by A. C. Katt
“I couldn’t impose on you like that, Armand.” Armand smothered a growl.
“I could pay your tuition and give you a place to stay. Right now, Murphy wants to put you into Witness Protection. I can offer you a better alternative.”
“What’s the catch?” Sean asked, moving away from Armand to the other side of the couch.
“I said I was attracted to you and we seem to be sexually compatible. I know some things about your heritage that you don’t know. I’d be able to help you with them. I want the opportunity to court you properly.”
“Court me?”
“Yes, I want you to marry me.” Sean stood up, about to run for the door.
“Wait a minute and let me explain. I haven’t tried to harm you in any way. You are safe here no matter what happens in the next hour. Pierre and Meg are within shouting range…Give me a bit of time to explain before you bolt.”
Sean edged back into the room and sat down on the arm of the closer of the two leather chairs. “I admit I’ve felt very safe here for the first time in a long time but it’s rather disconcerting to find myself with this attachment to you. I don’t know what I feel and that frightens me.”
“I have a story to tell you, baby. Give me some time, sit and listen…”
Chapter 3
How do I explain this to him without running him off? I suppose I should start at the beginning.
Armand poured himself a brandy from the bar cart in the corner of the room. “Do you know anything about French history?”
“A little, most I learned in French class and art history. I can tell you all about French art, but I’m a bit weak on history, I only know the basics.”
“Would you like a drink?”
“Do you have a Coke or juice?” Armand poured Sean a Coke over ice and handed the tumbler to Sean.
“Come back and sit by me.” Armand saw the consternation on Sean’s face but he reluctantly came back over to the couch. Armand pulled him across the loose pillows that comprised the back of the sofa so Sean was next to him. “Do you mind?”
“No, I should, and the fact that I don’t scares the hell out of me. But again, I feel safe. I felt the same way last night when you held me while I slept.” Sean looked away but continued in a weak voice. “I love your scent, yet in the bath I saw nothing with a fragrance except a very subtle smell of the pine and the woods while you were in the shower.” Sean shut his mouth. “I’m babbling…”
Armand could see from the look in Sean’s eyes that he felt he said too much.
“There is a reason for that, but I should start at the beginning. Do you believe in the supernatural?” Sean cocked his head.
“Depends on what you mean? I believe that there are things beyond my ability to see, hear, and touch. I know that we aren’t aware of everything about the earth, that maybe there are beings on other worlds…”
This may be easier than I thought.
“You would be right. Many creatures exist in this world of which humans have no knowledge.”
Sean’s eyes twinkled. “Like Bigfoot?”
“My baby has a smart mouth.”
Sean looked puzzled again at the endearment. “You’ve been calling me baby since last night. Why?”
“Because I am loup-garou and you are my mate.”
“Loup-garou? Mate? What are you selling?” Sean moved further away from Armand. Armand felt the fear coming off his body in waves.
Armand moved and knelt before him. “Listen,” He put a finger on Sean’s lips before he could speak. “I’m going to tell you the story of the loup-garou, a people hidden from human sight. The origins of the loup-garou were in France somewhere back in the mists of time. They were a strong people, long lived. Eventually they became the ruling family of a section of France called La Marche in the middle of the country.”
“That’s your last name…”
“Yes, it is…” Armand raised his hand to silence Sean.
“With the death of the childless Count Guy in 1308, his possessions were seized by Philip IV. In truth, Count Guy had a young son, who, aware that the French crown wanted to annex his province, escaped to the French Alps with his people rather than face a war against the crown. The loup-garou lived in deliberate isolation and grew in numbers in the forests of the northeast near Switzerland and Germany.”
Sean leaned further into Armand until Armand could feel Sean’s hair on his neck. Sean made what sounded like a contented little yip and Armand continued while rubbing his hand up and down Sean’s arm.
“By the early sixteenth century, their mountain refuge had grown to encompass a large section of northeastern France. Humans mixed freely with the loup-garou and sometimes the people found mates in the human population. The loup-garou always hid their differences from humans other than their mates. They possessed superior strength, eyesight, hearing, and sense of smell. They could run long distances without fear of being winded.” Armand rose. He didn’t want his little mate to be any more uncomfortable than he already was.
“So they were strong, many humans are strong, how were they different?” Sean looked down and asked.
“May I sit?” Sean nodded. Armand could see he was fascinated.
“You have to promise not to run.” He placed his drink on the coffee table. He shifted to his place beside Sean. Sean gave Armand his complete attention. Armand searched Sean’s face trying to gauge his reaction to the story. He didn’t seem suspicious or frightened, so Armand continued while Sean sipped his Coke.
“The people lived in peace with the humans in their province until the beginnings of the Spanish Inquisition. Gradually the Inquisition spread to France and to the loup-garou. Three thousand of my people were killed by the Inquisition for being werewolves.”
“Werewolves? We’re talking about werewolves. You can’t be serious.” Sean made to move away but Armand adjusted Sean’s body so that his mate landed fully on his lap, Sean’s head resting on Armand’s chest. Armand felt his cock fill with his mate so close, but he didn’t try to move or nor hide his arousal. Sean stayed put. Armand rejoiced at this small victory.
“Loup-garou if I remember my French, means wolf-human,” Sean said, sitting up, skepticism written all over his face. Armand let him move away. He could see Sean’s arousal through his thin jeans.
“Yes, werewolves, but the loup-garou are different from the werewolves of legend. The loup-garou do not have to change form at the full moon. They can change form at will. The only change they can’t control is the first which come at midnight the day of their twenty-fifth birthday.”
Sean moved a little further away.
“Please let me hold you while I tell you this story. It costs you nothing and it comforts me to have you near.” Armand slid his right arm under Sean’s back and again brought him closer to his chest. Sean’s scent got stronger. It was intoxicating. He continued while attempting to calm his inner wolf who cried, Mine—Now!
“The people also retain their full human selves while in wolf form. Their wolf is an integral part of who they are. Its needs are never separate from the human side of their nature. The wolves of the loup-garou are another part of their human selves and don’t project different thoughts onto a host. A host does not exist, the wolf and the host are one. The human feels as the beast feels, although emotions are generally crystallized as their wolf surfaces when they find their mate.” Armand stopped to see what Sean would say.
“No throat ripping, as in the movies or becoming a wolf from the bite of another? No humans for breakfast.” Sean seemed to bury his nerves in humor.
Armand looked at his mate’s eyes to see if he understood he was serious. “Their condition is not caused by a virus, or a bite from one of their kind, they are born as loup-garou or they are not. One truth of the legends is that a loup-garou have only one mate. A loup-garou can spend his whole life looking for his mate.” Armand noted.
“Because of the state of the Inquisition in France, the loup-garou migrated in mass
to Canada after 1541 seeing the New World as a place where they could live in peace. The population grew again after their losses in France and they made their way across the St. Lawrence River into New York and gradually throughout North America, moving west as the population on the East Coast grew. But the loup-garou population grew slowly because a wolf must find his mate to be fertile and procreate. Until that time, he is shooting blanks so to speak.”
“How horrible for them, going through life having no one to love,” Sean unconsciously wiggled closer to Armand.
If he does that one more time, I’m going to lose control. I’m already on the edge having finally found him. Given a few more minutes and I would have taken him in the shower. I couldn’t even speak without revealing my lust.
“The loup-garou are very different from humans in some respects. The loup-garou make no distinctions between gay and straight. Your mate is your mate whatever the gender. Once a gay loup-garou becomes fertile, a female of the species is usually honored to bear the pups of a same-sex mated couple. A mated male will contribute sperm to impregnate a female. Of course this process became much easier with the research and the practice of artificial insemination.”
“What has any of this to do with me?” Sean turned his face to Armand. The light began to dawn in his eyes. Sean started to move away again.
“Wait, baby, you said you feel safe with me, and that you liked my scent?” Sean looked away from Armand, embarrassed at his perception.
Sean didn’t want to hear what came next.
“I am loup-garou and you are my mate.”
* * * *
Sean jumped off of the sofa. Surprisingly, he felt no fear, just a desire for more information and a guarded curiosity concerning what Armand said and what it would mean to him.
“How do I know you are telling me the truth?” Sean backed up to the fireplace putting distance between his body and Armand’s words.
“I’ll show you but you must promise me not to run screaming from the room. You are in no danger.”
“Okay…I guess that’s true. You could have harmed me in my sleep at any time last night.”
“Watch.” Armand got up and stood in the middle of the room. He removed and folded his clothing standing proud in his nakedness. Sean looked his fill. Armand was beautifully made. His shoulders were broad and he had a light splattering of hair across his chest. His rigid cock stood at attention signaling that he told the truth when he said he wanted Sean.
Armand cleared his throat to gain Sean’s attention. “The loup-garou are different from werewolves of legend in another aspect. We morph instantly into our wolf. There is no bone breaking and pain. Just a thought.”
For an instant, Armand stood before Sean, then his visage blurred and there, standing before him was a huge gray wolf whose head almost reached his shoulder. Sean’s eyes were wide open in astonishment. The wolf came to him. He backed away. Then he heard a voice in his head that was Armand’s. Don’t be afraid, baby. Come touch me.
Slowly, Sean inched toward the wolf. He was beautiful, grey with a white undercoat and piercing blue eyes. Sean wanted to be brave; but he was so big. He was two times the size of a Great Dane with the breadth of a husky.
The wolf met Sean halfway. Scratch my ears. Sean heard the voice in his mind. He went forward with reluctance. Touching the wolf he marveled, “Your fur is so soft.”
The wolf lay down on the floor and Sean began to caress his coat. Do you believe me now?
“I have to, the evidence is before my eyes. What I can’t understand is why I’m not frightened.” A blur flashed before his eyes and suddenly there was the human Armand on the floor next to him, naked again.
“You’re not afraid because you are one of us.”
“What?” Sean couldn’t comprehend what Armand was trying to tell him.
Armand moved closer to hold his mate in his arms. He kissed him on the forehead. Letting go, he began to dress. “Let’s talk.”
He picked Sean up and put him back on the sofa and sat down next to him.
“Your mother was impregnated by a loup-garou. When Dr. Artis was here yesterday, he took a blood sample. Half of your genes are ours. In fact you are more than half loup-garou, someone else in your family tree must have mated one of our people.”
“You told me that wolves couldn’t produce live sperm unless the wolves are mated.”
“That’s true. Something must have happened to your father to prevent him from coming back to your mother. Ours is a violent world. Just as in natural wolf packs, we challenge for leadership. Although a good Alpha is not challenged because everyone is aware that a good Alpha makes for a good life for the pack.”
“Why do Pierre and Meg call you Alpha?”
“Because I am the only remaining direct descendant from the line of Guy La Marche who was the king of the loup-garou and I am also the Alpha and head of the North American Council of loup-garou packs. There are those of us who escaped France to the wilderness of Russia and they live under a different council as do the remaining wolves in Europe.”
Armand finished dressing and pulled Sean up and moved them both to sit down on the sofa, legs stretching out to the Persian carpet below. He pulled Sean’s head down to lie in his lap. He untied the leather lace that held Sean’s hair back and let the blond curls fall and began to play with them.
“How did my father mate with my mother when she was human and he was a loup-garou?” Armand wrapped his fingers around Sean’s chin and placed a chaste kiss on his lips.
“That’s an easy question to answer. Sometimes our mates are humans. When we lost three thousand of our population in France, it greatly diminished our numbers. Although North America was kind to us, many were mistaken for lupines, common grey wolves abet large, and shot. Now we have our own land on which to run but our females do not have large litters and birth is difficult, so our numbers are low. We’ve been mating with humans for over a thousand years. Generally a hybrid loup-garou cannot change into a wolf. If the offspring of that mating goes back into the loup-garou gene pool, however, his offspring will be more than half loup-garou and able to shift. Unfortunately, the shift is delayed until they find their mate and have the clock hit twelve-oh-one on their twenty-fifth birthday.”
Sean sat up. “Does that mean if I mate with one of your kind my kids will be loup-garou?”
“Basically, yes. After you mate and turn twenty-five you will be able to shift.”
“And I am your mate.” Sean looked at Armand incredulously.
* * * *
“Yes.” Armand pulled Sean back into his arms for a passionate kiss. He ran his tongue along the seam of Sean’s lip until it opened. Their tongues dueled. Armand explored every nook and cranny of Sean’s mouth before he was able to bring himself under control.
Sean had trouble catching his breath after the gut wrenching kiss they shared. “I have a little difficulty taking all of this in…do you know who my father was?”
“Dr. Artis is comparing your blood sample to our genealogy charts and bloodlines. The result should be easier to determine now that he knows your name is Lucien. Loup-garou children usually have the first name of the father as their middle name.” Armand moved to sit up straight on the couch.
“I see.” Sean pushed closer to Armand laying his head down on the Alpha’s chest. “What does it mean to be your mate?” Sean asked, a bit fidgety but finally beginning to relax and accept what his mate told him.
“You have the freedom of choice. You may choose me or I can help you with your expenses and find you a place to live and you can finish school. I want you to choose me because you feel you can love me, not because you have nowhere else to go.”
Sean sat up. “I can’t let you do that; pay for me like a kept man.”
“I can’t let my mate go hungry or without shelter when I can so easily provide these things for him. I will only have one mate. It is in my genes to make you happy, even if you choose not to stay with me.” Armand eyes sadde
ned.
“If you do decide accept me as your mate, the pack has lands in the southwestern United States. When it’s safe, you can finish your Fine Arts Degree here in Manhattan, in the mean time you can come to New Mexico and learn about Native American Pottery. I could take you to China to study porcelain.”
“You said nothing about love,” Sean murmured.
“Mates fall in love quickly but I realize you haven’t had the time to process all of this. Love will come. You’re my mate. Perfect for me in every way as nature designed.”
“But I have nothing to give you…”
“You don’t understand, I despaired of ever finding you. I am one hundred and fifty years old…”
Sean sputtered, “But you look to be only thirty, thirty-five tops.”
“That’s one of the advantages of being a loup-garou. We are long-lived and our mates, from our mating bite and the exchange of bodily fluids, live as long as we do.”
“But my mother died of cancer.”
“Your mother’s mate died and they were no longer exchanging fluids, so she got sick. Loup-garou don’t get human diseases. You were probably extremely healthy as a child and always healed quickly from the normal cuts and scrapes that are part of a boy’s life.”
“So that’s why when my so-called father beat the shit out of me, I could walk the next day after he broke my ribs.”
“Your father broke your ribs?”
“And my nose and gave me more black eyes than I could count.”
“And the authorities never brought him up on charges?”
“He was a cop, they don’t eat their own.”
Armand pulled Sean closer. “I’m sorry, baby, you should not have to go through that from a stranger, never mind from a man who called himself your father.”
“I identified the Russian. Will there be repercussions? Have I put everyone in this house in danger?”
“Dimitri Petrovich is a rogue Russian loup-garou. Detective Murphy is one of us, as are Artis and Pierre. Edward Keller, my lawyer, is my beta Martin’s mate. We are protected. Martin and Edward share the house next door and Rene, my other beta, is two doors down. Jacques lives across the square as does Artis. We can protect ourselves against Dimitri. I’ve already called the Russian Council to alert them to Dimitri’s presence in New York.”