Trey sighed and shook his head as he watched Paris's reflection in the large mirror behind the bar, they had been in Arizona three whole days now and Trey was itching to leave, the place was all shit and dust, but his buddy was refusing to go. For those three whole days Paris had been waiting out the mating period so he could return to Ariel, and the boy had been a wreck, feeling the call of his mate in season was turning him in to an impotent hound dog so to speak. Trey was of the opinion that he should just turn up and screw her brains out but when did the lion ever listen? Never.
Not that Trey cared if his friend was walking around in a perpetual state of arousal with no way to sate it because it was one of the curses of that fates that they could never touch another woman other then their mates. What did Trey care if all the women in the bar thought Paris was in love with him because he refused to fuck any of them? He cared a lot. Especially about that last one. This whole mating business was sucking all the fun out of life.
Sighing he picked up the two shot glasses and walked over to Paris who was sitting at the table, his head in his crossed arms whimpering like a moron.
Paris didn't lift his head when Trey sat back at the table, he just slid his hand out and picked up the shot glass only drawing his head up to knock the stuff back, then he settled his head back down. That was the problem with human alcohol, it wasn't near strong enough to get him so shit faced that he could forget about the ache in his groin, the fact that he was mated and most horribly he was mated to someone with more issues then half the psych ward put together.
He sighed, okay, he supposed that wasn't exactly true but she did have problems and those problems could mean hell for him if he didn't sort them out. Paris turned his golden eyes up to Trey, red rimmed and half shuttered from lack of sleep and too much booze, even Paris who was not a vain lion, thought he needed some time to clean himself up. Trey paused with the glass half way to his lips then let out a disgusted curse and shoved the glass at Paris who knocked it back without a grimace.
"You know you're an alcoholic and you don't even know it," Trey muttered, folding his arms over his huge chest.
"Thanks Doc."
"Why don't you just go see her?" Trey demanded, his tiger eyes flashing with irritation, "preferably not smelling as bad as you do now 'cause I'm thinking she would likely keel over from the fumes."
Paris glared. "Your so not funny right now."
"Not to you, no. But then you've always underrated my wit." Trey paused when he got no come back of the crude or sarcastic kind. "Just go to her, man. You've wasted three days to win her over, your so running out of ticks right now."
"Ticks?"
Trey tapped the invisible watch on his wrist and grinned, Paris straightened and rolled his head on his neck.
"You think she'll see me?"
"Only one way to find out, my brother. Who knows you might be just what she needs."
Paris gave him a sceptical look, how the hell could he help anyone, when he had been running from responsibility since he had hit puberty and he hadn't been intending to let it catch up on him.
"Maybe …" Paris let the word hang between them before he stood up and walked into the bathroom.
****
Ariel stood under the scalding spray of the shower, opening her mouth she let the water stream in her, down her, washing away the remnants of three days of complete torture. In the years since the death of her mate, Ariel had ritualistically scrubbed herself to the point of being raw after the mating season was complete. Having to ride out the three days locked up and alone, feeling just about ready to go up in flames and to jump the first male she made contact with that wasn't blood related, always made her feel dirty. The need to scrub clean was essential for her piece of mind.
Ariel looked down and taking the soaped up exfoliation glove scrubbed savagely at her marked palm, she almost wept when she looked at it, raw and sore but still there.
Since she now had Aiyana to take care of, Ariel had been obligated to venture out of her room to help the cub, she found that being around Aiyana helped the cravings for her mate immensely. The total focus it took to be around the unpredictable feline left no space in her mind to think about Paris. Because she did think about him.
A lot.
She wanted him near her, with her, in her, surrounding her with his warmth. A woman, cat or not, needed once in her life to feel that warmth, the type you only got from being cuddled to a man's chest, surrounded by the subtle smell of his aftershave, his arms caging you in and the fabric of his shirt rubbing against your cheek.
Ariel made a noise of frustration as she found herself standing under the spray, daydreaming about it. Maybe it would be best to call him, but truth was all the good things about being mated didn't even effect the scales when being weighed against the shit that came with it. Paris's words swam round in her head, she would be giving up her chance to have children if she didn't mate with him, he was right about that. As far as she was concerned she already had a family but children … how many nights had she spent dreaming of being a mother. Too many. But did she really want to mate again after the first time and with a Katagaria? Birth children with one knowing their wild tendencies?
He was wrong about one thing though, it wasn't prejudice that kept her from wanting her to mate with him. It was a survival instinct that had saved her life all those years ago when Ramirez had tried to kill her, it was not going willingly into another trap. Once bitten, twice shy and all the rest of it … she was keeping her eyes well open for the bad guy. Whoever he may be.
Whatever Paris thought, she had a very real fear and a very real reason for her fear, he was the one who was prejudice. When she thought of the garbage he had spouted the other day about humans it made her blood literally boil. How dare he!?
Ariel was under no illusions about her race in general but neither was she blind to the cruelty of animals. The Katagaria liked to believe they only killed to survive but she had first hand experience in why they would kill, in how they would kill. Ariel was out the shower and used her powers to clothe herself. No, she thought, running a hand over her hair that was tied in a French plait making sure nothing was out of place, she would not mate with him; her Pride could not afford to lose her. She would not be mated and living out the next few centuries of her life afraid to fall asleep in case she didn't wake up. No, it was much better this way. Ariel nodded at her reflection and went off to find Aiyana.
****
Bouncing on the balls of his feet, Paris waited for the echoing of the door bell to fade before he lifted his hand to press again. As he did the door flew open and on the other side of the threshold was a very petite Asian woman. Her dark eyes scrutinized his entire body before they flashed wickedly when meeting his gaze, she touched the petals on a white flower in her hair.
"So you're my cousin's mate, huh?" she said in a peculiar tone as if she didn't think he was much of a match for her cousin.
"Erm, yeah, is Ariel in?"
The petite woman snorted loudly and gave a nosy laugh before calling over her shoulder, though never taking her eyes from Paris who had an urge to run and check himself out in a mirror (the woman was making him very paranoid).
"Hey, people! There's a Katagaria male at the door asking for Elle, should I tell him to do one?"
Paris heard the breaking of glass and a ferocious growl, probably the head of the pride, Paris thought, not that he cared, he didn't give a shit about any Arcadians … Except Ariel. The woman at the door laughed again and looked at Paris.
She stepped back to let Paris in the house, "you sure got everyone's fur rubbed the wrong way in here, lion. If I were you I'd take a few centuries of being impotent then walking in here."
There was another vicious growl and a scraping of claws along the floor, Paris raised an eyebrow and walked coolly in to the house before turning and giving the little lioness a level stare.
"You think I'm afraid of Arcadian males, little girl? Well, your wrong, very wrong."
To his surprise she merely giggled and met his stare with her own cocky one.
"Oh no, hun, that was just the females in there," she led him through a deserted hall towards a den where noises, laughter, growls and a stern voice all came to an abrupt stop, Paris glanced at the woman and she smiled maliciously, he had the urge to gulp and then run for the hills with his tail between his legs. Males he could deal with, but women were a whole other story for him. They loved him, they lusted after him, none had ever hated him before. For some reason he had a feeling this was all about to change. Just before she let the door swing open Paris heard his new friend whisper to him.
"They are gonna eat you alive."
The door opened and the room turned several pairs of feminine eyes on him, each holding their own unique gleam that told Paris if they had their way they would be trying to rip him to shreds right now. Paris scanned the room for Ariel, his face with a deliberately bored expression while inside he felt strangely vulnerable in front of these women. Not frightened or in danger but like each female judged him unworthy, he hadn't felt the likes of it since he was a callow youth and it angered him. Gritting his teeth against the irritation he spoke sharply.
"Where's Ariel?" he demanded and immediately the temperature in the room plummeted even lower. One woman stood up, a delicate blonde with a equally blonde little boy on her knee, she passed the kid to a lady to her side and stepping forward, fixed Paris with a chilling and suspicious look.
"You've no business here, Katagaria, your kind have done enough to one of our own, we'll not let her be hurt again!"
"Well, that's nice to know, but I don't plan to hurt Ariel. I want to talk to her."
"You'll not ever see her again let alone speak to her. Now be gone before you upset our young."
Paris growled and he saw some of the women tense out of the corner of his eye. "You think to keep my mate from me?"
Hissing and spitting like fat thrown into hot flames broke out amongst the human felines and the blonde woman actually cringed. When she spoke next it wasn't with scorn and contempt, her voice was rather pleading.
"Just leave. You've no place here. We protect our own and we won't let her be harmed again, you cannot be happy with an Arcadian as your mate. We're too different."
"No arguing that," Paris muttered under his breath then he spoke louder, "look, where is Ariel, I don't want to talk to you, there are things we need to discuss and you, lady, are wasting my time."
"Get out!"
"Leona?"
A feeling so sublime went through Paris that he barely bit back a groan, it was like a slipping into a bath of hot water up to your neck after being out in the bitter cold, it was a warm shudder, a heated breeze. So comforting and fulfilling was it that Paris felt the cat in him curl up and purr in peace. Turning Paris saw Ariel standing at the door, a lion cub poked its head tentatively round her legs and on seeing Paris quickly retreated, next to Ariel was the beautiful black woman he had met on the day of his mating. The black lady put her hands on her hips and gave the blonde a glare.
"Leona, did I not tell you if the lion turns up send him to me?"
"Faraa, do you think I would let him walk through the house unattended? He might soil the rugs -" Leona wrinkled her nose at Paris who curled his lip in disgust, typical Arcadians, he was about to retort when -
"Enough!" Ariel's voice rang out fierce and silencing the room, even Faraa did not open her mouth but gave her niece a wary look. Ariel shot a glare to the blonde woman then directed it to Paris, their gazes met and something sharp and sizzling went through Paris's whole body rippling a purr from him. Ariel's eyes softened slightly but instead of looking happy they looked haunted.
"Come with me, Paris. We need to talk, my office is just upstairs."
Paris passed a shit eating grin to the blonde woman and sauntered over to the open door, Aiyana ran up the stairs and Ariel backed up from the door to give him room. The little Asian woman waited on the other side also and was about to follow Paris and Ariel when Faraa grabbed her by the back pocket of her jeans and yanked her back.
"Ly, this don't concern you!" he heard Faraa say before the door slammed shut.
Ariel led him up the stairs and into an office, wooden panelled walls, lush green carpet, fire place, book shelves, it was very much what one would expect of a private study in a mansion. Yet for all is elegance for some reason Ariel didn't suit it, it was too masculine for her. Closing the door behind them she offered him the chair before the wooden desk and then walked round and sat behind it.
"This your office?" he asked and felt the colour rise in his cheeks, hadn't she just called it her office?
"Err, no actually," she answered distractedly and shuffled a few papers away into the desk drawers, "this is Lev and Sher's office, I'm just using it for something. By the way," she flicked her gaze up to meet his before she grabbed another few papers and walked over to the filing cabinet. "I apologise for my family, they're .."
"Insane?" Paris supplied then held up his hands in surrender when she cut him a cold look.
"Protective, was the word I was going to use but insanity isn't uncommon in our line."
Paris gave a small smile and watched with, he realised with a jolt, appreciation as she sighed, he watched avidly at the rise and fall of her shoulders in her silky purple blouse, felt the rustle of it against his skin. She turned then to face him, she looked dejected and strained, it made him want to gather her into his arms and shelter her, to kiss away the frown lines and replace the light in her eyes.
"I can't mate with you," She blurted out. Perhaps he had feared her saying this to him but in the back of his mind he was always assured that she would go through with it, they were Were-hunters it was what they did. They got the mating mark they mated, simple. Easy. Yet she said them and she meant them and Paris felt his very marrow grow cold.
"Do you realise what will happen to me if we don't mate?" Paris asked, he's voice deliberately calm and reasonable. "You do realise, I hope, that while you will be able to continue to have sex with anyone you wish for the rest of your life. I will have to be impotent for the rest of mine."
"It's regrettable -" Now that touched a nerve!
"Regrettable! Yeah, this whole situation is fucking regrettable! Me having to run after you because you want to play Florence Nightingale to a sick cub - me coming here when you were in heat, are you so selfish that you couldn't have warned me or told me to stay away!"
"How was I supposed to know you were going to turn -"
"Regrettable is me being mated to someone who hates me for something that's not my fault! Have you ever thought about what its like being a Katagaria lion, do you know what its like for us? For me? I have never sought to hurt you in anyway yet you show compassion to everyone else but me! To all but the one person who deserves a chance to show you I'm more then what you think of me."
Paris realised he was out of his chair and was shouting at her, her face was whiter then marble and like marble was utterly still and unreadable. All for those eyes, those blue eyes spoke volumes, shouted out pain, called out for comfort, roared with anger and howled for some peace. What did she, Paris wondered, read in his eyes? Rubbing his hands over his face he looked back up at her, a single, solitary tear escaped her lashes and glided smoothly down her cheek, in a quick motion she got rid of it and her face was as if it had never been there.
"I am sorry for your pain, Ariel, I really am and I would take it from you if I could. But I didn't cause it - and I didn't ask to be your mate … Just like I didn't ask to be Katagaria, like I didn't ask to watch over Aiyana."
He got no reply so he carried on even though his throat felt a little swollen but he had to make her understand what she would take from him.
"And you didn't ask for whatever happened to you and you didn't ask for me to be your mate but I am. The fates have played us off against each other, can you imagine the time they had tying my life thread and yours together knowing how explosive it would be?"
He was relieved to see her eyes lighten briefly and she choked out a laugh that was distorted by tears she could no longer hold back. Paris smiled too.
"What d'you say we play them at their own game? Eh, me and you show them that we can make this work?"
Ariel pressed her lips tightly together, he looked so beautiful and sincere standing there literally begging for a chance. And Gods on Olympus how she wished to give it to him, but it wasn't that easy. If someone had told her Ramirez was going to try and kill her when she had first mated with him, she would have torn their throat out just for daring to speak ill of her mate. No one, animal or human was ever what they seemed and animals were unpredictable - how could she ever trust him?
"You have no idea how much I want to say yes to you, Paris -"
"Then say it!"
"Its not that simple."
"Why?" Paris snapped and it took all her control not to wince at the pain in his voice. "Am I so repulsive to you? I may have got the signal wrong then 'cause I was of the impression when I had you moaning under me, you liked me quite well!"
That snapped her sympathy cord there and then, it was something crude and nasty that Ramirez would have said, Ariel felt her head snap back on her neck and her heart shudder as it was once more encased in ice. Paris seemed to realise his error and regretted his lapse in temper and patience as he run a miserable hand over a grim face.
"That was wrong of me -"
"Get the fuck out," Ariel said calmly but with all the contempt she could muster, she let her voice blast him like a wind of bitter cold. "We are done here."
****
Paris materialised outside the front door of the manor house and sucked in the fresh air, he'd wanted to run like a scared school boy from her frigid glare but he had merely nodded and walked out of the door then flashed outside.
He was just so angry and confused and … well, damn it, he was hurt! Gods, didn't that make him sound like a complete girl, someone might think he was taking hormones if he kept this shit up. But truth was he was wounded by her rejection of him and he had wanted to wound her back just as deeply. You would think as a lion patience would have come natural to him, stalking prey and catching them took patience and the right moment to strike. Yet he had fucked that up on so many levels, he had jumped to gun so many times then struck with deadly precision at exactly the wrong moment.
Hell, this wasn't like going hungry and where your next meal was coming from, it was more serious then that, the fact that you will never feel another female as long as you live would tend to throw you off your game.
His actions justified to himself, he still didn't feel any better, he stared at the door until he heard someone behind him.
"That's him, Theo, the one I was telling you about."
Paris looked round and saw Faraa tugging at the hand of a tall, lean man in a well cut business suit, the man surveyed Paris for a moment with steely eyes which Paris returned in kind, then Theo sighed.
"She told you no, didn't she, son?"
Paris was so shocked at the almost fatherly kindness in the man's tone that he nodded mutely, Paris sniffed, the man was definitely Arcadian …
Theo cursed under his breath and took a cigar out of his breast pocket, he offered it to Paris who took it impressed by the man's expensive taste, that he himself also liked. Raising the cigar and inclining his head with thanks, Paris lit up. Theo was about to follow suit when he caught Faraa's glare.
"Maybe its not something to feel so unhappy about," he grumbled and put his own cigar away, Faraa growled and told him if that's how he felt he knew where the door was.
"Woman, you know you can't live without me so be quiet," Theo said it mildly but Faraa quietened though her lips twitched when she looked away. Theo smiled also and gestured with his hand for Paris who had watched their scene with a twinge of amusement, to sit with him on the porch chairs.
Theo tugged up his trousers at the knee before he sat and leant his elbows on his knees, Paris unconsciously mirrored him so that their faces were not so far apart, Theo's green gaze bored into Paris' gold one.
"So you're the mate to Ariel, eh," Theo murmured, "and our girl turned you down."
Paris nodded flicking ash from the cigar.
"So?"
"So what?" Paris was bemused and Theo snapped at him.
"What are you going to do about it?!"
"What can I do? She doesn't want me, when we get near each other all we do is fight, its hopeless."
Paris hadn't let despair overwhelm him until that very moment, he had thought of forcing her to accept him, beat her into submission. But he knew for one thing he couldn't do it, it was at odds with his very nature, and two the mating ritual could only be completed if the female accepted the male into her body by her own free will, nothing less then that would ever constitute as binding.
Theo just chuckled and shook his head. "This isn't freakin' funny!"
"Typical Katagaria," Theo said fondly, "no real imagination."
"True," Faraa said nodding and smiling like her mate.
"What?"
"Have you not heard of the word: seduction?" Faraa tittered, "she's a woman not an iceberg, though sometimes its hard to tell the difference - she is easily melted."
Paris scoffed at that.
"Oh, its true, lion. The day she came home from the Omegrion she was lit up like a purdy little firefly, all glowing and talking about what had happened. She couldn't stop mentioning you, trying to sound all casual about it. You are the one that can melt her, Paris, you just need to unleash your hottest temperature on her, melt her down and soothe the burn. You feel me?"
Theo tilted back his head and growled in his throat, "I like it when you talk like that …"
Faraa gave him a knowing smile and scratched behind his ears, Paris grimaced at their play but his mind churned over the thoughts they had given him.
"Why are you helping me?" he asked suddenly and both Theo and Faraa pinned him with a serious stare.
"Because I want my baby girl to be happy again. You can make her smile, Paris, I know you can, more brightly then anyone else. She just needs to be shown how good it feels to be mated again."
Theo nodded beside her with a sad smile on his face and Paris had to know.
"I'm gonna try this then, for my sake just as much as hers. I think you can understand that I have a vested interest in making her happy again, if she falls in love with me … well, great, I guess. But right now, when I'm not feeling so friendly towards her, I'm thinking of me. Okay?"
Both said they understood him completely.
"Good," Paris said nodding, then licking his dry lips, "now I want to know all you can tell me about her first mating."
Faraa made a quick, half completed movement with her hands, a nervous gesture betraying her shock and apprehension. Theo however, remained motionless and blank faced, then stroking Faraa's hand thoughtfully asked. "How do you know about that?"
"She let it slip while we were fighting."
"Uh huh."
"I have the right to know," Paris growled, his old impatience gnawing at him, Theo nodded but said.
"Do we have the right to tell you though?"
"Probably not. But since Ariel won't tell me, you'll have to, I need all the ammo I can get if I'm gonna make this work, so I suggest you spill it, otherwise you've just wasted my time."
Paris didn't feel bad about being so abrupt to the couple but he wished he didn't have to be, he liked them, they truly had good hearts and their only interest was in helping their niece.
"I like him," Theo blurted out suddenly, Paris grinned devilishly.