End of Chapter 19

Eventually when the bags grew too heavy for their fat, weak tentacles. The eros announced that it was time for lunch, and they had a reservation ready. They were preening when that happened, oddly smug.

"It's a five-hour twenty course meal, and I've only got a reservation for three!" Valentino exclaimed, rubbed his hands together gleefully. Rue sneered; lips twisted. If there was anything she hated more, it was discrimination. And the blatant disrespect they had for Halcyon was growing painfully obvious over the hours. It almost seemed as if they were enemies.

"It's alright," Halcyon shrugged. "I'll watch from outside," he jerked a thumb to the store. "I'll get fast food."

"Fuck it," she shrugged. "We'll get cheeseburgers with Halcyon."

Altair gawked at her, jaw growing slack. "The wait list for this place is twenty years long—"

"Doesn't matter," she shrugged. "Want the cheeseburger."

The two were grumbling when Halcyon beamed at her with heart eyes.

The cheeseburger was good, priced at an amount that she'd never ever afford. Wobbling slow-cooked beef, fat buttery buns, caramelised golden onions, ribbons of crispy animal fat. A decent squirt of tomato vinegar-based sauce over a bed of lettuce. And the most glorious of stretchy, stinky cheese.

She licked her fingers and let out the smallest hum.

The three almost seemed to cum in their pants.

*

The cinema was next. Darkened space, fluffy velvet seats, and muffled silence. Of course, they picked a boring movie, one with far too much erotica in it, and of course no one was there. The eros were on a mission, and it was only thanks to Halcyon that she had her thighs free from tentacles. And her time lacking the harassment.

He sat between them like a barrier, and the two eros only huffed and groaned at the unfairness of it all.

At least, she had popcorn and a drink, which Rue decided would take her mind off the rough Alpha sex playing on screen. And with gleeful delight, she'd watched as Altair left to pee, clearly bored, clearly losing interest, shuffling out with a glare turned back at her.

She raised a middle finger and he hissed, storming off as she turned with a grin to look at Halcyon who'd gone awkwardly still. She supposed it had been a while since he'd watched a movie, and he was oddly fixated on the rough screaming sex on screen.

"Cute tatts," she mentioned, and he flushed, gaze turning to her, a quick jerk. "It's nice when they move, all that blood ink."

"Thanks," he murmured. "They represent my animals," he explained, and the stag darted across his thighs, bunnies leaping. She watched them go, disappearing up his thighs "The ones I can transform into. It hurt like hell where I'm sensitive, but it's necessary. The ink grounds me to my animal."

"And the piercings?" This had him almost flabbergasted, spine ramrod straight as he shuddered.

"For the more powerful beasts," he answered. "Reminds me to be careful, keeps my mind safe."

"Safe?" she cocked her head to the side, and he regarded her.

"If I didn't have them, I'd lose control," Halcyon explained, voice growing soft. "I'll become more animal than man, more beast-like in everyway possible." She met his gaze then, startled. "I'll do anything I want." There was a huskiness on his tongue, a danger in his tone. His eyes were huge, the darkness in them pooling, heat rising, gaze hazy. "Anything."

Then there was a buzz, a hum in the air that had him leaping upwards as if electrocuted. The sound like the hum of a phone, and she frowned as he stood, moving rapidly out to the aisle. His body stiffening.

"Bathroom," he explained with a quick nod.

A turn and she caught sight of a swelling bulge, pressed tight against jeans, swollen and full of blood. She could almost see it, flushed furious crimson, foreskin tight around the sweet velvety bulge, veins angry running up bars of silver. She swallowed thickly.

And then it was her and Valentino separated by two seats and yet closer than ever.

Rue exhaled, drowned out sounds, body cooling rapidly. The suppressants were working as usual, but she was running low, and it was about time she stocked up. The thought stretched, mind wandering to Altair's card.

Perhaps she could use it—

"You really didn't know?" Valentino called and she scowled, turned to the dark-haired alien, no longer the sweet teal she knew.

"I'm watching the movie."

"You didn't know about us?" he murmured, "about me?"

"What about you?" she turned her gaze to him. He was quiet then, and God of course he had to drop the bombs to a blaring soundtrack of people fucking. He must be doing it on purpose, must have planned this.

"You are my soulmate," he whispered. "I swear it, and I—I loved you then."

"Bullshit," she said.

But her heart stuttered and soared, body freezing at the words. Another confession, another lovesick fool. Perhaps it was cruel of her to drag it out, to entertain those notions, to use him this way.

But Rue couldn't explain the drag in her soul, rough and jagged like sandpaper, paper cuts to her heart—she knew Valentino, had enjoyed her time with him back at school. And the truth was, she missed him. And the truth was… Rue swallowed thickly, closed a hard fist over that thought, over that warmth that fluttered in her belly.

Fuck.

"My tails are like this because of you," Valentino said. "Eros, we run on love, without it we waste away."

"You're blaming me now for every misfortune you've had." She snorted. "Tough luck, life sucks darling—"

"It's the truth. I couldn't complete my first Rut," he interrupted. "I had everything, everything I could ever want. But all I thought about was you. I was sick because of it, stuck in a cycle of endless pain until my tails imploded upon themselves. I can't become a full Eros, a proper Eros. I'm broken now."

"Because you needed me?" she sighed. Typical.

"You don't believe me?"

"I don't."

"I don't blame you; I wasn't…" he pressed his lips together. "A good Alpha."

"And I'm a cynical rude guy, Valentino," she turned to him then. "You might be trying with your brother—"

"Stepbrother."

"Your whatever, to convince me that I should be in your bed. But you're just wasting your time again—"

"No," he shook his head, pondered his words. "I'll like to be friends."

"Friends," she considered. "Friends aren't soulmates. And Altair spent all morning trying to be something else. Aren't you mad?"

"He's never been rejected."

She barked a laugh. "Spoilt brat." She supposed they now shared everything, including lovers.

Valentino's lips curved. "Are you really a virgin?" She choked, fingers digging into the popcorn. "Altair said you were. It just doesn't make sense—"

"Oh, fuck off."

"Please tell me, "he whispered. "I just…"

"The answer's whatever that makes your cocks limp," she rolled her eyes. "Does it matter?"

"Back at your home…Did you have clients?" he pressed. "Was the only reason why I didn't have a chance because I didn't pay? Because I wasn't worthy of you?" Rue looked at him then, at his eyes, the dour determination, the steel. "Was it because you thought I was playing a fool?"

And there it was the truth, the waver in his soul. The thought that'd sunk into his head and stayed. He believed that she didn't treat him seriously because he'd always turned their interactions into one of jest and fun. Theirs was a relationship based on comedy. And it seemed that the possibility that her rejection had been because of that had plagued Valentino for years.

But the first time Valentino had confessed with a sweet smile and a laugh in his throat, Rue knew he believed it to be truth. She'd seen it in his eyes, the way they'd grown puppy-like and wide. The hope in them that was all docile honey—buttery with trust that she'd wrenched from him and destroyed with a cackle.

"No," she replied. "I knew you. You didn't lie to me. I know that. But you don't know better."

"Rue…"

"Valentino." she turned to him. And his eyes were wide, round—wet. She sighed. "If you must know, I don't take them to bed." He blinked. "My mother protects me," she folded her arms. "She takes my clients. She looks a little like me I suppose, but prettier. So, they accept it as me if they ever ask."

Valentino stared back at her, fingers gripping the arm rest. "So you've never?" He trailed off, filling the air with question.

"I work there," she told him honestly. "Served drinks. Groped by drunks. But my holes are clean, as clean as you want them to be. Happy?" He was quiet, watched her with wide eyes. And it was odd that she felt like sharing, felt like talking.

"So when Halcyon was there, he—"

"Whatever he told you? It's probably false. I'll never fuck a client. Not in that bastard lizard's den." She scowled. "And my mother did everything to keep me out of that life. I'm privileged like that, lucky to have her. But I don't intend to be a prostitute, Val. Not after all that she did for me, and not even now."

Rue turned her gaze to the screen.

"It's a job, one that people do to live. I'm not against it. But I'm not fucking for cash, it's not me. It's not what my mother wanted for me. And it'll be the last thing I ever do in this life. So, I won't guide with a dick in my holes, not even for billions. Kisses? Fine. Heavy patting? Alright. I can do anything but cocks in holes. I'd do it only for the one I love." She was sombre then, for there wouldn't be anyone. Not if she wanted to live as an Alpha, not if she wanted to be free. "And there will be no one, alright? Career progressions my dream."

"Oh," there was a rush of air from him, and she almost felt as if she saw the ghost of teal in his tentacles. "I see." He rose, and there was a rush of air. "I've got to pee." He regarded her then, and from her peripheral she watched him fidget. "You?"

"Go ahead," she gestured. "My bladder's strong."

He left then, and she continued chewing her popcorn, pondering over his words. It took a while, a moment for her to realise that their pee fest was dragging on way too long. A pause, and her eyes were widening a fraction. Halcyon. She'd just thrown him under the bus. She had just revealed that Halcyon had some sort of immense misunderstanding that had destroyed Valentino's ability as an eros.

He was in danger.

Her lips parted, breath coming out of her in pants. They weren't fist fighting in the bathrooms, were they? Had the crazy eros heard of the truth and decided he wanted to destroy Halcyon's face? Had she just unleashed hell upon the bunny? Upon her roommate?

Fuck.

Rue leapt to her feet, racing towards the bathroom. She slammed her fingers into the door, and God, she heard it then. The wham of flesh against the flesh. Then the cry. The smack of it, all too familiar in the den of depravity.

They were fucking Halcyon.

Rage filled her vision, memories flooding her of Halcyon curled on the ground. Her strength was inhumane, and the fact that she could tear the door open was crazy. But her mind was focussed, focussed on the fact that there was a poor lost lamb waiting for rescue. She destroyed the door, flung it far over her head.

And when she saw Halcyon on the ground with the two looming over him, she didn't stop to wait and see. She didn't stop to consider. She was pulling him, pulling him out of their arms, out of their fucking grasp, dislodging their fucking hold on him.

She tore him free of the cocks lodged deep in his ass, knots inflating. She ignored the riveting heat, the sway of tentacles flooding the ground with gushing sticky liquid. She ignored the syrupy drip of cum splattering over her thighs, dragging Halcyon behind her with a scream.

"You motherfuckers!" she roared, searching Halcyon's face for tears. "Fucking Halcyon on my fucking watch? I'm going to kill you. I'm going to fucking kill all of you—"

She paused then, eyes wide, gaze combing the blood on his neck, the ring of silver on his scent gland. The bite was fresh, but the mark wasn't. And then her stare flickered over the mirroring marks on their necks, the blood on their lips, the silver on their throat. The claims. Halcyon had bitten them back like a consenting, willing mate. It stained his lips red.

The blood of Valentino, the blood of Altair.

Their shock mirrored her own.

"Rue," Halcyon whimpered.

They were mates.

A/N: Read ahead on

https://www.patreon.com/tinyeyecat

https://www.inkitt.com/tinyeyecat