Let the Rain Come Down [The Moonlight Breed 6] (Siren Publishing Everlasting Classic ManLove) by Gabrielle Evans (read a book TXT) 📗

“He’ll be here in a couple of hours. Can’t you just wait?”

“No.” Crossing his arms over his chest, Oscar took up a defensive posture and frowned. It was nice to have friends who cared about him, and he appreciated Braxton’s protective attitude, but he wasn’t a child.

Braxton looked like he would argue further, but a quick glance at Keeton had him sighing in resignation. “It stopped snowing, but at least change into some boots and grab your coat.”

Deciding it was solid advice, Oscar darted down the hall to his room, pulled his snow boots on, and hustled back before anyone had time to come up with a good reason to stop him. “I’ll be back,” he said a bit breathlessly as he waved to his friends.

“Get your coat!” Braxton ordered.

“Yes, Dad,” Oscar groused with a roll of his eyes. Reaching for his puffy coat that hung on a hook just beside the front door, he paused with his hand still outstretched and examined the green polish that adorned his nails.

“No, sir,” Keeton said firmly, grabbing Oscar’s coat and holding it up for him to slip his arms through. “If he doesn’t think you are the sexiest thing on two legs, he’s a damn fool.” Leaning closer, he lowered his voice and whispered into Oscar’s ear. “Red and gray, yes. There was also a whole lot of very warm purplish blue in your mate’s aura. Demitrius is crazy about you, honey.”

Armed with the encouraging information, Oscar zipped up his coat, smiled at his friends, and slipped out the door before he could second-guess himself again. His outward appearance wasn’t as important as what was on the inside, but he definitely couldn’t wait to see Demitrius’s reaction when he walked through his mate’s door.

Chapter Eight

Demitrius grumbled under his breath the entire way to his little cabin near the back of the property. Going to the main house had been a spur-of-the-moment decision, but he was glad he made the trek. Though the sun was still up, the mansion had been buzzing with activity. Twenty-two new paranormals had been brought in, all malnourished, naked or nearly so, and frightened of their own shadows.

It had taken months for the Enforcers to locate the coven in the nearby mountains that they’d been searching for, since the vampires were continuously moving to throw them off the trail. In the end, Bannon Murphy had come through, though, and a lot of people had been saved. It was a day of victory, and Demitrius was happy to have been even a small part of it.

He wasn’t nearly as happy about the damn snow, though. Gods, he hated the crap. Seeing Xander standing on his front steps with his arms crossed over his broad chest didn’t really give him the warm tingles, either. The guy looked like he had something on his mind, and judging by his body language, Demitrius wasn’t going to like what he had to say.

“Why the fuck do you live all the way back here by yourself?”

Well, that certainly wasn’t what he expected. “I like the privacy.”

“Bullshit,” Xander replied at once. “I didn’t even know there were cabins this far back here.”

It really wasn’t that far from the dorms where Oscar stayed. Xander made it sound like Demitrius lived on another planet or something. The reality was that his home was barely a quarter mile from the dorms, though it was on “vampire” lands rather than the new acreage purchased for the shifters. It just happened to back up to the forests.

“What do you want, Brighton?” If the guy was there to give him shit about Oscar, he could take his concerns and shove them right up his sanctimonious ass.

Surprisingly, Xander sighed and relaxed his aggressive posture. “Braxton called. I’m sure you can guess why.”

Yeah, he knew why. Gossip had spread like wildfire about his mating to Oscar in the last couple of weeks. He was honestly surprised that it had taken the alpha so long to come speak to him about it. While most were happy for him and his mate, there were still some who were frightened for Oscar’s well-being. Apparently, Braxton was one of those people. It hurt a little, because he’d thought he got along okay with the little twerp, but he supposed he should have known better.

On the other hand, he did like knowing that Oscar had someone so protective of him, someone other than Demitrius to look out for his best interests. The connection between them was too strong for him to see things objectively, but if he was causing Oscar more harm than good, he hoped someone would be brave enough to point it out to him.

Xander arched an eyebrow at him and smirked as if he knew exactly what was running through Demitrius’s head. “Look, I’m not here to bust your balls. However, when my mate says jump, I ask how high, how far, and how many times. So, let’s pretend that I gave you the big brother spiel, you told me to fuck off, and everyone lived happily ever after.”

“You tell me that you’ll feed me my sac if I hurt Oscar. I tell you my intentions are honorable. You don’t believe me. I don’t care. Is that kind of what you’re looking for?”

Xander bobbed his head a couple of times while he chuckled under his breath. “If you didn’t go out of your way to be such a dick, people might actually like you.”

“I seriously doubt it. Are we done here?” He knew what the majority of people thought of him, knew that despite Xander’s words, the shifter had warned his pack to be on guard because Demitrius was dangerous. It wasn’t anything new, but he wouldn’t have someone stand on the steps of his home and lie to his face.

He got along well with the Enforcers. Stavion respected him. Oscar’s friends were very much in favor of him hanging around all the time. So far, Oscar had shown no signs that he