Partner

I’ve had a bit of concern as per my readers (you guys) seeming to think that Paw and Mik are over. Or that Paw never cared about Mik. Or Mik died because Paw doesn’t like him any more and it made me face palm.

Paw and Mik’s emotions towards one another were real, Sidhe can’t lie to Mik, remember? Remember? Good.

The Paw faking bit: Someone in a review seems to believe that Paw faked his emotions towards Mik to get Mik on Illuva’s… team… Paw did not fake his emotions and I said that if he had, Illuva would rather strike him dead than allow it to continue. Someone else then took it to mean that Mik was killed because Paw stopped loving him. Once again. Paw would be the one struck dead. Not Mik.

The reason I wasn’t entire certain on Mik’s state of being is below, obviously. But of course, this was not from Mik’s point of view. I told you all there would be a happy ending at the beginning of the story, I’m kind of surprised no one hit me with that.

At least if Mik was dead, dead, he and Paw could meet up in the underworld…

If Ill would worry at little less about the souls she accidentally let out and search instead for the soul she somehow lost.

I wrote this in hopes of spurring the action I want, so Paw could stop being so sad.

I posted this in Sequel first *facepalm*

Read, Review and Enjoy.







He waited until Rel was unconscious. That wasn’t even the right term for it. Rel’s body was there, the young man’s body was sleeping even, but what made Rel who he was, was gone. Sidhe would call it his soul. People his mind.

He waited until all the suggestions throughout the day had taken hold, until Rel was slipping to a place that even he could not reach. Then he shut off the lights, unplugged all the machines in the room and convinced Muan he should do the same on every floor possible. And off the Sidhe went, a puppy eager to please a kind master. Muan’s rewards would be great, as Una got the distinct feeling that Rahl-ta was pleased with his Sidhe piece.

Being distant relatives, for Harella-shay’s blood ran thick in Muan’s veins, Rahl-ta and Tahl-ra could hold a Sidhe piece. Normally thought, the pair had a difficult time getting a Sidhe to do anything except laze about or pick their noses.

Four days since Mik’s death, three since the man’s funeral. Three days since Una, an immortal, walked out of his tomb of a sleeping place and allowed himself to be discovered by Rel, Mari, Muan and Paw. Una walked into Paw’s apartment. Being immortal came with good and bad, as with any other life. The good was the instinctual fear the Sidhe felt towards him when they were lying to him. So easy to pick up on.

His blond hair was still tousled from his shower earlier in the day, his clothing rumpled from having Paw sleep in his lap, from his discussion with Rel. The clothing people made for themselves was not meant for heavy wear, something that made him grimace. If a being sat hunched over for more than a few minutes wrinkles formed all up and down the sides.

Idiots. Comfort, always comfort was more important than anything else.

An idea he immediately began to snarl about when he spotted Paw sleeping on the kitchen counter. Una pushed the Sidhe off of the counter with a flick of his hand, satisfied by the startled screech and the resounding thump as Paw struck the floor. The Sidhe would be fine, Una would never do something that would physically hurt one of the Sidhe.

Paw’s head popped up over the counter, the Sidhe growled at Una. Gave him a look that people might consider annoyance.

“Don’t you dare,” Una said, placing his hands on the counter and leaning towards Paw, “your powers have no effect on me and if you try it, I will whollop you up one side and down the other.”

“Whollop?” Paw muttered, immediately disarmed, forgetting all previous emotion, “some sort of sexual gratification?”

“Beating. I don’t sleep with Sidhe who are about to be mated.”

Paw went bright red, then pale, then began to whine, cringing away from Una while trying to make himself look as small as possible. He had touched on the lie and Paw didn’t want him digging any further.

“Where is he?” Una asked.

Paw whined again but slunk around the counter and gave Una a frightened look. Oh, Una would pay for pressuring Paw into this, he would pay a great deal. No one could prod a cat and expect to not wake up to claws one morning. Una was a dog person and wasn’t afraid to admit it.

The Sidhe left the apartment and moved towards the stairwell as all the lights went off. Una felt the strange relief as the electricity dissipated from the building. No lights in the hallway to show the way, but Una and Paw didn’t need light. By the time they had hit the parking garage, people had candles lit, were talking quietly at the parking entrance.

They moved through the parking garage, Una thought that was what the people had called it, and down more stairs. Underground. Past the mind that screamed in agony as Paw’s nightmares picked away at the man. Past the giant beast that gave the building electricity and the cursing from the men inside trying to fix it. And into a door that had a lock. A lock to which the key was Paw’s palm. In this place, in this room, there was still electricity.

Odd, but when Una stepped into the room he realised why it did. There was another electrical beast sitting in the corner, feeding the machines. There in the center of the room were several machines, all beeping and pinging away. Heartbeat and something else, Una hardly paid them any mind.

The machines were attached, somehow, to the male laying in the bed. Eyes closed, muscles relaxed. No god had created that body, it showed no signature of any of the gods. The key had been tumbled out of the well at random, into a random body, in a random place. Illuva hadn’t pulled any strings to get Mik there. The goddess hadn’t sent Paw to collect the key, even. She may have led Mik to the program, led him to the military that had created the program that protected the Sidhe.

But she hadn’t forced the relationship.

Paw’s worry and jealousy rose in tides, fighting one another to be the dominant emotions. The Sidhe didn’t want Una touching his male but knew that if anyone could save Mik, it was Una. Paw wrung his hands and approached Mik quickly, looking over the man while probing with power for any sign of the soul. Any at all.

Mik was so far gone even a Whisper of Paw’s strength couldn’t feel him. And had it been anyone else laying there, Una would not have known whether or not Mik was still alive. Being the game master and Mik being the most important piece in the game, Una knew his state. Living. Barely. Like half his soul was in one place, half in another.

Una approached the bed and saw the man on the other side jerk his head up, reach for a weapon.

“Put that down,” Una muttered, looking down on Mik as he came to the side of the bed, “violence will not help.”

He studied the features. People and not. Mik’s face was broader than a people. Hair thicker, in an attractive sort of way, like it had a life of his own. So like his little violinist.

Una banished the thought and asked the question he was certain he was going to be struck for asking, “is he people?”

“Mommy from south,” Paw muttered.

“His father was from … the people,” the other man said.

“Halfling. Makes him completely immune to the gods and to most power. What an oddity,” Una lifted Mik’s hand and felt the recognition, felt something stir, “his father had power?”

“No,” Paw muttered, “mommy makes plants grow where plants can’t grow.”

“P…” Una looked at Paw, “only the people have power. No other race of people but THE people were blessed with power.”

“Mommy makes plants grow where plants cannot grow,” Paw said again the way only a Sidhe could. Sidhe didn’t care what people thought should happen. They didn’t care if people said something was impossible. If they saw it happen, then they saw it happen and nothing anyone else said would change what they believed.

Una considered Mik’s hand for a moment. Larger than his own, they were strong hands. Best suited for large weapons. A broadsword, perhaps, if it came down to fighting. And come to fighting it often did with the people.

“You should shut off those beasts,” Una muttered, motioning to the machines, “they are not keeping him alive,” no Sidhe would allow a body to be kept alive in such a form, “thus shutting them off will cause no harm.”

“But-” the man protested even as Paw raised a hand to silence him.

Paw turned his body towards Una, giving the immortal his full attention even as a hand rested idly on Mik’s arm. Ever aware of the male he had claimed, the Sidhe looked to Una and let it be known that if Una failed, there would be hell to pay.

How many people missed those small expressions, how had the program survived without seeing those emotions and understanding a threat when they saw one?

“Electricity, Paw, is bad,” which was yet another reason Una preferred Sidhe over people. There were no questions as to why it was bad, “and perhaps,” Una set Mik’s hand back on the blankets, “his mother should be made aware of his place and condition.”

“Why?” Paw murmured.

“Because I said so,” Una muttered in response.

“Why?”

“Because…” Una looked at Paw and saw the twitch of the lips upward. This would go on for hours unless he put a stop to it, “just do it.”

“Why?”

Oh gods. It would go on for hours.

.