Warning: The author has noted that this contains the highest level of language.
Background
Their outlooks forever changed, Fated Mates, Celeste (a woodland fairy) and Gregor (a werewolf), are working to bring their friends into the chaos they both now know cannot be avoided...
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The insect chorus was the only sound on the breeze as Andre stared at the side of Gregor’s upturned face. Surely Gregor had not just said…
“Celeste is my mate.” Gregor smiled on a soft exhale, deciding he liked the feel of her name on his tongue.
Again, the sounds of the approaching twilight enveloped them, but Andre found anything but relaxation in Gregor’s declaration. Add that to the glowy-ness of his eyes just now and, well, ‘uneasy’ seemed to fit the bill just fine.
“Ooookaaay...” Andre tried to find the right words to begin this conversation on some sort of steady footing. “Uhmmm…”
Gregor chuffed and shook his head as he continued to look out and away from them.
“Am I to understand that’s all it takes to make the all-powerful Andre speechless?” He angled his head toward his usually talkative friend. “Just declare th–”
“Fuck you, G. Your ‘that’s all’ is a helluvalot more than some small pronouncement about where the next hunt’s gonna be. Or, hell, even who it’s gonna be…,” Andre paused thinking how anything to disrupt the planned nuptials would affect the already tenuous relationship between Gregor and his father and clan Alpha, Sebatian, “cuz if Bass heard you say shit like that, a hunt would be the lea–”
It was easy to forget that Gregor was not just his best friend but also an Alpha in all things but title. But the speed with which Gregor shifted into his massive wolf form and pinned Andre before he had the chance to truly react was a deadly reminder. At least Andre had the wherewithal to suppress his shift, look to the side, and bear his neck to the exercised beast.
“Paix, mon frère.” [Peace, brother] Andre’s words were more guttural than spoken. In the silence that had fallen across the clearing, however, they seemed much louder between the two of them. Andre knew they would – they were spoken for a wolf’s ears only.
Gregor’s wolf maintained the aggressive stance and breathed through a snarl, its teeth looming threateningly in Andre’s face. That unearthly glow radiated outward from its eyes and cast an almost ethereal aura on the groundcover to which Andre was currently pinned. Andre slowly chanced a glance upwards and watched as the midnight fur rippled over obviously-tensed muscles, and he felt the hot, canine breath pour over his own face.
Still not making eye contact with the wolf and maintaining his relaxed submission, Andre whispered, “I get it, G. I do.”
After a few more tense seconds, a combination of a whine and a frustrated growl rolled out of that massive snout. The wolf relaxed his stance, passing a large tongue along Andre’s cheek. Then, almost as quickly as he had shifted to wolf form, Gregor transformed and once again sat beside his friend, a solemn statue staring off into the night.
Andre sat up beside him, shaking some additional grass and leaves from his hair. He couldn’t help but chuckle in that sardonic manner of his.
“Soooo, that establishes the truth of the mate issue.” He resumed his vigil beside Gregor, who chuffed emphatically in response.
As the night sounds resumed their melodies across the clearing, both Gregor and Andre began speaking at the same time.
“So, what the hel–”
“But that doesn–”
They laughed together, the warmth of their friendship once again finding them amidst the emotional turmoil.
“You first, your highness.” True Andre was back in presence and in sense of humor, it seemed.
And that made Gregor relax, too, even finding a hint of a smile. The fact that it was a somewhat crooked smile mattered not. At least not right now… and Andre took it for what it was: a reassuring sign that ‘they’ were good.
“What the hell am I gonna do, Dray?” Before Andre could answer, however, Gregor continued, his voice dropping an octave or two. “There’s no walking away from her, so that’s not what I’m talking about. That option’s not even on the table.”
Andre nodded, noting the depth and the threat in Gregor’s tone. The Alpha-heir was still on full display.
“I’m really talking more about the Gestaults and, by extension, my fucking father.” Gregor yanked a handful of grass and roots and soil from the ground and pitched them forcefully outward.
“Tell you what,” Andre occupied himself by picking the dirt and grass from between his own toes. He figured it was best to appear as nonchalant as possible about the topic he was about to broach. “Let’s let that one sit on the back burner for now” – he raised a few clovers with a clod of dirt attached to them – “and let’s see if you can explain to me” – he huffed and tossed the entire clump outward. In doing so, he realized he finally had Gregor’s attention back on him and his inane actions. Dropping his arms to his side, he turned to meet and hold Gregor’s fixed gaze. “Why the hell are your eyes glowing with your amber tonight?”
Gregor’s intense glare transitioned immediately to a deeply-furrowed brow of confusion, his eyes roaming over Andre’s face with an air of question in them. Andre smiled inwardly as he watched Gregor’s shoulders relax further, heard the tone of his voice lighten slightly with his re-direction of the topic.
“What are you talking about ‘glowing’?”
“Right here.” Andre reached up to his own face – no way would he even attempt to reach toward Gregor’s face with him on edge like this – and indicated the area underneath and somewhat to the side of each eye. “It’s like there’s this light that glows around here.”
Gregor’s eyes slowly fell away and found an interesting spot on the ground between them, although it was obvious he wasn’t truly focused there. He huffed a bit as another grin found his face.
“Celeste.” He said her name softly, almost reverently, trailing off into silence. The smile, however, remained.
But Andre’s curiosity was peaked.
“What do you mean 'Celeste'?” He waved his hand between Gregor’s face and the ground. “What is it? Is she some sort of snake or something with some evil sorceress ey–”
It took Gregor a few seconds to recover his sanity with the unbelievable vision Andre was suddenly describing.
“Snake?” Gregor’s expression was incredulous, but at least his focus was back on Andre now. “Snake?! That’s just wrong on so many levels, Dray. Why the hell would you even thin–”
Andre brought his hands up to his eyes as if to make them into pretend binoculars, a mischievous grin on his face.
“Because of the glo-o-o-wy eyes, man!”
He released his teasing ‘binoculars’ to fend off Gregor’s smack which resounded across the clearing.
“Snakes’ eyes don’t glow, jackass – you just think they do cuz you hate ‘em.” Gregor absorbed the friendly punch he received in return from Andre. “And she’s not a damn snake, okay?” Gregor’s voice was all friendly candor now, but there was still a bit of contemplation mixed in as he reached up and touched underneath his eyes. “Did they really glow?”
Andre’s voice sobered quite a bit as they both turned to stare forward again in relaxed camaraderie.
“Yeah, G, they did.” He looked down and then turned his face slightly toward Gregor. “So, who is she?”
But Gregor didn’t turn to meet his friend’s questioning visage. In fact, for a few long seconds, it was simply their breathing mixed with the sounds of the night as Gregor searched for the best way to present a scenario that he himself was not quite yet able to wrap his head around.
“Well, she’s not a shifter.”
Andre stopped breathing for a moment, his brows pulling tightly together as he pursed his lips.
“A human?” Okay, it would not be ideal but it wouldn’t be untenable. Before his thoughts could travel further down that road, though, he watched some of the tension return to Gregor’s jaw line.
Gregor cast a raised eyebrow in his direction. “I think I might actually be pissed at the Fates if that were the case.” He grunted as he grabbed another handful of dirt and grass and tossed it. “She lives, uhm, on the park near my place.”
Andre truly frowned this time, his eyes falling away as he searched his memory of the huge park on the square in town. There really weren’t very many apartments there – it was more populated by restaurants and such except…
“In that ritzy warehouse they just remodeled into flats?” Andre whistled long and low. “Then she’s…what? A troll? Guess that would account for the expens–”
Not even reacting to the appalling ‘troll’ implication, Gregor shook his head – it was clear he was lost in thoughts of her again. “More like in the park, I guess.”
“She’s homeless?”
Gregor growled playfully, pulling another clump of grass and tossing it at Andre. “She’s not human, Dray. We’ve already established that.”
Andre frowned more deeply, realizing that Gregor was just enjoying the hell out of this guessing game. But the only things that lived in a park were animals and…
“Oh," Andre felt his own eyes begin to widen, "Oh, hell no, G. Your mate i–”
Gregor’s head whipped in Andre’s direction, that depth of tone momentarily weighting his words again.
“Celeste.” His eyes threatened amber again, but it faded with the smile that appeared as he couldn't help but grin at Andre’s look of disbelief. “Her name’s Cele–”
In true Andre fashion, he brought both hands up, lacing his fingers into his hair and holding it tightly as if his head were about to explode.
“Your Celeste is a f–”
“Dancer.” Gregor interjected good-naturedly just to prolong Andre’s drama a bit more.
“Dancer?” Andre’s voice rose along with his eyebrows. “A dancer? Yes, of course she’s a dancer.” He continued to stare incredulously at Gregor, hands holding onto that thick platinum blonde hair of his, eyes wide as saucers. “A magical, lighter-than-air, freaking flying dancer, G… am I right?”
Gregor grinned like the wolf that just ate the farmer’s prize sheep. Goddess, but that smile felt good on his face. Suddenly, Celeste’s shy grin flashed across his vision and her taste flooded his mouth. Just the memory of her made his blood rush southward, not a condition he wished to be sporting right now. Blinking her image away, his eyes immediately focused on Andre’s drama as his friend's words over-rode his thoughts.
And Gregor laughed. It wasn’t forced and it wasn’t feigned – he laughed loudly and heartily.
“Oh, you’re right, Dray.” He cuffed his best friend and trusted Lieutenant across the shoulder. He breathed again, willing his erection away. “You are so freaking right.”
He paused, if only to enjoy the sight of a speechless Andre for the second time this evening, but then the Alpha-heir returned.
“So, I ask again, brother: what the hell are we gonna do?”
To be continued…
‘Obsessive Tendencies’ is an adult fantasy novel about a reality in which the fantasy realm has somehow been merged with our human one. Celeste is a woodland fairy and Gregor is a werewolf alpha-heir. This is the eighth chapter in their story.
CAST OF CHARACTERS:
Celeste (woodland fairy) – her herd lives in a magical encampment in Gregor’s were-clan domain. They are not associated with werewolves at all.
Joaquim (woodland fairy) – twin brother to Justine, lifelong friend of Celeste.
Justine (woodland fairy) – twin sister to Joaquim, lifelong friend of Celeste.
Gregor (werewolf) – Alpha-heir to the Charbonneau Werewolf Clan, the largest clan in the Southeast United States.
Andre (werewolf) – best friend and trusted lieutenant to Gregor.
Talietha (werewolf) – Female Alpha-daughter of the Midwest's Gestault were-clan and betrothed to Gregor by arrangement.
Shalindra (werewolf) – best friend of Talietha
Rhoden (werewolf) – aged male house manager for the Gestault household
Author Notes
Time for some serious planning for Gregor and Andre... I'm really enjoying their friendship! ;) Thanx, as always, for keeping up with the blonde's fantasy play... ;)
Image of 'Fairy, wolf and moon' from Pinterest [www.pinterest.com]
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