Strange Love

Arei couldn't help but feel awkward as he took another bite of the excellent meal the King and his Queen had prepared for them. It was definitely the best meal he'd had in a long time, but the King and especially the Queen hadn't taken their eyes off him all night. They were now at the end of the table bickering, and it would be adorably cute to watch if he didn't get a sickening feeling he was the cause of it. He'd just plopped another bite of juicy meat into his mouth when the Queen raised her hand and spoke.

"Which one of you did this belong to?" Cam asked as she held the ring up for their inspection.

Arei nearly choked on the mouthful of meat. He had to quickly spit it into a napkin as the shock of seeing the ring he'd bought for Jos in the Queen's hand. "How did you get that?"

Cam's eyes widened and a pleased smile spread across her lips. "Ha, I was right!"

"You can't honestly expect me to fulfill that bet." Ales asked with a sigh, trying to hide his own amusement at his wife's growing excitement. "I still can't figure out how you guessed as much. I'm sure you cheated somehow."

"I do and you will! Anyways, she's my best friend. I know her type." Cam said proudly.

"They're twins..." Ales added as if it wasn't already obvious.

"But different enough." Cam argued before turning her attention back to the men at the other end of the table, all questions of verification pointless as one massive twin stared at the other. "So, you're the bastard that broke my best friend's heart all those years ago."

Just as Arei was about to answer, Ry interrupted. "I'm sure neither of us knows what you're talking about, but it's a nice ring, Your Majesty." Ry sent Arei a glare as he gave a slight shake of his head. "We appreciate the meal, but really need to be leaving if there's nothing else you need from us."

"We do need more. You said you'd like to get those testimonies..." Cam pushed.

Arei's stormy eyes met Ry's. "We did say that, and I still want to do so."

"That's a bad idea and you know it." Ry bit out.

"It's my risk to take, and I'll be the one suffering the punishment, not you." Arei replied matter-of-factly.

Ry let out a heavy sigh as he sat back in his chair. "Very well... you're going to do it regardless of what I say anyway." He turned his attention back to the queen. "Yes, that was once my brother's... What of it?"

Arei kicked Ry under the table. "What he means to say is, how did you become in possession of it?"

Cam tilted her head. "It was given to me as a gift when the pain of you never returning became too much to bear.

At first, I hadn't realized what the ring meant, I had only known that it was a beckon of pain for her... pain you inflicted."

"Cam," Ales interrupted, but she didn't stop.

"Do you have any feelings left for her? Did you ever care for her? If so... the least, you can do is give her the closure she deserves." Cam said as she slid the ring across the table to him.

Tears burned Arei's eyes. He knew the pain their separation had caused him over the years, the agony of each sunrise without her by his side. To think she'd experienced even half that pain was literally tearing him in two. He couldn't respond as he watched the ring slide across the table.

"Well?" Cam asked impatiently from the other side of the table.

"If you go to her it may only cause more problems for the both of you..." Ry whispered. "I have a bad feeling about it."

All the voices around him simply blurred into the background as Arei scooped the ring up from the table and made haste toward the wide double doors of the formal dining room.

Ry set back in his seat with a huff of irritation. "Well, that happened." He turned a glare to Cam. "I hope you're happy. You've probably just caused more pain and heartache for the both of them."

"What do you mean?" She shot up from the table. "Is your brother going to do something to her?"

Ry let out another irritated huff. "I need to use a phone."

"Why?! You can't just not answer my question. If he's going to hurt her again, I need to know! I need to be there for her!" Cam argued as she made her way toward the giant of a man, Ales following behind her begrudgingly.

"Cam, just leave it be. If you didn't want him going to her, you shouldn't have brought it up." Ales argued.

Ry's eyes met the short, fiery queen. "Your husband's right, you should listen to him more often." He arched a brow at her when she only glared at him planting her fists against her hɨps defensively. "Do you not find it odd that two of the council's top hunters were sent here for a family squabble? How often have you ever heard of this in the past?"

Cam's defiant glare softened. "Well... never... really... but they have gotten involved more in the ruling classes business and affairs in recent years."

"I need to use a phone. If you want to help your friend, cooperate with me on this... I care for Josyln as well..."

Arei ran as fast as his human form would carry him, all the way to the lagoon he'd last seen his beloved. Expecting to see the brilliant reflection of the sun off her silver hair from the lagoon, he felt his heart sink slightly when he found it empty. His attention immediately turned toward the door of her cavernous home. Running to it he knocked several times, but no one answered. He tested the door. Finding it unlocked, he walked inside. "Kitten? Are you here?" When no one answered, he continued walking around the room for any sign of her. {Have I come to the wrong place? Has she finally moved out of here and into a better home?} His eyes searched the dimly lit room. Much had changed over the years. A new picture sat on the counter of a modern kitchen area. His lips curved up as her aqua eyes stared out from the picture at him. They weren't as bright as they once were, and her smile seem forced compared to the other two women in the picture. He hadn't been surprised at all to see that she was back in the form of a young girl... but the excitement that he was so used to seeing reflecting out at the world from her eyes was gone... Heartache... He knew that expression well, trying your best to hide your feelings from those around you, but only ever managing to come off as broken... a lesser part of what you once were...

"Ah... I see it didn't take you long to disobey my orders. I'm not surprised, however..." Zeus stepped into the room forcing Arei's attention away from the picture in hand.

"What do you want? What are you doing here? What have you done with her this time?!" Arei could feel raw rage build within every pore of his body.

"I've done nothing. Her fate is all in your hands, nephew." Zeus smiled down at a trinket he'd lifted from one of the shelves of the room. "Right now, she awaits a hearing at the Embassy. If you agree to my terms, she'll be granted her freedom... and if you don't..." He shrugged. "Who knows."

"What do you want?" Arei growled.

"I need a small favor. I need you to choose between her freedom and... let's say less freedoms for one of your brothers..." Zeus said idly as he continued nosing through Jos's belongings.

Arei pushed up in pure rage. "As if I would trust you to make another deal where her or my brothers were involved! You've already fuċkėd over me on that, now haven't you."

Zeus turned cold eyes to his nephew. "You forget your place, you are mine, you do as I say."

"Ha!" Arei barked as he made his way toward the small door. "And how's that worked for you so far?" When Zeus held a handout to stop him, he simply shrugged. "Do to me as you'd like but leave Jos and my brothers out of it."

Zeus narrowed his eyes as a wicked grin curved his lips. "I think you forget, at least one of your brothers already work for me, what if his shackles become tighter along with yours?"

Arei smiled. "So be it. I know Ry well enough; he'd also rather take the brunt of your idiotic punishments than see the innocent suffer." He waved to his uncle as he stepped out of the cave. "I'll be waiting for your new punishments and do make it interesting this time. They've grown quite stale over the past years."

Zeus shrugged as he followed Arei out into the bright light of day. "Very well, if her freedom means as little to you as your own." With that, the god of the sky was gone in one brilliant burst of golden light.

He'd flopped down onto the hot sand of the lagoon and was examining the ring he held between his fingers and thumb when movement sounded from behind him. "You missed our scheming-ass uncle's visit..."

Ry nodded as he lowered to the sand beside his brother, ignoring the silent tears streaming down his face. "What did he want this time?"

Arei breathed out a heavy sigh. "He wanted to trade Jos's freedom for one of our brothers."

"Did he say which?"

"No... but likely it was Peg... He's been after him ever since he left his courts."

Ry nodded. "So what punishments are you taking on this time to protect him?"

Arei shrugged, "I have no idea..." He gave a faint chuckle. "I did tell him to be more creative this time."

Ry shook his head with a laugh. "I bet that pissed him off." He clamped Arei's shoulder. "I'm with you no matter what, we'll get through it."

Arei nodded, but his attention was drawn away from his brother to more movement from the path. He could hear the sniffles first before the tiny queen stepped out followed by her husband. A smile curved his lips as he pushed himself up from the sand and walked toward her, not surprised in the least that she'd followed. "I think you for this more than you know. I regret it didn't work out as you and I would have hoped... but I'm glad. I'm glad I got to meet you and learn that Jos isn't alone anymore, that she has people who care for her now. As much as I hate to hear she's been suffering as I have... I'm also glad to learn that as well. It means that there's still hope for us... someday..." Before he could say or do anything else Cam flung herself into his arms in a tight hug.

"I'm just glad you haven't given up on her! She loved you so much... You took a huge part of her with you when you left... as her friend I can only ever hope she would be able to get that piece of herself back someday." Cam tightened her arms around him as happy tears streamed down her cheeks.

Arei's wide eyes moved to Ales, but when he saw the man equally as teary, he could only chuckle and pull her into an even tighter hug. "I would have never had the strength to refuse my uncle's offer had I not met the two of you first and seen how much you care for her. Even if she is held here as a prisoner, I believe she would still be happier for it in the end than anything I could hope to barter for." He placed a light kiss on the Queen's head before releasing her. He walked over and pulled Ales into a quick hug as well, before stepping back. "Please keep my visit as our secret... Until I'm able to give her what she deserves."

Cam and Ales both nodded as they pulled one another into a tight embrace.

Current time

"I was sent to deal with several different wars after that... I didn't catch a break until 15 years ago after the vampire attacks when I was sent to work with the USVA." Arei risked her withdraw as he stepped closer and wrapped his arms around her. "I don't know what I expected that day when I ran from the palace... I don't know how we would have worked it out had you been there... if we would have been able to... but my heart hadn't beat as fast as it did, with so much hope as it did hearing Cam say you had never stopped loving me... that you felt the exact same way I did." He pressed his lips against the back of her head. "I hate that you had to suffer and that there was nothing I could do... but it was the hope of finding my way back to you that made the hells of those years after bearable."

Jos's eyes had become so blurred by tears she could bȧrėly see the ring in her hand. With fumbling fingers, she removed it from the box and slid it onto her ring finger before turning in his arms. She flung her arms around his neck and held tightly as sobs vibrated her ċhėst. "I love you... so... sooo much... I'm sorry for all the hell I've personally put you through over the past several months." Her words broke with each sob, but she didn't care. All the remaining resentment she felt toward the massive man in her arms vanished. It was like lifting a crushing weight from her ċhėst and heart. She could finally breathe without pain... aside from the seemingly endless tears that flooded her eyes and soaked the shoulder of his shirt. "I love you!"

Arei gently tugged her away enough that his own overflowing eyes could meet hers. "And I love you, kitten, more than you could ever know." He brought his lip down on hers for a long, deep kiss. "I love you forever and always." He whispered as he pressed his forehead against hers, his gaze falling to the ring now resting on her finger.

Jos's voice broke with uncertainty as she asked. "Is... is this, ok? That I wear it... or should I change fingers." She went to pull it off, but his hand stopped her.

"No, kitten, it's perfect right there... it's where it was always meant to be." He pulled her back into his tight embrace, their lips naturally finding each other.

Neither of them could tell how much time had passed or know that they were not currently alone in the world until a nervous bark sounded in the room. Jos and Arei didn't release their holds on one another immediately as they turned to see Shelly leaning against the doorway. The wolf seemed to be wincing in pain and a puddle of water trailed her into the doorway. "Shell? What's going on are you... OH!!!" Jos's eyes widened and she quickly pulled away from Arei and ran toward her, lowering to the floor on her heels. "Are... are you in labor?" Her eyes moved to the watery trail leading from one room to the other. "Your water, did it just break?"

The wolf nodded as another contraction caused her to wince again.

"Oh shit!" Arei shouted as he began moving around the room frantically in search of all the things, he deemed useful in the current situation, coming up with absolutely nothing except his cellphone. "What do we do? Should I call EMS, dad, the hospital? Does the hospital here take werewolves? I mean they must since the island has a high were population... right..."

The wolf snickered against yet another contraction as she and Jos watched the massive man fumble around the room. Jos winked to Shelly before standing. She walked over and placed a soothing hand on his arm. "We just need to get her to the hospital for now. We can call everyone on the way, and let the hospital know to expect us... Alright?"