Let the Rain Come Down [The Moonlight Breed 6] (Siren Publishing Everlasting Classic ManLove) by Gabrielle Evans (tools of titans ebook .txt) 📕

“I have a better idea.” Urging him to his feet, Demitrius rose from the bed as well and took Oscar’s much smaller hand in his huge paw. “How about we walk together?”

Like equals. Oscar was a self-admitted coward and went out of his way to avoid conflict. Demitrius was very quickly becoming someone he could see himself fighting tooth and nail for, though.

“Together it is.”

Chapter Four

“What else is on this to-do list of yours?”

Demitrius wrapped his arm around Oscar’s shoulders and tucked the smaller man next to his side. Their sunrise walks had become something of a routine, and even after two weeks, he looked forward to them every morning. Though their relationship had progressed to little more than hand holding and the occasional cheek kiss, Demitrius found he liked just spending time with Oscar.

“It’s not a big list. I’d like to make a snow angel, dance in the rain, and maybe learn how to paint.”

No, it wasn’t a big list at all, but Demitrius found it refreshing. Oscar didn’t want to travel the world, earn fortune and fame, or anything else extravagant. The innocence in his smile and the way his eyes lit up at the smallest things was addicting, and Demitrius often found himself devising ways to bring out the response in his mate.

It wasn’t his first guard detail, and he doubted it would be his last. Oscar was different, though. It wasn’t so much a job or an obligation as it was an ingrained need to keep him safe and happy at all costs. If someone had told him he’d feel so strongly for Oscar after such a short time, Demitrius would have laughed in their face.

“Are you ever going to kiss me or at least let me see you smile?”

It hadn’t happened right away, but in the last few days, Oscar had talked him into going without his sunglasses when they were alone. Demitrius still kept them close at all times in case they were interrupted, but Oscar made it easy for him to forget his odd appearance. This was a bit different, though.

The tendency to turn away or cover his mouth when he smiled or talked was something he’d done since puberty, and he barely realized he did it anymore. Under different circumstances, he would refuse and possibly even become agitated. Oscar deserved to know the real him, though. It was only fair for the shifter to understand what he was getting into before things went any further between them.

Stopping under a large tree near the pond, he knelt down in the grass to compensate for their vast difference in size and rested his hands on Oscar’s hips. “I want to show you, to tell you everything, but just remember that no matter what I look like, it doesn’t change who I am on the inside.”

Oscar rolled his eyes and tapped Demitrius on the tip of his nose. “You worry too much. I’ve already decided that I want to belong to you, so stop stalling.”

That was an odd way to phrase it, but Demitrius couldn’t refute how it made his heart flutter and warmed him right down to his soul. It was easy to say those kinds of things when life was uncomplicated, though. Unfortunately, Demitrius was about to complicate the hell out of their relationship.

Instead of smiling, he simply opened his mouth and tilted his head back on his shoulders, giving Oscar a perfect view of his sharp, pointed teeth with slightly elongated canines. Removing one hand from his mate’s hip, he pushed the hair back from his face, exposing the pointed tip of his right ear.

The reaction he received wasn’t at all what he expected. Rather than show fear or disgust, Oscar actually smiled at him as he traced the cartilage of Demitrius’s ear with his fingertips. Then Oscar caressed the side of his face as he leaned in and pressed their lips together lightly, lingering just long enough to get his pulse racing.

“Is that your big secret? Pointed ears and sharp teeth? You really thought I couldn’t handle that?”

Shifters didn’t have a half-and-half form. They were either humans or animals. Somewhere in Demitrius’s genetic makeup, there was an abnormality that prevented him from completely changing into either. Being an early bloomer, his first attempt at a full shift came at the age of twelve. He’d been stuck in this bizarre, and often frightening, body ever since, only growing larger with each passing year.

As he tried to explain all of it to his mate, Oscar just kept smiling and rubbing at his ears, which was incredibly distracting. Each gentle caress and every tug at his lobes sent shivers down his spine until it was all he could do to keep from groaning.

“You’re really not as scary as you think you are,” Oscar teased when Demitrius had finished speaking. “You’re just a big old pussycat, aren’t you?”

It probably should have pissed him off that Oscar was talking to him like he was a child, but Demitrius found it so damn hard to be mad at anything when the guy was around. Besides, Oscar wasn’t being condescending or mean. His mate was being playful, and no one ever felt comfortable enough to tease him. It was actually rather nice and allowed him feel included for once.

“Don’t worry,” Oscar assured him, bending closer so he could whisper in Demitrius’s ear. “Your secret is safe with me. I’ll never tell a soul.”

Completely forgetting himself, Demitrius wrapped both arms around Oscar’s waist and pulled the smaller man down to the grass. His movements were controlled so as not to injure his mate, but he hadn’t considered how terrifying it probably was for Oscar to have a man twice his size pinning him to the ground.

As usual, Oscar surprised him, however, laughing right from his belly as he reached up to slink his arms around Demitrius’s neck. “Are you ever going to tell me what kind of kitty you are?”

“A caracal. A