by A. E. Via
“There you are, my sweet mate.” Orion held his hand out towards Henry while he clutched his bruised side with his other arm.
Henry swallowed repeatedly as his feet began to move as if of their own accord. The reverence and mist in his eyes made it evident that Henry was gazing at his beloved. Wolves howled in the distance, but they all ignored it as they watched the pair in silence. A violet light flared in Orion’s eyes, and Henry went to his knees beside the couch.
Orion reached up and touched Henry’s cheek, and he responded by covering Orion’s hand with his own. Adres could only imagine what that first touch must feel like. A lone tear fell down Henry’s cheek as he pulled the handmade quilt from where it was draped over the back of the couch and covered Orion’s nakedness.
“Beloved,” Henry sighed.
“Henry is your true mate?” Justice asked Orion. “How did you know to come here?”
“My mother said it was time, that my alpha had come for me.” Orion caressed Henry’s face while he spoke. “The fairies brought me to your borders, Justice, but we didn’t anticipate the shield around it. It took a lot of magic for me to break one of the wards and some feral wolves, not shifters, caught my scent while I was waiting. I ended up having to run.”
“Shit,” Justice growled. “Where the fuck is Taleb?”
“Yes.” Orion cupped Henry’s smooth chin as he asked, “Where is he?”
“Who?” Henry shook his head slightly.
“Where is our other mate? Where’s the alpha?”
What in the gods? Adres was trying to pay close attention to what was happening before him, but he couldn’t ignore the banging outside, as if someone was trying to break into the cabin through the walls instead of the protected door.
“I’m sorry to interrupt,” Aleksei said from near the window. “But there is a mob forming out here, Justice. I’m not sure Adres’s barrier will hold much longer.”
Henry’s phone rang, and he yanked it out of his pocket, smiling as he put the call on speaker.
“I am glad you made it home safely, pretty wolf. I’m on my way.” Taleb’s deep, confident voice resounded around the room and seemed to make Orion’s anxiety simmer down.
Henry stroked one of Orion’s cheeks with a shaky hand. “Oh, Taleb. You should see him. He is beautiful.”
“Soon,” Taleb promised. “Henry, take care of him until I arrive.”
“Of course.” Henry gave Orion a watery smile that already looked full of adoration.
“And Henry.”
“Yes.”
“I miss you.”
Henry released a startled puff of air that sounded like pure joy. “I miss you too, my heart.”
“I love you,” Taleb declared.
The banging and frustrated growls outside were becoming difficult to ignore.
“I will handle this,” Justice gritted out as he began to unbutton his jeans to get ready to shift.
“Do not leave my mate’s side, Justice! He could not travel with me because three of my betas are unmated. It would’ve driven them crazy. But he’s still in danger until I get there,” Taleb explained. “We are not that far, but there’s an accident on the Kancamagus Highway that’s causing significant delays.”
Justice glanced back at Alek. “Can you handle this?”
Aleksei’s irises went from pale blue to black like coal, brimming with orange embers as Wrath leapt to the forefront and took the surface. The heat in the room escalated but not enough to harm them, only enough to make his presence known.
“Hadeon… shall we?” Adres faced Wrath, calling his old comrade by one of his many names. But Adres always thought that “blazing warrior” was his most fitting.
Wrath narrowed his eyes as if he was suspicious before he slowly came forward. Adres was just able to keep a straight face as he stared at his longtime ex-rival turned best friend. “Orestes?”
Adres gripped Wrath’s broad shoulders when he called him by his Titan name, which meant western warrior. Hadeon stood several inches taller than him in this body, but those eyes never changed no matter who his friend possessed. “Yes. It is me, old friend.”
Wrath yanked him into a spine-cracking hug, “It is about damn time.”
Neither of them smiled, but Adres’s light was bright within him, and he was certain Wrath could feel it. Adres had all of his shields down. There was nothing for him to hide anymore.
Belleron came up beside his mate. “What is this?”
Adres answered since Wrath was still staring at him as if he was making certain it was him. “Easiest way to put it. I am not three hundred years old.”
“You wish,” Wrath scoffed.
Adres ignored him, which he remembered was what he often did with Hadeon’s snide comments. Wow, how he had missed them. “I am more like closer to two thousand. But the curse put on my soul attacked my memories and blocked away my identity, all to prevent me from finding my cherished. To hinder the prophesy, I assume.”
“But you did anyway.” Wrath glared. “I told you that you were not lost in there.”
“And however did you end up in a Volkov?” Adres asked Wrath, looking him up and down as he stood proudly in Aleksei’s strong body.
“Well, after the curse took hold of you, and nothing we did could get it released, I begged the gods to heal you… and they refused. After all the good we had done. And then you went into hiding, and I went mad. I got… angry, Orestes.”
“Futu-i.”
“I may have gone a bit overboard when I burned down a few cities and lit part of the sky on fire.” Wrath shrugged as if that was no big deal. “I was captured and confined back to the Underworld.”
“By who?” Adres asked.
“By your goddamn brother! Who else?” Wrath pointed in Adres’s face, and he batted the accusatory finger away as if it were an irritating mosquito. Belleron and Justice were staring as though they couldn’t believe that Adres had just slapped Wrath… and nothing happened.
None of them knew of their long history.
“Which one?” Adres droned.
“Fucking Zepharali. He came with the full force of his east winds and rained over my waves. I was defenseless against him.”
“And then…” Adres prodded. “Stop stalling for theatrics. What happened after?”
Wrath spread his arms out. “Now, I am out on good behavior.”
“That must have been one hell of a deal you made.” Adres shook his head.
Whatever Wrath had been about to say was cut off when a window towards the front of the cabin shattered. Adres pulled his hood over his head, and Wrath faced the door.
“Just like old times, my friend,” Adres murmured as he stood beside Wrath, ready to do battle.
“Like the earthquake in Thebes after the giants’ war.”
Adres considered that but rebutted, “I was thinking more like the Olympian games in Athens.”
“In 1334.”
“No. 1514.”
Hadeon gave him a sneer as his eyes lit up with fire, “You really are back.”
“This time for good.”
No sooner had Adres opened Justice’s front door and released the barrier a large gray wolf leapt towards the opening as the omega’s smell filtered outside. Wrath caught the animal in midair, and Adres summoned enough wind to blow the wolf to the other side of the compound.
The shifters were delirious. It only took one for Adres to make an example out of for the other wolves to stop. They stood startled for a moment before more barks and howls were hurled at them. Wrath gazed towards the sky as billowing, black smoke formed a large mushroom cloud over the compound, completely blocking the moon’s light.
The wolves whimpered and growled as they aimed their muzzles towards the sky, that was now a dark, angry blanket of wrath.
“The omega is fated to your alpha, Taleb. He is also injured,” Adres informed them, trying to be fair, not wanting to hurt any of them. “I know you are all curious about his presence. Your AZ wi
ll be out to speak with you all soon.”
The crowd began to slowly disperse, and Wrath opened the sky back up. Some of the shifters ran into the woods while others lay down near the cabin to wait for answers. As long as they were no longer trying to tear the house down, Adres would allow them to remain there. He was on his way back inside when he heard a long, melancholy howl coming from near the top of the Osceola Mountain that made him stop in his tracks.
There was no mistaking it. Beloved.
Desire gathered and solidified in his stomach as Macauley called to him again. The pull to go to him was unbearable, and he knew he could no longer stay away.
“Go to him, Orestes,” Wrath said from beside him.
Adres was actually nervous. “A mate. Me.” Now that he knew who and what he was, he never thought it possible.
“He is a good match for you.” Wrath’s voice was rough, as if it was difficult to speak on the subject. “I fought alongside Macauley when I rescued Belleron from the Dales. He is fierce in battle. His energy can target those that are good and amplify their abilities as they fight.”
Adres thought of when Macauley had touched him with his righteousness just before he chased down and killed multiple assassins at once without ever becoming winded. But the idea of being a good partner to someone who was damn near perfect was the most intimidated he’d ever been.
“Are you happy?” he asked Wrath bluntly.
“I’ve never asked for nor have I ever desired happiness. I only needed someone I could trust. A person who would never betray me.”
“Are you what they call in love?”
Wrath seemed to think for a moment. “Perhaps, if I was mortal, a human, then I would use that phrasing. But for us, Orestes, our mates will make us quite content for our last centuries.”
“It is almost our time to go, old friend.”
“And fate has made it so that we don’t have to do it alone.”
Adres touched Wrath’s shoulder. “Maybe we did do enough good in this world after all.”
Wrath knocked his hand off and grumbled, “Speak for yourself.”
Macauley howled again, a higher-pitched moaning that made Adres’s dick get thicker in his pants.
“You fucking stink. Go on,” Wrath urged.
Adres glanced at the front door and the many wolves still lying around.
“I’ll stand sentinel over the omega until Taleb arrives. I watched you rescue him and was forbidden to intervene or assist. I was captive for over three hundred years before the Mother came and put me in here.” Wrath gestured at Aleksei’s body.
“I believe we are here together again for a greater purpose, Hadeon.”
They didn’t say anything else to each other as Wrath went back inside the cabin, and Adres used his speed to get up the mountain, unable to get to his cherished fast enough. He flew past shifters, moving too quickly for them to notice him. He followed Macauley’s scent to the top of the mountain, so far that he began to shiver from the freezing temperature. Adres didn’t slow down until he heard a waterfall and the sound of wood crackling in a fire. He lightened his steps as he crept closer to the cliff which had a spectacular view of the city below.
Macauley was lying on the ground near a small camping fire in his wolf form, his muzzle turned towards the sky. The smell of raw meat still lingered in the air as if he’d just finished dinner.
Adres stood behind the wide base of an aspen tree a few feet away and observed his cherished in all of his magnificence. He caught a whiff of Macauley’s scent, and he almost hissed in discomfort. He wanted him with a desperation so frightening that it made his knees weak. He wanted what Wrath had with Belleron, and even Aleksei. He wanted his own special way of communicating with his beloved as well. He and Macauley had tried it once, but it was not as successful or powerful as it could’ve been.
Now he was whole. And it had only taken a Volkov alpha, a demigod, and a fairy omega to make it possible.
The prophesy was here.
Macauley must had finally caught his scent because he rotated his large head in his direction and lifted his nose. A slow snarl crept up one side of his mouth, revealing a peak of a sharp canine. A low growl emanated from him as he got to his feet and shook out his thick white fur that never seemed to get dirty.
Instead of Macauley looking as if he wanted to mate with him, he appeared as if he was about to be punished. Adres did say that it was best if they kept their distance from each other tonight, but he’d changed his mind. A lot had changed.
Macauley’s body was massive, but his movements were sleek and fluid as he covered the few feet separating them and shoved his muzzle against Adres’s stomach. Macauley released a fierce growl that sent chills down Adres’s spine right before he caused the air to shimmer with his energy and shifted only inches from him.
With his forehead pressed aggressively against his, Macauley threatened him in a guttural tone that he’d never heard him use before. It sounded part man, part animal when he rumbled, “You’ve got three seconds to explain to me why you smell like another wolf.”
Cacat. Why hadn’t Adres thought of that before? He was covered in the omega’s pheromones.
Once Macauley had finished his dinner of rabbit, raw spinach and blueberries, he’d called for his mate, longing for Adres, for his scent, and his touch. Macauley had been lonely. He’d listened to his family and pack members enjoying the night and each other while he’d sat in solitude. Sure, he could’ve gone and joined in the run, and he would’ve enjoyed it, but it was what came after the run that he was trying to avoid. Shifters were free with their bodies, and it wasn’t uncommon to enjoy each other, especially on a night like this.
He didn’t think Adres would come to him, and now that he had, he was wondering why. Had his mate come to incite him to rage? Because he smelled like another wolf, one Macauley had never encountered, but one with a scent that made him want to smoother himself in it. Was that what Adres had done? Had he been too tempted to refuse?
Adres was far too calm for his liking. He wanted answers and now before he shifted and went after the scent that was all over his mate. Macauley gripped two handfuls of Adres’s shawl and yanked him close. He dragged his nose along his jaw and behind his ear, making himself mad.
“Explain.” Macauley’s wolf was going crazy inside him.
“I do not need to say anything.” Adres stared up at him through the material of his dark hood. “You can look for yourself.”
Macauley took a sharp inhale. He’d wanted back inside Adres’s soul ever since he’d tried breaking the wards of the curse. He hadn’t been very successful, but he wanted more. He needed that connection. It was the first time Adres had offered, and Macauley wasn’t about to let the opportunity slip by. He didn’t feel any of his shields. And there were no voids or areas of darkness, only a lustrous gleam that called to him like a beacon.
“Look,” Adres breathed, with his head lowered against Macauley’s chest.
He gripped the back of Adres’s neck. “Don’t move,” he rumbled. He eased into Adres’s core carefully, remembering how sick it made him when he encountered pieces of the curse. However, as he delved deeper, he was surprised at the comfort embracing him.
“Gods,” Macauley moaned as his energy was welcomed by a warm light that felt as if he was sunbathing near a lake on the first day of spring.
Adres held him close and wrapped his core around his mind, caressing his beautiful soul with his. And it was so far beyond that menial word. Macauley could feel nothing but immeasurable goodness. A millennium of righteousness that he was able to see as clearly as if he’d been there as it happened. He was able to see his mate’s past, all of it. And there was so much to explore, far more than three hundred years. Macauley pressed their chests closer, vibrating from the overload of sensations.
“Adres,” Macauley whispered against the side of his hood, rubbing his cheek along the soft material. He snaked his hand beneath it and cupped Adres’s cool cheek as
he concentrated on more recent events.
He saw the moment Adres had woken tonight and how his thoughts had immediately gone to him. He’d meditated, then showered and dressed in his fine attire. Macauley watched it all as if he were standing on the sideline. He’d never been able to do this before. His wolf could only sense if a person was good or if they had evil intent. He’d never been able to access anyone’s memories and watch them play out. To see the truth with his own eyes.
He smiled as he watched Adres fight off the pups and run into Justice’s home. By the time Macauley got to why his mate smelled so sweet, he was breathing hard, as if he’d been a part of an action flick. Adres was aware of his Titan abilities now and how to harness them.
“You rescued my brother’s mate,” Macauley stressed as he pulled out of Adres, instantly regretting the loss of the warmth and golden shine that was Adres’s core. And he’d only touched the surface. He couldn’t imagine going deeper.
“The fairy omega was able to release the remains of the curse. I thought it would take years of meditation to get all of my memories back.”
Now there was nothing blocking them.
Macauley removed Adres’s hood and cupped his coarse jaw. “I hope you know what you’ve done by coming here… smelling like this.” He emphasized what he meant by grinding his hard cock against Adres’s hip.
“I do.” Adres’s fangs were longer than usual, his dick as solid as his. And leaking.
Macauley inhaled, taking in every fragrance he could on top of the potent smell of sex that was leaking down Adres’s inner thigh. He wanted to shove his hand inside his pants and take a taste, but his mate had other ideas. Macauley’s mouth went dry as Adres gracefully sank to his knees before him and took his cock in his hand.