Jonas

by Faith Gibson

  “Every afternoon, I find a reason to walk the same path as the day I first saw her. Every evening, I wait for just a glimpse of her. Then tonight it happened. I was so focused on her home I did not hear her come up behind me. ‘If you are going to rob our home, I can tell you where the silver is kept.’ I almost went to my knees at her voice, but when I turned and gazed upon her beauty, I was immediately lost in the depths of her eyes. Her smile can light the darkest night. She laughed, and I could not help but smile.

  “I fisted my heart and bowed my head. ‘Jonas Montagnon, at your service.’

  “When I caught her eyes, she replied, ‘Caroline, and it’s a pleasure.’

  “I thought it odd she did not give me her real name; then again, she had only met me and was probably still thinking I was after her family’s silver. ‘My dearest Caroline, I assure you I wish your family no harm.’

  “‘Yet you stand outside my home night after night watching. If you aren’t here to rob us, what is it you’re after?’ she countered. So much for being hidden in the shadows. If this wondrous woman caught me, who else has seen me lurking?

  “‘Only a glimpse of your beauty.’ And that was the truth. I wanted to see her one more time. I needed to know if the first encounter was but a trick on my mind. Standing before her, I knew it was not. This creature – I could not call her a human for she was something so much more than a mere human – did something to me. Perhaps she was a witch and had cast a spell.

  “‘If all you were after is a glimpse, you now have it. Might I suggest you be on your way lest my father have you arrested?’

  “‘I… Miss Caroline, may I see you again? I must say, one slight glimpse is not enough.’ If I was not smitten already, the smirk she gave me solidified the feeling. Caroline has to know she is lovely. How many suitors have asked for her time?”

  “Grandpa, what’s a suitor? Is that someone who makes clothes?” Tabitha asked.

  “No, dear. That would be a tailor. A suitor is someone who wishes to take another out on a date,” Jonas explained patiently.

  “Ugh. When do we get to the good part?” Anthony asked. Tabitha squeezed his hand, and he let out a long sigh. Obviously Tabitha had no trouble listening to the tale of love, but Anthony was all male.

  “My boy, this is the good part,” Jonas said with a grin. “At least to me it is. When you meet your mate, you will look back on this day and smile.”

  “Whatever,” Anthony groaned in a tone much like his mother’s.

  Chapter Two

  Anthony

  I couldn’t help but roll my eyes at the book we found. With Grandpa being a doctor and a scientist, I thought he’d have written about experiments and surgeries and sewing people back together, not a sappy love story. He could have at least written about sword fights and gnashing of teeth and claws. I mean, he was a Gargoyle after all, and one from the Original line. Surely he had stories of being a badass shifter. Crap. Tabby gripped my hand a little tighter, and her eyebrows screwed into a frown. Of course, she would be all about the fairytale.

  She was always going on and on about how this boy or that boy was soooo cute. Then I had to punch that boy in the face when he did something to mess with my sister. It wasn’t that Tabby couldn’t take care of herself. She was a scrapper just like our mother. Uncle Frey was teaching us all to take care of ourselves, and Tabby had tossed kids twice her size over her shoulder. She just preferred not to. And being that she was my twin, I had no trouble stepping in where she was concerned.

  People, namely other kids, didn’t understand our closeness. Sure, there were other twins around, but she and I shared something special. Once, Mom and Uncle Tamian were in the same room. They were looking at each other smiling, but they weren’t talking. I knew then they could mind speak like me and Tabby could, so I didn’t feel like a freak any more.

  Grandmother moved from the doorway and stood behind the chair where Grandpa was sitting. Her eyes were bright as he continued describing the first time he saw her. This story was gonna take for-ev-er if Tabby kept stopping to ask questions, and my stomach was rumbling. I settled back in and prayed this would be over soon.

  Jonas

  “December 1821

  “The need to be close to Caroline is overriding my better senses. I still do not understand the pull she has on me, but the pull is there no matter what I do to squelch it. To spend more time with her, I did the only thing I could think of, and I hired her to be my assistant. It took a lot of begging on my part, because she is the daughter of a prominent member of society who does not feel his daughter should be working. My beautiful girl did the one thing guaranteed to persuade her father to change his mind – she threatened to move out of their home. She is of age and can do as she pleases. It is only a few hours a day, but in those few hours, my need is slaked as well as furthered.”

  “Grandpa, what’s slaked?” Deklan asked.

  “It means fulfilled. Met. Being around your grandmother meant my needs were met.” Jonas wouldn’t elaborate, because some things didn’t need to be discussed around the young ones. Hell, he wouldn’t discuss some things with the adults, either. He was certain the others already knew what Jonas had gone through being around Caroline every day. While he did his best to not think of his offspring sexually, the need to be with one’s mate was a powerful force. One they had all experienced. One Jonas still felt to this day. He caught his mate’s eye, and she winked at him. After all this time, they were still in sync, probably more so than they’d ever been.

  The years they were separated during Isabelle’s youth were the hardest. Jonas was hiding out after the world collapsed. Causing a near apocalypse, even if he was a Gargoyle, had him lying low for several years. It was in those years he needed his mate the most, but he understood Caroline’s need to be close to Isabelle, even though their daughter had no idea how close her mother had been. It was another reason Isabelle had taken so long to forgive them.

  Getting back to the story, Jonas skimmed over the next part, until he came to a passage that was kid-friendly.

  “Christmastime is upon us, and I have the perfect gift for my love. There is no other way to describe what I feel for Caroline. I love her with every fiber of my being. The teardrop necklace is wrapped in fancy paper, waiting for Caroline to open it. When I first began searching for a present, I wanted something that reminds me of her, but then it dawned on me, she should have something that reminds her of me. She is so intrinsically a part of me; I do not need a token. When I saw the necklace the same color as my eyes, eyes my Caroline gazes longingly into, I knew it was meant to be. Even when we are apart, she can merely touch the stone around her neck and know I am with her.”

  Jonas didn’t have to see Caroline to know her hand clutched the sapphire at that moment. After all these years, she only took the necklace off to have the chain repaired or replaced.

  “I wanted nothing more than to spend Christmas morning in her presence, but we both had families who required our attention. On Christmas Eve, I made the pretense of opening my office, requiring my assistant to be there as well. As soon as Caroline arrived, I closed and locked the door behind her, shutting the rest of the world out. Even though I do not have the same religious beliefs as she does, I purchased a small crib, placing it in the corner of the room and filling it with greenery. I was not much of a decorator, but the gesture made her smile, and that is all that mattered. My Caroline’s smile was gift enough. I served tea and panettone and prayed to all that was holy it was the beginning of a tradition for us.”

  “Grandpa, what’s panettone?” Tabitha asked at the same time Anthony asked what the crib was for.

  “Panettone is the wonderful bread your grandmother makes every year that you and your brother refuse to eat.”

  “I might have to try a bite of it this year. I mean, it’s special. Right?”

  “Yes, it is special.” It wasn’t that Jonas preferred panettone over regular bread, but his Caroline made it in honor of their first C
hristmas together, and that was what made it so delicious. “As for the crib, it symbolized the Christ child in your grandmother’s religion.” Over the years, Caroline had never lost her faith in Christianity, but she didn’t find fault in the Gargoyles for believing in more than one deity.

  “When Caroline opened her present, the tears in her eyes broke my heart. She promised me she was not sad, but I never want her to cry for any reason. I fastened the clasp at her nape and could only stare at the beauty of both the jewel and my love. Before I knew what was happening, Caroline was in my arms, her lips pressed to mine. I could not breathe. Her essence flowed through me when her breath touched my mouth. It was all I could do not to bite her. It was then I knew I should stay away. Surely she could not be my mate. There was no way I could ask my father or anyone in my family for that matter. They would never understand my infatuation with this human. I need to search the archives for information.”

  “And did you? Search for information?” Anthony asked.

  “I did. I became obsessed with it and with your grandmother. As hard as I researched, there was nothing written about Gargoyles mating with humans. I even traveled to other cities requesting to search on information with regards to medical anomalies. It was the only thing I could think of that wouldn’t cause suspicion.

  “January 1822

  “I fear for my love. Fear that I will only break her heart in the end. If the way she looks at me is any indication, Caroline is feeling the same as I. I need to do the honorable thing and let her go. If she only knew the truth. How can I tell my dear Caroline what I am? What would she say? Never has one so fair come across one of our kind, but the pull I feel to her is unlike anything I have ever felt. How can someone so frail be destined to be mine? I do not understand why the fates would do this to her, to me. Surely we are not meant to be bonded. Still, I selfishly cannot give up my time with her. I need to find a way to tell her about me and let her choose. If she walks away, it will break my heart, but it will be her choice. One I am too much of a coward to make for her.”

  “Anthony says Chip Abernathy’s a coward for picking on me. Grandpa, you’re nothing like Chip. Besides, you’re a Gargoyle. You’re strong and inde… indest…” Tabitha fought to find the right word.

  “Indestructible,” Anthony finished for her.

  “Yeah, that. You’re indestructible. You can’t be a coward.”

  “My dear, being a Gargoyle does mean I’m strong on the outside. It’s what’s on the inside that makes you a coward or not. Decisions such as keeping the truth from your grandmother made me feel weak. Letting her go would have been the honorable thing to do, or so I thought. But I didn’t have the strength inside to do so. The pull to her was too great to ignore, and I believe deep in my soul I knew she was my mate, regardless of the fact she was human. So, I took the coward’s way out. I continued on every day as we had been. She came into work a few days a week, and I stood outside her window like a lovesick fool on those other days, praying for a mere glimpse of her beauty.

  “It became harder to hide, especially with my Clan following me. I learned quickly to evade even the best tracker. I outsmarted whoever thought to watch me. While I thought I was being careful, the one thing I hadn’t learned to hide was my feelings.

  “March 1822

  “Caroline continues to brighten my otherwise dreary existence. Father is getting suspicious. I tried to tell him there is nothing to our relationship, but the way she lights up when she sees me and I her, it is going to be hard to continue the ruse for much longer. I cannot continue to shirk my duties. The others are getting suspicious as well. We do not get sick. How do I convince them I am lovesick? With a human, no less. I know I need to let her go, but the pull to her is too strong. I need answers. I have searched the archives, and there is nothing there about human bonding.

  “I am not a praying male, but in light of my feelings for Caroline, I have begun to ask the gods for guidance. Things are becoming almost unbearable the longer I am around her. The need to…” Jonas cleared his throat and improvised. “The need to make her mine is all I can think about. I am threatening the lives of my patients with my lack of focus. One way or another, this has to stop. Either I set her free, or I go against my Clan and make her mine. I hear the grumblings. The murmurs when others do not think I am listening. The Elder Council called a meeting, and my father was threatened – threatened! – because I am in love with a human. I am going to leave the city for a while. I need to put distance between us so I can have the opportunity to think without her clouding my visions. My judgment.”

  “Did you leave?” Tabitha asked.

  “I did. I turned over my practice to a human doctor, and I left.”

  “Where did you go?” Tessa asked.

  Jonas had almost forgotten the adults were in the room. Everyone had been so quiet, and now he noticed they all had questioning looks on their faces. This wasn’t just a story for the kids. This was his history; therefore, it was his family’s history as well. He had never shared this part of himself with anyone other than Caroline. He never thought anyone would be interested in how they came to be together.

  “Not far, I assure you. I traveled to Ostia, thinking to bring myself closer to where some of the gods had been worshiped. I needed guidance, and where better to seek that guidance than from the ancients? I found myself wandering the temples of Mithras. While I didn’t subscribe to that religion, per se, the place exuded an intense spirituality. While there, I found the clarity I sought.”

  “And?” Isabelle asked.

  Jonas grinned at his daughter. He’d not wanted to divulge his past with his children aloud, but now that he’d started, he found telling them the truth was somewhat cathartic. “After being separated for over a month, I returned to my home and trusted the insight I’d been given along my journey.

  “May 1822

  “I returned from my journey, soul light and heart full. I took over my practice once again, and Caroline was right there with me. The moment she walked through the front door to the clinic, she threw herself into my arms and kissed me with a fervor I could have only prayed for. ‘Please don’t ever leave me again,’ she begged. I knew then I had to tell her the truth. Still, I hesitated. That was until she began hinting at a future together. I want that with her. Forever. Even if she is human and I will only have the few mortal years with her, I want it, and I am going to give it to her, but not before she knows what she is in for.

  “The days turn into a week, and our feelings are growing stronger by the second. I am shirking my duties as a physician just to spend the time with her alone in the office. Things are becoming clearer the longer we are together. I have to have her. I need her more than I need air to breathe, so I told her. I told Caroline what I am. She is pressuring me to get married before we make…” Jonas cleared his throat and skimmed over the next words. He couldn’t tell his grandchildren about making love to Caroline for the first time. “...before we make plans for our future. I cannot marry her with her not knowing the truth of who I am. My dear, beautiful love, she just laughed. Until I phased. And bless her, she laughed again. I could see the fear in her eyes, smell it on her, but she just grabbed my face and kissed me. She asked me what I am, and I told her. Gargouilles are depicted as monsters, dragons even, but we are protectors, warriors. We have been looking after humans since time began. The chimeras used on building facades portray us as ugly, evil. It breaks my heart, but my sweet Caroline explained it away. ‘People have believed in fairytales for centuries. Look at Beauty and the Beast,’ she said. ‘I bet the Beast was really a shifter!’”

  Tabitha leaned away from Jonas and looked over her shoulder at her grandmother. “That’s just crazy talk. He was a furry beast, and Gargoyles aren’t furry. Well, except for Dominic. That pirate’s got a lot of black hair sticking out from under his shirt.” All the adults laughed at her declaration, but she wasn’t wrong. “So, you weren’t scared when you saw him phase?” Tabitha asked Caroline.
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br />   “Of course I was. At first, I thought it was some sort of trick, but the look in his eyes let me know he was quite serious.”

  “I hope you didn’t pee your pants. That would have been embarrassing,” Tabitha mumbled. Even though all the children were told of their background from the time of their birth, Tabitha had quite the start when her father phased in the backyard before taking flight. She was only three at the time, but it was still a shock to her little system.

  “Almost, my darling. It is truly something to behold the first time,” Caroline said as she kissed Tabitha on top of her head.

  “Okay, so you told her you were a Goyle. Then what?” Anthony asked, squirming where he sat.

  “Then, the shitstorm started.” Jonas probably should have curbed his language, but these kids were used to Tessa.

  “I did not bother telling my father the truth before I made Caroline my mate. I explained the mate bond to her, and she begged me to bite her. Never wanting to be apart from her again, I took her home with me that night where we made our mating official. The next day, my father, along with Caroline’s father, came calling. Even though I was an adult male, my father did not treat me as his son, but rather like any other Clan member. I would have fought him to the death, but luckily, it did not come to that.

  “My beautiful mate stood up to her father and told him we were already married. The lie rolled so easily off her tongue, I should be leery. Instead, my heart swelled with pride when he accepted defeat, and the situation was diffused for the moment. My father, however, informed me our actions would be met with dire consequence. I already knew what he meant, as I had overheard enough conversations regarding my position within the Clan. Ever since my return from Ostia, I had been planning our exit from not only our home city, but from Italy as well. With my mate by my side, we stole away in the cover of night, setting off on the next chapter in our lives.”