Ever Cynical

Chapter 17- Comfort & Questions

Anais POV

The look on Kieran's face was priceless. I had banked on their lack of technological knowledge allowing me to extend my stay until I could essentially ask to stay indefinitely. Well, at the time, until people noticed I wasn't aging and was forced to leave before they got suspicious. Ironic that it was where I was meant to stay all along. Things may have changed a lot in the last few days, but when you've lived as long as I have, you learn to adapt quickly.

I smirked and looked boldly into his sparkling emerald depths.

"I was scheming to stay before I even met you, Kieran." I patted his cheek as his eyebrows shot to his hairline. His team snickered. "Listen, after that crap with Ludolf, I left Europe for the US, like I said before. I thought an ocean was enough space to get him to stop pursuing me. I was wrong. I started seeing bounty posters popping up in all the major cities as I tried to keep moving. Thankfully, all he has is an illustration based on how he remembers my face and it's not especially accurate." Geoff grinned.

"No Luna, his crappy little sketch definitely does not do your beauty justice." He said. A low growl rumbled out of Kieran. "Chill out Alpha, you know I'd never poach on your territory." Geoff rolled his eyes at his friend's obvious jealousy. Poor Kieran, the need to mate and mark must really be getting to him. While his team was unmated, it was pretty obvious they saw me as a sister and not the least bit romantically. I'd even venture to say that thought of me naked might give them girls are gross vibes. I nearly giggled at the thought.

"I belong to nobody, just so we're crystal clear, but Kieran, he's right. Compliments don't mean he wants to mate me. Relax." Kieran huffed, annoyed, but appeared to have let it go, soothing himself by shoving his face in my neck yet again. "Anyway. I didn't realize that one of those posters was actually Donato's doing until you said he had one too. It makes more sense in that case, but it's led me to a life of hiding and running constantly. Thank the goddess for computers and remote work. At least it allowed me to make money more easily, but I've long grown weary of a necessary nomadic lifestyle."

"That's why you looked so burned out when you got here." Lugh said, stroking his chin thoughtfully. I nodded and sighed.

"Yeah, I have not slept for more than two hours at a time for a couple hundred years, until I got here." They all growled, wolves on the surface. "Boys, boys. It's fine now. I'm here, where I belong, and I know that somehow it's going to work out." Kieran stood, holding me bridal style, his stress rolling off of him in waves. It was unclear exactly which part of all of this was causing him to be upset. Maybe it was the combination of things. I already knew the past bothered him immensely.

"Speaking of sleep, I think it's time now." He began walking towards the door, which Lugh rushed to open for him. I guess they had a new mission, to make sure I got proper rest. I giggled as I looked over Kieran's shoulder at his team. They grinned back. They already felt like the brothers I never had. Ah damn, I could feel tears pricking at the back of my eyes. Crying would totally ruin my image, I thought.

No ma Cherie, they will understand it and love you anyway. Claire piped up. It's clear that they already do.

I know that, they are all good men.I replied to her, feeling a little bit like I didn't deserve such obvious affection and devotion. It was going to take some getting used to, after centuries alone. I had a few that I called friends and allies, but I had never stayed too long knowing that I could potentially bring danger their way once I ran afoul of Donato and Ludolf.

I looked up at Kieran's beautiful face as he carried me to my room upstairs. His straight brows were slightly furrowed with worry and his emerald eyes stayed on our path to ensure we were safe. His firm jaw was lightly clenched, and his full lips were sexily pursed in deep thought. He meticulously locked the door behind him, toeing off his black slides and flinging my pink bunny slippers only goddess knows where. For the first time in my long, tired life, I had a reason to keep going. This man and our people, our family, were everything. Goddess, I was just having all the feels today! He smiled down at me tenderly as his expression relaxed.

"Let's get you to sleep, Luna." He said softly as he set me down. As I reached for my bag to get my pajamas, he quirked a brow and crossed his arms at me. "What are you doing?"

"Uhhh... Getting my pajamas?" I said, not sure where this question was going. He shook his head.

"None needed, my Luna." He said, his voice soft and growly as he smirked. He reached for my black tank top and flipped it over my head. I had not bothered with a bra earlier, and he looked down at my pierced dusky peaks almost cheerfully. There was lust, but it was more like he was supremely pleased with himself. He whipped his own shirt off and pulled me close, kissing the top of my head, before returning his attention to removing my clothing. He unbuttoned my dark-wash destroyed flared leg low-rise jeans. I was a sucker for vintage s**t. Well, I'm vintage, aren't I? Makes sense. He slid the jeans over my curvy hips, snagging my ever-practical soft cotton low-rise boy shorts along the way. As I stood there, smiling softly at his antics, he quickly dropped his own black cargo pants and black boxer-briefs. I peeked down to see the glory he'd uncovered, but he lifted my chin with his finger and shook his head. "Time for bed, mo chridhe."

He scooped me up and laid me down, crawling in behind me. He pulled me flush to his chest and stroked my hair, his hard arousal tucked between my ass cheeks. His other hand rested firmly on my belly, holding me in place as he hummed some old Irish tune in my ear.

It just wasn't fair. I was asleep before I could properly enjoy naked cuddle time and get my goodnight kiss.

Kieran POV

I held my Luna's sleeping form and stroked her hair long after she'd fallen asleep. There was so much running through my mind. My mother had been right about her feeling, though in more ways than one, with some good and some bad. This was the calm before the storm, I was sure of it. There was one piece that had me very concerned. Since the bounty the kings both had out not only asked for my mate but her offspring, it meant any children we had, especially females, seemed to be in danger. I could keep Anais safe because she was my mate, but I wasn't sure I could stop them from trying to claim any of my daughters.

Ludolf was slightly less of a concern, for though the Alpha King typically outlived most wolves by a few hundred years, he had at best another hundred before calls to replace him would appear.

Donato, on the other hand, remained in power as long as no other vampire was strong enough to challenge him, and in their case, age was an advantage. The one piece in our favor with the vampires was that they were the least keen on cross-breeding with shifters. Humans were acceptable, as if the vampire chose not to turn them, they became en endless food source. Thankfully, the old practice of sharing blood "donors" had been outlawed. Once a vampire's venom was in the human's body, it repelled others, and the spell blocked them from draining their target dry. One smart thing Donato had insisted on, with the help of the white witches. This was only the case with humans, though, to prevent overfeeding or garnering too much human attention.

Shifters and other supernaturals were fair game for vampires, as long as they operated within the law. Nobody was permitted to go around helping themselves to others, but that didn't mean that there were not underground criminals or people breaking laws when eyes were not on them. Take same-s*x mating, for example. The law was that same-s*x mating was protected, but it didn't prevent some packs from exiling those that were outside of a standard male-female two-person mating.

It was quite sadly, more common than it should be, some even forcing chosen mates, mates that could never fulfill them.

This meant the cases where a person was gifted with multiple mates were also exiled, unless it was the alpha bloodline with no secondary heirs. Alternatively, the one with multiple was forced to choose the one that suited the pack's narrative, while the others were rejected and exiled to "prevent temptation. As if loving your goddess-gifted mates was somehow a sin!

To me, it made no sense. If the goddess gifted you with something different, it was typically best to accept it. You also still had people in packs insisting that less powerful pairings reject each other and choose "stronger" mates with the excuse that it makes their pack stronger.

I firmly believe they are wrong.

Dark witches, it was hard to say. They had been front and center for the attempts to destroy Immortals, at least, that was how it appeared. Why they felt they were a threat to begin with was something of a mystery, as many shifters and vampires were practically immortal already. Easier to kill, yes, but for the most part, they lived long enough that a single indestructible race with at its peak five thousand members, always far less than any other race, should not have been that important. Or that much of a threat, when we had never tried to grasp power.

Immortals had been the chosen guardians, the purveyors of reason and peace. Our role had always been as such, since our creation, under the direction of the moon goddess, to ensure nobody became obsessed with power and attempted to suppress other races. Interesting that nobody seemed to help us when we got attacked. Humans were excluded from this, other than ensuring the supernatural did not attempt to enslave them. Human-to-human issues were their own. If we saw someone needing help (like broken down on the side of the road), we never said no, but we didn't get involved in bigger issues.

The biggest question on my mind was why. I had a strong feeling I needed to know more about who Anais' real family was before the answer could be found. I'd feel a lot more settled once I had her mated, marked, and officially my Luna.