Fates, Mates & Apple Turnovers

by Lisa Oliver Dani Gray

  Swallowing hard, Peter nodded. “Do you, would you mind if I shifted for a quick minute? I’m fairly sure my ribs are broken, and I know I’m covered in bruises. I can’t scent anyone else around so it would be safe. I don’t want Harvey to see me like this. It was bad enough you had to.”

  “I’ll admit, this battered and bruised look you’re rocking at the moment, is not your best look,” Eros said with a smile to show he was teasing. “I’ve been wanting to see your shifted form since you mentioned what he was. But don’t take too long. Harvey is going nuts without you.”

  “I’ll be quick, I promise.” Peter reached up, pecking Eros lightly on the cheek, before wincing. “Can you help me with my shirt? And don’t be surprised if my sasquatch gets cuddly. He really wants to meet you and for you to admire his fur.”

  Eros agreed, which was why, five minutes later he was sitting on a giant Sasquatches’ knee, brushing the beast’s fur and telling him how strong and handsome he looked. Which was true.

  Chapter Eighteen

  “Peter!” The loud cry was the only warning he had before he and Eros were grabbed into a huge hug from Harvey. Moments later, he was gasping for air, but Harvey had thankfully put him down.

  “You okay?” Harvey was turning him around, checking to make sure he was all right.

  “I’m fine Harvey.” Peter held his hand out to Eros. “My mate got rid of the bad guy and let me shift to heal my headache.”

  Please don’t tell him everything, I don’t want Harvey to be upset Peter sent to his mate. He knew that Eros understood when he simply nodded.

  Harvey swung his head to look at Eros. “You mean it, pretty man? No more bad guy? He’s gone?”

  “I promise you Harvey, he is gone. He is now residing in a special place with Hades, never to bother you again.”

  Peter had to laugh at the look on Eros’s face when Harvey grabbed him into a huge hug. “Thank you for getting Peter,” Harvey said, while trying to squeeze all the air out of his lungs.

  “Glad I could help, big guy,” Eros gasped.

  “What the hell happened?” A very angry Cupid ranted, as he stomped over to where Harvey had gone back to checking Peter again. “I come in to work to find Harvey in tears and worried about Peter, only to be told that you suddenly disappeared with no word. Do you have any idea how hard it was trying to understand what Harvey was saying when he’s that distraught? He was so scared, and he was having problems telling me what was wrong.”

  Cupid came over and starting to fuss over Harvey. “Come with me, I’ll get you a nice warm drink and something to eat.”

  “Hey, what about us?” Eros asked.

  “Hmpf. You both seem fine to me.” After saying that, Cupid started to gently move Harvey towards the shop, still clucking at him.

  Peter could only smile at the scene they made. He was so grateful that he was found by Cupid trying to find something to eat in his dumpster. Now, he had a mate and found a home.

  “So, someone want to explain to me what the fuck happened?” A growling Liam asked as he came up the alley behind them. “You left Harvey in tears and then you upset my husband. No one gets to upset Cupid like that.”

  “Come upstairs and we’ll explain,” Peter said, grabbing Eros’s hand. “I don’t want to speak about it out in the open.”

  Peter led the way, and as soon as he got into the apartment, he went to the kitchen to make some coffee.

  “Eros, can you start explaining while I get changed into some fresh clothes?”

  “Sure.” Eros went over to the couch and sat down. “Have a seat, this might take a while.”

  As Eros started with how he woke with a headache, he proceeded to tell him his side of the story, and how he had managed to calm Harvey down with the promise that as soon as Peter would wake up, he would be able to go to where he was. The unfortunate part of that was the Eros had to wait until Peter woke, as that was how the mating worked. Peter sat down just as Eros was getting to the part about calming Harvey down.

  “Wait, you’re saying that you can speak to each other in your minds?” Liam looked shocked, then intrigued. “Could something like that be done for Cupid and I?”

  “I can do that for you, but let’s wait and get his permission as well. Somehow I don’t think he would be happy with either of us if I just did it.”

  The look of fear on Liam’s face was comical, and Peter had a hard time not laughing.

  “Uhh…let’s wait and ask him.” The tender smile on Liam’s face reinforced the fact to Peter that Cupid was well loved by this man. “He can get pretty feisty when he’s pissed.”

  Peter looked at Eros in surprise when he barked out a quick laugh. Tell you later Eros whispered to him.

  “So, it turned out that this man was my half-brother.” Peter began to tell his side of events. “He hit me over the head as I was about to go to the shop and start the daily setup to make it easier for Cupid. When I woke up, he started to rant about what had happened and how his mother abandoned him when it was discovered that he couldn’t shift. By the time that happened, our father had already left them since my mom was his mate. He killed his adoptive parents due to the physical abuse they were putting him through.”

  “It was sometime after that he was approached by someone who was an assassin of some type, who taught him everything else anyone needed to know about killing people.” Peter felt the tears forming in his eyes. “He eventually found us. He saw our father playing with us at a nearby park. He approached him one morning as he was leaving for work, took him to that park and murdered him. The only reason mom was able to survive the loss of her mate was because of us. He came back and killed her after we’d shifted, in an effort to get to us too.”

  Eros grabbed him and pulled him into his arms, while all Peter could do was cry over the loss of his parents.

  “I was listening to him rant about what he felt were personal slights against him,” Eros took over the story. “I can understand about the anger towards adoptive parents, because how he was treated was horribly wrong, but he had no reason to go after Peter and his family. They were innocents in all of this. The problem was by then the mental damage had been done, he was beyond saving. Killing tears an irreparable part of a person’s soul. When I looked into his heart and saw the blackness, I knew he was too far gone to ever be redeemed.”

  “So, what happened to him?” Liam asked. “Where is he now?”

  Peter could feel the kiss that Eros placed on the top of his head.

  “He’s now a permanent resident with Hades in the Underworld. What will happen to him for the rest of eternity will be up to him. Hades can be inventive with some of the punishments he gives out. But here, on this realm no one will ever have to worry about him again.”

  “Does anyone know what happened to the man’s mother? The one who sold him?” Peter could understand this was Liam’s detective mode coming into play. It was who he was.

  “He never mentioned seeing her again.” Peter thought about how protective his half-brother had been of her, even after she’d sold him. “It’s highly possible, if he did seek her out at any time, any negativity he got from her he’d have wiped from his mind. In his delusions, he saw nothing wrong with his mother getting rid of him and when I questioned what she’d said about our father, he defended her.”

  “Unfortunately, that’s the nature of a delusional mind,” Liam agreed. “I’ve seen countless cases of children being abused by their parents, and yet still insisting they are loved and wanting to go back with them. I’ll run a check through our system, more to make sure she never had any more offspring than anything else. She shouldn’t be too hard to trace through our computers if she was married to your father, before he mated with your mother.”

  Peter shivered at the thought of a mean person out there, still making hell in the lives of young ones.

  “Is there going to be a problem, with me disposing of the killer like I did?” Eros asked. His tone was casual, but Peter could sense he
was worried. “You should know, as a man of the law, that because I’m a god, I can never be put in jail, or go through your justice system. You wouldn’t even be able to register my fingerprints. And I’ll tell you now, in all honesty, death was too good for that man. You didn’t see what I saw in his heart.”

  Liam sat back for a moment and thought about it. “As a detective, I could never condone someone taking the law into their own hands, even if it’s fully justified like it is in this case. But no case has actually been filed. It’s not as though I have to go back to my Captain and explain to him how a killer ended up dead, and why I don’t see the need to investigate it. The Hades option was probably the best outcome for everyone concerned. If we arrested him, there would be the chance he could get away and come back to further hurt someone. At least this way I don’t have to worry about him hanging around my friends and family anymore.”

  While Eros and Liam continued to talk, Peter snuggled into his mate, happy to be home, safe and sound. He was looking forward to being able to help Eros with his task of helping other find the love of their lives, but he was also glad he could still keep working with Cupid. He loved being able to create something that brought joy to others. That was his last thought before he fell asleep, wrapped safely in his mates loving embrace.

  Epilogue

  Harvey was so happy. Peter had managed to find them a home, and Liam helped him to get a job.

  Harvey knew he had some problems with his mind, but that didn’t mean he was stupid. It just took him a bit longer to understand some things, but he always worked things out eventually.

  “Peter, I’m going to work now.” Harvey called out from the back door of the coffee shop that he worked in.

  “Did you grab the lunch I left for you?” Peter called out. “Would you like a coffee to go and a warm apple turnover?”

  “Warm?” Harvey asked, as his tummy rumbled at the thought of eating one of his favorite snacks. “Please?”

  It was part of their morning ritual, and it helped to calm Harvey, knowing that everything in his life was safe.

  He grabbed the thermos of coffee that Peter gave him and put it in his backpack, but kept the bag of the turnovers in his hand. He didn’t want them to get accidently broken in the bag. Besides, how could he eat them if they were in there.

  Giving his brother a hug, Harvey turned to walk to work.

  “Have a great day.” Peter called out, and Harvey gave him a smile and a wave as he turned the corner onto the sidewalk.

  As he walked towards the job site where the construction crew was building a bunch of new homes, he was wondering what smelled so yummy.

  Looking around, he wasn’t able to see where is was coming from, but it seemed strongest over by the small forested area near the park.

  Forgetting all about going to work, Harvey continued to follow the delicious scent. The only problem is he couldn’t understand why it seemed to come from a small bush.

  Getting down on his knees, he was surprised to see a small nose twitching at him. Seeing the cute little bunny, Harvey slowly put his hand out.

  “Hi, are you okay little bunny?”

  Harvey was worried at how small the bunny was. The bunny smelled scared and he could be hurt. Harvey knew his big size made him seem intimidating to most people, and he struggled to think of how he could let the little critter know he was one of the good guys.

  “Would you like some of my apple turnover?” He offered, holding out the bag. “My brother makes them at a nearby bakery and they are the best thing ever. I’ll share them with you if you like.”

  Harvey watched, barely able to breathe as the little bunny slowly limped out of the bushes, climbing up into his lap. His back leg seemed to be a funny angle, but Harvey couldn’t smell the nasty scent of blood. Wondering if rabbits even ate apple turnovers, he fished around in the bag and broke off a small piece, holding it in the palm of his hand.

  There was a shimmer, Harvey remembered happening when he shifted, and all of a sudden, instead of a bunny, there was a naked man on his lap.

  “Oh, wow, shifter bunny.” Harvey’s face cracked open in delight.

  “I am indeed,” the little bunny man said, plucking the piece of apple turnover from Harvey’s palm. “Hello, mate.”

  About the Authors

  Dani Gray:

  I’ve been an avid reader for as long as I can remember. I still remember one of the first books I read, it was the Bobbsey Twins. As I got older, I moved into more the interesting books, but some of the typo’s made me nuts! So, after contacting writers I started a career of where I began editing, beta reading and brainstorming. After being harassed for a couple of years by some of the writers, I gave in and have now begun to write.

  I live in central Canada with my hubby of over 25 years, 4 kids, and 5 grandkids. We have a collection of pets, including our guard cat. I love nothing more than curling up with a good book, or my laptop to work on the next thing that catches the muse. I would love to hear from readers, you can find me at any of these places below. I promise, I’m bad at updating my blog, but I never ignore a question sent to me.

  Blog: https://authordanigray.blogspot.com/

  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/author.dani.gray

  MeWe: https://mewe.com/group/5b256bafa5f4e50e605dbac2

  Email me at authordanigray@gmail.com

  Lisa Oliver:

  Lisa Oliver had been writing non-fiction books for years when visions of half dressed, buff men started invading her dreams. Unable to resist the lure of her stories, Lisa decided to switch to fiction books, and now stories about her men clamor to get out from under her fingertips. With over fifty MM true mate titles to her credit so far, Lisa shows no sign of slowing down.

  When Lisa is not writing, she is usually reading with a cup of tea always at hand. Her grown children and grandchildren sometimes try and pry her away from the computer and have found that the best way to do it is to promise her chocolate. Lisa will do anything for chocolate.

  Lisa loves to hear from her readers and other writers (I really do, lol). You can catch up with her on any of the social media links below.

  Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/lisaoliverauthor

  Official Author page – https://www.facebook.com/LisaOliverManloveAuthor/

  My new private teaser group - https://www.facebook.com/groups/540361549650663/

  My blog - (http://www.supernaturalsmut.com)

  Twitter – http://www.twitter.com/wisecrone333

  Email me directly at yoursintuitively@gmail.com.