Lucifer's Keys

Food and Pheromones: Part 2

John just sat staring, stars in his eyes.  His newfound mate, however, seemed to have a bit more composure.

"Hello, my name is Yua Ito of the Lotus Clan." She said with a smile.  " I have been waiting for you for a very long time Tamashi," She said, her eyes never leaving Johns.  

"I will take your order and speak to my father about joining you for dinner."  She smiled at the lump of love mush that was John and began taking Kevin's order.

"Thank you!!! It's nice to meet you Yua, John has been waiting for you for years, and I'm sure he will say the same but it seems he and Colt are in deep thought and conversation.  I'll have the Steak and Shrimp Hibachi dinner please!"  Kevin gave her his best smile and puppy dog eyes.  She didn't seem to react much.  

"And you?"  She moved on to Mason after taking Kevin's order, John still staring after her with stars in his eyes, it was official, Mason thought, they had lost him."

"It's nice to meet you Yua.  Maybe now John can stop being such a prude," She giggled at mason's comment and prepared to write.  

"I'll have the Chicken Hibachi dinner please, with a side of calamari if you have it...Oh and double the vegetables please!"  Mason said excitedly.  For whatever reason he and Cyrus both seemed to relax around her, she was one of them already and she had barely even spoken to John.  He knew his friend was deliriously happy, now only if he could snap the hell out of it to tell her so.

Yua moved in front of John, the biggest smile playing across her smooth features.  John stared at her awestruck.  He always did have a thing for Asian women and his dream had come true.  She smelled amazing to him, fresh honeysuckle in the morning.  It was the kind of smell that pleasantly surprised you on a morning walk and made you look around in search of its origin.  He wanted to wrap his arms around her and pull her close just to inhale.  She was life, she was everything, and he would honor and please her as long as she would let him, oh Goddess how he would please her...

"Hello?" Yua asked again, interrupting his inner monologue.

"Hi.." He managed in a husky and breathless voice.

"I asked you what you would like...you know" she smiled slyly at him "So I can get you fed and join my mate for our first meal."

John's face broke out in the biggest smile that Mason had ever seen.  He rapidly, and loudly fired off his order.

"Right! Steak Hibachi dinner with kani salad and a Volcano roll please!  And whatever dinner you want...I mean I know you work here and all and...you probably get it for free and...whatever, it doesn't matter.  Whatever you want, whatever will get you next to me faster."  He ranted.

Yua laughed at him and it was the most beautiful thing John had ever heard.  

"My father is the owner and my mother is the head chef!  Most of my family works here.  They will be so excited to know I've finally found you!  Prepare yourself..." she c****d her head to one side and scrunched one eyebrow.  "Wait, I don't even know your name!" She laughed.  They were the perfect compliment to each other. 

"It's John" He said. "But you can call me whatever you want.  I think you had a nickname for me before you even knew my name.  Tamashi was it?  I like it, what does it mean?"

She was a bundle of excitement just like John, but she contained it better.  She blushed.

"It means Soul."

John hadn't stopped smiling at all and it only seemed to get wider.  "That is perfect." He said in his deepest velvety voice.

His voice seemed to have an effect on her because we could all smell her immediately, with a single sentence he already had her aroused.  He growled low in his chest, the mate bond in full force.  

"You had better go, and hurry back now, our meal isn't the only thing that I'd love to taste."

Mason and Kevin stared at him wide-eyed.  They had never seen him in this state before, this was going to get really awkward, really fast.  Yua smirked at him alluringly, walked from behind the grill and directly past John, brushing his hand with hers and letting her long hair flow behind her, she knew her scent was driving him crazy.  This girl had attitude.   When she was out of sight they could hear her speaking rapidly in Japanese to whom they could only assume were her family members.  Excited screams floated to their ears from the kitchen.

"Congratulation man!" Kevin said, "She's gorgeous and her personality is just like yours, though I've never seen you like that before."

"I've never felt like this before," John replied, now facing the grill in front of him.  "Every piece of me needs her, she is the part I've been missing.  I KNEW it!  I knew the Goddess would bless me and I couldn't be any happier...or hornier.." He said, turning toward the kitchen entrance.  Colt's eyes flashing over Johns for a moment.

"Well, okay then!" Mason said, trying to change the subject.  "I really am happy for you man.  I only ask that you wait to seal the bond until we are out of the room.  I love you like a brother, but I really am not comfortable enough to see all that."  He commented.

For the next fifteen minutes, while they waited on their food, Kevin and Mason gave John suggestions for conversation topics, meeting her family, and just generally not being a full-blown possessive psycho if anyone hit on her.  While Kevin tried to give John advice on s****l activities and exploration, Mason interrogated Cyrus.  

"So are we psychic now?" Mason asked, half sarcastically.

"No, our mate is near, it just so happens that his was too." Cyrus replied calmly.

"How are you so calm? You saw that giant puddle of mush that John turned into.  Do want that to be us?"

"Mason, have we ever been in love?" 

"No, but we like it that way!"

"Do we?  How do you know?"

"I..."

"Have we ever even had s*x?"

"No," Mason admitted.  "But so what?! It only causes problems.  I don't want to w***e around and neither do you!"

"And why do you think that is?" Cyrus countered.

"Well, it would just disrupt things, we like our freedom, we like being unattached."

Cyrus seemed to sigh at him. "It is time Mason, and we cannot stop it.  She will be our world.  We need her and she needs us.  Our time as a Pup is up.  Something very important is happening.  Moon Goddess herself told me as we slept.  We will honor her.  We will do as she has planned.  I don't understand it, I don't have the answers, but she does.  I trust in her and we should be thankful and faithful.  We cannot outrun this or avoid this.  Moon Goddess has assured me that we will not enjoy this at first, but all will be understood in time."

Mason sighed, defeated.  The heavy feeling had returned to him and his shoulders and back ached.  He tilted his head from side to side in an effort to relieve the tension but it only seemed to worsen.  It was like gravity was determined to press firmly into the Earth.  He felt so heavy...

Mason was jerked out of his thoughts by about 15 people rushing out of the kitchen.  The Chef, Yua, and 13 other family members carrying various trays of food and smiles plastered across their faces.  As they reached the table, the chef took his position and was the first to speak.  

"I am Eiichi.  I am Yua's older brother.  It is an honor to meet you, and to cook for you."  He bowed slightly and began to cook immediately while continuing. "We have waited a long time for Yua to find her mate, in our family, in our pack, most wolves of the Ito family find their mates early.  For her mate to be outside of our clan and to have taken so long to find is highly unusual.  We were worried her mate had died or that she may never find him."

"I have been looking for your sister for as long as I can remember," John assured.  He was about to continue when a very respectable-looking man in his mid-fifties strode up beside Yua and stared intently at John.  His accent was thick but his meaning was clear.

"I am Hideo, Yua's father.  She is my only daughter, and she is precious to this family and this pack,"  His aura radiated off of him though his voice was no more than a conversational tone.  He was letting John know that he was not to be tested.  

"I expect you to honor and respect her.  Mind, Body, and Soul.  You two will be one.  You will protect my child."

John stood from his seat bowed his head to Alpha Hideo.  Then he looked him in the eye "Alpha Hideo, you have my word as a man and as a wolf that I will love and protect her with my life.  I have searched for my mate, your Yua, for years.  I have saved myself for only her.  I will honor and respect her, and provide anything she needs.  Should I break that vow," he said finally, "I willingly forfeit the right to my life.  My fate will be yours."  John bowed his head again and reached out to shake Hideo's hand.

Alpha Hideo, looking satisfied with this, nodded curtly and shook John's hand.  "Your vow is accepted and will be honored." He stated simply.  He then broke the tension and pulled John into a one-armed hug, his hand still shaking Johns.

"Welcome to our family."  He said with a smile.  

Kevin and Mason breathed a sigh of relief.  They knew that if things turned ugly, there was no way the three of them could leave the restaurant alive.  Yua was the daughter of an Alpha, and as such, outranked John.  Tradition said that John then would be the one to join the Lotus Pack once their bond was official and they were each marked.  John knew and excepted this without hesitation.  Would Mason do the same for his mate when he found her?

Hideo finally released John who immediately wrapped Yua into a hug, inhaling her scent deeply and stealing a kiss from her before they were overcome by excited family members who wanted nothing more than to feed them all and talk to John about a wedding, children, and what his position would be in the pack.  John's family were traditionally Gammas, so the position that he would get would probably involve Gamma level responsibilities.  The Iso family fed them, and fed them, and fed them, and when their meal was done, fed them some more.  

Kevin and John couldn't get enough, it was clear that their night out was not going to go as planned.  Mason said his farewells well after 11 pm and decided to walk for a bit before heading home.  His food and drink had been completely covered and he was feeling a bit buzzed.  When he opened the door to the restaurant and stepped outside he smelled her.  Her scent was like sweet brown sugar and almonds.  Sweet but heavy and warm.  It was the strangest and boldest mix of floral and herbal and it made him feel the bliss that one gets from sitting in a comfy chair, in front of a warm fire on a cold day.

Cyrus gently nudged Mason aside and led them hurriedly after her scent.  Something was off though.  Cyrus heard shuffling and struggling before catching a glimpse of a figure darting around the corner ahead, leading toward an alley.  He broke out in a run, a growl ripping through his chest, something was wrong.  They rounded the corner just in time to see a man pulling a woman down a flight of stairs, toward the basement of the building that they had just run around.  

"Let her go!" Cyrus yelled, in full control.

The man, startled by his voice, looked at them and scowled.  The brief distraction gave the woman the opening she was looking for.  She twisted her arm away from him and, to both Cyrus and Mason's surprise, proceeded to punch him in the throat, grab her would-be kidnapper's wrist, twist his arm behind his back, dislocating his shoulder, and then plant a solid knee into his sternum before turning to face them and stalking over.  She stopped when she was little more than arm's length away. 

"Mate!" Cyrus said out loud, his eyes wide with lust, a desire to close the distance between them swelling in both himself and Mason.

"Damn it!  I was this close!!" She held up her thumb and index finger to indicate less than an inch.  "This close to figuring out what the Fu*k is going on and you had to show up now! "

Cyrus took a step back from her, fear gripping him.  Fear that they would be rejected, fear that he had done something wrong and lost her before she was even his.  He spoke up, never being one to leave his own questions unanswered.

"So you reject us then?"  He said, barely holding himself back from pulling her close to him, from breathing her into his lungs, from making his pain worse.  He stared at her, trying to see her features in the dim light.  She must have felt the same because she took two steps forward to stand bathed in the yellow light which hung above the back entrance to the building.

Cyrus and Mason's heart seemed to stop, then speed up, then forget it's own rhythm.  She was absolute perfection.  Her skin was the color of a mocha latte, her black hair was cut in a dangerously sexy pixie cut, her body was toned and curved in all the right places, he could see her shoulders and arms were in amazingly good shape and he could almost feel her six-pack from were he stood, at least he thought he could.  Her breasts were demure and perky, her hips were curvy and her thighs were deliciously thick and he knew they had to be well toned.  She wore tight black jeans with a simple black belt, black calf-high boots which were both sexy but probably hurt like hell to be kicked with, and a flowy silver tank top. 

"I am not rejecting you.  I could smell you blocks away.  I just hoped your timing would be better."

Behind her, a door slammed and she took off running toward the man she had disabled.  He was gone and there was no door save the one next to him.  At the end of the stairway that she had been pulled down was nothing but a brick wall.  Cyrus followed her to the landing at the bottom of the stairs but kept his distance so as not to push his luck.  He could feel her anger, and her power, Goddess she was strong. 

"FU*K!!"  She screamed.  She turned to him angrily. "You're going to make that up to me." She demanded, looking him up and down, it was clear her wolf was in charge at the moment and Cyrus was all about it.  He moved forward and snaked a hand around her waist, dipping his head to her neck and inhaling her.  She shifted her footing and they heard something.  Cyrus released his possessive grip around her and Mason emerged.  Looking down he saw something small catch the light.  

"What is that?" He mumbled, before bending down to pick up what they all had heard her kick.  He reached out and picked up a small, ornate key.  It looked to be old and the metal it seemed to be carved out of was unknown.  When he held it up for both of them to see, the ornate pattern instantly became white-hot, searing its symbol into the palm of his hand. 

"Sh*t!" He exclaimed, dropping it instantly.  Without thinking the girl whom he hadn't even introduced himself to, instinctively caught it in the palm of her hand before staring down at it.  Strangely, it didn't burn her at all.  She grabbed his hand and looked at the mark.  It had healed but the scar was a perfect replica of the design on the key.

"What the hell?!"  Mason demanded.

She didn't respond, she just pulled another key from her pocket and showed him the palm of her hand.  A scar, in the exact shape of the key she held, was permanently etched into her palm.