Lucius

31

"Where is she, Quinlin?" Lucius demands to know.

"Are you sure you want to know?" Quinlin replies bitterly. He thought Lucius would understand and help him and Sharee fight for the right to be together. He thought Lucius loved Faline, perhaps even more than he loved Sharee, but for a wolf to howl like that it meant their mate has rejected them.

"Yes, dammit, where is she?" Lucius is ready to pull the upstart wolf apart.

"I don't know. She lost me shortly after she howled her pain of losing her mate. What the fuck did you do to her?" Quinlin feels strangely protective of the girl he rejected as his mate some time ago.

"A fucking witch put a spell on me and when Faline killed her I lashed out at her." Lucius admits unwillingly.

"Damn, that's harsh. I lost her at the waterfall. You taught her far to well for me to find her. Hope you have better luck. I'll continue looking  but she's not going to want to be found. She wants to fade, Lucius. I know you understand what that means."

The wolves and vampires are similar in that respect.

"Yes," Lucius replies softly. The pain is making things worse, harder for him to concentrate. At least he has a starting point now. He's sure that Quinlin will help him search enough at least to narrow down the choices.

Shortly after that he is at the waterfall. He follows Quinlin's smell and then finds where he lost her trail. Quinlin always forgets that she uses trees as much as she does the ground. Lucius goes to the trees and looks for the signs of her passing. They are subtle and easily overlooked, leaves and needles and the fresher scent of pine then there should be.

Slowly he is able to trace her to a cave, one he wasn't even aware of on his property.

Her growling at him makes him stop at the entrance. "Faline, Star whichever of you is in charge right now, I'm sorry. So damn sorry you have no idea. Tina tells me that the witch anchored the spell to thoughts and feelings I didn't even know I had. The spell was able to continue after her death because of that. It wasn't until you howled your pain that I was able to break free from it's hold. 

"I don't reject you. The opposite in fact. I thank you for killing that bitch. Even with that spell she wouldn't have been able to get me to have sex with her. I want you to know that.

"If I ruined things to far then I'll stay by your side to the end. Then when you are gone I'll go and pay a visit to Lord Darin and do to him what was done to my family and when I'm finished I'll allow the corrupt members of the council to take me and kill me."

Lucius sits down at the entrance of the cave and waits for his love to die. Already he's planning how he's going to exact his revenge on the bastard that caused all his and Faline's pain. Once he's dead, then he'll die in peace as well, rejoining his parents and mate in death.

As the night falls Faline's whine grows closer to him until Star's head is laying on his thighs. He pets her giving her the comfort she needs although he finds none.

Star pulls her body up further onto his lap and nudges him. He pulls her tight to his chest. "I love you so much, you have no idea. You pulled the short end of the stick when you got me as your mate, love. You should have a wolf that won't hurt you like I have. A wolf that isn't the target of the wolf council, not a vampire that is the target of the vampire council."

Faline licking his face makes him bury his head into her fur and allow his emotions to come out for the first time since he locked them away with his parents death. Not even Faline's leaving him before allowed him to mourn so deeply as he does then.

He feels her changing and loosens his arms from around her, not wanting to hurt her. Her arms coming around him and pulling him close to her heals something deep inside of him.

"We will face the vampire council together, Lucius, and not just Darin, but Sharee's father Lord Nastergal or whatever his name is." Faline pulls back and asks him something that has bothered her, "How come, you go by Lord Lucius, Lord Darin goes by his first name as well, but Sharee's father goes by Nastergal his last name?"

"Pride. He doesn't think that Larry or Lord Larry has enough panache to it. He likes the effect of Lord Nastergal far more." There is a definite sneer in Lucius's voice as he says this.

"You don't think much of him." Faline states, the dislike she feels he has towards Nastergal is great, but not nearly the same as he has towards Darin.

"He is aligning his only child with a lying power hungry piece of shit so that he can gain even more power. Darin wants to take out the council and reinstate the monarchy, with himself as king. That's why he needs me out of the way."

Faline looks at him in confusion. "I don't understand."

Lucius looks at his young mate with love and affection, "My father was king but took down the monarchy to make it more equal for all the vampires and established the council. The other supernaturals followed his lead. I think you'll find that your family was either the king and his queen or a very close relative of said monarch before the council was established."

Faline looks at him in shock. "But what reason would he have for taking down my family. I never understood why he'd do that. Werewolves have little to do with vampires overall. You remember the party that was thrown for us, how high tensions were on both sides."

"Oh, yes, I remember. I don't understand why he did it either, but it was the reason we are together. At least, I hope we are still together? I didn't ruin things completely did I?" Lucius is beyond uncertain at this point. He hopes that she forgives him and is willing to accept him still and not pine away here.

"Tina said that the spell was anchored to things you didn't even know about?" Faline asks biting her lower lip and unable to look at Lucius.

Lucius replies in a husky, "Yes. You could ask her if you reestablish the pack ties to yourself."

Faline gives him a small guilty smile, "I didn't cut them, just blocked them. I needed time to think. Even after you told me what she said I needed to think about things.

"I never meant to force you to be my mate, Lucius. You must understand that."

"I do, Faline. You didn't force anything on me. I think I forced my desires on you. I should have had the strength to send you back to a pack to be raised, but instead I kept you at my side selfishly." Faline stops him from speaking any further by kissing him.

"I would have run away from any pack and returned to you. If you wouldn't have let me stay then I would have died just outside of your territory." Faline tells him

Lucius sighs and pulls her to him and holds her once more. "Shall we go home now?" Faline doesn't speak but he feels her nod. She changes back to Star and he carries her home like a child cuddled in his arms.