Chapter 36: Did He Just… What The Hell

[TAMIKO]

"Are we going to wait till he wakes up? Why don't you wake him up, man?" Judd asked frustratedly. He was sick of this and just wanted to go back home, to his mate, but then that didn't matter to Igor, and seemingly, this was all just a game to him.

"Yes, you have to wait for him to wake up. You owe him so many nights of beautiful sleep. I would shut up if I were you," Igor warned, making Judd instantly shut up.

Defeatedly, they sat on the dewy grass, ignoring the fact that they had suffered through the night of cold and mosquitoes. They were definitely never going to take the comfort that came with their beds for granted, ever.

"You didn't leave… Kosta, you… You're real?" Tamiko asked an hour later when he woke up and found himself in Igor's arms. He was covered with a blanket that Igor had made Gabe bring from the pack house.

Thankfully most of the people were asleep at that time otherwise it would have been a pretty awkward sight.

"You can go back to sleep, my soul, the day is still young," Igor said to Tamiko, making Gabe and his best friends groan out in frustration. This was cruel, and even Igor knew it. But it wasn't anything compared to what they had all been doing to Tamiko.

They truly had no right to complain, no?

Well, it wasn't always going to get as complicated because, with Igor, it was either he liked someone or he didn't, and the trio was just not his type of anything, not even acquaintances.

"Hold up, you made them stay here? Oh, fuck me," Tamiko whisper-yelled when he heard the three groaning. Thankfully, he was lying while facing Igor's hard chest which was somewhat comforting, and Tamiko's new safe space.

"Just that? I definitely will fuck you till your throat dries from screaming my name in pleasure. Of course, if you let me, I will take my sweet time, my soul,'' Igor said as he placed a gentle kiss on Tamiko's forehead and then cheeks.

He was in his own type of heaven with Tamiko being this close to him, and boy did he love it.

The temptation to bed Tamiko was so intense, with his scent all over Igor, and honestly, it took a lot of self-control on both Igor and Gabe's end for them not to fight over Tamiko.

Sure, Gabe hadn't told his friends that Tamiko was his mate for obvious reasons, but the endless times he had wanted to tell them when he saw Tamiko in Igor's arms was something else. He should have been the one Tamiko rested on.

It should have been him that Tamiko chose.

It should have been him that Tamiko was comfortable with, and yet for a whole night, Gabe had watched his mate be treated well by a mad warrior. A heartless and ruthless man who was known for murders had been his mate's savior.

And that was the first of Gabriel Grealor's many great regrets.

He was late, but was he?

Maybe there was a chance that he could get his mate back, right?

"—But for now, they stayed and fixed your house, baby. The only way they are leaving us, is if you approve the shelter.

"If you don't like it, they can always bring it down, like they brought it down the other ten times in the night when I didn't like what they put up," Igor said proudly like he hadn't been the devil's messenger in the night to the trio.

He had done them so dirty but he didn't care.

"Me?" Tamiko asked curiously. He had never had the power to decide the fates of the trio that had made his life difficult but here was a chance that had presented itself. Maybe he would say he didn't like it just to see them suffer, right?

"Yup," Igor nodded as he ran his hands through Tamiko's long hair. Goddess, he loved everything about the man in his arms.

"Okay then. I—" Tamiko began and his stomach rumbled, making Igor let out a deep chuckle, while Tamiko hid his face in Igor's chest.

There was only so much embarrassment poor Tamiko could take in one day, and yet even then, Gabe and Igor thought that right now he was easily the prettiest thing in the realm and on the face of the earth.

"Just let them go, please, Kosta," Tamiko whispered into Igor's chest.

He had gotten a little too comfortable with Igor and he wasn't even thinking of the possibility that Igor would leave soon. Or maybe he did know that, but he just wanted to face this new reality. He wanted to live in the illusion that Igor Konstantin had forged for him.

Besides, it wasn't every day that someone powerful took interest in him for his own benefit anyway.

"Alright, as you wish. But first, we must get some food in you," Igor said and Judd just facepalmed.

"If he's yours, you can take him, man. There's no point in rubbing it in our faces. We get it. You like him. Just take him, and just leave us be," Zakhar complained and Igor laughed as he looked at Gabe who was fuming right now.

He looked like he could burn his own friends for their unknowing betrayal.

If Igor took Tamiko, then that meant that Gabriel Grealor would be mateless. He had been okay with watching from a distance, but having Tamiko taken away from him?

That would kill him.

He couldn't live without the boy he was used to torturing, and the boy he had somehow grown to like over the years, who thankfully ended up being his mate.

Was that enough justification though?

"Oh, really?" Igor asked as he looked at Gabe.

"Are you sure I should take Tamiko with me, alpha Gabriel Grealor?'' Igor asked and Gabe was done holding on. He had been hanging on a thin thread the whole night, but right now, he just couldn't take it anymore.

"No. You take him, and I will declare war on you. I will march the Grealor army to Reynard and we won't stop, even if I have to buy mercenaries to hunt you down. I won't stop, until he is back.

"Don't even think of taking him, or you will be an enemy of a long list of packs. And we both know that won't do well for your bounty business, no.

"Take what's mine, and 'I'll burn your world to the ground, Konstantin. Now you heard his stomach growling. He is fucking hungry. If you're not going to let him walk back to the pack, then fucking carry him, or give him to me.

"I can take care of him, myself. Another mention of taking my mate, and I will kill you, even if I have to die trying," Gabe boomed angrily as he walked towards Igor who was just smiling at him.

Of course, Igor knew that there would be consequences if he triggered a war, but then again, he also knew that Tamiko was worth all the trouble he was in, or could get in. Besides, he was only answering to the lycan king, who was stuffed in his palace.

"You wanted a chat with my father, no? Come along, I'll show you the way, but just make sure my mate is well-fed, or we'll have problems,'' Gabe growled, ignoring the shocked faces of his best friends, and Igor let out a hearty laugh this time.