Star-Crossed Mates (4 page)

Scarlet Hyacinth

Ross? He should be happy Klaus risked his position at the Den to steal the valuable serum for them.

“Okay,” he said simply. “Inject it.”

Klaus found a vein on Ross’s arm, while Clay held the young man as still as possible. It wasn’t easy, and Clay earned a good measure of painful bites and scratches for his efforts. Even so, a few seconds after the serum entered Ross’s system, it began to take effect. Even if at first the convulsions increased, it lasted only a couple of seconds and then Ross’s breath and pulse began to become steadier. In a couple of minutes, Ross had regained a healthier color and look. The only sign of the seizure was the blood still lingering on his red, swollen lips.

Clay breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank you. I don’t know what I’d have done without your help.”

Klaus gave him an unreadable look and glanced toward the gashes on Clay’s hands and chest. “Let me help you with those.”

Clay allowed his mate to sanitize the wounds. They’d heal easily enough. It wasn’t the first time Ross injured him like this. He didn’t know if Ross remembered it, but Clay didn’t particularly mind them.

He might not have Trent and Ash’s strength, but he could at least take some damage.

“Why didn’t you call me sooner?” Klaus asked while he worked.

Clay’s anger began to return, but he forced it down. “With the way we parted, I didn’t think it would be the best idea.”

Klaus finished working on his wounds and then cupped Clay’s cheek. Their eyes met, and surprise coursed through Clay at the emotion he could read in his mate’s gaze. “I’m sorry,” Klaus whispered. “I assure you there’s a perfectly good reason for everything I did. I just chose the wrong way to go about it.”

Clay wanted to cling to the olive branch Klaus offered, but his mate had apologized before and gone back on his words just days after. The emotional tension of the past few weeks burst out of him as he pushed away from Klaus. “I’ll say. Well,
sorry
doesn’t cut it, Klaus, not this time. For ten years, I waited for you. I waited while
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you tended to another, while you fucked him behind my back.” It might not have been true, but Klaus winced anyway, and it only fueled Clay’s anger. “And then, he has his mates. Excellent. You apologize and promise things will be different. But did you hold to that? No! You tell me it’s too dangerous to be by your side, and you weren’t willing to fight for us. Do you have any idea how I felt?”

Used. Cheated. Thrown away like a useless rag. A willing hole for Klaus to fuck because the Magistrate wouldn’t spread his legs. So many things passed through Clay’s mind. He felt at the brink of insanity, and the only think that kept him from going feral now was Ross. If he lost it, too, who would care for Ross?

Clay stole a look toward his young mate and realized his shouts must have roused Ross from his exhausted slumber. Ross gave them both a shocked look. Since Clay had bitten him, their bond was strong, and Ross could probably experience every volatile emotion Clay did.

“What the fuck?” Ross said.

Those words were the single warning they got before Ross pounced on Klaus. Punches flew as Ross attacked Klaus with relentless ferocity. “You fucking bastard,” he growled. “How could you do something like that? How could you betray him?”

Thankfully, Klaus just blocked the hits without fighting back.

Ross was in no condition for a real battle, and with Klaus’s skill and experience, Ross wouldn’t have a chance anyway. Klaus allowed Ross to vent, until at last, in one single motion, he pushed Ross down and immobilized him against the floor.

“Hush,” he said. “The humans will hear you. We’ll get caught.”

The argument seemed to convince Ross, who stopped trying to scratch at Klaus. They broke away, with Ross still glaring daggers at Klaus.

Clay knelt next to his young mate. “It’s okay, Ross. It doesn’t matter. Everyone has a choice, and I’ve accepted Klaus’s.”

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For a few moments, Ross didn’t reply. Then, he threw his arms around Clay’s neck and murmured, “I’m so sorry, Clay. I shouldn’t have said what I did back at the compound. I promise I won’t betray you, not again.”

For the first time, Clay felt emotion burst through their connection. In all their time together, he’d never been able to figure out Ross’s feelings for him. It always seemed like a thick veil lay between them, polluting their bond, keeping them from being together. The words Ross uttered the day he’d set fire on the Hart base always weighed heavily on Clay’s mind.
“Surely you realize it
was all a lie,”
Ross said back then.
”You wanted a mate of your own
so badly you fell for it.”
No, sorry didn’t cut it, but Ross’s anger for the hurt Klaus caused did. And now, Clay understood.

He’d have refused Ross’s offer had he thought it came from pity, but his mate’s emotions were too complex to define. It was a cocktail full of paradoxes, love, hate, self-loathing, disdain, fear, desire, longing, and so much more. Clay yearned to find the source of each and every one of those emotions, but for the moment, he contented himself with this simple embrace. It meant more to him than any of Klaus’s false promises, kisses, or lies.

* * * *

Klaus stood in the center of the small room, watching his two mates embrace. They seemed to fit together, Ross’s red hair almost entwining with Clay’s black one. Klaus had known from the very moment he’d stepped in the small Irish town the human was also his mate. It just complicated things further and made renewed fear course through him.

His men told him Ross held some mysterious mind-control abilities. Had they seeped into Klaus’s dreams, or had Klaus accidentally affected him? A flash of a dark void swept through his
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mind’s eye. This time, he could see both Ross and Clay staring at him with dead, accusing eyes.

He choked, trying to reach out to them, but they didn’t hear. They embraced each other, and under Klaus’s very eyes began to disintegrate, their flesh tearing apart, their bones turning to dust, until nothing remained but ash.

An odd force pulled him out of his daymare, and Klaus found himself staring into Clay’s concerned eyes. “Klaus, are you okay?”

the young spirit wolf asked.

Klaus blinked away the slight dizziness and noticed a curious Ross peek over Clay’s shoulder at him. “I think we should talk,” he said, “but seriously this time. All cards on the table.”

Clay looked doubtful, but Klaus detected a flash of hope in his eyes before it was carefully hidden. “I’m an open book,” he said.

Klaus looked at Ross, who nodded. “It sounds fair to me.”

His mates’ agreement made Klaus feel a bit better. He got up and considered his words. “I’ll go first. You two hate me, and you have every reason to do so, especially Clay.”

“I don’t hate you,” Clay said in a barely audible whisper.

No, he didn’t. Clay was incapable of hate. His gentle soul held so much affection Klaus didn’t consider himself deserving of it. At the same time, Klaus knew whatever love Clay felt for him was quickly dying, killed by his own brutality.

“I won’t bore you with long tales,” he began.”The gist of it is this.

I’ve always had dreams, dreams that often foretold the future. Most of the time, they’re useless, too erratic to make sense of. With some, I can’t even tell if they’re true visions or simply the manifestation of my own fears. But there has been one vision in my life that came to me as clear as day.”

As he spoke, Klaus remembered it, the image that haunted him for so long. He’d first seen it the day before his official introduction to the pack. Back then, he hadn’t even known Wolfram. But the moment he’d seen the Magistrate, he’d known the horrifying images would
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one day come to pass. It was his role to stand as Wolfram’s shield and prevent their nation from crumbling down.

“I admit Wolfram is very dear to me. And yes, we used to have a sexual relationship before I ever met Clay. He is an attractive man, after all, and we are extremely close.” He paused, unsure how to explain the rest. He trusted his mates implicitly, but there were some secrets that didn’t belong to him. For all spirit wolves, Wolfram didn’t have any weaknesses. Only Klaus knew of his night terrors. Only Klaus had been there when Wolfram screamed the names of his fallen people. To speak of it would be a betrayal.

Klaus sighed and rubbed his eyes. Yet again, he was in front of a choice. Every time, he’d dedicated himself to duty, swearing that one day, when it would be safe, he’d make it up to Clay. But the years passed in an eternal wait, and before he knew it, Klaus had been completely engulfed by his fears. His connection to Clay grew more and more tenuous. Could Ross heal that?

Taking a deep breath, he began to speak again. “Some things are very difficult for Wolfram to shoulder alone. He is a very strong man, but the weight of a nation is hard to carry. I wanted to be by his side, to help him. But then you showed up, Clay, and my world changed. I was so torn. I didn’t know what to do. I’d have chosen you, but around that time, my visions got worse. I began to see you in them as well, and I feared for your life.”

Klaus paused, allowing his mates to take in the information. “And this happened ten years ago?” Ross asked.

Klaus nodded silently. Ross looked away from them, rubbing his arms as if he felt cold. “Ten years ago, Joseph found me,” he murmured.

So Klaus had been right. Their abilities were somehow connected.

The practicalities of it lost their importance though, when faced with the obvious pain gracing Ross’s delicate features. What tortures had Joseph subjected Ross to?

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Something inside Klaus urged him to comfort Ross, but he didn’t think any such initiative would be welcome. Ross plopped back on the bed and stared up at the ceiling. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I interrupted you. Go on.”

It was a clear diversionary tactic, but Klaus let it go. He opened his mouth to finish his explanation, but he didn’t get the chance. The feel of his approaching enemies invaded his senses. Instantly, both his mates became alarmed as well.

“What’s going on?” Ross asked.

“The hunters,” Clay replied. “We need to get out of here.”

Klaus was already mapping a way out for them. They grabbed the meager belongings of the fugitives and the precious serum that might have saved Ross’s life. Together, they left the small room and headed out to the fire escape.

Behind them, he sensed their pursuers trying to scan the area, but thankfully, he held the advantage of superior spiritual abilities. He should have no trouble in wiping their traces.

Indeed, they managed to lose the hunters with relative ease, but the close call put things into perspective. “I have to go back,” he told his mates. “There’s a manhunt on for you two, and I’m more useful there.”

“We should establish a time and place where we can meet again,”

Ross suggested.

The offer surprised Klaus, but he recovered quickly. He didn’t fool himself. There were high possibilities he might get caught. For that reason, they couldn’t risk setting a clear date. “Call me in three days. We should find a more definite solution by then.”

On impulse, he hugged them both. “Take care, all right?”

“You, too,” Clay answered. “We still have a conversation to finish.”

“Perhaps you shouldn’t return to them,” Ross mumbled. “I just have a bad feeling, and I can’t shake it.”

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Klaus forced himself to break the embrace. “There’s no other way. Now run. “

As his two mates disappeared into the night, Klaus considered his next move. It wouldn’t be easy, but no matter what, he needed to help his mates.

The trip back to the Magistrate’s Den lasted far too long for his comfort, but not because Klaus particularly wanted to go there. In fact, for the first time ever, Klaus no longer felt like returning to the Den. For so long, it had been his home, but now he dreaded the very sight of it.

Still, no one commented upon his arrival. No one even blinked at him having been gone or asked any uncomfortable questions. All of them were used to him taking up various missions or private requests for the Magistrate. Either way, no one considered him capable of ever straying from the so-called righteous path, from being the Magistrate’s ever-faithful watchdog.

But then again, he didn’t fear the lower tiers. No, they couldn’t do anything. Wolfram, however, was a whole different story. Wolfram saw behind every lie, and his powers had only grown since his mating with Dietrich and Fritz.

He headed straight to his room, intending to take a shower, change, and then report to Wolfram. His official explanation would be that he’d gone to blow off some steam. He hoped it would be plausible enough because Klaus didn’t have any other ideas. As for the unofficial one… Well, he intended to come clean, of course. It was Wolfram’s help he wanted.

He’d have gone with his mates had he not been more convinced than ever that soon, Joseph would show up. As such, they needed to work together if they were going to defeat the feral. He only hoped Wolfram would hear his plea.

To his surprise, when he reached his quarters, he found Wolfram sitting on his couch. The Magistrate held a frame in his hand, one Klaus knew housed a photo of himself and Wolfram, at the turn of the
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millennium. Klaus had been among the ones foretelling something horrible would happen when the one changed to two, most of all because of his intensifying nightmares. They’d taken the photo to remind them of the hope the future could bring. Shortly after, he’d met his mate and that hope had begun to diminish.

“I let myself in when I heard you arrived,” Wolfram said. “I trust you don’t mind.”

Klaus joined Wolfram on the couch. “Not at all, My Lord,” he replied. “Is something amiss?”

Wolfram put the frame back on the coffee table and turned toward him. “You tell me, Klaus.”