by M. J. O'Shea
“Can I have some time to think about the whole thing?”
“Of course,” PC told me without hesitation.
“It’s not going to happen tonight anyway,” his mother answered. “There are preparations that need to be made. I’ll need to file a petition.”
“A petition?” It sounded awfully political.
“Yeah,” PC interjected. “They won’t let just anybody in. The lycans are a bunch of cliquey snobs. You’ll find that out soon enough. That’s why I hang out with vampires.”
“PC!”
He gave her an impudent grin, the first smile I’d seen out of him all day.
“What if they don’t want me?”
His mother smiled. “Don’t worry, dear. What you two have happens once in a generation, if even that often. I don’t think there will be any problems getting the petition approved. Then as soon as you’ve become one of us, you two can be mated officially.”
I gulped. “What exactly does that entail?”
PC blushed. “Mom, Jesus! Enough already.”
“PC, watch your mouth.”
He rolled his eyes then turned to me, his face apologetic. “It’s like a wedding, Miles, a ceremony to say that we’ve chosen each other. Even though in this case we didn’t.”
A wedding. It didn’t get any more real than that. My mind spun.
“I’d, uh, need to tell my mom. Could she come?”
“Of course. But don’t worry. We have lots of time.” He shot another significant glare at his mother.
“Good. I’m going to need it to convince her that I’m not on drugs or something. She doesn’t even know that I’m dating anyone yet.” I turned to PC. “Are we dating?”
He laughed and slung his arm around my waist, pulling me close. “I guess if we’re not, it’s a good time to start.”
It felt so good, his laughter and his touch. It felt right, like everything had the night before. I wasn’t sure if I trusted him not to flip out on me again, but my body didn’t care. I felt my anger dying, draining away until the only thing I could concentrate on was the perfect weight of his hand on my body. The situation sucked but, God, he was everything I’d ever wanted. I only wished it was the same for him.
Sabina smiled and stood. “Are you two better than you were earlier?”
PC looked at me and I shrugged, not willing to say it out loud yet.
“I think so, Mom. Neither one of us are happy about this, but we’re both going to have to deal with it. It’s the best you can hope for right now.”
PC’s mother nodded; then she stepped forward and hugged us both at the same time, cupping her hand around my cheek.
“I’m honored to have you become part of our family, Miles.”
I smiled hesitantly, not sure what to say.
“I’ll see you two later.” She turned and picked up her purse to leave.
“See you later,” PC told her, reaching for me. She must have heard something in his voice that I was missing, or read into the heat that was constantly flaring in his eyes.
“Pascal Charles Laurent, don’t even think about it. You know the rules. The elders will probably make a few very small exceptions because of the circumstances, but only what’s absolutely necessary.”
PC turned red and managed to look both completely embarrassed and irritated at the same time.
Chapter 8: Together…. Almost
AS SOON as we were back in my dorm, PC toed off his shoes and flopped down onto my bed. It looked like he belonged there. Like he’d always been part of my place. I sat down next to him and ran my hand under his shirt to pet the warm skin of his belly. I couldn’t help it―I felt so much better when I was touching him. He made a low purring sound and arched into my hand like a cat.
“Hey,” I told him with a lazy smile. “You’re supposed to be a wolf, not a tabby.”
PC smiled back contentedly. “Can’t help it. I love when you touch me. Hey, listen, are we okay? I really am sorry about earlier. That was just me being, well, me. My temper is… a work in progress. The bond sucks, but when I said those things about not wanting to be with a human and you shackling me or whatever, I didn’t mean it. We’re both shackled into this, not just me, and you being human has nothing to do with my attitude. I was just being a bitch.”
“I know.” I gave him a long look. “Yeah, we’re okay.” I meant it, mostly. It was going to be hard to forget how much he really didn’t want to be there, but that wasn’t something I could blame him for. It just was. To distract myself from my thoughts, I rubbed on his stomach again. He arched his back and pulled the shirt up and over his head, basking a little in the afternoon sun.
“Come lay down next to me. We still need to talk about a few things. My mom will never get off my case if we don’t.”
“Talk, huh?” I gave him an ironic smirk.
He looked a little guilty. “Yes, talk only. But seriously, tell me you weren’t thinking about it at all. Even when I was pissed at you, it was nearly impossible not to touch you.”
“You caught me.” I unzipped my jacket and pulled my sweater and long-sleeved T-shirt over my head. Then I crawled into the bed next to him and wrapped my arms around his waist.
“Mmmm, feels nice,” he murmured and turned to nuzzle his face into my neck. Talking is overrated anyway. “You know, it’s a relief that I still get to touch you. I hadn’t realized how much I was worrying about that subconsciously when I thought we’d be separated.”
I chuckled under my breath and pinched him. “And you wanted to get rid of me. Jeesh.”
“I did and I didn’t, I mean―oh God, you know all this already. Do we have to get into it again?”
“No, we don’t. I don’t want to start another fight. Pascal Charles, huh?” I flashed a smile at him. He chuckled and poked me in the side.
“Shut up. It was my dad’s grandfather or something. I never met the guy. Don’t even think about calling me that.”
“I won’t. PC fits you better anyway.” He squirmed closer to me, wrapping me up with the heat of his silky skin. The sensation made my breath catch in my throat. “So what exactly are these rules your mom was talking about? From what I could tell, I’m not going to like them.”
He groaned and rubbed up against me, his motions again oddly catlike for someone who was part wolf. “I know. The real rules? You get nothing. Complete separation until the night of the ceremony. It sucks, but it’s tradition.”
“Nothing?” I pulled away from him, not wanting to already be breaking the rules. I didn’t exactly have an auspicious beginning to my relationship with the two lycans I had met. I didn’t want to piss off any more of them.
PC made an irritated face, then he snagged his arm around my waist, settling me back up against his chest with a relived sigh. “Like she said, they’ve made some concessions for us―because of our situation.”
“What concessions?”
He shrugged. “My mom said only what’s necessary. I’d say that means we can stay in the same room and touch when we absolutely have to so that it doesn’t hurt and we stay healthy. I seriously doubt kissing is on the menu, and half-naked cuddling for sure isn’t.”
I yanked away from him and grabbed my shirt from the floor, pulled it over my head and looked around suspiciously. PC rolled onto his stomach, laughing.
“They’re not the CIA, you know.”
“You think they’ll be able to tell if we cheat?”
“What just happened now, no. That’s not a big deal―against the rules, but not a huge problem. But if we really cheat, like, well… you know, then unfortunately they will be able to tell. Major changes in our bond will be broadcast loud and clear. It would be like the night we kissed for the first time, but a million times stronger. They’ll be able to tell the second it happens.”
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t know what I mean exactly. I’m kind of blind in this situation, but you remember how it felt when we first kissed, like something clicked?”
<
br /> “Yeah, it felt like everything spun out all fast, then slid into place.”
“Exactly. We aren’t the only ones who felt that. When something like that happens, or anything big, actually, it ripples out and the other lycans can feel it, or maybe just sense that it happened…. Jesus, I don’t know how to explain. I just know it will be the same thing but way stronger when we―” He turned red.
“We could do it really, really quietly,” I joked.
PC snorted. “Yeah, right, on both our parts. Besides, even without the special event awareness, lycans have, well, I guess it’s like a sixth sense, but it’s really just an amazing sense of smell. It’s not only physical things that have smells. Emotions do too. We can sense fear, love, happiness, desire. The fact that we’re bonded makes it that much easier for them to… smell us. And believe me, satisfied smells very different than frustrated and horny.”
“Frustrated and horny is right,” I grumbled. Just the thought of getting more with him made my skin tighten and my stomach heat. “So another question―even if the lycan council can sense us, why exactly do you give a shit what they think? I’m only asking, not judging. It’s just that from what I’ve seen, it doesn’t seem like you’re a big fan of theirs.”
“I’m not. And the elders aren’t big fans of mine either. They’re irritated with me all the time. I don’t think a week goes by where I don’t piss them off somehow. I guess it’ll be easier for everyone if I don’t give them something else to bitch about.”
I couldn’t hold back a knowing smile. “That’s so cute. You want them to be proud of you, don’t you?” I’d gotten to know PC well enough already that I knew that my teasing question would push all his buttons.
“Shut up!” It was the exact reaction I’d hoped for. Then he tugged my shirt up and leaned over to blow a big raspberry on my stomach. “I really don’t care what those assholes think of me. If it were only that, then I doubt we’d just be sitting here talking.” His smiled absentmindedly and a bolt of heat flashed through me at the thought. I tried to ignore it. PC sighed. “It’s my mother I’m worried about. They’re already on her case all the time to work on making me more like them. She defends me and says she wouldn’t want me to be any different. If we did anything more than what we’ve done, anything that they’d actually notice―well, let’s just say it wouldn’t be the general everyday disrespect that I give them. It would be like flipping off tradition. The council would be beyond pissed, at me and at her by association. I don’t want her to get in any more trouble. She’s never been anything but supportive of me, loving my vampire friends like her own sons and daughters. It wouldn’t be right to cause her more problems than I usually do.”
“I understand. I wouldn’t want to get your mom in trouble either.” I sighed and stroked my palm down his spine, making him wiggle happily and close his eyes. “What’s this mating ceremony like, anyway?”
“Like a wedding but way more permanent. We promise to be faithful to each other until we become part of the earth again and then we usually would, uh, bite each other on the neck, to make a scar that symbolizes our permanent claim.”
I smothered a grin. “This whole thing oughta make my mom flip a gasket.”
PC lifted his head off my stomach suddenly, looking horrified. “Oh Lord, please tell me your mother knows you’re gay. That’s the last kind of drama we need.”
“She does. She has since I was sixteen. I had to tell her something after four months of acting like a total lunatic. That was the best excuse I could come up with.”
“And she’s cool with it?” PC still looked concerned.
“Yeah. Turned out to be one of those ‘no kidding’ situations. She’d always known. What she’s going to freak about is me getting married, or whatever it is we’re calling it. She’s always told me to wait until I was at least thirty.”
“Hey, you almost made it.”
I rolled my eyes at him. “I’m eighteen.”
“Close enough,” he told me with a sly smile. That smile made me want to kiss him until he couldn’t breathe.
“Seriously, I’m going to go nuts here. Can’t we cheat a little?”
He chuckled “We already did cheat. A lot. Even me kissing you earlier was against the rules and―”
I nodded and put my hand on his chest. “I get it. You don’t want your mother in the council’s bad graces. So we’re not supposed to touch at all unless it starts to hurt?”
“Not with our clothes off, for damn sure. I think they’ll be okay with holding hands, small touches, and maybe the occasional closed-mouth peck on the lips; but nothing else. At least for the next month or so while the ceremony is planned and everything is formalized.”
I fought the urge to growl again. “You’ve got to be kidding. The way it feels to really touch you is the one good part of this, and they want to take it away for that long?”
PC groaned and lifted his head off my stomach to look at me. “Sounds pretty unbearable, huh? You are hell on my will power, mister. And here I thought you’d be the sweet and innocent type.”
“I am sweet.” I gave him my most angelic expression.
“But not so innocent.” Nobody had ever looked at me like that before.
I tried, but I couldn’t keep my cheeks from flaming. What I could do was bury my face under a pillow and waver between embarrassment and raging lust.
A few minutes later, when my body calmed back down, I felt like I was ready to talk again, only not about what was going to happen when PC and I got to touch for real. That subject was nothing but frustrating.
“What’s the deal with the lycans, PC? All I know from you is that they’re snobby and you can either be born one or made one. Oh, and there’s a high council who are all determined to drive me to the loony bin.”
PC chuckled. “Join the party. They’ve been making me nuts my whole life. What do you want to know?”
I thought about all the stuff I’d written in my stories. “Where do lycans come from? Do you have packs with alphas and betas and stuff? Do you hunt for animals when you’re changed? What’s the elder council like? What do they do?”
I broke off when I realized PC was laughing outright.
“You gotta slow down!” He scooted up and wrapped his arm over my chest, snuggling my face into the crook of his neck, ostensibly to shut me up. I smiled and bit at his skin gently. “Hey, cheater, no biting. Okay, first things first. I don’t know for sure where the lycans came from any more than you know where the humans came from. I can only assume that we evolved from a puddle of sludge just like you did. We just followed a different path. More than that, I can’t tell you.”
“But there are born lycans and made lycans, right?”
“Yeah, though not nearly as many made lycans. That usually only happens when a lycan wants to mate with a human. The made lycans can never be on the council, and as far as I know they can’t make another lycan. It would never be approved even if they could. It would weaken the bloodline too much. Like I said, snobby bastards.”
“So I’m going to be looked down on?”
“No. Not you. You’re half of an imprinted pair. If you were a house cat, they’d probably respect you.” He rolled his eyes and made a face.
“I guess it doesn’t matter anyway. We’d usually be with the vampires anyway, right?”
PC nodded. “I told you, I hardly ever deal with the lycans. For a reason.”
“Well, what about the alpha thing, or packs. Is there a Manhattan pack?”
He chuckled. It was kind of funny, the idea of a big pack of wolves as large as PC running wild in Central Park. “No, we don’t have packs—the lycans would consider the idea vulgar. But instead, we have the council, our own set of nobility. There are elder councils in every major city, and the lead councilman from each sect automatically has a seat in the high council in Bucharest. I guess if you had to call anyone an alpha, it would be the lead councilman. We have to listen to the bastard, so I guess that’s the definition
of alpha. Anyway, the high council, from what I’ve heard, is a bit ridiculous. It’s like some old house of lords or something. A bunch of snotty guys who are overly impressed with their own importance―and the few women who put up with them.”
I laughed at that. “I’m sure your mother would be so happy to hear you describe your own species with such patience and generosity.” He pinched me and rolled his eyes. “So, next question. Do you hunt?”
“I’m sure we could. If I was starving in the wilderness I might, but what would I hunt for in New York? Gutter rats? Park Avenue Chihuahuas with designer sweaters? I usually eat before I shift if I can anticipate it. Then I eat something when I go human again. Shifting takes a lot of energy. You’ll see. I like to eat a lot and I sleep a lot too.”
“Lots of eating, sleeping, and―” I broke off, blushing. Kissing, touching….
He grinned. “That has nothing to do with being a lycan. That’s just me. And only with you.”
I leaned in a little. Closer, I wanted to be closer. What I really wanted was to kiss him again. So against the rules. It wasn’t fair. Why did there have to be this bond if the lycans were only going to forbid us to act on it? Why, when every single cell in my whole body was screaming for me to lean over and taste him, touch his skin, wrap my legs around him and let him do things to me I’d barely even thought of before I met him, and ohhh I wanted it. My hands griped the blankets, toes curling with need. If I leaned just a little bit more, just a few more centimeters, I could taste him like I needed to.
PC whimpered and rolled away from me. “I want to kiss you so bad,” he groaned. “God, I hate this.”
I nodded, agreeing wholeheartedly.
MONDAY MORNING was a bit rocky.
Things had settled into a nice, but physically frustrating, place on Sunday afternoon. I’d sat, legs extended and laptop perched precariously on my thighs, and finished the writing work I’d started earlier in the day, while PC read with his hand resting casually on my ankle, fingers stroking gently. We’d gone to sleep curled up together―fully clothed in an attempt to avoid the kind of temptation that would be impossible to withstand. It was nice, and physical frustrations aside, it was comfortable. I started to think maybe the whole thing wasn’t going to be the disaster situation it seemed to be earlier.