Savage Love

by Sandrine Gasq-Dion

  “Car accident. A log truck swerved to avoid another car. The logs came loose.”

  “Oh God, Chaz. I’m so sorry.”

  “I was at an away game. I never got over not being there. I came home as soon as I could, but it was too late.”

  Lev wrapped his arms around Chaz’s waist and buried his face in his neck.

  “I’m sure he knew how much you loved him.”

  “My mom told me he did.” Chaz rubbed his cheek against Lev’s hair. “I can’t change it now, but I talk to him sometimes. I know that sounds weird — ”

  “No, it doesn’t. I find myself talking to my mom and dad a lot. Especially when I’m really sad. I talked to my mom a lot after I left you. I felt better afterwards.”

  “What about you?” Chaz asked.

  “What about me? I didn’t have friends growing up. I couldn’t — not really. You never knew if you’d make it home from school, or the park. Making friends was not something any of us even tried to do. If you got close to someone, you never knew if some rival family would take them out. I spent a lot of time watching TV, especially football. You took me away from the hell for a few hours.”

  “I know this is late in coming, but I’m older than you, right?” Chaz asked.

  “Yeah.” Lev blushed. “But don’t worry; I’ve always liked older men.”

  Chaz laughed.

  “Thank you, Lev. You have no idea how much I missed you — missed this.”

  “Anytime, Chaz. I’ve missed it, too.”

  Chapter Ten

  Killian and Lucian arrived at the reservation several days later. James had sent them ahead to keep an eye out for anything suspicious. Killian could take Chaz’s form whenever he wanted, as well as Samson’s.

  Wayne had Samson at Caden’s office building, guarded by Zane and Wraith. Lev couldn’t help but laugh at the thought of Samson being protected under the careful eye of a polar bear.

  Lev and Chaz were getting closer. They had buried the past and begun anew. Lev was standing on the beach this morning, watching the sunrise. He felt a presence and glanced over his shoulder. Killian stood a few feet behind him, admiring the view.

  “Seems like the entire unit is coming,” Lev observed.

  “Stefan Santorno, as well as Lorenzo Costa, are on their way. Chance and Cezar are coming back from New York this evening.”

  “So, they’re setting the trap for Mario?”

  “As we speak.”

  ~*~

  Mario eyed the two men in front of him. They had shown up after Gary had returned, which didn’t sit right with him. Gary Riviar slouched in the chair to Mario’s left, inspecting his nails as if he hadn’t a care in the world.

  Mario scowled. Stupid werewolves.

  “So?” Mario crossed his arms. “Where are Lev and Chaz?”

  “As far as we know, they were escorted to the Queets reservation. Which is why we were late coming back. We knew you’d want that intel.”

  Mario nodded, narrowing his eyes. “And Samson?”

  “Taken by a man. Not sure who.”

  Mario turned his attention to Gary. “And you just ran.”

  “Hell yes!” Gary stood up. “You don’t know those guys like I do! They’ve got some psychos working for them!”

  “I have some of my own.” Mario grinned.

  “We also heard Stefan Santorno will be joining them on the reservation,” one of his men spoke up.

  “Is that right?” Mario rubbed his hands together. “To finally off that fucker is going to be worth it. Get my guys together; we’re going to pay a little visit to the reservation, boys.”

  ~*~

  Chaz leaned against the bar observing Cezar and Lucian. To say they were rude and hostile was an understatement. To avoid cabin fever, Chance had put a shimmering spell on them all and they’d gone out to the Beaver Bar to play pool with Dakota, Sam, Troy and Sawyer. Within the next few days, Mario Bonini would make his presence known on the reservation and the boys were taking some downtime to prepare.

  Truth be told, Chaz needed time to recuperate as well. Talking about his mother had taken an extreme toll on him. Chaz missed her. He was going to see her as soon as the whole mess with Mario was over.

  Lev had begged him to come out, insisting that he would wither away if he didn’t get some sun and some food. The only thing Chaz held onto was that his mother said she would always be with him; and if she was a fairy, that was truly possible.

  Maybe.

  Cezar lined up his shot, only to be bumped by a drunken man walking back to his table. Chaz winced as Cezar whipped around and grabbed the man by the throat — dangling the man above the floor.

  “Watch where you are going!” Cezar hissed.

  “Now, now, boys.” Chaz placed a hand on Cezar’s shoulder. “It was an accident, isn’t that right?” Chaz leaned into the man's face with a grin.

  “Yeah,” the man rasped. “Put me down, man!”

  Cezar growled and Chaz leaned into his ear. “I can see you want to drop your fangs, but please don’t do that here,” he whispered.

  Cezar let go and stepped back.

  “Stay out of my way,” he sneered.

  “Dude, no prob!” The man put his hands up in defense. “Jesus, you on drugs?”

  Chaz interrupted Cezar before he opened his mouth and made things worse. “Nope, just takes his vitamins.”

  “Yes, if by ‘vitamins’ you mean blood.” Lucian leered.

  “What? Is that some ‘Twilight’ reference?” the man guffawed.

  “I do not sparkle!” Cezar roared.

  “All righty then!” Chaz dragged Cezar and Lucian back to the pool table. “Could you two work on being, ah, polite and non-violent in public?”

  “Not gonna happen.” Sawyer twirled his pool stick. “They are like Killian through and through.”

  “I am getting better.” Killian raised his brows.

  “Yes you are.” Stone placed a calming hand on Killian’s bicep. “You’re making progress by leaps and bounds.”

  “I do not want to progress.” Cezar furrowed his brows. “I am fine the way I am.”

  “Sure you are,” Chaz chuckled.

  “Can we get back to the game at hand?” Troy motioned to the pool table.

  Chaz leaned against the wall and winked at Lev. He was at the bar with Sam and Dakota getting them a drink. In all the years he’d thought about Lev, he certainly never thought the reason for his departure was that he was a werewolf. How strange was life? A tingling sensation spread up his back and Chaz scanned the bar. Chance was watching him carefully, and Chaz lifted a brow in question.

  Chance approached. “You felt that?”

  “Explain what ‘that’ is?”

  “I sent a small wave of power your way. That you felt it tells me something.”

  “Oh?”

  “You are definitely supernatural. Now we just need to find out how exactly.”

  “How are you going to go about that?”

  “I think time will tell, Chaz. When it’s meant to be known, it will be.”

  “Never a dull moment with you guys.”

  Chance grinned. “Nope.”

  “Where’s Logan?” Chaz peeked around the bar.

  “Outside, walking the perimeter. He’s very protective.”

  “And you love it.”

  “Sometimes.” Chance shrugged his shoulders. “Sometimes it bothers me that he thinks I can’t take care of myself. But seeing how I screwed up so badly early on, I can see why he feels the need to be overprotective.”

  “Screwed up?”

  Chance sighed. “No one told you?”

  “Told me what?”

  “Well, that’s surprising seeing how you got the whole Dakota/Sam story when you got to the reservation.”

  “Were you bad?” Chaz chuckled.

  “More like naïve, and I almost got Jude killed.”

  “People make mistakes, Chance. It’s what you learn from those mistakes that shapes yo
u.”

  Chance smiled. “You’re a good guy, Chaz.”

  “Meh.” Chaz tilted his head. “Maybe.”

  “You gave Lev another chance.”

  “Well, you helped out with that. It’s hard to stay mad at someone when you can literally see their past.”

  Chance nodded. “He was very much in love with you — still is.”

  “I love him, too.” Chaz grinned as Lev made his way over with their drinks.

  “Did I miss something?” Lev asked, as he handed Chaz his drink.

  “Nope, just talking about how wonderful you are.”

  “Oh, do go on then.” Lev sipped his drink with a smirk.

  “Heads up.” Killian raised a hand. “We have company.”

  Lucian closed his eyes. “Yes, we do.”

  “Everyone get to the cars, let’s go.” Sam motioned to the men.

  ~*~

  The reservation was bustling with the team members and the Twelve Olympians. Lev took a deep breath of clean air and eyed Killian.

  “How far away?”

  “A few hours. Their plane landed on a small airstrip in Seattle.”

  A van pulled into the driveway and Stefan Santorno jumped out, right hand man Lorenzo Costa right behind him. Lev made his way over and extended his hand to both men.

  “Good to see you, Mr. Santorno.”

  “It’s Stefan.” Stefan smiled, shaking Lev’s hand.

  Lev nodded, “Stefan. How are you, Lorenzo?”

  “I am ready to kill.” Lorenzo observed his surroundings. “I think the tree line will be the best vantage point.”

  “Wayne is on his way. The rest of the men are two minutes out.”

  “Everyone get into position.” Sam motioned to all of them. “We need to be ready to take these fuckers by surprise.”

  “Well, that is what we do.”

  Sam turned with a grin. His fellow original Skull Blasters Josh Montgomery and Mateo Esposito were making their way toward the group.

  “Matt.” Sam bumped his fist. “Josh. Let’s give these guys a grand sendoff, shall we?” He signaled for Troy. “Man, it’s great to have the four of us together again!”

  “Move and stay frosty.” Mateo winked.

  Lev took Chaz by the hand, walking with him toward Joe and Nadine’s.

  “I don’t want any arguments from you, Chaz. You stay here, hidden with Nadine and Joe. Okay?”

  “Promise me you’ll kick ass.” Chaz held Lev tightly.

  “I promise. We have a lot of time to make up for, Chaz. I plan on spending the rest of my life making things up to you.”

  “Just be with me; that’s all I want.” Chaz whispered.

  “You got it.” Lev winked. He turned to Joe and Nadine. “You guys stay low.”

  “Got it.” Joe smiled.

  Lev hugged Chaz and kissed him softly. “I’ll be right back.”

  “I’ll hold you to that.”

  **

  The dark sky concealed them among the shadows of the forest. Lev was on point, eyeing the road coming onto the reservation. Everyone was on edge waiting for Mario Bonini to make his entrance. The sound of a motor on the road alerted them that their company had indeed arrived.

  Lev sent a telepathic message to Wayne, who in turn nodded to Stefan Santorno.

  “I do not like this, Stefan.” Lorenzo warned.

  “When have you ever known me to give a shit, Lorenzo?” Stefan winked.

  Lorenzo grimaced.

  “I spy with my little eye…” Nikolai sing-songed through his headset.

  “I detect quite a few of them.” Killian tilted his head. “At least thirty.”

  “Well then, let’s get this show on the road.” Wayne motioned to the Olympians. “How about giving us some cover?”

  “Can do, Wayne.” Skylar grinned.

  “Cezar, Lucian, are you two ready?” Wayne asked.

  Cezar shimmered into Chaz and shook his arms out. “Ready to go.”

  “Let’s show Bonini how we do things out here on the Res.” Troy stood and removed his clothing. “Let’s go.”

  Lev watched as the car came to a stop in the middle of the reservation. A man jumped out. Stefan stood in the middle of the road, hands behind his back.

  “Stefan.” Mario smiled. “How good it is to see you.”

  “Pity I can’t say the same.”

  “I’m sure you realize why we’re here?”

  “I’m sure you realize we are ready.”

  “Is that so?” Mario chuckled. “All I see is you.”

  “Well then.” Stefan motioned to the trees. “Surprise.”

  Lev leapt out of the woods with the rest of the team as weapons fired from all directions. Stefan rolled to the ground as Mario tried to shoot him. Lev tackled the first rogue that jumped at him as the rest of the guys went to work. The Twelve Olympians conjured up a storm to end all storms. Lightning crackled across the sky and the Earth shook with thunder. Sheets of rain poured down on them as blood soaked the ground. An energy ball sailed by Lev and he scanned the area looking for Chance.

  “Chance! They’ve got warlocks!” he shouted.

  “No shit!” Chance replied, deflecting an energy ball. It slammed into the house and took half the porch off.

  “I think we need to release the hounds, Wayne!” Lev roared over the storm.

  Wayne whistled and the rest of the team poured out of the woods in wolf form. Bonini’s rogues tried and failed to shift quickly enough to engage. The werewolves took them out one by one with no trouble.

  Bonini stood toe to toe with Stefan Santorno in the middle of it all and Lev hoped the mobster knew what he was doing.

  Lightning streaked across the sky, parting the clouds and unloading a torrential rainfall. Skylar stood with Ryder, controlling the elements as a war raged on around them. It seemed as if their entire army was there, fighting to keep everyone they loved safe.

  Killian and Cezar were trying to keep Bonini’s men off guard, as both of them had shifted — Cezar into Chaz and Killian into Lev.

  Bonini’s warlocks were giving Chance and Lucian a run for their money. Energy balls sizzled across the turbulent air, each missing their mark. Chance whirled around, back to back with Lucian and surveyed the battle.

  Lev flipped over a rogue, taking his head off almost as an afterthought. He backed into Nikolai Markov and held his sword out.

  “Well, this is fun!” he shouted.

  “Never a dull moment!” Nikolai gripped Lev’s forearm and hauled him over to the other side. A streak of light whizzed past them and Lev nodded to Nik.

  “Thanks!”

  He turned to find two Chaz Savages to his right. One locked in battle, the other running toward him.

  “Killian?”

  “I am here!” Killian shouted, never taking his eye off his opponent.

  Lev’s eyes widened. “Chaz? What are you doing here?”

  “They infiltrated the house! Joe and Nadine locked themselves in the panic room and Kane is tearing the rogues apart!”

  “Get back inside!” Lev shouted.

  “I’m not leaving you!”

  “You can’t fight this, Chaz! They’re not human!” His eyes widened as one of Bonini’s warlocks sent an energy ball from the palm of his hand.

  “Chaz! Watch out!” Lev ran, but he was too late. The bright ball slammed into Chaz’s chest. “No!”

  Lev ran to Chaz’s side and dropped to his knees. The warlock cackled behind him and Lev looked over his shoulder.

  “He can’t come back from that, werewolf,” he crowed.

  Lev eyed Stefan Santorno in the grip of Mario Bonini. Half of him knew he should be helping the mobster, but he couldn’t leave Chaz’s side. Their eyes met and Stefan shook his head no.

  “I knew it would come to this, Stefan.” Bonini held Stefan by his throat, dangling him off the ground.

  “So did I.” Stefan plunged the knife into Mario’s chest, piercing his heart. Seconds later, Lorenzo cut Mario
’s head clean off.

  “Get down!” Skylar shouted.

  A wave of energy stood his hair on end and Lev covered Chaz’s lifeless body. The remaining rogues were turned to ash as the Olympians pooled their powers.

  “Chaz!” Lev shook him. He bent over to listen for a breath, a heartbeat, anything. “Don’t you do this!” Lev shook Chaz again, rain mixing with his tears as the realization hit him.

  Chaz was dead.

  “No! This can’t happen, dammit!” Lev looked towards the heavens. “You can’t take him now!”

  A light shimmered off in the distance and then a woman walked out of the forest. Lev held Chaz in his arms as she came nearer.

  “Stay away from him!” Lev sobbed.

  “I’m sorry,” she said, sadly, placing a hand on Chaz.

  “What or who, is that?” Skylar whispered to Chance.

  “A Valkyrie,” Chance said in awe.

  “A whowhatie?”

  The woman bent closer and stiffened, she backed up with a hand to her chest.

  “No, this cannot be!” she wailed. Her head darted from side to side and then she closed her eyes. “Arawn. Come to me.”

  “Chaz.” Lev touched the pale, cold skin of Chaz’s face and then collapsed on him.

  The sound of hoofs and dogs resounded around the reservation and Lev looked up to see a pale horse emerge from the forest, trailed by hound dogs. The man atop the horse wore thick armor, and a black robe flowed from behind him. A mask of some sort obscured his face, but Lev was scared to death at the sight alone.

  “Kara!”

  The deep voice shook the ground beneath Lev and he held onto Chaz firmly as the man jumped from his horse and landed with a thud right beside the woman.

  “He’s dead.” The woman turned to look at Chaz. “I must take him to Odin. I can’t…”

  Lev held Chaz closer as the man walked toward them. Lev growled as the man reached out to touch Chaz. Even behind the mask, Lev could hear a hitch of breath coming from the monster of a man in front of him.

  “He is my son,” he announced.

  Lev blinked. “Who are you?”

  “I’m am Arawn, Celtic god of the underworld. Chaz is my child with Kara.”