Reconciliation by Lisa Oliver
Chapter Nine
As soon as Luka could open his eyes without feeling as though he was going to throw up, he looked around. “Er… Seth, did you take a wrong turn somewhere? This is not my house.” The room was far too fancy to be a part of Luka’s house for a start.
“The police could still be there. They’re going to want to talk to you again. This is the hotel suite I’d been staying at for a few days.”
Luka sighed and nodded. “Thank you. Right. I know, about the police, I mean. But that’s a tomorrow problem. Today, I’m more worried about you. Are you all right? I feel so awful.” He slipped out of Seth’s hold so he could face him. “I couldn’t believe the nerve of that guy… I mean, I know he’s your father and everything, but has he always been so small and innocent looking with that smug look on his face?”
“Ra?” Seth nodded. “That’s his human form.”
“His human form wouldn’t have a bun in the oven.” Luka had to pace - he was still fired up by everything that had gone on. “I mean the nerve of him, suggesting you’d disappointed him. Doesn’t he know what’s happened down here? Or over here? Or whatever. We haven’t left earth, right?”
“We’re still in Montana.” Seth said quietly.
“Awesome, or not awesome, I don’t know. But, ugh!” Luka whirled around, looking at his mate’s face. “Don’t you ever want to smack that smug smile off that little guy’s face? How have you put up with him all that time?”
Seth frowned – he still looked hot as fuck. “Most people adore Ra – his people definitely do and even gods in other pantheons speak kindly or respectfully of him.”
“Yeah, well he needs to get out more. That smug attitude of his won’t make him many friends down here.” Luka was suddenly aware of the fact he and Seth were alone… it was the middle of the night… there was a bed right there… and Seth’s scent was doing some pretty crazy things to Luka’s body. “Er, so… have you got a couch or something I can crash on? I’ve lost track of the last time I slept, and phew, wow, look at the time. It must be really late.” He waved a limp hand at the darkened windows.
“Are you wanting to avoid me?”
“Fuck, no. I want to be with you.” Luka waved his hands in Seth’s direction. “It’s just, my wolf’s feeling real protective of you right now, and my human half wants to ride your dick till the sun comes up, and… I can’t do that without biting you, and I know you don’t want the claim. So, I figured I’d just rub one out in the shower and try and get some sleep for a few hours. Is that okay?”
“What did you mean when you told that wolf I didn’t understand about mating?” Seth took a step closer, and Luka couldn’t help inhaling deeply. My mate smells so good. But Seth’s words kept him focused on the man, not the bed ideas he was having.
“I didn’t mean anything bad about it as far as you’re concerned,” Luka said, as he smiled. “It’s just for shifters, finding a mate is like finding their greatest treasure. Our animal side falls in love almost instantly. We become hellishly protective of our mate. We want to be with them, protect them, take care of them – I can’t help it, and I’m not trying to put any pressure on you. It’s just those feelings are all part of being a shifter. From the moment I scented you, I’ll never want anyone else.”
“But then why…?” For a moment Luka thought Seth was going to talk about the shifter who ruined his life, but Seth asked instead, “What did my father’s mate mean about you coping with the rejection and whether or not your animal side could handle it?”
Well, shit, I didn’t want to have that conversation. The last thing Luka wanted was to make his overstressed mate feel pressured to claim him. But he couldn’t and wouldn’t lie to Seth. “How about we sit down,” he suggested, going over and taking Seth’s arm and encouraging him towards the bed. “I’ll give you a quick lesson in Shifters and Mating 101.”
/~/~/~/~/
There was a lot going on in Seth’s head – his shock over Ra’s child, the fact the mates were still hanging around like a bad smell, and the surprise he got when Ra had given him his powers back purely because Luka asked him too.
But while Seth might have stood there like a simpleton in front of his father leaving Luka to be the one who was protecting him from Ra’s wrath, his ears still worked, and it didn’t take much for Seth to realize Ra’s pet alpha was concerned about Luka and it had something to do with Luka being an unclaimed mate. Seth wanted to know the specific nature of his concerns.
“The first thing you should know about shifters, is that they do not and cannot lie to their mates.” Luka seemed almost shy, which was a huge change to the way he’d been at Ra’s house. “I mean we have bad buggers among shifters the same as any other species, so I’m sure some of them do lie, but even they can’t lie to their mate. So that’s number one.”
Seth nodded.
“I’ve already explained how protective we are of our mates – that is super important even in a lesser ranking wolf like myself. Wolf shifters usually live in a pack, and even then, with a wolf like myself, I’d still be hard wired to protect you from the moment I breathed in your scent.”
“Uh huh.” That at least explained why Luka had been so protective of him, and always jumping to his defense – actions that made Seth feel warm inside.
“I know you think your father’s mates are going to leave him when they get bored,” Luka looked up and met his eyes. “It’s not possible for them to leave him, or him to leave them now – the marks they share ensure that.”
“The scars and fancy tattoos stop them from splitting up?” That was a little harder for Seth to believe.
“They are bound together forever more I imagine,” Luka nodded. “I mean, Ra’s immortal, and now his mates will be too. Now they’ve bitten him, he won’t get a hard on or even feel desire if he looks at another person, and the same goes for the wolf and the vampire.”
Seth’s eyes narrowed. “Ra’s a god – the Father of Everything. Humans and paranormals were brought into being by his tears back when time began. He can wave those scars and tattoos away with a flick of his finger.”
“Not mating scars or tattoos.” Luka’s firm voice was back. Seth hadn’t realized how arousing it was. He shifted a bit in his seat, hoping Luka didn’t notice – although he could likely smell it. “Shifters can usually heal from any scar and so can vampires. But nothing can heal the scar from a mating bite, and if those tattoos were given freely, as Ra’s claim on his mates, then those marks will never be removed either. Mages are fond of using tattoos as mating marks too, and they don’t disappear no matter what magic is used.”
“And none of the three will feel desire to another person ever again?”
“Any one of them would get physically sick if someone touched them in a sexual way.”
Wow, that’s one way of ensuring fidelity. “That doesn’t explain why Ra’s wolf was worried about you.”
Luka sighed. “I know, and you have to remember, I’m not telling you any of this to put any pressure on you. I understand a wolf shifter hurt you in the past and totally respect your feelings, all right?”
“I have a right to know, though, don’t I?”
Looking down at his hands, Luka’s voice was so low, Seth had to strain to hear. “I wasn’t sure about it myself, but that alpha’s behavior pretty much confirmed it. There will come a time when I’ll get sick, I imagine. I went out tonight, and while I could smile and drink and make friends, I felt really empty inside. It’s why I went home early and shifted. I thought my wolf was missing a pack connection, but I haven’t been in a pack for over forty years, so I knew it couldn’t be that.”
“Your wolf was missing me?” That shed a new light on things.
“Mates struggle when they’re apart from one another. It’s why most shifters don’t form permanent attachments to other people. Well, I mean, some do, but then the whole situation can get really messy if the shifter meets their fated mate.”
Seth froze for a moment, his mind going back to a time… “What happens? What happens in those situations where a shifter might love another person who is not their mate, and they meet their fated mate?”
“Oh, my gods, could you imagine the heart ache?” Seth wondered if Luka knew he was leaning on Seth’s shoulder. “To be in love with someone, maybe for years, and being totally happy, and then bam, one day that shifter smells someone who makes their body sing, their animal half starts panting to get out and the urge to bite is incredible. Wolves live on instincts – so many other shifters do too. Once that poor shifter met their fated one and inhaled their scent, their future is cast. They wouldn’t be able to make love to their loved one again…”
I remember that…
“They might try and stay away from their fated one, but it’d be so hard when for their animal side, only a mate would do…”
That would also explain some things.
“And I mean face it. Eventually that poor shifter is going to have to have that conversation with a person they’ve been in love with for years, that ‘hey, it’s been nice knowing you and all, but I’ve met my fated one and can’t live without them’. No one is going to come out of that situation feeling good about themselves, but the Fates put people together for a reason.”
“What would happen…” A lump appeared in Seth’s throat, and he had to cough to dislodge it. “What would happen, do you think if that shifter stayed with his lover and didn’t go with their mate?”
“I don’t see how that could work,” Luka said sadly. “The shifter couldn’t make love to their lover anymore. That alone would cause cracks in any relationship. And the shifter’s animal side would pine – it is possible for an animal spirit to pine to death and a shifter’s human side can’t live a life without their animal half. I remember reading in one of my dad’s books once, that the Fates were determined to have their matches. If, for any reason, those matches couldn’t work in the current lifespan, then both of the fated people died quickly, so they could be reincarnated and could try again in the next life. A fated love is apparently forever as in across all lifetimes.”
Luka went quiet, and Seth couldn’t speak. His mind was filled with memories of the anger, the recriminations, the horrors of a time well before Luka was even a twinkle on the Fates’ consciousness. Is that why this little wolf shifter was sent to me? To show me that the love I’d hinged my existence on had no chance of continuing no matter how we felt? Is that even fair?
But Seth was done worrying about whether the Fates were fair or not. It wasn’t his place to know their plans – he just had to decide if he wanted to go along with them. And it was tempting. In a matter of hours, Luka had shown more commitment, more devotion, and had stood up for Seth far more strongly than anyone had done before. Ever. And that was powerful stuff. “Do you think,” he asked hesitantly, “do you think that a non-shifter mate can be what a shifter is looking for? Can they be as protective, as committed, as caring as another shifter might be? If they’re fated? Or would that shifter one day get bored, or start to resent a non-shifter mate because they didn’t have an animal form?”
“Mates are perfect for each other in every way,” Luka murmured, and Seth realized he sounded sleepy. “You’re perfect for me.” There was a little sound, and then another. Luka was snoring, his head resting on Seth’s shoulder as though he had every right to be there. So trusting, he thought as he gently eased Luka onto the bed, putting a pillow under his head. He made to move away, but Luka was hanging onto his shirt with a strong grip despite being asleep. I guess it wouldn’t hurt to rest. Untangling Luka’s fingers and turning him gently so he was facing the other way, Seth curled behind him, draping his arm over Luka’s hip bone. He sniffed Luka’s hair, and then dropped a kiss on it. He had a lot to think about.
