legs straddled the man’s thighs.
“I’ve been waiting for my mate ever since I heard about what they were,” Liam said into Sebastian’s
shoulder.
“How old were you?” Sebastian asked.
“Five,” Liam mumbled.
Sebastian felt a grin form. “Five? What did your parents tell you?”
“Parents? My parents didn’t do parental things like explaining mates, or going to track meets or
graduations or anything like that. I asked Ma about it one day after school because Aleks said that he
wanted a mate for Christmas, because he wanted to be mated like his Ma and Pa one day.” Sebastian could
hear the love in his voice for the Arkadions, but surprisingly nothing but scorn for his own parents.
“Where are your parents?” Sebastian asked. Liam sat up and looked his small mate in the eye.
“After we graduated from college, Rian and Damian came out of the closet. They figured they were
grown and felt they shouldn’t have to hide. My father motioned to kick them out of the pride. I was still
trying to figure my own sexuality out, so his reaction pissed me off. The thought of losing my two best
friends was too much. They made living in this place bearable. So I challenged my father for dominance of
the pride and won. Refusing to admit he was defeated, my father and my mother rallied their generation
together. They all left, including Rian and Damian’s parents and siblings. They took pretty much the entire
pride with them. My father moved everyone to Florida. Only me, Damian and Rian were left. My father
thought that with only three single men left here in Arkadia that my grandfather would let him retain the
title as Alpha of the Lewenhart pride.” Liam chuckled.
“But the old man refused to move the Lewenhart pride out of Arkadia. My father was furious for having
lost the title of Alpha to one of the most prestigious prides in the world. I can remember the old man
coming to Arkadia after a heated discussion with my father, where my father threatened to go before the
council accusing me of dereliction of duty when it came to running the pride. Grandfather found me, Rian
and Damian drunker than hell out in the pool. I swear we may have accidently drowned ourselves if he
hadn’t pulled us out of the water. He waited until morning then held reveille on our asses.” Liam tightened
his hold around Sebastian’s waist.
“He pulled me around by the hair and threw my ass into my father’s chair in the office. Rian and
Damian were yelling and waving their arms behind us. He asked me what I was doing with the pride. I
remember laughing that there wasn’t a pride. He just asked what I planned on doing about that.” Liam
shook his head.
“Flippantly, I told him I was going to open the pride to any gay lion that had been kicked out of their
home, so they had a place to go. The old man just stood there and then for the first time in my life he
smiled at me. I’ll never forget what he said next.” Liam subconsciously was rubbing up and down
Sebastian’s sides. Sebastian leaned forward, eyes wide.
“What happened then?” he asked eagerly. Liam looked surprised for a moment and then continued.
“He said ‘If anyone was ever destined to be the Alpha of a pride of gay lions, Liam, it’s you. Give our
lost sons a home.’ Then he left. Rian and Damian got really excited. Well, you’ve seen them. They are like
little terriers with a bone when they latch onto a project. We got the word out that we were accepting gay
lions and Arkadia was a safe place to go. We slowly started filling the pride house.” Liam smirked and then
laughed out loud.
“At one point, Rian had ‘Gay? Head our Way’ T-shirts all over the damn place. I told Rian I would
choke him with one if he didn’t get rid of them.” Sebastian started giggling and his entire face lit up. Liam’s
breath caught at the unguarded moment with his mate. He leaned deep into the cushions.
“What about your parents?” Liam asked