His Hunter

XXIII | Eclipse

The words were lingering on Lionel's lips. He knew he needed to focus, but he couldn't. He wanted to be fearless. As they walked down the dark hallway together, guns tight in their palms and feet steadily silent, Lionel couldn't help but be afraid. Why?

Ever since he was young, death had scared Lionel. He'd seen it too many times to pretend that it was distant. To believe as much would be to blatantly lie to himself, knowing all along, somewhere inside, that it was just a comfortable ruse to make life easier and less terrifying. But the truth was that life is hard. It's terrifying all the time.

But since he'd met Cole, it had been a different sort of terrifying. Suddenly, he wasn't just Lionel. He was Cole's Lionel. Perhaps the strongest tie he'd ever felt with anyone in his life could be cut so easily.

It was funny how instantly Lionel's life, his world, had changed. It was like Lionel had been growing tall, leaves green and bark tough. Up and up he'd gone until suddenly there was Cole, sitting in his path, a steadfast truth that wouldn't move out of his way for the world. Eagerly, Lionel had grown around him such that removing Cole from his life now would be to tear himself open, rending him in two or chopping him down altogether.

And Lionel knew that if he lost Cole, he'd fall hard. The forest floor would shake and people miles away would stumble.

This was why Lionel couldn't focus. He couldn't stop staring at Cole's injuries. He could see blood leaking through the bandages on Cole's arms. Lionel's lycanthrope blood had allowed his body to recover quickly. It wasn't just the reminder of his mate's fragility that bothered Lionel. Seeing Cole's blood brought back memories. The metallic taste of Cole's life draining out of him was still fresh on Lionel's tongue.

The two of them were walking a thin line. Lionel could feel fissures appearing in the ice below their feet, the sickening cracking of the ice breaking disturbingly similar to the sound of bones crunching.

Lionel wanted to get a few important words out before their bodies plunged into the icy black water beneath them. Maybe he was being grim, but he was just...scared. He was scared that he would die and Cole would be left alone, missing him. He was ever more scared that Cole would die and Lionel would be the one alone...again. Maybe that was selfish, but who isn't, in love? It's a curious thing that being in love with someone automatically makes any worry you feel for them selfish, solely because their wellbeing is your wellbeing and yours is theirs.

Their shared brush with death, with Mazka, had made one thing clear in Lionel's mind. Well, if he were being honest, it was more than one thing. But the specific thing he was thinking about had come into his mind the second Cole had walked into that shower, drenching himself while fully dressed, looking like a beautiful fool.

Cole was human. That was ok. Lionel loved him for it. Even if it meant they were different, Lionel would just add their relationship to the long, nearly endless list of things that seem opposites but blend together beautifully as if they were designed with the other in mind, an artful, fated pair.

With everything that came with that truth, Lionel realized that there was only one thing he could do to make everything clear, to make it easier, to steady the ground beneath their feet.

"Cole," Lionel said.

Cole's eyes immediately latched onto Lionel then darted around. He was alert. "What is it? Did you see something?"

"No. I have to talk to you," Lionel said nervously.

Cole glanced over his shoulder where Jaeda, Oliver, and a few other Pack members were. "Now's not really a great time, Lion."