Seven mates for seven brothers

27 - I hate backseat drivers!

“No,” Cassy agreed.  “But I do not for one second even think that they would have left you alone.  Do you think any one of them would have been able to forgive themselves if something had happened to you if you had stayed behind alone?”

He slumped forward, his head falling onto his hands.  He spoke, and Cassy had to strain her ears to hear what he was saying.  “And if anything happened to my brothers out there, and the two here watching me could have made a difference, do you think I would have been able to forgive myself?”

His words were staggering and left her reeling.  Not for one minute had she considered the idea that Ethan had resented the ‘supervision’ because it may have left his brothers that were away, two short if they landed themselves in a bad position.

“Oh Ethan!”  Cassy dragged him up and hugged him tightly.  After holding him for a short while, she let him breathe again only to take his face in her hands and bring it down to her level.  “I am not going to fool around and tell you it would never have happened.  It could, but it didn’t.  So you need to stop beating yourself up about it now.  Thanks to Alex and the way he trained you and your brothers, they helped us all in fighting against and beating the rogues.  If you allow that to bother you now, Alex lost the battle.  And you can not do that to him.  He worked too hard for this.  OK?”

He gave her a peck on top of her hair and smiled wryly at her.  “Can’t make any promises, but I’ll try.”

Cassy nodded and stepped back but stuck her hand out to cup his cheek, and then feel his forehead.  Then she poked her finger into his hard body; his chest, abdomen and even his arms.  Then she took his head in both hands and twisted his face until the light shone directly into his eyes; making him blink furiously.

“Ouch!  Why on earth did you do that?  It hurts.”  He complained, keeping his eyes shut.

“Just testing a theory.  Sorry.”  Was all she said for a while, pursing her lips and looking at him speculatively?  “Anything else been happening?”

He shrugged and turned his head away to hide a deep blush that colored his face.

“Ethan;” she twisted his face towards her.  “Tell me.”

He smiled at her sheepishly and shrugged.  “I’ve been hearing things…”  He shook his head.  “A lot more than I should have.”  That had him blushing even more before he gave in to a nervous giggle.  “My poor virgin ears!” He giggled again before he tried to imitate a girl’s voice.  “Oh yes! Faster!  Harder!”

Cassy burst out laughing and Ethan stared at her wondering if he was going to be in trouble.  Eventually he laughed as well and when Cassy could breathe enough to speak, she said: “It was bad, wasn’t it?”

He sighed, but became thoughtful.  “It wasn’t Liz or Tina though, it was the other girls.  And I sure as hell hope my mate isn’t like that.  I hate backseat drivers!”

Cassy burst out laughing again before explaining.  “It won’t be like that.  The bond you will share with your mate is a lot deeper than the bond you share with your brothers; much, much deeper.  Believe me; she will not have to give you any instructions at all.  You will know what she wants, what she needs, even before she knows it herself.  And sometimes, when the feelings or emotions are very high, you will experience them as well.  Not as strong as hers, but enough to know what she is experiencing at that moment in time.”

“Wow!  Really?”  He asked in amazement.

“Yeah, that’s the way it works.  But my mom always said that it was not always such a good thing, because if she was mad about something my dad did, he would know about it and do something for her that she really liked.  She said she missed out on a whole lot of good arguments that way.”

“I can imagine.”

“Apart from the sore eyes and the unnecessary hearing, is there anything else that has been bothering you?  Your sense of smell, are your finger tips more sensitive?  Anything?”

“I have been picking up strange scents.  Especially last week.  Does this sort of thing happen with all the girls?”

“No,” Cassy winked at him.  “I told you all a while ago already; you guys are seriously HOT.  Of course girls are going to respond to that.”

“Even if some of us are mated?”  Ethan was incredulous.

“Yes.  Until they realize that some brothers are not available.  Your scents do not change; that is one of the main reasons it is actually considered good manners for male shifters to walk around without shirts so that others can see what their mated status is.”

“Oh.”  That was all response Cassy got from him.

“And did any of this bother you?”

“What?”  Ethan tried to act as if he did not know what Cassy was talking about.

“Their scents; did it not bother you at all?” she persisted.

Reluctantly he admitted, “Sometimes more than others.”

Her only response was to raise an eyebrow at him; and he shrugged right back at her, unwilling to say more.

“And?”  Cassy was not going to give up.

“If it really got to me, I would just go and sweat it out in the sauna.  It feels so good when you can actually feel the heat traveling through your body.  It’s so relaxing.”  Ethan rushed his explanation and she almost missed something that had been niggling at the edges of her mind for quite a while.

Ethan stared at her as she quickly tried to process what this could possibly mean.  “Could that be the reason that all your brothers shifted when they were still so young?”

“Could what be the reason?”

“The sauna.”  She exclaimed excitedly. “It is possible that one or two of you could change at such a young age, but not all of you.  At least not under normal circumstances; the sauna might be speeding up the process.  I wonder if there is another pack with something similar, I will have to find out.  Maybe the council would have that kind of information…”

Only when she heard the rustle of clothing hitting the floor, did she notice that Ethan was halfway out of the room; shirtless, and hopping on one leg trying to get rid of his pants.

“Where are you going?”  Cassy wanted to know, not understanding what he was up to.

Ethan turned to flash a smile at her.  “To the sauna!”