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.“Nervous,” he finished lamely.“Yeah.” To Jason’s astonishment, it was Dominic who answered him.“We all had several weird things happen to us in the last few days.You simply had one too many to deal with.”“Yeah,” was the only thing Jason said, even though in his mind he added, “especially since I’m not used to feeling all these emotions.” Well, at least it looked like there was one good outcome this whole mate-marking-slash-initial-branding thing.He didn’t need to worry about all of his doubts when it came to this relationship anymore.It looked like, for better or worse, he was bound to Tyler, and both Ty and Toby were bound to him.“So,” he said in much calmer voice after clearing his throat.“Are there any perks of being mated to a shifter?” he asked Jack, who was watching it all from the corner of the room.It was clear the man was feeling uncomfortable.“Yeah, are there any?” Toby smiled coyly.“‘Cause I’ve got to tell you, Ty, since I know I need to agree to the whole biting thing, you better have good arguments to convince me.” He smiled to show he was joking.“Umm.” Jack still looked uncomfortable but relaxed the tiniest bit.“It depends.It’s different for each kind of shifter.I heard that wolves get a ‘mating link.’ It’s a mind link allowing them to talk to each other in their heads.With foxes, it’s similar, though to a different extent.They can feel what the other one is feeling, but there is no thought-reading involved.And cuberows…” There was a hitch in his voice.“When we find a destined mate and they are not a shifter, we…” He looked around and said in a stronger voice, “Remember this is a secret I’m not supposed to reveal.We could be hunted if it got out.” He waited for assurances that everybody will keep whatever he says to themselves.“We can change them,” he said softly in a near whisper.“What?” Tyler didn’t understand.“We can change them.We can turn our prospective mate into a shifter.” Finished Jack in a slightly stronger voice.There was a sudden silence while everybody digested the news.“Well, that sucks!” said Toby crossing his arms over his chest and sitting back on a sofa.“Why couldn’t you be a cuberow, kitty?” He turned to Tyler.“I sure as hell don’t appreciate being the odd human out in our relationship,” he said, successfully relieving the tension.“Hey!” Jason pretended to be offended.“I’m human as well!”“Yeah, right!” There were snickers answering his statement.“A reality-changing, lightning-shooting human,” corrected Toby.“But a human nonetheless,” finished Tyler, trying hard not to laugh.He didn’t succeed and burst into laughter, soon followed by others.* * * *“So…” said Jason as they were finally left alone.The fey twins and Dominic went to plan their journey back home, and Jack took Ty’s laptop and a phone and went about having his stuff moved from the storage.He was a part of their pack or streak or whatever the hell it was they now formed.“So,” answered Tyler with a small smile.“You bit me,” said Jay unintelligently, but heck, who could expect intelligence in circumstances like this?“That I did.” Tyler kept right on smiling, and Jason couldn’t even be angry with him.“It sometimes works when kits—that’s our name for tiger-shifter kids—are panicking.It is some residual instinct or something.It calms them down.I thought with me marking you as my mate and beginning the bonding process, it could work.And it did.”“Yeah.” Jason couldn’t look his men in the eyes.And since when did he start calling them both “his men”? Wasn’t he supposed to be cautious about the whole three-way relationship thing?“So, we’re now bonded together, right?” Toby seemed to read his thoughts.“Since you marked Jason, Ty, and he kind of marked us? It means we’re an item, right?” There was a hint of hope in Toby’s voice, and Jason found out he couldn’t hold on to all his fears and doubts.The young man deserved better after all he’d gone through.“Only if the two of you are okay with it.” Tyler tried to hold on to his strong and composed front, but Jason could see right through it.The big, bad tiger was just as uncertain about the whole relationship thing as Jay and Toby were.“Hell, if you two don’t mind me branding you with some freaky magical-lightning marks, then who am I to disagree? I say let’s give it a fair shot, huh?” Toby beamed at Jason’s somewhat gruff answer.He should have strung something more romantic, but hey, he lived without emotions for so long that he’d probably not recognize romantic if it bit him in the ass.“I don’t mind,” Toby said, his smile lighting his entire face.Jason hadn’t seen him so happy since he met him.“If you don’t mind me biting you and starting the whole mating bond thing, then I say we’re even.” Tyler did not look comfortable.It was clear he still felt guilty for breaking the weird shifter law he had no idea even existed.“Nope, I don’t mind.Not one bit,” said Jason quickly.“Then we’re good.” Tyler was visibly relieved.“Yep, we’re fine.” Jason gave a small tentative smile.“Well,” interrupted Toby, “not exactly.”“What do you mean?” Tyler frowned.“What I mean is…” Toby said in a serious tone before grinning wickedly, “I seem to be missing a matching mark from you.”“Oh.” It was Tyler’s turn to utter unintelligent things.“Yes, oh!” Toby got up from where he was still sitting on a sofa and stalked towards them.“So should we move the whole thing to the bedroom or what?” A lustful gleam seemed to shine in his eyes as he spoke.Jason licked his lips and answered, his body tense with anticipation.“To the bedroom, definitely to the bedroom!”Chapter ElevenUnfortunately their trip to the bedroom had to wait.As soon as they left the living room, they were called to the kitchen by Jim.“So, listen guys, we were talking.” He started as soon as they were all seated.“I know you said that, thanks to your, mojo these creeps won’t be able to track us back down to where they kidnapped Tim from, but…”He hesitated as if unsure of how to continue.“It’s not that I doubt you.” He addressed Jason, and it seemed as if his hesitation was due to not wanting to insult the man.“I simply don’t feel safe in my old apartment anymore.We asked Jack, and it looks like he was kidnapped from the same town Tim was.It seems that it was one of their usual hunting grounds.Even if you closed the main operation with turning the vampire to ash, there might have been others.And we wouldn’t want to risk that they somehow learn about the rescue mission and come after either of us again.”Jason listened, not sure where the whole speech was going.Jiminy paused again, and Tim took over with a deep intake of breath.“What my brother is trying to ask is, wouldn’t you mind us moving closer to you? It appears that Dominic’s apartment is actually only one town over.He asked Jim to move in with him and was so kind to offer me his spare bedroom until I can find something for myself [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]