Fates, Mates & Apple Turnovers

by Lisa Oliver Dani Gray

  “It’s good to see you awake,” Eros’s smile, while strained still contained enough warmth to send a flutter through Peter’s heart. “Clotho did shoot me with one of my own arrows. Kinda ironic really. Here, let me get you some water.” A glass appeared in Eros’s hand and the man himself came over, holding it for Peter while he took a few grateful sips.

  “Ironic how?” He asked, when his mouth and throat felt less like a desert floor.

  Taking the glass back, Eros looked thoughtful. “I’ve always heard,” he said at last, “that when hit by one of Cupid’s arrows, the person hit feels a state of euphoria. It’s as though the arrow clears away all the noise that might have stopped them getting into a new relationship, and they can truly see the connection between themselves and the other person. I’ve seen it myself thousands of times. It’s such a happy and wonderful moment for both parties and sets them up for the love that will last their whole lifetime.”

  “I don’t see anything ironic about that.” Peter had a horrible thought. “Wait, are you saying the arrow didn’t work on you?”

  “That’s exactly what I’m saying.” Eros scratched his chin. “Makes sense in a way. I can’t tell you how many arrows I misfired when I first got this position.

  Peter failed to see any possible humor in a god of love shooting himself in the foot. He was too busy wondering why the hell he’d let the Fates talk him into coming back. His animal half wanted Eros. Splicing another thread to his wasn’t going to change that.

  “Of course,” Eros continued, “maybe I didn’t feel affected by the arrow because I already knew how strong the connection was between us.”

  Okay. Now Peter was confused. “You saw the connection but rejected me anyway?”

  “I thought I had to.” Agitated, Eros got to his feet and started pacing the floor. Peter could appreciate the flex of a decent pair of legs as well as the next man, but he was more worried about what might come out of the man’s mouth.

  “I don’t think anyone appreciates what it’s like to be me,” Eros said, waving his hands in the air. “You know all those times when someone wishes they had someone to love? Well, guess who hears them? Me! And do you know how many people voice that wish? Thousands and thousands of them, every single day.”

  “That must be very noisy for you.” Peter wondered how Eros heard all those people. Did he get voice messages on his phone or something?

  “I love my work, don’t get me wrong,” Eros stopped by the side of the bed and fell to his knees. “Bringing two people together who might otherwise have missed each other is an awesome feeling.”

  “But,” Peter prompted, resisting the urge to run his fingers through Eros’s curls.

  “But those connections could or would have been made anyway if those humans would just get their noses out of their phones long enough to look around them.” Eros pressed his forehead into the mattress and groaned. “Work mates who are destined to be together. Best friends, people who’ve known each other for years. Their love connection is right there under their noses and they don’t even see.”

  “Maybe people are scared to look at their friends or co-workers like that.” Peter had always thought Cupid was the one responsible for two strangers, whose eyes meet across a crowded room and then bam, they form a love connection. “It’s not an easy thing to do, declaring feelings for someone if you’re worried about being rejected. Feelings can make someone feel really vulnerable if they’re expressed, you know, publicly.”

  “You really believe that?” Eros raised his head.

  “Of course. Look,” Peter warmed to his theme. “Things aren’t like they used to be in the olden days. There’re a lot more people concentrated in one area for a start. And then there’s the laws protecting you from aspects like workplace harassment for example. I mean, what if a guy at work professed his feelings for a lady he worked with and she sued him for harassment? That guy would probably spend months stalking his lady on social media, before he even mentioned something casual like, ‘will you have coffee with me.’ Then there’s the fact everyone’s so busy – work and money focused. Someone could be sending them all the right signals, and they’re just too busy to notice it. I think what you do is an amazing thing, because underneath, everyone wants to be loved. It’s like your arrows give them the strength and confidence to act on their feelings.”

  “Wow. Er… thank you.” Eros looked shocked by the compliment. “I guess the Fates were right. You do have a way of making me feel better about things.”

  “Yeah, well, it doesn’t mean you have to stay with me.” Peter looked down at his hands. “I couldn’t help what happened, to me I mean. My animal half is a lot bigger than me, but he doesn’t get a lot of love from others, except Harvey of course. I mean, it’s not like I’m a wolf, or one of those exotic cat shifters or something that people want to get close to. But just because I’m big and hairy-looking doesn’t mean I don’t want someone to hug me sometimes. My animal took one sniff of you and he was hooked.”

  “What kind of animal spirit are you?” Eros looked embarrassed just asking. “I don’t have a lot to do with the paranormal world. They can find their mates quite happily without my interference.”

  He has to know sometime. Inhaling sharply, Peter said, “I’m a sasquatch. My brother, Harvey is one too.”

  “Get out of here, you’re kidding me.” Eros’s eyes looked as though they were going to fall out of his head.

  “No, I wouldn’t joke about something like that,” Peter said hotly. “Yeah, I know we’re not all arrogant and aristocratic like wolves, and I don’t purr like a pussy cat, but there’s nothing wrong with who I am. My shifter half has beautiful fur and he always keeps it clean. He doesn’t smell bad or….”

  “Woah, woah, woah.” Eros put up his hands. “I wasn’t judging you. I’m thrilled to bits about it.”

  “You are?” Any anger Peter felt at being judged slipped away.

  “Hell yes.” Eros shook his head as he smiled. “Do you know how long I’ve waited to meet one of your kind? You’re like the supernatural stars of the supernatural. I’m freaking thrilled. Do you think you could shift for me sometime?”

  Peter’s stomach took that moment to grumble. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d eaten anything substantial. “You do know it means I’ll have to get naked and I should probably eat something first.”

  “I can do food,” Eros waved his hands and the bed was covered with a large lap table full of covered plates.

  “Wow, I bet that comes in handy sometimes.” Peter decided to push his luck a little further. “Does this constitute our first date?”

  This time Eros’s grin held a wealth of sexy promise. “We have food, a bed, and you’ve already said you’ll get naked with me. I’d say it’s the best first date ever.”

  Chapter Eleven

  Eros was pleased to know that he was providing for his mate, even though all he had to do was wave his hand. Watching Peter eat the food made him feel good.

  “Please, I’m not going to eat all this, so have some.” Peter’s large chocolate brown eyes were doing amazing things to him.

  “How about you eat what you can, and I’ll nibble with you?”

  The smile that Peter gave him melted him, and he knew that he would give up his single status tonight. After tonight he would be a mated man. Something he’d never envisaged, but now he embraced the idea.

  “I’m curious about something,” Peter started. “If you are a god, and I’m a mortal, what happens to you when I die?”

  Eros frozen. “Umm, I don’t know.”

  “Who do we ask?”

  “Atropos!” Eros yelled at the ceiling. The Fate’s face looked eerie against the off-white paint. “What is the answer?”

  “Really, you should know this.” Atropos’s ghostly visage shook her head at him. “When the two of you mate, your life thread, Peter, will be matched to Eros’s. Meaning you will not die so long as he is alive. We’d never weave a couple into the
tapestry and then cut only one of them short.” She disappeared.

  “What…? I mean, knowing I won’t die early and cause you any pain is a good thing, right. But what about Harvey.” Peter looked to him with tears in his eyes. “I’ll have to live without my brother? I’ll have to watch him die, just like my mother?”

  “Oh, my mate,” Eros got up and went over to wrap his arms around his quietly shaking mate. “We still have a long time yet before that happens, and we can figure it out by then.”

  “Promise?” Peter sniffled.

  “I promise. I know how important Harvey is to you.”

  “Thank you. He’s my only family, other than you.”

  Eros was humbled that Peter included him as part of his family, considering how he had been treated by him until now.

  “I promise to do everything I can for him, but in the end, the choice will have to be his, and his mate’s.”

  “I know,” Peter sighed, “but I want to know that the option to not lose him might be there.”

  As Peter moved the food around on his plate, Eros was able to hear his stomach let out a bunch of small growls.

  “You know,” Eros drawled, “if you don’t eat more, we won’t be able to get to the claiming part of the evening. You’ve not been eating, you need to build up your strength.”

  He had to laugh, Peter sat there watching him with an almost feral look in his eyes as he began to eat as quickly as he could. Once he had the plate cleaned off, Peter put it on the bed, then grabbed a napkin and wiped his mouth. Eros had a hard time not just leaning down and licking him clean. He really wanted a taste of his mate.

  “Eros.” Peter reached out a hand and cupped his cheek, saying with all seriousness. “I really need you to get rid of all this food now. I imagine you fucking me through the mattress could be awkward with plates and crumbs in the way.”

  Oh, my gods, I can’t believe he just came out and said that. Eros thought he might have to revise his opinion of Peter being a sweet and innocent young man. But he was hardly going to ignore his mate’s request. With a wave of his hand, the bed was cleaned off, not a single crumb left behind.

  “How long have I been in bed for?” Peter asked him, nervously nibbling his bottom lip.

  “It’s been a couple of days, why?”

  “I would really like a shower and brush my teeth.” Peter looked embarrassed. “As much as I want to belong to you, I would prefer if I didn’t feel so dirty.”

  The idea of Peter being dirty from what Eros wanted to do to him, had his blood heating in Eros’s veins.

  “You do know that I can fix that for you, this way we can get to the fun part of the evening.” Eros growled out. “Then once I have you all dirty from the things I’m doing to you, we can shower and get all clean, just so we can start over again with the getting dirty.”

  Eros moved so that he was leaning over Peter, with his hands on either side of Peter’s head. He leaned down, getting nose to nose with his sweet shifter. Now that he decided that he wanted to be with his mate, Eros was done waiting.

  “I want to tease you, lick you, and take my time tasting every inch of you.” Eros whispered into Peter’s mouth. “Once I have memorized every inch with my tongue, I plan on slowly getting you ready for my cock. I’m going to take my time stretching you, so you are wide open and ready for me.”

  Eros watched as Peter’s eyes dilated, until they were almost all black. He was panting, as if he had run a marathon. The whimpering noises coming from Peter were driving him crazy, and when they finally mated, Eros wanted to hear him scream in pleasure.

  With another wave of his hand, he had them both naked, and he made sure that Peter felt nice and clean. He was so ready for them both to get messy again.

  “Oh my god.” Peter groaned. “You’re making me crazy.”

  “I’ve only just started, so I hope you’re ready.”

  “Please…I need you.”

  Eros could hear the desperation in Peter’s voice, see it in his eyes. He knew that he felt the same way. Worried that this was going to be the shortest mating in history Eros decided taking the edge off might be best for both of them.

  “I have you.” Eros said, as he moved to lay on top of Peter.

  Holding himself up with one arm, Eros moved his other hand so that he could hold both of their cocks together. Peter jumped and then relaxed into his hold.

  “Let’s take the edge off, then I can take my time with you.” Eros said, moving so that he could kiss Peter. “You make me feel like I’ve never felt before. Everything feels so new with you.”

  The sensations coursing through his body had Eros feeling as if he had lightening running through his veins. Everything felt a thousand times better then it ever had, and he had thousands of years of experience, but nothing had ever felt like this.

  “Oh, my mate, I should never have made you wait for me the way I did,” Eros gently said, as he started to move his hand. “I’m so sorry. I never knew it would be this good.”

  “Eros!” Peter cried out. “Please…more.”

  Eros tightened the grip he had around their shafts, and he rubbed his thumb over their leaking heads.

  “Close.” Peter panted.

  “You going to make me smell like you?” Eros could barely get the words out, but he was determined to drive Peter crazy and if one thing really hit a shifter’s buttons, it was having a mate smell of them.

  “Ugh.”

  He could feel how hard Peter was, knew he was about to come, and on the last drag of his hand to the top of their cocks, he let the tip on one of his fingernails dip into the small opening of Peter’s dick.

  “Eros!” Peter screamed.

  The blast of wet warmth that began to coat their stomach’s and pricks set off Eros’s orgasm, and he added to the mess. The way that their cocks pulsed against one another kept sending electric jolts through Eros’s system.

  Feelings coursed through Eros, feeling he never thought he would ever feel. Love. Love for his mate. Now Eros understood why humans looked so hard for it. It left a person feeling exposed, and whole at the same time. Something settled in his soul, and Eros knew he’d finally found someone to call home.

  Now that the edge is off… He thought with a grin.

  Chapter Twelve

  Peter was still shaking, his body rocking with the aftermath of the best orgasm of his life. His animal half had leaped forward when Eros grunted out his climax, determined to claim their mate. Holding him back was one of the hardest things Peter had ever done. But it was worth it, because as Eros held up a tube of lube, his eyes twinkling with lust, the warm pit in Peter’s stomach grew and his cock, that never really went down, hardened again.

  “I could wave my hand,” Eros crooned in his ear, as his hand traveled down Peter’s torso. “One wave of my hand and you’d be filled with lube, your hole stretched and ready for my cock. But as I said before, I want to take my time with you. We only get one claiming and I want yours to be truly special.”

  “It is special.” Peter gulped as Eros’s fingers tickled under his balls and went lower. “It’s special because it’s you.”

  “You say the sweetest things,” Eros groaned and flexed his hip against Peter’s thigh. Then he froze, and Peter looked up, sensing a change in mood immediately.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “I’m being summoned. Damn it, that rarely ever happens.” Eros sat up, his face scrunched almost as though he was in pain.

  “You can be summoned?” Peter would have thought a god would be exempt from such things.

  “It’s very rare love comes with an or death clause, but fuck… I am so sorry, my darling Peter, but I have to go.” Eros scrambled off the bed.

  “Let me come too.” Peter wondered where his clothes had been put. “Wave me up some pants. I might be able to help.”

  “Didn’t you hear me? Love or death. It could be dangerous.” Eros looked torn and Peter unashamedly took advantage of that.

  “I w
ant to see what you do. Please?”

  Peter knew he’d won. He was suddenly clothed, including sturdy boots far better than anything he’d worn before.

  “Hold onto my hand, and you don’t interfere, no matter what,” Eros warned. “They won’t be able to see us, but even so, no matter what you see, stay quiet. Promise?”

  Pressing his lips together, Peter nodded.

  Letting out a long sigh, Eros clothed himself. “I’d far rather be claiming you than doing this,” he muttered as they both disappeared from Peter’s room.

  ***

  Eros’s heart sank as they arrived at the scene. They landed in a huge warehouse containing sixty plus cages. In other words, a slavery ring. Eros had lost count of how many of those he’d attended, curtailed by the Fates from saving every pitiful body locked up in a cage. He heard Peter’s muffled gasp beside him and squeezed his hand, reminding him to be quiet. Not that any of the poor souls in the cages were in a state to notice anything out of the ordinary.

  Eros’s gift allowed him to pinpoint the poor wretch praying for him. To his shock, he realized his “client” was a shifter, but the tie between him and his mate was still silver. Claimed mate connections were always gold threads, getting thicker and stronger the longer the two individuals were together. The silver thread meant the two people had met, but hadn’t claimed each other yet. The young man in question’s thread was getting thinner and more frail by the minute. He was close to death.

  Keeping a firm grasp of Peter’s hand, Eros wafted them closer to the cage in question. The shifter was young, in his early twenties. His matted curls reminded Eros of Peter’s, his slender face sporting a mass of bruises. Hunched over himself, the young man was babbling, and from what he was saying, he was resigned to his demise.

  “Blessed Fates, don’t let him see me like this, please, I beg you. I understand why he didn’t want to be with me. I am unworthy, I know that. He’ll feel responsible. He might die. Don’t let that happen, please, in your mercy, don’t let that happen. Let my Roderick find love again. Please.”