Unwanted Guests

"Del, we can't just ignore him. Sure, he might not do something tonight, but you know your father. You have been watching him for years." Buck said as he took Del's hand, forcing him to stop pacing. He then pulled him into his arms for a gentle hug and rustled his hair.

"I'll be with you." He whispered, his words making Del lean back a little and look him in the eyes, though his lowered a few times. "I thought you were mad at me for what I did."

Buck sighed, shaking his head a little.

"Yes, I was very mad at you for the decisions you recently made. I still am, Del, but that doesn't mean that I won't stand with you."

Del sniffed and nuzzled his face into Buck's neck, his tense body relaxing a little as Buck rubbed his back.

"Open the skylight and let him in before he accidentally breaks the glass with his weight." Buck joked. They both knew that the glass was reinforced, and even Palace's weight wouldn't break it, but he understood.

After another moment of peace, Del slowly walked over to one of the many switches set up on the wall in the large room they were in and held it down. A small part of the glass paneled ceiling slid open, drawing Palace's attention.

He didn't get up right away, and instead returned his attention to them for a few minutes before slowly getting to his feet and padding over to the opening. Palace nonchalantly let himself fall through the space, opening his wings and tilting them just enough to glide down safely without hitting any walls.

Del took a deep breath and straightened his shoulders as he slowly approached his father. The giant wolf hybrid before him was letting out a low, continuous growl as he watched him move.

"I don't believe I have to ask why you are here, but I am curious as to the specific reason." He stated as he stopped a few feet from his father and waited. He knew that the man didn't rush in situations, especially ones he did not wish to be in.

Palace took his time before giving any kind of response, as Del thought he might. When he finally decided to act, he slowly shifted into his human form. The look on his face had Del fighting himself not to fidget. His father was clearly annoyed. His dark gold eyes were narrowed and his breathing was deep, with each inhale and exhale seemingly timed to the second.

"Palace." Del said as Buck moved to step up beside him.

Instead of paying his son any more attention, Palace turned his glare on the deer shifter, then lifted his upper lip and grunted a slight snarling laugh. "A deer." He said, his voice sounding like gravel as he clearly tried to hold his wolf back.

Del bared his teeth a little and stepped in front of Buck.

"You did not come here for him." He said. It was meant to be a warning, but he wasn't sure if it was a good idea to use such a tone with his father. He knew that the man had little patience.

Palace ran his tongue over his lower lip before replying. "Why are you bothering me, boy?" He finally asked.

The question was quite open-ended, but Del wasn't stupid. He knew exactly why Palace was bothered. He had tried to kill the nephew of his lover.

"You would not have cared if I had succeeded in killing him the first time." He stated simply.

His father let out a frustrated growl before he responded harshly. "Well you did not succeed!" He snarled, stepping forward as he flexed his right hand, his nails growing into sharp talons.

Del felt his hot breath brush against his face, triggering his wolf to push against the surface of his human skin. It didn't like feeling threatened.

Calm down, Del. Even if we can somehow win against him, he will hurt or kill one of us without a care. We need to be careful. Buck thought into his mind.

The moment he heard those words in his thoughts, Del noticed Palace's attention zero in on Buck. A look of disgust on his face.

"A mind link with a piece of meat? I should have killed you years ago." He growled as he began stalking after Buck.

Del stepped forward, blocking his path as he let out his own warning growl.

"Leave him out of this."

Palace stopped, but before Del could relax and regroup his nerves, he was stunned and lying on the floor next to Buck. Both of them were under a heavy paw, sharp talons digging into their skin painfully.

His father's eyes looked between them both several times before he began lowering his head toward Buck, his jaws opening for an obvious bite.

"Dad... not him!" Del coughed out, struggling to breathe around the weight on his throat.

Palace's teeth stopped barely an inch from Buck's face. His eyes dilated as they slowly looked toward Del.

"Dad, please. Kill me instead. Please don't hurt him anymore." Del begged quietly. "He didn't do anything. It was my idea to kill Mina."

Del expected his father to ignore him and attack Buck anyways, and allowed his wolf to begin taking over. He couldn't shift just yet, though, with Palace's talon digging into his skin, but the second he attacked, he'd be on him.

He was so ready for a nasty fight to break out, that he felt his wolf withdraw slightly in surprise when Palace just huffed and swung his body around to walk away. Del immediately sat up and leaned over Buck, checking his bleeding neck with shaking hands.

"I'm alright, Del. Calm down." He said as he sat himself up, grasping his hands reassuringly before lifting his eyes to Palace. He was back in his human form and was turning to look at them at that moment.

"I will only warn you once. If Mina disappears, your deer will as well."

Before Del could find the words to reply, Palace shifted back to his wolf form and leaped into the air, flapping his wings hard enough to carry him up to the open panel in the glass ceiling.

"Excuse me, Sir?" Came the voice of one of his downstairs guards over the intercom hooked up in the room.

Del walked over to a different button on the wall and pressed it while holding down the one that would close the glass panel Palace had just left from.

"Yes?" He said before releasing the button.

"There is a little lion cub pawing at the front door. It's been there a bit and seems reluctant to leave." He said, making Del look over at Buck, who was actually trying to hold back a laugh.

Del scowled. "Do you find this funny?" He grumbled as he pressed the button again.

"Escort him up."

He really didn't want to deal with Mina again, especially because he couldn't even think about killing him anymore, but he couldn't just have the darn guy pawing at his door all night, either. He didn't need that kind of attention.

Several minutes later the door to one of his personal elevators opened and Mina's little lion mix cub bounded out. His guard was about to step off the elevator, too, but Del held his hand up.

"Go ahead and go back down. Thank you for getting him."

The man raised an eyebrow and looked at the cub that was now up on its back legs, pawing at Del's left leg, clearly wanting to be lifted.

"Do I need to get the crew ready?" He asked, indirectly asking if a discrete burial was going to be needed soon.

Sighing, Del shook his head.

"No. Just go ahead."

The man nodded and quickly took the elevator back down, leaving Del and Buck staring down at a lion cub that clearly just wanted to be picked up.

"I'm not sure whether he's crazy or just wants to die." Del mumbled as he leaned over and grabbed Mina's lion by the scruff and lifted it up so that he could meet its eyes.

"What the hell are you doing here? And in that form?" He asked.

When Mina's cub just squirmed and growled a couple times as it tried to latch onto his arm with its claws, Del rolled his eyes and dropped him.

"I'm not dealing with you if you can't even shift. You're lucky that Palace came by right before you did, or you'd be needing buried right now." He said as he headed for the elevator. "I'm damn tired. Let's go to bed, Buck."

When he turned around once inside the elevator, Del pursed his lips and glared down at the little lion joining him.

"You weren't invited." He said to Mina as Buck stepped inside, chuckling quietly as Del tried to nudge the cub out with his foot. Instead of getting off of the elevator, Mina's lion latched onto Del's pant-leg, making the guy jump and snarl.

"Dammit, Claws. You're asking to get your ass kicked." He growled and he reached down, intent on throwing the little shit back into the room and leaving him there for the evening, at least.

"Calm down, Del. He clearly can't control his shift yet." Buck said as he knelt down and gently scooped up Mina's cub.

The lion looked confused and squirmed a lot, but Buck allowed it to move as freely as possible, without risking dropping it.

"We'll take him with us. We can't just leave him, anyways. Remember what Palace said? We at least need to contact one of his uncles or he'll likely be back when Mina doesn't return home."

Del jabbed his finger against the up button as he grumbled something about babysitting. They silently road the elevator to their penthouse floor. Del stalked off with Buck moving a lot slower behind him, Mina tucked underneath one arm.

"His emergency contact phone number was one of his uncle's. Just call it. It should be in my phone." He said as he yanked his shirt off and stepped into the bathroom to get ready to go to sleep.

When he came out in just a pair of boxers with his teeth brushed, he saw Buck hang up his cell phone and sit down on the bed with Mina in his lap. The cub looked tired, but as soon as it saw him it perked up and ran to the edge of the bed, lifting a paw as if it would make him come closer.

"Get off my damn bed." Del said, frustrated. He just wanted to go to sleep and forget all about his father coming by, and Mina's annoying lion paying them a visit, too.

To his surprise, the little lion mix listened and hopped down to the floor. He hesitantly walked over to the bed and sat down when Mina didn't move again for a few moments. It was obvious that he wanted to. His lion's tail was swishing back and forth eagerly as it sat near Del's feet, looking up at him with big, tired eyes.

"Did you call his uncle?" Del asked as he reached forward and poked Mina's nose a couple times, earning a raspy growl and a swat that missed him by a mile.

You're definitely getting tired.

"Yes. I got Jamie on the phone. He said that Palace had spoken to them and that he had followed Mina to your company and to expect him to be there."

Del sighed and flopped back onto their blankets.

"Of course he did." He said with narrowed eyes glaring sideways at Mina's lion, who had gotten up on its hind legs so that it could reach its front paws up to the blankets and look at him.

"You'll sleep on the floor, Mina. If you get in our bed, I'm locking you in the room downstairs." He said as he sat back up, only to grab Buck, who had just removed most of his clothing in preparation to sleep, and tug him back down with him.

He wasted no time getting close to the man. Buck didn't hesitate to wrap him in a tight hug, either. Having him was the best thing that had ever happened to him.

"Get some rest. He'll behave, then we'll get him home tomorrow." Buck whispered as he squeezed Del a little tighter for reassurance.

Del nodded against the man's chest and closed his eyes.

He awoke sometime around two in the morning, though he wasn't exactly sure why. His instincts weren't telling him that there was danger anywhere, but he still felt uneasy. Yawning, he slowly sat up and looked around the large room.

Mina?

It was a bit hard to see any specific details, considering how dark it was, but Del could tell that the guy had finally shifted back to his human form.

He's not asleep.

He was sitting in the far corner with his arms wrapped around himself.

"Mina?" Del whispered as he got out of bed, being careful not to wake Buck.

Mina quickly ducked his head beneath his arms.

He's afraid of me?

His lion hadn't been worried about him at all earlier.

Are they still two different entities?

He knew that not all shifters automatically fused with their animals right away, and Mina was definitely a special case when it came to his shift.

"Do you want to go home?" He asked as he calmly walked over to his dresser and pulled out a pair of loose pajama pants to tug on so that he was a little more decent.

When he looked back over at Mina, his eyes had adjusted a bit more and he could see the guy's wide eyes staring up at him. Thinking for a moment, he grabbed a slightly smaller pair of pajamas with some fabric ties in case they didn't quite fit, and tossed them near Mina's feet.

"I'll get you home. Don't worry, Palace came by to make sure that I didn't dare do anything to you."

When Mina didn't move, Del sighed and took a few steps closer, then sat down in front of him.

"Listen, I'm not sure what's going on with your shift. I don't know why you are following me around intentionally, and I'm not going to apologize for anything I did before. I will, however, not try to hurt you from here on. You can take my word for whatever you think it's worth, but I haven't hurt you at all tonight, so maybe just trust me to get you home so that you don't have to sit here afraid all night?"

Del waited for a response, but Mina just hugged himself a little tighter.

Wait a second.

He narrowed his eyes on Mina's hand and noticed that it was actually holding his arm to keep it from moving, not holding himself because he was afraid.

"What are you doing?" He asked as he heard Buck begin to awaken behind him in bed.

Before he could form another thought, Mina had his arms wrapped around him and was sitting in his lap. At first, Del began trying to push him off of him, but then he smelled something that confused him.

What the heck is that scent?

It tickled his nose just a little and drew his wolf's attention.

Without thinking, he nuzzled his nose against Mina's neck and inhaled deeply. He could feel his heart-rate picking up quickly. He smells delicious.

Del was just beginning to push Mina down against the carpet, a whole plethora of things running through his mind that he suddenly wanted to do to the poor guy, when he felt a strong hand settle on his shoulder.

His mind instantly cleared when Buck gently tugged him away from Mina.

"Calm down, Del." Buck said as he helped him over to the bed and had him sit.

He then turned to Mina, who had returned to the corner he had been sitting in.

"For some reason, your animal side is attracted to him, and now your scent is beginning to bother him." He said as he walked over and offered Mina a hand.

"Let me take you home? Both of you need some time apart."

Del felt himself bristle at the idea of Buck taking Mina anywhere, but he forced the feelings aside and got himself beneath the blankets. It helped not to be able to see him, but the scent... it wouldn't leave his nose.

It was quiet for a short time before he finally heard Mina carefully stand up, then tug on the pair of pajama pants he'd offered him. His wolf flared in his mind with the idea that he was wearing something he owned, but Del shoved it back.

He fought with himself to stay in bed as the two left. Thankfully, the scent completely cleared from his senses a little while later and he sighed with relief.

I don't know what the hell that was, but I need to stay the hell away from that guy. I hate the way he made me nearly lose control.

Control was something he valued more than most things he possessed, and he would not lose it for some broken lion mutt shifter.