Chapter Thirty-Three

Simon had always believed he’d dealt with his anger over his clan and his treatment as he was growing up in a normal, adult manner. He’d processed his feelings, packed them away, and moved on with his life. He dedicated his life to helping people, again in the same calm and caring manner, recognizing early on that sometimes all he could do was offer a smile and hold a person’s hand as they moved from one life to the next. While the passing of a person’s life always saddened him, Simon knew sometimes death was the kindest option to a person who’d spent their lives in pain.

Anger was an emotion he preferred not to feel. There had been times…Simon wasn’t a saint by any stretch of the imagination. But when he saw Kolton fall to the ground, his back smothered by a giant gargoyle who looked as if he was humping him, white hot rage filled Simon’s blood and he erupted.

His gargoyle side, usually constrained by Simon’s logic and sensibilities, was not holding back this time. Barnabus, a fellow gargoyle, was a threat to his mating on so many levels he’d lost count. His shift was fast, and his arms were around Barnabus’s neck faster than the time it took to blink. Yanking Barnabus off his mate, Simon had just enough time to yell, “Ward the alley,” before Barnabus had twisted around and was trying to rip his head off.

Simon wasn’t going to take that lying down. He remembered Barnabus from his time in the clan. The man ate the clan’s bullshit morning, noon, and night, and the one time Simon had given voice to his idea, that there might be life outside of the clan, Barnabus had been horrified and reported him to the elders.

Now the man was after his mate. Swirling him around, Simon grabbed the top of Barnabus’s wings, hoisting him off his feet. “You dare to try and take my mate away from me? I’ll rip your wings off for trying.”

“Simon. Stop. Please.” Barnabus was yelling, crying, and still trying to get free. “Our clan is dying.”

“I know. You live in the dark ages, and those ideas died centuries ago.” Simon swung Barnabus around, smashing his face into the wall. “Oh, chips. My favorite kind.” Simon leaned over as Kolton popped a chip in his mouth. “Thanks, babe. As for you…” Simon swung Barnabus again, across the alley and into the brick wall on the other side. “You shun your children. Leave them to cry alone.”

That deserved a second smash into the wall, just thinking about it. “Now you come along, wanting to steal my mate, because you think he has magic juice to make all the females in the clan pregnant? Are you delusional?” More smashing. Simon was getting into a rhythm now.

“Gay gargoyles are real.” Simon added a kick to Barnabus’s ass to the mix.

“Fated mates are real.” Barnabus tried to twist out of his grip, but Simon had those wings held fast and wouldn’t let him go. Smooshing him into the bricks one last time, Simon hissed, “If you or anyone in your clan come near my mate again, I will kill you. I will strip your wings from your back, and I will send you home in a box.”

“Don’t you care about your kind?” Barnabus’s face was a mass of blood, snot, and tears. “We’re dying.”

“Did you or any of your kind care when I was crying alone in the nursery as a child? Don’t bother answering because I know you didn’t. My child will not be raised that way. My child” - Simon leaned in harder - “will be raised in love, they will be cherished, they will be cared for, and every time they cry I will be there, picking them up, holding them close, and if I can’t do it, then my mate will do it for me. You are not taking that away from us, not for a second. Go back and tell them that and be warned, I don’t have a clan anymore, but I have a pack, and they’ll annihilate you if you come near me and mine again.”

“You were a doctor.” Barnabus sniffed and swiped at the muck on his face with his arm as Simon stepped back and released him. “Can’t you help our females have more babies? Suggest some medications or treatment? We’re desperate.”

“You don’t need any of that stuff. Just do what I did.” Simon spread his arms wide, conscious of his wings still fluttering in agitation. “There is a huge world outside those walls you live behind. Life is for living. Children are supposed to be loved and nurtured by their parents. You can’t see any of that stuck behind the high walls the clan has created for itself. But I saw the chance, the opportunity for more. I live that life now, and I have something worth fighting for – my fated mate and my egg. You can have the same things in your life as well, if you’d only look. But it won’t be with my mate.”

Turning, Simon grinned at his smirking mate. “Can I borrow your powers for a moment? I think Barnabus needs a lift home.”

“Just think where you need him to go, babe.” Kolton came over, touching Simon’s shoulder. “In three, two…” Barnabus disappeared.

“What happened to one?” Simon chuckled, pulling his mate close, enjoying Kolton’s body against his gargoyle form for a moment.

“Meh. Couldn’t wait. I’m really hankering for a double meat, double cheeseburger with extra bacon.” Kolton indicated the empty space where Barnabus had been. “Will he come back?”

“I doubt it. If what I learned growing up still holds true, from what I remember of the elders, by the time Barnabus spills his story, the elders will spend the next two hundred years trying to convince the clan Barnabus was lying. But hopefully some younger ones will listen. Someone might begin to think for themselves, and they’ll get out. But for the moment our mating and our precious miracle egg are a step too far for those clan elders to accept. Which will keep us safe. If not…”

“Then we kill them.” Kolton chimed in, saying the same words at the same time, before chuckling as he pressed close once more. “Feed me, my mate, and then we’ll pop down to the Underworld and pick up our little one.”

“That won’t be the only thing we’ll be doing tonight,” Simon said with a growl as he squeezed Kolton’s ass. “Who knew fighting could make me feel frisky.”

“Double, double burgers then, because watching you fight stirred up some feelings of my own.” Kolton grinned. “Shift, babe. I doubt we could get away with cosplaying as a reason for the look you’ve got going on right now.”

“Might be worth a try on Halloween.” Simon was still chuckling as his human form came through.