He let his hand linger in the light until he was absolutely sure nothing would happen, then he pushed out a bit more, until his wrist, elbow then shoulder were in direct sunlight. After being accustomed to avoiding sunlight from birth, this was a major shock to Wick’s system. He’d seen vampires get thrown into the sun… it wasn’t pretty and far from painless.
Justice shifted on top of him, exposing more of his body. Wick flinched but he didn’t run. Justice was staring at his face as if he’d never seen him. Most of the sun was blocked off his face by Justice’s, but the heat couldn’t be shielded.
“What’s wrong? Do I look different? Because I sure feel different.”
“You look as beautiful, as always. You’re not even flushed from the heat; you’re just… a bit warmer.”
“Let me up,” Wick whispered in shock.
At the same time he was slowly climbing to his feet, Justice’s brothers charged out of the trees, three huge wolves, skidding to dramatic halts in front of Justice. They shifted quickly, anxious blue eyes darting back and forth between him and Justice, waiting for an explanation.
“I said everything was good and you could turn around,” Justice murmured to Alek, still staring at Wick.
“You literally said that about five seconds ago. We were already here,” Alek said, bending over with his hands on his knees while he caught his breath. “What the hell happened? I’ve never felt distress like that... not before—”
“I almost killed my mate.” Wick heard Justice confess.
“That’s not so.” He sent his mate, but Justice ignored it.
He’d console his mate later. Wick was sure he’d scared Christ out of him, and he was sorry, but that emotion was gone from him right now, replaced with overwhelming gratitude to the Mother for yet another amazing gift. He turned in the other direction so he could admire the brilliance of it all. The emerging and chattering of diurnals, the songbirds singing good morning, the ripples in the lake reflecting the beams of light. It was all affected by the life-giving sun. Wick was a vampire marveling at the exquisiteness of daylight.
The big brothers all crowded in closer to Justice as he explained, and it hurt Wick that his mate was taking all the responsibility for this on himself. “He said it was late to go out, but I insisted on a late run.” Justice pressed his knuckles into his eye sockets. “I fell asleep and….”
“Whoa… go back.” Taleb stepped forward. “A run. He’s a runner.”
“Not quite.” They’d been waiting for the right time to reveal Wick’s gift to Justice’s pack, and now was as good a time as any. “Wick.”
Justice’s sorrowful frown morphed quickly into a bright-morning smile when Wick turned and leapt right into his arms, clamping his toned legs around his waist, throwing his head back and laughing loudly.
“Is he sane?” Mac eyeballed Wick cautiously.
“He’s a vampire walking around in the daylight. I think we can give him a minute to enjoy it.” Taleb smirked.
“Well at least he ain’t fuckin’ sparkling like a diamond.”
Wick reared back, cocking his head to the side like a confused pup, pulling a laugh from them.
Mac waved it off. “Forget I said that. I’m sure you have no idea what I’m talking about.”
“I’m humiliated that I do know what you’re talking about. Now shut up.” Taleb balked.
“Day-walking isn’t all he can do.” Justice put Wick down on his feet. “Show them, baby.”
Like before, Wick’s shift was just as fast as his Beloved’s.
“Jesus!”
“Fuck!”
“Holy shit!”
All the brothers had a different verbal reaction to staring into the eyes of Wick’s enormous white tiger however, they had identical physical reactions of falling on their assess at the boom that resounded when Wick’s bones reformed.
“Holy shit is right. My sunlight-loving Vampire King true mate is also a shifter. A blessed gift from the Mother herself. A protector sent to keep her children safe.” Justice sounded so proud.
“Are we sure?” Alek frowned, slowly getting up off the ground. “Is he coherent in this form?”
Wick chuffed and stalked past Alek, slapping him in his face with his long tail.
“That answers your question.” Mac laughed.
“He doesn’t smell like a shifter,” Alek added, catching Wick’s tail and giving it a slight tug when he tried to slap him again.
“Maybe that’s for a reason. Only the Mother can give the ability to shift,” Taleb informed them. “Justice this is huge. No one – shifter or vampire – will be able to formulate a convincible argument negating the legitimacy of your mating or the Mother’s blessings when they see this.”
“Hey, Poindexter is right.” Mac elbowed Taleb, teasing his baby brother like always. “He can shift… he’s one of us. I don’t think you have to worry about shifter or vampire allies anymore. They’ll all follow him. Shit Justice, I’ll dump your ass and follow him.”