Luc seemed engrossed in something on his phone, although he put it in his jacket pocket when Nic sat down.
“I spent a lot of the night thinking about our current situation.”
Nic froze in the act of taking a sip of coffee. Luc’s tone was the one he used when talking to a banker or an accountant instead of his mate of fifty years. But Luc hadn’t finished, and it got worse.
“I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m not sure I want anything to do with this hotel anymore.”
Nic’s blood turned to ice in his veins. “This is a joint venture,” he said, quickly taking a swig of his coffee. “It always has been.” Maybe he was still dreaming and needed to wake up. But the heat from the drink on his tongue reminded him he was definitely awake, and Luc still didn’t look happy.
“That is true. We had many happy hours choosing this place, redecorating it, employing staff, and overall putting in a lot of hours, making this place a success. However, after your dismissive comments made last night about our third, and your failure to give me a single reasonable reason why you’re suddenly so against even meeting the man, I genuinely feel I can’t stay here anymore.” Luc’s tone was firm. He meant what he was saying. “I understand we have the party tonight, and I won’t embarrass you in front of the staff or our guests by failing to be here. But come New Year’s morning, by seven thirty, I’ll be gone.”
Once Sage’s last shift ends.The timing wasn’t lost on Nic at all. “You’re making the decision to sell the hotel without me?” The penthouse suite was Nic’s safe space. The grand building with its extensive renovation and friendly staff was Nic’s giant FU to the world that’d always treated him as though he was a freak.
Luc shook his head. “Unlike your recent actions, I won’t make decisions on your behalf. I know this place is important to you. I’ll sell you my half. I’m sure our accountants can work out a fair market price, and I know you can afford it. Put simply, the events of last night have tainted any positive memories Imight’ve had of this place, and with no resolution in sight, I have to get out of this hotel.”
And out of my life too. That’s what Nic heard, even though Luc didn’t say the words. It was obvious in Luc’s tone and the way he wouldn’t even meet Nic’s eyes. “You’re making these huge life-changing decisions simply because I wanted our claim to be done privately between the two of us, before we took on our third. I don’t think that was an unfair request.”
Nic had to try one last time. He could feel he was on the edge of a cliff, where one wrong step could lose him everything, including the man who he had loved for fifty years. “You said yourself that threesomes are always uneven. I’m not trying to make that any worse. But your determination to claim Sage before me breaks my heart.”
“So you’re jealous of a man you don’t know anything about? And what part of three of ustogetherhas me claiming Sage before you?” Luc shook his head. “Believe it or not, this isn’t about Sage specifically. It’s the fact that you would prefer for me to break our vow, or go without our third entirely. Was this always your intention? Did you want us to cement our claim and then treat Sage as someone of no consequence? Or did you believe that if our claim was made – something that can’t be undone – that you could convince me not to claim Sage at all.”
“No!” Nic was stung that Luc would even think that. Although, in fairness, he could see where his longtime companion might come to that decision. “It’s just I met you first.” Oh, how Nic wished he had a verbal rewind button because his words had just confirmed how pathetic he was being.
“I don’t understand what’s going on with you, I truly don’t.” Luc didn’t look confused, though, he looked sad. “We made that vow together. We’ve dreamed of this moment since the day we metand realized we would have a third. My kraken is pushing me to track Sage down, find out where he is outside of this hotel, and before you open your mouth again and spew more shit, this has nothing to do with wanting him more than I’ve always wanted you.
“He’s a human out there in the world with no protection – he could get hit by a car, attacked by another person. Does he have a proper house? Enough to eat? Does he have any support in his life, or is he on his own? Don’t you get it? Sage is our gift from the Fates, our path to him, given to us by the Oracle. I’m not going to presume for a moment I know better than them.”
Nic’s kraken was pushing to get out. Luc’s comments about a car accident…I can’t worry about that now.
Well, you damn well should.
Ignoring his other half, Nic said, “It doesn’t have to be that way, though. Why can’t I be enough for you? That’s what I don’t understand.”
“I know you don’t. And that guts me more than you could ever know,” Luc said. “You’ve stopped trusting me. You don’t trust in my love for you anymore. You don’t trust in the relationship we already have. Instead of welcoming a third, knowing that the Fates put Sage in our path for a reason, you decided you’d rather cut him out before we even get a chance to say hello? Do you know how many times I wanted to go down to that reception desk last night and introduce myself?”
Probably as many times as I did, Nic thought, but he didn’t say anything. He was well aware that his kraken instincts were totally at odds with his human way of thinking.
“After the life we’ve had, I can’t believe it’s come to this,” Luc said. “But as far as I’m concerned, we made a vow, and I intend to keep it. When Sage walks out of this hotel at seven inthe morning of New Year’s Day, and the Oracle’s deadline has passed, I’m leaving, too. I’m not going to chase him, I’m not going to look for him, or stalk him in any way.
“Being human, he won’t feel the mating pull because we haven’t met, so I am going to pray the Fates keep him safe without us. We can’t guarantee that. The Oracle clearly gave us a deadline for a reason, and humans have a very short life span compared to us. Maybe that’s why.”
Luc inhaled sharply. “Regardless, unless you’re actually going to tell me the goddamn truth for the first time in fifty years, as to why we couldn’t even meet the man the Fates crafted for us, then this” – he waved between the two of them – “this between us is over. That’s not an ultimatum, that’s simply my decision. This is a case of speak now or forever hold your peace, beloved, because it’s the last chance you have. I would rather spend the rest of my life in the murky depths of the deep alone than live with someone who doesn’t trust me.”
Chapter Nine
Luc
I’ve done it. The words have been said. Let them fall where they may. Luc felt like absolute shit. He hadn’t had a wink of sleep, sitting up through the long hours of the night, trying to work out where Nic’s sudden shift in attitude had come from.
He had always believed in the vow that they’d made together fifty years before. They had talked about it extensively – it wasn’t easy going against their instincts. But the two beasts came to an accord as they understood where the human halves were coming from. It was easier in a way because of a couple of recent kraken matings they had seen at the time.
It seemed to be the season for matings back when Luc and Nic first met. Luc had witnessed several cases where he didn’t see some thirds - non-krakens - treated as fairly as he believed they should be. The perpetually pregnant otter was one example. And while he was astute enough to know that all matings were different, he didn’t want a third – someone he and Nic were bound to – to be unhappy in their relationship.
Up until their meeting with the Oracle, Luc believed he’d had a pretty good handle on his relationship with Nic. No, they weren’t claimed, but they had been joined at the hip since they’d met, and Luc had learned a lot about his mate in that time. Which was why Nic’s current behavior was so confusing.
Luc didn’t want to leave Nic – just thinking about it was akin to tearing out a piece of his soul. But he had thought about it, long and hard, determined to never be one of those persons who threatened to leave, simply because they wanted their own way. That wasn’t the right thing to do, and that wasn’t what he wasdoing now. Although he wasn’t going to blame Nic if that was how Nic took it.
But the more Luc had thought about his relationship with Nic over the years, the only obvious answer was that there had to be something Nic had hidden from the start. It was the only explanation that made sense. Nic was big on appearances…
