The Shepherd (The Game 6)

On our way toward the house, I cast a glance behind me and noted we had to fix the carport lights. There was always something.

Archie grabbed my hand and threaded our fingers together, and judging by his cute little grin, he was still tipsy.

“Note to self, Archie is a lightweight when it comes to alcohol.” I grinned.

“Those drinks were strong, Master,” he insisted.

I laughed. No, they hadn’t been.

“I wouldn’t say no to a drink now,” Sloan said.

“Me either.” I was done driving, so bring on the whiskey.

Rather than walking through the house, we walked alongside it to get to the back. Mere weeks ago, I’d crouched down in the darkness here after seeing Archie at the Halloween party.

The sound of laughter reached my ears, and I instantly recognized it as Noa, which made me look to Sloan. He cocked his head. He had to recognize it too. He’d shared a casual playtime arrangement with Noa and Cam for several months before kink had completely fallen off his radar.

“That’s gotta be Noa,” he said. “I forgot he joined your community. Cameron’s here too, I assume?”

I inclined my head. “And Lucian, their Master, and KC, their Daddy.”

“Damn, my head’s been elsewhere. I remember he was in love with his stepdad or something, and Cam was hooked on the Master.” He smiled and shook his head to himself. “Precious boys.”

“You should go first,” I heard Cam snicker.

“Oh my gosh, no. I wanna look!” Noa laughed. “Tate! Where’s Tate?”

I didn’t know where Tate was, but Noa was accompanied by KC, Lucian, Cam, and Kingsley on the patio. The ceiling was extended, and they’d brought out two heaters that they’d placed at the ends of their table. We were evidently crashing a middle-of-the-week, intimate party.

“Evening, folks. What are we interrupting?” I climbed up on the deck as they whipped their heads my way.

“Master Greer! Hi!” Noa waved, then did a double take at Sloan. “Sloan!” Hell, his voice carried. “Oh my God, Sloan! Daddy, it’s Sloan! Cam!” He bolted for Sloan and literally jumped right into his arms.

Sloan was thankfully quick on his feet and laughed as he caught Noa. “Long time, no see, sweetheart. Lemme get a look at you.”

The sight made me happier than a pig in shit. Perhaps this reunion would further wake up Sloan from his vanilla coma.

“Gah, this is so awesome! Come meet my Daddy and Uncle Lucian.” Then Noa was back on his feet, physically dragging Sloan toward the others. Well, he was trying. Noa was, without a doubt, our smallest member. But he made up for it with his giant personality.

The next few minutes disappeared as we got introductions out of the way. Lucian was pleased to see Archie again and gave him an official welcome to our Mclean family, and Kingsley was amused to see Sloan, who felt the need to apologize for last time. Of course, that prompted two curious subs, Noa and Cam, to ask for details about “last time.”

In the middle of it all, Tate came out and asked what the commotion was about.

He made me chuckle when he stopped abruptly at the sight of Archie, only for his gaze to land on Sloan next, followed by a couple seconds during which he did kinky relationship math. At his lazy grin, I deduced he approved.

“I guess Ivy and I both won a bet,” he said.

“I’m not gonna ask,” I replied with a smirk. “You’ve met Sloan—and this is Archie. Archie, Tate is Kingsley’s brat.”

They were quick to shake hands and exchange smiles. “It’s nice to meet you, Tate. Master’s very fond of you.”

Tate grinned at me. “I’m very fond of him too. Except for when he and my Owner are in cahoots.”

That made me laugh. “Bullshit. That’s when you like me the most.” I ruffled his hair, noticing something was different. “Everything good? You look tired.”

Kingsley found that funny for some reason.

Tate just scowled and smoothed back his messy hair. “This is what I get for not using products in my hair. KC asked if I was sick.”

I laughed, surprised. What the fuck?

“Don’t lie, boy!” KC hollered from where he was sitting at the table. He had Cam, Sloan, and Noa with him. “I asked if you were feeling well!”

“Semantics, Sir!” Tate retorted.

Since I wasn’t getting an explanation from Tate, I turned to Kingsley instead.

“Noa and Cam are curious about fire flogging, and we haven’t been able to find a weekend to get together,” he said. Ah, now it suddenly made sense. You didn’t want flammable hair products near fire play. “Then KC and I met up for lunch today and thought, fuck it, we didn’t have plans for tonight.”

“A well-spent Tuesday, I wanna say.” I placed an arm around Archie’s shoulders and peered down at him. “You wanna watch, baby?”

“I would really love to,” he admitted. “I’ve only seen some videos so far, and I’m very fascinated by fire play.”