Page 6 of Hansen (Mutants #7)

He needed people.

Everyone did.

It was bad enough that Davey had felt guilty for something he couldn’t help. At least he’d had people who loved him.

Evan texted Davey to reassure him that he was okay before Davey could start freaking out.

He also teased him a bit about what he’d been up to with Orion, and while he was happy for Davey, he was also slightly uncomfortable at the thought of going home tonight.

Surely they’d had their fill of each other by now?

It wasn’t like they’d fuck on the coffee table if they hadn’t, and it wasn’t the first time that Davey had a boyfriend, but Evan felt like the third wheel when he spent too much time with Davey and Orion, especially in the privacy of their home, where they were more relaxed and the PDA was off the charts.

“How’s Davey?”

Hansen asked.

“Probably blissed out, although he did manage to send me a text. You were right. He was getting worried.”

“Would he worry even more if you didn’t go home tonight?”

Evan put his phone down and looked up at Hansen. “What are you suggesting?”

He wanted to say yes without even thinking about it, but could he?

He wanted everything with Hansen. He wanted what Davey and Orion had, including sex and not being able to stay away from each other for long. It would take time to build up to that, but Evan felt like he and Hansen were ready for something, even though he didn’t know what that something was. Spending the night might be a little too fast, though.

“You could give Davey and Orion an evening to themselves, and I could continue taking care of you. If you’re okay with it, I’d like to cook you dinner,”

Hansen offered.

“What about after dinner?”

“Like I said, I want to take care of you, whatever that entails.”

Evan bit his lower lip. “That’s probably not going to entail sex.”

“That’s perfectly fine with me. It’s not why I asked you to spend the night.”

“It’s what people will assume we did.”

“Do we care about what people will assume? We’re mates. People will think that we’ll be bonded in a week, anyway. What happens between us when we’re in private is no one’s business but ours. We can go at whatever pace you feel comfortable with, and I don’t care what people think of that.”

Evan was rethinking love at first sight because he was already a little in love with this man. “As long as you don’t expect anything, I’d be happy to spend the night at your house,”

Evan said, hoping—knowing—he wasn’t making a mistake.

Hansen was the rest of his life, and it looked like the rest of his life was about to start.

HANSEN WASN’T SURPRISED that Evan wasn’t ready for the next step. He hadn’t expected him to be. He’d been in Evan’s place, and he remembered how overwhelming everything was. Evan needed to find his footing and his place in a life he’d missed out on for years. Of course he wasn’t ready for anything more with Hansen.

And that was okay. Hansen hadn’t been lying when he said that he would give Evan whatever he needed. His instinct was to take care of his mate, of course, but it was more than that. He wanted to take care of Evan because he deserved it after everything, just like all the other survivors had deserved it.

Hansen’s job was more on the fighting side of the mission he and the mutants had given themselves, but he’d lived with the tribe long enough to have helped survivors, too. He liked watching them come back to life. He liked seeing them realize that their nightmare was finally over and that the rest of their life was in their hands. It could be terrifying, but also exhilarating.

Evan was free, and with all the support he had, he could do anything he wanted.

“The only thing I expect is that you allow me to take care of you,”

he promised.

Evan was still fiddling with his phone. He’d checked in with Davey, and since Hansen had no doubt that Davey would freak out if Evan didn’t come home tonight, he tilted his chin toward the phone. “You should tell Davey.”

Evan groaned. “He’s going to freak out.”

“Yes, well. He’s been overprotective since you arrived.”

“I don’t blame him. I know he feels guilty, and I’d probably do the same if our roles were reversed. I want to take care of him, too, after the years we spent apart, but he has Orion.”

“And you have me.”

Evan blinked as if he hadn’t remembered that. Hansen didn’t think that was the case. It was more that Evan wasn’t used to people taking care of him anymore.

“I’ll text him.”

“He’s going to call you right away.”

The corners of Evan’s lips curled into a smile. “Probably, but that’s fine.”

Sure enough, Evan’s phone started vibrating as soon as he put it down on the table. Evan’s smile was more pronounced as he picked it up, answering right away.

“You do know you’re not my mother, right?” he asked.

Hansen went back to work with a smile on his face.

He loved that Davey was so worried about Evan.

He wished it wasn’t out of guilt, although he understood that was only part of it. Evan deserved people who cared about him and who could show him that they did.

As Evan had said, there wasn’t much left to do.

Hansen cleaned the tables and counter again, then checked that everything in the kitchen was turned off.

Orion would be at work in a few hours—Hansen wasn’t sure how he managed to wake up at three in the morning every day to do this—and when he arrived, he’d find everything clean and neat.

Hansen turned off all the lights, checked that the front door was locked, and turned to Evan.

He was still on the phone, softly talking with Davey, but he quickly said goodbye when he realized that Hansen was done.

That was when things turned a little awkward.

Hansen had expected it.

He and Evan had never spent the night in the same place, and their relationship was new.

Hell, Hansen wasn’t even sure he’d call it a relationship. Maybe friendship? He wanted it to be more, but he wasn’t about to rush Evan. Maybe they could talk about it over dinner.

“Ready?” he asked.

Evan got to his feet.

Hansen gave him space as he finished checking the bakery, keeping an eye open when they stepped into the back alley.

Orion and Evan had been here with Orion’s father just a few days ago.

There weren’t good memories here, but Evan didn’t seem to be thinking about them.

He turned the last light off, closed and locked the door, then checked it again to be sure it was locked.

Hansen wanted his mate to be out of there as soon as possible.

He realized that he couldn’t protect Evan from memories, and considering that Evan worked here, he probably saw the back alley several times a day, but his lion wanted Evan out of there, and Hansen agreed.

Like everything in the village, Hansen’s house wasn’t far.

It was small, more like a cottage, but he liked it.

He was fine with something small since he wasn’t planning on having a family.

He didn’t have experience with kids, and what had happened today had cemented that conviction.

He wanted to focus on Evan and their relationship, and he suspected that Evan felt the same way. It was something they needed to talk about, though. If Evan did want kids, they’d have to move.

Evan seemed fascinated by every trinket in the kitchen.

As Hansen got things out to make pasta, Evan picked up pictures, poked at objects, and looked out the window.

That was why Hansen didn’t expect it when Evan suddenly asked, “Do you think I’m a mutant?”

Hansen put down his wooden spoon and turned to face his mate. He leaned against the counter, trying to find the right words even though he knew they didn’t exist.

“You were in the same lab as Davey was until he managed to escape,” he said.

Evan nodded. He picked up a picture frame that held a photo of Hansen and the other mutants. It had been taken right after they’d moved to the village, and they all looked happy.

“Davey was already a mutant by the time he escaped,”

Hansen continued. “We don’t know if they did whatever they did to Davey to you, too, but there’s a good chance they did.”

Hansen swallowed. He seldom talked about these things, and he wished he didn’t have to, but this was Evan. “From what we were able to understand by putting our stories together, most of the mutants have passed through one specific lab.”

“The one where Davey and I were,”

Evan offered.

“Yeah. We don’t know if it was the only lab that did those kinds of experiments, but there’s a chance it was.”

“Which means that I’m probably a mutant.”

Evan put down the picture frame. “Why don’t I know for sure? Davey does. Shouldn’t I know?”

“It really depends on what your ability is. Some are more obvious, like Matthew’s, who controls electricity. I knew something was different with me after I escaped from the lab, but I didn’t know what that something was until I thought someone was following me and freaked out. They were alarmed when I suddenly disappeared from in front of them.”

“You mentioned a cloaking ability.”

“I don’t turn invisible. If someone really tries looking for me, they can find me, but when we’re fighting hunters, they don’t have the time to focus on me that way. They also don’t expect me to be there, which makes things easier.”

“So you think I probably have some kind of ability but don’t know about yet.”

“I think it’s a strong possibility, yes. You don’t have to know what you can do, though. You can just ignore all of it until it presents itself.”

Evan looked as though he wasn’t impressed with that suggestion. “I need to know if I’m dangerous.”

He hesitated and licked his lips. “I think I’m ready to reach out to my family.”

Hansen knew a bit about that situation. Davey had confessed that he’d never contacted his family or Evan’s after he escaped from the lab. He’d been focused on finding Evan and feeling guilty about leaving him behind, and he hadn’t wanted Evan’s family to feel like he was responsible for what had happened.

Maybe now that Evan was back, both Evan and Davey could get their families back. Hansen hoped so. Family was what made life worth living.

“Whatever you need from me, I’ll give it to you,”

Hansen promised.

To his surprise, Evan huffed and moved toward him. Hansen didn’t know what to expect, but it wasn’t Evan hooking an arm around his neck and pulling him closer so he could press their lips together.

“You shouldn’t be this perfect,”

Evan grumbled.

He didn’t move away, and Hansen didn’t want him to. “I’m really not.”

“I don’t know. You look pretty perfect to me.”

Since Evan had taken the first step, Hansen decided to take the next. He pulled Evan closer, making sure he could move away if he didn’t want this. Evan stayed where he was. He tilted his face and smiled at Hansen, and it was the most natural thing in the world to lean down and kiss him again.

It was soft and gentle, and it was everything Hansen wanted Evan to have. It was the first chapter in what he hoped would be a long love story between them.

It was perfection. It was them.