Lone Wolf Ripples 03 - The Fire of a Lone Wolf's Heart (4 page)

He didn't dare to say goodbye. Instead, he hugged Clay tightly and pressed one last, desperate kiss to Clay's lips. Finally, before he could lose his nerve, he jumped into the grove and let himself be swept away by the magic.

A few weeks later

"Poor creature. I heard that he was forced to mate a wolf."

"That will have a horrible end. These things never work out."

Perry clenched his fists in irritation as the conversation of the two Sidhe reached his ears. They were too far away from him for them to guess he could hear them, but his shifter senses gave him abilities he wouldn't have otherwise had. He wanted nothing more than to stalk to their side and chew them out. It was people like them that had forced him and Clay apart. Instead, he walked away, feeling incredibly disheartened.

The Sidhe hadn't actually treated him poorly. Their home was nice, buried deep in the Amazonian jungle where humans couldn't find it. They had other settlements, but this one was among the safest, and big enough that Perry didn't completely stand out. They'd been sympathetic toward his plight and had provided him with everything he needed without question. Well, everything except what he most ached for—Clay.

With a heavy sigh, Perry headed toward the edges of the settlement. There, the elegant Sidhe buildings yielded to the wild jungle, the distant screech of monkeys and the squawking of exotic birds strangely comforting. Perry climbed the closest tree he could find and closed his eyes. For the moment, it was easy for him to summon the memory of what he and Clay had shared. He allowed himself to focus on the bond glowing deeply inside him, and his mate's emotions both soothed him and made him even more aware of how much they were missing.

The ache inside of him suddenly became blinding, almost, but not quite like a physical pain. His head started to spin and a sense of nausea and dizziness exploded over him. He could no longer keep his balance on the tree branch and he fell off, propelled toward the ground.

It all happened impossibly fast. Perry didn't even get the chance to try to do anything about it. Right before he could hit the ground, he started to hover midair. He took a few deep breaths in an attempt to stave off the panic, reminding himself that a fall from such a height couldn't really hurt him.

A female voice startled him from his thoughts.  "Are you well?"

Perry looked up, just in time to see a beautiful Sidhe woman approaching rapidly. He didn't recognize her, but she was wearing elaborate, elegant robes so he gathered she must be among the more important people in the settlement. The slight touch of gray through her blond hair suggested an advanced age—another cue as to her power and importance. She'd obviously been the one who'd used her magic to keep him from falling.

He planned to wave off her concerned inquiry, but for some reason, he didn't. "I'm not sure," he admitted as he was finally set on the ground.

She knelt next to him on the grass, ignoring the fact that she was probably making a mess out of her robes. "Did you get hit when you fell?"

Perry shook his head and smiled at her. "No, thank you. It must be just fatigue."

It was as he said the words that he finally identified the person in front of him. The necklace she wore was very distinctive, and bore the markings of the Sidhe royal house—markings that even he, the deer-shifter half-breed guest, recognized. With a gasp, he struggled to his feet. "Your Majesty. I'm so sorry, I didn't realize—"

"Oh, hush," she interrupted him. "We haven't met. You had no reason to recognize me."

Technically speaking, that wasn't the case, since everyone who lived here should have been able to figure out when they were in the presence of Queen Maeven. But since she didn't seem to blame him for his ignorance, he wasn't going to push it or ask for trouble. "I appreciate your help so much," he said instead. "Thank you for keeping me from falling—and for letting me stay here, of course."

She scanned his face with fathomless blue eyes. "You don't have to thank me for anything. It is my pleasure to have you here, and I wasn't the one to save you from your fall."

That didn't make any sense, since Perry didn't have any flying abilities or anything that could have helped him in that situation. Queen Maeven seemed somewhat less confused than him. "Give me your hand," she said. "Let me look at you."

For some reason, Perry trusted her instinctively, so he complied. A tingle of magic settled over him, far more comfortable than what he'd experienced with V. "Ah," she said after only a few moments of pause. "Well... I suppose that's not entirely unexpected."

"That?" Perry repeated, alarmed. "What is... that? Is something wrong with me?"

"Not quite, little one." The queen smiled and pressed a hand to his belly. "You're pregnant."

****

Clay raced through the woods, his paws carrying him rapidly to his destination. In the forest around him, he could hear all sorts of animals, critters than under different circumstances, would have made good prey. Right now, he couldn't have cared less. As a wolf and as a man, he had only one thing and one priority on his mind. Perry.

Truth be told, he could have possibly stopped to hunt if he wanted to. The grove wasn't going anywhere, and once he got there, Clay would still be stuck unable to reach his mate. Intellectually, Clay knew that. Even so, he could never stop himself from returning here, again and again.

After Perry's departure, he'd wanted to leave, to track down the hunters who were after Perry and end this already. V had screamed at him and told him to get a grip. He was only one man, and he couldn't take the whole organization—whatever it was—on his own. Offering his services to the Gathering wasn't a better plan, since he was a lone wolf, and he could easily get stabbed in the back by one of his own.

At the same time, he couldn't return to the way things had been before. He couldn't go back to being Loneheart, the dancer at V's club—ironically because his heart felt the burning pangs of abandonment and loneliness. V had accepted it and given him some time off, and Clay didn't think he'd ever been more grateful to her, not even when she'd first rescued him.

His only comfort was the bond, the fact that he could feel his mate's emotions and know that Perry was safe. But even with their connection in place—or maybe because of it—he couldn't help but come here, to the place where they'd bonded, where he'd allowed himself to believe and love.

The grove never lit up when he approached. It was just as silent and plain as it had ever been. Clay had only seen its magic once, in that one instant when it had carried Perry away from him. He lay down at the very edge, staring at it, willing the magic to work, but this time in reverse.

Soon, he'd have to go back to the city. He couldn't live in the forest, since that would draw unwanted attention to him and he risked running into the very same silencers he'd successfully avoided for years now. For the moment, though, for a couple of hours, he would take the chance and wait here once more.

With that in mind, Clay settled with his head on his paws and allowed the silence and the clear forest air to settle over him. He focused on the bond, getting as close to Perry as he could despite the physical distance. At some level, he didn't actually expect anything to happen, which was why he was shocked and taken aback when a wave of panic and distress burst through their connection. He shot to his feet—well, paws—wanting nothing more than to rush straight to the fairy circle and reach his mate's side. His instinct propelled him into doing exactly that, but he didn't get very far. A wave of unseen magic threw him back and only his sharp reflexes saved him from hitting a tree and breaking some bones.

Howling in distress, Clay paced around the circle. He clawed at the edges of the grove, knowing there was nothing he could actually do about it, and yet unable to leave. Despite his earlier failure, he tried to jump into it, again and again, always repelled, always rejected.

It was futile, and he knew it. A couple of times, his zeal was such that he didn't manage to avoid getting hurt, but he still couldn't stop. As it turned out, the fairy circle yielded before he did, because at one point—he must have hit the hundredth attempt—when Clay leaped forward, the magic no longer shoved him away.

Instead, a portal opened up in the center of the grove, sucking him in. Clay felt like he was being torn apart limb from limb, but he didn't try to escape. Somehow, he knew this was the only way to get to his mate.

Darkness swallowed him whole, and the magic pulled at him, wild and fierce. Clay's wolf felt trapped and muzzled, but didn't recoil. He wasn't about to start running, not now, not again—never again.

Fortunately, his resilience wasn't tested too brutally. A few instants later—instants that to him, seemed to stretch far longer than they should have—his vision cleared and he found himself lying on four paws in an unfamiliar room. The engravings and tapestries on the wooden walls clearly pointed out this was a location belonging to the Sidhe, not that Clay needed extra clues. First of all, he'd just been dragged into a fairy circle by Sidhe magic. Second, a willowy female Sidhe stood in front of him, watching him with no small measure of amusement, and maybe even a touch of fondness.

"Welcome, Mr. Reynolds," the woman said. "I trust you didn't find the journey too unpleasant. I'm afraid fairy circles aren't built to allow shape-shifters through them."

Clay was still shocked that he'd managed to get through, but this stranger had obviously had more to do with it than his own efforts. He knew he should say something, thank her for her help or perhaps ask what was going on, but he couldn't make himself do it. The journey hadn't assuaged his fears over Perry's well-being, and instead of shifting to human form, he rushed past the woman, following the instincts that unerringly guided him to his mate's side.

There were a lot of Sidhe around, but not one of them tried to stop him. He felt their eyes on him, felt their tension, but they must have known about his impending visit, because they just let him pass. Clay was relieved, because he didn't know what he'd have done if someone had stood in his way.

The building was pretty labyrinthine, and the number of people within it hindered Clay's progress. After what seemed like forever, though, he finally reached his destination. He stopped in front of a large wooden door, noting the guards at each end of the corridor. They didn't pay him any heed, but he suspected that he was the exception to the rule, and if anyone else had approached, they'd have made use of the very sharp spears they held.

Shifting into his human form, Clay pushed the door open. In a strange reenactment of the way they'd first met, Perry was lying in bed, staring at the ceiling. When Clay entered the room, Perry's eyes immediately zeroed in on him.  "Clay?" he breathed out. "Are you really here? I thought I was imagining it."

In seconds, Clay was by his mate's side. "I'm here," he said, pulling Perry in a tight embrace. "I'm with you."

Moon be blessed, it felt so good to hold Perry again. Clay could have sobbed in relief had he not remained aware of the reasons why he'd ended up here to begin with.

Perry buried his face in Clay's chest, holding him just as tightly. "We really have to stop meeting like this," he murmured.

Clay agreed. He'd have much preferred his reunion with his mate to be at a time when Perry wasn't hurt. "What happened? Did they attack you?"

He couldn't keep a growl from his voice, and that seemed to give Perry the incentive to break their embrace. "Ah, no, nothing like that. I was just startled. Turns out... Well, how should I put this? Congratulations. You're going to be a father."

Clay's mind went blank. Out of everything Perry could have said, he hadn't expected that. In hindsight, it had been stupid of him not to consider the possibility. By now, the fact that male werewolves could get mates of the same sex pregnant was common knowledge, courtesy of all that mess with the Lone Wolf Pack. But he and Perry had had so little time together and so many other things to worry about that it had completely slipped his mind.

"Clay?" Perry prodded him, voice small and uncertain. "Say something."

Clay would have loved to do exactly that, but the words simply refused to come. His mind was stuck on a single concept, one image and one idea flashing over and over in his consciousness. A pup. A family. Everything he'd ever wanted, right here, right now, in this beautiful man who'd burned Clay's past to a crisp and built his future out of the ashes.

Crushed by emotion, Clay could only open his heart to Perry and show everything he felt to his mate. At the same time, he pressed his hand to Perry's stomach and his mouth against Perry's own.

Given that he was still naked, it would have been very easy for things to progress to some reunion sex, but unfortunately it wasn't meant to be. A knock announced the arrival of a very unwanted visitor. Clay had the time to cover himself with Perry's sheets before his mate called out, "Yes?"

The woman who'd helped them stepped into the room, watching them with a fond smile. "I see your mate's given you the news," she said. "Congratulations."

"Thank you," Clay somehow managed to reply. "I... I don't even know what to say."

"You don't have to say anything. There's been enough loss because of differences between our species. I lost my daughter to prejudice. I won't allow others to suffer like she and my grandson did."

That was when Clay realized the identity of his benefactor, of the woman he'd basically ignored earlier—Queen Maeven, the ancient leader of the Sidhe. Moon be blessed, would this day get any easier? He'd thought V was overwhelming, but the power this woman exuded was unlike anything he'd seen before. It made his wolf too restless for his comfort.

For all her words, Clay realized that there was only so much she could do for them. The Sidhe seemed to have welcomed Perry here well enough, but Clay could not stay. Prejudice like she'd mentioned didn't vanish overnight. His hold on Perry's waist tightened as it occurred to him that he might have to leave his mate again.