Page 21 of Culture and Curiosities (Blue Ridge Charm #1)

Toman

“I don’t care if this isn’t the right place, he tattled on me.” Wren’s behavior was beyond what I understood to be reasonable, but I did not have siblings or even cousins to help me understand the situation. “Gentle parenting is for good boys. He was not good.”

He was also not a boy under the definition of the lifestyle I was coming to understand.

“We can’t assume bad intentions, my mate. Weren’t those the words you gave me at the bookstore?” I was fairly certain there were a variety of situations where bad intentions could be assumed, but he had been confident in his assertion.

“That’s not the point.” His whispered words stopped as Pierce approached our table, looking confused but recognizing me. “Daddy, this is my cousin Pierce.”

Making the correct greeting, I held out my hand. “It is good to meet you again.”

He looked appropriately suspicious.

Clearly he was just as smart as my mate.

“Good to meet you again.” Glancing back and forth between us, Pierce seemed to be processing the situation as we ate our breakfast. “Merritt has a meeting with the other medical people on the council. Do you mind if I join you guys? I don’t trust him alone in the diner.”

That was understandable.

“It’s no problem.” Ha. I used that correctly. “The diner men are already discussing toys not appropriate for public viewing, so your concern is warranted.”

Something about my statement must’ve been off because his focus became more intense. “They make questionable decisions.”

The way he glanced at Wren indicated he was also one to make questionable decision. However, it was unfortunately not the day to have implied that. My mate was being feisty as the diner men had learned when they tried to pat the birdie on his head.

“At least I’m not a tattletale.” He glared at Pierce, fierce and predatory…a bird of prey and not the prey. “Want to explain why my mother called at six this morning asking me about my behavior?”

Her interruption had been poorly timed.

Blinking, Pierce frowned making me think he was confused, but my mate disagreed with that based on his mental grumbling.

“Looking stupid isn’t going to get him out of this.”

“Well, that would explain mine texting me at seven wanting to know what was going on.” Pierce shrugged, not looking guilty. “I played dumb since I wasn’t sure what she was talking about and it didn’t seem to be about Merritt.”

Did him playing dumb earlier indicate he was doing it now?

“She wanted to know what kind of costume party I’d gone to and who I was with.” Wren was still highly upset about that topic, but Pierce did not seem to understand what was going on. “What did you tell her?”

If she’d told him he looked cute or any positive words, I don’t think he would’ve been as angry. Unfortunately, her wording and tone had been negative. My mate was an adorable squirrel and he resented not being able to explain that.

“Nothing.” Looking more awake and less distracted by who I was, Pierce studied the rest of the room. “I’ve been avoiding both of them and your mother stalks people better than mine. Someone else complained about you being a squirrel in public.”

“I don’t care what they think.” My mate’s voice went louder and angrier, but it may have just sounded that way because the rest of the room went silent, doing their best to overhear the council members discussing the portal trip. “I’m an adorable squirrel and he’s my mate.”

I couldn’t decide if Klynn was going to regret his decision to refuse to come to the diner or not.

This was not my problem to solve, but I took Wren’s hand under the table and was glad to see Pierce functioned well under pressure.

“If someone tattled on you, I’m betting it’s that nosy woman across the street.

Your mother probably used one of those map sites to figure out who to track down. She’s crazy but not stupid.”

Somehow, on Earth, intelligence and curious decision-making always went together.

“And how cute you were was probably lost in translation somewhere.” Pierce’s calm response had Wren’s anger lowering at a fast rate.

He must’ve understood the danger had passed because Pierce looked more relaxed as well.

“And you’re probably lucky all she told her was about you wearing a cute outfit. ”

Glancing back and forth between us again, Pierce’s mind seemed to go back to his original topic. “She’s going to want to know that you found your mate and little details like where he’s from.”

Wren’s smile was dangerous and Pierce’s sigh said he knew it. “For fuck’s sake.”

If he was highly intelligent did that mean I needed to question his ability to make decisions as well?

“What country is he from?” Pierce was clearly working as fast as he could to understand my place but he was not coming up with the right details. “She’s going to have a cow if you leave the country.”

A cow?

Asking got an immediate explanation.

“It’s an expression that means she’s going to be irrationally upset and dramatic. I have no idea where it came from.”

Wren’s information was helpful but that seemed to always describe his mother, so I wasn’t sure it was accurate to our current situation. The giggles coming through our bond said he agreed with my thoughts on the subject, however.

“Well, you’re going to have to be the one to deal with her calls for a while because I’m going where no cell phone has gone before.”

Wren showed me the opening of a space show, quickly explaining the joke as Pierce just stared at us in silence. My mate seemed pleased with his actions because he smiled brighter and picked up his fork. “Have you had the waffles? I think they’re better than the pancakes.”

My mate was evil.

His laughter and the kiss he gave my cheek said he understood the praise. “Thank you, Daddy.”

Pierce blinked several times. “You’ve…you’ve got a strong bond.”

It seemed to be a move in the right direction, a saying that was odd but effective, and made my mate very pleased. He straightened and wiggled excitedly before snuggling against me. “It’s amazing. I never expected to love it so much.”

He smiled.

Maybe Pierce was not as upset about Wren mating an alien as we had expected?

****

My mate was remarkably stubborn.

“That is not what I was saying.” His drama was nearly performative…

and I knew that word was accurate because of Pierce’s grumbling.

Still, it seemed to be my place in the game to push back against his behavior.

“I simply don’t like the way you described it as being boring and blending in.

My mate is a wonderful predator and I will not let you ignore that. ”

Had he been standing, my mate would’ve stomped his foot. “I get to pick and choose where I’m little and when I want to have people stare at me, Daddy. If I want to be boring and blend in, that’s my right as a pain in the ass.”

Our audience seemed to be influencing how stubborn he was being, so I kept that in mind as I gave him a stern expression.

“You are deliberately drawing attention to us, my mate.”

The tall frowning man from Canada should not have told him to put his coloring pages away.

“Yep. They have to learn I’m going to be me and no one was asking enough questions.”

My mate was smart and the pain in the ass he claimed to be.

“Thank you, Daddy.”

The Canada man was stubborn as well and continued to glare at Wren, but the man from Florida who made everyone roll their eyes was more curious than stubborn. “I have a question.”

Wren was very pleased with the direction the meeting was taking.

“This is going to be fun.”

Because the man was odd or because we were finally going to discuss something helpful?

“Yes?” Pierce looked bored but Wren’s mental chatter disagreed with his presentation. “Did you have a question about the plan before we started?”

“Yes. Um. Kind of.” The man with the confusing name frowned and didn’t back down. “I don’t mean to be rude this time, but it seems like you’ve decided you’re going through the portal. So…what do you actually do and why are you taking toys through?”

Did he understand he’d been rude other times?

It seemed like a development the diner men should be made aware of.

My Wren seemed to decide he liked the strange dinosaur man better than the mage from Canada because he smiled widely. “I’m a little and I’m the only wilderness and survival expert the council was able to find. For some reason, even dragons don’t seem to like roughing it, but we do like toys.”

And crayons.

Were crayons toys?

Laughter came from many around the room, but the dragon Kenzie nodded seriously. “Even my dragon likes pillows and toys. I think roughing it is a human quality. No offense.”

My mate frowned but his brain took off in a new direction as he processed the interesting dragon’s opinion. “None taken. I learned from a human, so you might be right. He was my first crush, so I had to do a good job.”

Yes, I could see why he found the man to be attractive, but my favorite part was his giggles as he made Pierce’s face scrunch up. “Don’t tell your mother that.”

Wren’s grin did not match the wicked thoughts in his head. “That’s why she tried to send me to that behave yourself camp.”

No.

There was nothing wrong with my mate.

Pierce didn’t seem pleased with that reminder and glared as he turned back to the man from Florida. “He’s actually an expert in his field and the best choice unless we want to bring in a full human.”

“Ha. I knew they’d hate that idea.”

“My mate, were you shocking them into accepting any behavior you performed?”

I wasn’t happy with the wording, but Wren’s mental giggle said I’d made my point.

Debate went on around us as he did his best to justify and distract me from pointing out his bad behavior. It was easy to ignore most of what was going on around us as they started to talk about who should go through the portal.

But we both shifted our attention when Pierce brought the conversation back to us. “As you can see, the council group has expanded to include Wren’s new mate. They met recently and he’s also here about the portal.”

“Bingo. Time for fun.”

Thankfully it was one of the polite Canadians who spoke up to prompt the right conversation. “I don’t remember where he’s from.”

Wren laughed through the bond again when a man from the place called Scotland would not be left out. “Or his name? He was at that weird birthday party wedding thing. I remember that.”

“Who’s going to guess first?”

Wren’s delight filled my head as looks were exchanged around the room.

“Well, fuck.” Wren’s surprise made me laugh as the strange man from Florida spoke up first to show he understood where I was from.

Wren smiled, clearly pleased as he leaned against me. “That’s what I said when I first met Daddy Manny.”

I performed the rolling my eyes movement to explain my thoughts without having to verbalize them.

“But I meant something different.”

The foreign men needed to learn not to upset my mate, and the locals needed to stop egging him on as Miss Nancy from the diner had said.

Most of the laughter that filled the room was understandable but I questioned my mate when the Canadians started mumbling about Americans always having to upstage everyone. It was not an expression I had heard the diner men or my mate use, so Wren’s quick explanation was helpful.

And even he had to admit it was accurate.

Wren’s delight at being the center of attention was difficult to resist. “Being special is hard sometimes.”

It was, however, time for him to tone it down as I had heard the deputy say in the past.

“So I’m sure we all understand why Wren will be included in the group.” Pierce seemed to be ready to get the meeting back on track and looked relieved when most people in the room nodded.

“Okay, I don’t know if this is a dumb question or not, but I’m going to ask anyway.” The confusing man from Florida shrugged off any worry of how he looked. “If he’s…come to visit…why are we going?”

I thought that answer was obvious. Another one of the Florida men seemed to agree but he used the time to ask another question. “I’m going to point out that we still don’t know his name or if expert Wren has somehow…kidnapped him?”

“For fuck’s sake.”

My mate did not think his question was as smart as the dinosaur man’s had been.

“Why would I kidnap my mate?” Wren’s frown was much milder than his thoughts said it should be. “Daddy Manny saw me. He smiled at me. He knew we were mates. We fucked like rabbits. It’s not rocket science.”

“We are mates from separate worlds, my Wren. It may actually be science of some sort. However, your behavior does not take a scientist to define as inappropriate.”

He paused, making a thinking sound before sighing through the bond.

“Sorry, Daddy.”

Possibly…I wasn’t sure that emotion would last throughout the entire meeting, however.