by Shannon West
“I saw the note you wrote to the hotel about Rio.”
“Huh? Oh, that. Well, I wasn’t sure at that point yesterday if I’d be coming back to the room or not, and I couldn’t very well take him with me.”
“You’re always acting so tough. You can’t just admit it, can you?”
“Admit what?”
“That you love Rio as much as I do. That you were trying to keep him safe because of how much you love him.”
“He’s just a dog, Luke.”
“He’s our dog. And you love him.”
“I think the word love is little much.”
“I don’t. You called him good and brave and told the manager about his treats and his bacon.”
“I couldn’t very well say what a pain in the ass he is.”
“Oh, stop. It’s okay to love your dog.”
Logan sighed and rolled his eyes and Luke bumped his shoulder with his. “You don’t have to pretend with me, you know.”
Thankfully the elevator arrived on the first floor and saved Logan from having to comment further. He couldn’t understand why Luke wanted him to talk about his feelings all the damn time. They soon found the small breakfast room and Logan got a large coffee and filled his plate with whatever was on the bar. He was ravenous and couldn’t seem to fill up, even after two more trips back to load up again.
Luke ate far less but waited patiently for Logan to finish his last plate and take a sip of coffee before he leaned forward and lowered his voice after making sure no one was close enough to overhear them.
“Are we going to talk about this now?”
“No.”
“But we have to at least…”
“No. I may never talk about any of this ever again.”
“Don’t be silly; we have to talk about it. What the hell happened last night? I don’t remember much, but what I do remember is too crazy to be real.”
Logan shook his head and sighed. “Not here. Let’s go upstairs and see what the others remember. I think we may have been seeing things, or at least I was.”
Luke looked worried but helped Logan pile a plate with muffins and sweet rolls and filled three cups with coffee to take upstairs. The attendant gave them an odd look, and Logan shrugged, nodding his head toward Luke. “He has a big dog—he has to have his morning coffee or he’s grouchy all day.” Luke, holding them, just gave her a weak smile and elbowed Logan in the ribs. Hard.
When they got to the room Jackson had gone out to smoke again and Perry and Jake were sitting on the side of the bed, looking tense. Logan got the impression he’d interrupted their conversation. They fell on the food though, clearly starving, and Jackson showed back up just in time to grab a muffin before Perry finished them off. Logan leaned against the window, looking out at the weather, which had turned rainy, as it often was that time of year. Behind him, the room had grown quieter and he knew they were waiting for him to start the conversation.
“Okay,” Logan said, turning back to look at them. “I guess we have to talk about what we saw last night, though I’m still not sure I wasn’t hallucinating. How about you, Perry? What did you see”?
“Why me? Why do I have to start it? Hell, I don’t know, Logan. Ask somebody else.”
“Oh, for God’s sake,” Luke said, falling down in the chair next to the bed. “I was knocked out for most of it. Then Logan, you fell on top of me and buried my face in your chest and I couldn’t see a thing.”
Logan shifted his feet, looking uncomfortable. “Well, you see…”
“Yes, yes, I know. You still think I’m some teenage girl who needs your protection. Anyway, then there was a lot of loud shouting and you moved off me and I saw that big blond man with a sword and—and did he have…?”
“Wings,” Jake said. “Yeah, I saw white wings and long blond hair and his sword was on fire. Is that what you saw?”
Luke nodded, looking uneasy. “Who the hell was that?”
“More like what,” Jake said. “I’ve never seen anything like that before. What was it?”
“I thought it was the archangel Michael. You know, with his fiery sword?” Logan said softly, and all the others looked at him with their eyebrows raised. He flushed. “Well, that’s what he looked like to me. What did you think it was?”
“I don’t know,” Perry said, looking uncomfortable. “I don’t think it was any kind of damn angel, though. Whatever it was, it ran the dragon thing off.”
“How is any of this even possible?” Jake asked, sounding incredulous.
“I don’t know,” Jackson said softly. “There are a lot of things in the world I don’t understand, and this is one of them. Something sure torched that place and killed all those people.”
Everyone was silent for a long moment and then Luke angled a look over at Logan.
“The archangel Michael? Really?”
“Hell, I don’t know. You all saw it too!”
Perry smiled. “Yeah, but I thought it looked like that guy in the movie, Thor. I thought it was some kind of super hero.”
“Nobody’s talking yet about how we fought in that place,” Jackson said. “I was there for weeks, but I don’t remember much.”
Jake nodded. “We were all under its influence.”
“Not all of us,” Perry said. “Not Logan.”
They all turned to look at him, but it was Perry who asked.
“Why weren’t you affected?”
“I was, a little. But mostly I was just disgusted by the place and that guy Dread from the first. That’s all I know.”
Perry nodded, looking at Logan speculatively. “There has always been something…different about you, Logan. I never could put my finger on what it was.”
Luke bristled. “There’s nothing wrong with Logan.”
Perry nodded. “No, not wrong. Not bad. I didn’t mean that. Just different. Special. And what about the angel thing? Is he on our side?”
Logan sighed. “Who knows? Remains to be seen, but he did save us. God knows we need somebody on our side against…whatever that was inside of Dread.”
Everyone was quiet for a while and then Luke stood up. “Well, what do we do now? Wait for the thing to regroup and come back for us? Or do we go? Find someplace to make a stand against it if it comes back.”
Jackson looked up at him. “Like where?”
Logan came over to stand beside Luke. “Anywhere but here. I say we go north for a while. We can decide exactly where later, but I think we need to get out of this town. And we’re all together now. Maybe there’s safety in numbers. I think we made a mistake before when we separated. We’re stronger together. Not to mention the fact that Animus has shown his hand now and we’ll know what to look for if he comes after us again. I think he screwed up when he gave us his so-called ‘gifts.’ They only made us strong enough to stand a chance of defeating him. Besides, we’re immortal now. What do we have to be afraid of?”
“He’s the one who made us that way. He said he could take his gifts away,” Jackson said, looking worried.
“And do we just believe him?” Logan said. “My old preacher used to say Lucifer was the ‘Great Deceiver.’ Maybe he’s lying about that. Maybe he’s lying about all of it.”
“Would we have room in the truck for everybody?” Luke asked, frowning.
“I have a car,” Jackson said, then smiled when everyone looked over at him in surprise. “It’s not new or anything, but I bought it after I got here and had a few fights. Won a few bets. We can pick it up when we go by my place to get my clothes.”
Logan smiled. “Sounds like we have a plan. What are we waiting for?”
Epilogue
Logan had been driving straight up I-85 for a few hours when he heard the soft snoring from the passenger side of the front seat. Glancing over at Luke, he found him sound asleep with his head against the glass and Rio curled up in his lap.
“Hey,” he said softly, putting a hand on Luke’s shoulder. Luke startled awake, making Rio whine in his sleep.
“Sorry, boy,” Luke said, patting his side. He smiled over at Logan. “I’m sorry. I didn’t plan on falling asleep. Do you want me to drive a while? Pull over and I will.”
“No, I’m fine. I was just thinking. We’re almost to Spartanburg. We could get onto I-26 there and head toward Asheville. What do you think?”
“I’ve never been, but I hear it’s nice.”
“I love the mountains, and we could find a place to stay for a few days. Or longer. We can maybe rent us a house. Maybe even a cabin up in the mountains somewhere. Stay through the winter and then find someplace new in the spring.”
Luke smiled at him sadly. “If we have that much time…”
“Don’t talk like that. We have time—that thing might never come back for all we know. And if it does, we’ll take care of it. Once and for all. We know more about it now—or at least we have more of an idea. And don’t forget, that angel came when we needed him before.”
Luke smiled. “He wasn’t an angel.”
“Whatever he was, he came. He saved us. And next time we can save ourselves.”
Luke looked behind them at the heavy traffic on the interstate. “Where did you tell them we’d meet them?”
“I didn’t. I told them I’d text them when we found a place to eat dinner. They’re not far behind us.”
“Find someplace then and pull over. I’m starving.”
Logan took the next exit that had food signs and pulled into the parking lot of an Outback Steak House, while Luke took his phone and sent a quick text. The ping on Logan’s phone came back in a couple of minutes. “They’re about thirty minutes away,” Luke said, looking down at the phone. “Do you want to go in or wait here?”
Logan smiled, reaching for him and pulling him across the seat and into his arms. He had deliberately chosen the back of the lot, away from other cars and streetlights because he had plans for what to do while he waited. “Let’s stay in the truck. I think I can figure out a few things to do while we wait.”
He popped the buttons on the front of Luke’s jeans and slid a hand down inside, enjoying Luke’s squirming. Logan pulled him into his arms and kissed him, soft at first, but with an intensity that soon spread its way through both their bodies. He was trembling in Logan’s arms, and Logan figured he was probably doing the same. He’d come so close to losing him. Kissing him until they were both breathless, he pulled back to look down at him. “I thought I’d lost you for a little while. I knew you were being influenced to not remember me—us—but it still hurt. I wished I’d told you how much I loved you. Can you forgive me for never telling you?”
Luke smiled and shook his head. “I must be dreaming. Did you just tell me how much you love me?”
“I did.”
He pulled Logan’s head back down to kiss him again, then lay back on the seat on his back and held out his arms. Logan’s hands were everywhere on him at once, on his chest, his hips, his thighs. Luke held up his hips as Logan slipped his jeans down, and then he was kissing him on every part of his body he could reach. Luke thrashed under him, giving himself to Logan totally, completely.
Logan pushed up his shirt, dipped his head and took one pink nipple in his mouth, teasing and taunting first one sensitive nub and then the other until he begged for mercy, thrusting his hips toward Logan, who dropped his hands down to cup his ass and pull him possessively close to him. His sweet cock was hard and urgent pressing against Logan’s stomach. Logan bent over to take it in his mouth and he gasped and arched his back, raking his nails across Logan’s shoulders.
Luke tried to put his legs around Logan’s waist, but Logan laughed and nuzzled his face in his belly. “Not enough room, baby. Soon, though, I promise.” He bent over to bury his nose in the skin behind his balls and licked his way up to the prize he was after. He put his fingers in his mouth and then pushed first one inside Luke’s tight hole and then another, stretching him gently as he squirmed in excitement and pleasure. “Please,” he said, “I need you.”
Logan bent to take his lips again and passion jolted through him. He wrapped his hand tightly around his shaft as Luke thrust his hips. After only a few, he came with an intensity that surprised both of them.
When he could breathe again, Logan turned him toward him and kissed him tenderly for a long time, his cock nestled in his hand. He held him like that for a while, until he began to drift off to sleep again, so that he had to gently waken him before the others arrived.
After a few more minutes, he helped Luke straighten his clothes and they both got out so Logan could smoke a cigarette and Rio could go pee. After a few minutes, Luke came over to stand beside Logan and leaned back against the car, looking up at the sky.
“The stars are bright tonight,” Luke said softly and Logan caught hold of his hand and smiled.
“We’ll be able to see them much better when we get out of the city. They’ll be even brighter in the country.”
“My mother used to say the stars were angel lights. Come to think of it, Lucifer was called the morning star, wasn’t he?”
“A fallen star, cast out of heaven. Those up there are the ones who stayed behind.”
Luke turned toward Logan then, putting a hand on his chest. “What if he comes again? What are we going to do?”
“We’re going to fight him. With everything we have. Until then, though, we’re going to live our lives and be happy. In the end, all anybody has is right now and there aren’t any guarantees in life. There's no point in living in fear and darkness, Navy. It’s only when it’s darkest that we can see the stars.”
Luke leaned up and kissed him tenderly, the merest brushing of his lips against Logan’s. “Let’s set our course by them then. And see where they’ll lead us.”
The End
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Shannon West lives in the southern United States, and is a lover and avid reader of M/M romances. Shannon began writing gay romance a few years ago, and now has over ninety short stories, novellas, and novels to her credit. Her stories have been translated into French, Italian, and even one Japanese Yaoi. Her favorite genre is paranormal and most of her characters don’t get really interesting to her until they grow a tail. Shannon loves men and everything about them, and writes Romance (with a capital R) unashamedly and unabashedly. She believes, in the words of Helen Steiner Rice that “love is the answer that everyone seeks, love is the language that every heart speaks.” But she also believes wholeheartedly in the words of Woody Allen, that love may be the answer, but “while you’re waiting for that answer, sex raises some pretty interesting questions.” Shannon mostly spends her days at the keyboard, ably assisted by her cats, Scarlett and Taz, and eluding housework, which stalks her relentlessly.
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