Page 39 of Bottoms Up (Mythic Beast #4)

Silver

Four nights later, all the contracts had been signed.

In blood. Literal blood.

For better or worse, Julian and I now owned a jaguar shifter. A pain-toy who doubled as our personal security.

I’d contacted Heather a few days earlier to let her know we’d have an extra passenger and probably a decent amount of luggage, but it turned out, he said a single suitcase of clothing and weapons would last him until the rest made it to us in about a week, because a courier was bringing it, rather than shipping it.

Atlas didn’t trust his weapons with a commercial shipping company, and Marco hadn’t blinked at paying a bonded courier.

Atlas was in bodyguard mode for now, but the moment the plane reached cruising altitude, we’d shift him into toy mode — my cock in his mouth, Julian’s in his ass.

No extreme pain today, just being used. Owned.

It turns out, when talking with Marco about security, Julian’s freedom had created a complication Marco wasn’t willing to ignore.

Long story short, if someone kidnaps me and starts cutting pieces off me, sending them to Homewood while telling Julian he can replace me…

well . It seems Marco’s going to see to my safety whether I agree to it or not.

Also, Gavin told Marco I wanted our own place and had looked at other homes on the mountain, trying to find a space where Julian wouldn’t have to travel far, but we could be off on our own.

I hadn’t intended to bring it up for months, maybe longer, but since Gavin did, I kind of had to tell him what I wanted. Damned vampires and their mindreading.

And so, we were meeting with a contractor later in the week to have a house built on Homewood’s land. We wouldn’t actually own it — Kirsten and Cora weren’t selling land inside Homewood’s boundaries — but it would feel like ours.

A space designed for us. Built for a vampire. Chosen by me. Not ours on paper, but in every other way. Enough for me to feel comfortable selling my townhouse. This was real. Permanent. Ours .

But my days and nights were going to be at the Beast Castle for the better part of the next couple of weeks. I’d gone on a vacation when it wasn’t convenient, and I’d have to bust ass to get caught up.

Meanwhile, we were at cruising altitude, and Julian looked to Atlas and made the ASL motion for naked , followed by kneel . We had a half-dozen commands, for now.

We’d add to them as needed.

* * * *

Julian

I missed Silver. We talked on the phone, or on a video call, several times a day, but I had tons of work to do after being gone, and she was busy with rehearsals. The best thing, though, was that I was finally going to get to see her perform in person.

The fourth day we were back, Atlas drove me to Will’s place on the ridge as soon as the sun went down.

I knew they called it the Beast Castle, and I’d seen pictures, but seeing it in person made it so much more real.

It just has the one round section that looks like a turret, but the brickwork and the way it’s nestled into the woods, it really does look a bit like a miniature version of a castle.

Not that it’s small, it’s just that the castles I’ve lived in are fucking huge.

The gate opened as we pulled up to it, and one of the security guys pointed Atlas past the house. I saw Silver and told Atlas, “I’ll get out here.”

“And I’ll be with the property’s security.”

Marco had sent Atlas to the Drake Security offices, where he’d signed some stuff so he could work alongside them, and he’d been given a quick training session, so he’d know the basic operating procedures.

I learned he’d been in the same unit Ranger was in.

Not at the same time, but they knew a lot of the same people, and everyone had vouched for both of them, to each other.

I lifted Silver and hugged her, and she wrapped her legs around my waist. Or, I supposed I should think of her as a he , today. I couldn’t remember him ever smelling this much like a man.

But he still melted into my chest. Still breathed me in like he needed the scent of me deep inside his chest.

“Everything okay?”

“Yes. Fantastic . I wrote a song last week, when I was on my own during the day and didn’t want to gamble again.

It’s about responsibility, about being a man, about doing what’s right even when it’s hard.

I guess it was in my head after our talk about why I don’t feel comfortable finding a human pet?

Anyway, it just kind of wrote itself, and I bought a used piece-of-crap guitar, put together the main rhythm, and then used a digital keyboard on my tablet to fill in. ”

We were inside the house by then, and Hailey said, “I’m pretty sure we have another hit on our hands. It came together so fucking easy, and we’re working it up to play at the festival next week.”

“I didn’t see a guitar. In Vegas.” It was the first thing I thought of, and I realized after the words were out of my mouth, that probably wasn’t the best thing to have gotten out of all that.

“Oh, I destroyed it about six hours after I bought it. I knew it wasn’t the best when I bought it, but it annoyed the fuck out of me.

I’d originally intended to sell it back to the secondhand place, but then I worried someone just learning would buy it and not understand the problem was the instrument and not them, so I broke it apart and put the pieces in the garbage.

I guess housekeeping emptied it before you rose. ”

“Can I hear the song?”

“Yes,” Will said as we stepped into the kitchen. “You caught us finishing up a meal. We have wine and beer if you’d like something to drink?”

“I’m good, but thanks for offering.”

Hailey sometimes smells more like a werewolf, and sometimes more like a Lugat vampire. Tonight she was the latter, which probably explained why she wasn’t eating with them. She sat at a seat with wine in front of it, and Silver motioned me toward a chair beside a plate and bowl.

“Davy made his famous taco soup, which we all love, and then he outdid himself with this cucumber-tomato salad concoction. I’m having a margarita, but just one because we aren’t finished for the night.” She held it up. “Lots of extra salt.”

“We’re actually headed to the warehouse when we leave here,” Ghost said. “Will rented a large space and had a full-size stage built. Mostly, they practice here, getting the music right, but before a show, they need to be able to practice the choreography with plenty of room.”

“It’s an old building, built with cinder blocks, so we didn’t have to add a ton of soundproofing,” Will said. “I had people redo one of the shipping bays so we can drive inside, and no one ever sees who comes and goes. It’s in an industrial area, five minutes away at night, ten during the day.”

“We have those crazy stick-people, like they have at car dealerships?” Silver said. “They get activated in the places where the special effects will be, so we’ll be used to seeing motion in those areas.”

“You’ll need to leave your phone here,” an older man said. It took me a minute to recall his name — Mitch.

“He’s trusted,” Silver said. “Marco might need a quick question answered. Julian needs his phone.”

Mitch looked to Will, who told Mitch, “He signed a personal NDA with Silver, and it includes Mythic Beast material. He doesn’t need to sign one with the group too.”

“I can sign one if it’ll simplify things,” I told Will.

Before Will could answer, Mitch lifted a tablet and said, “Ten seconds, and I’ll have it for you to look over. You can sign it and then text or email a copy of it to yourself.”

I really didn’t mind signing it, but I could scent Silver’s annoyance, so I telepathed, I’m not going to talk about your songs or anything else that’s private, so there’s no problem with me signing it. I know you trust me. Let me keep things smooth with your management.

I’ve taken several online courses to familiarize myself with U.S.

contract law, so I can handle such things for Marco.

Because of former positions, I’m quite versed in the same for Italian, French, and European Union law as well, but all I needed to focus on tonight was the American norms, and I respected the way Mythic Beast handled their contracts.

Some companies make them sixty pages long so they can hide all kinds of shit in them, but Mythic Beast’s NDA was two pages long and succinct.

The group was talking about where to put the new song into the set when I handed the tablet back to Mitch and tuned back in, so I sat quietly and observed everyone. Ghost looked at me and touched the side of his head, so I initiated a pathway and telepathed, You want to talk?

This conversation doesn’t involve us, so I thought I’d check in with you. Silver seems happier. More settled. I’m assuming that’s your influence on him.

I’d like to think I’m good for her.

I picked up on a microsecond of surprise, and explained, Going back and forth on pronouns in my head doesn’t work for me.

I stick with ‘she’ in my head, but try to fit her clothing and scent if I must use a pronoun out loud.

It seems I need to alter that, so I consider the right word to use when telepathing.

No need to change on my account, it’s just that he’s more male today than I believe I’ve ever scented.

I assume this song has something to do with it?

He nodded. Yes, I can see that. I haven’t heard it since yesterday, but I think the music and vocals are settled. Today was just figuring out the showmanship stuff.

Davy was nude, walking around with a tiny little cock cage on his dick that made me wince for him — especially since I could see it was locked on through a PA piercing. Silver had warned me ahead of time that Davy’s mostly always naked in the house, but she hadn’t told me his dick is locked up.

A quick dive into his head told me he’s in it a calendar month and then out of it a calendar month, and since this was the second day of April, he had a while before he’d be free again.