Page 11 of Adding Fuel To The Flames

His heart was breaking from the pain he heard in Ethan’s voice. He was afraid to ask, but knew he had to. He had a feeling he knew what was causing his baby this anguish. Was Ethan feeling the same way he was?

“It’s Rhys, isn’t it?” Day asked. There was no accusation in his voice, only curiosity.

Ethan pulled back and looked up at him. His eyes were wide and filled with surprise. Day reached a hand up and gently brushed a lock of hair away from Ethan’s brow, then slide the back of his fingers down Ethan’s cheek tenderly. “You feel it, too. Don’t you?”

“You too?” Ethan whispered on a sob.

“I don’t understand this, baby. I love you with everything that I am. I would never hurt you. I would rather kill myself than ever cause you pain, baby,” Day declared as tears rolled down his cheeks.

Ethan’s eyes softened as tears dropped from his eyes. He cupped Day’s cheek with one hand and Day leaned into the touch, needing the comfort only his mate could bring him. “I know, love. I know you would never hurt me. I know you love me. It’s your love that makes life worth living. It’s because of you and your love for me that I want to live. I don’t know what I would do without you. I hope you know I would never hurt you either, my love. Just the thought is killing me,” Ethan cried.

“Oh, baby, I know that. You’re too good to ever hurt anyone. And I know you would never hurt me. I don’t understand what’s going on here, Ethan, but I have this overwhelming need to…”

“To wrap Rhys in your arms and keep him safe,” Ethan finished.

“Yes,” Day sighed on a sob.

Ethan held him tight. They stood wrapped in each other’s arms as they both cried, holding onto one another like a lifeline.

After a few minutes, Ethan broke the silence. His words causing Day to stop breathing momentarily, as his body stiffened. “Do you think Rhys may be our mate?”

Day pulled back from the embrace slightly and looked into his mate’s eyes. “But wouldn’t we scent him?”

Ethan shook his head. “No. Our dad’s only scented Avery because of the phoenix in him from Candace. Neither Finn nor Marco could smell that Twix was their mate. They only knew once Twix…” Ethan stopped abruptly and his eyes opened wide.

“What, baby? What is it?”

“Day, how did Finn and Marco find out that Twix was their mate? And how did Avery realize that our Dads were his mates?”

Day was confused. Ethan knew how. “Twix kissed Finn, and Avery kissed Justice, then Illan. That’s how the pixies find their mates. But Rhys hasn’t kissed either of us.”

“Right. Think about it, love. We can’t scent Rhys because pixies don’t get their scent until after they kiss their mate, so we can’t scent him. But both of us are feeling all the other symptoms a shifter would feel when finding their mate. The attraction. The overwhelming need to touch them, to be with them, to keep them safe. And Rhys doesn’t know that we are his mate’s because he hasn’t kissed either of us.”

“But he kisses everyone,” Day growled through clenched teeth.

Ethan chuckled. “See, your jealous just thinking of Rhys kissing other men. So am I. The thought of any other man but you touching him makes my phoenix want to flame up and burn all those men’s asses. He has never kissed us, Day. Have you seen him kiss one person since we met him?”

The light bulb went off in Day’s head as realization hit him, and he smiled. “No. He’s been so upset with all of this going on.”

“Right. He kisses everyone because he is trying to find his mates, but the minute his mates actually show up, they are the only ones he doesn’t kiss.”

“Because of what happened with Salem, Rhys is afraid to kiss anyone. With Dain’s reaction to all of this, Rhys is probably afraid that no one believes him. Hell, they’ve already said they don’t believe him and blame him for what happened. Ethan, do you really think he’s our mate?” Day asked in wonder.

“Yes, my love, I do.”

“So, now what do we do? We need to tell Rhys, and we also need to keep him safe. We can’t let Salem get his hands on our man.”

“I agree. First, I think we need to go back inside and see what we can come up with to keep him safe. Then we need to get Rhys alone, and get him to kiss us,” Ethan replied with a smile.