Page 6 of Roman (Destined Paranormals #7)

Chapter 6

Beau

D id the sexy alpha just say what I thought he said? He had certainly caught my attention earlier, but he had a toddler on his hip, and together, they definitely gave off similar auras. I had taken that to mean he wasn’t who my body had been reacting to and not my mate because he already had one. How else did you get a baby that had a familiar aura to yours? I might have been a virgin, but I certainly knew how things worked and how babies came about.

But the fact that Evan was being a butt about things didn’t help. Why would he say no? Did he know something about the alpha that I didn’t? Actually, if he knew anything about the alpha, that was more than what I did.

When the really tall alpha who had been with the sexy one earlier mentioned mates, I couldn’t keep from squeaking. Could it be? I took a chance and peered around Evan and found myself staring at intense blue eyes. I sighed and then bit my lower lip to keep from making another noise.

“Ramsey,” Evan said. “What are you talking about?”

“Give them a chance,” Ramsey said. “He might not have been my favorite person when I first met Phineas, but Roman is an upstanding alpha, and your brother will most certainly be safe with him.”

“No,” Evan said again, and this time, I noticed he crossed his arms across his chest. I moved out from behind my brother now that he’d let go of my arm and I could step away. I glared at Evan, but he didn’t seem as if he was going to back down or change his stance.

“What? Why?” I asked.

Evan finally looked at me. “Because. You just started your dream. Why would you want to give it up? Why would you run off with the first alpha that shows interest?”

I raised my eyebrows at my brother before I shook my head. “What makes you think that nobody has shown interest?”

“Evan,” Ramsey said as he stepped forward. “Just so you are aware, you cannot interfere in their mating. Even though you are his older brother, you have no say since Beau is over the age of consent.”

I could tell that Evan was going to argue, but whoever Ramsey was, he seemed to have some sort of authority over my brother. Another enforcer, maybe?

“Ev?” I said, hoping to get my brother’s attention. When he finally looked at me, I tried to reason with him. “Why? Why don’t you want me to have my mate?”

“You don’t even know he’s your mate, Beau. He’s just some alpha claiming that. How do you know?”

I glared. “Maybe because he’s near and my body is reacting to him.”

“Can I say something?” my gorgeous alpha said as he held out his hands.

We all looked at my mate. Ramsey had called him Roman. Such a wonderful name.

“I understand. Trust me when I say that I understand more than anyone the role of protective older brother.”

Ramsey snorted. “He really does. You will eventually learn the story, but he’s being completely truthful.” Ramsey looked at Evan. “I think what’s best for these two is to give them some time to be alone and get to know one another.” Ramsey shrugged. “What better place to do that than at a council get-together? They are completely surrounded by others, and if Beau should feel the need, he can call out, and any number of others can come to his aid.”

I shared a look with Roman. I didn’t think I would need to call out for help, but I was going to agree to anything I needed to in order to be able to talk to the alpha for at least a little bit. I had questions, and I really wanted to know for certain if he was my mate. If so, was the baby his? Maybe it was a sibling and he was raising it like Evan had me? I needed answers!

“I’ll be fine, Ev,” I said as I took a step away from my brother.

“You just found something that you’ve been looking for, Beau. Why would you want to give it all up to start raising babies with someone?”

I was through being nice. “Just because I might have found my mate, and of course I will eventually have babies with him, doesn’t mean I’m giving up the bakery to have babies. I can work while pregnant, and I can take the baby to the bakery with me.”

“There is a free childcare center directly behind the council’s store and bakery,” Ramsey interjected.

There was? How had I not realized that? I, of course, knew about the council store and had walked past the two buildings that were behind the store and bakery several times when on my way to the bakery. I hadn’t ever paid either building too much attention, though, because I had no business there.

“Is that really what you want?” Evan asked again. “To give it all up? Because that’s what you’re going to end up doing.”

I sighed and shook my head. “I’m sorry, Ev. You are asking me to give up my mate, and I don’t understand why. It’s not something I’m willing to do, nor should I be asked to.” I took another step away from my brother and closer to the alpha who would eventually be my future. As I did, the tingling in my body increased, telling me I was making the right choice.

My eyes were locked with those beautiful blue ones, and when I reached out for his hand that was hanging at his side, Roman slowly took mine. The zap that went through my body upon contact told me everything I needed to know. Roman was most definitely my mate. I smiled up at him, and when he returned the expression, I felt my cheeks heat.

“I promise to be a complete gentleman. I would very much like to ask if you would join me for the evening meal? I wish to learn all I can about you,” Roman said. He gave my hand a gentle squeeze, which caused another burst of energy to pulse through my arm and, in turn, into my body. I didn’t think he knew exactly what he was doing to me, and I wondered if it would ever stop. Would my body always react to him like this?

“I’d love to join you,” I said without any hesitation. “I think there is a lot for us to talk about.” I needed to know what he would want from me—from his mate. Would he expect me to give up everything and stay home? Would he be supportive of my recent adventure? I’d literally just started it, and the thought of giving it up already was upsetting.

But what was up with my brother? He’d always been so supportive, and now this. He was being anything but supportive.

“We can watch from afar,” I heard a familiar voice say. When I turned, I was met with the smiling faces of Konrad and Elias. They had been joined by their own mates and were standing not far away. “We won’t interrupt, but we can keep an eye on things. Not that we need to,” Konrad said. “Roman is an incredible person and alpha. He’s done more for his brothers and some of the rescued omegas than you know,” Konrad said as he looked directly at Evan.

I threw a smile in Konrad’s direction and made a mental note to be sure to ask him all about Roman if I didn’t learn everything today. What had he done for his brothers? Who were his brothers, and how many did he have? And the omegas? What was going on with that?

“Care to go get plates? The line seems to be forming already.”

A quick glance up at Roman showed he was gesturing toward the massive table of food. It was so much longer than I expected and seemed to keep going. Roman was most certainly correct: the line was already forming.

“Oh,” I said absently. “I guess we should get in line?” I met Roman’s gaze again. “Do you have somewhere to sit?”

Roman appeared to start to nod but quickly shook his head. “I did. I was going to sit with my family, but that wouldn’t exactly be the best place for us to get to know one another.”

I started to look around, but my attention was drawn to Evan. He appeared to be deep in conversation with not only Konrad’s mate but the tall gargoyle from earlier.

“Umm…who is that to you?” I asked, indicating the gargoyle.

“Ramsey?”

Ramsey! That was his name. I nodded.

“He’s my brother-in-law. I’ll tell you all about my family during the meal if you’d like. You need to know, and some of what you hear might make you have reservations, and I wouldn’t blame you even a little.”

What was it that he needed to share with me?

“Not to interrupt, but there are several blankets over that way,” Konrad said as he pointed toward the side of the building. “We have claimed one, as have others, but there are many left that are still unclaimed.”

“Thank you,” Roman said before he glanced down at me. “Shall we?” He gestured again to the line of food, and my stomach chose that moment to tell everyone nearby that it had been too long since I’d last eaten. It had been mid-morning because we’d become so busy that we’d barely had time to sneak away to use the bathroom.

“Yes. I’m quite hungry after the day I’ve had.”

“I wish to hear all about it.”

I smiled at him as we walked toward the forming line. We didn’t say much while we made our selections, and by the time my plate was piled with food, I’d only made it halfway down the line. That was frustrating because I’d not yet made it to the fruit or the desserts. You would think with me making desserts all day, I wouldn’t enjoy them as much as I did, but you would be wrong. I loved the sweet treat at the end of a meal.

Being fae and having magic, I wasn’t about to go without some of my favorites when I could use magic to help. With a bit of magical thought, my plate was floating beside me while I magicked another and then started filling it with various fruits and puddings. When I came to something that I was unsure of, I looked back at Roman for an answer.

“What is this jiggly stuff?” I pointed to the rainbow cubes of an unknown substance.

“Gelatin. It’s fruit flavored. My nephew and nieces love it.” Roman looked at me for a moment before shaking his head. “I’m not sure how to better describe it. If you don’t like it, you don’t have to eat it, obviously.”

I nodded before I scooped some onto my plate before moving along. Whatever gelatin was, we did not have it in our realm. I was going to give it a try though. It jiggled as I continued down the line of food, and once I was finally finished filling both of my plates, I found Roman waiting for me. He glanced between me and the plates, one still floating, before he chuckled.

“Shall we?”

“Yes.”

Roman threw several glances my way as we walked across the lawn and toward the line of spaced-out blankets. I spotted Konrad, who was sitting with a young man and a pair of toddlers. Those must be his grandchildren he had talked about so much. He waved, and I did what I could to let him know I had seen him.

Roman stopped at a nearby blanket before looking at me expectantly. “Will this do?”

“Absolutely.” I sat down, and as the floating plate glided down beside me, Roman shook his head. “What?”

“That will take some getting used to. I’ve worked with fae before, but the fact that my mate ended up being fae, that was completely unexpected.”

“In a good way or bad?” I knew some people here weren’t fond of us. It was true, we could easily become bored, and a bored fae was often a mischievous one—myself included.

“Certainly not bad.” Roman pointed at the plate that was beside me. “That is just something new for me. I have two brothers, and one is mated to Ramsey, who is a gargoyle, and the other is mated to Knox, who is a vampire.”

I couldn’t help it—my eyebrows rose at the mention of vampire. We were taught in school that vampires were not good for fae as they often became obsessed with our blood. I didn’t know how much of that was true, but I hadn’t ever let it cause me any fear.

“And they were who you were with earlier?”

Roman nodded. “Yes.” He glanced away for a moment before looking directly at me. “Our parents were killed when the twins were days old. It’s a tragic story, but one that you must know before anything will be able to happen between the two of us.”

“I’m so sorry to hear that. About your parents, I mean.” I glanced around. The blankets were spaced out, but as paranormals, hearing from afar was a thing. “Perhaps you can tell me about it? At another time?” I didn’t know if Roman wished to discuss things of that nature during our first meeting. This certainly wasn’t how I ever dreamed my first date would be with my mate, but here we were.

“Perhaps next time? I wish for you to know all about my family, but it might not be the best story for our first time spent together.”

I grinned. “Understood.”

“Care to tell me a bit about yourself? Have you always wanted to run a bakery? Do you have siblings other than your brother? Do you like it here? Miss home?”

It was my turn to chuckle. “Run a bakery? Not necessarily. I don’t mind though, and it’s not exactly new. I worked in our village’s bakery before coming here.” I thought back to the order of questions. “As far as we know, Evan and I are the only two of us. Our parents went missing when I was fourteen. They were supposed to be visiting a neighboring village, but they never arrived. They were searched for, but we do not know what became of them. We can only assume they passed.” It was possible that they were still alive out there somewhere, but wouldn’t they have come back to us by now? I had to believe that, yes, they would. “I like it here, and no, I do not miss the fae realm. It’s nice. Different. But there is so much more here.” I suddenly became excited. “Do you like television? Evan got us one, and there’s this show—I love it. There’s so many different shows and movies on it.”

Roman chuckled. “I have watched television before, yes. I even own one, although it’s rather small. Most of my time is spent grading papers or creating study plans.”

“Grading papers.” I thought about that. “You’re a teacher?”

Roman nodded. “I teach at the local college down off of the mountain. History. It was something that I loved to teach before I took a break to raise my brothers.”

I thought about that for a moment. “So, you raised them? Like Evan raised me.” I shook my head. “No, you said they were only days old when your parents died. Evan was lucky because I was already able to basically take care of myself. That must have been difficult for you.” I had no doubt that Roman would at one point share with me what happened, but it was incredibly sad. His brothers never knew their parents. “You’re their dad more than their brother.” Evan would always be my brother because we’d been raised as siblings. But Roman was the only parent his brothers had ever known.

“In a way, yes. But to them, I’m their brother. When they were younger, they did see me as their dad and even called me dad. When they were old enough to understand, I explained everything to them.”

“Are you close?” I asked. “Evan and I are. Well, we were. I’m not sure what’s going on with him today. I never expected him to act how he did just a bit ago.” We were going to have a long talk when I got home. I knew, without a doubt, that Roman was my mate. But that didn’t mean I had plans to go home with him this evening. Would I make the sexy alpha wait long? Most likely not. I was eager to know all about the pleasures that could be found between mates, and I had a feeling that Roman would certainly be able to fulfill all of my fantasies.

“We…it can be a bit complicated. I was overly protective because I had to be,” Roman said. “The circumstances of me ending up with them did not allow for anything else. That was difficult to give up when they found their mates.” Roman nodded. “I can understand Evan and where he’s coming from. It can be difficult to go from protector and provider to just brother.”

I took a moment to think about Roman’s words. They made sense. Was that what was going on with Evan? Was he suddenly faced with the fact that I would now have a mate to take care of me, wondering how he would fit into my life going forward?

“I’m not going to want to not have a relationship with my brother,” I said.

“I would never ask that of you.” Roman shook his head. “Just last week, I was trying to figure out how to rebuild mine with my brothers.” Roman smiled. “They have weekly family dinners, and I’d love it if you would join us.”

I smiled. “I’d like that. Do you think your brothers will like me?” There were going to be a lot of changes coming soon, and I was beginning to worry about some of them. Would his brothers accept me? Would I get along with them? Would they feel as if I were taking their brother away from them?

“I’m sure they will.” Roman made a face, but I quickly realized why. “I can’t be certain, but I’d venture to say that you are close to their age. The twins are twenty-four.”

That sunk in for a moment. “Actually, I’m only twenty-two. Is that an issue for you? How old are you?”

Roman winced. “Sixty-eight. Is that too old?”

I shrugged. “Do we get much choice? We’ve been chosen for each other.”

“Yes, but if my age is going to be an issue, perhaps we could figure something else out. Maybe someone at the council could talk to one of the fates, and new mates can be chosen.”

That actually hurt. “Do you not want me?” I asked as I set my plate down. We’d yet to start eating, and although I had been incredibly hungry, the thought of my mate not wanting me because of something I had no control over hurt to the point of upsetting my stomach.

Roman reached for my knee and touched it gently. “Don’t ever think that I don’t because nothing could be further from the truth. I very much want you, Beau.”