was suddenly picked up and Mikkal
choked on his words, not ready yet.
“Hello? Hello! Who is this?”
“You’re not Kale.”
“And your number is not on the list of authorized numbers. We
seem to be at an impasse. I’ll start with introducing myself if I were
you.”
“Kanael? Is that you?”
“Mikka? You old fart!”
Mikkal’s laugh surprised him, and he shakily took another sip of
his water.
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Aeryn Jaden
“As I heard it, you’re the old one. I guess everybody has his
secrets. Bet nobody expected old doc Kanael’s to be that huge,
though.”
“Ugh, shut up. I’m still me, and you’re not fooling me, you old
fox, you knew all along. Now, I’m just less broody with my sugar
muffin back in town.”
Sugar muffin. Mikkal had never met Kraken. He’d been already
presumed dead, along with the First One—Kanael—and their son. He
knew the stories though, and those stories didn’t paint a gentle and
sugary picture. He bet Kanael was keeping the guy on his toes. After
all, Dale and Kale had to have inherited their mischievous nature from
someone.
“I’m guessing you didn’t call to ask about an update concerning
my love life. How’s Nigal?”
“Wha-?”
Wait, what? He choked on his spit and spent precious several
seconds trying not to cough too loudly and wake up his guest.
“Mikkal. My strength is slowly coming back and with it some of
my less known traits. Like prophecy, among others. I saw exactly the
moment when you and Nigal reconnected. I also saw you being stupid
about it.”
“He’s not…I’m…no! I just helped a random guy—is he? Oh. It’s
Nigal. It really is.”
“It’s Cage now. Stupid, what did I tell you, Kraky?” Someone
mumbled something in the background, most likely about the Kraky
crack. Mikkal heard but his brain was too busy rearranging his entire
life and the recent events. In other words, he was really close to
having a panic attack.
“Now, Mikkal. I suggest you quit with your freaking out while
your guest is still sleeping. Joke aside, I know how it is to lose your
mate. You both need time, and time for you alone to just reconnect
and be yourselves. Especially until you properly bond.”
“I-is Kale there? I need to explain. I can’t…he’s vulnerable. He

doesn’t remember. I don’t want to lose him again. I fear Nigal is no
longer Nigal even if a part of him is still here.”
The phone made an alarming sound when Mikkal lost his control
and squeezed maybe a bit too hard. He took a deep breath, trying to
calm his heart and listen to what Kanael was saying.
“…may as well not be the same as you knew him, but he’s still
your mate. You aren’t the same either. Trust that you still fit, only in
different ways. Kraken, stop that. This is important.”
He heard the former serious-as-a-heart-attack doctor giggle,
freaking giggle at his mate and Mikkal couldn’t help but smile. He
wanted that, too. He could have that. Maybe.
“Right. To conclude this before this pest here distracts me again, I
know some of Cage’s history. Your Nigal was born as Cage in this
life, and he’s currently the oldest he’s ever gotten in all his lives after
that first one when you guys were together. I suspect someone took
care not to have Nigal back to full strength or too close to
reconnecting with you. He was shielded even from my eyes, but then
again Nigal had always been good at hiding, and I haven’t exactly
been myself until recently. He should start remembering more, now
that he met you. Or maybe not. It’s irrelevant really, he’s still your
mate.”
“I—should I.”
“You should do whatever works for you guys. I don’t make a habit
of peeking in people’s private lives so don’t ask me to give you
pointers from the future. I can tell you that you guys will be all right.
After a while. Just be cautious. You’re both being hunted.”
Shit. He’d lost track of his goal here. He needed to speak with the
domin and clear that up.
“Is Kale there? I need to sort things out before Ni-Cage gets in the
middle of all this.”
“Oh, didn’t I tell you? Things are sorted out at this end. Derek
messed things up, and everything came to light ages ago, right about
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when Aeri came back. You’re no longer on the shit list. Well, you are
for continuing to elude my dear, dear nephew when he only wants to
apologize to you. I think you’re damaging his ego. He wouldn’t know
it’s perfectly normal for you to be always a step ahead considering
you have the Feline Original as a mate and some of his powers
transferred to you.”
Well, that was freaky. Kanael knew too much, and Mikkal really
should not have been surprised considering who the guy really was.
He let out a deep breath, feeling a weight he’d not realized was
carrying lift just like that. He didn’t have the time to ask who was
really hunting them. No. Just his luck, he was quick to find out as his
window imploded and shards of glass flew all over his tiny living
room. He dropped the phone, hearing Kanael shout something but too
busy ducking in the hallway and running at full speed toward his
guestroom. The thing was fast, whatever it was, Mikkal didn’t have
the time or inclination to stop and introduce himself. Barging through
the door and quickly shutting it behind him, he saw Cage already up
and one leg out the window, eyes bleary with fatigue but still sharp.
“Go, go!”
He tackled the other man, turning midair and making sure he was
the one to be at the bottom as they flew through the open window, an
enraged screech tainting the air. Whatever was chasing them was not
happy to be stalled for even one moment, and Mikkal prayed the
seconds they had would be enough to hastily get away. Impact came
too soon, and the ground was its usual not-soft self. Mikkal could feel
the layers of skin come off his back, bones breaking and mending in
quick succession. Cage held still, breathing ragged and big round eyes
looking at him in surprise. As if Mikkal would let anybody get hurt on
his watch, mate or no mate. Another sound came from above, and
something blocked the light coming from his window.
“Shit, shit. Run! Up!”
Fortunately, Cage had his ripped shoes on and was fast on his feet
heading for the back alley’s exit before Mikkal was even up. He
wasted a second staring surprisingly at the man. Cage had not given
any indication until now of having augmented speed or flexibility, so
common in shifters, but at that moment Mikkal could see it, the burst
of speed and agile ducking. He made to get up and move but that
second of hesitation was a second too much, and something landed
with a menacing thud next to his prone body. That something was
much swifter to act than Mikkal and he felt the air rush him just
before a sharp pain erupted in his left side. He got up or intended to,
body sluggish with more than the lingering effects of quick healing,
and for the first time he got a good look at the thing chasing them.
“Shit.”
It was some sort of dragon. Smaller and deformed with a hissing
tongue darting to taste the night air while his teeth dripped steadily
with Mikkal’s blood. Venom. That was making Mikkal’s head
suddenly fuzzy as the light from an old street light went in and out of
focus. Rapid-acting venom.
“No!”
He tried to lift his hands, fingers into claw position but he couldn’t
feel them, and his claws were absent. The dragon thing, Mikkal had
never seen something like it, resembled a really ugly feathered
Komodo dragon but bigger and much meaner by the looks of that
mouthy sneer. One moment he was staring down some serious rows
of teeth, the next Cage’s narrow back was blocking his imminent
demise, and his vision went completely dark.
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Chapter Four
Cage had no idea what he’d done or how. He only knew that
somehow his claws had come out with no problems and his vision
was better than ever. It was almost as if he could see movement
before it happened, and his brain could predict what his opponent
would do, where and when. Mikkal should have been impossible to
carry. The guy had muscles on top of muscles and his current inert
state was not helping either.
Somehow Cage’s claws had pierced through the weird reptile’s
scales and scared it away enough for him to make away while
seemingly easily carting on his shoulders what was probably a more
than two hundred pound mass of unmoving muscles. Mikkal’s hands
were getting scraped as they dragged on the pavement, his body
dwarfing Cage’s smaller stature but there was nothing he could do
about it without stopping for a better grip or suddenly increasing his
own height. He doubted that was possible regardless of his last
incredible feats. He was terrified that stopping would put a stop to the
miracle of his sudden extraordinary strength and he’d have to leave
Mikkal behind. He just knew that the thing was stalking them, waiting
for Cage to lag or show any signs of weakness. Cage would not. He’d
not leave the first person to protect him, besides his brother Keen, to
die. He’d noticed how Mikkal had twisted midair, so he took the brunt
of the fall. Maybe Cage was wary and with good reasons, too, but that
didn’t mean he hadn’t noticed the careful way Mikkal behaved around
him in the short time they’d known each other.
So he clenched his teeth, ignoring that he really wasn’t struggling
and everything seemed actually quite easy. He wanted to freak out,
but his body felt more like his own than it had ever felt, and Cage
could not afford to stop and wonder at it. Some sort of sense he’d not
known he possessed made him relax. Just like that he knew he’d lost
his pursuer somewhere after the last couple of jumps and swift darting
through darkly lit, stinky alleys. That was another thing he was
ignoring exactly how keen his sense of smell was suddenly. He had to
decide where to hide while he figured out what was wrong with
Mikkal and what he could do to fix it. He wished he knew how to
reach his brother. He’d heard Keen had made it and got mated to a
real Original, Carl had ranted and ranted about his younger brother
and his so-called betrayal.
But how to reach him? And should he? After all, Keen hadn’t
since he’d gotten out and away from the pack. He’d left Cage to rot in
his prison. He shook his head and banished the dark thoughts,
knowing now wasn’t the moment. He took a left and crossed the
street, hesitating for a moment in front of a cemetery. Not really the
best choice but it was deserted and quiet so he could hear anything
approaching, with no humans to complicate things. Cage really didn’t
want to end up in jail, and he doubted Mikkal would do well in a
human hospital. He would not be separated from his mate. Never
again.
Wait. What? “Nnnghh.”
“Hold on, I’ll find a spot and put you down. Are you better? Can
you move?”
Mikkal’s body seemed to tense, but otherwise, he didn’t move at
all. Cage frowned and scanned the graveyard. Not too far, at the edge
of the enclosure and next to a small plot of trees he could see a
modest family crypt that would be perfect for the time being. He
could deposit Mikkal there and quickly do a perimeter check while he
freaked out in peace. A cemetery was the perfect place for it. He could
say good-bye to his sanity once and for all and bury it while he was
here.
As he deposited Mikkal on the crypt’s marble floor, he felt that
he’d done this before, cared for Mikkal while he was wounded and
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they were hunted. He could almost see it clearer than the present and
Cage rushed out of there like his ass was on fire.
The cemetery was closed and would open only in the morning at
eight a.m., a metal plaque announced. He could hear the heartbeat of a
human nearby the entrance of the small cottage there, quiet and calm,
probably the keeper, sleeping. Some small animals darted around in
the grass, the buzzing of the city roared louder outside his silent
haven, and an owl hooted somewhere in the cloudy night. He hoped it
won’t rain. His nose somehow knew that he was hoping in vain and
Cage couldn’t ignore it anymore.
Something was happening. Something was happening with him.
Maybe it had always been there, maybe he was just waking up, and
this was normal for him. It would explain a lot if his shift had been
somewhat suppressed until now. He suspected it had something to do
with his twenty-first birthday fast approaching. His dreams were
confusing but, in every scenario, every life he’d dreamed—lived
maybe—he’d never been an adult in any of them. He wasn’t sure
about those dreams that involved Mikkal, and that was another thing.
The guy had called him by another name. He’d looked as if he was
seeing a ghost. Kind of fitting considering Cage felt the same. Only
he wasn’t sure who the ghost was, himself or the guy he’d been
dreaming about since he was a child. Was it possible, Cage wondered,
was it possible that he was…Cage’s mate? He kept on thinking about
Mikkal as his mate.
Cage didn’t know if he wanted that. He felt too raw, barely out of
his own private hell, his mind still in turmoil. He needed time. He
needed time to just be himself, whoever that was. Time for his mind
to settle and his body to forget.
He turned around and slowly trudged toward the crypt. If Mikkal
was his mate, maybe he’d understand. Maybe Cage’s mind should
stop running in circles, and he could brace himself and have a real
conversation with the man before he decided anything. He didn’t even
know if he was right and if he had any reasons to freak out. Well,
besides giant venomous lizards trying to kill him.
Mikkal was no longer on his back and was down, leaning on one
wall. His breathing was labored, his face flushed, and Cage rushed
forward when it seemed that he will topple over.
“Hey, lean on me.”
“Dizzy.”
“I can see that.”
“Where?”
“Cemetery. Somewhere in the city.”
Mikkal raised an eyebrow at that and threw him a baleful look.
“I’m. Not. That bad.”
“And little old me even found you a nice resting place here.” They
stared at each other, Cage’s heart beating frantically as he waited for a
reaction to his sudden teasing. He usually kept his smartass quips to
himself, safer that way.
“Funny.”
Mikkal mock frowned, his lips quirked slightly, and Cage let out a
relieved breath, chest suddenly tight.
“How are you feeling? You seem to move better.”
“Compared to being paralyzed, I’m practically running now.”
“I see your mouth has recovered quickly.”
Mikkal raised an eyebrow at him, and Cage flushed, realizing that
what he’d said could be seen as an innuendo.
“The better to keep up with yours, my dear.”
He huffed and leaned away slowly, arms ready to catch Mikkal in
case he gave signs of falling sideways. If he leaned forward, Cage
was tempted to let the guy just fall on his face. At least then he
couldn’t stare at Cage like he was doing now.
“We need a plan. Information, money.”
Cage nodded. He knew that. He just didn’t know how to go about
it. “Maybe we can lay low at your place for a while,” Mikkal
suggested.
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“No!”
Shit. That wasn’t weird at all, good job, Cage.
“It’s only for a day or two until I contact some of my connections
and find out what’s happening.”
Cage averted his eyes not wanting to see that slightly wounded
look in the other’s man eyes. He couldn’t just say that he was
practically homeless. He didn’t want any pity, he wanted a new start.
“Cage?”
“I don’t have a place to stay.” Or he could just blurt it out.
“You don’t have a place to stay?”
“Wow, the echo is amazing in here.”
They stared at each other, Cage’s defiant look not enough to
protect him from the worry he could see shining in the other’s man
eyes.
“I came to the city just a couple days ago. It’s not a big deal.”
It was a big deal, but Mikkal didn’t need to know how Cage
preferred sleeping with the rats on the street than in his prison in the
attic, where he’d been tormented almost daily by his so-called family.
“Cage. Do you know anything about that thing that attacked us?
Were you running from it?”
“What? No! I was running from my rapist adoptive brother and
my bitch of a mother!”
Mikkal’s mouth closed with a click and Cage let his head fall
backward with a thud.
“Shit.”
“Good. I’m glad you got away.”
He couldn’t open his eyes. He was too scared to look at Mikkal.
He’d never said it out loud. Somehow it made it more real, and Cage’s
eyes stung with unshed tears. He’d not cried since the first day he’d
been thrown in that attic.
“Can you look at me?”
“No. Don’t make me.”
He hoped the please was too silent to be heard, but by the short
intake of air beside him, this wasn’t Cage’s lucky night.
“All right. Just tell me something.”
Here it comes. First, the questions tearing into him, then the silent
pity and the gentle recrimination that he should have tried sooner to
get away or that he should have asked for help. From who? How?
Regardless, he should have done something sooner.
“Did I kill the right brother? Or is there another one that needs
some extra holes in him out there?”
He couldn’t help his snort, and he laughed in surprise. His cloudy
eyes opened on their own and met Mikkal’s. The guy didn’t have any
of the expressions Cage had expected to see directed at him. He could
almost say Mikkal was looking at him as if he was proud of Cage and
Cage’s frozen heart skipped another beat.
“Yeah. You got him. I have another brother, but he’s a good one.
Not to mention that you’ll have a hard time killing that one, he
apparently went and mated an Original.”
A strange look fleetingly darkened Mikkal’s smile as he answered
him and Cage wondered about it.
“Imagine that. An alive, breathing Original.”
****
“Dawn’s breaking.”
“We should get out of here before daylight. We need clothes that
are not painted in blood and all torn up. Humans will sure notice us as
we are now.” Cage nodded in response. They’d been there for only a
couple of hours, and luckily Mikkal had quickly regained his
mobility. He was currently prowling the small space, his limbs still
tingling as if covered in ants, by his own description.
“I need to call John and tell him to stay away from the apartment
while we figure this out.”
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Aeryn Jaden
Cage frowned but nodded again. Mikkal had seemed very close to
the human, John. He wondered if there was something going on
between them. The thought made him queasy to his stomach. Or
maybe it was just because he’d gorged on strange food last night.
“Maybe we should head to Chardonnay Valley.”
He must have made an inquiring face because Mikkal explained
without him having to ask.
“That’s the place where the domin lives. The new ruler of
supernaturals? After the council had been dethroned and mostly killed
in the war, Kale had established a centralized rule for all supes. A
good thing, too. We need a structured system to monitor and help our
people. Most likely your brother and his mate are also there. It’s a safe
place,” Mikkal insisted.
Cage was not sure he wanted to see his brother so soon. He
needed time to get his head around all the changes hurtling into his
life. He felt too unsettled. He didn’t know how he’d react if he looked
Keen up only to find out that his brother had not wasted even a
thought on Cage, too busy being happy with his new mate. He felt
like his control and sanity were hanging by a thin thread and anything
could break it.
“Am I your mate?”
“Wha-what?”
“If yes, how is that possible? I mean I had some dreams, some…
this is crazy. I just. I feel this is not the first time we meet. My first
life either.”
“Shit. Damn. Way to hit someone upside the head.”
Cage cringed at Mikkal’s tense tone. Stupid, why was he so
stupid? As if the likes of him had a mate? And one as strong and brave
as Mikkal too!
“Hey, hey. Stop that.”
Mikkal’s strong hands stopped his clenched fingers from pulling
again at his hair, a bad habit Cage reverted to when he felt
overwhelmed and reality got to be too much for him to handle. When
he’d been younger, he’d loved to read, but all his books had been
confiscated and lit on fire. He missed reading. It had been his escape
for so long. Odd that he was thinking about it now.
“We’ll get you all the books you want. I have an estate in Italy,
you’ll love it. You were always mentioning the sea there. It also has a
library floor to ceiling full with books.”
“Oh.”
Cage raised his face hesitantly, not daring to hope but still wanting
to confirm that this wasn’t a cruel joke. Mikkal’s expression was
tender and pained at the same time, and Cage wanted to cry again
because it felt like he’d waited all his life for someone to look at him
like that. He even forgot to startle at the brusque touch as Mikkal
framed his face with his palms and slowly caressed his damp cheeks.
“Shit. Sorry.”
“No, I’m sorry. I should have found you sooner. I just…you…I
thought you were dead, Nigal.”
“I think I was. I think I was Nigal. I’m Cage now.”
He tensed, his memories distant and confused. After all, they were
still dreams. He couldn’t deny he felt something toward the other
man, but all was happening too fast. Cage was too damaged to just
jump in and hope for the best.
“Yes, your name is Cage now, before you were—”
“I am Cage. It’s not only a name.”
Mikkal’s face seemed to fall a bit, but then again maybe Cage was
simply expecting that reaction.
“I know that. I. I’m sorry. You’re right. You’ll remember or not. It
doesn’t really matter.”
But it clearly did, and Cage’s chest constricted at the haunted look
in Mikkal’s eyes. It mattered to Mikkal if Cage remembered to be
Nigal, his lost mate. It mattered because Mikkal wanted that guy back
and Cage was not him. He may be a version of that guy, but he wasn’t
Mikkal’s mate in the end. He wasn’t Nigal.
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“Yeah, it doesn’t really matter. We should try getting to your place
and retrieve the stuff you need. The mobile? Whatever that is.”
“Ni-Cage? Everything all right?”
“Do you think that thing is still lurking around there?”
Cage got up and turned around, not wanting Mikkal to read
anything on his face. His mate. Wow, Cage could either cry or laugh
at the moment, it could go either way. His mate that couldn’t even say
his name right.
Mikkal didn’t insist, and Cage was relieved. Yes, it was relief
what he was feeling right now, he tried to convince himself. It was for
the best not to get his hopes up from the start, then he wouldn’t be
hurt later. Well, hurt too badly. Once out of the cemetery, Mikkal took
the lead, and they were soon back in front of his apartment building.
Cage had circled quite a bit when he’d ran carting Mikkal and he still
couldn’t believe he’d managed to do that. Their hunter didn’t seem to
be prowling around, so Mikkal and Cage quickly went up to the
apartment. Mikkal retrieved a sleek black, and weird looking object
from the kitchen floor. Apparently this was a mobile phone, basically
the same as the phones Cage knew about only portable. Mikkal
laughed at him when he said so out loud, and Cage just went ahead to
the bathroom after being shown where. Washing up was kind of an
experience. He recognized the modern shower from some of his
dreams. They didn’t have them in the pack community.
After establishing what red and blue stood for—that was easy
enough, he only had to get scalded once to learn that lesson—Cage
made quick work of it, maybe moaning a bit at the feel of the
wondrous hot water massaging his tense back. He thought he heard a
choked-up groan from outside the door, but he probably imagined it
as Mikkal didn’t call, and he ended up staying under the water until
the temperature started to get lukewarm. Refreshed and feeling like he
was a new man, Cage had yet another shock when he looked at
himself in the mirror.
“Not possible.”
His wound was gone. Now that he was looking for it, Cage’s body
didn’t seem to have a single scratch on him. Not only that, but his old
scars were gone, too. What the hell was happening?
“You done, Cage? We kinda need to get going soon. I got some
food out for you in the kitchen, so you can eat while I grab a shower,
too. This blood is starting to stink on me. Not to mention, itch.”
How come Mikkal hadn’t said anything about his disappearing
wounds? He must have at least noticed that his head cut had vanished.
“Cage? Cage! I’m coming in.”
That startled Cage out of his own head and he dived toward the
towel one second before the door hit the wall.
“Eeep!”
“Sorry, sorry! I thought something happened!”
Cage’s entire body flushed, and Mikkal stood there, his eyes
traveling down along with his blush. He knew that look in a man’s
eyes and his blood ran cold as he realized just how vulnerable he
currently was. Mikkal was stronger, Cage had no chance of escape
with him blocking the door. His breathing got stuck in his chest, and
Cage’s face most likely reflected the panic he felt because the heated
look on Mikkal’s face changed to concern in a flash.
“Hey, hey. Breathe, breathe with me, okay?”
Cage felt hands on his skin, and he recoiled, the memories
assaulting his mind and overcoming his control. All he could feel
were past touches, gritty and hurtful and his skin crawled with it, eyes
unseeing as he raised his hands and started fighting back with
everything he had. He lost himself for a moment or two, lost
everything but the frenzied instinct of survival as he clawed and dug
his teeth into warm skin until he got to blood. To blood…that was not
familiar, not anything he could ever describe, and he froze like that
with his newly raised fangs latched onto skin, unsure what to do and
overwhelmed by what he felt.
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“Hey. Easy. It’s Mikkal. You know? That guy that is randomly
your mate. I could never hurt you. I’m sorry. I overstepped. I didn’t
think that…I’m stupid, that’s what I am. Come on now. Calm. Easy.”
The words continued on repeat until Cage became aware of more
than the cadence and their meaning shone through his panic-filled
brain, the warm, steady arms holding him being the next he felt and
though his first impulse was to tense all over, it somewhat felt too
good to move, and his body was too tired to get into a repeat of his
just finished freak-out.
“Sorry.”
He mumbled more than spoke and frowned in distaste at the ugly
tear in Mikkal’s skin. The guy was quick to hide his forearms and
Cage suspected he’d really done a number on him. The chest he was
resting his head on was sticky in places, too, but he wasn’t thinking
about that. He took a deep breath, inhaling the strong scent of musk,
almost a perfume to his senses and girded himself as he disengaged
his own arms and stepped back.
“Hey. You’re okay.”
“Was that a question or an affirmation?”
“Considering you’ve started to talk back, I’ll let you guess.”
He smirked, and Mikkal smiled back at him, expression tender
and eyes slowly mapping him, making sure he was steady and sure on
his legs as he headed for the door. Cage averted his own eyes at that,
still feeling too raw for more and he slowly reached for the handle,
closing the door on Mikkal’s quickly undressing form. Once the door
was safely closed behind him, he let himself exhale and slump back,
letting out a squawk of surprise as his naked back met the cold wood
of the door. Naked back. He squeezed his eyes shut and resolutely
didn’t look down to check on the status of his forgotten towel as an
amused chortle rang through from the bathroom.
“Bastard. You could have said something!”
“I was enjoying the view!”
Umm. Yeah. Better to get something to eat before he expired of

embarrassment. He realized he was smiling only when he took the
first bite of his sandwich. He decided to forget it, stubbornly avoiding
thinking about the strangeness of his disappearing scars and wounds.
****
Mikkal quickly packed up some clothes and stuffed his essentials

in a scuffed duffel bag that had seen many miles during these last
years. The current apartment had been the place he’d lingered the
most since he’d hit the road and he found himself casting a backward
look as he closed the door behind him. He wouldn’t be back, he knew
it and was surprised to find that he felt a bit nostalgic already. Being
on the run wasn’t fun by any means, but it had also been freeing and
oddly exciting at times. Must be his old age and bitter self talking. His
single suitcase was enough for most of his important stuff and even
left space for more. He’d called John and arranged to leave the
apartment and whatever things got left behind in his care, at least until
they figured out this threat. Curiously enough, John had offered to
store whatever he needed right off the bat before Mikkal had gotten to
the explaining part of the conversation and Mikkal just rolled with it,
recognizing that his human friend was really not-so-human and
frankly, was unsettling at times even for him. They agreed that it was
better to keep away from the apartment for the time being and that
Mikkal would let John know as soon as they were safe.
Ni-Cage was too silent. Mikkal had thought they’d managed to
break the ice after the awkward situation in the bathroom but
apparently not. He wasn’t talking, wasn’t looking at Mikkal unless
necessary and Mikkal didn’t know what was happening. Well, he had
an idea but didn’t know how to fix it or even if he could. If he should.
Cage was not his old flirty and fun-loving mate. He was a caustic
asshole at his best and a blubbering mess at his worst which while not
surprising considering what Mikkal had figured out about his life so
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far, it was still staggeringly different from before. Mikkal wasn’t sure
what he should feel about all the differences. He’d maybe carried with
him an idyllic image of how Nigal had been and would be if still alive
and the reality couldn’t be further from the truth.
What confused Mikkal most was that he didn’t mind it one bit.
He’d always felt that even as mates, he and Nigal wouldn’t have had
an easy mating considering Mikkal was the opposite of careless and
fun loving. He needed someone to remind him to have fun, but even
back then he’d felt at times overwhelmed and awkward when Nigal
went overboard.
Cage though…Cage was more settled. Quieter even and more
down to earth. Mikkal didn’t feel that he had to bring him down from
the clouds every couple of minutes, to focus and take things seriously.
That didn’t mean that he couldn’t still glimpse Nigal’s mischievous
side through Cage’s self-control and wariness. In the end, thinking
about whys and hows and feeling guilty about appreciating some of
the changes in his new mate only gave Mikkal a headache. As to why
he thought of Cage as a new mate? Well, he was, sort of. Cage was
right. He wasn’t Nigal anymore than Mikkal was the same as he’d
been that long, long time ago.
Maybe Mikkal could try and see if they could start fresh. If he
really wanted it. If Cage wanted to. Ugh. Why did it have to be so
complicated?
“We should probably take the bus until we get close to the valley.
Hopefully other people’s smell will hide ours.”
“What if being among humans doesn’t hide us? What if it attacks
us in a crowd?”
Cage looked straight ahead at the street, and Mikkal sighed.
“We’ll rent a car then. Just. Cage, stop for a minute.”
Cage seemed to prefer not to, but after a tense moment he stopped
and turned reluctantly.
“I don’t know what we’re fighting about if we are, but no matter
what Cage, I’m not leaving. We can sort things out and find a middle
ground. Something that works for both of us. I can’t even imagine
how your life has been so far. This life, the previous, all of them. I
know how my life was—empty. I’m sorry for clinging to ashes.
You’re not Nigal. I don’t really know the current you, Cage. But
you’re still my mate. I may still have the same name as then, but I’m
not the same either. We can—”
“Mikkal.”
Mikkal shut his mouth with an audible click. His eyes were dusty,
and he didn’t want to be looking at Cage’s face anymore. The
expression in those jade eyes didn’t promise anything good.
“I don’t know if I can be a mate to someone. I don’t know if I’ll
ever be able to. I’m damaged, Mikkal. Don’t shake your head, I know
what I’m talking about. I may never be whole enough for anybody.
It’s not fair to you, to me. But it is what it is.”
“You need time. You’ll adjust, things will get better—”
“No, Mikkal. I can’t be what you need.”
The gentle tone was Mikkal’s undoing, and a lone tear brushed
against his cheek. He averted his face and stared at the clear blue sky
mocking him with its brightness. So this was it. Nothing was changed.
He was still alone. His mate didn’t even want to try. He wondered if it
was only because of the reasons Cage had mentioned. Perhaps there
was something wrong with Mikkal. He knew he looked brutish and
wasn’t a genius by any stretch. Nigal had often laughed when Mikkal
got maudlin and mentioned his insecurities, but his mate had always
known what to say to make him feel better about himself. Maybe he’d
just been blind with the excitement of finding his mate and everything
would have fallen apart anyway. Mikkal had always felt inadequate as
the mate of gorgeous Nigal, the Feline Original.
“Mikkal. We can—”
“All right then. Car, food, map. Some clothes for you so you don’t
look like you’re playing dress up. My clothes on you are not really
cutting it.”
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He’d been selfish and wanted his mate to smell of him but what
was the point? The sooner he got used to the idea that Cage didn’t
want anything to do with him, the better.
“Mik—”
“There. Take this and order whatever you want. Get plenty enough
for leftovers. Then go next door and buy some snacks. I’ll rent a car
and wait for you in front of the store.”
He basically threw a bunch of cash at Cage and ran in the opposite
direction. Fortunately, he soon stumbled onto the noisy shopping strip
he was looking for and then just got into the first car rental He
browsed their options, not really paying attention but luckily, he
somewhat still ended up getting an SUV spacious enough for a quasi-
comfortable road trip. Mikkal smiled bitterly as he looked through the
windows of the small convenience store at a bewildered Cage
shopping for snacks. He looked like a kid in the candy store, excited
and slightly panicked. Mikkal wanted to go inside, point stuff to try,
laugh with him and for once just enjoy the moment and have fun. He
snorted. First time he’d thought of shopping as possibly a fun activity.
Cage was carrying an overflowing basket, a small smile gracing the
corner of his lips and Mikkal’s heart stuttered in response. Oh, this
was bad. So bad.
He slowly became aware of another thing, too. His senses were
tingling. He was being watched, and it wasn’t Cage. The guy was too
focused on his spoils of war to pay attention to anything else. He
pretended to randomly look around while Cage picked up their food
but couldn’t see anything out of the ordinary. Shit, and he just rented
this car. He needed to switch it the as soon as possible. He could be
just paranoid, but he’d learned long ago to trust his feline part even if
usually they were at odds. His feline part that had been curiously quiet
since Cage entered his life. He got out of the car to help Cage, seeing
as the guy probably bought half the store and all the food on the
diner’s menu. Another look around didn’t show anybody new, and
Mikkal continued to listen absently to Cage’s excited rambling.
“What’s fizzy? I got you a green fizzy drink. They had a lot of
colors, I got a blue one for me.”
“Well, fizzy means it has bubbles. Like the sparkling water. You’ll
regret the blue drink, they put in a lot of chemicals to make those.
And before you ask, chemicals are—”
“Any basic substance that is used in or produced by a reaction
involving changes to atoms or molecules is called a chemical
substance.”
Right. Mikkal’s eyes jumped to Cage’s round ones, and it would
have been difficult to judge which one of them was more surprised.
“So I know that but have no clue about cell phones and what fizzy
means. Great.”
“Cage, it’ll come to you. And if it doesn’t, you’ll just learn it.
Don’t stress out and tell me what else you bought.”
That seemed to do the trick, and Cage’s face lightened with
excitement as he described all the snacks he’d bought for them to try
and Mikkal tried hard to keep the smile on his face after a quick look
in the stuffed bags, and his stomach rebelled at most of what he saw
there. He felt the moment they lost their stalker, and Mikkal’s
shoulders eased a bit as the tension went out of him and he parked in
front of another office to quickly rent another car. They switched their
stuff from one car to the other, the little belongings Mikkal had taken
with him hardly a burden. The same couldn’t be said about all the
snacks Cage had been taken with. Cage was conspicuously quiet, his
eyes attentively following every move Mikkal made and checking
every part of the car. He didn’t touch or ask questions, but Mikkal
could see he was dying to and his heart broke a little bit more. He had
the impression that even if he encouraged Cage to ask, explore, he
wouldn’t be believed. Maybe with time. They both needed time to get
used to their new circumstances.
They wasted more time stopping at another store, Mikkal broke
down and made the stop after seeing Cage’s disgusted expression
when he tried some of the flavored chips, not that the guy said
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anything. No, he just slowly and methodically ate them all until
Mikkal felt queasy just looking at him. He muttered an excuse that he
needed some stuff and quickly loaded up with stuff he preferred,
casually throwing the bags toward Cage. The guy made it five
minutes before he dug in, opening various bags and trying the snacks
as quietly as possible, as many as possible. Mikkal smiled
approvingly at him when he caught his guilty expression.
They were out of the city area by nightfall, but Mikkal didn’t want
to stop just yet, not before he put as much distance as he could
between them and that thing that had attacked them. He could go until
morning. By then they’d be farther away, and besides, maybe it was
safer to stop and sleep during the day and keep on moving during the
night. He had no idea how they were being tracked, but he was sure
they were, not that he felt anything close stalking them but still. He
wouldn't feel safe until they reached Chardonnay Valley and they
were under the protection of the domin and the wards set around the
place. He’d not been there since Kale’s and Dale’s parents were killed
in that fire, but he’d heard stories about the extensions and rebuild
done to the place, not to mention the strict security measures they had,
both human, mundane, and paranormal. Anybody with bad intentions
searching to breach the place was in a world of trouble. If they even
got close enough to it.
Until then he didn’t have anything else to do but watch his
driving, enjoy the awkward silence, and pray that his mate wouldn’t
jump out of the car with how tense he was. He should open the box of
chocolates and distract him. Or maybe he should man up and try to
get to know his mate again. They could be friends if nothing else.
Well. It was shaping up to be a long, long drive, that’s for sure.
****
After the third stop and second motel, the novelty of being in a car
and free to go wherever he wanted, do what he pleased, wore off- a
lot. Cage was tired, his back had taken the shape of the uncomfortable
car seat, and his neck would surely break if he tried to turn it in any
direction. Sleeping in a moving car was not conducive to anybody’s
well-being or general good mood. Waiting for the other shoe to drop
and Mikkal to start exhibiting some of the behavior he’d been
subjected to all his life made everything ten times worse, and Cage
was in a foul mood by the morning of the third day. Mikkal had tried
to make some small talk now and then before he’d given up and
turned up the radio. It had kept Cage entertained, the music and news
so foreign to him that he’d had no choice but to get out of his head
and enjoy it.
But it was morning now, the sky slowly brightening as Mikkal
slowed down and started browsing for a place to stop for a while and
Cage wanted to run and jump and just do something before he
scratched his eyes out of boredom. He wasn’t doing so well when he
didn’t have anything to keep him busy or worry about. He could
worry about the unmentioned mating connection with Mikkal, but that
was too spiky a matter to poke at it carelessly. Yeah, or he could just
go ahead and ask about it, making Mikkal swerve so abruptly Cage
thought they’d switched from asphalt to traveling on the side field.
“How is it that I’m still well, alive when you say I’m your dead
mate? I didn’t know reincarnation is a thing now.”
“Shit! Warn a guy, will you? I don’t think this is a conversation
for five a.m. while driving. We’re trying to stay alive here.”
“Fine.”
Cage didn’t pout. He also didn’t slam the car’s door when they
finally stopped an hour or so later. A small part of him cringed at his
behavior and the same scared part, warned him that Mikkal could
very easily get fed up with him and then what? Most of Cage though
was somehow sure that he was safe, and he could act up all he
wanted, Mikkal would not let anybody hurt him. It was surprising,
this certainty, when he barely knew the guy, mate or no mate. It was
probably because of that elusive mate bond, and Cage was not ready
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to question it now. He was tired and grouchy, yes, but he also needed
to feel safe for a bit longer.
They checked in, another dingy motel on the side of the road,
backing into the green forest that had started up as soon as the road
went a bit uphill. It was gorgeous, quiet, and he wished they could
stay longer and enjoy the beautiful area. Cage felt the tension as soon
as he got out of the car and knew it was pack territory. Mikkal seemed
oblivious somehow or just didn’t care and he let it be for once. They
were only staying for a couple of hours anyway, not long enough for
anybody to notice them.
Unless the clerk was a wolf. As it was. Cage skulked back, hoping
he hadn’t stumbled upon any pack allied to his family. Mikkal finally
got a clue and after a few tense minutes, got the check-in finalized
with a wad of cash practically thrown at the too-curious blonde
woman, effectively stopping all friendly overtures from the she-wolf.
“We’ll be out of your territory by sundown.”
She nodded, finally silent and having acknowledged that she
wouldn’t get any more than that. Seemed enough and Cage guessed
they weren’t the first supernaturals passing by that she’d encountered
working there.
They each took a shower, and Mikkal made a quick food run.
Apparently, they were just outside a quaint little town and any food
they wanted they needed to buy from there. They ate in silence, they
got ready for bed in silence, and then the things got a lot more
awkward. Because…one bed. And how come Cage hadn’t done the
math as soon as he entered the room and saw their accommodations?
“Shit. I’ll go ask for a switch.”
“N-no.”
“Yeah, that was really convincing.”
Cage shrank back a bit as Mikkal passed by him to reach the door.
He cursed himself a moment later when he saw the bleak look the
other man threw his way. It was so easy to fall back on instinctive
reactions, and Cage hated that. He hated the shivering mass of nerves
weighing him down.
“No. We’ll only attract more attention to ourselves. I can sleep on
the floor.”
“Hell, no. I can sleep on the floor.”
Mikkal’s mulish expression almost made Cage laugh, and the
tension left him just like that. He was being silly about this, he knew
it. Time to man up and stop letting himself be so easily overwhelmed
by the past.
“How about we share?”
Yeah, that trembling, hesitant tone sure showed Mikkal how brave
Cage was trying to be. Not. Only Mikkal seemed to get it, his face
slowly lightening up with a proud smile as he closed the door and
slowly approached Cage. They stood like that, staring at each other,
like two morons, for a couple of minutes until Cage couldn’t help
himself anymore and shyly smiled back at the other man. Yes, Cage
could be proud of this, even if it didn’t seem like such a big thing, it
totally was. Cage could let himself trust this man and believe that his
instincts were correct and he wouldn’t end up hurt again. Because in
the end, it had never been Cage’s fault that his parents hadn’t loved
him and protected him as they should. Cage was not a victim, he was
a survivor.
“Okay, kitten. Okay. Then there’s only one more thing to clear
up.”
Huh? A shiver of apprehension made Cage wary, and his eyes
instinctively ran to the closest exit. “Umm. Yes?”
“Which side you prefer? Towards the window or the door?” The
mischievous glint in Mikkal’s smiling eyes told Cage all he needed to
know, and he grabbed the closest pillow and slammed it into the guy’s
head.
“Just for that, you can take the floor.”
“Oh, come on!”
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The laughter was impossible to subdue this time, and Mikkal
huffed a snort before he jumped right in the middle of the bed, hair
sticking all over the place, a lazy grin adorning his smug face as
Cage’s amusement rolled around the room. And that was that. They
settled in quickly and Cage could see that Mikkal was fighting a
losing battle to keep his eyes open. He loathed to ruin the easy
atmosphere between them, but he needed to know. He wanted to
know more about how it had been to have this man beside him, to be
whole and happy.
“Tell me what happened. With me. With your mate? I. I think I
need to know.”
“Hey. Hey, look at me, Cage.”
He didn’t want to. Maybe he needed to know this, but something
told him that recounting it would hurt both of them. Mikkal’s voice
was still gentle, but he could feel the sudden tension in the body next
to him.
“Cage. You are right to ask. There are things that you need to
know. I’m not mad.”
“I know you’re not.” The “moron” label could be clearly heard,
but Cage was past being afraid of Mikkal. He won’t allow himself to
be anymore.
“I just don’t want to hurt you, talking about it.”
“It used to. Then after a while, I think I just got numb and kept
expecting it to hurt when it didn’t anymore,” Mikkal said
contemplatively.
“Moot point anyway. In a way, it’s like it happened in another
life.”
“Funny,” Cage huffed, and Mikkal inched a bit closer. He didn’t
mind, Cage thought they both needed the closeness, the awareness
that they were both there, alive. Strange, as Cage didn’t remember this
man except from some hazy dreams and the insistent tugging in his
soul that urged him to get closer, to trust him.
“I was a savage. I was living in South America, deep in the jungle

—what?”
Cage swallowed another giggle, his face red with the effort.
“Savage! And surely, you stopped being that. I mean it’s not like you
go around eviscerating people anymore.” Mikkal’s stunned face was
truly hilarious.
“You minx. And here I was, believing that you’re a shy, timid
person.”
“It’s like you don’t know me, man.”
That put a lid on any amusement left. Because at the end of the
day, Mikkal didn’t know him, and they were both aware of that. Cage
wondered if he resembled his past self or not. He wished. He didn’t
know what he wished for, but he thought that maybe it would be
better for everyone if he didn’t, if there was no confusion that he was
a completely different person. If Mikkal got to care about Cage as he
was not because of some resemblance to his long-dead mate. Ughh,
this was all so confusing!
“We’ll get there.”
Cage shivered at the promise, and Mikkal inched closer still. “So,
I was living in the jungle when one day I realized I was stalked by this
gorgeous, black panther. Deadly gorgeous black panther that jumped
me after a long, merry chase. I thought for sure I was a goner only the
panther turned in a man.”
Mikkal’s face glowed with a soft smile, but Cage was too stunned
to appreciate it. Panther. He wondered if his half shift was not toward
a wolf shape, but panther. Maybe that would explain why his adoptive
parents turned against him after his first shift. There were no records
of black panthers. Cage must have seemed like an abomination in the
narrow eyes of his purist wolf parents.
“Hey, you’re all right? Are you sure you want to hear this?”
“Do you think I may be a panther? Like in this life, now?” Mikkal’s
hand flinched in an abortive move to reach him and then he ducked
his face and sighed.
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“You were always a panther. The Panther. You probably just didn’t
reach physical maturity. Otherwise, I’d have found you long ago, and
you would know who and what you are already. I think, I’m guessing
here, but I think someone had you killed in your past lives before you
got to maturity and learned to control your shift.”
“I shifted once. I-I think I was defective.”
“Who told you that? Felines change only partially change once
they reach puberty, and they fully shift, only after their twenty-first
birthday when they also learn to control their skills.”
“Oh.”
Cage wasn’t defective. He was a panther. He was as he should be?
“But. But—black panther shifters don’t exist?”
Mikkal’s face did a weird grimace thing, and he sighed again
before finally reaching out and taking one of Cage’s hands to hold in
his own. He seemed serious and apprehensive and Cage’s stomach
somersaulted with dread.
“Okay. Here it is. You have the right to know and the sooner, the
better. I—”
He stomped again, took a deep breath and tried talking again, but
no sound wanted to come out. Cage was getting jittery just seeing
how apprehensive Mikkal was, the sense of foreboding making him
break out in a cold sweat. He was starting to think that he was better
off not knowing.
“You are the only black panther shifter in existence. You can be
other felines, too, shift in any feline form you want, some of them
extinct already. You…you are The Feline O—”
“No. NO, no, no. Not possible. I’m just a weakling, I’m just…me.
I’m not. I am. Original? Really? You. Are you. Mikkal.”
“Shhh. I’m here, it’s all right. I’m sure you are. Cage, you always
were. I’m guessing that’s why we’re hunted, that’s why you never
matured in your previous lives. Someone is keen on keeping you
dead. Good thing cats have nine lives, eh. Come on, come here.”
Cage trembled on the edge of the bed, his instinct to flee ruling
him. It was too much, and it almost felt like a slap in the face after all
his life being powerless to find out now that he was. He was. Gods! It
was true. He knew it. It was there in Mikkal’s clear, calm expression,
in how something deep inside Cage seemed to raise its head and pay
attention now that it was acknowledged. He’d always felt incomplete
somehow, defective. Not anymore.
“It’s because of whom you are that we’re both alive today. We
were attacked one day, suddenly. Surrounded. I don’t know if you’re
aware…just, Cage, please. Come here.”
Mikkal didn’t do more than open his arms invitingly and Cage
slowly climbed back in the bed, inching closer until he could feel the
heat radiating from Mikkal and he haltingly stretched next to his
mate. Former mate? Was there such a thing? He flinched a bit when
strong arms enveloped him, the strength in them calming and
reassuring and Cage melted closer after a second of adapting to the
novelty of being held like this.
“Better. Do you want to hear the rest or?”
“I. I think if I don’t hear it now, I’ll avoid talking about it. And
think constantly about it.”
Mikkal snorted and gently rubbed at Cage’s small back. The man
had hands of gold. Cage could’ve purred. Umm. He kind of was?
“Sounds familiar. All right. So an Original can be killed only if
he’s with his mate and they’re mortally injured at the same time. We
were attacked. They were too many, and you knew we were fighting a
losing battle. You—you bit me. I realized after that you didn’t
necessarily do it to change me to a shifter, you did it to transfer some
of your energy into me. You stayed behind and told me to run, that
you would be right after me. You weren’t. I was mortally injured. I
should have died when you died. Instead, I shifted for the first time.”
It sounded clinical and detached when Mikkal just stated the cold
facts like that. Cage wanted to feel something, to be horrified, to
remember and suddenly make everything better. But the truth was that
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even if he somehow regained all his past lives’ memories, he’d never
be the same and this was all a bedtime story that happened to another
person. A horrifying bedtime story.
“I’m sorry. I don’t remember.”
“I see I’ll have to repeat this every day. You have nothing to be
sorry about. It’s a miracle that we’re alive as it is, what more could I
want?”
Mikkal wanted to say something more, he could tell. Cage raised
his hand and hesitantly placed it on Mikkal’s waist, an apology and
something he’d wanted to do since he’d lain down next to him in bed.
Mikkal practically melted under his touch and Cage got brave,
slowly nestling to his warm chest, next to where he could hear
Mikkal’s fluttering heartbeat. They stayed like that for a second or an
hour, Cage didn’t know, he just knew neither of them was sleeping,
they were too busy soaking up the closeness, the rightness of it all. He
was scared this was too easy, too good to be true, too sudden. He
wasn’t ready, but did he have any choice? A mate was sacred, it was
your other half, more so for an Original. And wasn’t that mind-
blowing? He, poor weakling, an Original just starting to awaken. He
could feel it, something different in his soul, in his limbs, in his brain.
A part of him that had always been there but deadly silent and was
now stretching, testing. Breaking free of its cage. He snorted at that.
How appropriate considering his own name.
The first touch was barely there, a fluttering of lips on his neck,
tasting his pulse. Cage thought he was imagining it. It felt nice. He
relaxed, feeling languid, close to sleep but somehow painfully awake.
Mikkal moved gently, raised Cage’s chin before stopping, breathing
deeply. Cage’s breath hitched, and he stubbornly kept his eyes shut,
not wanting to break the spell he was under. It felt nice, it felt good,
and he wanted more before he could remember all the reasons he
shouldn’t.
When Mikkal leaned and finally kissed him, Cage was drumming
with anticipation, and he could taste the smile on Mikkal’s firm lips
touching his in a gentle caress, not doing anything more. Hands didn’t
grope, fingers didn’t pinch at his skin, nobody was holding him
captive. The opposite, Cage realized, astonished. He was the one
almost on top on Mikkal as he’d leaned into the kiss, pressing closer
for more, following the chaste meeting of skin. His half-nervous, half
something he couldn’t yet define, giggle startled them both and Cage
dropped back on his side, almost glued to Mikkal’s sheltering body,
face to face with the prospect of maybe being happy. His eyes were
still closed, but he could feel that both he and Mikkal were smiling,
contentment flowing between them as if words were being exchanged
though this connection was somewhat even better. He felt not safe—
well, that too—no, Cage felt good in his skin and almost as if he and
Mikkal had been sharing a thought, a body for that one second.
“Huh.”
It was terrifying.
Cage absolutely loved it. He fell asleep with his lips still tingling.
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Chapter Five
They got to the border of the domin’s territory around sunrise,

making good time in their last two days. The trip went faster and
much more enjoyable after their talk, and Cage didn’t want it to end.
It felt like he was on borrowed time as it was, that the good days were
only going to last so long before decisions needed to be made and the
future knocked them off their feet. Living in the moment had never
been something that came easily for Cage, so the time on the road
with Mikkal had felt almost like a respite from the world, from
himself and his cursed analytical mind.
They’d made stops for eating, stretching their legs or just quietly
talking while they soaked in some of the prettiest views Cage had
ever seen. The world was big and marvelous and continued to surprise
and amaze Cage. He hardly slept anymore, preferring to nestle next to
Mikkal during the days and absorb everything there was to see on TV.
He wanted to keep on going until he knew everything there was to
know, but he also knew his own mind enough to realize that he was
just hiding. Hiding from his problems by wanting to run and never
stop, by fixating on something else. He knew that Mikkal would come
running with him in a heartbeat and that just wasn’t fair. He owed it to
Mikkal to try and do this properly, be something good for him. Cage
often wondered if the guy wouldn’t have been much happier if he’d
never found his mate, especially when, in the end, instead of his
Original mate, he’d ended up stuck with Cage.
Cage hated the thought of forcing anybody do anything. He hated
the thought of being forced and not for the first time he enviously
thought of humans and their simpler ways. They didn’t have destined
mates, they had choices, potential partners, their entire lives were a
fast-speed adventure. But then again, he wasn’t being fair. Knowing

your mate was always a gift and a privilege. Mating wasn’t a forced
bond between the two mates, not really, it just happened as a
consequence of the rightness of those two—or more—people
together. He didn’t feel forced to be with Mikkal. Drawn, yes, but
more because of how compelling and simply perfect Mikkal was with
every small gesture he did, not because fate dictated it. So then if
Cage felt like that, why was he questioning what Mikkal felt?
Maybe because it was hard to comprehend somebody wanting him
as he was when even Cage had no idea who he really was. It was all
too sudden, and the end of their journey brought to the fore all his
doubts and confusion.
He loved their kisses, gentle and searching, deep and knowing. He
loved just being next to Mikkal, arms around each other, enjoying the
closeness and not really needing words because they just knew what
the other felt. Cage got more relaxed in his skin, and his body felt
somewhat cleansed with every careful touch he initiated or received.
It was…cathartic.
Knowing that Mikkal would never let anything happen to him
made it easy for Cage to fall for the other man, a feeling that slowly
but steadily blossomed every time he looked at the other man.
Nothing really made sense, it was completely illogical, and Cage
knew better than to doubt it.
No, his problem wasn’t with how fast everything was happening.
It seemed that even physical intimacy wasn’t a problem for Cage
when the one he was sharing himself with was his mate and hadn’t
that been a surprise? Not that they’d done much beyond kissing and
some slow grinding while their arms clutched at each other. Cage’s
problem wasn’t with Mikkal or with them together, it was with
himself. He felt that as he was, he wasn’t enough. He needed to be
better, to be completely there and focused on his mate, not filled with
doubts, confusion, and anxiety at the oddest moments. He needed
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time to adjust to his new reality before he could wholeheartedly dive
into his future.
Now how to go about that and how to fix his broken mind, Cage
didn’t know and wouldn’t ask Mikkal. The guy had suffered enough,
alone for all this time just to be given a second chance and he
probably had his own problems to figure out. Cage did notice that
Mikkal was at times maybe too solicitous, almost scared in his
willingness to please him. If they continued like this, Cage feared that
they would ruin their mating before it even began.
Cage felt the moment they reached the actual border as if he got
zapped by an invisible wall, his entire body an extended sting zone.
Mikkal seemed to fare it better, but then again Mikkal kept on going
the opposite way they needed to go. “Mikkal? What are you doing?”
The guy’s eyes were a bit unfocused, but he snapped out of it
quickly at Cage’s voice, focusing with a shiver-inducing intensity. He
wasn’t ashamed to admit that when Mikkal got all sharp-eyed and
fierce looking Cage could practically feel his legs like overcooked
noodles. He may not be ready to do anything about the throbbing
arousal coursing through his body, but that didn’t mean Cage couldn’t
see his mate was one sexy motherfucker.
“They must have an avoidance spell on it. It drives everybody
away from the barrier. Curious, you don’t seem affected by it.”
“Well, my body is still feeling the aftershocks from the zap it gave
me, so that’s a bit hard to ignore.”
Mikkal prodded at the empty space Cage was glaring at, feeling a
glass-like surface stretching under his palm. He could feel the
resistance but still didn’t see anything.
“Curious. Can you see anything?”
“You mean you can’t?”
He shouldn’t be so delighted by that, but Cage still found hard to
believe that he was an Original. Accomplishing something his
seemingly all-powerful mate wasn’t able to, was a great boost to his
ego and self-confidence.
“Stop smirking at yourself. Yeah, you’re the shit.”

Mikkal’s indulging expression begged to be kissed of those lips
and Cage leaned closer to do just that, grinning at his dazed mate. His
mate was deliciously enticing when he flushed like that.
“It’s like a net, only it fizzles with electricity at the knots, the
spaces gleam as if made of crystal. Quite pretty but really painful
when touched.”
“Huh. Nice one. Good news, with security like this we should be
safe inside. Bad news, we can’t get inside on our own. Somebody
needs to come fetch us. Considering it zapped you, their proximity
alarm was most likely triggered by your energy. They seem to have
some built-in mechanism for recognizing higher power beings.”
That was him, Cage the Higher Power Being. He snorted and
waved Mikkal away when his mate sardonically raised an eyebrow.
“Right. Your face looks slightly unhinged right now. Should I
worry?”
He frowned at Mikkal’s amused smirk and maybe pouted a bit.
“Your face is totally unhinged at all times.”
Their standoff broke when they couldn’t contain their laughter
anymore, and Cage inched closer, leaning into Mikkal’s snug
embrace. They should have probably been paying more attention to
their surroundings, considering they were off the track in the middle
of a forest with no weapons or means of quick departure. Mikkal had
returned the car as soon as they’d reached the nearest town and from
then on, they had continued on foot. In the dark. Joy. Cage was still
waiting for the see-in-the-dark part of his supposedly feline traits to
kick in. Any minute now would be great, the forest was still
forebodingly dark even as the sun was steadily climbing up.
“Mmm. ’Scuse me folks, but did you have any business here or?
I’m sorry to interrupt your eye staring contest, it looks quite
entertaining. Really. Don’t mind me. Carry on. I’ll just wait here, fully
armed and trigger-happy until you guys decide to notice me and give
me a reason to leave you still standing. And alive. Name’s Aeri, nice
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to meet you. Wanna say hello to my darling knives, too? They get
cranky when people don’t pay attention to them, you know. They’re
such brats but what can you do, you know?”
Mikkal stared wide-eyed at the lunatic and Cage had to stifle a
giggle that would probably not be appreciated by any of the men.
“Greetings. My name is Mikkal Daggart and I—”
“I swear if you say you come in peace, I’ll stab you just out of
spite. Nobody that says that really means it. Haven’t you learnt
anything from those old sci-fi’s?”
Cage tensed, and his body got ready to jump and take the wiry
guy down if he only sketched a move toward Mikkal. His talk was
funny, but the idea had been clear enough. They were not welcome.
“Oh come on, kitty. No need for that, I was just having fun. Your
buddy here has a lifetime pass, my mate said to bring him straight in
for a good tongue lashing. Dude, I wouldn’t want to be you, you
know? Pregnancy hormones can be deadly.”
Cage gave up trying to understand this conversation, and if he was
to judge by Mikkal’s baffled look, he wasn’t the only one having
trouble understanding it. The guy, Aeri, sighed as if he was wronged
by their lack of reaction and waved his hands in their direction,
making the knives glint in his hands. He seemed to realize that he was
still holding them only when Mikkal snarled in his direction as he
pulled Cage closer and behind his own body. Cage and Aeri both
rolled their eyes at the big lug and just like that the tension was
broken.
“I’m starting to believe that the taller they get, the more
testosterone-addled they are. Dude, I’m pretty sure that the little guy
you’re protecting now is much more capable than you if it comes to a
fight. I would love to test that theory though, mister?”
“Cage. Just…Cage.”
He’d not realized that he’d decided to forgo his adoptive family
name until right that moment but answering with just his given name
felt right and something settled inside him. He’d never belonged with
them. It was freeing to finally acknowledge it in front of someone

else.
“Huh. Peculiar name. Kinda like ‘Keen’ peculiar.”
“Oh really, Aeri? Wait, what?”
Cage forgot about being irritated and slightly still buzzing from
running into the barrier as he lunged across to do what, he didn’t
know. Shake answers out of this annoying flame-haired asshole?
“Whoa, whoa, no touching the merchandise, jeez! Yes, your
brother is here and probably bouncing off the walls. His mate
probably had to tie him, so he doesn’t rush here ahead, before we
knew for sure it’s you guys. We were waiting for you. Kanael said
you’d be coming. Now, come on. Enough dillydallying. Chop, chop!”
Aeri flounced back in the greenery and Mikkal was suddenly
there, holding him upright. They heard a pop behind them, and Cage
watched absently as the barrier knit itself back together.
“Hey, we can just turn around if—”
“My brother. He’s waiting for me. He wants to see me.”
“Um. Why wouldn’t he? You’re pretty amazing, you know.
Anyone would be excited to have you in their lives.”
Cage made a face at the exaggerated sappy expression on
Mikkal’s face, and they both laughed like two maniacs, the tension
and tiredness catching up on them.
“Come on before the twirling knife loco returns for us. I don’t
think he’s the patient type.”
“I totally am! I’ve been sitting here quietly while you mooned at
each other, haven’t I?”
“Weirdo,” Mikkal mumbled in response but let go of Cage’s arms
to follow, right hand wrapping instead around his mate’s waist. He felt
their bodies lean closer as they started tramping awkwardly through
the tangled vegetation. It was slow going, and Cage was certain they
walked in circles for a while before breaking through and stumbling
into a clearing that just jumped at them out of nowhere. Cage felt his
breath hitch, and Mikkal’s arm tightened around him.
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The view was not breathtaking, but it was awe-inspiring. They
were on top of a hill, looking down on the busy valley. They could see
most of it, stretching for miles, patches of gardens and trees laced
around conglomerations of structures. Notable were three bigger
settlements formed of houses in different sizes, a graveyard, and a
big-ass manor that resembled more a chateau than a residence. The
domin’s home. Or fortress as it was, surrounded by what looked to be
military compounds. Cage felt like he was entering the lion den and
for a moment wondered if he’d not exchanged one prison for another.
He had no doubts that getting out without permission would prove
impossible. Mikkal pulled him closer, probably reading the
apprehension on his face.
“It’s fine. I know them. And your brother is there, too. Don’t
worry, worst-case scenario, I still have some tricks in my bag and I’ll
get us out in an instant. Trust me, okay?”
He searched Mikkal’s earnest face, looking for any doubts or
duplicity. He wanted to trust him. Hell, who was he kidding? He did.
“I do.”
The guy seemed to melt at his sure proclamation, and before Cage
knew it, he was swept up in those safe arms again, lips buzzing with
pleasure as his mate bit them sharply between teasing him with slow
licks and mind-numbing caresses. He sighed and collapsed on
Mikkal’s chest, the ice around his heart thawing with every second
Mikkal infused fire in his veins. He felt dizzy as if the pieces that
made Cage who he was had shifted and reshaped his very soul. He
pushed himself out of his mate’s protective embrace before he forgot
completely where they were. He was Cage. He was ready to face
whatever waited for him. Cage was not a coward, and it was time he
proved what he was made off. He was not broken, his damaged parts
were slowly mending. Having Mikkal at his back made all the
difference, it gave him the confidence to stand straighter and
assertively lead the way. He was becoming what he was supposed to
be all this time, and he finally found that he felt good in his skin.
“Right. Let’s do this.”
****
“I have both your rooms ready, they’re next to each other on the
south wing, third floor. You’re in the family quarters, of course.
Though I feel like I should dump you in a cell just for the stress and
anxiety we’ve been under while trying to find your ghostly-like ass.
Where the hell did you hide, on Mars? Asshole-ish asshole that is an
asshole. I’m a fragile pregnant flower, I don’t need this crap. Should
you even think about setting foot outside this valley without letting us
know, I’m prepared to get out the shackles. Asshole.”
“So…you’ve said. Umm, Kale? Are you…okay?”
Mikkal’s mind was spinning, and he’d probably had one too many
hits to the head in his lifetime because his eyes were surely betraying
him. Ears, too, as he thought he’d heard his almost taller than him
protégé call himself a “fragile pregnant flower.”
“You’ve…gained some weight?”
“Ughhhh! Aeri, where are you? Come here so I can kill you
easier!”
“Sweetums, you’re not supposed to get annoyed, it’s not good for
you in your condition.”
The loony redhead stepped aside quickly as Kale lunged toward
him, hands outstretched to the smaller man’s slender neck.
“My condition is not good for my condition! I’m faaat! Big as a
whale and clumsy like a…like a…ME!”
“Um.”
Mikkal opened his mouth to comment on how nothing made sense
out of all that but shut it quickly back as all three occupants of the
room quickly shook their heads. Cage had stepped back and was
cowardly peeking around Mikkal’s body at the half-crying, half-still-
trying to kill his mate, mammoth pregnant man. “I’m sorry?”
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Kale stopped as suddenly as he started, melting into his mate’s
body, the smaller redhead surprisingly handling the extra weight as if
he lovingly welcomed it and was made for it.
“Nah, hormones are a bitch. Your face right now, Mikkal! That
more than makes it up for all the frustrating searches. Yes, yes I’m
fucking pregnant. With elephants by the size and length of this
pregnancy. I’m almost fifteen months now, can you imagine it? This
moron here is my mate and the one at fault. Aeri, make nice and stop
glaring at the baffled man. Mikkal and Kanael are practically mine
and Dale’s parents, they cared for us all our lives.”
“The baffled man looks odd. As if he’s fractured. It’s most
puzzling.” Kale sighed, and face-palmed.
“Good one, Aeri. You have a natural talent at putting your foot in
it. Maybe it’s because his mate is dead, remember we talked about
this?”
“Wait, what? You are a man, right? Pregnant.”
Cage’s high voice more than portrayed both their shock
interrupting the unsettling conversation between the couple and
Mikkal waited for an explanation for this irrational reality he’d
stumbled upon. Maybe he was hallucinating. He’d been wondering
that since he’d encountered his dead mate in that sleazy alley.
“Yeah, about that. Apparently, it has something to do with having
Original blood. Kanael said that all Originals can bear life but only a
few select bloodlines originating from them kept that gift down the
line and it’s only possible with their mates anyway. Surprise, I’m one
of those lucky ones. Next time, you’re the one that gets to be
pregnant, Aeri. I promise you this.”
“Yes, dear.”
Uh. Oh. Mikkal retreated a couple of steps, warily waiting for
Cage to blow up.
“But I’m an Original! Mikkal…”
Mikkal retreated two more steps when Cage’s pissed-off tone got
an extra rumble in and his claws slowly elongated.
“Um. In my defense, we had other things to worry about? And it’s

not as if anything happened—”
“Mikka, what’s he talking about?”
Dale was snickering in a corner, Caden looked faintly amused but
mostly confused. Next to the window, a huge guy with a brutish
appearance, introduced as Killa, kept on glancing from his mobile to
the window. Kale’s question just made Mikkal grimace as he tried to
figure out how to explain everything. “Yes, Mikka. What am I talking
about?” Shit.
“Um. Kale, Dale, meet Cage, Keen’s brother. And my mate.
Known formerly as Nigal, the Feline Original. Died, reincarnated
several times until we met again a couple of days ago. We’ve most
likely been followed here by his past-life killer, sorry about that. Now
somebody, please hide me. I think he’s gonna kill me.”
****
Cage almost shifted, something under his skin itching to be

released. It felt good, he felt powerful and whole, and he could smell
his mate’s apprehension from across the room. He was out of control
but still perfectly contained, his threats just for show and because it
felt right to stretch his body, make a show of power in this room that
practically reeked of others, their energy pressing on him from all
sides. He didn’t feel in danger per se, but even without knowing who
all these guys were, Cage could sense the power they held. His
unwise show-off—he’d maybe forgotten there were pregnant people
around for a moment, what with his mind being blown that he could
get pregnant too—was interrupted by the back kitchen door being
brusquely thrown open and crashing in the wall. An out of breath, red-
faced man rushed in, heading straight for the Killa guy, limbs waving
agitatedly as he unsuccessfully tried to right his rumpled clothes.
Cage didn’t recognize him right away.
“You-you-you’re sleeping on the couch! Permanently!”
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“You’ll miss my dick.”
“I can access your dick even when you’re sleeping on the couch.
Don’t test me, Killa. You left me naked and tied up. In the dungeon!
It’s bloody cold down there! There are spiders this big! Now, where is
he?”
Naked. Tied up. His brother. Dicks, so many dicks. Cage’s head
ached with the image, and he snorted before he knew it. It was so his
brother.
“I see you’re still trouble. Heya.”
Cage waved like a moron, unsure of his welcoming even in the
face of his brother’s agitated excitement. A second later, he collapsed
to the floor under an armful of exuberant, frenzied wolf trying to
squeeze the life out of him.
“Cage! Cageeee! Caaaage! Finally!”
“Oh my god, my ears are bleeding. Yes, yes. Now calm down, the
dick guy is trying to kill me with his eyes.”
“Your own dick guy is doing the same.”
“Ugh, never say that again. Bleach, so much bleach.”
They smiled at each other, delighted to be together again. Cage’s
thoughts turned wistfully toward their childhood and all the trouble
they’d gotten into together. Before. He smiled wider, feeling the last
piece of his shattered soul mending as he reclaimed that part of his
life he’d mourned continuously. His brother was here, his brother had
looked for him and was happy to see him.
“Keen. It’s so good to see you.”
“As I you, brother. We have so much to catch up! I’ll need to
show you the place and tell you all about—I’m mated to an Original!
Motherfucker, Kanael said that you’re an Original! What is my life?
You need to show me everything! All the cool tricks and powers and—”
“Keen. Breathe. And maybe let me breathe, too?”
They got up, arms still interlaced. Killa hovered close by, and
behind him, Cage could feel Mikkal doing the same. He ignored his
mate, not willing to let him off the hook so easily.
“Why don’t you show me where I’m to sleep? I need a shower

before I tackle all that list of show and tell.”
“Sorry. It’s just…I worried. And searched. You weren’t anywhere.
Caden send practically an army to check the pack lands and—”
“They moved me. Right after you mated, I think. And. Yeah. It
wasn’t nice. They weren’t nice. I. Later, Keen, all right?”
His brother seemed to understand, and he slowly nodded his
acquiescence. Cage grabbed blindly behind him, catching Mikkal’s
hand and giving it a reassuring squeeze. He wasn’t forgetting they had
stuff to discuss, things to settle. Cage was just done running. He
followed his brother’s happy chatter and thought to himself, finally, I
can breathe.
****
Breakfast went in a daze, both of them tired and overwhelmed by

the food and mostly by the people welcoming them. They retired fast
and dropped beside each other in Cage’s room before they
consciously thought about it or made a decision about sleeping
together now that they were safe. They were already used to each
other’s proximity, to sleep in separate rooms didn’t even cross their
exhausted minds. They fell asleep cuddled into each other, nuzzling in
their sleep, the closeness easing their tension more than the no-fuss
welcome and the sudden fall into the open arms of old or newfound
friends and family.
Maybe they should have thought about it more. Sometime during
the night, just as natural as breathing, they opened their eyes to find
themselves looking at each other, and their lips met in a gentle caress,
hands burrowed under clothes, divesting each other of the loaned
garments until they could finally plaster themselves closer, melt
deeper into each other, go under the other’s skin.
It was a moment out of time, inhibitions and worries didn’t exist
and Cage could just feel and not think about anything or anyone else.
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It was almost like an out-of-body experience except everything felt
more real, sensitive and tangible, every touch meaningful and
cleansing until Cage felt tears run down his cheeks and he could
hardly breathe. He liked that Mikkal seemed to understand and didn’t
stop his gentle mapping of his body, he just leaned and kissed the
drops off Cage’s sensitized skin. He felt exposed as Mikkal slowly
looked up and down his uncovered body, vulnerable but strong when
faced with the raw need his mate didn’t try to hide. Mikkal’s bronze
body was flushed and slightly damp from sweating, he was breathing
harshly as if he’d just ran a mile or ten and Cage couldn’t help but
feel proud, empowered by seeing how he affected his mate.
“You need to…is this okay? Stop me if you get uncomfortable.”
Mikkal’s earnest face was not what Cage wanted now. He didn’t
answer, just nodded mutely, not wanting to stop and think or let this
moment go without grasping it and making the most of it. He felt
truly free and himself, words would just make it complicated and
almost too real. A kiss was all that was needed to get Mikkal to
understand what he wanted right then, and Cage wondered again if
there was some truth to the myth of telepathic links between mates
even if they had not exchanged proper mating bites yet.
He followed up the first almost timid kiss on the corner of
Mikkal’s lips with a kitty lick, a taste of sweet lips that gasped his
name and suddenly Cage knew exactly how and what he wanted. He
wanted Mikkal to never stop saying his name that way, all breathless
prayer. He kissed down the arched throat, teasingly biting on a
sweaty, musky pec.
Gods, his mate was a masterpiece. Cage didn’t know what to
touch first, so he let his hands wander everywhere. He groped at an
ass cheek, feeling bold and reckless as he dared to finger the delicate
skin running in the valley between the two luscious butt cheeks,
fleetingly passing over wrinkled, burning skin. Mikkal’s gasp sounded
desperate in the quiet of the night. Oh, yes, Cage knew what he
wanted, and Mikkal seemed more than into it. He bit on a hip joint,
felt Mikkal’s engorged cock trail slickly on his cheek, and he

stubbornly didn’t turn his head, smirking as he bit again, closer to the
curly hair tickling him under his chin.
“Tease. You’re killing me.”
“Mmmm. Now would a tease do this?”
He didn’t wait for an answer or gave any other warning as he
turned and engulfed Mikkal’s ruddy cock in one go. He didn’t stop to
think how he had gotten so good at it and just swallowed around the
weeping head, wanting more of the fragrant ambrosia, wanting more
desperate moans from his mate. He got both, plus a surprised shout as
Mikkal tensed and arched up, almost shoving Cage off him. Cage held
on, pushing back with both hands, mouth hot and greedy as he
worked that cock as if it was his favorite lollipop, licking up, teasing
the foreskin with a hint of teeth, a tightening hand at the base as he
licked and prodded at the sticky head, gathering all the drops he could
and savoring them. Mikkal’s panting came harsher yet when Cage
alternated jerking movements up and down with thorough licks.
He could feel the veins get bigger and he took a moment to trace
them individually, paying them the attention they deserved before he
put his mouth again on the head and went down until his nose was
overwhelmed with the spicy fragrance that was Mikkal and the curly
hair cushioned his cheeks. He swallowed convulsively, and it seemed
to be the last straw as Mikkal let out a groan and melted under his
hands, cock pulsing as he came and came, Cage struggling to keep up
and not let any of it overflow. He came up, darted for a quick kiss at
Mikkal’s slack mouth, taking a moment to enjoy the blissful
expression before getting back down and cleaning every drop of
nectar. He wanted, no, needed more, his own cock feeling close to
falling off.
“Lube. Fuck me, Cage. Now.”
He’d wanted to reply, to tease Mallick about his needy, demanding
tone when he’d already came once but Cage was too far gone, and he
took the bottle of lube gratefully, not even wondering where his mate
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conjured it from. Without wasting any time, he smiled sharply as he
pushed right in, instinct telling him that his mate didn’t need, or want,
slow and tender. No, they were after a more the animalistic, down and
dirty deed and Cage shied from focusing too much on that thought.
One finger made space for two and Mikkal’s groans got louder, his
whispered suggestions dirtier as he pushed down on them and Cage
had to grab himself, squeeze tight the base of his cock to abstain from
coming at only the sight of his mate’s body begging him for more.
It wasn’t enough, and Cage felt powerless to stop when after
another couple of seconds of fingering and stretching the dark hole he
wanted to burrow in and never leave from, he swiftly pulled his
fingers out and coated his cock in lube, hands shaking with
anticipation.
“Come on, come on.”
Breathless, he watched as Mikkal raised his legs, his shiny,
stretched wrinkled skin winking at him. He was a vision, and Cage
felt almost faint at the rush of blood pooling in his groin.
“You’re trying to kill me.”
“Only a petite mort. That’s French for orgasm, you know. I’m
even wooing you here, what else are you waiting for?”
“Asshole.”
“That I have—ugh! Yeahhh…”
Cage pushed a bit more before stopping halfway, chest constricted
with the rightness of it, with the blinding white pleasure roaring in his
ears. His dick felt as if it was massaged by a velvet constriction,
squeezing all rational thought out of him as he waited for the searing
sensation to cool a bit and let him regain a measure of his control. His
hips trembled as he refrained from bottoming out, waiting for Mikkal
to relax around him, for his inner walls to stop contracting around his
cock, their grip hot and maddening in their milking.
He felt Mikkal finally relax around him and his mate sighed
blissfully from under Cage, legs arched toward his chest as he still
tried to push back for more. For such a big guy, Mikkal was quite
flexible, and Cage replaced his grip on his legs, pushing them further
apart as he thrust to the hilt in one smooth move that melted whatever
was left of his brain. He stopped again, breathing as if he’d run a
marathon, fingers bruising on Mikkal’s tense legs. His eyes stared
unseeing before focusing just in time to see Mikkal smirk at him, deft
finger pinching at his own nipples, spread like an erotic dream and
just waiting for Cage to get a move on if the slightly dangerous glint
in his mate’s eyes was to be believed.
Never let it be said that Cage didn’t deliver. He pulled away
slightly just to shove right back in, a sudden rough slide that pushed
the air out of both their lungs. This was likely to be quick, and Cage
took a hand off, letting one leg fall around his waist while he reached
for Mikkal’s cock, again perky and dripping precum. He took the time
to wet his hand with the precum before going down and getting ready
to start jacking the cum out of his cocky mate, whispering dirty words
for his mate to understand just how beautiful he was in that moment,
how much pleasure he was bringing Cage.
Cage circled his hips a bit, rutting against the furled hole before
pulling almost completely out, hand moving in the same rhythm, up
and down, out and in, he settled in a fast-paced cadence, tilting
Mikkal so he could push right where he wanted, hitting that spot that
made Mikkal wide-eyed and flushed. He kept at it for a couple of
minutes, kidding himself that he’d be able to last a bit longer, hope
shot when Mikkal took those wicked hands off himself and reached
up to twist sharply at Cage’s nipples. And…that was it for Cage. He
felt the tug down in his belly, going straight to his groin, the sting
mixing with the maddening pleasure until they were the same, a
vertigo of bliss and he was coming, vision whitened and throat raw
with the unintelligible sounds he was making.
Underneath him, Mikkal keened and pushed down on Cage’s still-
hard cock, rutting for his own release and Cage blearily, clumsily
started moving his hand again, a tight grip for Mikkal to fuck up into
while he pushed the last of his cum in his mate’s yielding body. The
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electric feeling of skin on skin, the taste of musk and citrus on his
tongue and the dizzying smell of them together, of sweat and spent
pleasure, it all was like a revelation for Cage, and he wanted the
moment to never end. He didn’t pull out even when he felt himself go
soft, even when Mikkal started to nod off and adjusted his legs, so he
was more comfortable under Cage’s weight, arms tightly held around
Cage’s exhausted body.
He stayed awake much later after Mikkal started to snore like a
dying whale, making Cage’s body shake with each exhalation on its
perch on top of him. He was also not ashamed to admit he’d spent
most of that time creepily watching his mate sleep, eyes soft and
unfocused as if his world had been turned upside down with a simple
orgasm. Maybe it had been. Though there had been nothing simple
about it. And maybe it shouldn’t have happened. Cage could feel the
threads of connection forged by it, linking them stronger together. It
hadn’t been planned and will probably just make it harder for both of
them. But Cage was nothing but determined.
“I’ll do right by you. Just…I hope you’ll understand. I’d rather
lose you than hurt you.”
****
Cage woke up to an empty bed and musky sheets. He absently

scratched at his crusty leg, hardened cum flaking off as he stretched
his back and yawned at the morning sun. Spreading his hand at the
place Mikkal had nestled close to him revealed still warm sheets, and
Cage rolled over, smelling the place Mikkal had slept, consecrating
the flavor and the memories of last night in his memory. He needed to
find his mate and talk with him, he needed to get a start on this, but he
wanted just one more moment of basking in the afterglow. One touch,
one kiss. He couldn’t have those, he wouldn’t be able to stop if
Mikkal touched him.
Cage groaned in the pillow, his head already starting to pound

with anxiety and indecision. Was he doing the right thing? He wanted
to be everything his mate deserved. He didn’t want Mikkal to settle
for less and the way things were, Cage was less. Mikkal was less.
Their possible relationship would be less than it could be. Maybe he
was just deluding himself with reasons upon reasons while he ran
away from his shortcomings. Only it didn’t feel like it.
His internal struggle was abruptly cut off by the sound of the
opening door, Mikkal carefully entering the bedroom with a
precariously balanced breakfast tray. Cage squeezed his eyes against
the sight. It even had a purple iris in a glass on the side and his heart
clenched with suppressed emotion. This man was killing him. How
could Cage do this to him? How could he not?
“Hey. You’re awake.”
Mikkal smiled brightly and rushed to deposit his tray on the
bedside table, leaning for a kiss. Cage closed his eyes and quickly
averted his face. Silence descended with his action, and he could
practically feel Mikkal freeze where he stood, on the side of the bed.
“Okay. No kisses. Was—is. Do you…want to brush your teeth?”
“We need to talk.”
He could hear Mikkal’s breath rush out like he’d been hit, and
Cage took the coward’s way, keeping his eyes closed for another
second, not wanting to see the expression on his mate’s face.
“Is everything all right? Are you all right? Anything I can do?”
The implied question of “what did I do? What do you want me to
do?” was too much for Cage and he determinedly opened his eyes.
Time to face this. He was doing the right thing. He had, too, he
wouldn’t hurt his mate this way if it wasn’t the right decision. Cage
just needed to trust his instincts and reasoning, stop dragging things
already.
“I’m not a damsel in distress waiting for the butch hero to save
her. For one, I’m a man. I don’t know how I was before, how your
Nigal was, but I never had anyone to help me, anyone to depend on.
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All my battles, I fought alone, often lost but hey. I’m still here, still
standing, and nobody can make it count less. It’s my small victory and
the one that matters the most. So no, I don’t need you do anything. It’s
not something you should do or could do. You’re not responsible for
me or for fixing me and my problems. And that…that is the main
problem, what we need to talk about. Don’t you see? How can you
see us happy together when you’re expecting me to break at any turn
and you just readily accept any hurt for another moment with a person
that you think so little of?”
Mikkal’s face was a study of shock and fear and Cage would do
anything to take that expression away and never see it on his mate’s
face. He leaned on the headboard, waiting for Mikkal to say anything,
to refute his statements but nothing came. He sighed and opened his
mouth. It seemed that fear was a powerful motivator and Mikkal
really didn’t want to hear this plainly spoken out loud.
“I’d never think less of you! Not for things that were outside your
power. You’re a survivor, how could I think less of you? You must
know I never would. And you know, for not knowing who you were
and not remembering much, your attitude and words are astonishingly
similar to the past you. I get what you’re saying. You’re your own
person, and I’m not trying to take that away from you. We can take it
slow, and I’ll prove it to you. I don’t want someone hanging on my
every word or someone glued to my side. Yes, I want to help, I need,
too. But—”
“I’m not the same, Mikkal. If I know one thing, that is that I’ve
changed and I’ll never be what you—”
“Don’t tell me what I want or need. I’m not doing that to you, so
please respect me enough to let me make my own mind.”
Mikkal was right. Cage shut his mouth and sighed, words eluding
him. He wasn’t doing a good job of explaining anything.
“All right. Nevertheless, nobody should need someone else this
way. It’s not healthy. I want you, and I know you want me, but it
should still be a choice.”
“You’re my mate. That is not a choice.”

“What we do with that is!”
His body flinched away, and Cage mourned its heat, already
feeling cold and alone. And Mikkal was still on the same bed, in the
same room, the smell of them together wafting around as they
breathed it in and out. Cage sighed, tired and torn apart. He wanted to
believe and grab what Mikkal was offering with both hands. He just
knew he shouldn’t. His bleak eyes focused on his mate, and he forced
himself to deliver the last blow. The last argument he had in him.
“I may never remember you.”
“Even if you do, you’ll not be the same.” Mikkal’s gentle eyes
crumbled his barely standing defense and Cage just wanted to get
closer, burrow his face in that warm chest and listen to Mikkal’s
steady heartbeat.
“That’s all right, Cage. That’s how it’s supposed to be. We can
take it slow. We have all the time in the world to figure this out.”
Cage hesitantly moved a bit closer, and he almost smirked when
his mate’s breath stuttered. He felt oddly powerful for how scared he
was.
“Sometimes I think I remember some. Just a feeling, you know, a
flash of color. Then it goes again, and I’m left empty. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t. You saved my life. And you stayed alive. Well, after a
manner. It’s worth it. Everything else is just details. And besides, did
you ever stop to think about how your death then, well Nigal’s,
affected me at the time? I’m not the same either. That Mikkal is long
dead, too. We are here, we are different. And guess what? We fit in
our differences.”
He was about to cry, and he couldn’t stop it. Mikkal was saying all
the right things, and the best part was that Cage could see that the guy
wasn’t faking it or just reciting a script. He truly believed what he was
saying and Cage’s chest constricted with an almost painful feeling.
Hope.
“So, you think you’ll be all right with…me? Being well, me?”
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“I wouldn’t want it any other way.”
This was a mistake. He’d live to regret it, he just knew it. It was
also the right thing to do at the same time. He was breaking his own
heart by doing this. Hope was a dangerous thing and also the last
thing Cage had to hold on to. If they could do this…if they survived
this, they could have it all. Cage needed some time to sort himself out.
He just hoped Mikkal would be still there at the end.
“I’m sorry. I wish I could just jump into this.”
Mikkal’s hopeful expression fell, and it was heartbreaking
watching that light be extinguished. Cage wanted to explain, needed
to make him understand but he didn’t have the words.
“I.”
“It’s okay. You don’t have to explain yourself. I understand.”
“I don’t think you do.”
Mikkal’s face scrunched in a painful way to look at, a grimace
filled with despair and Cage rushed forward, stopping just shy of
touching. He didn’t think he had the right anymore, although just
seconds before he’d been all but invited to.
“It not you—”
“I’ll just stop you there. I really don’t need the ‘It not you, it’s me’
spiel.”
“Um, but. It’s true?”
Something in his tone probably did it, and Mikkal closed his eyes
before looking up straight at him, eyes wounded. Cautiously waiting
for more. Cage shivered. Nobody should have that much power over
someone. Mikkal needed this as much as he did. This just reinforced
the fact that he was making the right decision. “Okay. Okay. So.”
“I need time. I need to breathe, to be. I’m attracted to you and
terrified. I don’t know…well, anything. I need to be me before I can
be us. You’re not my caretaker. I’m not a wounded bird. We can be so
much more. I want us to be so much more. Maybe we’ll fail and never
be. But—we need to take the chance. Because if we manage to mend
ourselves and then come together. Well. We could be fantastic. We

could have it all.”
The silence was not peaceful, and Cage didn’t know why he’d
ever liked it. He fidgeted under Mikkal’s careful regard but didn’t say
anything more and didn’t look down or sideways or just away. No, he
kept his eyes firmly on his mate. He was right, he knew this. He’d
regret it, too, he could already see that Mikkal would listen to him.
That he’d stay away. Cage didn’t know if he could be without the guy
and his heart twinged as if it was already missing him. Fuck, he was
in too deep and didn’t know what he was doing. He didn’t want to
hurt anybody, including himself. He just…he needed time to sort
himself out. To make peace with who he was, who he’d been and
decide who he wanted to be before he even considered something like
a soul bond. He was too damaged to be good for anybody as he was
now.
“Okay. Time. I can do. Tell me something. Anything.”
Anything to hang on to, Cage heard unsaid, and he averted his
eyes then. He’d said everything he could and should. Everything that
needed said. It was not much to ask, true. It was too much for him.
He kept his silence, sheets rustling as he arranged the covers to
better cover his nakedness in vain hope that it’d make him feel less
vulnerable. Mikkal got up and left without another word.
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Chapter Six
It really sucked. There were days when he woke up cursing

himself and his bright ideas. Most of the days Cage just sat in his
room, not crying, not thinking. Sleeping the time away. It got so bad
that Keen staged an intervention, forcibly moving him from the bed
and into the shower. It was maybe the breaking point.
He knew Mikkal had gone. He’d driven his mate away and for
what? Cage wasn’t doing anything to get better. He wasn’t fighting to
fix the parts of him that felt broken so he could have that bright future
that seemed farther and farther away with each passing day he sat
sequestered in his room. He didn’t know how.
He broke down, his walls tumbling at his brother’s gentle hold as
the cold water drenched both of them, stinging his skin. Cage’s
shoulders shook with his sobs, and he wailed in the stillness of the
bathroom, trusting someone else to keep him from completely
shattering. He leaned harder in his brother’s hold, his knees giving,
and Keen brought them slowly to the ground, switching the water to
an almost scalding temperature. Cage was barely aware of any of it,
still crying his eyes out. It felt like he was purging his insides and
whatever he’d thought before, however strong and all right he’d
believed he was after finally escaping from the place he’d been
practically tortured for almost a decade, well, he wasn’t all right. He
thought he was lucky to have been holding up until now and he
thanked the gods that his mate wasn’t here to witness him crumbling.
Cage didn’t want Mikkal to see him as less than he could be, he didn’t
want his mate’s perception colored by Cage’s moments of weakness.
He said so out loud, and Keen frowned at him in displeasure.
“It’s not weakness to suffer and realize life hasn’t been fair. And
Mikkal would have done anything to be allowed to hold you now
instead of me. I can understand that you don’t want him to worry and
start treating you with kid gloves but…never hide because of pride.”
So Cage got to thinking. Had pride been the reason he’d chosen to
chase his mate away before he collapsed? He didn’t think so. Cage
had wanted to spare Mikkal, to build himself anew so he could be
worthy of a mate. He said so as Keen briskly dried his hair and pulled
out some clothes for him to change into. His brother kept his silence,
eyes sparkling with unshed tears and it was too much for Cage. He
wanted. He wanted not to sleep anymore. Of course, it wasn’t as easy
as wanting. Cage felt reluctant to leave the sanctuary of his room for
any reason.
“Come on. Change while I go change, too. I’ll be back in five,
we’ll go have dinner with everyone. You can close your mouth, I
won’t accept any protests, so just save your breath. It’ll get better,
you’ll see.”
Well.
Cage nodded and watched as his brother smiled tentatively, arms
stretched for a hug. His body flinched a bit, and he started to realize
that he’d been doing that a lot, even with Mikkal. His chest felt tight,
and anger flooded him. Fuck this. He wasn’t like this. He wouldn’t be
a scared puppy. For one, he was definitely not a puppy. And cats
always landed on their feet. He squared his shoulders, feeling like he
was getting ready for battle and not just hugging his brother. His skin
crawled at the contact, but he bore through it, waiting until his
stomach settled and he was sure he wouldn’t throw up, disgusted with
his own reactions to what he knew should be welcomed and so easy
for everyone else.
Yeah, he wasn’t okay, his teeth clenched with ire as his squeezed
fists whitened with the need to hit and rage. His brother smiled
brightly at him, eyes lighter and Cage’s breath stuttered. As he slowly
dressed, muscles aching as if he’d been put through grueling physical
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activity, his apprehension at meeting everyone again and spending
time with what were basically strangers and that, without the safety
his mate beside him provided, dimmed a bit. He pulled up the
memory of his mate’s laughter when Cage said this or that, the smile
his brother had just shined on him, and he thought to himself. He
mattered. People cared. Maybe he wasn’t broken, just dented. If he
could make people smile like that he must be doing something right
just being himself.
Now Cage just needed to figure out who exactly that was.
****
That first dinner was really, really awkward. Aeri kept on popping
smartass comments, Kale grumbled very often and loudly, Dale stared
at him with fascination pouring off, and his mate frowned just as hard
at Cage. On his side of the table, Keen kept on loading his already
overloaded plate while his mate Killa, huge-ass mate at that, kept on
teasing Keen. On his left he had Kanael, and yeah, that wasn’t helpful
to a good digestion, especially after he witnessed the First Original’s
Mate, Kraken, burp a fireball. Um. If the chicken got to be extra
crispy, nobody commented on that. What Cage didn’t understand was
why everybody was squeezed at the center of the table, plenty of
chairs left at both ends. Kanael answered that, without Cage having to
open his mouth and ask. The dude’s presence was not conducive to a
peaceful mind and settled stomach.
“Those are for members of our family that are yet to come.
Enough chairs for everyone that is meant to be here. We’ll probably
get another table for everyone’s kids soon, what with everybody being
so fecund in our group.”
The laughter felt like razors on his nerves and Cage chose to look
at his plate and nowhere else. If he was the type to meditate, he’d
have tried that, too. As it was, images of children running around ran
around his brain and if one or two resembled a certain blond hunk of a
man, well. Supposedly, he was the only one to know it. Kanael’s
cackle at his thoughts dispelled that notion fast, and Cage pouted for
the rest of the meal. Not to say that he didn’t enjoy the food. The
flavors, how colorful and just plain fantastic it all was. He had no idea
what some things were, but he tried everything, delighted with the
smiles he gathered when he went for seconds. Smiles not slaps on his
wrist.
And just like that, his mood went from soaring to tumbling. His
stomach ached with too much food, churning with bottled emotions. It
was a good thing most everyone was done, Cage so wanted away
from any company. When he thought he’d just have to be rude and
make an escape, his eyes blurry and teeth clenched, the same Kanael
grabbed his arm and pulled him away from the table, a waved excuse,
laughter following them.
He startled when drops of rain fell on his face, realizing just then
that the other Original had taken him outside.
“You’re going to be all right. Your life as it was will fade with
time. Other memories will surface. It all will fade as you get to build
your future. You worry too much.”
“And you should stay out of other people’s heads.”
Kanael laughed and raised his face to the sky. The drops glistened
colorfully where they touched his skin and Cage thought to himself,
he had all the reasons to be wary of this man. He’d only heard of him,
never having met him before, as Nigal. He’d heard he’d went insane
when his mate had killed their son, combusting with his own rage and
pain. He’d heard that he was the one that singlehandedly had put
A’Rael, the manipulator Original Enchanter, under lock and key. A
last act before his powers extinguished. Odd, how he just knew that.
Odder still, how this Kanael had a mate next to him, troubling
unknown powers, and Cage had heard mentions of his son and new
mate, apparently too “busy” to come to dinner. Cage knew all this but
still couldn’t remember his mate from that long-ago time.
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“Well, you seemed to have things figured out. Not that I’m
surprised. You may be the youngest of our kind but cats, well, cats are
sneaky little things. Clever. Always land on their feet. Probably the
reason A’Rael has targeted you all this time when you weren’t even
involved in our world that much to begin with.”
“What?”
“Don’t pretend to be dumber than you are. Yes, I can read your
thoughts if I want to. And yes, all of that mind diarrhea you got going
is very much correct. It’s why A’Rael wanted you dead that long time
ago. You see things others don’t notice. Your instincts are top notch,
and your stubborn mind is difficult to sway if not impossible. It’s why
his minions have killed you before maturing, time and time again. It’s
why you’re still standing even after your current life had done its best
to destroy your spirit.”
“Mmm, thank you?”
“Don’t thank me. It sucks, and it makes you a target. Fortunately,
nowadays we know what we’re dealing with, and we’re more
prepared. You’re safe here.”
He turned his head to look straight at Cage, luminous eyes full of
lightning and Cage felt his breath hitch at all that barely restrained
power. At the promise that he was safe here, with all of them, under
their protection. Mikkal—
“Your mate, too. I personally altered his energy signature so he
cannot be followed or detected. A’Rael may be strong and may have
various people and creatures with varied skills at his disposal, still I’m
not a wilting flower. Nobody can undo what I will into existence.
What I create. Do you understand what I’m saying? There are still
things I’m discovering about myself and my gifts. A’Rael doesn’t
have a chance. Not to mention that we have a strong group now. None
of us are alone. He can raise another army, and it’ll still be pointless.”
“Another army?” Cage couldn’t help but ask. He ignored the way
his own voice quivered with uncertainty and looked straight at the
other man. The other, vaguely amused man.
“Yeah. Well, apparently Kraken and I had really good timing for
our reunion. We literally came together with a bang, ha. That, coupled
with the help of my son’s mate, managed to render catatonic all of
A’Rael’s minions right in the middle of him attacking. Quite a sight.
Unfortunately, we’re still working at a solution for their recovery, if
any is possible.”
“Huh.” Cage could picture it, and it didn’t paint a pretty image.
Even secluded by his adopted pack, he’d heard about the threat
A’Rael posed. He was the boogeyman of supernaturals and the guy
seemed to have more lives than, well, a cat considering the other
Originals had tried several times to rid the world of his existence. The
twilight cast its last glimmer of light on their silhouettes and Cage
shivered in reaction to the chilly breeze. Winter was approaching fast,
burnt-red leaves danced off the trees, and his eyes watched the sky
darken as his thoughts churned with unease.
“That doesn’t really make sense. Why would he sacrifice all his
army by staging a sudden general attack? It’s not really wise to put all
your eggs in the same basket.”
Kanael frowned at his pronouncement, eyes distant as he thought
it through.
“True. Then again, he’s most wary of me, and I wasn’t here at the
time, distracted with chasing after my mate.”
“You are all still distracted with your mates. Your new cubs, too.
It’s easy to miss details when you’re focused on the safety of your
loved ones and protecting the whole world at the same time.”
“Hmm. Maybe so. It’s been quiet since though.”
“Yeah. Quiet. Like before the storm. I feel…unsettled. As if there
is something in the air and my instincts are warning me.”
Kanael’s hawk eyes focused intently on him before nodding. He
turned toward the door, stopping just a second before getting back
inside, lips pursed as if undecided if to speak or not. Cage’s wary
expression made him sigh, and the Original nodded again as if they
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had a common understanding regarding something. He left Cage
alone without another word, door clicking closed silently behind him.
“Well. Just great. Now I need to figure out mass destruction plans
at the same time with fixing my damn broken self. Ugh. Why do I
even bother? Mikkal…”
He ignored his crazy talk to himself, smiling bitterly at the sound
of his mate’s name. He could almost smell the other man if he closed
his eyes, though he knew for sure Mikkal wasn’t in the valley
anymore. He’d felt the moment he left like a yank on his heart. It
settled him just thinking about Mikkal though and wasn’t that odd
when he’d wanted alone time just so they both have a choice whether
or not to choose each other voluntarily. The choice seemed already
made, and somehow it didn’t feel like a compulsion and Cage smiled
a bit lighter at that. They still needed some time to figure things out,
and a break to adapt would do them good.
Cage didn’t believe he was a submissive person by nature and he
wanted to rise to the potential he could feel brewing inside him. In the
meantime, he could start nosing about this catatonic army thing. Make
himself useful, make himself a functioning adult and try shedding
some more of his worries and low self-esteem. Besides, his whiskers
were telling him something fishy was happening.
****
In the course of a month, Cage found a lot of things about himself.

His official birthday came and passed—he didn’t know the precise
date of his birth so his adoptive family had chosen an approximate
date—and he made Keen swear not to tell the others. He had the
impression that this bunch would just love an opportunity to celebrate
and Cage was really not feeling it. Maybe next year. Maybe then
Mikkal would be here, too.
With the passing of his birthday, things started to get weird, well
weirder for him and fast. For one, his hearing range shot through the
roof after a week or so, his sense of smell was unfortunately

disgustingly strong, and his reflexes phenomenal. He had gone for a
training session with the guys the other day, and to his surprise, he
was so fast that they couldn’t touch him. The only one coming close
to it was the cheeky redhead guy, Aeri, and Cage found out later that
he was his guardian Eagle’s son with another Original so yeah.
Double the power there. He walked ramrod straight for the rest of the
day, a smile bright on his face. Nothing much could touch him now,
and it did wonders for his self-confidence. His nightmares got rarer
with every week that passed, too.
Another curious thing was his memory. No, he didn’t remember
more than random scenes, mostly through dreams, but the information
was still there. He didn’t remember how he knew some stuff, but he
knew them intuitively, they were all at hand, ready to be accessed. A
relief, as his current life hadn’t been conducive to learning much or
keeping in touch with what was happening in the world. So in the end,
Cage had only the last twenty-some years to catch up to, and it was
going faster than he’d hoped. Cage’s brain got a really nice boost too
what with his coming of age and Keen was throwing words like
genius out there every time Cage did or said something that he
considered out of the ordinary. Surely, it wasn’t that uncommon to
learn another language from television shows. In a week. Or to solve
some easy mathematical equations in just a couple of minutes.
So, he had classes, sort of. The guys were tutoring him in some
stuff, and Kanael had started hinting at a position for him in SAD,
their Surveillance and Analyze Department when he noticed how fast
his brain was correlating facts and solving puzzles. Cage had to admit
the idea appealed. He’d never had a purpose, a use and he saw how
everyone was contributing with something to making their world
better and safer. He wanted that. Finding out that Mikkal had
previously been the head of the Council’s SAD department, tipped the
scales and Cage said yes to the opportunity of maybe working close to
his mate in the future.
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It was how he ended up two months later, four months in his self-
imposed break from Mikkal, eavesdropping at a colleague’s
conversation. Yup. That was his mate’s baritone on the other side of
the line and Cage’s heart did a weird speeding thing, his stomach
suddenly in knots from only hearing his mate. For gods’ sake, it had
been only four months and they’d previously known each other for
two weeks.
“Right. So no movement? Did your contacts say anything else?
What’s the situation with—”
Fucking hell, Cage was pathetic. He dropped back in his chair,
pretending to study something on his computer, not noticing that the
only thing showing was a kitties background and behind him, a
couple of his colleagues were snickering at his back. He turned back
in just in time to hear Collin, the colleague he was eavesdropping on,
finish the conversation and Mikkal’s good-bye. At least he knew his
mate was all right.
“Right. So, Cage did you get all that or do I need to repeat?”
“Huh?”
Collin rolled his eyes in response. The guy was a pest on the best
of days, not malicious but snarky as hell. Medium height, slender, an
avian shifter and putting the “t” in twitchy.
“Don’t even pretend. All of us figured it out on your first day. I
don’t know what your deal is, but better not keep that hunk of a mate
of yours waiting for too long or others would take a chance on that.”
He winked at Cage, not that it helped to snuffle the low yowl he
let out, and Collin’s eyes widened in alarm.
“Kidding, man. No need to get the fangs out. By the way, there’s a
pool around on what type of shifter you are. I don’t suppose you can
help a friend win some money, could you?”
Cage took a deep breath and grimaced in apology. He then stole
Collin’s trademark move and rolled his eyes at the other guy.
“Dream on.”
“Oh, come on.”
“Stop pestering me and get back to work.”

He didn’t pay any attention to his colleague’s grumbling, and
opened some files, too, starting to absently pour over the data.
Technically he had a higher position than the other guys, the domin
having allocated him the title of co-director. He’d not wanted to get
one of the separate offices, preferring to work in the middle of others
in a regular cubicle, his brain registering and analyzing data from his
colleagues, too, while consciously he was studying his own files.
Respect had been easy to gain, once his colleagues had seen he was
more than a pretty face pushed on them by the domin. Not that
anybody had dared grumble about it, they were all in awe of the
domin and what he’d succeeded so far. He’d also had the backup of
Kanael, and yeah, they were all quite terrified of the guy. Especially
when he smiled.
Cage had won them over with solving his first case in under a day,
a cold case already, figuring out that the one that had been killing
supernatural rent boys in Chicago some years ago had been their own
pimp, a lynx with a grudge against canine shifters. After that, the
atmosphere around the office had warmed up quickly, and Cage found
that he liked working in the busy, chaotic department, liked the easy
camaraderie and how they’d quickly included him, too. It was almost
like an extended family and Cage felt day by day less alone and
stronger for it. He still had days when he could barely manage to get
out of bed after a night spent turning and tossing, waking up every
half an hour in a cold sweat, his mind trapped in his past.
To his surprise, even those flashes got rarer though, and now, after
only four months, Cage felt like a new man. Not completely fixed or
anything like that. After all, some things can’t be fixed, can only be
overcome. Still, he’d gotten here surprisingly fast, and he suspected
part of that was his coming into his powers and ceasing to feel so
vulnerable all of the time.
He didn’t regret having told Mikkal he needed time to do this on
his own. Knowing that he was managing on his own, and flourishing
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at that, made all the difference. He sighed and opened another file,
eyes scanning for any similarities between the cases while his heart
grumbled at him that it missed Mikkal. He wondered when enough
was enough and what was he even trying to accomplish with his
idealism of choosing each other instead of relying on the fated mates
thing. Maybe he was just a moron. A word jumped at him, and Cage
frowned, rereading the paragraph. He could understand what had
startled him and he started to read both files from the beginning, heart
ticking faster with every sentence.
“Shit. Shit, under our nose all this time.”
****
The guys were looking at him as if he was lunatic and Cage really
didn’t appreciate it. They gave him this job because they believed he
was capable so why the looks now? Granted, the information he’d just
dumped on them was a bit much but still. Shit, even Keen was
hesitating in believing him.
“You’re saying that you believe the comatose patients in our
medical facility are in fact plants just waiting to be activated and kill
us with minimal fuss. That somehow A’Rael knew that we’d be able
to cut his control over them, so he implemented like a what? A safety
glitch in his mind programming? That instead of cutting his control
cords what Mallick managed was only to activate this, this—”
“Adair. Son, he’s not saying that Mallick knew about it. Think
about it. When Mallick came to us, he was half starved and had been
tortured for years by that bastard.” Kraken threw an apologetic look in
Mallick’s direction, and Adair quickly leaned closer to his pale mate.
“So it’s not really farfetched that he’d foreseen Mallick’s plan and
prepared for it. If Mallick had not had you, Adair, A’Rael would have
killed two birds with the same stone. Got rid of a potential new threat,
that is Mallick coming into his powers, and got us to relax our
security believing that he’d made his move and lost. And it half
worked, too.”
“Shit,” Kanael swore under his breath.
“I examined them. Nothing seemed weird. Well except for their
sudden catatonic state. How did I miss something so big? You’re
telling us that practically they are still under A’Rael’s control, only
what? Biding their time?”
“No.”
Cage shook his head, taking a moment to gather his thoughts.
He’d not expected Kraken to have his back as he’d not interacted
much with the drakon Original. Kraken’s seemingly surly and taciturn
personality wasn’t really conducive to chitchat, and Cage was still
somewhat wary of big guys with scary faces, regardless of his
newfound, and still developing, Original abilities. Kraken had been
the one to call everybody for the meeting though, had listened and
thought Cage was onto something.
“There was this case with this banshee that—”
“Shit. Goddammit.”
Everybody changed their focus to a red-faced Kanael. Kraken
sighed and closed his eyes, obviously knowing what it had infuriated
his mate. “Kanael?”
“So. Maybe a very long time ago I believed I knew better and
resurrected A’Rael’s dead daughter, his firstborn. I was before we had
you, Adair, so you wouldn’t know. Thus coming into being the first
banshee. She could compel any type of supernatural, not sure if that
would work on me but not being sure is still a gamble.”
“For gods’ sake, just how many kids did dear old dad have?”
Mallick groaned.
“It does seem that the guy got around.” Aeri smirked as Mallick
responded to his quip with a rude gesture.
“Huh.” Cage’s brain ran with the information, trying to check it
from all angles. Unfortunately, he knew by now to listen to his
instincts, and those were screaming at him.
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“So. Let’s assume that A’Rael’s daughter didn’t suddenly die and
it was all planned. He wanted Kanael to resurrect her so he could
create a new type of supernatural being out of Kanael and his powers.
A being that could affect even the First Original, his biggest obstacle
in his path to crazy world domination. Now, knowing that, what do
you want to bet on that you have at least one banshee in that medical
facility? Biding her time to compel you, Kanael.”
The unease from before ratcheted and everyone was now
watching him, as if they were waiting for him to say, just kidding.
Dale was the first one to break the silence, leaning back in his mate’s
arms, lips pursed as if he didn’t know if he should say anything.
“I’ll throw another thing out there. What if not only our patients
are still under control and waiting for the right moment. What if
A’Rael got a hold on a Seer to see when the right time is?”
Kale blanched, and the arm of the other loveseat creaked under his
grip. Aeri’s eyes sparkled with cold fury. Cage was lost. Why was it of
such importance A’Rael having a Seer? Sure, it was much more
dangerous for them as that meant their enemy knew all their moves
but—
“Badar had not answered my last call. He was supposed to reach
the valley sometime this month, even with their unplanned detours.”
Keen took pity on Cage and explained.
“Badar is Killa’s twin, an Original, too. He was traveling with
Dale and Kale’s newfound brother, Caliel. Caliel…is a Seer.”
“Shit.”
“We need to deactivate his army for real, hopefully without
having to kill them. Most of them are victims, poor. Not to mention
that if we could question them, maybe we could get more intel.”
Dale nodded at his mate’s words and cuddled next to the big blond
wolf. Kanael sighed and rolled his eyes. From his left, Mallick, a
small dude with a mischievous expression, his face less pale and more
thoughtful now, looked straight at Cage.
“What if we wake them up without their master’s order? Would

that break the mind programming?”
Huh. That was a thought. Technically, with time and care, they
could break the compulsion on their own if it was not renewed but
that could take years, time they didn’t have. Any break in A’Rael’s
total control on their minds could theoretically unravel all his mind
programming.
“Maybe. It’s a thought.” He smiled at the smaller man, ignoring
Adair’s glower. The guy was ridiculous with his jealousy. Mallick
seemed to enjoy the possessiveness though so who was he to
comment on it?
“If not, maybe you, Adair and me can work on a way to change
their master at least. Regardless of what direction your powers
developed, Mallick, you have the latent ability of enchanting minds
same as your father. My and Adair’s energy could boost—”
“Papa. No.” Adair frowned at his father’s suggestion, and Kanael
looked chagrinned at his son’s smaller mate. Mallick’s face was a
lovely shade of green so that idea wasn’t really appealing to the little
guy. The determination in his eyes told Cage that regardless, Mallick
would do whatever necessary to defeat his sire. And that, more than
any number of promises, reassured Cage of his character. Not that
he’d ever voiced his misgivings but yeah, the guy was, after all,
related to Cage’s executioner, so for sure he had been a bit reticent.
“Okay. Cage. Just a thought. As a feline, you can probably see in
the dark really well.”
“Yes? Kanael, what is this about?”
Kale’s eyes widened as if he just realized something and Aeri just
smirked next to him. The Phoenix’s habit of playing with his knives
was really disturbing. Cage suppressed a shiver when Aeri smiled
toothily at him in the glimmer of a raised blade. Yeah, disturbing, to
say the least.
“Well. What if seeing in the dark applies to more than one thing.
I’m just guessing here but from what my darling Kraky—“
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“For gods’ sake, Kanael. Kraky?”
“—told me, being under A’Rael’s control is like being lost in a
never-ending darkness. Caden can Spirit Walk and connect with his
people, I can amplify any gift, Mallick can stop and raise
compulsions, and you can see in the dark. Seems cut and clear.”
Kanael almost cackled at the others’ dumbfounded expressions,
smug, as he leaned back in Kraken’s arms. For his part, the drakon
laughed freely at his mate and nuzzled his neck.
“Clever mate. Tricky, tricky.”
Cage felt the need to hit himself and his vaguely superior intellect
that he now doubted the existence of. In his defense, he wasn’t really
familiar with the others’ gifts. Nor his own entirely.
“Okay. Then we need a plan. And I need to research everything
related to Spirit Walking and Enchanting.”
It felt good to be needed and have a purpose. Cage felt warm as he
looked around him at everyone collaborating, including him in their
discussions. He’d maybe found a family without even searching for
one. Keen smiled at him understandingly, and Cage relaxed in his spot
just taking everyone in.
It was an almost perfect moment. The only thing missing was his
mate at his side. But there was still time.
Chapter Seven
Mikkal was out of time. Somehow bloody A’Rael was on his tail,
anonymity charm notwithstanding. He didn’t pretend to understand
exactly how had Kanael modified his energy signature and/or
appearance, but it seemed to not be working anymore. He’d barely
escaped from that warehouse, and he had a suspicion that his contact
was a goner, either dead or under A’Rael’s control. Mikkal was not
sure which one was worse. He jumped over another property fence,
feet barely touching the ground before he was running again. He
needed to find a safe place for the night and then hightail it out of
here, straight for the valley. He could still hear his pursuers, he only
hoped that their boss hadn’t deemed Mikkal important enough to
personally come after him. ’Cause then he was more than screwed.
His mate’s smile flickered in his mind, and his steps quickened. He
couldn’t give up.
“Here, kitty, kitty. Come out and play with us!”
Really? Good news was that his pursuers were all morons and not
A’Rael. Most likely guns for hire by the lame jokes. A’Rael’s puppets
were eerily quiet, and these guys were nothing but. A dangerous smirk
flashed across his face, and he stopped before the entry of an alley. He
hated dark alleys with a passion, he’d found himself in too many of
them lately. Dare or don’t? What the heck, he’d always liked a good
row, why start dodging sticky situations now? His brain whispered
something about being more cautious now that he had a mate and a
future again and Mikkal swore, closing his eyes for a moment. Yeah,
he had a mate. Not. His mate was maybe alive, but Cage was not
really eager for them to start building something together. He wasn’t
completely fair, he knew that, but Mikkal still hurt after being literally
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kicked out after their first night together. He shook his head and faced
the brick wall. His hands started to move before he even became
aware of his decision.
Run it was. Goddammit, he hated heights.
****
“Heard you cracked the Puppets’ Case.”

“Rude. Cracked nothing. We just had a brainstorming session and
figured out some things.”
Collin rolled his brown eyes at him, mouth open to comment on it
again and Cage swore. He leaned closer, looking around before
answering his colleague.
“I don’t know where you got your intel from, but this is not for
discussion. Things can get dicey if word of this gets around,
understand?”
“You just don’t want to share with the rest of the class. I get it, I
get it. Gonna secure the glory first, yeah?”
Collin winked, and Cage had the impulse to hit the guy over the
head.
“Sure, whatever you say.”
“Daggart! Call from domin’s office!”
So maybe Cage had taken his mate’s last name when he’d
accepted the SAD job. And maybe Mikkal had no clue whatsoever.
Cage admitted to himself that he was a bit of a hypocrite. After doing
everything to convince Mikkal they needed a complete break to think
things through and decide if they could move forward what was the
first thing he did? Practically marry them on paper. He sure had a lot
to explain when his mate came back from his mission. Cage huffed
and opened the door to the private soundproofed office where they
took the more sensitive calls. Why the heck had Mikkal left the valley
so soon and for so long? He didn’t want to think about his mate being
out there, without backup on any sort of mission, never mind that his
mate had the experience and skills to survive almost anything this
time around. No, Cage had not remembered anything else about their
common past, everybody just knew his mate was badass.
“Hello?”
“Cage! Get here right now! We’re in the inner training room, the
one next to the emergency tunnel exit.”
“Keen? Wh—”
He looked dumbfounded at the landline, it’s annoying tone doing
nothing to clear his confusion. His brother had seemed almost
panicked and frantic, and Cage couldn’t see what could make his
steadfast brother react like that. Unless.
“No. He’s okay. He’s…goddammit, Mikkal! You cannot do this to
me!”
He ran, not looking back. If he’d had, he’d have seen the slight
figure watching him from the shadows.
****
“Are you sure this was necessary? I feel bad for scaring him.”
“It’s easier to have you act one minute on the phone than expect
him to make it believable for an entire office of people trained to
notice everything. Maybe he could have pulled it off, but it was safer
like this. I’m sorry, Keen. I’ll apologize to him, too, when he arrives.”
“Well by the sound of the stomping, he broke the speed of light to
get here.”
Kale grimaced at his cheeky mate, not happy with the necessary
deceit either. Kanael had been certain that his charm still worked so
Mikkal had to be tracked another way. After Mikkal had managed to
contact Kale directly, they’d figured out that the only ones that knew
what Mikkal’s current location was, unfortunately, were their own
SAD agents. And hadn’t that been a blow. Thus the necessary rouse to
get Cage to them without anyone suspecting that they suspected
anything and feeding their inner spy some false information while at
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it. It had sounded simpler in theory and much harder to stomach when
they had all heard Cage’s confusion and panic over the line.
“Where is he!”
And…maybe they should have thought twice before enacting all
this rouse. Cage looked half feral.
“Umm. Kale? Wanna start explaining now?” Keen’s face paled
when he saw the wicked claws Cage was sporting.
“You don’t shout at my mate. Or else.” A knife flew past Cage’s
fanged face to the wood door behind them. Aeri had another up and
ready as he glowered at the Feline Original.
“For fuck’s sake, everyone cool down! Aeri, put that knife down,
or you’ll find it where the sun don’t shine,” Kale groaned at the
clusterfuck.
The redhead yelped, and Keen let out a startled laugh. Kale saw
that once Keen laughed, Cage’s fangs retracted, and he relaxed
instantly. The guy’s mind was damn fast, they were lucky to have him
on their side. Not to mention that he and Dale owed their lives to
Mikkal and regardless of the guy's relationship right now, Kale knew
his friend had been pining for his mate all his life. Maybe Mikkal
could finally find happiness, Kale didn’t want anything less for his
pseudo-parent. He cast a fond look at his pouting mate. Kale wanted
Mikkal to have what he had, he more than deserved it.
“He’s okay, Cage. I’m sorry for tricking you, but it was necessary.
Mikkal was ambushed. Nobody but SAD knew his location and
moves.”
“Shit. We have a spy. Huh. Obviously, why didn’t I think of it
before? It’s a good strategic move. Of course. Goddammit.”
Kale could practically see the guy beating himself up for not
thinking of the possibility sooner. Cage was a good one, but still too
hard on himself. Kale didn’t want to know any more details of his
previous life, as it was he knew too much, and none of it was good.
This life or his formers had all sucked, so he smiled encouragingly at
the feline and with more patience that he thought he had left,
stomping on his mind’s “want ice cream” loop.
“None of us did. Not to mention that all SAD members were
thoroughly checked and vetted by me, Dale, Kanael, and Caden. If
anybody is to blame, it’s us. Since you came, we got further intel and
ideas to end this than we had from the start of all this clusterfuck.”
“What my mate is too nice to say is that guilt is not really
attractive. Especially when unfounded. Exaggerate modesty either.”
“Oh, goody. My goal in life was to be considered attractive by
you.”
Kale smirked at the mischievous gleam in Aeri’s eyes. Cage had
no idea what he’d just done just by talking back to his mate. Aeri, his
mate, was a sarcastic asshole that valued the exact same quality in
others. He was also a pest of a friend to those he considered worthy.
“Oh, I like you. You, your brother, too. Kitties have claws.” And
there it was. Kale rolled his eyes in fond exasperation. “Okay, now
that we established we’re all buddy-buddy, can we focus already?”
“Here.”
Keen stifled a laugh, the ingrate, and Cage’s eyes got round as
Aeri promptly produced a Mars ice-cream bar from gods know where
and passed it to the domin’s grabby hands.
“Oh, you love me. Hear that, giant belly? Daddy loves us. You’re
still on diaper duty for the rest of forever.”
“Yes, dear.”
It only went downhill from there. They got back on track with the
arrival of Caden, their former army general, now chief of security. He
was for once alone as his mate was taking care of their babies and
didn’t want to either leave them or carry them through the dusty
dungeons toward the evacuation tunnels and the space they were
using as their war room.
The plan was easy enough, feed their mole fake info to keep him/
her busy and extract Mikkal as soon as possible. Cage was more than
annoyed when everybody vetoed him going in the field, but he could
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understand. He wasn’t trained properly yet, his natural abilities not
enough in case things went south, he had no experience, and his
absence would alert their mole, most likely. Aeri was their best
choice, and Cage wanted nothing else than to have his mate return
safely home. When he’d started thinking of this place as home he had
no idea, but it had happened.
With so many heads thinking this through, a solid plan was
quickly set and everyone went back to what they had been doing,
stopping one by one to touch Cage’s shoulder, say something
encouraging, reassuring the feline that his mate would be with them
all soon. Keen caught him in a tight embrace and didn’t say anything,
just smiled determinedly at him before he went in search of his own
mate.
Killa, Kanael, Kraken, Adair, and Mallick had been absent from
their meeting, but Kale had spoken with them beforehand, so they
knew what was happening. The guys were busy working on the
catatonic army, making slow but steady progress. Apparently, some of
the ones that had less time under A’Rael’s control were giving signs of
trying to break off it, small twitches when they were addressed
directly or minuscule changes of expression. It wasn’t much, but it
was progress and without trying to get Cage to Spirit Walk inside their
minds and find their Spirits in A’Rael’s Darkness. It looked
promising.
Cage startled as someone patted his shoulder, pulling him out of
his thoughts. A grim Aeri, Kale at his side, slowly rubbing his
enormous belly had been saying something.
“I’ll bring him back. Even if he’s captured in the meantime, I’ll
bring him back.”
“He doesn’t make promises that he can’t keep, either.” The domin
smiled at his smaller but deadlier mate, eyes sparkling with love and
amusement.
“My pocket-size mate is the deadliest of us all. He could give

even Kanael a run for his money, and Kanael is…well, something else
for sure.”
Cage nodded his understanding, not wanting to say anything about
his own digging and all of the SAD files he’d been reading lately.
Some of them on his newfound friends. He wanted to be prepared and
better understand everybody and their strong and weak points. Truth
was, so far Aeri Callen had no weakness that he could see. Even his
bond with his mate could not be used against the guy, as being the
Phoenix, first one of his kind in existence, Aeri was truly immortal.
He could resurrect himself even in the eventuality of Kale, his mate,
dying at the same time with him, the sure-proof method of killing an
Original. Cage was willing to bet that the guy could bring back his
mate, too, through their bond. As far as he knew, Aeri was the only
one capable of that, a true Immortal by all means. Cage wondered
what his children would be like, not surprised at all that A’Rael had
targeted the couple in front of him countless times. SAD stopped at
least one assassination attemptee from getting too close to the valley
almost weekly.
Hmm. Maybe his own feline traits of reincarnating had played a
role in the interest A’Rael had given him and the attempts to kill him
for good. After all, Cage wasn’t sure just how many lives he had, and
would he reincarnate if killed at the same time with Mikkal? Cage
wasn’t really clear if that had been what had happened that first time
when he’d died and really, he didn’t want to find out that badly.
“Okay. Okay.” Cage sighed, and deflated, resigned to the dreadful
wait ahead of him.
“Well, I do hope that you won’t be pacing around while I go get
your wayward mate. I’m sure you can find something to do without
driving everyone crazy.”
Kale rolled his eyes at Aeri and his insensitive attitude. Cage
fought the urge to copy the domin, by now already used to Aeri. Still a
bit wary of those knives though, so he abstained. The guy had been a
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council assassin for some centuries and gods know what before so
wariness around Aeri was a healthy habit to have.
“I was planning on sniffing around and see if I can pinpoint our
mole’s exact identity. Start on getting some rumors out that the domin
is thinking of relocating all the catatonic people from the wordwide
bases to that second care facility you’re ordering built here, in the
valley. That should make A’Rael wait until all his army is inside our
wards before he tells his banshee to wake them up and attack. I was
thinking maybe our banshee is the mole, but I’m still not sure about
that. Would make sense though.”
They started walking, still talking quietly about the merits of that
theory. They agreed it would be convenient but at the same time Cage
had his sights already set on a suspect for the mole position and the
guy was definitely not a “wailing woman” as the banshees were
otherwise described. Kale pulled Aeri toward their personal quarters,
a heated look on his face that made Cage want to take a break too and
a cold shower at that. Aeri waved and shadowed his mate’s waddle,
leaving Cage to his own devices. Well, no better time than now to
start on it. Someone had been spying on him and using that info to
attack his mate. Cage had died for his mate, he for sure wasn’t leery
of killing to keep Mikkal safe.
Did that make him a bad person? He didn’t know, and really, it
was a moot point. Regardless of everything, the world they were
living in was a cruel one and Cage intended to survive it.
****
“Well, this was easy.”

Aeri had already left, taking one of the SUVs and two other men,
handpicked by him. Cage had wallowed in his worry for a while,
managing to get banished from the kitchen with his stress eating,
when the cook almost brained him with a heavy iron skillet.
Apparently, the kitchen was forbidden territory when their cook was
there, and Cage was rightfully terrified of ever stepping another foot
in there. He’d left for SAD quarters, spent the night at his desk,
waiting for his cell phone to ring with any news. Yes, he had a cell
phone now, not that he knew to do anything else but answer it.
Learning to handle the phone kept him occupied for a couple of hours.
Planting the fake info around the office was another half an hour job,
he closed another case, kidnapping this time and sent a unit of their
Special Tasks Force to liberate the three victims. Dragons had no
restraint when they were in premating season, their brain focused on
only finding a mate, and that’s about it. Cage just hoped their heat
hadn’t hit them fully yet and the women were unharmed. He’d taken a
bathroom break and came just in time to see his desk colleague,
Collin, quickly set Cage’s cell phone back in its place. Apparently, his
suspicions had been right, and the guy was involved in all this.
“What?”
Collin’s wide, startled eyes were not really good at pretend
innocence, and the guy was already starting to sweat regardless of the
blast of freezing air from the cooling unit.
“Wanna tell me what were you doing with my phone? Or should I
just guess?”
“Hey man, I was just checking the model. I had one just like yours
—”
“Yeah, no. You can shut up and stop wasting air.”
Cage’s chest rumbled with a growl, and Collin’s eyes darted to the
door. Before the guy could make a run for it, Cage grabbed the back
of his head and unceremoniously slammed his face on the desk.
“Oomph! The hell, man?”
“Aww, did that hurt? Oops, my bad. I actually wanted to do this.”
He moved fast, striking Collin’s temple before the man knew it.
Looking around, he saw the few colleagues that had come early to
work this morning, standing around warily, some looking ready to
intervene, some having an inquisitive, calculated look on their face.
Way to be subtle, Cage, he thought to himself. Goddammit.
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“I don’t like it when someone is messing with my phone.”
He shrugged as if it wasn’t a big deal, adjusting his hold on Collin
and lifting him up on his shoulder. There went his friendly rapport
with the others.
“I’ll take him to the medical center.”
He rushed out before the others thought to question him and
headed straight for their holding facility. The valley was a town in
itself, having not only the main branches of institutions policing the
supernaturals but also a variety of training, interrogation, surveillance,
or research facilities. He grabbed his phone from his pocket and
quickly texted Caden and Kanael to meet him there.
The main interrogation room was empty, most of them were
empty. Cage hearing just one interview being held, but he bypassed
the obvious choices and deftly headed toward the last and smallest
room. It still had a fake panel for surveying the action inside, but the
space was minuscule, barely enough for a table and two chairs. Cage
knew the other side of the panel was equally small. He didn’t need
much, and the last thing he wanted was to attract any attention. He
secured Collin to the chair, checking the special cuffs twice just in
case and tying the leg ones, too, considering he didn’t know for sure
what Collin’s skills were, regardless of what his file said.
Satisfied that the guy wouldn’t be able to quickly get out of them,
no matter was species he was, Cage quickly exited the room and
activated the panel at the door, with it the specially designed spell
slash technology that nullified everyone’s special abilities inside the
interrogation room, rendering them practically human. Getting back
inside took a bit of self-encouragement, Cage shivering at the tingling
feeling that signified the force field was doing its job. He hated
feeling less. To his surprise, Collin was already awake and had
managed to get one of the leg cuffs undone before the panel had done
its thing.
“Well. Fast, aren’t you?”
“You’re crazy! Let me go! How did they let you take me here just
like that? You’re insane, just how we suspected all along! Release
me!”
Cage smirked a bit shakily, hands fisted and dropped heavily in
the chair across his colleague. He had to admit, the guy was good,
going straight for his adversary’s weak points. Cage hated the idea
that he’d been studied and analyzed, not wanting to even think about
whatever they had on file for him. He probably should have read that
damn file, if only to be prepared for instances like this, maybe
modified some stuff, too. Couldn’t hurt to do it now either, he made a
mental note of it and kept his silence.
He continued to stare at Collin, letting him wind up and struggle
for all his might, trying not to get closer and fix the cuff. Three cuffs
should hold well enough. They couldn’t be opened without the access
code or without forcing them and were made of a special alloy that
should prevent most paranormals from escaping them and had an
energy-draining effect. Collin wasn’t strong enough with his
supernatural gifts suppressed and Cage slowly typed a message to
their group as he kept his phone out of sight, notifying the others of
the latest developments. He didn’t want to let Collin know that he had
the phone in with him, less he tried a stunt. They were sealed inside,
again only Cage knowing the code to open the door.
“Oh, you finished? I can give you another couple of minutes to
perform if you want.”
“Fuck off. You have no idea what the hell you’re doing.” Cage
pretended to carefully study his nails, humming along to a cheery
tune, a trick learned from Aeri.
“Hmm, I do think I know exactly what I’m doing, Collin. Oh, is
that even your real name?”
He peeked up just in time to see Collin’s expression freeze,
understanding finally dawning. The change in expression was radical,
the jovial face of his colleague transforming with a mockery of a
smile.
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“Is this the part where I ask you what do you want? Amateur.”
“Oh, no. No, I respect your expertise and training. So this is the
part when I monologue a threat and flex my muscles. Considering I’m
not really an imposing figure, let’s just skip it and get straight to the
fun part.”
A special feature this room had was that it had another special
wall built in, a sliding wall that hid a secret storage space. It was used
for storing backup weapons but also an extensive array of medical
supplies. It had been designed as an emergency point, having a secret
trap door for quick evacuation of personnel also. Domin Kale had
taken care to prepare for any eventuality. Cage studiously perused the
selection available, emulating Aeri’s eerie demeanor. He picked up a
thin, wicked sharp scalpel, turning it over several times to better make
it glint. The shaky inhale behind him was satisfying.
“Now then. Shall we dance?”
****
“I think he’s telling the truth.”

Caden’s expression was divided between impressed and rattled.
Cage wiped the blood on his hopelessly stained trousers, nodding in
agreement.
“I tried to not damage him too much, but he was stubborn. Once
the pinkie came off, he sang like a canary.”
Kanael raised an eyebrow at him, calmly passing him a towel.
“I think we need to cancel our TV subscription or at least the
crime movie channels.”
Cage frowned. Had he overdone it? His stomach rolled queasily.
He’d not enjoyed it and had hoped that Collin would talk without
having to be persuaded. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the case, and Cage
had no way of telling how much of the guy’s stubbornness was caused
by loyalty to A’Rael and how much due to fear. If it was true and
A’Rael really had his daughter…yeah, his stomach was rebelling.
“I—”
“Don’t worry, Cage. You did the right thing. I couldn’t get a read
on him, Dale either so it was the only way. He would not have
volunteered the information otherwise, and besides, I can help him
grow his finger back. I know that won’t count as an apology, but we
had no choice. Caden would have probably done worse before he
made him break and me, err…I really don’t want to test myself like
that. I’m thinking of developing a truth serum that works on
supernaturals so situations like this aren’t needed anymore.”
Caden grimly nodded his agreement and Cage breathed a bit
easier. He didn’t like to think things from Collin’s perspective, but he
couldn’t help it. In his place, he probably would have refused to
cooperate also. He was glad that he’d not left any lasting damage on
the guy though at the beginning he was prepared to kill him if
necessary. It was really a wakeup call for everyone and about time to
face the fact that a lot of their enemies were either manipulated or
coerced into this battle.
“All right, enough of that. Cage, what are your instincts telling
you? Did you have any other choice? On the long term, you might as
well save his life and it’s not as if we won’t try our hardest to save his
daughter. Our best is better than the options he has right now. So,
enough of that. What do you think we should do about him?”
Caden pulled his nose from his phone, having finished updating
his mate and his brother-in-law. Adair had left with Aeri to retrieve
Mikkal and Mallick was holding up the clinic with Kraken while
Kanael brainstormed with them. He didn’t like being apart from his
mate and babies especially now when they were practically sitting on
a time bomb and had two of their strongest fighters away.
“We should negotiate. We’re better off keeping him in his
position, working with us instead of against. For that we need—”
“To get the daughter.”
Kanael hummed absently in agreement, and Cage exchanged a
wary look with Caden. He turned to Kanael as soon as he started to
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speak, amazed that he’d not thought of what the Original was saying
beforehand.
“Me thinks that we’re sitting ducks if we don’t change some of
our ways. Instead of just responding to what A’Rael throws our way,
what if we take the fight to him? I’m thinking it shouldn’t be that hard
to raid some of his known bases. Preventively strike and dismantle
them. Maybe we’ll gather some more info while we’re at it. We know
that we can’t infiltrate his operation, we tried before with no success,
and nobody wants to lose other good men.”
Caden’s face darkened, eyes glittering cool as ice and Cage
grimaced, having already read the mission files. They had retrieved
their agents in pieces. Not a success, no.
“We need to take the fight to him. I get it that a lot had happened
lately. In the last one year and a half since Aeri came back from the
dead, it had been a constant change around here. Yes, we have little
ones now. Kale is ready to pop any day now, too. We need to rally
around and protect them, yes. We also need to secure a better future
for those children. We are stronger than ever. Our numbers increase
daily, and I’m not talking only about our valley’s residents. My son is
back, and he has a strong mate at his side. I’ve found Kraken, and my
powers are steadily growing, stabilizing. Killa found us, found his
mate, too. Caden pulled his head out of his ass—”
“Hey!”
Cage laughed at the wolf’s expression, and Kanael just rolled over
the other Original’s indignation.
“—and finally saw what was before him all this time. We have
Badar out there and another Daminion brother on the loose, a Seer at
that. Thank gods A’Rael hasn’t got to them yet if we are to believe
Collin. And then, you, Cage. A lost Original, a strong one that is still
discovering his powers and your own mate, our old friend, Mikkal.
The hell are we doing still thumbling our thumbs around here? I say
strike back and let him have a taste of what he’s against.”
The silence was telling. Even Caden, the most prudent of them
now that his mate has just given birth couldn’t find fault in Kanael’s
logic. Cage’s brain was already cataloging all the information SAD
had on A’Rael’s movements. They were all startled by the arrival of a
security guard, huffing out of breath after he stopped next to them.
“Sirs!”
Kanael rolled his eyes and mock-frowned at Caden.
“What did you do with them, shock therapy? I’m expecting them
to military salute every time I pass one of your guys.”
“It’s called discipline, not something you would be acquainted
with.”
“Sirs!”
Cage stepped between the two Originals and focused on the wide-
eyed guard. A name tag with a name written on hung on the uniform’s
chest pocket.
“What is it, Timothy?”
“Sirs! They just barged in! There are like twenty of them and their
leader is-is-is—”
“Is?”
Kanael seemed far too amused considering what the guard was
retelling. Caden’s eyes glowed icy-blue as the Original extended his
senses to check the perimeter. Cage’s nose was assaulted by the smell
of strangers, tiredness, anxiousness, and excitement. The emotions
were almost overwritten by the stench of apprehension coming from
the guard and Cage thought they most likely were the strangers’
emotions. Nothing dark to them, though the situation was indeed
worrying. They were all moving toward the door while Timothy was
still trying to catch his breath and calm down enough to make sense.
What they saw in the middle of their main road, blasted front
gates barely hanging in the wind, blew Cage’s mind. A group of
children, some teenagers, some just babies. All dirty, clothes torn in
places, splotches of blood randomly scattered and in the middle of the
two adult males. Well if Cage had thought his brother’s mate
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intimidating, Killa had nothing on this guy. Their faces would be
identical if not for the dark expression this guy was sporting, muscles
tensed as if he’d spring and attack at any second, clothes all slashed
and bloodied, half his face covered in hair that could only be called
fur, as was all skin peeking through the destroyed clothes. He looked
like a mix between Killa and a polar bear. Where Killa’s hair was
dark, this guy’s was so white he almost sparkled. The better to
contrast with the blood splattered on him.
The opposite of him, the willowy guy at his elbow was a picture
of calm and serenity. Sun-streaked dark brown hair, green-aquamarine
eyes and porcelain skin, his clothes were intact and looked almost
pressed, his expression vaguely amused and quirky, pouty lips almost
smiling. He didn’t look much like Kale and Dale, that was until you
saw the shape of his nose, the stubborn brow, and an equally
determined jaw. He looked different, but one could immediately see
that they were brothers.
“Caliel. And Badar. Finally!”
Kanael’s voice shook a bit before the Original shrieked his
delight. Behind him, Kale waddled to a stop, eyes as round as his
belly, Dale close behind. The brothers looked at each other before
advancing as a single entity toward their long-lost brother, now less
serene and almost panicky under their scrutiny.
“Caliel.”
“Welcome home.”
And it was that simple.
****
The operation was a go. They still had planning to do, intel to
gather but they had all agreed that it was the wisest step they could
take. The valley protected too many people for them to afford to leave
it dangling in front of A’Rael’s face. They needed to divert the
Enchanter’s attention from their main quarters and maybe divide their
forces a bit, so they weren’t all concentrated here. After all, the shield
protecting the valley could take care of most of the attacks, and what
it couldn’t, the Originals and some carefully selected guards were
more than sufficient to take care of any threat. They had grown, not
only in numbers but in strength and organization, too.
Dale and Kale had spent most of the week following their taciturn
brother all over the place, two steps behind, ready to help, looking
like lost ducklings half the time. The Seer seemed caught between
exasperated and a fond, annoyed expression. It could go either way at
any time. Badar had retreated to Killa’s and Keen’s quarters, rarely
showing his face. The children went with him to Killa’s displeasure as
it cut short the time he had to ravish his mate. Arrangements for
extending one of the wings had been made, and construction had
already started. Plans had included a vast apartment for Cage, too, a
smirking Kanael pointing out that he most likely would be having a
permanent guest, so no, it wasn’t too large.
Aeri and Adair had been forced to detour in order to lose their
pursuers and were late in returning. Kale looked constipated every
time he checked their progress, large hand protectively cupping his
swollen belly most of the time as he waited for the return of his mate.
Mallick had taken to sleeping in the med facilities, working day and
night at breaking his father’s control on the catatonic army, they had
more than two thousand people to take care of, more arriving every
day from different corners of the world where the domin had bases.
Everyone just wanted something to happen already. It was becoming
too stressful to just hope and wait. Cage was restless in a way he
hadn’t thought possible, jumping out of his skin with restlessness as
he waited, bated breath, for any news concerning his mate.
In the wake of all the events of late, he got to wondering again if
all this separating bullshit made any sense. He’d grown, yes, but his
older problems, the emotional damage he’d suffered due to his life
until then, that was all still there. Cage had a suspicion that for that to
get better, he needed a support system and to rely on the people that
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cared about him, not to try to wish it away, pretending he was an
island and all that. Yes, maybe he’d discovered some more TV shows.
Oprah, among them. Kanael said that he was a menace when he had
access to a remote control. Most of the time though, the other Original
was the one that suggested certain shows, not to mention that he’d
upgraded their TV subscription and introduced Cage to the wonders
of streaming so who was he to talk? Enabler.
It all came to an end a couple of weeks before Easter. They didn’t
celebrate the holiday as most of the human world did, preferring the
pagan versions to the Christian holidays and celebrating the passing
of seasons. Everyone wanted to make it happen for the children this
year, especially now that they had more than a dozen orphans in their
care, and children in the family too so it was all a loud mess, the
excitement of the little ones and some of the adults overwhelming.
Cage had started to spend most of his time in SAD quarters, perusing
old files and analyzing information, barely sleeping and avoiding his
suddenly too large, and empty, bed. They wouldn’t be staging their
offense until after the passing of the Vernal Equinox, Kanael
mumbling something about charging with energy to use as protection
for their teams. Cage had offered to go, too, but he’d been denied, not
that he regretted it. He knew he could be a good fighter, but his
strengths weren’t best utilized in direct conflict. He was of better use
at headquarters, analyzing the live feed and directing the teams with
Dale.
To his surprise, the guy had a wicked mind and tons of
information at his disposal, considering he was the Librarian, sort of a
Seer of the past and that shouldn’t be as surprising as it was. Between
him and Caliel, the Seer of future, they were set. It was a fight they
couldn’t lose, but they still had to be careful and plan it well.
Casualties were not acceptable in any of their eyes, enough had died
because of A’Rael as it was.
Cage was lost in thought, reading and rereading all the info they
had on A’Rael’s movements and strengths, his techniques and
preferred means of attack, when suddenly he felt that he wasn’t alone

in the dark office. He stubbornly kept his heartbeat stable and
breathing easy, eyes quickly darting around to catch a glimpse of who
was spying on him. Because someone was, his instincts were hard to
fool. He slowly inhaled, searching for a disturbance in the layers of
smells around the office, steadily identifying each and every nuance
until his breath hitched and wide-eyed, he turned straight to the source
of the sharp aroma making his heart stop and stumble with joy.
“Mikkal.”
“You’re getting good. I even have a concealing charm on me. I’m
sorry. I didn’t mean for you to see me. I know—”
“Mikkal!”
He flew from the chair, clumsily stumbling on the carpet and his
own legs in his rush to reach the man. He didn’t stop until he was at
arm’s length, Mikkal frozen in the doorway as he closed his mouth
with a surprised quiet whine. The sound cut through Cage’s impulsive
actions and stopped him better than a shout would have.
“Mikkal?”
“Any other words in your vocabulary or that’s about it?”
Mikkal’s voice was cold and almost mean as he took a step away
from Cage, his face a mask of indifference.
“It’s not that it matters, I guess. I wanted to tell you that I’m still
alive in case you were curious. I was told you’re the brains behind the
new op we’re preparing. I have some info, too, but I think it’s better if
I write it down and email it to you.”
“No! Mikkal, what—”
“You weren’t there. When I almost died, when I thought for sure
we were toast and all hell had broken open. You. You were here in this
cozy building, this protected valley, not even caring enough to send a
message through Aeri or anything, Cage. Anything would have been
fine.”
The coldness in his mate’s voice broke and let through the hurt,
his mark of indifference cracked, and Cage glimpsed devastation on
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his mate’s face. His feet were stuck on the floor, tongue numb and
useless as Mikkal shook his head and took another step away from
him.
“I guess you figured yourself out in the end. I guess that was my
answer. I didn’t want instant mating, instant love. I just. I wanted a
chance.”
Fuck it. This was not how things were supposed to go when
Mikkal returned. No, he wouldn’t have it. Mikkal had already turned
his back, and Cage knew that if he let the man walk away now, this
was it. Cage had wanted a bit of time to grow and heal, to become
worthy of a mate not. Not this. Not to make Mikkal feel unwanted,
unworthy. Un…unloved.
“Goddammit, can you shut up for a moment and let me give you
your welcome home kiss?”
He didn’t wait for an answer or for Mikkal to turn around. Cage’s
feet finally got the memo and moved as he wanted them, too, closer
and quickly in front of a wide-eyed Mikkal. He reached up and pulled
the taller man’s face closer to him, determined to wipe off that broken,
hopeful expression once and for all. Mikkal should never feel like
this. Never feel that Cage didn’t want him. Wanting him had never
been the problem. Cage had wanted his dream man since the first time
he’d seen him in his dreams. He tried to smile reassuringly but his lips
seemed as frozen as his legs had been, so he just went ahead and
smashed them on the other man’s. Brutal clash, tongue licking the
inside of Mikkal’s slightly parted mouth before he caressed with his
lips, tentatively invading with his tongue and tasting the nectar of his
mate’s smoky flavor.
He moaned when strong, shaky arms pulled him closer, and his
own hands rested on Mikkal’s soft, burgundy shirt. The man smelled
as fresh as he tasted, he’d probably taken a shower before deciding to
hunt Cage down. He wondered if his mate would have said anything
if Cage’s senses had not alerted him to the presence of another. He
couldn’t think of anything else as Mikkal finally lost his hesitation
and his mouth started to practically make love with Cage’s. Sensual
and sinuous darts, small pecks to reacquaint themselves, warm and
wet, his hands clutching at Cage’s back before groping his ass cheeks
and pulling him closer still for a slow, dirty grind and roll.
Oh yeah, this was more than a kiss, this was a conquering, a
statement of ownership and Cage was all in. He’d had time to think
things over, to see how he was on his own in a secure environment.
He’d grown and stood on his own legs, proving to himself that he
could, that he was strong and not a failure. His former worries seemed
far away and childish in the wake of everything that had happened.
Necessary maybe, for him to be ready to go after what he wanted
without hesitation and fear.
He wasn’t foolish enough to think that memories of his former
lives, and current one, too, wouldn’t rear their ugly heads ever again.
They’d make life difficult for him and whoever chose to stick with
him. But he’d given Mikkal a chance, too, a chance to think things
through and see if he still wanted Cage even if Cage wasn’t down for
an ideal instant mating full of flowers and shit. It worked for some but
not for them. Too many things had happened for it to be realistically
possible.
“Hey. I didn’t know I was that bad of a kisser to lose your interest
so fast.”
Cage laughed breathlessly and rested his forehead on his mate’s,
blinking away the wetness in his eyes.
“Just thinking.”
“Uh. Oh. I would be worried, but you’re still grinding on my dick.
Makes thinking quite…hard.”
Mikkal smirked at him, and Cage had to dive in again and kiss
that playful expression off his lips. It led to another minute or ten of
making out, groping and clothes pulling until they were both ready to
get down on the floor and fuck there, in the doorway of SAD quarters.
“Maybe we should relocate. That floor looks not really cozy enough
for what I intend to do to you.”
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Mikkal’s breath hitched, pupils blown wide as an enticing flush
traveled up his neck. Cage wondered if he flushed with his entire
body, realizing that he really wanted to find out, that and everything
else about this man. He also realized that he was speaking out loud,
but he couldn’t regret it when Mikkal looked so…pleased. Touched.
“Really? It. I mean. Are you all right now? Do you—”
“It was never about you. It was about me and my problems. As
cliché as that sounds, it’s true. I needed to know that I can stand on
my own two feet. That I’m still. Well. I guess whole? Or at least not
that broken?”
“Fuck, Cage. You never were broken. You’re a survivor. I’m in
awe of you, don’t you know that?”
Cage sighed and averted his eyes. Maybe he should have
explained it better from the start. Maybe putting it in words from the
beginning would have clarified quite a lot and he could have avoided
hurting his mate so bad in the process.
“I know now. I suck at communicating. I’ll probably not get better
at it soon. It just all happened so fast, you know? And no, I’m not all
better. I’m. Less confused, I guess. Just. Be patient, all right? There
will be times, situations that will bring stuff up for me and—”
“Whatever you need, Cage. Not because you matter more than
me, and I have some sort of martyr complex, but because I care, and I
trust you to care in return. And just to reassure you, I don’t think it
was a bad idea, us figuring some stuff first, before jumping in. The
execution could have been better—”
“Hey! I already said that, stop it!”
Mikkal laughed and kissed the pout off Cage’s lips. They smiled
at each other and lost a minute or two just watching the other,
reassuring themselves that they were there and in agreement.
“I was waiting for news of your return, you know. I know that it
seemed like I was doing my thing while you were fleeing for your life
but—”
“Cage. Stop. We have time. We’ll talk, clear everything up and

make sure we communicate properly from now on. Oh my gods,
either stop grinding on my dick or get naked already! You tease.”
“I’m planning on delivering.”
“Goood. Pants. Off. Now.”
Cage giggled, and Mikkal practically growled when the feline
escaped his arms and quickly went back to his desk. Hmmm. Good
idea, the possibilities with that desk…
“Mind out of my pants. I’m just saving my work and locking the
paper files. You can help if you want us to get out of here sooner.”
Between the two of them, they managed to put everything in their
place, secured under charmed locks and be on their way. Since the
debacle with the spy among their own people, security had gone even
tighter, everybody and everything being under scrutiny. They weren’t
sure of the identity of the banshee, but Collin’s defiant last look clued
Cage in that the guy was still keeping some secrets. Collin had been
taken to the med facility and put under guard there, his finger
regrown, and all of his cuts and bruises healed, courtesy of Kanael.
Thank the gods, too. He hadn’t enjoyed scaring the crap out off a man
just trying to protect his family. Cage shook his head, banishing all
work-related thoughts, his eyes glued to the buns of steel his mate was
flexing in front of him. He had to be doing it on purpose, no one’s ass
was that bouncy naturally.
“You’re staring.”
“You inspire me.”
Mikkal laughed and held the door open for him, groping a feel
when Cage passed by him. They smiled as giddily as children and
shushed each other, remembering that the mansion was maybe castle-
like big, and being extended too to boot, but children with
supernatural hearing were sleeping and not all of them in
soundproofed rooms. They giggled more quietly again, feeling almost
drunk with happiness. Mikkal didn’t want to put a label on it and nix
it but yeah. He felt happy.
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They managed to reach their old rooms, rooms that Mikkal had
barely slept a night in before he’d felt the figurative rug being pulled
from under him. He was a bit leery, and Cage noticed that, stopping to
gently pull the taller man over the threshold. It felt weirdly symbolic,
and Mikkal laughed at the foolishness of his thoughts.
“Come on, grumpy. You’re frowning so hard you’ll get wrinkles
on your pretty face.”
“Asshole.”
“Sure. We both are and have those. Let’s put them to good use.”
He almost laughed at the crudity, surprised to see Cage so relaxed and
excited about them together. Last time they’d been here, it had all had
a dreamy quality about it, their lovemaking had been a stolen moment
out of time, cut off reality as they had indulged in a world that
seemingly only had them. They were both hyperaware of each other
this time. Mikkal could see Cage’s hands slightly shaking despite the
careless attitude he was displaying, and his heart melted yet again.
This man, this brave man was his mate. He was lucky to know him,
even luckier to be wanted by him. He smiled tenderly and stepped
closer until their bodies were almost touching and he could feel
Cage’s ragged breathing caressing his neck. They were both lucky
perhaps, he thought to himself before he leaned into the other’s man
space and indulged in another taste of those reddened, biteable lips.
Cage moaned in his mouth, and Mikkal took it all, giving back just as
much, trying to imprint the moment, the feel, the taste on his brain.
So, he was maybe still a bit unsure of his footing, at least a part of
him was.
“Hey. I can feel you thinking you know. Did you not want—”
“Oh, I want. Wanting was never a problem. The opposite, wanting
too much got me usually in trouble.”
“Shit. So. About that talk. We should probably clear the air before
we stir it up again, huh.”
Cage’s face scrunched in disappointment, his hands stopping in
their progress of disrobing him and Mikkal almost said fuck it, they
could talk later, more skin, skin was good. He shook his head,
pointless gesture as it did nothing to lift the haze of desire blanketing
his mind. No, dammit. He deserved to know where he stood, sex-
addled brain notwithstanding.
“What are we doing? Is this just sex? Is this more? Are you ready
now? I need to know, Cage. I cannot get my hopes up just to—”
“Shush, you. You don’t have to worry about that, not if I have
anything to say. I was just. Maybe being stupid, maybe I needed time
to find my footing and really, you are a distraction. I can’t hear myself
thinking when you’re around. I guess I got scared?”
Mikkal barely stopped himself from reaching over and holding
Cage. His mate smiled at him reassuringly before sighing and
continuing with his explanation.
“There is also the fact that I don’t have my memories from my
time before with you. I think a part of me was worried, still am if I’m
to be honest, that I’ll never measure up. That you’ll just deal with less
because that’s all that you can have.”
“You’re a moron.”
“Gee, thanks. I’ll have you know that apparently, I have the
highest IQ around here. I got tested. Little old me is a genius.”
Mikkal restrained a smirk at the cuteness of Cage pouting and
posturing.
“Doesn’t make you less of a big old moron. Good thing too
because like this, we match. I had almost the same thoughts, you
know. That long, long time ago and now, after finding you again, too.
I was a simple man, Cage. Orphaned and raised in the jungle by the
tribes, no experience, no outside knowledge. And you were…Nigal
was. He was more, so much more. He was spectacular, worldly and
funny and yeah, I felt not worthy. After two millennia on my own, I
got over this bullshit. In the end, it’s not my place to think for my
mate, for you. Same applies to you when your insecurities get the best
of you.”
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Aeryn Jaden
Cage’s face was dark and stormy, and Mikkal mentally rewound
what he’d said to make his mate look so gloomy. Shit. Ugh.
“You’re not Nigal, Cage. You have the same essence, the same
main traits of personality of the man you were that time but you’re.
You’re so much more. You’re grown into your own as did I.”
Mikkal was ready to continue, he was ready to spend the rest of
his life proving to Cage just how they fit, better, stronger now than
ever. If only Cage would let him.
“I think. I think I get it. We’re changed. Old you wouldn’t fit me,
neither would Nigal fit you anymore, isn’t it?”
He let out a relieved breath and this time didn’t curb his impulse.
Once his arms went around Cage, his body relaxed, and he could
almost feel himself purring. Strange, he had not felt any feline entity
inside his mind for a while now. Since Cage had awakened to his
powers. But his instinct was still to purr when happy. He could still
shift and benefited from the same old quick reflexes and other
augmented sense.
Mikkal was changed. Even without his mate’s essence inside him,
he wasn’t the same as he’d been when merely a kit, lost in the jungle.
He wasn’t only a bonded human, mate to an Original. Truly, maybe
he’d never been completely human. After all, the old times saw more
than a couple of interracial offspring. He was fully a shifter, in the
more regular way this time not as before, when he’d felt like he was
possessed by a feline spirit. He mentally snorted at the thought. Not
that it mattered. Firstly, Mikkal had been and always would be his
mate’s as Cage was his in return. Not by design. Not because they
had, too. But because they chose so and wanted it more than anything
else.
Some of his musings were probably plainly written on his face
because Cage smiled sweetly and shook his head in mock
exasperation.
“Sap.”
****
Their discussion had done more than clear the air and tension
between them. It had settled something deep inside Cage. He’d gone
from being an abused, broken failure of a shifter to being free, finding
his mate and finding himself. Their time apart had hurt as Mikkal had
been the first person besides his brother, Keen, to pay attention to him
and care for him. It had also made some things more than clear. Cage
was not caught in the moment, overwhelmed by all the changes. No,
he felt calm and centered, more himself than ever, having had the time
to grow, yes, and discover just who he was. Growing into his powers
had done wonders for him, his mind for the first time clear, thoughts
not muddled and reality feeling well, really not as if he was living in a
continuous daze. He was still dealing with his past, taking it day by
day, something he didn’t think would change soon. But Cage had
hope now, he had friends, he had a man willing to stand next to him,
and they were taking it slow, building a strong foundation for their
future. Not to mention that he was far from helpless and that did
wonders for his self-esteem.
There were things he didn’t think he was ready for yet. Sexual
things that still spooked him and he saw that Mikkal understood. Cage
didn’t want to promise anything, but he thought that with time he’d be
ready to receive another in his body if that another was Mikkal. He
finished taking the clothes off his mate, quickly getting rid of his, too,
his heart beating out of his chest with anticipation. Last time had been
fast and unplanned. Cage had barely had the time to enjoy it. He
wanted to do it properly this time. If only his mate would get on that
plan and stop trying to drive him insane with that wicked mouth on
his neck.
“I don’t need slow, Cage. I need to feel you. I need you to fill that
aching, empty space inside me. Fuck slow. Better yet, hurry up and
fuck me.”
!150
Aeryn Jaden
Shiiit. Whatever plans Cage might have had flew right out the
window as a mischievous Mikkal tripped him on the bed and climbed
right on top of him.
“You deserve—”
He tried again, but Mikkal wouldn’t have it. His big hand went
straight to grabbing Cage’s dick, and that sentence got finished in a
strangled gurgle. His palms were wet and slick, and Cage may have
blanked out for a second or two as Mikkal pumped up and down,
covering all of Cage with wet heat, back arched as his other hand
quickly worked his own ass open and ready for Cage.
“Gods, slow down. Oh. Fuck. Mikkal.”
“Yes, dear?”
Cage glared at his smirking, breathless mate, feeling quite
breathless too as he took in the sight of a flushed Mikkal, shining with
sweat, his eyes gleaming with passion. He had to breathe shallowly or
else the scent of them together would finish him in a second, and he
very much wanted back in the tight heat of Mikkal’s body. He’d
missed it with every second away.
“Asshole.”
“Yes, dear. Wanna feel it?”
He didn’t get much more warning than that, and a second later
Mikkal was boring down, passage clutching tight and Cage was
laughing and holding on as if his life depended on Mikkal’s rhythmic
movements. Who knows, maybe it was. After all, he could swear he
was either having a stroke or discovering nirvana. Mikkal’s laughter
was almost painful as his ass contracted around Cage’s weeping dick.
“Dork. Shut up and kiss me.”
Mikkal laughed in his mouth, and it got messy and awkward and
so right, so them that Cage could not get his breath back as he fucked
into his mate’s pliant body. He moaned and twisted his arms around
Mikkal’s arched body, clutched at the sweaty muscles dancing under
his mate’s gorgeous skin, fucked harder up, meeting Mikkal’s
downward pushes each and every time with a precise push on the
man’s prostate. To better make Mikkal growl with pleasure and his
mate didn’t disappoint.
“I won’t mate you…not now. We’re doing this right. You deserve
to be—”
“Shut up before I make you. Bullshit, Cage. We tried that before,
and maybe you don’t remember it, but I surely do. Maybe it saved our
lives right then but now—shit, do that again! Oh gods your dick
should have a monument dedicated.”
Cage smirked and pushed up again, faster, tighter as the walls
encasing said praiseworthy dick spasmed around him. His vision went
black for a moment before he regained some of his control and
managed a breathless laugh.
“You were saying?”
“Asshole. Quit distracting me.”
“Mmm, I’m not doing anything…”
Mikkal growled again and took matters into his hands. Well, more
like hips, as he started a fast rhythm again regardless of Cage standing
still, his control hanging by a thin thread.
“I’m saying, I don’t need wooing. Maybe we’re not at the happily
ever after stage, maybe we won’t ever be after we’d see how most
fairy tales end in real life. Fuck that. We can make our own original
story, together. I’m certain of that. I don’t need any more time. I need
my mate.”
“Fu-fucking hell, Mikkal! How can you still speak?”
“I’m talented that way.”
His gorgeous mate swayed and circled from his hips, on top of
Cage, his passage contracting around Cage’s weeping dick and that
was it for the feline. He shouted and arched off the bed, lifting both of
them as he tightly grasped at Mikkal’s hips and quickly delivered a
series of short, almost brutal jabs in that clenching heat. Mikkal went
still for a moment, Cage’s instincts took advantage of that, and he
struck, biting deeply on the meaty, golden skin of the left pec, right on
top of his beloved’s heart, binding their spirits at last. At last, together.
!152
Aeryn Jaden
Everything else was just details. They had time to figure it out. Cage
sighed and cuddled next to his drowsing mate, feeling complete and
settled. He was where he was supposed to be, and all his misgivings
quieted down once and for all. Mikkal squeezed his hand, pulling
Cage’s arms tighter around him and Cage let a short laugh at the
rightness of it all, basking in the moment. Tomorrow could fend for
itself for all he cared right now.
He knew they will be all right.
Epilogue
They were all currently seated around the new kitchen table,
passing around food, exchanging words and talking shop. It was a
common sight in the mansion. The couples enjoyed having dinner
together, and a lot of times they used the time spent at the dinner table
to pick at each other’s brains and ask for opinions on different
matters. This day was not any different, with some couples eating,
some talking and some indulging in other activities.
Mallick came up for air but not before teasingly biting on his
mate’s Adam’s apple. Adair’s flushed face made him glow with
happiness, and a snort could be heard from his right, where Aeri
pouted like the most petulant five-year-old being denied his toys. His
own mate, Kale, had not come for dinner. It’s not that he didn’t
understand. They all knew it was getting harder and harder for the
domin to even get out of bed lately with how advanced his pregnancy
was and with no sign of it closing to an end anytime soon.
Further down the table, Keen and Kanael were theorizing on
different ways they could speed up their slow-going progress with the
catatonic army. They had managed to wake a limited number of
people, the newly turned ones. With the older victims, no luck so far.
Kanael turned toward Cage before quickly turning back to his own
mate. Another couple macking on each other. They had a rule for that,
no locking lips at the dinner table but…Kanael’s eyes strayed to his
mate’s own lips, and he sighed. So far he was the only one respecting
said rule, but as usual, he probably wouldn’t last long either.
Further down the table, Badar was cooing at Dale’s babies, giving
Caden and his mate a break to eat while the drasher played with the
little demons. At his side, a silent Caliel frowned in consternation and
Kanael almost snorted. Odd guy that one, a heart of gold he could see
that, but very much confused. Knowing too much could do that to
!154
Aeryn Jaden
someone. His eyes strayed again at Kraken and his infuriating smirk.
Keen had turned toward Killa while Mallick and Adair, Kanael’s son,
were shoveling in food at record speed. At his side, Cage was hand-
feeding Mikkal. Lovesick puppies. All of them. He glimpsed Caden
smile slow and teasingly at Dale and noticed Aeri’s empty chair. Fast
little bugger that one. He smiled to himself, abstaining from glancing
in the direction Kale and Aeri’s room was. It wouldn’t be long now
until they had even more little feet around and he returned Kraken’s
hand squeeze with a mischievous smile of his own. Maybe soon it’d
be time for the two of them again. More love, more time together,
maybe…more babies even. They had time now. They were building a
future safe enough for it to be possible. Kanael knew it, he’d seen it in
their future.
Yes, it wouldn’t be long now.
Kael, Allani, and Han were born on a dark and stormy night,
fifteen months on the dot after their conception. Supernaturals and
sensitive humans alive felt it, like a shift in the energy, a current
vibrating the very fabric of reality, though not many knew why. Those
that knew were either in that very room, celebrating the new lives, or
hiding in darkness, fearing what the change brought them. The
children that would end A’Rael’s reign of terror had been born.
They came screaming and kicking into the world, their arrival
announced by an actual, literal sonic boom that was felt worldwide
for those more attuned to the secret side of existence. Consequently,
all of the so-called catatonic army woke up as soon as the three
newborn brothers were put together in their bassinet. Somewhere, not
so far away, a lone figure collapsed to the floor as the strings of his
mind unraveled, and the old made place for renewal.
THE END
AERYNJADENAUTHOR.WEEBLY.COM
!156
Aeryn Jaden


Jaden Aeryn Missing His Cage

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!

Return of the Originals 6

Missing His Cage

Was this a second chance to regain something Mikkal had thought

Genre: Alternative (M/M, Gay), Contemporary, Paranormal,

Return of the Originals 6

Siren Publishing, Inc.

MISSING HIS CAGE

First Publication: April 2018

Cover design by Harris Channing

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: This literary work may not be

WARNING: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this

If you find a Siren-BookStrand e-book or print book being sold or

“Another one bites the dust!” Yay!

This is for my family. The living and the dead.

For other titles by Aeryn Jaden, please visit

Nigal had everything he’d ever wanted. He still couldn’t believe it

on the flushed skin, their bodies reacting to the closeness between

Cage was used to feeling pain. Be it emotional or physical. On

noticed over the TV clatter distracting him, a lot of other empty

“Nah, that sounds like a necromancer playing around.” Mikkal

This was Cage’s eighth reincarnation. Of course, at the time he

couldn’t remember everything, only pieces of what he really wanted

A couple of days later, he’d perfected the art of dumpster diving,

Carrying an unconscious, bleeding man home was not one of

“What’s your name?”

“So he’s your mate.”

“I-is Kale there? I need to explain. I can’t…he’s vulnerable. He

Umm. Yeah. Better to get something to eat before he expired of

Mikkal quickly packed up some clothes and stuffed his essentials

“I was a savage. I was living in South America, deep in the jungle

They got to the border of the domin’s territory around sunrise,

fast-speed adventure. But then again, he wasn’t being fair. Knowing

“Stop smirking at yourself. Yeah, you’re the shit.”

them. It was freeing to finally acknowledge it in front of someone

“Right. Let’s do this.”

“Um. In my defense, we had other things to worry about? And it’s

Cage almost shifted, something under his skin itching to be

“Why don’t you show me where I’m to sleep? I need a shower

Breakfast went in a daze, both of them tired and overwhelmed by

felt Mikkal’s engorged cock trail slickly on his cheek, and he

Cage woke up to an empty bed and musky sheets. He absently

Cage groaned in the pillow, his head already starting to pound

“You’re my mate. That is not a choice.”

ourselves and then come together. Well. We could be fantastic. We

It really sucked. There were days when he woke up cursing

In the course of a month, Cage found a lot of things about himself.

roof after a week or so, his sense of smell was unfortunately

“Stop pestering me and get back to work.”

“What if we wake them up without their master’s order? Would

“Heard you cracked the Puppets’ Case.”

“My pocket-size mate is the deadliest of us all. He could give

“Well, this was easy.”

“I think he’s telling the truth.”

preferred means of attack, when suddenly he felt that he wasn’t alone

“Cage. Stop. We have time. We’ll talk, clear everything up and

Siren Publishing, Inc.

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