In the Arms of the Beast

by K. A. Merikan

  He grabbed the door handle and jerked it back and forth in a desperate attempt at opening the door. He wasn’t even in pain, the sparks jumping off the console had barely grazed his skin, but his mind was already thrust into a world in which the whole cab filled with flames like his mom’s car had.

  Beast would never forget her screams, and a part of him was grateful that she was unconscious and not suffering anymore when he pulled her limp, burning body out of the car. He’d been so set on saving her he hardly remembered any pain through the adrenaline that had pumped in his veins. The pain came later, when he lay in a hospital bed wrapped in bandages like a mummy.

  And now it was back, burning his skin from the inside out and putting all his senses on high alert. The flames were already reaching out to him with their sharp fingers, and the cab filled with the stench of burnt meat.

  Beast’s heart worked so fast he could hardly breathe, and when slamming his fists and elbow into the window ended in pain rather than freedom, he sought something he could use as a hammer. But there was nothing. Nothing.

  He was suddenly up against the one opponent he wished to never meet again—flames clawing at him from the console, toxic air filling his lungs and making it impossible to breathe.

  He hadn’t even realized he’d been screaming before someone smashed the window from outside, letting in glorious fresh air and extending a bloodied hand to him.

  “Get out! Get out!” Magpie yelled, and somewhere in the background, Beast recognized more yelling, but he had no idea who it was. He didn’t know if it was the fumes or if his eyes were losing their focus, but everything beyond his immediate proximity was a thick blur. The heat was rising fast, and when he made the desperate attempt to slide through the broken glass, the pieces left behind bit into his hands.

  “Help!” he choked out, grabbing at Magpie, who struggled with Beast’s much greater size. Something large dashed toward them amidst the chaos, and before Beast could have added two and two together, he was flying, with a stone-hard, hot arm pressed to his chest.

  Ground was no longer under his feet, but that meant the fire was away from him too. He coughed, trying to rid his throat of smoke, and when he finally looked up, he saw what he’d already suspected.

  Jake in his horned gargoyle form held Beast under one arm and Magpie under the other, and as the three of them flew into the air, the cab burst in flames, some of which exploded through the broken window. Beast could neither think nor breathe, feeling searing pain crawling all over his body, consuming all that was left as if he were still trapped inside the vehicle.

  When his feet touched the ground, his knees were too weak to keep him upright, and he collapsed, burying his face in the undergrowth to smell its earthy scent, and convince himself that he wasn’t on fire. That he’d been saved in the last seconds before his life could have come to an abrupt stop, yet again.

  “Holy shit,” Knight said, already at his side, but Beast was fine. He was always fine, and a tiny bit of fire couldn’t change that, even if the entrapment still left him with an uneasy tension running up and down his chest.

  Vars, Gray, and Shadow were trying to deal with the inferno, but Beast remembered what happened at the end and looked at Magpie, who sat cross-legged next to him. Malachite tried to take care of an ugly cut running along his master’s forearm, but Magpie shushed him, shaking his head like a child, and briefly covering the wound with the torn sleeve of his shirt.

  To be fair, it didn’t seem like he was bleeding out.

  “Thank you,” Beast whispered, so drained he couldn’t bring himself to get up just yet.

  Only now was his brain getting enough oxygen for him to connect the dots. Magpie had broken the glass from the outside and put his hands into the fire to help Beast out. The act was so uncharacteristically unselfish, Beast didn’t know what to think.

  “Are you fine?” Magpie asked, crawling closer instead of attending to the wound on his arm, which looked way worse from up close, with some of the flesh parting like a chicken breast cut a quarter of an inch deep.

  Beast frowned. “Are you?”

  Magpie stared at his forearm with a scowl. “No, I’m in pain, and my Yohji Yamamoto shirt is ruined, but I can’t have my child’s father die before Marcel is even born.”

  Joker snorted somewhere in the background, but Beast no longer found Magpie’s words amusing or offensive. If creating Marcel for Beast and Laurent had made Magpie see them all as his family then so be it. The man had just taken a massive risk to save Beast’s life. That counted for something.

  “Thanks. You should get that taken care of,” Beast said, indicating the cut.

  Malachite was, as always, hiding behind men-in-black type shades, but the concern painted all over his face wasn’t even comical. Whatever his relationship with Magpie was, he really did care for his master.

  “Please, let me take you to the camp.”

  Magpie glanced at the wrecked machine with a sigh, but eventually allowed Malachite to help him up. As they made their way toward the golden Hummer, Joker scooted by Beast, with his silly grin in place.

  “And there I was, thinking you didn’t appreciate the barbeque,” Joker said and handed him a bottle of water.

  Gray was approaching with an empty extinguisher in hand, but the concern on his face was clear too.

  “I switched it off!” Shadow boasted, following him with springy steps.

  Beast sat in the grass, trying to even out his breathing, despite the burning stench reminding him of the danger he’d barely escaped. Nausea kept assaulting his senses until Knight nudged his thigh with the tip of his boot, triggering a boost of annoyance in Beast’s veins.

  “What?”

  Knight scowled but showed him the open bottom of the console. “The batteries are fine, but someone cut one of the wires inside. The thing did work just yesterday, so I don’t know what the fuck happened.”

  The sinking feeling in Beast’s chest pushed him back into the memory of flames, and he started coughing.

  It was Fox who voiced Beast’s thoughts instead. “Are you saying we have a rat working against us?”

  Beast clenched his teeth, trying to rein in the anger exploding in his chest. “What else do you think this looks like?”

  Knight shook his head without the usual smile and pointed to the charred cab of the machine they never had the chance to use. “This is fucked for the day.”

  Beast couldn’t believe they had a traitor in their own house. As if things weren’t bad enough already. He could have died before even meeting his child. “When we find who it is, he’s dead. Don’t even think about it. Shoot the bastard on sight.”

  Chapter 22 - Laurent

  Laurent was attempting to distract himself by cleaning the counter for the tenth time, but his mind was still racing after the text message from Elliot. Something had happened with the trees, but Laurent was stuck waiting to find out what. Elliot had been vague and then stopped answering, so Knight must have either told him not to, or Elliot was too busy with his boyfriend to care about Laurent. He was a good friend, but whenever Knight came into the picture, Elliot lost his damn mind.

  Laurent had left Marcel in Nao’s care, because he’d gotten his lesson and realized that taking the egg to work had been a stupid idea from the start. If the situation allowed it, Laurent would have left Marcel with Jake, for maximum protection in case of any emergency, but all the guys had been busy, so that hadn’t been an option. And while Nao could act crazy sometimes, and led a life that wasn’t moral by most people’s standards, she was a good friend and her efficiency in keeping the clubhouse stocked up and working proved that she was responsible where it counted.

  Laurent had promised to trust Beast, but the lack of information made him itch all over as if nervous ants crawled under his clothes. He wasn’t like Elliot, and couldn’t stand being pushed to the side when others worked hard. He’d had time to think about the sins and virtues idea, so at least that helped him feel useful, but
time moved at the pace of a snail as he waited for the end of his work day.

  Tierra stared at her smartphone with a deep scowl while putting the chairs on top of tables. “Jesus. Men. Laurent, can you tell me why guys always want to butt heads with everyone?”

  Laurent licked his lips. Navigating conversation in the workplace was very different from the freedom of expression he experienced at the club.

  “It is a man’s prerogative to prove himself.”

  Tierra’s brows lowered over her large brown eyes, and the look she gave him made Laurent perspire. Women of the future were so hard to understand, between their numerous freedoms and unpredictable morals.

  “I get that he wants to be confident and all that, but we’re having an issue with our neighbors, and he just went primal on them instead of trying to talk first. I told him I was going to deal with it once I’m back.”

  Laurent busied his hands with rearranging the pastries left behind the glass counter. “Is it not his duty to protect you?”

  Tierra burst out laughing and went on to put up chairs by the next table in line. “From what? Loud music? I’m pretty sure the neighbors would have reacted better if I came over with cookies and asked them to take it down a notch. But now he’s made a mess out of it and it’s going downhill fast.”

  Laurent stilled. “Oh no, there must still be a way to amend things. Me and… Kai. We have our differences, but we always manage to find an appropriate conclusion. I admit though that it does take the effort of both sides.”

  Tierra sighed. “Yeah, well, my man always thinks he knows best. He’s a sweetheart to me, he really is, but he can be so bull-headed.”

  “Sounds like my ex wife,” Mr. Linde said, suddenly emerging from the backroom. Had he been eavesdropping on his staff?

  Tierra looked the other way, but Laurent still saw her roll her eyes.

  “Oh? And how did you navigate that, Kenneth?” Laurent asked, happy to hear more than one story. “I have a certain issue that I want to present to Kai, but I’m not sure how to convince him to my idea, so any advice is welcome.”

  Mr. Linde sat in one of the chairs still remaining on the floor and rubbed the side of his moustache. “She got really into veganism, and I was okay with it at first, because, you know, I am a man of compromise, but as she went deeper down that rabbit hole, she demanded I only eat animal products outside the house. In the end, she said she could smell the meat in my sweat and decided to move out.”

  This story wasn’t helpful at all.

  Tierra gave a low sigh. “So that was the end of your marriage?”

  Linde cleared his throat. “No. She cheated on me with a vegan and moved him into our apartment.”

  Laurent’s lips parted. Modern relationships were something he couldn’t grasp. Every time he thought he understood how people operated, his assumptions were proven wrong. “That is indeed irreconcilable. Marriage is a sacred vow. One must strive to make compromise once one chooses a spouse.”

  Yet instead of talking, he’d shunned Beast to purposefully hurt him. He was a hypocrite. Then again, he wasn't, because he’d seen his own errors and became a better man already. So yes, he needed Beast to see his idea as a viable course of action, but would attempt to constrain bouts of anger if his husband chose to remain bull-headed about it.

  Tierra shifted her weight. “Well, both me and Kenneth are divorced, Laurent. Sometimes, things don’t work out, and there’s no point staying with someone who doesn’t make you happy.”

  “Here, here!” Mr. Linde said, raising his glass of cold brew in a toast.

  Maybe that was the core of it? Whatever disagreement they might have, Beast made Laurent happy in ways he could have never even comprehended before they’d met. Beast made Laurent’s wildest dreams come true, he was Laurent’s family, his love, and proved nothing could stand between them, including the devil himself.

  Laurent was sure the two of them could have even overcome veganism.

  And speaking of the devil, Beast’s towering presence filled the doorway, and he knocked on the glass, offering Laurent a smile. So he wasn’t injured at least. Technically, Laurent had already known this much, since Elliot would have told him, were that not the case, but it was still a relief to see his husband in one piece.

  Mr. Linde stood, finishing his drink. “You can go. We’re almost done with the cleanup anyway.”

  Beast opened the door for Laurent and smiled at Mr. Linde. “I heard about the break-in. Glad nothing got stolen. If you have any trouble in the future, give me a call, yeah?”

  Laurent could barely comprehend the audacity of that statement, but he supposed it would direct suspicion away from them.

  Mr. Linde groaned. “Yeah. Nothing important was stolen. I guess they got spooked by the police. Must have been some kids.”

  “I did like that bracelet though. Was cheap, but I got it on vacation. It was a keepsake,” Tierra complained as she finished wiping down the tables and tossed the cloth into the sink behind the counter.

  Laurent made a mental note to pretend he’d found it in the alleyway when taking out the trash. “Scoundrels,” he said, before leaving in a hurry, because this conversation was putting cold sweat on his back.

  Truth was though that no money, no bracelet, and even other people’s property didn’t count when Marcel’s safety was on the line.

  Magpie stood outside in one of his expensive outfits, and Laurent was surprised to see a thick layer of bandages covering his forearm to the elbow. But the more pressing question was: what was he doing here?

  Beast pulled Laurent close and gave him a soft peck on the lips. He tasted of minty toothpaste, which meant he’d either just eaten—which was unlikely, considering his routine—or he wanted to be prepared for this exact moment.

  “How was your day?” Beast asked, pulling Laurent toward his car.

  Laurent held Beast’s hand, but still looked back at Magpie who followed them with the smile of Mona Lisa. “Tierra gave me a sourdough bread recipe, so I’m excited to try doing that. I’m learning so much. I know this whole endeavour began because of bad blood between us, but I’m actually finding it very satisfying. How about you?”

  Beast cleared his throat and opened the passenger door for Laurent, being so extra nice it was making Laurent suspicious already. “Oh, it went… okay. We have only one injury,” he said, nodding toward Magpie, who sat in the back, staring at the crumbs of food and empty food packaging littering the cab, with distaste. Laurent supposed it was high time Beast cleaned his car, but his man was too busy with other things to worry about such trivial matters.

  “I have heard scraps from Elliot, but I would appreciate it if you kept me informed,” Laurent said. There. He could be diplomatic when he wanted. “I am very sorry to hear you were injured, Jasper.”

  Beast squeezed the steering wheel, and the gesture made Laurent stiffen, because Beast rarely showed such involuntary signs of stress. “We tried to get rid of one of the trees but the machine was sabotaged. I think Baal might have put a mole inside the clubhouse, and it has to be someone who doesn’t know what’s coming. Any of the hangarounds would fit the bill. And I can’t get rid of them or he’ll take you away from me.”

  “A perilous predicament indeed,” Magpie said from the backseat, his face stiff. Laurent’s precious brooch was pinned to his collar, and Laurent tried to forget how much he missed it. He’d given it up for a good cause.

  As soon as Beast started driving, Laurent put his hand on his arm and was surprised to feel him flinch. “I know this might not be a good moment, but I was planning to do some shopping today. Would you mind turning toward the supermarket? I’m sorry for the inconvenience, Jasper. I want to be sure I have all the products necessary for Marcel in case he hatches soon. Also, what happened to you?” he asked Beast, staring at his arm but finding it difficult to say if there were any injuries on the densely tattooed skin.

  Beast told Laurent what had occurred during his absence, and as his voice got
raspy when he mentioned the fire, Laurent wanted to crawl into his lap and close him in his arms until both of them could forget all about the danger.

  Magpie had turned out to be a hero in all this, which made Laurent ashamed of all the times he’d mocked the flamboyant camp Magpie had set up because he claimed the clubhouse didn’t have appropriate facilities for a lengthy stay.

  Anger about not being invited to the whole event flared up in Laurent in an instant, but he quelled the fire by deeply inhaling the pleasant, citrussy scent of the car. Beast had been right. Laurent wouldn’t have been useful during the fire. On the contrary, he might have distracted Beast when he needed to remain clear-headed.

  “We can get some salve for the burns at the shop as well.” Laurent pulled Beast’s hand to his lips and gave it a kiss.

  Magpie remained still for most of the conversation, his eyes, blue as two sapphires, watched the town buildings pass by as if he were seeing them for the first time. The Hummer had darkened windows, so perhaps that was the case. They were just off the Greek revival-style town hall when Magpie finally spoke.

  “I know you’re not comfortable with my involvement most of the time, but perhaps I could go with you to the store, pay for Marcel’s things? I would like to be certain he has the best of everything.”

  Beast glanced at Laurent with the question in his eyes clear as day.

  “I would hate to inconvenience you—” Laurent started.

  Magpie shook his head. “Not at all! Nothing will take my mind off the pain better than this.”

  It was settled then. Not a bad compromise. Magpie wanted to be included and Laurent wouldn’t mind him paying, but Beast was quick to cut in.

  “Don’t worry about the money. We can afford it, but maybe you could offer some... insight.”

  Magpie’s face brightened as if he’d just been told a child of his own was on the way, and he settled in the seat with more comfort. “I do actually. When I was saving Beast’s life, my own flashed before my eyes, and I couldn’t help but think of Marcel. Isn’t having a child strange? It’s not you, but it’s… a part of you, so in some way… it is you.”