Page 23 of Enforcer’s Little Warrior (Little Paws Haven #3)

Romy

What they found made Romy’s heart bleed. Shifter children, dead, left lying on examination tables, festering without any consideration even in death. He had not taken no for an answer when Bash had said he was not to go further, after Raul had taken his last breath. It came via the aid of Bash’s boot to his throat.

The relief Romy had expected was short-lived when the evil the thing was capable of residing in these tombs. And tombs they were with the amount of slaughtered children lay inside the testing area. What had once been a pristine white expanse was dirty, caked with blood and entrails crusted, dangling from gaping holes that had once been children.

Cosmo came and stood next to him, his eyes as sorrowful as Romy’s when he looked directly at him. “One of the missing council members is dead, that leaves one to contend with. Did Bash kill the freak?”

Romy forced himself to look away from the dead children. “Yes. The things he said.” He met Cosmo’s gaze, keeping his voice low. “What if they succeeded in creating other monsters besides the owls? What if they used me to achieve that?” It was easier to ask it of Cosmo, because Bash’s fury lingered. Romy had caused his mate enough pain for a lifetime. He didn’t want to add more to the growing weight.

“There’s no evidence of it. I can’t smell anything like we did when we found the owls.” He cast an arm in the direction of the computers where others were dismantling them. “If there’s any evidence in there, we’ll find it and then take the next steps. It’s unraveling, or it is unraveled and now we tug and find out the rest. Then we just need to tie up the one loose end!”

Nomad strode over, naked, his attention moving between them. “Everything alright?”

Cosmo nodded, although he reached for Romy’s hand, giving it a squeeze. “We need to burn all the bodies. Then burn this place so it can never get used again.”

Nomad’s dark eyes traveled to the slain. “I know it’s for the best, but it feels wrong to burn them without knowing who they were. Who they belonged to before all this.”

Arlo, who must have heard, strode over, his grimy face bearing an expression Romy couldn’t read. “I’m sure they’ll have records. We need a good computer hacker.”

“There’s a little at the club who is a computer whizz,” Cosmo supplied. “They might help us.”

Arlo gave him an interested look. “Who?”

“Let me talk to him first, see if he’ll help. He’s a little shy around strangers.”

“But he goes to a club?” Arlo questioned, frowning, sounding utterly confused.

“He goes into Little Paws Haven, but only the daycare, and through the back entrance, not through the club.”

“Back entrance?” The frown deepened as Arlo looked between them. “Why a back entrance?”

“You’ve not been to the club, have you?” Arlo shook his head. “The back entrance is for those who are a little shy about revealing what they like. Being little for some is a private thing that those close to them might not know or understand.”

“Oh.” Arlo shrugged. “Folks should mind their own damn business. Live and let live, is my motto.”

“That maybe so, I’ll still need to check if I can give you his name.”

“We have all that we need from in here,” Harley called out. “Let’s do a sweep of the place, check we haven’t missed anything. Then let’s get out of this hellhole.” Harley glanced at Romy and cursed. “Shit, sorry, that was insensitive.”

“Maybe so, but you’re right, it is a hellhole.”

He scented Bash before he wrapped an arm around his middle, lifting him clear off the ground to sit him on his hip. With them both being naked, it was a little disconcerting to be this close to him in front of others. “Let’s get this done.”

It took another hour before they had everything gathered that looked of interest and could have information on it. It took another hour to wrap up the dead children and put them together to burn them. Romy sent up a brief prayer, even though he wasn’t religious, that they would find peace now.

Smoke filled the testing room, but still Romy lingered as he heard the others move out. Bash clutched him tighter to his side. “That could so easily have been me.”

Bash shuddered and exhaled sharply. “I know and I thank the fates every day it wasn’t. Selfish maybe, but we have made these bastards pay. They haven’t walked away Scot free, and we have to believe that counts for something.” He infused positiveness into his voice, but Romy felt the lack of conviction coming through their bond when his attention returned to the small burning bundles.

Romy hung on a little tighter, turning Bash’s face to him. “One of them still is free. And we need to make sure no one forgets that.” He held Bash’s gaze as the smoke thickened and scented the air with burning flesh. “He needs to pay for what he did in here, no matter what. Because until he’s caught, then no one is truly safe.”

Bash

The first thing he did, after engaging the locks and checking to be certain that the security system was armed, was carry his mate into the bathroom and turn the water on. As steam slowly began to fill the bathroom, Bash simply stood there with his mate in his arms, hugging him and nuzzling the side of his neck until the entire room was warm. Even then, he was reluctant to move.

“In we go,” Bash murmured as he carried them beneath the hot spray.

Despite when he became forced to relinquish his hold on Romy so they could get clean, he kept one arm around him, constantly touching, smoothing suds over his back and shoulders, nuzzling and nipping his neck and along the ridge of his collarbone.

Sweeping his hair up, Bash rubbed shampoo in the silky strands, massaging Romy’s scalp until the scent of rot and death no longer clung to the strands. Only then did he work his way down, following a trail of suds as it slithered down Romy’s spine.

He danced his fingernails through the bubbles along Romy’s hips and felt him shiver, giggles bubbling up from deep inside of him as Bash deliberately waltzed his fingertips through every ticklish spot.

When Bash turned Romy to face him, his mate wrapped his arms around his neck and pressed his head against Bash’s shoulder, sighed and hugged him as the water beat down on their heads.

Next, Bash moved to bend and slowly rubbed circles over Romy’s calf, lifted his foot and cleaned the sole of it, earning more giggles as he cleaned between Romy’s toes.

Gazing up at his boy, Bash felt nothing but love and admiration for his precious mate. That he could still smile and laugh after everything he'd experienced and all that they had taken from him was something Bash wasn’t sure he'd have been able to do. Quiet strength and steely determination, that’s what made up the core of his boy.

So precious and amazing.

Bash knew he’d spend the rest of his days making certain that all of his mate’s dreams came true. He deserved that, and so much more. He earned the life he dreamed of before he’d landed on the radar of those rogue council members. Bash, if he could, willed that the final one’s death become filled with the most agonizing torments known to creature-kind. And if someone should dream up something more hideous than any tortures known to man, then he more than fucking deserved it.

Water ran down Romy’s chest and thighs, so Bash leaned in, lapping up a trail that curved towards his bobbing cock. The flared crown looked so adorable poking from that nest of neatly trimmed curls that Bash sat in the tub, running his hands up Romy’s legs to his thighs, lightly gripping and tugging him closer until that cock was centimeters from his lips.

When he looked up, Romy had his head tilted back, water slicing over his face as he washed it.

That wouldn’t do.

Eyes on me!

Romy jerked, eyes snapping open as he immediately complied. The moment he did, Bash wrapped his lips around Romy’s cock and gripped the mounds of that bouncy backside, kneading them as he sucked Romy’s cock to full harness and beyond.

His boy’s hands in his hair, gripping and lightly tugging as he squirmed, was one of the biggest turn on’s Bash had ever experienced.

Dipping one soapy finger into Romy’s crease, he sought his hole and tapped, lightly rubbing before tapping again, occasionally pressing the tip of his finger inside just to feel his mate’s knees shake and release beads of pre-cum till they oozed onto Bash’s tongue.

Each time it happened, Bash swirled his head around the crown, lapping up every trace before the water washed it away. Every time his boy got close, Bash eased up on the suction so he could wash him more, until his boy was squeaky clean and snarling about Bash being a tease.

When the water grew cooler, and he didn’t want his boy in there when it got cold, he hummed, gliding a digit upwards, tapping on his hole again until Romy came. The taste of his mate filled his mouth, and Bash groaned in delight. Taking his pleasure from Romy’s.

The force of his release made Romy’s knees sag until he slumped against Bash’s shoulder, clinging as he came down from his high. Only when Romy was steady and had caught his breath did Bash ease back, quickly rinsing him, setting him just outside the shower, where a mound of fluffy towels sat.

“Daddy will be out in just a minute, Little Bumper,” Bash said. “You go ahead and get dried off. As soon as we’re dressed, we’ll head to the kitchen and see about putting together a meal for us.”

“Can I have something dunky and fun?” Romy asked, his little side peeking through some after the release he’d had. That was good, and exactly what Bash had hoped for. His boy needed the break after everything he’d experienced in that cave, and Bash intended for him to get it, even if that meant an ice cold and somewhat miserable end to his own shower. His balls shriveled up so tight and he went from turned on to blue balls and a turtle in less than a fucking minute. Still, he finished cleaning the scent of death from his skin and turned the water off to join Romy in dressing for the evening. Sleep pants and tank tops, comfortable and not too warm.

“I can’t stand the thought of you being out of my sight right now.” Bash took hold of Romey’s hand. “So how about we take one of your new block sets to the kitchen so you can put it together while I cook?”

“You got me blocks?”

“I sure did, Little Bumper, I just never had the chance to give them to you. It was the day…” Bash began before determining that he didn’t need to finish the rest of that statement for Romy to know which day he was talking about.

Romy tightened his tiny fingers around Bash’s bigger ones and together they walked to the room that had once housed the children. Everything was neat as a pin and exactly the way it had been when Romy had seen it last, save for the stack of boxes Bash had left on the little art table.

“Go ahead and check them out,” Bash urged as he led Romy to the table. “I hope you like them.”

With a chuff and squee, Romy bounded around the table, picking up boxes, his little mouth forming an O as he saw all the different plants he’d get to build.

“Oh my gosh, oh my gosh,” Romy said, giggling as he picked one up and clutched it to his chest. “This one is a Venus flytrap.”

“Yup.”

“Ohhh, and you got me an orchid and a lily with a lily pad that even has a frog on it. I wanna build that one first!”

Chuckling, Bash scooped him and his block set into his arms and kissed his face until his Little Bumper chuffed and kicked his feet, giggling all the way to the kitchen, where Bash deposited him in a chair and pressed a kiss to the top of his head.

“Now, you have fun with that and Daddy will work on feeding you, okay?”

“Okay Daddy.”

“That’s my Little Bumper.”

It didn’t take long to put together the perfect meal for his boy, who’d sunk fully into his little space and allowed the horrors of the day to slip from his mind for a little while.

While the tray of meatballs he’d quickly and carefully rolled cooked in the oven, he plugged in the air fryer and loaded it with mozzarella sticks. In the time it took for them to get crisp, he’d loaded five containers with warm dipping sauces: marinara, cheesy garlic, bacon maple jam, nacho cheese and Swedish gravy, all lined up on a tray he placed beside their platters full of food.

He’d cut up honeydew and cantaloupe, sliced strawberries and cubed a mango to add to their little fruit salad, dressed in sweetened lime juice with a few candied cherry pieces mixed in.

When Romy spotted everything, his eyes immediately lit up, and he hopped from his seat to rush to go wash his hands.

When he’d finished and carefully dried them like the good boy he was, Bash tugged him to sit in his lap and pulled the table close so they’d be able to reach everything.

“This looks so nummy, Daddy,” Romy said as he hugged Bash, who kissed him on the forehead.

“Let’s see if it looks as good as it tastes,” Bash replied, grinning. “Which sauce would you like to try first?”

“Let’s just go in a line, Daddy, then I get a new flavor in every bite.”

“Brilliant idea, Little Bumper,” Bash said as he picked up a meatball and dipped it in the marinara for him. Romy did a little shimmy on his lap the moment the taste hit his tongue, letting Bash know he’d done a good job with the food this time.

“Ohhh, Daddy, Daddy, I really like this one,” Romy declared after Bash fed him a meatball dipped in maple bacon jam.

The little sounds he made and the grabby hands when he lunged to grab another meatball and dunk it himself were all the proof needed that the choice to pick that particular flavor was the right one. In fact, he was kicking himself now for only buying the sample size and not a bigger jar.

“I’m glad, the new market had several flavors I’ve never even heard of before, I was thinking it might be fun to sample them all, since you love having foods you can dip, so I got a sample jar of each one.”

“Mini pizzas!” Romy declared.

Yes, his boy had dipped his pepperoni, sausage, onion and cheese creation into several varieties of ranch until he’d determined the one he liked the most. Buffalo, though he loved regular buttermilk too and had eaten even the crusts as long as he had something to dunk them in.

Such the good boy and so absolutely adorably messy with different sauces coating his fingertips, streaking on his cheek and chin. He even splattered tiny droplets along the tip of his nose.

How the hell he’d managed that was anyone’s guess, not that it mattered. Bash cleaned each mess away with his tongue, kissing his fingers and tickling them with the scruff of the beard he needed to trim.

“What would my boy like to do after Daddy finishes with cleanup?” Bash asked as they stood at the sink after supper, Bash cleaning him up properly so he could finish building his lily pad and frog. His lily looked amazing, with both solid and clear pieces making up the petals and swirling yellow conical pieces to make up the center.

“Go bouncy on your lap.” He gave Bash a lopsided grin. “Cuddle and watch a movie.”

“Go bouncy on my lap, huh? Is that going to be with or without clothes on?”

“Both, please.” Romy said, his grin was full of sass.

“Then I guess we’d better wait on that part until after our food has the chance to settle,” Bash declared. “We wouldn’t want to bounce up that awesome meal now, would we?”

“Uh-uh, it was so yummy. I can’t wait to try more new flavors.”

“We have several more adventurous flavors to try, I bought them when I bought your blocks,” Bash admitted.

“Yey!”

“Yey indeed.” Bash replied, pressing another kiss to the top of his head before sending him back to the table to finish working on his block set while Bash got the last of the dishes rinsed and the dishwasher loaded and started so everything would be ready to put away in the morning.

The best feeling in the world was when they’d finally made it to their bedroom, Romy held in his arms, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh playing in surround sound while they watched all the colorful characters play. Laughter, sunshine, good friends, and plenty of games to play and fun activities, that’s how Romy deserved to spend the rest of his days, even if Bash had to move heaven and earth, and stomp a few heads, to make sure no one and nothing stood in his way.