Dhampirs of Sgiach

28. Kieran

“Kieran! Another pint!”

Kieran smiled as he poured an old werebear another pint and set it down on the bar. “Weren’t you the one of the ones that would cuff me in the back of the head when I forgot to say please?”

The bear gave Kieran a look. “I have earned my place as a mannerless Omega.”

Kieran shook his head with a grin. A crash drew his attention to one of the new waitresses. The young dhampir girl looked flustered as she frantically tried to clean up the mess of a fallen tray while waving off the help of the pair of werewolves that were attempting to help her. Kieran grabbed a broom and dustpan.

“Rand, table 15 needs a refire.”

“Heard!”

“I’m so sorry!” Lorna squeaked. Her brown eyes were wide as tears began to fall down her cheeks.

“It’s alright. I’ve dropped trays before,” Kieran assured her as he helped clean up the mess. “Go ahead and take a small break. I’ll cover your tables.”

Lorna nodded and scampered off. She was much less rattled when she came back and the rest of the night went by slowly but peacefully. Though it was odd that Mr. Eklund and Mr. Harrelson hadn't come in. Toward the end of the night, Kage came in with a tall, dark-skinned Nephilim. A very dark-skinned Nephilim. When the man smiled and chuckled at something Kage said, his teeth were starkly white in the darkness. Same with the whites of his eyes. The crimson flecks marked him as demonic. A shorter man came in with them as well and Kieran recognized him as the Furian bouncer that had caught him the night he found Kage.

They sat at the bar and Kage smiled at Kieran. With Kage in between the two other men, it was like seeing skin tones go from pale to dark. He seemed excited and nervous about something. “I’d like to order a beer,” Kage said.

Kieran raised an eyebrow. “Oh really?”

“Yep.”

Kieran wrote down pancakes and a milkshake for Kage on his notepad before he turned to the two men with Kage. “And for you two?”

“Dealer’s choice,” the Furian said. He had two gold beads in the braid at his right temple. Kieran wrote down Fire Alarm Burger, medium-rare.

The Nephilim grinned at Kieran and his eyes sized him up. It wasn’t the way most strange men in the bar sized Kieran up. It was the way the women sized him up. Like they wanted to know what he would look like without his clothes on. “I think I’ll take a steak, well done with a loaded baked potato, mixed veg, and a pint of Hammersons.”

Kieran wrote down grilled chicken, loaded baked potato, and mix-veg. “Coming right up,” he said as he handed the order back to Rand in the kitchen, then got the Furian and Nephilim their pints.

Kage frowned when Kieran set down the glasses but no glass in front of him. “I wanted a beer. That’s what people order when they come into a bar after work.

“I’m not wasting a pint on someone who isn’t going to enjoy it,” Kieran said as he leaned forward and grinned at Kage. “So, what brings you all in tonight?”

“These are my friends, Ray and Sean,” Kage said with a pout at Kieran.

“I know Sean,” Kieran said as he took a sip of coffee from his coffee mug.

“Nice to see you not having an accident in your pants,” Sean said with an amused grin as he took a drink from his pint.

“Gods, that was a tasty feed. He was so pent up,” Ray said with a shiver.

The room seemed to grow darker as Kieran glared at them. The room went quiet as shifters turned to look at the bar.

“You fed on Kieran?” Kage asked Ray.

“He came into the club full of pent-up s****l tension. We all fed on him that night,” Ray answered and glanced at Kieran. “You knew you were pent up. You knew what could happen.”

Kieran growled at the dark-skinned incubus. Kage making friends at work was a good thing. Kage doing something as innocent as coming into the bar where the guy he likes works so he could playfully flirt was a good thing. But Kage had brought in an incubus and a Furian and that was downright suspicious. “Kage, is there a reason you brought these two specifically?”

“No,” Kage said as Lorna came by with their orders and Kage’s milkshake. “They’re my friends,” he added as he poked at his pancakes. He was lying and Kieran could smell it.

“Really? I ordered steak, not chicken,” Ray cut in with an annoyed look at Kieran.

“Only a philistine orders a steak well done,” Kieran said dryly as he moved to refill a beer for a werebear at the other end of the bar.

“He makes a good point,” Sean added as he took a big bite of his burger. “And damn, he’s good at figuring out what people like.”

“You’re a Furian. All of you are addicted to spicy food,” Ray grumbled. He looked annoyed as he took a bite of his chicken.

It was a slow night, but Kieran still made sure everyone was taken care of before he put up his Back in Five sign and headed to the bathroom. He had barely begun to take a leak when Ray entered the room.

“I decline whatever offer you’re thinking of,” Kieran said.

“Really? That’s too bad. I hear s*x with two of my kind at the same time can be mind-blowing,” Ray commented nonchalantly as he leaned against the wall and watched Kieran. “But I’m not here to offer you a good time. Even if I’d happily give you one.” He made a show of peeking at what Kieran was packing.

“Then what do you want?” Kieran asked. He didn’t bother pointing out that acknowledging someone’s nudity was rude. In both Nephilim and shifter cultures. Dhampirs were normally more modest, but Kieran had been raised with werebears. It caused a bit of embarrassment for Echo when she first came to live with Kieran and Kage. Enough so that Kieran had a note on the inside of his bedroom door to remind him to put on pants.

“Kage is worried about you. He smells the shame, just like you smelled his lie. Tell him why you feel ashamed. He thinks it's because he’s a boy and you prefer girls.”

“That’s not why,” Kieran pointed out as he finished and went to wash his hands.

“I know it’s not. I have a better sense of s****l shame than he does.” Ray grinned then as he moved closer to Kieran. “I could always feed on your shame right now. Could help you.”

Kieran turned so he could face the other man. “No thank you.”

“Awww… Why not?” Ray moved closer, his magic reaching out to caress Kieran.

It was a strange feeling. Kieran could feel the desire well up within him, but the normal feeling of his c**k growing hard as it throbbed with need did not come. Kieran frowned at Ray, letting the man see uncertainty and desire in his eyes as that dark hand moved closer to his cheek.

Kieran’s hand came up to knock the hand away from his cheek as he gripped Ray’s wrist. His other hand came up while he pulled the incubus closer to him to grip the back of his neck and slam the side of Ray’s face into the sink counter as he stepped fluidly to the side.

“What the hell?” Ray cried out as Kieran kept him pinned there.

“Don’t use your magic on me,” Kieran growled as his fangs extended. He froze as the door opened and Kage came in.

Kage’s eyes widened at the sight of them before he turned around and hurried out of the bathroom.

“s**t…” both Kieran and Ray said at the same time.

When they got back to the bar, Kage wasn’t there but Sean still was. He took one look at the two of them and shook his head. “Kage said he was going home. What were you two doing?” Sean said.

“Asserting dominance,” Kieran said as he pulled out his phone and called Kage. He cursed when Kage sent him to voicemail and called Echo.

“Hello,” Echo answered on the second ring.

“Let me know when Kage gets home. He just huffed out of here and won’t answer me,” Kieran said.

“What did you do?”

“Let a damn incubus know I was unhappy with his antics,” Kieran answered with a glare at Ray.

Sean chuckled and patted Ray on the shoulder. “Should have kept it in your pants,” he told the incubus. “Cover my tab. I’ll go tail Kage and make sure he gets home safe.” With that, he grabbed his coat and left.

“I’ll text when he gets home,” Echo assured Kieran.

“Thank you, Echo.”

Ray covered the bill and left. Kieran spent the rest of his shift fidgeting and annoyed. Echo texted him that Kage had made it home safe. Upset, but safe. It was rather surprising when Adam came in with their mother for the morning shift.

“Where’s dad?” Kieran asked.

“There was a lead on the rat. Auron wanted to look into himself,” his mother answered as she headed into the kitchen.

“We’re fairly certain Mr. Harrelson and Mr. Eklund followed him,” Adam added as he set his backpack down behind the bar.

“So, that’s why they weren’t at the bar last night,” Kieran mused. He walked into the kitchen after his mother. “Mom, can Echo and I have tonight and tomorrow off?”

“Why?” Erin asked as she washed her hands.

“Kage is annoyed with me right now and one of the dhampirs has been showing interest in Echo.”

Erin paused and looked at Kieran with the look he had seen her give past girlfriends of his and his brothers. Kieran shrugged at the look. “He’s been bringing her tea, me coffee, and Kage hot chocolate every morning. It’s not very good, but he’s made an effort. I figure he’s earned a date.”

“He hasn’t come to Auron and I,” she pointed out.

“I’m the dominant male in Echo’s family,” Kieran said with a smile. “He’s going about it the dhampir way. If we lived in the family house, he would have gone to Dad.”

She nodded and smiled at Kieran. “Are you going to come to the next doctor appointment?” she asked.

“I don’t know,” Kieran answered as he left.