Heart of the Warrior (22 page)

Finally, Sev took a healthy drink, smiling tightly at Ari.
Confession time.

"Okay. So, yes, I’m half dreck," he said out of
the blue, getting the coming-clean conversation going. "My mom is dreck,
my dad is vampire."

"And it scares you that the truth could come out,
doesn't it?" Ari settled back against a throw pillow as they covered
territory already mentioned earlier. It got them back into the flow of the
conversation.

"Yes. I don't tell anyone. It's why I didn't tell
you."

Ari leaned forward and ran his hand over Sev's shin
reassuringly. "I know. And I understand now."

He looked into his wine. "I'm afraid of how I'll be
treated." He and Ari really did have more in common than he thought. They
really were made for each other, weren't they? So similar, and yet not.

"Do you think Tristan would really ask you to resign
from your job?"

Sev looked back up and shrugged. "I don't know, but I
worry about it, yeah. It's a concern. I mean, I don't show any favoritism to
drecks just because I'm half one myself. But someone could easily infer it's a
conflict of interest that my job is to maintain the peace."

Ari arched an eyebrow and tilted his head. "I can see
that, but how about this: Our job is to maintain the truce. Who better to do
that than one who represents both sides?"

"Hell, I never even considered that angle." Sev
arched an eyebrow and grinned. "You sure you weren't meant for politics,
babe?"

Ari grinned and sat back once more. "Being around my
father for so long, I can't help but think like that, but yeah, I'm sure I'm
not cut out for politics."

"You're good at seeing the diplomatic side. You know
that, right?"

"Well, you don't grow up around the life of a
politician without picking up a few things."

Sev chuckled. "True."

"So, tell me about your mom. What's she like?"

"She's sweet. Not at all like what we come up against
every night. And I can't remember the last time she shifted into her dreck
form."

Ari grinned at him and sipped his wine.

Sev continued. "She's an artist. She owns an art
gallery here in Chicago."

"Really? I'd like to see it sometime."

And Sev wanted Ari to see it. He wanted his mom to meet Ari,
too. He would be the first person to meet his mom and know who she really was
to him.

"You know, I've never been able to tell anyone she's my
mother." Sev looked down again briefly then met Ari's eyes once more.
"I've always had to keep her a secret because of who she is. It'll be
really nice to introduce her to someone as, 'this is my mom.'"

Ari's warm smile touched his soul. The universe had chosen a
pure heart for his mate. Ari was good for him, and in that moment he knew he
would never feel thankful enough to express in words his gratitude over Fate's
selection for him.

"What about your father? Are he and your mother still
together?"

Severin bristled and shook his head curtly. "No. I hate
my father for what he did."

"What do you mean?"

Ari sat back and listened as Sev told him about how his
father had raped his mother then bailed, leaving his mom to hide her pregnancy
from everyone so she could keep him safe.

Sev paused then gave Ari a grave look. "Remember when
we went to Jackson’s apartment looking for Micah last month? Remember how edgy
I was?"

Ari nodded. "Yes, I remember. We talked later and you
told me it was because you had lost someone once."

Sev glanced at the glass of wine cradled in his hands.
"Yes, that was part of it, but part of my anger over that situation also
had to do with what my father did to my mom. She was innocent, and he used her
and split, leaving her pregnant with me. What Jackson did to Micah, just
walking away and dumping him the way he did, pissed me off. Reminded me of my
dad. But, like I said, that’s only part of it."

"What’s the other part?" Ari sipped his wine and
squeezed one of Sev’s legs between both of his as if sending him encouragement.

Sev smiled at the gentle gesture. "The part about how I
had lost someone once? Well, I had a boyfriend just over a year ago. We had
dated for several months."

Ari stiffened, an automatic reaction of the newly-mated link
between them.

"Don’t worry, babe, we weren’t mates. But I did love
him. I won’t lie about that."

Ari cleared his throat and fidgeted. "Was he a
vampire?"

"Yes."

"What happened to him?"

"Gabe was killed in a raid. He was an enforcer in
Atlanta while I worked as an agent with VDA."

"You were with Vampire Dreck Affairs?" Ari sounded
impressed.

Sev nodded. "Yep, but my commander, Jonas, disavowed me
after an AKM raid at a cobalt factory went way wrong. See, I was deep cover and
Jonas and Gabe had been lovers before I came along. Gabe had split up with him
when he realized Jonas was forming a bond. Gabe didn't feel that way toward
him. It wasn't a strong bond, but Gabe didn't want to risk it. Anyway, Jonas
sent me into that factory when no agents were supposed to be there. He knew
enforcers were going to raid it. He knew Gabe was going to be involved in that
raid."

Ari watched him quietly, his fingers playing over his glass.

"At any rate, my thinking is that Jonas wanted to get
rid of me. He blamed me for taking Gabe away from him even though I didn't come
along until months after they broke up. But his plan backfired. Two kingpins
decided to pay the factory a visit for product that night. They were passing
through or some shit and took a chance. I don't know. I wasn't involved in that
side of it and shit went down before I could find out. Anyway, these guys
brought their personal cavalcade of bodyguards with them. If you think what we
pull off the streets of Chicago is bad, these guys were like Hell's Angels
compared to guys on Schwinn ten-speeds. Top notch firepower. Body armor. The
whole nine."

Sev paused to take a deep breath. The memory was still hard
to talk about.

"What happened, Sev?" Ari leaned forward and
placed his hand over his.

Their eyes met, and Sev bit back his emotion. "Gabe and
the other enforcers busted in. They were terribly outnumbered. I hadn't known
about the raid, either. Gabe and I never discussed certain aspects of our work
with each other. He didn't even know I was a VDA agent. My cover was so deep, I
hadn't been allowed to tell him. I mean, listening to him talk about my boss
when I had to pretend I didn't know him was brutal. So anyway, the enforcers
busted in, the second coming of God let loose, and Gabe was shot. I couldn't
get to him in time to save him, and then I had to split with the others so I
didn't blow my cover…." Sev's face screwed up as he struggled not to break
down. "If I could go back, I'd do it all differently. I would blow my
cover in an instant if it meant I could save him."

God love Ari. He sat quietly by to let Sev work through the
pain before going on.

After he composed himself again, he continued. "I
returned to the factory as quickly as I could, and when I got there, Gabe's
sister – she was an enforcer, too, named Gina – was cradling Gabe's head on her
lap. It was obvious he had just died. I went inside and she turned on me. I
don't know what happened or what was said between them, but it wasn't hard to
figure out. Gabe thought I had betrayed him, and his sister had dug into his
mind to get his memories of what had happened.

"She took one look at me and I could tell she thought I
had murdered her brother. She shot at me – and I'll tell you about that in a
minute –" Sev didn't want to go into his iron skin just yet. He wanted to
get this part out first. "But finally I got her to call in to confirm I
was VDA, but Jonas denied I was an agent." Sev looked away and shook his
head. "Can you believe that shit? He actually lied and told them I had
never been an agent." He huffed sarcastically. "Jonas relayed back
the message that he had no knowledge of me working for VDA. That's when I knew
I'd been thrown under the bus." He paused and huffed again. "Not only
had Gabe died thinking I had betrayed him and lied to him the whole time we
were together, but then my job was stripped out from under me, too."

"Shit." Ari's expression was a mix of disbelief
and compassion.

"Jonas killed himself a few days after Gabe's
funeral." Sev paused then said, "And I think Gina is hunting down
everyone involved in Gabe's death. I've been keeping tabs. One-by-one, they're
all mysteriously dying."

"Do you think she'll come for you?"

"Probably."

"So, how the hell did you escape without her killing
you in that factory? Sounds like that would have been the perfect opportunity
if she wanted to kill you."

"Are you ready to be freaked out, Ari?"

Ari gave him a look. "I think your dreck blood freaked
me out enough for one evening, wouldn't you agree?"

"Oh, you have no idea."

"Shit. Seriously?" Ari groaned. "Okay, well,
if you're going to blow my mind, you might as well blow it all the way off. Let's
have it."

"Do you still have your knife on you?" He had seen
it earlier when they had been eagerly undressing each other.

"Sure, why?"

"Take it out."

It was time to come 100% clean with his mate. Once he shared
this with him, Ari would know more about him than anyone other than his mother.
He would know more than Gabe had, and there would be no more secrets between
them.

Ari sat up and reached behind him, lifted his shirt, and
pulled a short, flat knife from the waist of his pants. He extended it to Sev,
who took it and made a small cut on his arm and handed it back. "See
that?" He held up his arm to show Ari the blood.

Ari looked confused, but nodded. "Sure, I see it.
So?"

He licked his arm so his venom could heal the cut.
"Okay, now try to stab me."

"Fuck you! I’m not going to stab you!"

"Just do it."

"No!"

"Trust me, Ari. Stab me."

Ari shook his head and looked at Sev as if he were insane.

"For Pete’s sake!" Sev grabbed the knife and
plunged it toward his belly.

Ari yelled and jumped up. "Fuck, Sev! Are you okay?
Shit! Hold on. I’ll get a towel. Do you have a First Aid kit?" Then he
stopped and looked again as Sev held the knife toward him.

The tip of the blade was bent as if it had impacted an iron
wall. The point had even snapped off.

"What the…? How did you…?" Ari looked up at him
then down at his stomach before bending and inspecting where the blade had
sliced through Sev’s shirt. There was no blood.

"It seems my mom gave me the gift of iron skin."
Sev lifted his shirt so Ari could inspect him more closely.

"No shit." Ari ran his hand over the uninjured
ridges of his abdomen and sat down next to him. "But you cut yourself.
Your arm. I saw you."

"I can turn it on and off at will, babe." He
placed his hand over Ari’s on his stomach.

"Wow. So that’s how you’ve been able to fight in so
many wars without being killed."

"Like I said before. I was made to fight. I was born
with the heart of a warrior then discovered I had the body to match."

Ari turned his hand over under Sev’s and wove their fingers
together. "I’m almost envious."

"Why?" Sev squeezed Ari’s hand.

"Because your life was all figured out right from the
start."

"So was yours, babe. You just let other people fuck
around with it so much that you forgot what you wanted." He reached up
with his free hand and caressed Ari’s cheek.

"Well, I’m starting to remember what that is." Ari
dipped his face into Sev’s palm, closing his eyes with adoration.

The simple gesture dissolved something deep inside Sev’s
soul, liquefying every ounce of hardness he possessed, affecting him in an
almost mystical way. In that moment, he realized he literally held his life in
the palm of his hand. Ari was his life, his very reason for existing. He gently
stroked his thumb over Ari’s eyelid, feeling his long lashes brush over his
skin. The tip of his thumb outlined Ari's thick, dark eyebrow.

"I love you, Arion."

Ari turned his face into Sev’s palm and kissed it. He held
his mouth against the concave dip in the center for several seconds then pulled
away. "I love you, too. I’m sorry about how I reacted earlier."

"It’s okay, babe. I should have told you sooner. I was
a big chicken." He made clucking noises and Ari chuckled.

Their eyes met and Ari slid up next to Sev. "It doesn’t
change how I feel about you. I think you know that. I feel better about it,
knowing the truth."

Sev’s lips met his for a tender kiss. "Is there
anything else you want to know about me, babe? Anything I haven’t covered that
your inquiring mind needs to know?"

Ari shook his head and their noses rubbed together. "No,
but you owe me a new knife."

Sev chuffed and pulled Ari a little closer as the other
male's fingers worked at the fastenings on Sev’s jeans.

Mmmm, yes.
The
calling
was making itself known
again, and Sev needed to feel his mate once more.

"Shit, babe, I owe myself a new shirt. How good are you
at sewing?" His tone was teasing as he sank back and let Ari undo his fly.

Ari smiled against his mouth, causing Sev to kiss his teeth
instead of his lips. "I suck at sewing." Sev’s belt jingled as Ari
pushed it aside and lowered his zipper so he could wrap his hand around the
hardening length inside.

"Mmm." Sev shifted and blinked heavily then rolled
his head back. "But you’re good at other stuff."

Stroke-stroke-stroke.

"Such as?"

Sev moaned, his body tensing. "Turning me on. You’re
excellent at turning me on."

Ari’s lips trailed over his jaw and down his neck then back
up. "That's just the newly-mated male in you. You know how we males get
after claiming a mate."