Page 116 of Labor of Love

“He is the mate my brother and I share between us,” Marcus explained. “We have not found any other yet.”

Ahh, so that could explain some of the sadness. Gargoyles tended to mate in groups, with family members, particularly siblings, typically sharing two to three mates between them. For them to have only found one, despite being fully mature and, unless Laney missed his guess, and it was rare that he did when pegging these things, at least three hundred years old, had to be a source of frustration and despair for him.

“I’m sorry, that has to be hard,” Laney said, turning his wrist over and staring down at the forearm he’d hoped to see soft swirls of color creep across, but even after his ex-boyfriend proposed, none had appeared.

“He wasn’t your mate, was he?” Marcus asked, having turned, now that the vehicle was parked, to study Laney with that same glowing intensity on his face as before.

“No, he wasn’t. In a way I’m glad, because that means that there still might be a chance for me to find them. Though with a little one, I don’t know that anyone, even a mate, would want to take on the responsibility when it isn’t theirs.”

“Then let me tell you what I know of the people here, especially those you’ll be encountering daily,” Marcus said. “You would not be the first to arrive mateless and expecting, and I doubt you’ll be the last. I know four personally, who have found mates in the village and been warmly welcomed by them, children and all. This is a safe place Laney, but I know words won’t be what convinces you of that. It will take time and getting to know people before you’re able to feel safe with them. Just don’t walk around expecting the same kind of treatmentyou experienced other places you’ve been. It will prejudice you against everything that comes your way from here on out.”

Laney sat, wet backpack by his feet, uncertain, but still holding on to the trust he’d had even when he’d been removed from his home. Back then, he hadn’t expected to be abandoned. He’d just thought they would take him to the other half of his family, whoever they were. Only no one would speak up about knowing his shadow court ancestor, not even his parents, when they’d turned their backs and watched him be hauled away. He sort of understood. He had siblings, all older, nieces and nephews too. None of them had displayed the power he had, so why would anyone stick their necks out when they had a comfortable place to live? He just hoped none of the little ones ever developed the same power, or anything like it. He’d hate for them to be cast away from everything they’d known the way he’d been.

“Will I have a home in the trees like the rest of the pixies?”

Marcus’s glittering eyes sparkled when they widened, even as he drew back, clearly shocked at the question.

“You, are a pixey?” Marcus stammered. “I-I thought, when I read you, that you were elven. You’re signature reads elven.”

“Because I am both,” Laney explained. “The pixey part is what got me kicked out of my home. Well, not so much the pixey bloodline, but the pattern and color of my wings when they emerged along with my secondary abilities.”

“Which are?”

Now nerves kicked in. Was it wrong that he hadn’t shared this part of his story before they’d arrived? But it hadn’t come up, and Marcus was a gargoyle. They were known to wield similar abilities, using them as a means of keeping watch over the territory they claimed and protected.

“I can draw the shadows to me,” Laney admitted. “And use them as weapons, like a fist or a hammer, when I feel threatened.I don’t really know what else I can do with them, I’ve never been taught. I’ve only done it once. It just burst loose when….”

Laney hung his head, certain he was about to be driven off these lands too now that the truth was out.

“When what, Laney?” Marcus prodded, his tone nothing but gentle, patient and kind.

“It smelled so bad and filled the forest with dread,” Laney explained. “I don’t know what it was. I’ve never smelled anything like it before. That day, I was the companion to two elders who’d wanted to harvest the wild berries and violets that were growing in the woods near our home. We were going to make syrups from them. They were laughing and telling stories the way they always did. I loved listening to them and helping gather all the berries they needed. But that day, the forest grew silent, and not the kind of silence as when a natural hunter is lurking. It was like all the lifeforce was being sucked out of it. We all sensed it, snatched up the berries we had, and started hurrying back. But at their ages….”

Laney let out a long, shuddering exhale as the memories threatened to overwhelm him.

“As a companion, I received training in how to render aid should anything ever happen during one of the activities I was accompanying anyone on. To watch for signs, too if anyone was taxing themselves or in danger or putting themselves at risk. We were moving as fast as we could, but it wasn’t fast enough. The feeling was getting closer, and the elders were starting to slow down and give into the dread that was beginning to cling to everything. I don’t know how to fight, it was never a skill I needed as a companion, but I turned and put myself between them and the silence and that’s when it happened.”

Licking his lips, Laney tried to recall everything that had taken place in the moments afterwards.

“What happened, Laney?” Marcus prodded, just as gentle as before. “It’s okay, whatever it was, I’m not going to judge you or drive you back to where I found you. You have my word.”

“I-I don’t know how I did it. I just, I needed them to be safe and unharmed,” Laney explained. “I pulled the shadows from the ground and between the tree branches, the ones from the hollow holes too and just shaped them into a ball that smashed that thing out of the sky. After, when it lay in a crater smoking, that’s when I realized that my shirt was in tatters and my jeans were gone. My wings had ripped it apart when they burst out, right before I shifted to my pixie form. I was something like twenty feet off the ground which scared the hell out of me because I’d only ever flown on the backs of my friends before, never on my own. I didn’t even know how to make my wings work to bring me back down. By the time I figured it out, the elders had made it to safety and the guards had come out and they saw my wings and took me right before the council. I was banished before the end of the night.”

“That is preposterous! You saved them and who knows how many others if the intent had been to attack your home!”

“They thanked me for that, then dismissed me with their sincerest regrets and apologies,” Laney said. “First from my position as a companion, and a few hours later, after my family had been consulted, I was exiled all together. Without a way to vet the ancestor my magic had been passed down from, I was branded unsuitable to live among them.”

“I see,” Marcus replied, sucking in a deep, ragged breath. “They are fools. It is there loss and Wildwood’s gain.”

“W-wait…seriously…I can stay?”

“Your magic mirrors my own, as well my father’s,” Marcus explained. “It would make me a hypocrite to fear you when I have never once feared my own abilities and the good they can do, especially when there have been rumors of otherdisturbances just like the one you described. It’s only a matter of time before a threat like that finds its way here. You’ve just given me the first solid clue of how we might be able to defeat it when it comes.”

“R-really?”

“Yes. Really. Now, let’s get you inside so I can show you to your room.”

“Ohh, so I won’t be a treehouse?” Laney asked.

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