Free Shea: The Last Hope by Jana Leigh Page A

and then picked up his fork. "I will just get this out there, I’m bi-sexual."
    "Okay, well so am I, and though I love that we are having dinner and getting to know each other, you don't have to worry. A Gryphon has to have both their mates claim them at the same time. It has something to do with being a hybrid; we aren’t sure of the why's more of the what-not-to-do's," Griff said.
    Lev laughed and nodded. "I know that I am just throwing things out there, but I’m nervous. I don't quite know what to expect or do."
    "I think we are doing things just right, getting to know one another until our other mate comes is just about the right way to handle things," Griff said and then continued to eat.
    “Um Lev, you mentioned at lunch that you hadn’t spoken with your dad about the fights you got into growing up, is that true?”
    “Yeah, where are you going with this? It’s in the past now.” Lev answered.
    Griff reached over and grabbed his hand looking deep into his eyes “You’re my mate, and I’m very much attracted to you. It’s not going to take much for me to fall in love with you. It hurts me to see and feel that you’re still bothered by this. I’m not trying to stir up ghosts; I think I know what happened, hear me out okay?”
    Lev looked over at Griff seeing the emotions in his eyes. This beautiful man was falling in love with him? He couldn’t speak; his throat was too dry, so he just nodded.
    “Okay, then just to make sure I’m right, did Brian, the old alpha, ever beat on you?” and Lev shook his head no, still unable to speak.
    “That’s good, then the information I found out today is correct. This has been a huge multi-cultural misunderstanding. The Millikan pack is the first shifter/human mixed pack known to exist. Normal shifter wolf packs are similar to animal wolf packs in that they have a hierarchy. Each pup needs to find where they fit in that hierarchy. So those with alpha and beta tendencies pick fights with others in the pack. Dominance challenges to see, which is the stronger. So the taunting, teasing and fighting were their ways of testing you. They say you as the pack member they had to get past if they wanted to move up higher in ranking.
    The fact that Brian didn’t come down on you or get mad when you joined the state police shows that he also recognized your strength. Did you lose a lot of those fights?”
    Listening to Griff talk, Lev was able to get a handle of his emotions “No, I wasn’t about to show my belly to those bullies, I stayed in no matter how much I hurt. The only times I lost were when they ganged up on me, how can that be a proper challenge?”
    “It wasn’t and if you had told your dad, they would have been punished for it, maybe they were, and you don’t know. What you have to realize now is that you are strong you are higher in the pack than those guys. You’re a natural leader, and they will back down from your strength. By their actions, they were treating you like a pack member; they were including you in their regular pack activities. You didn’t understand and didn’t ask.”
    Lev looked at Griff in amazement his entire past had just been turned on its ear. He suddenly let out a laugh and a big grin. “If that’s true, then wow, just wow.”
    They finished their meal with comfortable conversation, and then Lev helped Griff clean up the dishes and the kitchen. They seemed to work well together, like they were very in tune with each other. When one moved, the other matched his movements; they joked about who was going to wash and who was going o dry. It was very domesticated.
    When they were done, Griff turned to him, looked at him with passion in his eyes, and said, "How about we go and watch a little television?"
    Lev shrugged and followed the other man into the living room he had seen when he entered the house. It was very tastefully decorated in deep greens and blues. He really liked the way Griff had made the home look so welcoming. The couch