Fully Fledged [Spirit of Sage 9] (Siren Publishing Classic ManLove) Read online

  “Naughty,” Alfie scolded, shaking a finger. Then he smiled and hugged Freddy again, kissing his cheek. “You look good,” he whispered. “And, damn, are you ripped!”

  The entire café chuckled at that one. Freddy blushed furiously and nudged Alfie with his elbow. “Thanks?” he said with a grin.

  “Sweetie, don’t thank me, thank whatever god created those muscles,” Alfie said with a salacious wink. “Of course,” he added with a quick look at John, who was grinning, as well. “My darling husbands, Mason and Jay, are also well-endowed, hence my ability to make such a completely non-sexual and non-flirtatious comment.”

  “No god is responsible.” Freddy shrugged, embarrassed by all the attention. “I’ve been doing a lot of activities, that’s all. Skiing, hiking, mountain climbing, diving. I just finished a job on a trawler out in the north Atlantic, and before that, a gig helping to build a well in Namibia.”

  “Your journey sounds intriguing,” Evan said, sounding sincere. Freddy glanced at him and saw the truth in the man’s sexy blue gaze. “I would say, from what I have heard since I have been in Sage, that all of you have many stories to tell also.”

  Freddy looked around and saw people nodding, saw the memories on their faces, the pain and fleeting glimpses of terror. Yes, they each had their stories. He recognized some people, but a fair few were strangers. His attention was caught by a movement on the balcony, and he spotted five very familiar shifters leaning over.

  “Nice of you to notice us,” said Slug drolly, a bald-headed wolverine shifter sporting a long, rainbow-hued warrior’s tail down his back, with two badass tattoos on each side of his scalp. “I guess we don’t compare to a big, sexy lion shifter.” He sighed mockingly and sent a faux sad look to his mates. Of the other four, Lash, Charm, and Rage were all wolverines, and making up their quintet, Ethan was a jaguar shifter who looked healthy and happy as he laughed at his lovers’ teasing.

  “Dude, if I’d wanted a short, runty little weakling, I’d have mated you already,” Freddy explained, deadpan. “Fortunately, Ethan spotted you first, saving me the embarrassment.”

  There was a hoot of laughter at the sally, and even Evan grinned at the comment.

  “You ready for that tat yet, bro?” Lash asked, his amber eyes twinkling tauntingly as he flicked his long, peacock purple ponytail over his shoulder, running one hand over a bulging bicep, which displayed a full sleeve of stunningly artistic ink. The man had a different color for his hair weekly, depending on his mood.

  “I’ll put down ten bucks that the boy faints, first chance he gets,” Rage drawled, winking, his pale gold eyes sparkling with challenge.

  Freddy eyed his friends narrowly and then got slowly to his feet.

  “Dude, I can stomach whatever you dish out,” he retorted. “I’ll put down a hundred that I don’t faint, however long it takes.”

  “You picked out your design?” Charm asked, his spiky hair tipped with crimson, giving him the look of an old-fashioned mace from medieval times. Freddy knew that the gel he applied hardened like superglue and wondered if the wolverine had ever used his hair as a weapon. He’d have to remember to ask.

  “Sure have,” Freddy replied and peeled his shirt over his head to reveal a tattoo he already had across his abs.

  He heard multiple gasps and blushed, realizing that he’d just stripped in front of everyone.

  “Dude, that’s some serious artwork,” Slug said, sounding impressed. The design on Freddy’s belly and chest showed the face and frontal view of a golden eagle, fierce and proud, its beak agape, crying, a bloodred tear dripping from one dark brown eye. Only its head and one yellow foot were revealed clearly, the rest in shadow, the limb bearing long, lethally sharp talons. The background was an open wound, with blood coating the edges, as though the eagle was clawing its way from Freddy’s body. It was a graphic and telling design, revealing a huge amount about the darkness that was hidden within Freddy’s soul.

  “I want to have one on my back, the wings across my shoulders, with the eagle in flight, screaming about being free at last,” Freddy said to the listeners. He shrugged uncomfortably. “That’s a big part of my story.”

  “What’s with the eagle?” Ethan asked quietly, sympathetically, his hazel eyes gleaming with sadness and admiration.

  “I think my DNA was compromised at the lab,” Freddy answered, meeting his friend’s gaze. “I’ve felt a presence inside me, for a while now, and each time I get the impression of an eagle, trying to get out.” He pointed to his tat. “I had this done in London, not long after I left here. It kind of drew itself.”

  “Freddy, you let us know when you’re ready to have the second one done,” Slug said, with no hint of teasing in his voice, only a deep-seated empathy. “On the house.”

  Freddy blinked back tears at the generous invitation and nodded since his voice had deserted him. It wouldn’t do to start bawling. That would ruin his tough-guy biker image forever.

  The wolverines disappeared, waving good-bye, with Ethan making his way downstairs to come and hug his friend. Freddy accepted the warmth and love gratefully.

  “Sweetie, welcome home,” Ethan said gently, kissing Freddy’s cheek. Freddy sighed tremulously, easing away, and then hurriedly put his shirt back on.

  “Freddy, don’t be afraid to show off your tat, anytime you like,” Bryce said with a wink. “God only knows, with John scaring our customers away half the time, some man candy wouldn’t go amiss.”

  Freddy chuckled when John went after the young waiter again, looking determined, lightening the mood again. He caught Evan’s stare and held it, reading the lust there, mixed with a hint of laughter and something deeper, something that pulled at Freddy’s heartstrings. A mutual understanding of being abused, and the scars they still bore. A shared misery that still hadn’t quite healed over. And for the first time since he’d left Sage, Freddy felt a yearning for something, for someone, other than just his family and adopted town. He’d seen the love in the wolverines’ eyes as they’d looked at Ethan and seen it reciprocated in gentle nudges and light touches. He realized that was what he’d missed the most about Sage. That upwell of affection between mates, something unconscious, but so beautiful to see. He wanted that for himself.

  “This place never changes,” Freddy said, smiling as he heard Bryce crying uncle.

  “I hope it never does,” Evan replied, looking content. “It is exactly how I imagined it to be.”

  Chapter Three

  Freddy clutched at his chest, gasping for breath as the creature hidden within clawed to escape. It was growing, each time stronger than the last, the pain excruciating as it sliced at him, desperate to fight to the surface. Drawing in oxygen, Freddy let out a scream of terror and pain, thrashing about wildly, unable to stand the agony coursing through his body. He felt strong arms gather around him and then warmth invading him, warding off the chills that convulsed him. He screamed again, his head pounding with a frenzied beat, his heart threatening to rip through his rib cage as it pulsed and throbbed as his blood pressure spiked.

  “Freddy, wake up, honey. Wake up, son, you’re safe now.” Aiden’s voice kept repeating the same litany, threading through the shrill cries of the eaglet that called out, adding to the cacophony in his brain.

  Shuddering, Freddy soothed the bird with gentle murmurs, stroking his chest and abs unwittingly. Eventually, reluctantly, the raptor faded into the background, its deafening cries reduced to a dull chitter, persistent in the way that a snooze alarm refused to switch off until the right button was pressed. Except Freddy didn’t have a clue how to turn down his eagle. He hadn’t even known that eagle shifters existed. He hadn’t known he had any kind of shifter virus inside him. But beneath the eagle’s urgent cries, a softer sound was emerging, as though a second creature was beckoning, something smaller and furrier. He couldn’t see it, but he could feel it, hear it, its confidence growing with each passing day that he’d been home.

  Gasping, his eyes opened abruptly,
and he looked up into his father’s silver gaze, reading the concern and fear in them. “Hey, Dad,” he said shakily, sweat sheening his body, his muscles trembling as though he’d just run a marathon.

  Aiden sat on the edge of the bed and stroked a thick lock of dark hair away from Freddy’s brow. The man’s touch had always held the power to ease Freddy’s fears, from the first time he’d sneaked into his house, teasing him and Murphy about their courtship kisses. That had been the first time that he’d cried, his release of all the years of misery he’d endured from the age of ten until he’d been rescued at fourteen, nearly fifteen. His own parents had sent him away with Pastor Leonard and hadn’t cared enough to rescue him when that bastard had put him through torture. Freddy’s dad had thought that art and music weren’t suitable pastimes for a boy and had been disgusted that Freddy had not wanted anything to do with sports. The man had carted him off to a conversion therapy outlet, and from there to the lab in Idaho.

  “Do you want to talk?” Aiden asked quietly, nudging Freddy aside and moving to sit with his back against the headboard, his feet splayed out in front. Freddy curled into him and felt the man’s arm surround him, holding him close to his broad chest.

  “I have two shifters inside me,” Freddy said, his throat raw from screaming. “One, the eagle, and another that hasn’t come revealed what it is properly, but is definitely there. The second one is a feline, I think, and it’s quieter, less dominant. The eagle is the most vocal, screeching to be let out. It’s only young, though, I think it’s a fledgling wanting to fly for the first time, as though it’s only just found its courage and is fighting to get out.”

  “When did you know about it?” Aiden asked, keeping his voice calm and soothing, as only he could. Freddy smiled to himself, thinking that the man wasn’t always so. In the past, Freddy had witnessed Aiden literally rip a man’s head from his shoulders. The man had been someone who had been complicit in what had happened at the laboratories and murdered his own wife for being a shifter. Yeah, cool and collected was a characteristic that Aiden used on very special occasions. Like now.

  “I first felt the eagle when the Two Spirit Tournament was about to start, that first time. I was entered into one of the events, high jump. When I lifted off, I felt something move inside me, as though it was just waking up, and it chirped to me. I was so startled, I landed straight on the bar and had to jump again. The second time I jumped, the same thing happened, and I had the sense that the thing inside me was enjoying being airborne. When I landed, it chirped again and went quiet.” Freddy looked up and shrugged. “I didn’t really think anything of it. I’ve been surrounded by shifters for years, and I figured I would shift soon enough. I never did.”

  “Why do you think it’s a fledgling?” Murphy entered the bedroom with three mugs of hot chocolate, piping hot, and handed one to Freddy, another to Aiden, and sat beside the bed in a chair.

  Freddy sat up, holding the mug carefully and staring down into the swirls of bubbles coating the surface of the drink. “It’s flexing its wings or something, getting stronger every day. I’ve been traveling for so long, and it’s been active once or twice since I left. When I made the decision to come home, though, it was as if a trigger was pulled, and it’s been driving me crazy.”

  “Joe has some journals that his dad kept,” Murphy said, after a moment’s contemplation. “He and his father didn’t see eye to eye after Joe’s mother died, and Joe missed out on a lot of what his dad learned about shifters, from way before we ever came out in public.” He frowned thoughtfully. “None of us have ever heard of a bird shifter, of any kind, let alone a bird of prey as big as an eagle. I’m thinking that this has something to with how you were treated at the labs.”

  Freddy flinched, memories of his time at that terrible place reverberating through his sore head. “I never shifted, or showed any signs of shifting,” he said. “I didn’t know that I was a shifter.”

  “If your shifter is this rare, then there’s a reason for that,” Aiden cut in. “Our bear shifters, who arrived here after being rescued from that mine in Colorado, were also uncommon. Their story is that they were hunted down by folks similar to our cult and exploited for profit. When they got too old or too ornery to perform, they were killed.” His silver gaze turned dark with anger. “I’d love to round up some of these archaic humans, who think it’s fun to take potshots at shifters. I wonder how they’d fare under the same circumstances?”

  “Baby, they do it to themselves all the time,” Murphy reminded him. “See how different countries treat their people, either because of tribal feuds, color of skin, or because they’re a minority. Geez, world wars have been fought, regimes encouraging others to eradicate humans who don’t fit a stereotype. Stupidity is not a recent thing.”

  Freddy sipped his chocolate, sighing as the flavors melted on his tongue. His hidden shifter let out a tiny purr of contentment, startling Freddy into looking down at his belly. What the hell was that creature? Must be a cat, but there were a bunch of different species. His felt…small and dainty, and he had an impression of a thick gray coat and big brown eyes.

  “I have the sense that my other form is a female,” he said suddenly and blinked when the beast purred again, as though turning over. This was new.

  Murphy and Aiden exchanged looks and then stared at him. “Two Spirit now has even more meaning,” Aiden drawled, grinning. “Trust you to have an extra string to your bow.”

  Freddy gave a low chuckle, rolling his eyes at the teasing. “I believe you may be referring to the fact that I’m a unique yet charming individual.”

  Aiden snorted, ruffling his hair. “Yeah, I remember you being a smart-mouthed brat, but you keep to your version if it makes you happy.”

  “I will,” Freddy retorted, saluting his dad with the mug. Then he frowned, considering the implications of having two shifters. “I wonder if both my forms were always there, and too scared to make themselves known, or if one was the result of the tests that were done.”

  “To my recollection, there have been no recorded cases of a successful full insertion of animal DNA into a human, unless it’s delivered via natural means. Joe has the right kind of shifter virus and can convert both humans and animals into shifters. There are only a few with his ability. He’s kept his secret quiet, for obvious reasons. Unless you had that done to you by a shifter like Joe, then I can only assume both your animals were in you to begin with.” Murphy was almost thinking out loud, trying to solve the mystery.

  “Your parents sent you to Pastor Leonard on the basis that you were showing gay tendencies, or that was the excuse,” Aiden said. “Perhaps Leonard suspected something, even back then. It wouldn’t surprise me. The bastard was clever and sneaky.”

  “I visited my hometown, while I was gone,” Freddy said slowly, looking at his drink intently and hearing a pair of sharply inhaled breaths. “I didn’t visit with my parents, but I watched them, from a distance.” He felt a sliver of remembered pain at the sight of them, the betrayal of their complete indifference to him and what they’d done.

  Murphy placed a hand on Freddy’s bare shoulder gently, squeezing firmly. “Did it help to slay any demons?”

  Freddy sneered bitterly, feeling the anger rise up inside him. “No, not really,” he replied. “They were walking to church, in their Sunday outfits, looking all prim and proper and dignified. Nothing to show the soulless monsters beneath those empty shells. No indication that their pious behavior is nothing but a sham to fool people into thinking they’re worthy citizens, rather than mindless exploiters of young children.”

  He felt a sob rising in his throat, cutting through the anger, and closed his eyes against the roiling emotions bubbling up, threatening to choke him with their bilious venom.

  “Baby, they’re everything you’ve just said, and more,” Murphy said grimly, startling Freddy since Murphy usually had some kind of explanation for people’s actions. “I’ve never understood the ignorance of those who visit their place
s of worship one day of the week and contradict their faith every other minute. They’ve chosen how they want to live, and they’ve lost out on seeing you grow up.” Murphy scowled fiercely. “I wouldn’t lose sleep if either one of them was smashed under a truck.”

  “I visited them, soon after you were rescued,” Aiden suddenly admitted, causing his companions to gasp in shock. “Just once, after you broke down and told us what they’d done and how they hadn’t cared when you’d been tortured.” He met Freddy’s gaze, and a slow, feral smile curled the corners of his lips. “Did you know that your dad, Dennis, is a shifter, too?” he asked. “A Canadian lynx, actually, and a fairly unusual type of shifter, smallish in size. About the size of a Labrador retriever, but with thick fluffy fur.” Aiden grinned wolfishly. “I could smell him a mile off. I’m surprised you couldn’t.”

  “I could, now,” Freddy said, shrugging indifferently. “I just couldn’t do it then, when I was a child. And when I visited them, I was a long way from them and didn’t take off my helmet, so my sense of smell was a little impaired. It doesn’t matter, though, does it? They weren’t proper parents, whatever their species.”

  “The other thing that I found out was that your mother, Betty, isn’t your real mother, but was your dad’s mistress for years, while he was still married to your biological mom.” This revelation had Freddy blinking, and he sent a confused look Murphy’s way, who was looking as stupefied as Freddy. “Your real mom is dead, killed in a car accident years ago. Something your father told me, though, when he was being all sharing, just occurred to me. He mentioned something about you not being fully fledged and taking a first flight. It didn’t make sense to me, and I thought he was mumbling because I’d just beaten the crap out of him, delirious, you know?” He scowled. “Now that I’ve remembered, though, I reckon he did know about you, and decided he could make money from selling you to Leonard. Right after you were taken away, they came into a substantial sum of money, enough to take a world cruise, and buy a large house, new car, and had been taking pricey vacations until I convinced them of the error of that kind of behavior.”