by A R DeClerck
“You are right.” Sage lifted Gio’s chin with a finger. “I was the fool.”
Gio opened his mouth, but it was Sage’s turn.
“I Saw something very important in that cave. A future that must never come true. A future without you. I cannot, and I will not, be the man I Saw.”
“Was he so awful?” Gio whispered, bending to kiss Sage’s knuckles again. “What is it that I do to make you so much better?”
“Everything. That man was an empty shell, full of deep regret and sadness. Alive, but not living. You’re my heartbeat, Gio. Without you I’m only a ghost.”
A tear rolled down Gio’s cheek, and Sage wiped it away.
“Does this mean we can go home?” Gio asked with a sigh. “I really hate the cold.”
Sage laughed. “I like it. Cuddled here, next to the fire with you, while the cold keeps everyone else away.”
“That does sound divine.” Gio moved to lie next to Sage on the narrow cot covered in furs. He fit himself against Sage’s body and put his head over the beat of Sage’s heart. “Don’t ever try to leave me, again.”
“You left me first,” Sage joked, stroking Gio’s hair. If he was up to it, there was more he’d like to stroke, but he knew his body was still weak from the cold. Instead, he pulled Gio closer and put his cheek against the top of the other man’s head. “I came looking for answers.”
“To what questions?”
“How to make you mine forever. To keep you, even when it might be right to let you go.”
“That’s easy.” Gio leaned up on an elbow to stare down at Sage. “I could have saved you the trip.”
“And missed my grand adventure in the snow?” Sage grinned. “That would have been too easy. I never would have met Brother Wolf.”
“As in the Brother Wolf? Patron spirit of the Skifta people?”
“One and the same. He told me some things I had to know. Helped me find the answers I needed.”
“And what answers did you find in the Mo-I Rana?” Gio wondered.
“Sometimes, it is only when faced with losing what we love that we learn to cherish it. That’s what Brother Wolf might say.” Sage stared hard into Gio’s eyes and called up his Gift. His reflection wavered and became a vision.
The lake was dark with the oncoming storm. Sage rocked in his chair and watched the clouds gather over the mountains. It would rain soon, but he didn’t want to lose a moment of the fresh air until he had to. He looked up when a hand smoothed over his head to squeeze his neck.
“Time to come in, old man.”
Sage grinned. He was old now, and he hadn’t aged as well as Gio. Then again, he figured he never did anything as well as Gio. Still, they’d had forty good years together, so he was doing something right. “I was waiting on the rain.”
“You know what Bas said. No more pneumonia.”
“Let an old man have his peace while he can.” Sage pulled Gio down to his lap and kissed his lips. “I don’t have much more left.”
“It’s been a good ride, hasn’t it?”
Gio snuggled close and they stared off at the lake. Bas, Jessy and Karoline were traveling up to visit later, and there was much to do to get ready. But the men weren’t ready to go in yet.
“I recall a time when neither of us was sure this future was going to happen,” Sage said softly. He looked down at his hands, tangled with Gio’s. They were wrinkled and soft now. Hands that had spent hours pleasuring Gio. An old man’s hands.
“We have been happy, haven’t we?”
“Yes.” Lightning sparked on the horizon as thunder rumbled. “Yes, we are.” In the distance, the howl of a wolf rang through the trees.
“What did you see?” Gio asked when Sage blinked himself back to the present.
“Us. The vision I Saw the first time we came to the Mo-I.”
“We were happy? Together?”
“Old.” Sage chuckled when Gio wrinkled up his nose in distaste. “You age well, no worries.”
“I’m not worried about me.” Gio grinned when Sage glared. He sobered and stroked Sage’s chin. “Honey, there comes a time in a man’s life when he has to reach into his sequined handbag, pull out all the fucks he doesn’t give, and sprinkle that shit around like confetti. I figure I’ll be ready for that around seventy.”
Sage laughed until his sides hurt. When he was able to catch his breath, he pulled Gio’s mouth to his and kissed him until they were both breathless. He savored the feel of Gio’s skin under his palms, the taste of him. Could he really be lucky enough to spend the rest of his life with this man?
“I can tell you what else I Saw,” he whispered.
“Oh? What did you See?”
“I saw happiness. Love. Beyond anything we could ever imagine.”
“When did you See that?”
“When I saw you.”
THE END
The trying is what matters.
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Also by AR DeClerck
A Jack Frost Story
The Naughty List
A Key Holder Novel
Wayward
A Wild Moon Story
When I Saw You
Shadowlyte Shifters Saga
Dogs of War
Standalone
A Kiss for Krampus
Love in the Time of Coffee
Dolor
The Gemini Incentive
Watch for more at AR DeClerck’s site.
About the Author
AR DeClerck is a wife, mother, romance writer and all-around goofball. Reading ninja, food assassin and self-proclaimed nerd.
AR writes romance from the comfort of her couch in her little house on the Mighty Mississippi. She hopes her readers remember what it's like to fall in love.
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