A Solid Bond

                                    

                                          

In the days that passed, Elder Pembroke incarcerated the librarian brothers and ran a thorough investigation on Mabry Wardell. In the weeks that followed after that, everything began to settle down around Pax and his mates. Pax and Mateo went back to work, requesting Fridays and Saturdays off for mate-bonding time. In their society, recently bonded mates were always accommodated before unmated werewolves. So, they even received a few more visits from Maribelle and Klaude after their schedules were sorted out. The mixed human had found employment easily in the werewolf community and was able to transfer over.
The temple had made an announcement directly from both Anubis and Khonsu that all mates, including vampires and mixed species, were to be reported and granted a week's adjustment period. The shock soon wore out when Omegas with hidden vampire and mixed mates began to step forward. Elias truly hadn't been the only Omega struggling with protecting vampire mates. He exchanged contact information with many of them. Eli and Nolan would laugh and frown as they read about their newfound friends' lives through online messages. They had formed a discord text channel titled "All in the Mix."
January came across an old, trusted friend that ran a nocturnal animal pet shop and urged Nolan to help part-time when he realized how fascinated the orange-eyed vampire was with the shop and the animals. Nolan took to caring for them like a fish to water and the shop owner, Angelo, was relieved that he didn't have to turn Jany's request down. Quinlan spent most nights training with January. The blond's vampire gifts continued to manifest and surprise him. Quin was not only able to draw animals to him, but he was able to communicate with them. Elias would watch them some nights, though the actual training part was usually shorter than the time they spent learning about each other.
Elias found that staying at home wasn't daunting when he had the freedom to come and go as he pleased. Sometimes he joined any of his mates for lunch, commuting to their workplace. Sometimes the Omega visited Nolan and peeked in on the pets, trying his best not to become attached to all of them. On Sundays, he began to visit the children's hospital in their neighborhood. He would often read to the children and stopped feeling ashamed whenever they asked him to shift into his wolf form. In the eyes of the children, he was not as intimidating as other werewolves in their animal form, but he was admired and respected. To them, he couldn't be more 'awesome.'
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Angelo cursed under his breath as he tried to balance his duffel bag, briefcase, and a large paper bag full of supplies. Vampires had many gifts, and his speed was definitely intact. But, moving fast would only cause the contents of the paper bag to fall out. He had tried to run with a paper bag in his arms time and time again with terrible results. One time, his hands clutched the bag too hard when he had to avoid a child who had moved into his trajectory to pick up a toy. The bag all but exploded in the exchange.
So, he had learned the hard way only to use his speed when the contents he carried were sturdy and stable. That meant that he was going to be a little late opening the shop that morning. As Angelo turned the corner of the block, he caught sight of his young employee along with one of his dozens of mates. He had lost track of just how many mates January had. It was the darnest thing. In the past, the redheaded vampire usually only had one partner. Then, one day, he just showed up with all of them and asked him for a favor.
Nolan had proved to be quite efficient when it came to caring for the animals in his shop, so Angelo was quite relieved that he was able to pay back the favor he owed. The purple-eyed vampire was one of his oldest friends. They had opposite hair colors. Angelo's hair was jade green, and his eyes were a gradient with sea-green on the top half fading to a sandy beige on the bottom. They were unique, his eyes, even for born vampires, such as they were.