Devontae looked over at his mate Zander, the older man on his knees and looking underneath the bed. Devontae nibbled his bottom lip as Zander huffed out a breath of frustration.
“Did you find it?” he whispered, scared that if he raised his voice the creature in question would come out and attack him, aiming straight for his face.
“No, Bunny, I don’t see it anywhere,” Zander replied as he pushed away from the bed and rose to his feet.
Devontae allowed himself a brief moment to take in the gorgeous look of his tall, broad-shouldered, muscled, tanned and gorgeous mate, his cock twitching behind the zipper of his jeans, before jerking his mind back to the matter at hand. His fingers fiddled with each other and his eyes darted around the room. He wasn’t crazy, he knew what he’d seen. It was some sort of weird squirrel that looked like it had vampire teeth and it had growled at him. Growled. Then it scampered off underneath the bed. He’d seen it.
“Can you look again?” Devontae asked softly, hating that he felt so scared and fearful. He was a former Army soldier, he’d served in a war, he didn’t get scared by regular squirrels. But vampire squirrels? Well, that was a totally different thing.
Zander sighed and looked at him. He watched Zander’s eyes soften and then the cowboy nodded his head. Devontae knew the other man was indulging him and usually he’d bristle at the patronizing but… well, it was a fucking vampire squirrel!
Zander lay down on his stomach and looked back underneath the bed and Devontae glanced nervously around the room before letting out a high pitched scream when he saw the damn squirrel sitting on their dresser staring at him.
“What?! What the fuck Bunny? Why are you screaming?” Zander asked as he jumped to his feet. Devontae couldn’t speak, he could only point towards the squirrel who sat on the dresser table watching them with an impassive look on his face. “Oh—Bunny, it’s just a regular squirrel. I doubt he—“ Zander’s words cut off when the squirrel pulled back his top lip and showed off an impressive set of fangs. “Holy fuck… ”
“See! I told you! I’m not crazy and I’m not seeing things! That’s a fucking vampire squirrel!” Devontae screamed. The squirrel started to shake and the fur on his body shimmered. The sound of bones cracking as the squirrel shifted made Devontae gasp. Backing up until his back hit the wall behind him, he reached out towards Zander, wanting his mate’s reassuring touch.
Though his back was to Devontae, Zander backed up until he stood directly in front of the smaller man. Devontae reached out to grab onto the back of Zander’s shirt, peeking around his mate’s large frame towards the now fully shifted vampire squirrel—who totally existed—that sat on top of their dresser. The shifted squirrel was petite, even smaller than Devontae, with long red hair and lavender eyes. His pale skin glowed in the Texas sunshine that shone through the window behind him and he smirked at the both of them.
“Who the fuck are you and what the hell are you doing in our house?” Zander growled. Devontae could feel his mate’s wolf rising from within him, fur starting to grow on his skin. Devontae hummed softly, gently rubbing the planes of the large man’s back through the dark grey shirt that was two sizes too small for him. Zander calmed down slightly, taking a deep breath and exhaling slowly. Devontae pressed his face against Zander’s large bicep and stared at the nude stranger who watched them with an amused expression on his face.
“My name is Hermes Lysimachus Eustachus Hyginus,” the other man said, his voice soft and seductive as he spoke. Devontae felt himself grow aroused and with a squeak hid back behind Zander. He felt his mate tense and sniff the air. When Zander looked at him over his shoulder with his eyebrow raised Devontae felt his face burn.
“Really Bunny? You’re turned on by the vampire squirrel named Hermes?” Zander scoffed and Devontae’s head lowered.
“Sorry Sir,” he apologized instantly contrite.
“Hey now, none of that,” Zander replied lifting Devontae’s head and smiling down at him. “I wasn’t angry, just shocked.” Devontae nodded.
“It’s really not his fault,” Hermes replied, looking at his fingernails as if he were bored. “I am not just a vampire and a squirrel shifter, I am also a siren. It would be more shocking if he weren’t turned on. He’s young, he does not have the skeptical attitude that you have Zander.”
Devontae gasped as the squirrel—vampire—siren, the… hybrid called his mate by name.
“How do you know my mate?” he growled out, all traces of his earlier arousal gone. Now he was skeptical. Skeptical and wary, paranoid and just slightly jealous. He looked back and forth from Zander to Hermes—who the fuck names their child after a Greek mythological character—trying to figure out how they knew each other.
“I don’t know him in the sense that you do Devontae, but I know all about the two of you, all of you here on this ranch actually. The Tate Pack and their acquaintances have roused the interest of some very important people. Some very powerful people and they sent me and a few of my friends to check you all out,” Hermes informed them before hopping off the dresser and walking towards the bedroom door.
“Wait! That’s all you came to say to us?” Zander asked incredulously. Hermes paused in the doorway and turned to grin at the both of them.
“Oh no. Not at all, but I have a few others to see first. Just know this, you’re all going to be taking a little trip,” Hermes hinted.
“A trip? Where? When? Why?” the questions flew from Devontae’s lips rapidly as he stepped around Zander and crossed his arms over his chest. He made sure to keep his focus on the squirrel’s face and not on his dangly bits.
“You’re going to Albuquerque. As soon as possible and well… you’ll find out when you get there,” Hermes said in a distracted manner as he looked towards the closed door across the hall from the bedroom. Devontae felt his breath catch in his lungs. Did this strange creature know what lay behind that door? He wasn’t ashamed of his relationship with Zander, was no longer ashamed of anyone knowing that he was a submissive to his very dominant partner, but this was someone who had essentially broken into their home and spouted off a bunch of cryptic shit to them. Devontae didn’t trust him as far as he could throw him.
“I’m going to go now. I have to pay a visit to Michael and Howell,” Hermes paused and turned to grin at the two of them. “You may want to grab your favorite toys from that room Zander, I think you’re going to need them.”
And with those cryptic words, Hermes shifted back into his squirrel form and scurried away. Devontae and Zander stood frozen for a second before turning to look at each other. Neither man spoke, both of them just staring at the other.
“Did that really just happen?” Zander asked, his tone filled with confusion.
“Y-yeah, I believe so,” Devontae stammered out. With a heavy sigh he walked out of the room towards their playroom.
“Where are you going Bunny?” Zander asked him.
“I need to be grounded because I feel completely out of sorts right now Sir,” Devontae replied, shock starting to course through his system.
“Okay,” Zander stated, sounding out of sorts himself. “I think I need it as well.”
“And then when we’re done, I guess we should pack,” Devontae said as he stepped into the room, taking off his clothes and folding them up neatly, placing each article of clothing: his True Blood t-shirt, jeans, and red boxer briefs, in the chair that waited just inside of the room.
“Pack? Why?” Zander questioned him as he pulled off his shirt and walked over to the far wall to look over the items that hung there. Devontae didn’t answer him at first, instead walking over to the spanking bench and leaning over it. He licked his lips in anticipation as Zander pulled down the new paddle he’d had to purchase after breaking the other one in a very exuberant scene. Devontae trembled in excitement as he put his hands into the padded cuffs that were attached to the bench. Zander walked over and fastened each restraint, spreading his legs and fastening his ankles. He rubbed the flat side of the paddle against Devontae’s ass, the other side covered in silver designs.
“For our trip to Albuquerque, New Mexico,” he stated before letting out a loud groan as Zander brought down the paddle on the fleshy part of his ass.