Her Fire

14 ~ Conflicting feelings and letting go

Just a few minutes back… after the confrontation with Deirdre…

“...don’t let me scare you away. I won’t bite and you’ll hardly know I’m here.” He takes his leave, shifting into Flint as soon as they are out of sight, taking the shortcut from behind the small building that serves as their office to reach the villa quicker.

He mind-links Matt. “I’m fine now, I got this. Apologies for the scare. I’m heading back to the villa right now.”

His cousin answers right away, obviously relieved. “Oh thank god! I thought I had to shoot you— Hey—what happened!? Is Deirdre—?”

“She’s fine. I think she’s heading back to the cottage, could you stall her for a little bit? I know she still wants to leave.”

“But what am I supposed to—”

“Anything. Just give me a few extra seconds. I’ll tell you more later.” He closes the mind-link before his cousin could say or ask for anything else.

“What, that’s it? You’re not going to offer our mate any other incentive to make her stay?” Flint growls, sounding very frustrated with him.

“Calm down, I have a plan."

"Which is…?"

He reaches the garage in record time and shifts back to human form, grabbing random clothes from the closet they keep in there for emergencies like this one.

"We’re going to let her go. In fact, we’re going to accompany her back to Florence ourselves.”

Flint remains in stunned silence for a few seconds. “Are you out of your freaking mind!?” his wolf snarls. “How is that going to help our case!?”

David grins as he spots the key to Matt's gray Alfa Romeo. “How do you tame fire, Flint?”

“What!?”

“How. Do. You. Tame—”

“I heard you the first time! What the hell are you talking about!? You’re being absurd—”

He cuts him off mid-sentence as he puts his shirt on. “There are three necessary ingredients for fire to keep burning: Heat, fuel and oxygen...”

Flint snaps, losing his patience with him already. “I’m not interested in those boring documentaries you so adore—”

“Listen to me!” David snaps back. “Without oxygen, fire won't burn.”

“So!?”

“Deirdre may have been reborn as a mere human but she remains to this day as wild and indomitable as her element. She needs to breathe. We need to let her go. If we keep her here, feeling suffocated by our very presence, she'll just resent us and then her flame might even go out. We don’t want that, do we!? We want her to be herself, to feel great about the mate bond, to feel at peace in our presence.”

“You’re making my head hurt, human. What’s your point?”

He sighs as he opens the car's door and slides in, starting the engine and smoothly guiding it towards the cottage that Deirdre has rented. “The process of taming fire is a long one. Throughout history, from the first humans who dealt with fire, it has been proven that being able to do it is not one accidental stroke of a genius, but rather a long process of various discoveries, one after another, developing over thousands of years. We won't wait that long, of course, but we have to be patient. And the first important step… is to let her go.”

Flint sneezes, slowly backing away. “Oh, I don’t know… It seems counterproductive to me. If she leaves now, how are we even going to try persuading her to give us a chance?”

“That’s why we’re going to take her to Florence ourselves. So we’ll know where to find her again,” he parks just outside the cottage, exhaling with relief when he finds Deirdre's stuff still on the porch and she's still not there. He gets out of the car and proceeds to put them inside the trunk before sitting back in the driver's seat.

“That’s your great plan?” Flint doesn't sound very impressed. "I'm breaking out in hives just thinking of being in such a crowded place. Why don't we just ask Matt to take her? He can tell us where she is staying and visit at night, when there are not so many people around."

“We might as well get used to being around people again if we want a shot with Deirdre. And two hours on the road with her… think of how many things we can learn about her. But of course, I'm all ears if you have other ideas. You’ve met her yourself. What do you think?”

“She’s… something else.” Flint finishes lamely.

“Exactly. She’s not a typical lady who can easily be persuaded to stay by pretty words and promises. I’ll bet you right now she’s still leaving, even after all I offered to do for her. And when she does, heaven knows what we have to go through to find her again. At least this way, she’ll slowly warm up to us…”

Flint snorts. “Pun intended?”

David chuckles. “Wasn’t even thinking about it, to be honest. Come on, what do you say?”

Flint sighs. “It’s not like we have much choice. This better work. I am tired of being rejected. If this fails as well, I might as well step back and fade into nothingness.”

“Don’t be like that," David whispers, trying to fight the crippling sadness that is slowly enveloping them. "We have to keep our heads up or we're going to drown again… Please… We can’t let our darkness win this time. We deserve to find happiness too."

"Do we?" Flint asks bitterly. "Do you really believe that?"

David does not answer right away, considering his wolf's question carefully.

"Yes. It's time to let go."

***********

***********

Deirdre stares at David’s inscrutable countenance.

His words echo inside her head. “...by the end of the ride, if you still want to be released from the mate bond, then I will give you what you want…”

Is it really going to be this easy? She takes his offer of a ride and she’ll be free from the pesky mate bond? Will he truly keep his word, like an honorable man?

Or is this a trap?

She raises an eyebrow and crosses her arms in front of her chest defensively. "Mighty c0cky of you to believe you can change my mind in less than a couple of hours. Or are you planning to drive us in circles for the rest of our lives?" she asks, wryly.

Amusement flickers in his eyes and his lips twist in a small grin. "There's an idea. I can't believe I didn't think of that myself. Now I can't claim originality."

Deirdre rolls her eyes. “It’s not original, it’s called kidn@pping.”

He shakes his head and then casts a slightly impatient glance in her direction, which needles her a bit. For some reason, she doesn't like it. Damn mate bond, it has started to affect her strongly already. She had quite forgotten how potent it is. How easily it takes root and spreads, altering the heart and soul once one meets one's fated mate.

“Come now, Deirdre. Or are you so terrified of me that you don’t think you can survive a couple of hours in my presence?” He raises an eyebrow, just like she did before and gives her a knowing look, daring her to respond accordingly. "I promise to bite only upon request.”

She knows he's just baiting her and she shouldn't let it affect her. But his not-so-subtle and not-just-a-little-awkward teasing is working its strange magic, almost as if he’s wooing her, but she would rather choke than admit she's secretly thrilled.

Deirdre wonders what’s on his mind…and why he seems…different somehow. Not exactly confident but…sort of resigned, although not hopelessly so. It is as if he has acknowledged what she wanted and has acquiesced to her intentions, but that he is not giving up, only preparing to try and offer another solution…

If only her first fated mate had been like that, they wouldn't all be in this ugly situation. Not that he can claim all the credit for having ruined everything, it was more an action and reaction domino thing. Deirdre had been just as bullheaded, and he took it to the next level.

She was obstinate, true, and can be difficult to deal with, but he was an a$$.

Sky god Ouranos had been as arrogant and proud as she was, perhaps even more so, and the result was that they clashed in the worst way possible because no one wanted to yield and somehow, despite being meant for each other, they never fixed the wrong things between them. The sky god never tried to apologize or even made an effort to woo her, or if he ever did, she had ignored him, and then she had tried to reject him despite the fact that their bond as elemental deities was unbreakable and had to remain that way, as it had been necessary—nay—vital to sustaining life.

Sacrifices of the highest order had been done to undo it…to give them another chance, another life… And Deirdre was made to believe it would be a new existence, free of the mate bond and yet here they are again. Shackled. Forced to love another. Did she somehow misunderstand the point of their rebirth?

Anyway, it must have infuriated the sky god to have been rejected, even if it didn't work and never would have. And Ouranos had retaliated by turning his sights towards the earth goddess instead, pursuing the forbidden and making a big show out of it.

Or at least, that's what Deirdre believed had happened. As it was, life always was a little more complicated than expected.

One of the bigger flaws of his plan, though, is that he underestimated the earth goddess’s charm, for to know Gaea meant to fall in love with her –there's just something about her- and Ouranos fell hard.

Too hard, in fact. To the point of obsession.

Who’s to say the same thing won't happen with David?

Deirdre hesitates for a few more seconds, before sighing and getting in the passenger seat. Paranoia had always been one of her constant companions all these years.

It’s starting to get tiresome.

“Just so you know, if you try anything funny, I will not hesitate to cut off your—”

“I won’t, so stop worrying. I’m not your enemy, Deirdre. I don’t mean you any harm, I swear. I just wanted to be with my mate.” He starts the car and drives smoothly away from the cottage. “Even if just for the few remaining hours.”

She winces. Would you look at that? A direct hit, without getting her all fired up the wrong way. It's making her feel guilty as heck, though… which is not a feeling she likes.

He better not press the matter further. She won’t hesitate to jump out of the car if he continues to guilt-trip her into accepting the bond.

Deirdre leans back with a sigh as she turns to stare outside her window. This is going to be a very long and awkward ride.

But soon, hopefully, it will be over.