Standing out on the small terrace area, Peter stretched, looking out over the rooftops to where the sun was tinting the sky in hues of pinks and yellows. It was going to be a glorious day and Peter’s head was full of what he’d make for breakfast as he hurried down the wooden steps, ducking around the dumpster, pulling out his keys as he went. The lock was fiddly, almost loose, and Peter jiggled the key in the lock to make it turn. So intent on what he was doing, he didn’t hear anyone approach until someone said, “Good morning, runt.”
Turning, Peter’s eyes widened. “You….” But anything else he might have said was lost. He felt a crashing blow to his skull and the world went black. His last thought was he wasn’t going to make it for breakfast.
***
“Peter?” Eros woke with a start, to an empty bed and a cracking headache. “Peter?” He yelled more loudly. The door crashed open, but it wasn’t Peter responsible, it was Harvey. The big man’s hair was a mess, his chest was heaving, and his eyes were wild. Eros stared at the bright pink rabbits on his pajama bottoms, than hung low below a naked chest.
“Peter’s been taken,” Harvey said bluntly. “Hit on the head, taken.”
“Surely not,” Eros didn’t think Peter would leave him sleeping the first day they were mated. Although the ache in his head was troubling. “Maybe he’s in the bathroom and didn’t hear us.”
“I’m his twin, I know. You come.” Harvey strode across the room, pulling Eros out of bed. Eros grabbed for his pants, but Harvey’s grip and fast pace didn’t allow him to put them on.
“Harvey, wait a second please.” Eros wasn’t going anywhere naked. “Let me get some pants on first.”
“You’re his mate. You should care.” At least Harvey let go of his arm. Eros scrambled into his pants.
“I do care. We’re mated now.” Eros pointed to the scar on his shoulder. “I love Peter. It’s our first day together. He wouldn’t have left without telling me.”
“What woke you up?” Leaning over, Harvey glared, his face inches from Eros’s.
Eros touched the back of his head. “I’m not sure. One minute I was dreaming and the next I felt like someone hit me over the head.”
“Not your head, Peter’s.” Harvey straightened up. “You have mate bond, I have twin bond, my animal told me Peter has been hurt. Now come. Quick.”
Eros wondered, as Harvey led them through the small apartment, and down the stairs, why he was talking in shorthand. But as he watched a wave of hair appear and then disappear across Harvey’s back, he understood. The poor shifter was hanging onto his animal form by a mere thread. The sense of urgency he was feeling seemed to get stronger and it wasn’t all coming from Harvey. Peter, he whispered with his brain, but there was no response. Nothing but a black hole where Peter’s energy had been the night before.
“He came past the dumpster.” Harvey’s shove moved the heavy thing at least six foot down the alley. Eros jumped out of the way. “He would have been opening the bakery. He does that. He likes to get things prepared before the day begins. I know my brother. He would have wanted to help Cupid to say thank you for the apartment.”
“The door’s still locked.” Eros’s eyes narrowed as he saw a set of shiny new keys dangling in the handle. “He didn’t make it inside.”
“Move your feet,” Harvey grumbled, getting down on his hands and knees on the pavement.
Harvey was sniffing, just like a dog. It’s better than him doing that in shifter form, Eros thought. Although it was still early, the last thing the shifters needed was a bigfoot sighting in down town Peakon. Lurching this way and that, Harvey was breathing hard when he got to his feet. “The bad man took Peter this way.” He started to run down the block.
“Harvey, wait.” But the big man didn’t listen. Eros could zap to where Peter was, once the man was conscious, but it seemed the Fates had other ideas. Checking to make sure no one was watching, Eros waved himself some boots and shirt, before taking off after a distraught Harvey. If something happens to his brother, Peter will never forgive me.
Running to catch up to Harvey, he looked over and saw that he was still fighting to keep from shifting.
“Harvey, wait!” Eros yelled out, making sure he was ready to jump out of the way if Harvey got angry.
“I can find Peter when he’s awake, I can zap to where he is once he opens the link between us.” Eros said as he stepped up to stand in front of Harvey. “I give you my solemn promise that as soon as Peter wakes up, I will be beside him and take care of whoever dared to hurt my mate. I may be the god of love, but that doesn’t mean that I won’t end this person. I will destroy them in seconds.”
Linking his arm with Harvey’s, Eros turned them so that they were heading back to the apartment. Eros kept up a conversation with him, because he didn’t want anyone to hear the growling noises coming from Harvey.
“I know you’re angry, and you have a right to be.” Eros snarled out the words, “but this person took my mate. I will leave them in the pits of Tartarus for the rest of eternity. No one touches Peter.”
Eros didn’t even realize that he was getting as angry as Harvey.
“Shhh, pretty man.” Harvey said, patting him on the head, seeming a lot calmer. “Can’t get so mad outside, peoples can’t see you. Gotta hide the special, mom told me that.”
Eros smiled at Harvey, “Yes, you are special. A very special man Harvey. When the time comes and you meet your mate, I will be with Peter while we celebrate such a special time for you.”
“I have mate?” Harvey started to look around, “Where?”
“Not yet, Harvey, but you will be meeting with him soon.”
“Thank you, pretty man.” Harvey patted him on the head again. “I’m getting a man, I was scared it would be a girl.” The whispered horror in that last word almost had Eros laughing, but he could see how serious Harvey was.
“Come on, big guy. Let’s go back to the apartment and try to wait patiently for Peter to wake up. I’ll go to him as soon as he does.”
“Fine.” Harvey said, then stomped off towards the apartment.
“What the hell happened here?” Cupid yelled from the alley, where the dumpster had been.
“Bad man took Peter.” As soon as he finished saying that, Harvey broke out bawling. “I want my brother.”
Chapter Sixteen
The first thing that Peter felt was pain. His head hurt so badly, he was dizzy and trying not to throw up.
Attempting to lift his hand, he found that they were tied tightly behind his back, and his legs were tied together too. If he tried to shift, he would ruin his shoulders. He rolled over and threw up all over the floor he was lying on.
“Really, did you have to do that,” A man’s voice said. “Oh, that stinks.”
“What did you expect, you hit me pretty hard. I think you gave me a concussion,” Peter choked out, spitting out what was left in his mouth. He wasn’t going to agree with whoever had him, but it was pretty gross.
“Why did you do this?” Peter finally looked over to the guy. He recognized the leader of the gang who’d tried to hurt him outside the homeless shelter. “I’ve never done anything to you. Why are you doing this?”
“You took my father away from me!” The guy screamed at him.
Peter winced at the sound of his voice. Didn’t the guy know how to use his indoor voice?
“Father, as in my father?” Peter wondered what he was talking about. He and Harvey were still kids when their father died, and his mom had never gotten over it. Peter used to think she’d have faded away to nothing if she hadn’t been so intent on raising them properly.
“We have the same father.” The guy got up and stomped around in agitation. “He left me and my mom when he met your mom. Apparently, your mom was his mate.”
“I don’t understand. If Mom knew about you, she would never have kept our dad away from you.” Peter told him. “She would have welcomed you into our home as one of her own.”
“Ha. T
hat’s what you think. Dear old dad wanted nothing to do with me when he found out I couldn’t shift. I was some kind of throwback or something. The shifter gene completely skipped me, and how unfair was that? Both my parents were shifters. My mom almost killed me when she found out I couldn’t shift. She told me dad didn’t want me anymore.”
“No disrespect intended but I think your mom was spinning you a line. Dad never mentioned having another family and my mom would’ve welcomed you with open arms.” Peter didn’t think the guy was even listening to him.
“Then how do you explain why I was adopted out. My mom took me after dad left, and gave me to another couple saying Dad could never bear to look at my face again. They were happy enough to keep me around. Adopting a kid was far cheaper than paying a hired hand to work on the farm. Do you know what it’s like to get whipped to get out of bed? The first time they whipped me I was fifteen. Do you have any idea how much that hurt? I swear they enjoyed hearing me screaming and begging them to stop.”
Peter almost threw up again, thinking of the horrors his half-brother had lived through.
“But I got even with them.” The guy stopped and stared at Peter with dead eyes. The shiver that ran down his spine at seeing the vacant look in them was frightening.
“I waited. I bided my time and then one night, when they’d had too much to drink, I trapped them in their bed. I tied them up, one arm each to the bed post and the other arms joined together so they could not move. They were awake then and they knew that death was coming. I can still remember the stench of the gas I used to pour all over them and the bed, and the screaming that started when I lit the match. But just like them, when I was screaming, I didn’t even look at them as I walked away.” The man inhaled, as he could still smell the gasoline, a twisted smile on his face. “The whole damn house burned to the ground and I did nothing to stop it.”
Peter shuddered, the visions of the screams and the flames vivid in his head.
“Do you know what else I did?” The guy asked him, as if they were having a conversation over a cup of coffee.
“No,” Peter whispered.
“I found dad. Oh, it was completely random although I had been looking for him. I knew what town he was staying in, but I didn’t have an address. Imagine my surprise when I saw him one day, playing with you guys in a park. You were only little kids, but you were all laughing and having a great time.”
The man’s agitation was increasing. Peter flinched as some of his kicks got too damn close for comfort.
“What did you do?” Maybe if he could keep the man talking, help would arrive. Yeah, he was always an optimist, go him.
“I followed you all home. He didn’t even notice me. I waited until Dad was leaving for work one day. He was so shocked, but then happy to see me. He wanted to bring me into the house to meet his mate and kids,” the man snorted. “As if I wanted to meet that bitch or you brats.”
“But don’t you see?” Peter said desperately. “Your mom must have been wrong about him all along. Maybe she told him you’d run away from home or something. Maybe she told him you refused to see him.”
“My mom didn’t have any reason to lie to me,” the man snarled. “He left her, and then he got his.”
“What happened?” Peter already knew his father was dead. But to think….
“I was cool about everything. I told him I wasn’t ready to meet you yet, and asked if he wanted to go out and get some breakfast.”
The maniacal laughter falling from that twisted mouth had all the hairs on Peter’s body standing on end.
“I asked him if he would like to maybe go somewhere quiet where we could talk without any interruptions, so we went to the same park I had seen him playing with you and that brother of yours. He drove us, spouting all this shit about how the fates must have intervened and how we could all be a family again. Bullshit. Just as he put the car into park, I shot him in the head. Even a shifter can’t recover from that.”
The glint in his eyes told Peter the man had enjoyed killing their father. He’d also ensured that the injuries suffered were permanent, because shifters could heal from most things.
“After I was sure he was dead, I put him in the back of the car and drove it to a lake and let the car drive into it. He was gone, just like those bastards who beat me.”
Peter thought the story was finished. The man’s eyes were like looking into evil personified. Peter struggled to believe someone so depraved could be related to him and sweet Harvey. Harvey, who’d probably noticed he was gone and was probably having a fit. Him and Eros both. Fates, keep them safe, Peter thought as the man took up his story again.
“Someone had seen what I had done, and they asked me if I wanted to work for them. Turns out, he was someone who worked as an assassin. I thought ‘why not’. I figured I could earn some good money doing the jobs, while getting some good training from him.”
“Is that why you waited to come after us? Because you were busy learning how to kill people?”
“Nope, I waited until I knew if you could shift or not. I would have let you guys live if you didn’t shift, but since you did, you had to be put down.”
“But why kill my mom? She wasn’t a shifter,” Peter asked, tears in his eyes as remembered his mother’s brutalized body and all the blood on the floor.
“Because if dad hadn’t of met that bitch, I would have had a family. I would have been happy,” he snarled, kicking Peter squarely in the ribs.
Peter screamed when he felt something snap in his chest.
Peter! He heard Eros scream his name in his mind.
Eros, help, was the last thought Peter had before the blackness claimed him again.
Chapter Seventeen
Legend and folklore depicted Eros/Cupid as a cute little kid in a diaper, or at best, as a scantily clad adolescent with a sweet little bow and arrow. The Eros that landed in the room Peter was being held in was nothing like that. Fury rolling off him like a wave, Eros swept his hand in front of him, sending the man kicking the hell out of his mate smashing into the concrete wall.
“Who are you to hurt my mate?” Eros roared. “Who gave you the right to touch the mate of a god?”
“Bullshit. You ain’t a god.” But Eros could see the man licking his lips, looking between where he was standing and the door. “The door was locked. How the hell did you get in here?”
“Hell had nothing to do with my being here,” Eros snarled, looking deep inside the man’s soul and hating what he could see. There were no connections, not threads tying the man to anyone. Instead his life thread was completely entangled around his black and bitter heart. “But believe me, I can call Hades for you if you want. I’m sure Hades would be happy to see you strung up and tortured for eternity by his many demons if I ask him nicely. I hear the demon king Balthazar got sick of his latest plaything recently, when the man’s voice box gave out. No point in torturing a person if you can’t hear them screaming is it?”
The man gulped. “Hey man, I don’t know who the hell you are, or how you got in here, but what I do with my brother is family business. It has nothing to do with you.”
Brother? I thought Harvey… Yeah, the family discussion could wait for later. Eros’s eyes narrowed as he saw the man sneak a gun into his hand. “Oh no,” he said in mock horror, throwing up his hands, “are you going to shoot me?”
“I’ll teach you to interfere in my business.”
The gun rang out. Eros dissipated just enough so the bullet would pass through him and then materialized again. “Oops, you missed. Did you want to try that again?”
“What the fuck,” the man down the barrel of his gun. “I never miss.”
Eros clicked his finger and thumb together. The gun rang out a second time and the intruder was now splat on the floor with a bullet where his third eye should be. “You didn’t miss that time. Have fun in hell asshole.”
A harsh groan pulled him from his perusal of the body. “Eros?” Peter’s voice was weak and h
is breath wheezy. “What happened? Did you kill him?”
“No,” said Eros stepping over the body, so he could reach his mate. The ropes binding Peter disappeared with a wave of his hand, but Peter was still looking at him, his eyes sad and full of pain. Eros risked a glance at the ceiling. “He shot himself. An accident with his gun, I imagine.” It was close enough, he sent to the Fates. He was holding the gun when it went off. A light chuckle in his head Eros know he wasn’t in any trouble. “Are you all right.” Peter’s safety was his only concern. “Me and Harvey have been really worried about you.”
“He said he was my brother. That we had the same father. He was born before Dad even met my mother.” Peter’s eyes were full of tears. “He killed everyone. His foster parents, my mom and dad. He’s been after us all this time… Eros why?”
“Oh baby,” Eros pulled Peter into his arms as carefully as he could. “Some people just have a black heart and don’t see the world the way you do.”
“But I would’ve loved him.” Peter was sobbing openly now. “My mom, my dad, they would have all given him the family he was looking for, if he’d just given them a chance. He didn’t have to kill them.”
Eros sighed heavily, near to tears himself, although he’d never admit it. “Babe,” he said, struggling to know what to say to make his mate feel better. “Sometimes, despite the best efforts of the fates, and the gods, and every other higher power there is, some people choose to behave in a cruel or nasty way. That is what free will is all about. Humans, shifters, even gods, we’re not playthings of some higher deity, we can all choose how to respond to the different situations we come across in life. You choose a higher path when your mom was killed. You took Harvey, looked after him and did all you could to be the best you could be. Now you can do that without having a psychotic killer on your tail. You and Harvey are safe now, don’t you see?”
Fates, Mates & Apple Turnovers Page 8
