Page 2 of Against the Veil (Endangered Fae #3)
Chapter Two
Too Much Courage, Not Enough Sense
Censure because of sexuality is unheard of among the fae.
Same-sex relationships are treated in the same way as bi-gendered pairings and casual sex among the unattached is the norm.
Multiple long-term partners are not uncommon, though all parties must be aware and equally consenting.
Most fae, whether they openly admit to it or not, are fiercely territorial .
—D. Sandoval, in an interview with Human Relations Magazine
“ H e’s a queer , Marion! You’re son’s a fag!”
“Watch your language, Jim. I won’t have it in the house.
” Zack’s mother turned to him, her face lined with worry.
“Sweetie, it wasn’t you, I know. That fairy prince probably just grabbed you and kissed you.
They’re strange folks. It’s not your fault.
I know you don’t want to say anything bad about your boss and all, but you can tell me what really happened. ”
Zack rubbed a hand over the back of his neck. When had his mother gotten so small? And his father so old? “Look, Mom, Dad, it’s not like I didn’t want to tell you someday. But it just hasn’t come up—”
“Now you know why he never brought girlfriends home!” his retired-sergeant father bellowed. “He wasn’t married to his career, he was boning—”
“Jim, please! This is hard enough!”
“I didn’t have boyfriends, either, Dad.” Zack felt the flush rise up to his hairline but he kept his voice calm. “I haven’t had anyone. But it’s true. You need to know and I should have told you before…all this. I’m gay. No way around it.”
“And this is what you bring home to us? All this shit on the TV that the neighbors have to point out to your poor mother? You’re a disgrace! A discredit to the Corps and your family!”
“Yeah, well, don’t ask, don’t tell, Dad.
Even after that, it wasn’t easy. Why do you think I’ve been alone so long?
” Zack held up a hand to cut off his father’s next tirade.
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry you had to find out this way and I’m sorry it’s made you unhappy.
I’m not sorry about who I am.” He turned to grab his coat from the wall hook.
“I’m going out for a walk. I need to cool down.
You need to cool down. Maybe we can talk like grown-up people later. ”
“You little shit! How dare you take that tone with me? I oughta take—”
Zack sighed and walked out of the door. He had too many years and too many horrific experiences under his belt to be cowed by his father now. Still hurts, though.
He’d played the scene out in his mind again and again over the years, how he would make sure his father was sober and everyone was calm, how he would come out to them, serenely and matter-of-factly.
Except he never had, and now, instead of being able to work through it in the privacy of the family, the whole state knew.
Hell, the whole country knew—his conservative, Midwestern parents exposed to the malicious whispers of neighbors and congregation members.
At least, that’s how they would see it. Did see it.
Damn .
He should have been really pissed at the big guy for putting him through this, but he couldn’t muster any anger toward Lugh. Not the first time he’s kissed me. Not like I didn’t like it.
Zack’s hand stole up to his lips, still able to feel the tingling from that passionate, desperate lip-lock in the alley.
‘Tonight, Zachary, please,” Lugh had whispered in his ear. “Don’t torture me any longer. I need your strong arms around me, your skin next to mine…’
Right. The thought of fumbling through his first night of sex with someone who had centuries of experience had stopped him cold, made him back off in embarrassment and, once again, gently refuse.
As always, Lugh had respected his wishes.
Even though he was powerful enough to have shoved Zack against the wall and taken him right then and there, he never pushed further than Zack let him, never forced the issue.
It had been with clenched teeth and a tormented groan that time, but still the prince had backed off.
He loved Lugh for that. Stupid jerk. You’ve loved him from the first time you saw him.
That first heart-stopping meeting in the middle of a skirmish, Lugh shining like moonlight and ripped like a god in his skin-tight silver armor.
Damn, damn and damn. He had to stop thinking like this.
Lugh was a prince and his grandmother’s Champion, and the ambassador to the whole human world.
He could never love a human, an ex-soldier, a nobody without any rank or importance.
Not the way Finn loved Diego. It was in his eyes every time he looked at Diego.
Every time anyone mentioned Diego, there it was, that contented I’m-his-for-all-eternity look.
Lugh was fond of him, sure, but his eyes wandered everywhere.
He wasn’t a one-man kind of fae, and never claimed he could be.
Unfortunately, Zack needed someone who was his and only his, so, of course, he had the bad sense to fall for someone he couldn’t ever have that way.
“Dumb jarhead,” he muttered as his feet hit the path that led to the park. “Sabotaged yourself again.”
When he reached the lake, he stopped, shoved his hands in his pockets and pulled in a deep breath of cold air.
The full moon perched huge and white on the tops of the pines, her twin shining up in rippling splendor from the surface of the lake.
It was a beautiful scene and being out in the still of a late autumn night with no machine noises did calm him.
If he hadn’t gone into the service, he probably would have been a forest ranger or something. Peaceful …
The first scream ripped the night in half.
Zack dropped to a crouch. His hand shot to his hip where no weapon rode as he tried to pinpoint a direction.
The second scream spun him to his left. Down the path toward the trees, a girl stood with her back to a lamppost, frozen in an attitude of sheer horror, while a male figure grappled with…
“Holy shit,” Zack whispered as he ran to help.
A huge muzzle rose and fell. Sharp teeth flashed in the moonlight.
One of those gigantic hybrid dogs? A hyena?
What the hell was that thing? The figure on the ground received a moment’s reprieve as the beast turned toward the pounding of Zack’s boots.
A boy, probably the girl’s date, staggered up and ran like hell.
Coward . Zack couldn’t help the thought even though he knew the boy had done the right thing as the beast turned on him, snarling. He put himself between it and the girl, and only had time to shout over his shoulder, “Run, damn it!”
The thing leaped at him, spittle flying from canines as long as Zack’s hand. Instinct and adrenaline kicked in. Zack seized it by the throat, pressing his thumbs hard into its windpipe. Its breath reeked. Its ice-blue eyes held madness.
Momentum on its side, it hurled Zack to the ground, the air forced from his lungs as he slammed into the concrete path. He kept his grip, heart pounding against his breastbone. Any slip would be the end of him.
“Oh my God! Oh fuck! Hurry! It’s gonna eat him!” The girl hadn’t run. She was screaming into her cell phone.
Not just for himself then—he had to hang on for the kid. The monster snapped at his face and lunged again. Something was wrong about the shape of its back. Its limbs were jointed in a way no canine’s should be. Its hands closed over his biceps, claws biting through his coat into his skin.
Holy fucking hells. This thing has thumbs.
Back claws scrabbled, ripped into his legs. The beast shifted position and lunged again. Zack’s arms trembled with the strain. Its front claws tore at his chest, agony in the wake of those talons. His left hand lost purchase. The thing’s teeth sank into his shoulder.
Someone was screaming. It might have been the girl. Might have been him. Hard to tell when the world had collapsed to nothing but searing points of pain. Sirens. Shouting. Gunshots. Everything faded into the nightmare hum inside his head . I’m never seeing my Prince again…
“Zachary? Do you hear me, braveheart?”
A strong hand held his, dragging Zack from the dark. “Lugh?” his voice creaked out in a spare whisper. “How…?”
“Shh. Lie still. You called me.”
“I did?”
“Yes. The…” Lugh hesitated as he did when he searched for a human word. “Medics are coming. You are gravely wounded. Stay still and quiet.”
“You—” Zack gasped after breath. Why was it so hard to breathe? Or see, for that matter? The world was so dark, Lugh nothing more than an indistinct lump against the sky. “You zapped…yourself here. No car. No escort.”
“Please don’t be annoyed with me, Zachary. I could not ignore such an urgent summons. Not from you.”
Now what’s that supposed to mean? “Call…Diego…”
“I shall. Never fear. Shh. All will be well.”
Lugh’s hand on his forehead felt so good there, a calm spot in all the dizzying agony.
“Lugh…”
“You are so very courageous. But I wish you had more sense.” Lugh’s voice might have cracked or it might have been Zack’s imagination. “Please, my brave Zack, please don’t die.”