“Can you stand?” Clay asked Dane.
Dane nodded slowly and climbed to his feet, swaying, then leaning against Clay when he wrapped an arm around him.
“I know we have a lot to discuss. A lot to figure out. But it’s going to have to wait until tomorrow. I’m going to take my mate to bed,” Clay announced.Chapter 21Dane slept for sixteen hours.
Long enough to have Clay pacing the small garage apartment. He couldn’t help but worry about the man. They’d stumbled up the narrow stairs, bumping into the walls along the way, only to have Dane pass out the second he hit the bed. Clay undressed him, put him under the covers, and then curled up next to him. He’d slept some, but he kept waking to check on him until he finally gave up to pace.
When Dane stirred, Clay dropped onto the bed and leaned over him. The sight of those beautiful green eyes opening sent a wave of intense relief washing over him. “Oh damn, Dane, you scared the shit out of me.”
Dane’s smile was sleep-heavy, his voice raspy. “Did all that really happen yesterday? Or did I have the longest, wildest dream ever?”
He couldn’t help but smile and drop a light kiss on Dane’s lips. “What did you dream about? Wild sex with a handsome stranger?”
Dane shook his head. “Aliens and old lady goddesses and these guys who are like…witches.”
Clay narrowed his eyes on Dane, losing his smile. “I’m not a witch,” he said in the sternest voice he could manage, which wasn’t all that stern since he was still overjoyed that Dane seemed to be okay. “But yes, it all happened. Seems we’re bound for life, you and me.”
Dane’s warm smile suddenly dissolved, and he shot upright, jostling Clay and forcing him to the edge of the bed. “Baer!”
Clay placed a hand on his chest to gently push him back down to the mattress. “He’s fine. Don’t you remember?”
“I remember feeling his pain and watching the wounds closing up.” Dane pressed the heel of his hand to his forehead and rubbed as if he were trying to clear his memories. “But he’s really okay? Some of it is fuzzy after that.”
“He’s really okay, thanks to you. It took every bit of energy you had to heal him, so it’s not surprising things are fuzzy. He’s got only a little residual pain. I’m sure he’s up somewhere, causing trouble already this morning.”
“Good,” Dane sighed. A sly smile grew on Dane’s lips and his eyes narrowed. “Did I hear you call me mate? That’s a part of the fuzziness.”
Clay grinned. “I did.” He stretched out in the bed alongside Dane, wrapping an arm across his chest to pull him close. “You are my soul mate, as Jo and Flo said. That makes you my mate. I’d call you husband, but I was afraid you wouldn’t be comfortable with that. Would you rather boyfriend? Or maybe my sweetheart? Darling? Sugarplum? Snuggly pookie bear?”
Dane snickered. “Mate sounds pretty nice for now. We can worry about the others later.” His smile faded and he sucked in a deep breath. “Husband feels…heavy. We’re soul mates, but it leaves me wondering…what about me and Katie? I was sure she was my soul mate. Was I wrong?”
“No, you weren’t.” Clay leaned his head against Dane’s. “Maybe you’re special and you’re lucky enough to have two soul mates. It doesn’t make what you had with Katie somehow less because we’re together now.”
“I don’t want you to think that I don’t love you as much as I loved Katie. I—”
Clay stopped Dane’s frantic words with a slow, drugging kiss. Dane’s hand tightened on his arm, trying to pull him in closer.
Reluctantly, Clay broke off the kiss and smiled. “I know. Katie loved you and cared for you while you were together. Now it’s my chance.”
“I’m lucky.”
Clay gave a little shrug. “Yeah, I think you are,” he agreed, earning a cackle from Dane. When his lover, his mate, settled again, Clay continued. “Jo came up while you were sleeping a few hours ago. Just checking on you. She told me that if we weren’t soul mates, the binding spell never would have worked. You wouldn’t have gotten my powers, and you wouldn’t have saved Baer.”
Dane lifted his hand to Clay’s face and let his thumb run across the stubble covering his chin. “I’m glad I got the chance to fall in love with you before all the insanity and this idea of soul mates started.”
Turning his face, Clay placed a kiss in the palm of Dane’s hand. “Me too. Together for the rest of our lives.”
“And according to what they were saying yesterday, that life will be really long. You don’t die.”
“Well, I can die if the injury is bad enough. I’ll still have to be careful.” Clay smiled against the hand rubbing along his jaw and cheek. “I just won’t get sick. Cancer and heart disease won’t get me. And they say you won’t either now.”