“Yeah, the way you are together, I would have guessed longer too. What about Dane and Clay?”
“Umm…I think five or six months.” Wiley took a sip of his coffee and moaned softly.
Cort turned his attention to his own cup, adding a little sugar and a splash of creamer. He took a couple of careful sips, trying to balance the scalding heat with his need for caffeine to get his brain chugging along.
A low chuckle left Wiley, and Cort followed the young man’s line of sight to see him watching a trio of squirrels darting around the backyard as if in a frantic search for food.
“They’re waiting for Ruby to be let out. She’s usually up already and chasing them, but with all the excitement last night, she’s still sacked out at the foot of the bed,” Wiley explained.
“She’s a sweet dog.”
“True. Chasing the squirrels is just a game to her, but that one right there is really frustrated with her,” he said, pointing at the squirrel that was staring straight at the back patio. “He’s keeping watch while the others forage. It sounds like they’re even laughing at their friend.”
“Laughing?” Cort huffed a soft chuckle. “How can you even tell?”
“Well, I can hear his tho—” Wiley suddenly cut himself off, his eyes going incredibly wide as he looked up at Cort. “Oh. You don’t know. Grey didn’t tell you that part?”
“What? What didn’t he tell me?”
Wiley took a step back, chewing on his bottom lip. “I don’t know if I should. I mean, I’m not sure why he didn’t tell you when you apparently know everything else. But there might be a reason.”
“Or it could be that he forgot. Or was afraid that I was overloaded. What didn’t he tell me, Wiley? Is it another reason why I’m in danger?”
“Oh God, no! We’d never keep that from you. It’s nothing like that,” Wiley gushed. He crossed to Cort and grabbed his arm. “They’re all very serious about keeping you safe. We feel terrible that you’ve gotten drawn into this.”
“I know. I don’t blame anyone. Just an unexpected risk of working with Grey. I don’t regret it, though.”
A heavy sigh left Wiley, and he leaned his hip against the counter. “Good.” He sipped his coffee, getting lost in the heat and caffeine again.
“Wiley…what are you not telling me?”
“Shoot. I was hoping you forgot. You’re way too sharp right now for not having had a full cup yet.”
“Tell me.”
Looking back out at the squirrels, he worried his lower lip for a moment, and Cort was content to let him think. He couldn’t imagine what else the Weavers had to tell him about their crazy world.
“I’m not just Baer’s boyfriend. I’m his soul mate. That’s why there was a mix up at the bakery. Baer felt something. We both did. But he thought it was his soul recognizing a missing Weaver.” Wiley shook his head, a serene expression filling his face. “Nope. We’re soul mates.”
There was no way to keep the skepticism off Cort’s face. For some reason, believing in Weavers and magic was a hell of a lot easier than believing in soul mates. It was a damn pretty idea. He was a total closet romantic. He wanted to believe there was someone out there just for him, but the reality was that he would be happy if he could find someone who liked the same type of movies as him.
“You don’t believe me,” Wiley observed with a smirk.
“Well…”
Wiley shrugged. “I can’t say that I believed in them prior to meeting Baer, but after being around him, it’s like he fits me. He’s a missing part of me. We still argue like normal couples. It’s not perfect, but he makes me happier than I’ve ever been. I fell in love with him before we realized that we were fated to be together. Dane and Clay were the same way.”
Cort stared at his coffee, remembering all the different times he’d seen Dane and Clay together. He couldn’t recall ever seeing two people more in sync with each other. He had been sure they’d been together for years.
“When a soul mate is bonded with a Weaver, he takes on some of his powers,” Wiley continued, and Cort’s head snapped up.
“What? You’ve got magic too?”
Wiley smiled as he held up his index finger and thumb just an inch apart. “A little. I can hear the thoughts of the animals. I can’t shift like Baer, but I’m trying to communicate with them more. With practice, I think I’ll be able to. Right now, the information is all one way.”
“What about Dane? He and Clay are bonded, right?”
“Dane’s a healer,” Wiley said softly. Cort’s eyes immediately darted in the direction of Grey’s apartment. He opened his mouth to ask, but Wiley was already shaking his head. “He’s tried. So many times. He nearly killed himself trying to heal Grey. Using his power takes a lot out of him, and he’s figuring all this stuff out on the fly. There aren’t any instruction manuals for us.”