Monroe had listened to Nick's tale with wide eyes and growing agitation, until the wolf in him rose with a snarl and exploded in righteous anger. Deep claw marks in the wall spoke of his outburst. Eyes glowed a bright red and the continued growling told the rest of the story.

"How dare he?" the blutbad raged.

Nick, still looking like someone's punching bag, watched him with mild curiousity. There was no fear, just acceptance that his partner was mid-shift to his more feral side and ready to tear anything or anyone apart who might threaten the other man.

"He's not your mate!" Monroe yelled.

"No," the Grimm answered, voice level. "He isn't. You are. I don't intend to fuck him either."

Monroe stopped at the crude words. "What?"

"I'm yours, Monroe. All of me. I don't give a flying shit about what he wants me to be. I am yours alone."

The blutbad had him flush against the wall, towering over him, clawed hands digging into the wall. "Mine," he snarled, fangs showing prominently.

"Yours. Only yours," Nick replied, curling his good arm around the solid form of his partner. He ignored the twinges, the dulled pain of too many bruises to count.

This was important.

Monroe kissed him, hungry and deep and desperate. Nick responded in kind, holding the other close, relishing in the firmness of the body he held. He winced when a bruise made itself known again and Monroe let go, breathing hard. There was a flash of guilt.

"Not your fault," Nick murmured against his lips, brushing a kiss over them.

"You're mine," the other man said, voice calmer but still possessive. "He can't have you. Mine!"

"I know. He won't."

"But he claims you!"

"He claims my partnership as a Grimm."

Red flooded the normally so warm brown eyes again. "You're my Grimm!"

He caressed Monroe's cheek, thumb rubbing over the beard. "Yours. All of me."

The wolf wasn't easily appeased, though Monroe was truly fighting for it. Burying his head against Nick's neck, he sighed. Then lightly teethed the delicate skin.

Nick felt a shoot of arousal, though it didn't last long. He was too tired, too pumped full of meds that made his body sluggish, and he really wanted nothing more than to lay down and snuggle up to his partner.

Monroe seemed to sense it because he straightened, a sheepish look of apology in his eyes. "C'mon," he said softly.

They ended up in the bedroom, Nick curled close to the taller man, dozing off almost immediately.

Monroe just watched, the possessiveness rising again with a vengeance. There was a knot in his stomach, the tension of knowing someone else was laying a claim to what he never thought he would have to share with anyone.

A powerful creature that could wipe him off the face of this earth. A myth even in the creature community. Someone who protected a Grimm…

Monroe balled his hands into fists, noticing his still present claws. He felt very wolfish right now, close to releasing his iron control and just go out to hunt for the regnant, but he wouldn't; he couldn't. Nick was his to protect and right now he was vulnerable.

Nick was his. No one else's. Not even the regnant's. And he would fight for this. Always!

x x x x x xx x x x x xx x x x x xx x x x x xx x x x x xx x x x x xx x x x x xx x x x x xx x x x x xx x x x x xx x x x x xx x x x x xx x x x x xx x x x x xx x x x x xx x x x x x

Renard carefully watched his detective as Nick came back to work. He still looked bruised and he moved a little awkwardly sometimes, but he wasn't taking any more sick days. The captain smiled to himself and settled behind his desk, his other senses quite aware of the Grimm by now. It had been like that the moment Marie Kessler had arrived in his territory, dying and already transferring her powers to her nephew. Then, with her passing, the flare had been brief but intense, and finally he had been almost dormant to the regnant's eyes.

Not any more.

Nick was a bright beacon, a light in his soul, and it was a warmth he hadn't felt or missed before.

His counterpart. His companion.

The Grimm was quite unaware who Renard was, just like before. He didn't give the captain a second look, talked normally, treated him like his regular superior.

One day Renard knew the truth would come out. Nick would grow into their connection and he would come to recognize his counterpart.

It would be interesting to see the outcome.

Very interesting.

x x x x xx x x x xx x x x xx x x x xx x x x xx x x x xx x x x xx x x x xx x x x xx x x x xx x x x xx x x x xx x x x xx x x x xx x x x xx x x x xx x x x xx x x x xx x x x xx x x x x

It had taken Nick nearly a month to a) convince Monroe that he had to find the regnant and b) to really find the powerful creature. Okay, he had no illusions over whether or not he had really found him. The regnant had wanted to be found. He had let Nick come to him, had guided him here, and the Grimm had followed the trail left for him.

In that month the young cop had let his detection skills work overtime, had spent day after day in the trailer, turning it upside down and inside out, and he had finally found something on the regnant.

Not a book, a diary or a journal. Nothing on paper.

It had been a digital medium. Who would have thought?

And it had been more than a sketch and a few obscure remarks. It had been a fully detailed history of the regnants and the Grimms, of what their partnership employed, what a companion was, what being a counterpart meant.

Nick had listened to it alone at first, then had Monroe sit in. The blutbad had been drawn between anger, outrage, fear and wonder.

"He can't have you, Nick!"

Nick framed the tense face and kissed his mate. "He won't."

"But as a counterpart to the regnant he claims you!"

"You already did. And if I understand Aunt Marie correctly, the claim is as a political partner, not sexual."

Red flashed in the brown eyes. "Never!"

"I love you, Monroe. This doesn't change anything."

"She said your lives are interwoven," the blutbad muttered unhappily.

Yes, she had. Because over the centuries the regnants and Grimms had naturally drifted together. Their partnerships meant strength and standing for each party involved, and something between them responded to another.

Nick had never felt anything with anyone around him like what he had in the warehouse. It was like a part of him sliding into the right slot, the Grimm suddenly more settled and very much aware of the power the regnant yielded, though not his identity.

Not yet.

"Monroe, I'm yours. Always will be." Nick pushed him back, straddling his lap and claiming Monroe's mouth. "Always. Yours."

Monroe growled, pulling them together, devouring his mate's mouth. Hands slid under Nick's shirt, over warm skin, feeling the hard muscle underneath the deceptive softness, and he wanted to feel more.

Much more.

x x x x x

There had been quite a few wild encounters over the two weeks following Nick's discovery of the digital files. Every time it ended with a bite to the already prominent claim mark on his shoulder. Nick let the blutbad take what he needed for reassurance, claiming him in turn; it had Monroe almost lose all control.

"I love you, Monroe," he whispered breathlessly.

Maybe it had been the first time he said it like that, and from the expression in the wide brown eyes it really was, but Nick felt he had to say it. It had to be out in the open, no doubts between them, because things were changing.

For both of them.

He had listened to the files several more times, aware that the claim a regnant would stake on a Grimm wasn't proprietary like an ownership, nor was it sexual, like a mate. It was… an alliance, for lack of a better word. It was a work partnership. The regnant was so-called royalty, a figure of command and power. The Grimm was the executive arm, the peacekeeper.

Because the Grimms could see the creature world like the creatures could. Because they walked in both worlds. Because the regnant needed a catalyst and, from very early records, someone to rein him in if things got out of hand. And mostly to balance his immense power with the responsibilities of protecting his territory and his people.

Nick would be what he had always been: a cop. Never a bountyhunter, never a mercenary, never an assassin. He wouldn't follow the regnant's commands and kill.

It was a cooperation.

Right now it was futile to argue the finer nuances of the claim with Monroe, who was driven by instinct and emotions. He was afraid to lose Nick to something so much more powerful, a creature of myth, of royal lineage.

Nick didn't care where the regnant came from, how mythological powerful he was, the Grimm was his own person and he loved Monroe. He would have to see where this whole mess with the regnant led to.

And he would dig long and hard to find out who the man was in everyday life.

Because Nick Burckhardt had no intention to become a political playball.

x x x x x

Now, standing in the depth of the forest park, looking at the creature that was so rare and so powerful it was a myth even in the creature world, Nick tried not to think of Monroe, who had insisted to come along. He was somewhere deeper in the woods, keeping an eye on his mate without being right next to him.

Don't think about him, Nick told himself.

This was about him and the regnant. No one else.

"Who are you?" he asked, voice steady and calm.

The regnant smiled. "You know that answer already."

"Then let me rephrase it: what is your name?"

"For now, unimportant."

He scowled.

"Would it change anything, Grimm?"

Nick knew it wouldn't.

The regnant nodded. "You looked for me. You found me."

"And I know about regnants and Grimms of the past."

The creature tilted his head, looking almost amused. "So Marie did keep a journal."

"None of your business."

"I thought she would. While we didn't see eye to eye, she was a Grimm."

"And you had her killed."

"I won't deny it."

Nick exhaled slowly. "Because you wanted control of me?"

The regnant chuckled. "No one can control a Grimm, Nick. Not even me. You are very much your own person. You have her files, correct? You know. You know about counterparts, about this symbiosis between our kind. You are part of me, complementing me, as I am part of you, fulfilling you and your destiny."

Nick was aware of Monroe coming closer, of the barely audible growl of anger. It was something that had developed between them, this awareness, this closeness, and it simply let him know.

"I don't claim you as a mate, only as my companion."

"There have been others like you and I, joined together," Nick stated.

"Oh, yes. The lucky ones."

"Two were pairs."

"I see that her files are extensive. Good." The regnant smiled, revealing fangs. "Willing pairs, Nick. Never forced. You have a mate, my Grimm."

Nick tensed at the proprietary remark.

"You are not owned, Nick," the regnant added, slowly approaching. "I could never own you."

Monroe was close. So very close. He could feel him like he was next to him. Nick hoped he wouldn't do something stupid.

"I should hope Marie's files included that. This is not about controlling what or who you are. It's about partnership, an alliance of sorts, trust and friendship."

"I don't trust you," Nick said icily. "You took my aunt from me."

"The cancer would have ended her life not much later. She came into my territory, she was pursued by reapers, and she was reluctant to reveal your true nature to you, Nick. It was a kindness."

Nick clenched his hands into fists, teeth grinding. It took everything not to launch himself at the creature and make him pay for the remarks.

The regnant was clearly aware of his intentions and the wings whispered softly as he moved them an inch.

"You can't change the past, nor can you evade your future, Grimm. She had two more months, correct?"

Nick glared.

"The result would have been the same. The reapers might have gotten to you by then. It wasn't a chance I could take."

"And now you ask for my trust?"

"Not now. It will come. I mean you no harm, but I also won't be your guardian angel." Fangs showed. "The reapers won't take a chance to kill you on my territory, but everything else you might encounter won't be so lenient."

"I'm not asking for it!"

"What I want, Nick, is a truce."

"I don't kill you, you keep your hexenbiester away from me?" Nick asked coldly.

Part of him ached at the hostility he projected and he didn't understand what that part was. The regnant had been nothing but helpful so far, saving his ass, protecting him – but he had also had Marie killed.

"You don't want to kill me," the regnant said mildly, so close he was actually towering over him. "You can feel this connection, too. You know what it is, Nick Burckhardt. You have already accepted it."

The regnant raised one clawed hand and, when Nick didn't do more than tense a little, placed it gently on the Grimm's chest. Nick stiffened, his eyes growing wide, as he felt something like a small charge sent through his body, only dimly aware of Monroe's snarl and approach.

"Monroe, no!" he managed, looking into the burnt orange eyes, into the swirling blackness. "I'm fine!"

Warmth. Power. Emotions he couldn't place. Happiness. Soul light. Soul warmth. The connection between them, meaning… meaning life… meaning companionship… meaning… meaning… no loneliness.

He shuddered when the emotional tidalwave hit him, when he felt the age and the life of this creature, felt the search, then the hope, and finally the acceptance that like many of his kind, the regnant might not find his counterpart.

And then Nick.

The beacon of light and warmth, of perfect resonance. Knowing it was his Grimm, the perfect missing piece, sliding into place in his soul.

The regnant tilted his head, calm and composed and so powerful, it wouldn't take him much to take care of the Grimm once and for all.

Never, Nick, a voice whispered. My protectorate. Mine.

Nick curled a hand around the leathery wrist, holding on, feeling… a rush, a surge, something not sexual. More like a confirmation that this was right, needed, okay. This was his counterpart in the creature world. Powerful. Oh so powerful.

Your counterpart.

He swallowed, then nodded. Yours.

The power surged through him again, then it was gone. All Nick felt was the touch to his chest, the skin under his fingers, and he looked into the most unnatural eyes he had ever seen.

He licked his lips, tiny tremors racing through him.