by Dessa Lux
“Mom, Dad, this is Lir, he’s a sea god,” Devon said. “Not of the whole sea, just part of it. His territory covers about four hundred thousand square miles on the surface and all that lies beneath it, and his Father is ruler over all the northern seas. And he built me an island and a house for me and my child, and that’s where we’re going to live.”
His mother crossed her arms; his father squared his shoulders. Their heartbeats and scents went wild; for once Devon had managed to surprise them. They didn’t show it by face or body language, though, so Devon just smiled a little and pretended that they were managing to seem as unimpressed as they clearly wanted to be. “He didn’t bother to negotiate a formal mating with your pack before he did any of that, and he frightened you into running away from him, to say nothing of keeping you virtually a prisoner—”
Harry growled, and Lir tensed. Devon could tell he didn’t know whether to fight or to apologize, and he reached over and took Lir’s hand.
“I’m not saying we didn’t make some mistakes, and do things the wrong way around,” Devon said firmly. “But that’s between me and my alpha. He’s the one I’ve chosen. I won’t have anyone else, and I won’t let you keep me from him.”
There was a moment when it seemed like everyone was holding their breath. Devon was almost sure that he knew how this would go, where the posturing was leading them, but if he was wrong...
“Well,” his mother said. “That puts us in a fairly strong position when it comes to negotiating your mating contract, then, my dear. Unless sea gods consider it beneath them to properly mate and marry werewolves?”
“No!” Lir yelped. “No, I’ll—of course, I want to do everything properly.”
Devon exhaled, leaning against Lir’s side, and murmured, not nearly low enough not to be heard by everyone present, “Don’t give away the island, and don’t agree to join the pack in any kind of subordinate position.”
Lir nodded solemnly, slipping one arm around Devon’s waist, and Devon said louder, “Well! Let’s go inside, I think that cake must be almost ready to ice.”
*
In the end his parents mostly insisted on a lot of stipulations regarding Devon’s freedom to contact people and to come and go from the island, and guaranteeing pack membership for Devon and Lir’s children regardless of what shapes they took when they shifted, plus requiring them to hold a pack gathering every year. They had started to suggest some business partnerships, and Devon had managed to veto that whole conversation before it even started by saying, “You’d really have to discuss that with Father North. Some other time.”
His parents didn’t look deterred, exactly, but Devon thought, well... at least it would encourage them to visit. And meanwhile he’d be on the island with Lir and their baby and Harry and his pack—or five members of it, at least? He still hadn’t had a chance to ask Harry about that, because a pack where bitten wolves outnumbered the born ones was... unconventional, to say the least, even before six of them ended up in the Arctic together.
For now, though, they had the mating contract sorted, which meant Devon could hardly think of anything but getting home with Lir, and then his mother said, “Now, we can sign for the Griffith Pack, of course, but we’ll need someone from your kin to witness this as well. And if we’re not going to have a proper mating celebration—”
Devon’s eyes went wide and he shook his head frantically, because that was at least an entire day and night and would involve the entire pack, which would mean weeks or months of planning.
“We should at least all share a meal, before we send you off into mated life.”
“I’ll call Mar?” Devon offered, and Lir nodded agreement and held on to him tighter.
*
Mar arranged for them to have lunch in the dining room of the hotel where he’d set Devon and Harry down the night they came ashore. He wore a jet black suit this time, which did nothing to hide his stature, and his hair and beard were still long enough to suit his pirate costume.
Devon’s parents looked moderately impressed; he wasn’t sure if they could also tell how much of Lir’s strength had returned to him now that they were so near the sea, but in any case they still refused to be intimidated as they presented the contract to Mar and explained what it meant.
“Hm,” Mar said, casting a dark look at Lir. “Well, I know my brother won’t have objected to anything you asked for...”
Lir just grinned and kept his arm around Devon while Mar huffed and grumbled and carefully read through every word of the contract. He quibbled with Devon’s parents about the exact meanings of every condition while Lir fussed over Devon and made sure he ate enough.
Mar finally signed, and then it was, finally, Devon and Lir’s turn to assent to the contract and officially promise themselves to each other. Devon had imagined his own future marriage and mating plenty of ways, but he’d never imagined signing the mating contract in a space cleared on a table in the middle of lunch, sitting half in his mate’s lap and curling awkwardly around his five-months belly as he did.
Still, he thought, tipping his head up for a kiss that made the rest of the table applaud, he wouldn’t want it any other way.
When he and Lir had finished and everyone had admired the signed contract and was eating cake, Devon’s mother looked over at Mar thoughtfully and said, “So, Alpha Mar, have you considered finding a mate for yourself, now that your brother is settled down?”
Mar’s eyes darted for a second to Harry, who seemed mostly oblivious to the conversation, staring out a window toward the sea.
He ducked his head and said gruffly, “I do not have Lir’s... romantic nature, ma’am.”
His mother gave every appearance of letting it go at that. Devon wasn’t sure which of them he ought to warn about the other, and concluded that they could sort it out between them, if it came to that. Instead he nudged Lir, directing his attention to Harry’s distraction, and murmured, “We should...”
“Yes,” Lir said promptly. “If everything’s settled, we should really get home.”
That brought laughter from Devon’s parents and Mar, but Harry jumped up with more eagerness than either of them. There was a flurry of organizing, hugs all around, and then Mar was guiding them down to a small, sleek boat with just enough room for them and a crate Lir must have brought with him from the island.
“What...” Devon reached for it, wondering what Lir had thought he had to pack along.
“Oh, um, I’ll show you later,” Lir said. “When we’re home.”
Devon twisted toward the crate, even more curious now that Lir was evading the question, and Lir hooked an arm firmly around him and waved goodbye to Mar and Devon’s parents with the other. The boat pulled away from the dock, seemingly of its own accord, and Devon caught a glimpse of his parents’ surprise as they actually got a glimmer of what Lir really was.
Devon grinned and waved too, and then he turned his face toward the open sea, leaning into Lir as the salt spray kissed his face. They were going home.
***
Chapter 23
Lir felt the chill of Father North’s presence as soon as they crossed the boundary from Mar’s domain to his. He managed to keep his land-dweller shape, but he tightened his grip on Devon and moved them, so that the island was in sight in the blink of an eye.
It was wreathed in white clouds, and his throat went tight with fear. If his father had brought ice and frost to the sheltered island, if all Lir’s efforts to mend the island after the storm were erased in a blanket of colorless death...
But no, he could see the green of the mangroves, could smell the liveliness of the plants, even on the chilly air. Lir brought the boat around to the north beach, and Father North was waiting for him in almost exactly the same place Mar had been, when Lir returned after the storm.
His father was standing, of course, arms crossed imposingly, and he was clad all in white, from his snowstorm hair to his booted feet. He reminded Lir of the stark white walls of the cottage Devon had been liv
ing in, and Lir felt almost as powerless before his father as he had when he was miles from the sea.
Devon, tucked close against his side, nudged him, making a move like he would clamber out of the boat himself if Lir didn’t assist him. Lir moved before Devon could do that, handing him out onto the sand. He wasn’t quick enough to prevent Harry making his own unassisted exist, splashing in ankle-deep water. Harry also stayed firmly behind Lir when all three of them were on their feet before Father North.
Lir remembered the unhesitating way Devon had introduced Lir to his own parents, and concluded that he could do no less for his mate.
“Father,” Lir said, “this is my mate, Devon Griffith, of the Griffith Pack of werewolves. I have just come from celebrating the signing of our mating contract with his parents and my brother Mar.”
“You did not think to invite your own father to such a happy occasion?” Father North’s tone was cool, but Lir thought he detected a glint of late-summer sun in his father’s ice-pale eyes.
“My parents would have been rather overwhelmed, I think,” Devon offered. “And the custom among my kind is to meet one’s mate’s parents before introducing all the parents to each other.”
“Ah,” Father North’s posture softened a little, the hint of light in his eyes becoming more pronounced as he focused on Devon. “So my son was just being sensitive, was he?”
Devon curled closer to him—not intimidated, Lir thought, but sensing the right way to play this. He wrapped both of his arms around Lir, pressing his front against Lir’s side as much as his belly allowed.
“That’s why Lir came ashore at all,” Devon said. “To meet me on my own ground, literally. And to apologize for upsetting me and work out how to do things better going forward.”
Father North’s attention shifted to Lir, landing heavy as a glacier. Lir kept his spine straight, holding on firmly to Devon. He could do this. He could stand up even to his father, for Devon—for their future together.
“I made mistakes,” Lir said firmly. “Bad ones. But Devon’s agreed to come home to me and try again, and I think I’m—we’re—on the right track now.”
He didn’t say, and I’ve still got six months left on your time limit. Whatever judgment his father had come here to lay down, there would be no arguing with it.
After a moment, his father nodded. “Very well, I’ll be on my way, then.”
Lir felt nothing but relief at his father’s imminent departure, and then Devon’s fingers dug into his side, and he became aware of Harry standing perfectly still behind him. Lir glanced over at his shoulder at the werewolf and saw that he had his head down, and now that Lir was paying attention to anything other than his father, he could sense Harry’s fear and desperation.
Harry wouldn’t ask, of course. He wouldn’t dare. He wouldn’t even try to remind Lir, in Father North’s presence. However frightened Harry had been of Lir at first, Father North would be infinitely worse.
Lir knew that he could let it go, put it off, promise to ask about it later, when he was more certain that he had won his father’s approval. But he thought of the way Harry stared northward, and he remembered the promise he had made, and he knew that he had to do better than that.
Returning his attention to his father, Lir squared his shoulders. “I must ask you for something, Father.”
Father North’s whole demeanor turned colder, his expression hardening from that glimmer of approval to something much more forbidding. “Something more than the blind eye I have turned to your recent behavior? Something more than the chance I am giving you to redeem yourself?”
Lir took in a breath of bitterly cold air and nodded stiffly. “I promised Harry. When I brought him here, I took him away from his pack—they are still in your domain, near where he was frozen. Five of them, werewolves like him. I wish to bring them to the island so that they can wake and live again, all together. I owe that to them.”
“You have promised what is not yours,” his father observed, his voice gone colder yet. Lir felt Harry crowd close behind him, and Devon hid his face against Lir’s chest.
Lir stood taller than ever, keeping himself steady. “If I am prevented from keeping my promise I will do what I can to make amends. But they are nothing to you. It would cost you nothing to release them, as you released Harry to me. And—” Lir’s voice faltered, some part of him fearing that this was pushing too far, but he could not fall short of doing everything he could to persuade his father. “And if you wished me to learn better about land-dwellers, and care for them and their ways, it would hardly suit you to repay that by keeping five of them frozen between life and death because now you wish me to learn deference, instead.”
There was another silence as Father North stared into him, his eyes as dark as the long winter night, and then his father snorted softly and said, “It is true, they are not known for their deference.”
Lir took a relieved breath, feeling the chill fade into the feeling of a spring thaw. Devon and Harry caught his reaction, uncurling a little themselves, even before Father North said, “Very well. You are right enough—they do no good where they are. I will send them to you, so you need not be away from your mate to fetch them. One at a time, I think, so you will not be overwhelmed with caring for them as they recover.”
Harry made a little wordless noise of shock or joy or something else Lir couldn’t quite interpret, and Devon let go of Lir and darted behind him to catch Harry in a hug, laughing in delight. Lir watched them over his shoulder for a moment, and then looked back at his father, and now there was no chill to Father North at all; the sun shone warmly on his white hair and beard, and his eyes were brilliantly blue.
He beckoned to Lir, and Lir stepped forward cautiously, only to find himself engulfed in a hug.
“I’m proud of you, my boy,” his father murmured, and before Lir could think of a word to say, Father North was gone, vanishing like an early frost when the sun rose.
Devon and Harry broke apart, turning toward Lir, in the wake of his father’s sudden departure. They stared at him, both radiating joy, too overwhelming for any other response.
Lir smiled back cautiously. “Well, I guess we’d better get on with building that house for Harry, huh? Maybe with a few extra bedrooms.”
Devon leaped into his arms, laughing and peppering his face with kisses, and Harry came close enough for Lir to sling an arm around his shoulders.
“I love you,” Devon whispered, clinging fiercely to him. “Lir, you did it, I love you.”
Lir felt warmed all the way to his depths by the blaze of sunlight, and he turned his head and caught Devon’s mouth in a kiss before he murmured back, “I love you too.”
***
Chapter 24
They spent the rest of that day getting the site prepared and foundation laid for the first part of Harry’s house. Lir did most of the heavy lifting—or at least caused most of the heavy lifting to happen. Devon wasn’t watching too closely but he knew that Lir didn’t spend nearly as much time going down into the sea as he had when they were first building their own house.
That left Devon mostly mixing cob and working on plans with Harry, who was happier than Devon had ever seen him. He tried to tell stories about the other wolves in the pack, to introduce Devon to them in advance, but he kept going off on tangents, or trailing off to just stand there, staring northward, watching for a shape floating south to them.
By the time darkness fell and Lir called a halt, Devon was only mostly sure that Harry’s five packmates were named Tom, Joe, Jack, Johnny, and Jonesy. That didn’t seem like quite enough different names to go around, but he figured they would sort it out as the newcomers turned up.
Harry could barely be coaxed into the house to eat dinner, and it was no surprise at all when he decided to spend the night on the beach. Lir set up the tent for him, just barely out of reach of the waves, and Harry lay down under the awning in his wolf shape, ears pricked forward as he stared out at the water.
Devon stood watching him for a moment, and then Lir scooped him up into his arms. Devon let out a startled yelp, but he threw his arms around Lir’s neck and relaxed against his chest, and Lir nuzzled at his hair as he turned and carried him back to the house, which seemed a little farther from the beach than Devon remembered it being.
Devon smiled at the little rosebushes by the door as Lir carried him right inside, kicking the door shut behind them. He didn’t stop until he was setting Devon down on their bed, and he leaned in and murmured, “Welcome home, sunlight,” into a kiss.
Devon let out a happy sigh and pulled Lir down to join him. He felt like he’d been gone longer than just a week; everything felt new again now.
“We’ll have to break in the bed all over again,” Devon said into another kiss.
Lir chuckled and set one hand on the round of Devon’s belly, rubbing gently. “A little more crowded, this time.”
Devon tipped his head back, looking up at Lir as he said firmly, “No, you can’t say that.”
Lir blinked, looking down at his hand and Devon’s belly and then meeting Devon’s eyes again. “I can’t... what?”
“You can’t say I’m fat,” Devon explained, his voice wobbling a little even though he meant to be calm and unaffected, knowing Lir didn’t mean it like that. “That’s... you can’t say that. It’s a land-dweller thing.”
Lir opened his mouth and Devon could almost taste, but you are in the air.
Then he shook his head and leaned down again, kissing Devon softly. “You’re lovely, sunlight, and I’m so glad to have you home in our bed.”
“Better,” Devon agreed, but he couldn’t help being aware of his belly now, keeping Lir crouching over him instead of crushing him into the mattress the way Devon wanted. He tried to find a better position, and kissing soon devolved into an awkward and increasingly grumpy game of Twister.
“Sunlight?” Lir said after a few moments, when Devon had lost all track of what he’d even wanted to do with Lir in their bed. “I think we should try this somewhere else.”