Lacey's Luhpynes [Beyond the Veil 1] (Siren Publishing Ménage and More)

by Honor James

  Thorin chuckled. “No, you definitely have that right. I will put in the appropriate calls and get all their files.” Leaning back in his seat he looked at Lacey. “Your mother will want to meet your mate, Zhubin. Bring her for dinner one night soon.”

  “Of course, Father,” he bowed his head slightly. “She is well?” he asked, looking to the screen again.

  “She is, her usual self. And bring Ansell. He needs some mothering according to her. She will not relent, Ansell, so don’t think you’ll get out of it like the last time.” Thorin replied in a low gravely tone, almost a growl.

  “Yes sir,” the Luhpyne to her left muttered.

  “I’ll be in touch once I have news,” Thorin said, leaning back in his chair.

  She was a complete and total fool. She sat there and looked at the markings on his wrist and closed her eyes. “God I’m such a fucking idiot,” she muttered and looked at the Regent. “No offense, sir, but your son is an ass, he and his friend both. They should have fucking said something,” she muttered darkly. “So I think until I’m over my pissiness I shouldn’t be around you or your gentle wife. I think that I might offend her by pulling their heads off and beating them.”

  “I seriously doubt it, child,” Thorin told her and chuckled. “But you can deal with them before you come for dinner. No violence at the table is permitted,” he said and looked to his son. “Explain to her, Zhubin, and make this right,” he ordered and the screen went blank.

  Moving to the screen, Ansell turned it off before turning to look at her while Zhubin sat next to her. “We thought you had a relationship, Lacey. While we are fated mates, we would never presume that you’d want us just because we bear the marks that say we can lay claim to you. That was not how we were raised. So we stayed in the background as much as we could yet were there if things changed. While we are guilty of not saying anything neither did you, Lacey.”

  “Because I was trying to protect you,” she grumbled. “He fucking wanted you. Not just me, but he wanted you too. He wanted to take you down. He knew who you were and as soon as I met you I knew who you were as well.” She began to rub her temples and shook her head. “Besides, what in the hell gave you the impression that I was seeing someone? I never went home with anyone, never talked about dating, never had an image of anyone. Nothing. Lordy.”

  “Besides the flowers and gifts we never got a look at?” Ansell asked. “Oh, not much. Secretive phone calls where you shut up when we were in earshot. Sighs, longing looks out a window. Not much in the least really.”

  “Ansell,” Zhubin said, softly putting his cuff back on. “Leave her be. We’re all at fault here because we didn’t just come out with it right off. We more than her.” He looked to her. “If you want to go home I’ll take you now,” he offered quietly.

  “Flowers and gifts that wind up in the garbage or with forensics,” she said and sighed. “Christ what a damn mess,” she muttered. “Well now it’s all out there on the table.” She wrapped her arms around her body and shook her head. “I don’t know why he hates you guys as much as he does, but he does. Now that it’s out in the open that we are mates he’s going to come harder and faster at me, at you guys,” she added. “And that scares the hell out of me. How am I supposed to be able to help keep you safe?”

  “You’re not,” Zhubin told her quietly touching her hand. Sighing he stood up. “Come on, Lacey. You’re in no shape to be alone. You can take one of the guest rooms and even keep the mutts with you if you’d like. But you have a concussion and shouldn’t be alone at all right now. Plus I’ll feel better knowing you’re somewhere he can’t get to without being killed.”

  “How did you know about the break-ins?” As soon as she asked the question she realized that he didn’t know about them. “Fuck,” she grumbled. “You didn’t know about them.” She rubbed the back of her neck and stood after several minutes. “I think that I would like to have the wolves with me, if you don’t mind letting me have them for a night?” They weren’t the wolves she wanted, but that was all well good and fine.

  Nodding, he whistled, nails scrambling on wood sounded a moment later. Both wolves came to a stop at the alert. “Stand down boys,” he said to them. They turned back into the slobbering pups and began to hop around. “You sure you want them?” he asked, looking at her. At her nod he shook his head. “They are bed hogs, just so you know. Upstairs, boys,” he ordered them and walked out ahead of her toward the stairs.

  Pulling her weapon from its holster she unchambered the round and ejected the cartridge. “Do you have a weapons safe you place your guns in?” She didn’t like keeping a weapon out, ever, it was simply too dangerous. “If not do you have a drawer that I can put it in?” She was a sleepwalker and sometimes she had grabbed her weapon, so she had learned that it was best to simply keep it in a weapon safe.

  Nodding, he held out a hand for it. “I’ll put it in the safe in my room.” Leading her along the hall he pushed open a door and turned on the lights. “Bathroom’s there.” He pointed. “Fresh towels are on the shelf, there should be extra toothbrushes and paste in one of the drawers of the vanity. If you need more pillows or blankets, there are extras in the closet there.” Again, he pointed. “Demon, Devil, guard her,” he said, looking to each wolf and rubbed their ears. “And don’t smother her in her sleep if you would, please.”

  Sighing, she looked at the wolves. “Yes, smothering me would just seriously suck. It really and truly is not a good thing. I think that I want to be able to live life, to have a life after this.” She passed her weapon off to Zhubin and asked, “You are certain you don’t mind having me here? You sure that you are okay with me being in this room in your home?”

  “I’d prefer you in my bed but this will do, I suppose,” he told her with a shrug. “I’ll grab you a shirt you can use to sleep in. If you drop your clothes outside the door I’ll throw them in the wash and dryer before I go to bed. At least they’ll be blood-free and clean to wear tomorrow as we figure out our next move on the case and with this mongrel.”

  She wondered what he would think if she told him that was what she wanted as well. Instead she nodded. “I will put them just outside the door. A shirt will be wonderful, thank you.” She sighed and rubbed her forehead. “My head is splitting. I really and truly think that maybe I will feel better after a nice long nap,” she hoped.

  “I’ll come and check on you in a couple hours, just to make sure you’re not lying comatose. The wolves won’t growl at me or Ansell. So if they do growl, assume the worst. Though anything that comes into the room will end up with a huge surprise from these two pussycats.” Stepping out of the room he disappeared for a few minutes and came back with a tee. “Here you go.” He handed it to her.

  “Fair enough,” she said and took the tee from him. “How are we going to work our way past this? The two of you are the best partners that I’ve ever had, I like to think friends as well. How are we going to get past this?” she asked softly.

  Stepping in he touched her cheek. “We’re not going to do anything tonight. We’re tired, been banged around from an explosion and you have a headache. We’ll talk in the morning,” he said softly, stroking his fingers down her cheek. Dropping his hand, he tipped his head. “If you need something more for your head later there should be some generic stuff in the drawer with the toothbrushes. I’ll come check on you in a couple hours. Sleep well, Lacey,” he murmured, stepping back with a small bow.

  “Thanks,” she said and moved back from him. Closing the door, she peeled out of her clothes and shot a look to the wolves on her bed. “Oh quit watching, you perverts,” she teased and walked buck-assed naked to the bathroom so that she could finish getting ready for bed. Walking back to her pile of clothes, she bent to pick them up, sighing, and said, “Fuck me that hurts,” scooping them up and folding them before placing them outside the door. Dimming the lights she walked to the bed and climbed up and into the already warmed bed with the two massive wolves. “You boys are warm, that’
s a total plus on your sides,” she whispered and was sound asleep before she could have another thought.

  Chapter Six

  Turning, he looked to her. “Good morning,” he said as he returned his attention to the stove. “Coffee is on, pancakes are nearly done. There are eggs and bacon on the table if you want to get started. Do not feed the wolves anything no matter how much they whine and how big their eyes get. They hunt for their food, they do not get table scraps.” Shooting her another look, he frowned. “You doing okay this morning?”

  “Yeah, I’m okay. How are you doing?” Lacey asked and looked up at him after walking to the coffee pot and pouring herself a nice big cup. “Thank you by the way, for cleaning my clothes for me. That was very sweet of you.” It had touched her that he had not only washed and dried her clothes, but took the time to hang them up and bring them to her room. It was very lovely indeed. “What do we have planned for today?”

  “Eating first, and then we’re going to sit and figure out this entire mess of an investigation. We also have a meeting with the AEDA top brass about the explosion. Apparently they get twitchy when one of their humans is targeted.” He rolled his eyes. “Took him over twenty minutes of me reassuring him you were alive and well before he even got to other business. I won’t even mention how long it took him to ask if I was still functional.”

  She shook her head. “Because he knows that you guys are next to indestructible, whereas I’m just a human and I break easily,” she said with a shrug. “Besides, you were pretty much healing the moment he pulled the shrapnel from you.” She paused and stepped forward, “How are you feeling? Can I have a look to make sure you are okay?”

  “Besides that they all think I’m a shield for you? I’m fine,” he said, sliding the pancakes onto a plate. Pouring more batter into the pan, he shrugged at her. “If you want you can. There’s no need, Ansell took a look before he headed for the office and said I was almost healed. Demon, if you climb on that chair I will neuter you right here and now,” he called to the wolf without even turning around.

  “Well, I would feel better if I were to look and make sure that you were okay, please.” She put her cup down and walked toward him. “If you would please pull your shirt up? I want to make sure that my shield is all good.” She teased, her lips turning up in a grin as she did so.

  Snorting at that, he set the spatula aside. “I don’t mind being your shield, Lacey, I just hate them assuming I will be.” Reaching over his head he grabbed the back of the shirt and tugged it up and off. Looking over his shoulder he lifted a brow. “See, all healed up.”

  She reached out and touched the slightly less tanned flesh on his back and stroked her fingers over it. “It has healed nicely,” she said with a grin. “Why are you not wearing the gold bands?” she asked when she stepped back. “Around your wrist, the gold band is gone and the lacey rose is showing. Why?” She needed his answer likely far more than he would ever know she did.

  “I never wear the cuff at home. I wear it out on the job because it denotes my position in the hierarchy of Luhpynes,” he said softly. “Plus you know what lies beneath it now so it’s not like I have to hide it from you. When we leave I’ll put it back on.” Turning, he looked down at her. “The mating marks are private among Luhpynes, Lace, we only show them off during the mating dance when we are among our people. To outsiders they are covered and kept private.”

  “The mating dance?” she asked with wide eyes, curious now far more than she ever had been. “There is a great deal that I don’t know about the Luhpynes, isn’t there?” She reached out and touched his wrist, her fingers touching the rose that looked as if it were made from lace.

  “There is, but we’ll teach you if you want to know,” he said. “The mating dance is the time when all those that would mate begin a dance of sorts. It’s like a courtship, but for Luhpynes. It’s the time the males prove to the female that they are good hunters, warriors and protectors. If she accepts their courting then they mate and the dance ends. Nothing to it at all really,” he said with a lazy shrug. “Demon, I swear to the Gods, if you climb on that chair for the bacon there will be hell to pay.”

  Lacey snickered and shook her head. “I better have a seat so that I can keep the kids out of the food on the table, huh?” She took a seat and pushed Demon off of the chair and crossed her legs. Looking at Zhubin, she asked, “I would like to learn more. I want to learn everything that you care to teach me.”

  Flipping pancakes, he took the plate of fluffy cakes to the table. “Eat and we’ll talk over the meal,” he told her. “You can think of any questions you want to ask and I’ll tell you what I know. I don’t know what you want to know and how much you may already know that you don’t realize you know.”

  “All that I know is what you have shared with me so far. Remember the races keep themselves, pretty closed off from humans. They share weaknesses and strengths but anything other than that they keep off the radar as much as possible.”

  “I’ve told you much over the years,” he said, watching her. “You just were not listening obviously. We will just start again,” he told her moving back to the stove. “The races are older than the human race as you know. Our cultures have been around many millennia. We live longer but are not immortal as many seem to believe. Luck and good living keeps us alive. My father, for example, is almost nine hundred years old. My mother is around eight hundred, though if she asks if I’ve revealed that pretend not and pacify her by saying she looks barely old enough to have a grown child. Like human females the race’s females are also, on occasion, mildly vain when it comes to age.”

  Pulling the pan, he slid the pancakes to a plate and set it aside, turning off the gas to the burner. Grabbing the carafe of coffee, he joined her at the table and sat. “There are some elders of the Luhpyne that are nearly two thousand years young. Though by that point they appear as someone in their eighties would if they were human.”

  Slipping another pancake onto her plate, he dished up eggs and bacon onto his plate and began to eat. “The Vhampires can live to be much older, as can Spirytes and even Ahnjels. Though with those last two I’ve got no clue on how old they can get to be. They never appear to age and then are just gone when they pass. We all can survive wounds that a human could not. We all can die of course, you know this, you’ve seen it. One of the most efficient ways is beheading but really, that would kill anyone. We can also be killed by magical means, different for every race, but still eerily the same.”

  “I’ve seen a Luhpyne killed by magical means,” she said with a nod. “It’s horrible. I never want to see that again for as long as I live. It’s one of those things that is just completely and fully horrific, something that no one should ever have as their mode of death.” She took a bite of the pancakes and sighed. “Oh this is very good.” She ate for a while and then finally spoke again. “And until last night you thought the tales of a Vhampire turning one of the other races was total fiction.”

  “I didn’t say that, I said that it was the sort of thing parents used to scare us. I’ve always known it was possible, theoretically, but without hard evidence one can’t exactly get others to listen. Now we know it’s fact and the other races will have to listen. Vhampires are forbidden to change someone without their full consent and it’s a death penalty to change another of the races.” He paused as he nibbled on a piece of bacon, his eyes on her. “When one of the races is condemned to death there are three levels. There is the mercy killing of one gone mad, unable to help their actions because the magic that governs them has gone haywire. Then there is the execution, a showing of force and a way to ensure that others don’t do the shit they pulled. Last there is the death by magic. The Spirytes basically send the magic in someone’s body into overload and they die from the inside out. It’s extremely painful and extremely memorable. Unfortunately there are ways for humans to cause the same effect in us. But I’m not saying how since that would have my head on a platter without gaining the Regent’s p
ermission to tell you first.”

  “Which is why I never told you guys about the thing hunting me,” she told him with a sigh. “I was ordered to keep it silent. I’ve been reporting back to the Council and the Regent’s each time that I get one of his stupid fucking gifts. I hate roses. With a passion I hate roses now. If I could I would mow down every fucking rosebush in the world.”

  “Understandable,” Zhubin said, dropping his left hand down to his lap, the mark no longer in view as he ate. “I’ll ensure to keep it covered up from now on,” he told her quietly. “So what else do you want to know about the races? Any questions that have come about since our appearance in your world? Rumors that you want cleared up or proven as fact, maybe.”

  “Don’t,” Lacey said and reached down to take his hand in hers and put their joined hands on the table. “I don’t mean this one,” she told him. “And I didn’t mean you. No more hiding. No more pretending that this thing between the three of us isn’t real. Don’t stop, okay? The three of us are supposed to somehow make this work, right?”

  “I don’t want you uncomfortable, Lacey,” he said, turning his palm to face hers, sliding his fingers between hers. “Not around me or Ansell and that”—he nodded to his arm—“is one hell of a reminder or something you’d rather forget. Not the mating or meaning behind it but what that thing has been taunting you with for too long.”

  “I know, but I can’t let him win either,” she told him with a shrug and closed her hands in his and laced their fingers together. “It is one hell of a reminder, but it’s also a reminder that the fucking dick hasn’t won yet either. He won’t win as long as I don’t let him get to me.” He would win when he killed her, but that was for another day.

  “But he is wearing you down.” Zhubin turned in his seat to look at her square-on. “I can see it in your eyes, your mannerisms and the way you look at everything as if not trusting what you see. Even here where he can’t get to you.” He frowned. “So where do you want us to go from here, Lacey?”