A Kink in the Tail

Chapter 43 - No friendly faces here.

It wasn't the sort of first impression Adam wanted to make but Paul refused to budge. He'd let him have his way when he wanted to come down the plane steps and walk to the car on his own. Only for him to collapse from pain shooting up his legs by the time he settled in the car. Adam sat quietly all the way to the compound with the help of a couple of painkillers, feeling foolish.

When they parked, and the wheelchair appeared, Adam was close to tears. Paul said he wasn't going to make the same mistake twice just to humour his ego. He gave him the choice of the wheelchair or he gets carried in.

Constantine was no help. Paul made a point of separating them and he was sitting in the second car helplessly watching them argue.

"Get in." Paul stood behind the wheelchair his hands hanging loosely on the handles. "I'm not going anywhere until you get in."

Adam was already nervous at the prospect of meeting Paul's Alpha and his family, without presenting as a helpless invalid. It was bad enough that his face was on full display. Paul refused to let him wear his dark sunglasses. Adam hated the thought that they will take one look at him and wonder how Paul managed to get a dud like him as a mate.

"Give me some more painkillers and I'll be fine to walk," Adam begged. "I don't want them to see me arriving like this."

"No. Get in." Adam looked up at his mate. Paul was perfection, flawless...and then there was him.

"At least can I have my sunglasses back?" He'd feel better about himself if he was hiding behind them.

"No. You look fine." Paul pulled him out of the car and stood close. "I love this face." His arm went around his waist and stroked his back reassuringly as he looked into his mismatched eyes.

"They're waiting for us sweetheart." He nuzzled the fresh mate's mark on Adam's neck, pressing a little kiss on it. Adam shivered and stretched his neck to one side inviting his lips to linger. Paul obliged and ran a string of soft kisses up his neck to his jaw, ending with a feather-light touch to his mouth.  "Relax, my love."

He smiled and stood back. "As much as I would like to do this all afternoon, my Alpha is waiting to meet you. Be good and take a seat."

Adam grumbled and sat down, flicking the footrests into place. "How about the sunglasses? You're wearing yours."

Paul took his shades off and put them in his top pocket. "Now I'm not." Suddenly seeing his beautiful blue eyes reinforced how austerely handsome his mate was. Paul didn't give him any more time to stall and headed toward the entrance of the main building. A ramp had been installed on one side of the verandah stairs and Paul easily pushed him up.

"You're probably going to be pissed off but FYI I haven't told the Alpha I found my mate."

"WHAT???" Adam swung around, his face a mix of fear and anger. "You can't be serious?" He screamed.

The huge double doors opened as they approached. Two of Paul's team manned the doors and greeted him as he went through.

"It was too complicated to explain everything over the phone. The whole mission was a cock up from beginning to end. Once he meets you he will understand." If Adam was nervous before, he was now in full panic mode.

"Fuck! You should have warned me.  You've ambushed me."  His lips trembled. "What the hell were you thinking? Where's Constantine? I want Constantine." Paul saw the panic rising in Adam and realised he'd made another mistake and was about to apologise when...

"PAUL... you're finally back."  Came a loud voice out of nowhere.  Paul let out a long sigh....of all people....this was really bad timing.

"You dog we missed you." Bellowed a beautiful young man who was marching in their direction from the far end of the house. "You didn't even let us know you were here."