Page 51 of Druid Dreams

Novak

I'd been driving this van for hours now, listening to all the thoughts the guys were having. They didn’t realize that they had all circled around to the same conclusion. Honestly, when will they learn the art of communication? They were giving me a headache. We all knew we weren’t going anywhere. It took me seconds to figure that out. Mate with someone whose mind I can’t read? Yes, please. She was literally a gift from the Devil himself.

Maybe I was rushing into this, but I didn’t want to wait around either. I would seal our mate bond today as long as she was ready. I told Vaughn Saturday — before we even started talking about her — that I was ready to meet my mate. I meant it too. I was done with the bullshit. I wanted no part in one night stands or meaningless flings anymore. Sloane was the best of both worlds for me. I could spend days with her and not tire of her company. When I wanted to be alone she had other mates to keep her attention. The guys were used to my occasional isolation, but I’d never want it to make her feel unwanted by me. I felt like that wouldn’t be an issue now.

I’d never really dated because that was always a problem. You go two days without being with your girlfriend every waking second and suddenly she thinks you're cheating. That wasn’t the kind of drama I wanted in my life. Sloane didn’t strike me as the insecure type of woman. Her confidence was radiant and contagious. She made me want to be better, stronger, not just for her but for myself.

Her afflictions for blood and gore were a huge turn on for me. I'm a vampire. Of course it is. No surprise there. The surprise came with how much chaos and devastation she caused in such a short amount of time. If my heart could beat it would’ve sprang from my chest. My enthusiasm was palpable. Watching her fight is one of the most tantalizing things I’ve ever witnessed. I wanted to fuck her in the middle of it all. Knowing she blew Palmer after he killed a couple males had me hard as a rock for half the battle. Seeing her wink at me while she fixed her hair afterwards? That made my mind go feral with need. I wanted to watch, or join. Either would’ve worked, but we had shit to do.

Now that all that was over, the only thing left to do was pay up on the debt Stone and I owed her after she beat us. I still can’t believe I agreed to that. I knew it could’ve been worse than wearing a dress, but it could’ve been way more fun too. It won’t matter. Hearing York’s thoughts told me exactly what was going to happen tonight. I’d be waiting for her when she was ready to blow off some steam. Maybe Stone will join us so we can pick up where we left off yesterday morning.

My thoughts seemed to be more settled than the rest of my friends. They all wanted her too, but none seemed ready to take the plunge. I was already working my way in. I wouldn’t be changing my mind. I’m ready. There was nothing I could learn about her that would make me not want to spend eternity with her. I’m hers already. Now I just needed to make her mine.

Before my thoughts did that 360 thing like the rest of the guys, I decided it was time to speak up and call them all on their bullshit. Too bad Vaughn isn’t here. I bet his thoughts are fucked up too. “You guys know you’re all thinking the same thing, right?”

“You’re all thinking about pizza too?” Levi’s pained inquiry made me chuckle. “Or tacos? I can’t decide which one I’ve missed more.”

“Tacos,” York supplied. “I’ve missed tacos more than pizza.”

“Get your mind out of the gutter, York. That’s not what he was talking about, and you know it. You weren’t thinking about food. None of you were, not even Levi until about ten minutes ago.” I knew none of them wanted to bring it up, but all of them needed to talk about it to work it out. “I cut the radio off almost an hour ago and no one noticed. You guys are all so mindfucked right now that you keep repeating the same thoughts over and over. It’s giving me a headache,” I admonished them.

“Why are you thinking about Sloane?” Briggs turned in his seat to get a better look at Levi, who was sitting behind Palmer.

“Why wouldn’t I be thinking about her?” He cautioned. “She just offered me a job and led you guys into a hive of aggressive supes to rescue York, who in turn rescued me. Should I not be thankful?”

“Leave him alone, Briggs,” I chastised him. “At the rate you're going she’ll mate with Levi before she seals the bond with you.”

“That’s not funny,” he growled out.

Stone turned to smirk at him. “It kind of is.”

“I don’t even know what mating is,” Levi threw his hands in the air. “Is that like dating or something. Please tell me I didn’t agree to elope with her. She’s hot, but I don’t know her well enough to get married.” The edge to his voice betrayed his frantic need for an explanation. He was genuinely freaking out. I was loving it. Briggs was not.

“Calm down,” York scolded him. “No one is getting married. You didn’t agree to anything of the sort.” He rolled his eyes and propped his head up on his hand, making it appear like he was trying to go to sleep. He shut his lids, and before anyone could speak again I called out, “I hope your plan doesn’t backfire.”

“It won’t,” he responded quietly without opening his eyes.

“What plan is this?” Palmer gave him a sidelong glance before turning his attention to the dreaming puppy between him and Briggs.

York sighed and popped his right eye open to peer at Palmer. “You’ll see later,” was all he said as he closed his eye again and tried to ignore us.

“Yer draggin’ me inta the middle of it, aren’t ya?” Palmer pointed out with clear exasperation.

York didn’t reply immediately, and I thought maybe he had finally fallen asleep. After a minute or two he admitted, “Yeah. Sort of. If you’re not interested then I’m sure Novak would be delighted to step in.”

“Fuck yes, but I don’t think I’ll be as good a fit as Palmer would be,” I cut my eyes to Palmer in the rear view mirror. “At least you’ve got a solid backup plan. Though, if Palmer is going to do what Palmer does best then I definitely want to watch.”

“I honestly forgot how weird you can be.” A faint smile touched York’s lips at his admission.

“Oh, how you wound me,” I dramatically declared, wiping fake tears from my eyes. “You’ve got a millennia to figure out how to share, Druid. I won’t push you too hard too soon.”

I stayed quiet after that. We only had two more hours of driving before reaching Nashville. I’d drop York, Levi, and Palmer off at the first stop. Then, Briggs, Stone, and myself would park the van and stroll around downtown for a couple blocks before Franklin picked us up. I liked the idea of going back to Sloane’s house. I guess eventually we’d all live there semi-permanently. Some down time sounded refreshing too. I wanted to spend the night with her gazing at the stars, swimming, or both. Watching a movie would be okay as well. Sex sounded like an even better option. We could probably fit it all in since neither of us slept.

Sloane

Monday Evening

It was late in the evening when several cars started to enter through the wrought iron gates of my estate. Garage doors opened one at a time, and vehicles I had never seen before filled the once empty building. Males of all shapes and sizes exited through the side door, looking like my own personal lineup of GQ models waiting to be interviewed. Shirts on. Too bad.