The Midnight Pard

Chapter 11

Anton

The paperwork that had piled up while he and Seth were away was insane, but having the joint office made it easier for them to collaborate and work their way though it. Anton felt more sorry for Bellamy. He was stuck getting a crash course in Kekal and Luna duties, but at least he had all four of his Deltas with him. He turned to Seth, "Hey, I actually need your help with a, uh, a side project. If you have a moment later," Seth turned questioning eyes to him. "Of course, what's up? Did I miss something in one of the reports?" Anton stood, going to rub Seth's shoulders, "No, no, its, its about Bellamy. He said something while we were out on our date and I" Seth immediately interrupted, "No, absolutely not, I am not getting in the middle of some fight." Anton stopped rubbing, "No, no, not a fight. He mentioned that he didn't have a lot of clothes. I want to help. Get him anything he needs, you know?" Immediately Seth sighed, "He's gonna hate it, but yeah, I do know what you mean, and I am going to be helping. You know how Cedar gets when it comes to you two." Anton chuckled, "Yep, thanks for having my back on this one Cedar." Seth rolled his eyes, "When do you want to go handle that?" "Immediately, if you're up for a break?" Anton held out his hand.

The drive into the human town was nice. Anton wasn't used to anyone as brazenly flirtatious as Seth was. By the time they got to the mall, all Anton wanted was to turn around and get home. Seth grabbed his hand, dragging him into the mall. "Alright, so clothes, from what I know, he has everyday clothes, enough for about two weeks if that. That outfit for a club he wore on his date with you. Other than that, I don't think he has much if anything." Anton sighed, "This is going to be a lot longer of a trip than I thought, isn't it?" Seth turned, "you regretting getting Cedar involved in this?" Anton laughed as they walked.

They had had to go back to the car twice so far, and had only bought clothes. "You know he's going to yell at us for this, right?" Seth sounded amused. Anton turned, "Why? It's natural to want to provide for your mate. It's ten times worse for an Alpha. Providing is built into our genes." Seth raised an eyebrow, "You know he's not going to see it that way. Anyways, what are we picking up next?" Anton ran his hands through his hair, "I know, now we spoil him." Seth raised an eyebrow, "You have no idea how do you?" Anton put his hand over his face, "No, I don't, I don't know what he likes or anything about him and all I want is to make him happy, what do I do?" Seth took both his hands, "I know his favorite book, movie, and show. I'll help you find fun mech for him, alright? Then, next time we have a date, we will all do more talking about ourselves." Anton felt relieved, "Thank you." They went through a few more stores, picking up throw blankets, full bed sets, and other fun items. Seth grinned over his shoulder at Anton, "If he gets mad, I'm hiding behind you." Anton chuckled. Getting away had been good for him, his brain had needed a break.

As soon as they got back home, they started dragging the bags upstairs to the room they were sharing. Setting them up on the bed so none of the contents were visible. Anton smiled, "Should we go get him or send him a text asking him to come in?" Seth walked over, "I think it's almost time for him to be done for the day, so neither should be necessary, especially if we," Seth wrapped his arms around Anton, kissing him.

Within minutes, Bellamy came through the door, "Jeez you two, I was still near your mothers, and" He froze, "What's all of that" He pointed to the pile on the bed, "and please don't say the S word." Anton furrowed his nose, "The S word?" Seth leaned close to him, "he means surprise, speaking of." Anton laughed, "Surprise!" Bellamy groaned, "You really shouldn't have." Seth held up his hands in mock surrender, "Hey it was his idea, I was just theme ideas." Bellamy growled, "Are any of them for you guys?" Anton started to shake his head no, only to have Seth grab one of the bags, "Yes, this one is for all of us." Bellamy sighed, "well if you two are going to make me open these all by myself while you just start, I get to stare at you while two open that one." Lev whined, "Why is mate mad, at us? We are supposed to provide. Why not happy?" "He isn't used to this, he will be." Anton replied silently as Seth handed him the bag. He took half of it. Glancing inside, he smiled up at Seth. "Thank you." He reached inside, removing a painting of the forests at night. Seth smiled, "I thought it would be nice to have some art in our new room." Anton glanced up to see Bellamy smiling at him, "Alright, I'll let you two torture me now." Anton felt relieved, Bellamy sounded like he was more willing than he had been before. Bellamy was grumbling as Anton handed him the last gift. Lev chuckled, "He seems happier now even if he is pretending to be upset." Anton smiled, "Yeah, it's nice to see."

Anton watched as Bellamy stood, slowly putting away all of the new things he had been gifted. Both he and Seth stood, helping him get things sorted and put away. As they finished, Seth pulled them both onto their bed with him. Anton next to him, and Bellamy half on his lap. Anton froze, unsure where things were going. Bellamy leaned over and kissed him. There wasn't the soft start that Seth had. Bellamy kissed him like a fire burning through him. Seth growled lowly beside him, Anton felt Bellamy gasp against his lips. Anton pulled him closer, he felt Seth move, Seth kissing along his neck.

Anton pulled away from both of them, "wait" he took a deep breath, "how far is this going? I agree with the whole enthusiastic consent is the only consent thing." Bellamy blushed a deep red, biting his lip. Seth smiled, "I give both of you consent to go as far with me as you would like." Bellamy's blush darkened, "I'm not really sure I'm ready to go all the way, but I was liking what we were doing." Anton cupped his cheek making eye contact. "Not being sure is alright, do you have an idea of what things you don't want to get to without at least checking in first." Seth gave him a slightly impressed look before looking back at Bellamy as they both awaited his answer. Anton was momentarily distracted as Bellamy worried at his lower lip before he answered. "Everything stays above the clothes and no clothes come off without a check in?" Anton kissed his cheek, "Of course." Seth smiled, "Anything for you love." Seth made eye contact with Anton, "I am impressed." Lev purred at the praise as Anton turned, kissing Seth's cheek. "Thank you. I've been learning from the best." Anton pulled Bellamy onto his lap, the smaller man gasping in surprise. Seth growled playfully, "You've made an error of judgment sweetheart, see now I'm free to do things like this," In one fluid movement, Seth pinned them both underneath him, Bellamy trapped between the two. Anton groaned at the images Lev was unhelpfully giving him of what this position could be useful for. He was kissing Seth, Bellamy nipping at his neck, his hands tracing Anton's waistline. Anton half believed he was dreaming. Bellamy's mouth moved off of his neck as Bellamy moaned, turning to look at Seth. Seth froze, "To far?" Bellamy shook his head slowly, "No, I uh, please, don't stop" Anton groaned at how breathless and needy Bellamy sounded. Anton pulled Bellamy to him, kissing him. He felt Bellamy grind against him and gasped. It took him a moment to realize the motion was caused by Seth grinding against Bellamy.

A knocking on the door had them all jolting up trying to look presentable. "Who is it?" Seth called. "Gregory, and Siobahn", Gregory's voice called out. Bellamy went to the door and answered it, "Is everything." His words cut off, Jax snarling through him, "What happened?" Anton was on his feet in minutes, he saw Gregory supporting Siobahn, she had her hands over her face, blood seeping between her fingers. Her voice was shaky. "Our patrol's alarm was cut. I was attacked, Greg managed to help me get back here," Gregory interrupted, "I insisted on a hospital. She wouldn't have it." She sighed, "The alarm was cut, this was a planned attack. They needed to know first." Bellamy snarled, "Greg make sure she gets to the hospital." He took off running. "s**t" Anton took off after him, Seth on his heels.

They all shifted as soon as they were outside, it didn't take long for them to get to where the patrol should be running. Jax found the alarms first. Lev half loved how fast Jax was, half was annoyed at not being able to catch him. They all walked around, there were a few others checking the perimeter. Lev was getting antsy, there weren't any foreign scents. "Ours wouldn't hurt ours." Anton growled softly, "No, this was an outsider, an outsider good at covering tracks. We will figure this out." Lev agreed.

Bellamy was the first to shift back, Jax still close enough to the surface that his eyes looked out through Bellamy's. "This wasn't a coincidence, whoever did that targeted my Delta's." Anton shifted back, "We can't know that." Jax growled through Bellamy, "yeah, I can. I installed cameras with the alarms after we got back. Hearing stories made me a bit paranoid. So I'm going back to the house and checking the footage." Bellamy sighed, "I'm not a warrior anyway, remember." Anton flinched, Cedar growled, stepping between them both. Bellamy closed his eyes, taking a deep breath before looking at Anton, his eyes back to normal. "I'm sorry, I'm upset they could have been seriously hurt or killed." Anton nodded, "I understand, go back check the footage, save anything you think is important. We'll make sure everything out here is fixed and set up, including your cameras."

They had all been out for hours by the time they got home.Before they walked into their room, Seth grabbed Anton's wrist. "Why did Bellamy say that? The 'I'm not a warrior anyway' thing?" "I don't know," Anton tried to remember a time he had ever said that to Bellamy, "I've never said that." "You have," Lev interrupted in his mind, "When he was running towards the rogue." Anton froze his eyes going wide, "Lev, reminded me, I did say that, and I was near Bellamy, but it wasn't out loud, it couldn't have been. Lev was out, we were running after him towards the rogue." Seth narrowed his eyes, his head tilting, "Things that can't be proven or explained?" Anton nodded, filled with concern. Together they walked back into the room.

Seth

Bellamy was sitting on the bed, hunched over an old laptop. He looked up as they walked in. Seth felt a tightening in his chest at the look on Bellamy's face, "What did you find love?" "I was right, the cameras automatically send the footage they record to me. The last recorded footage was minutes after you drove off our land. On all cameras." He felt Anton tense beside him, barely containing Cedar's growl, they had driven right by, had been close to whoever had done that. "Did the cameras catch the culprit?" Bellamy shook his head, "No, and nobody knew I was installing them." Bellamy looked up, "Not that I don't trust you, I was going to tell you both but I just kept getting so caught up in all the learning." Seth immediately went to the bed, pulling Bellamy into his arms, "It's alright, we know, you were trying to help. Not trying to hide stuff." Anton curled around the other side of Bellamy, both of them holding him.

After a few moments, Anton sat up, "Can you send us the footage?" Bellamy jumped towards the computer, "yeah, I'll send you both the information to log into the whole system." Seth tilted his head at how fast Bellamy was typing. "All done." Bellamy sat back curling into both of them again. Seth continued to stare at the computer. "Hey love, what all can you do on a computer? Because that's some fast typing." Bellamy squirmed against him, "I like computers, took a few classes. Nothing impressive, it's not like I'm a hacker." Seth chuckled. "No but, I think this place could use a tech upgrade, and theoretically those changes would go through you?" Bellamy relaxed against them, "I could oversee that, even help a bit. It might be a nice change from just normal duties. You know I can make any member of the Pack or Pard feel safe with me? Like it's just something a Luna or Kekal can do? I had no idea, I just thought it was because they were moms, had that motherly feeling, but no, it's like magical or something." Anton smiled, "Yeah, the mothering thing is being able to terrify you even after you're an adult." Seth laughed, Bellamy elbowing them both. "Your mothers are the nicest people you two be nice."

Hours later, Cedar was whining in his head. "Get back to before, need to mark our mates." Seth inwardly groaned. "No, we've been over this you primalistic animal. No enthusiastic consent means we wait." Cedar growled more. "We need to be united, we need them, they need us." Seth was feeling his frustration reach its peak. "If they don't consent, then it's, Cedar, you know better. We will not ever do that, especially not to them." Cedar grumbled, "I don't want to hurt them either." Seth sighed, "They'd never forgive us." Cedar quieted, "at least ask where their consent is. Talk, please?" "Alright, but I will not push them or try to convince them." Cedar growled, going quiet.

"Cedar seems on edge, how are Lev and Jax?" Seth asked quietly. Bellamy turned a bright shade of red, Anton answering. "Lev doesn't understand people." His answer was clipped, embarrassed from Seth's experience. Bellamy looked down, "Jax thinks me not being ready is stupid. Says I should just go with it, but I'm nervous." Seth kissed his cheek, "It's not stupid, being nervous is natural. You take the time you need, and let us know if there's anything we can do to ease your nerves, alright?" Anton hugged both of them, "Lev seems determined on the idea that marking needs to happen sooner rather than later. I've told him no, and he on some level understands why waiting is necessary." Bellamy moved, standing and started putting the laptop away. "I didn't want to stop earlier." He turned facing them. Seth felt shock run through him, followed by heat. "Do you want to try picking up where we left off?" Anton's voice was far softer than Seth was used to hearing. Bellamy walked back to them, curling up between them. "If I get cold feet," His voice trailed off. Seth kissed his cheek, "you say stop and everything stops." Bellamy nodded, "for now, just cuddle though. I'm too worried about Siobahn to be in the mood for all of that."