Reconciliation by Lisa Oliver

Chapter Five

The house was quiet. Luka lay on his couch in his wolf form – his wolf alert and cataloguing every stray scent and sound. His human half, safe in fur, was pondering his evening wondering what the hell went wrong. It really shouldn’t have been hard for him to have joined in with the throngs of people having a good time on a Friday night, but as Luka wandered around bars and restaurants, all he could think was that something was missing.

Luka had attracted plenty of friendly attention from men and women alike. He happily shared tables and drinks, chatting away to locals who seemed pleased to have a doctor in their midst. But every time he smiled, Luka knew it was hollow – impacted by an ache he felt inside. His wolf had been watchful too, but not in the happy confident way he usually was. Luka had been determined he’d suffered no long-term effects from being abducted, but after two hours of dealing with the ache in his chest and the nerves in his belly, he called it quits and headed home. As soon as he’d made sure his windows and doors were securely locked, he dropped his clothes on the bedroom floor and let his wolf come through. He didn’t know why – he was responding to instincts.

Luka’s wolf might have been alert, but Luka could sense a deep sadness in his animal half too. As he stretched out on the couch in his fur, accompanied only by the ticking from the clock on his wall, Luka originally thought his wolf spirit was subdued because he couldn’t save his human form the way he wanted to. But it was deeper than that – Luka’s human spirit wasn’t feeling so good either. His wolf was reaching for a connection that Luka had learned to ignore his need for since he’d left his home pack – a yearning to be around others of his kind. More specifically, he was mourning the lack of his mate.

In all the stories Luka had listened to as a youngster, no one ever said what happened to a wolf who walked away from his fated one. I had good reason, and at the time he believed his wolf agreed. Luka had been around a lot of different people since he’d left his pack, but his father’s teachings and values still rung true in his head. There was no way he could be claimed by any being who thought kidnapping and torture was the way to get what they wanted.

Maybe my wolf spirit doesn’t think about things the same way. Luka laid his head on his paws, thinking about the stories he’d heard. He’d never met a fated couple and while he’d never forgotten he was a shifter, he did live as a human most of the time. Fuck, this is doing my head in…

Luka’s head went up as his wolf’s ears picked up the sounds of someone outside. For a second, he froze… unsure if he should shift or not. If it’s those goons, maybe they’ll just think I have a dog… But then a shadow passed the hallway window – one Luka could see from his living space – and someone knocked loudly on the front door.

Shit. Luka couldn’t open the door without opposable thumbs, and he couldn’t yell to ask what the visitor wanted. I could bark, but then what if the visitor is one of the police officers? I didn’t have a dog when they were here last time.

The knocking came again, louder this time, shaking the door in its frame. This time, it was accompanied by yelling – someone was yelling his name. Shit, poo, bum, wee, fart. Luka shifted. “Hang on,” he croaked as loudly as he could. It always took him a moment to gain control of his human voice box and his limbs after a shift.

Clothes. I need clothes. Sprinting through the kitchen to the laundry, Luka grabbed the first pair of sweatpants he could find, and an older t-shirt he’d been gardening in. Throwing them on, he ran back bare footed through to the front door and flung it open. “It’s you.” Luka took a step back, still holding the door. It was his mate, but he didn’t look anything like the thug he was before. “What are you…? How did you…? Fuck, do your friends know where I live now?” Shit, I look a wreck. Luka ran his hand through his hair.

“There are a lot of people looking for you this night,” his mate said quietly. “I was given your address, but those goons are looking for you too and that might be my fault. You need to come with me…”

“Get your ass in this house right now.” Luka opened the door wider – his mate was tall and had very broad shoulders. As soon as his mate stepped inside, Luka peered around the frame, looking up and down the street. He couldn’t see anything and now his mate was near him he couldn’t smell anything else either. Worried, he closed the door and locked it.

“I am Seth,” his mate said, “Ancient Egyptian god of the wind, storms and my beloved deserts.”

“Yeah, yeah, a likely story.” Luka folded his arms across his chest. “What did you mean about those thugs still looking for me and it being your fault? And how the hell did you find me?”

/~/~/~/~/

Damn, those sweatpants don’t hide much and neither does the shirt. Seth was momentarily stunned and blamed it on the light show still hovering over Luka’s head. The pants were almost falling off Luka’s shapely butt and his t-shirt was tight enough to show good torso definition. The wolf smelled faintly of the earth and wind and…

“I’m waiting.”

And anger. Again. “I was not responsible for you getting kidnapped last time. I helped you escape, remember?”

Luka nodded, his jaw still tight.

“I took money from Marlo and Bronco before I left…”

“You stole from your own friends?”

“No.” Seth was stung anyone would think that of him. Why wasn’t the wolf falling all over him being sweet and sexy? “They weren’t my friends. I used to participate in the fights they had sometimes for cash. I won the fight, so I took the winnings…”

“Excuse me, you didn’t win that fight by yourself. I was fighting for my freaking life.”

“I was the last man standing in that ring, ergo I was the winner.” Seth waited to see if Luka had anything else to say. Apparently not. “I took the winnings, but I wasn’t on the draw card that night as a fighter, so the crowd got upset and accused Marlo and Bronco of cheating and then they shot at me…”

“My gods, are you okay?” Luka’s hands dropped to his side.

“Ancient god, remember?” Seth wasn’t sure what he’d do if Luka came any closer, so he’d rather the wolf stayed where he was. “From what I was told this evening, those same men can’t find me, but they know I saved you. It makes sense from a moron’s perspective that they capture you again, in the hopes of getting to me. Wes and Cas are looking for you too, but that’s all to do with the blond git, but Wes gave me your address and I had to come round to stop you going to Cloverleah. You know, because you’re an exceedingly rare type of wolf and all that.”

Luka closed his eyes, scrunching up his brow. Is he in pain? Didn’t he recover from that hit around the head? But then those dark eyes opened again, and Luka let out a long breath. “I don’t understand a word you just said. Let’s break this down a minute. You took the winnings that the thugs needed to pay back the gamblers?”

Seth nodded. “I was entitled to it. I did win the fight… with help?”

“Right.” Luka shook his head. “Those guys who took me are looking for me, in some mistaken idea that I know where you are.”

“I’m standing in your entrance hall.”

“Yes, you are.” Luka seemed to be sighing a lot. Seth wondered if it was the wolf’s sneaky way of inhaling more of his scent. “Who’s the blond git?”

“You would know him as Zeus, Father of All, according to the Greeks.”

“Aha. And who is this Wes and Cas?”

“Wes is a wolf shifter, Cas is his demon mate. Wes originally came from Cloverleah, but when he met Cas in the Underworld, he and Cas got a job with Hades and Zeus, going around helping shifters in trouble…”

“Hold on.” Luka held up his hand. “Let’s leave all that shit for now. If you’re a god, like you say, why can’t you just wave your godly hand and send Bronco and Marlo to Antarctica or bury them in the middle of one of your beloved deserts? Problem solved.”

Seth scratched the back of his neck. “Gods are forbidden to interfere in mortal affairs.”

“A-ha. If that was true, why did you help me out at all when I was kidnapped, and why is the blond git Zeus interested in what I’m doing? In case you haven’t noticed, I’m mortal.”

Hiding his smirk about the Zeus comment, Seth thought for a moment. “This thing between us gives me a bit more latitude – comes under protection, and as for Zeus, that’s why he uses Wes and Cas, so he’s never seen to be directly interfering in anything.”

“But those two thugs are after me because of you – so why can’t you just zap them?”

Seth opened his mouth to lie, but somehow the truth came out. “I upset the Father of Everything and insulted his mates. He banished me to earth for six months with limited powers. I can’t zap anyone anywhere at the moment.”

“Don’t you mean the Father of All? You said Zeus was the Father of All, not Everything.”

“I was talking about the Egyptian father, Ra.”

“And this Ra – the Father of Everything,” Luka looked up as if making sure he’d got it right, “he has mortal mates?”

“A wolf shifter and a vampire.”

“And you insulted them. You don’t like vampires?”

“They’re all right.”

Luka was watching him closely. “You’re not keen on shifters, more specifically, wolf shifters.”

It wasn’t a question. Seth didn’t have to answer, but for some reason he shook his head anyway.

“Well, isn’t that interesting.” Luka spun around and headed into what appeared to be a simple living area. “I need a drink. Do you want one?”