Page 31 of Keeper of All

Smells delicious.

It tastes better.

Mom placed a large plate of tortillas on the table and grinned encouragement to Ekon.

Mao inhaled deeply. There were some scents of home that never disappointed, and Mom's Soyo was always one of them.

“Help yourself,” he said to Ekon. “We don’t stand on ceremony in this house, and if you wait until everyone finally turns up and sits down, the food’s gone.” He glanced at Mom. “Where did you say Felix has gone again?”

“I never know with you boys, you know that.” Mom came and sat down, wiping her hands on her apron as she smiled at Ekon. “You’ll meet them all in good time. My husband is off doing lord knows what, but he’ll be around later too.” She reached for a tortilla. “I understand you already know Conrad, so hopefully it is good to see him again. But I want to hear about you. Where did you meet, what do you do, and—”

“Mom, Mom.” Mao put his hand up. “Ekon and I are both between jobs at the moment. We've just finished one job, that's where I met my mate, and no, you can't have any details because you know how work is. We thought we’ll come here so he could meet you…” He trailed off when Ekon put his hand on his arm. Which was good, as Mao was about three words away from lying to his mom. What was worse was she would know it… and yeah, that wouldn’t be good.

“Mao tells me that someone you know in this area might give me some information about magic or at least be able to tell me more about the magic I hold inside me.” Ekon smiled at Mao who had put a tortilla on his plate.

Mom gave Ekon an encouraging smile to show she was listening.

Whereas Mao focused on how Ekon had missed those tiny things that made a home cooked meal amazing, like homemade tortillas warm from the fire oven. Something they didn’t have access to when they were camping.

Ekon gave him an adorable, shy smile before turning back to Mom. “Among the boys, I was always a bit of an oddity. Just the magic… is new. I came by it recently. I have no more details than that. The magic is different from having an additional animal spirit, and I’m not sure what I can do or what I’m meant to do with it. Mao suggested there might be someone here in the jungle who can help.”

“Are you talking about the feather-coat man again? I haven’t heard anyone mention him for a while.” Felix came strolling through the door like it was any other day, clearly having heard the last part of the conversation. “Hey, you must be the new mate. I’m Felix, another one of Mao’s brothers. Great to see you. By the way, I adore your hair.” He grinned cheekily at Mao clearly flirting. “Hopefully with you around, Mao won’t be so grumpy.” His gaze landed on the table. “Ooh, Soyo. I’m so hungry. Mom, have you got enough for your starving child?” Felix sat down at the table with a thump while Mom got up shaking her head and fixed another bowl.

“Who's the feather-coat man?” Ekon asked glancing at Mao checking to see if he’d heard Felix correctly.

“There's a man who calls this jungle home,” Mom answered, coming back with a bowl of food for Felix. “We don't know a lot about him—no one knows where he lives or where he came from, but stories have it he’s been around these parts for decades. He always appears when he's needed—”

“Usually says something cryptic, you mean,” Felix added, “and then doing his magic act, like he did on the house after crazy Selina before disappearing again.” Nodding his thanks at Mom, he quickly started eating.

Mao could feel Ekon's disappointment they didn’t know where to find him and intrigue at Felix’s story.

“Is this the person you thought might help me?”

“Yep. I’ve met him,” Kylo murmured around a mouthful of food. “Real elusive as Felix mentioned, though I suspect he’ll find you.”

Conrad nodded, munching on a tortilla. “Yeah, he just appeared out of nowhere the night at Devil’s place, remember I told you about it. Like he knew we needed him. Bet it’ll be the same for you. Magic in this place is unreal.”

“I think being here will help you,” Mao stated firmly, giving Conrad a warning look. “We need a few days to wind down. Then spend some time reading over the books you have.” Mao did his best to keep things as vague as he could. “And yes, I'm hoping that we'll be able to go for a walk in the jungle at some point. There're a couple of clearings where the man in the feathered coat is known to frequent occasionally. I’m hoping if we go—”

“What you're all saying is, if he's meant to help, he'll find me,” Ekon said, not sounding upset, but not coming across as convinced either.

Putting his hand under the table, Mao rested it on Ekon's knee. “I'm sure if he's the one who's meant to help us, he will. If he's not, then we’ll someone who is.”

Needing a distraction, Mao glanced at Mom who had removed the bowl from Brandon and was giving him a slice of what looked and smelled like lemon cake. “Mom, what's all this I've been hearing about you fattening up Kylo and Conrad's son?”

“It's hardly fattening if I give him a couple of slices of cake.” Mom put another slice of cake on the highchair tray. “He’s a growing boy.”

“Mom,” Kylo groaned, eyeing his son with envy.

Conrad rolled his eyes, his lips twitching at the corners.

“My goodness, the way you talk. Clearly Conrad doesn’t know that Kylo was raised on the stuff and look how he turned out. Fair warning though, don’t try to get between Kylo and a chocolate chip muffin now he’s pregnant again—he’ll take your arm off.”

Mao laughed hard enough to have tears running down his cheeks at Kylo’s indignant snort, and he was pleased when he heard Ekon joining in.

Chapter Seventeen

Ekon