Mates of a Human

Part Six. Chapter Three. Michael

"What is it?" I asked him.

But he shook his head. "Too far fetched, doesn't make sense," he sighed.

"What doesn't?" We turned to glance at the door to see Justin lingering in the doorway. The man smelled of sex and alcohol and didn't appear ashamed about it at all.

The King glared at him, unhappily. "This has nothing to do with you," he stated, coldly, clearly not impressed by his son's appearence or behaviour. But Justin did not appear to be ready to give up on the juicy drama he thrived upon. He was sharp enough to notice the photograph of Alpha Rider that remained openly on the desk.

"Oh, isn't that the Alpha Rider that you had Colin investigate?" He said, nearly skipping into the office. Eric scrunched up his nose as he finally caught a whiff of the odours pouring off of Justin's body.

"Should I ask how you know of this?" John sighed with some resignation in his voice.

"Colin, of course," he muttered, snatching the picture off of the desk, his eyes running almost hungrily over it. He was a flagrant switch, would both give and receive. I pitied the mate that would be paired with this loose man. He placed the photograph down with a sigh. "A pity that he's a mated family man."

"I thought you liked chasing the tail of those already paired," Eric said, with a touch of a sneer.

"Hmmm," Justin did not deny. "But not those with children. And besides, even his youngest is a few years older than me. It would be weird." Oh so he did have a bottom line, that was a new and interesting fact, readily received.

His words piqued the interest of his father. "What do you know of his children?" He asked, trying to sound casual.

But Justin looked at his old man with a sly teasing glint in his eyes and a smirk. "I thought this had nothing to do with me," he purred as he evaded the question.

"Justin!" King John snapped, with a deep growl underlining the name.

"Alright, Alright," he said, eagerly grabbing himself a chair, clearly intent on remaining included in our discussion. "So he has two children, one is his son who is twenty four, straight like a pole and not half as appealing as his old man." His description had his father warning him once more, but he simply rolled his eyes heavenward. "And then there is his daughter, twenty three and as yet unmated. But way too power hungry for my taste. I prefer to be the one that is chasing, not the one who is chased."

Eric paled slightly. "Maybe it's not so far fetched," he muttered, but frowned a habit of his when he began deeply thinking about something. He didn't do this often, tending to do things on a whim or on instinct. Clearly the effect Alex's kidnapping has had on us is different as I can barely think straight at all.

"What is it?" I asked him again, touching his arm and bringing him out of his thoughts.

"Ah, I was thinking about the fact that Alpha Haze dropped Gabriel like a hot brick when Gabriel got himself a mate," Eric said. "Otherwise he seemed to have every intention of making your brother the Alpha."

"But I have a mate, two mates," I stated, understanding what Eric was getting at. But then, that hadn't stopped the old man from denying our relationship before and he now must know that ours is a triage mating.

Eric shrugged; "That's why I said it is far fetched. I mean, he can only mate you off to a girl who wants to be Luna if Alex and I weren't around."

I felt the blood drain from my face and my body turn cold. "You don't think he would harm Alex, harm you to get to me?" Eric shook his head, but that did not convince me nor my wolf, who was now struggling to get control of my body. His whole body was thrumming with bloodthirst and was desperate to do what I was currently holding him back from. Surprisingly, Eric's tiger came forth into my mind space and gripped the increasingly volatile beast by the scruff, helping me to calm down.

"We are all tired, perhaps we should retire," the King suggested, "think on this with clearer minds in the morning?" Eric nodded, though a whimper escaped from my wolf as we didn't want to leave our mate in that man's clutches over night.

"Ah, I just remembered why I came here!" Justin said suddenly, his eyes bright as if he had just thought of something. "The Drow!"

"The what?" Eric asked, but I could see that the King's eyes were narrowing beneath the deepening vee of his brow.

"The Drow are a mysterious branch of the Elven race," the King admitted slowly. "They are not well known, but could be considered as the Elves shadow. As this sect is considered dangerous, only the highest authorities within packs, prides, covens and the like are aware of their existence. They are not people one should provoke by any means. In human terms, they could be considered like a secret service or underground government. Dwarves are believed to have an equally unpleasant side, but they are much more discreet and there is no actual proof."

"Hmm," Justin agreed. "I found out about them accidently, I was researching the Elven race to impress a girl... didn't work, though. But she did say that if I wanted to keep on living I would forget I knew anything about the Drow. That just made me want to know more! Apparently, they have come up with all sorts of dark magics and rituals as well as potions. Ever wondered why an elf seems to only age in the last couple of years of their life? Apparently, that is the work of Drow!"

"All of you should remain silent on what you know," the King warned, but he was especially considering his son at this point. "However, I will ask why you brought this up now."

"Oh, this boy I have been seeing," he said, nonchalantly. "A most agreeable little Fey. He was shaking like a leaf when I met with him not so long ago. It took me a while to calm him down." He said this with a smirk upon his face before adding; "Apparently, he had a run in with some elves that smelled of dark magic. So I thought I should report that they are nearby is all."

"You were right to tell me," the King said, actually gifting his son a smile.

"Does that mean you will give me back my motorcycle?" He asked eagerly.

"No," the King replied and the boy Prince began to pout.

"What does dark magic smell like?" Eric wondered curiously.  What was dark magic to begin with?  Our shifting was once considered 'magic' by humans.  The Fey's small tricks with light could be considered 'magic' by some.  The fact that our Male mate was pregnant was magic in our minds.

"No idea," Justin said, sulkily. "Me saying it smelled was just an expression. Timmy meant that he sensed it coming from them. And although the Drow call it 'dark magic' it's actually more like a power that goes against the laws of the God and Goddess.  It goes against the nature of our world."

"Shit," I cursed as the impact of realisation hit me with its fullest force. "We need to get Alex out of there."

Author's note; I am hoping that the addition of 'magic' doesn't throw people off. I considered that 'magic' was actually pretty normal so not being called magic. Like the fact that shifters can change shape and vampires can read minds and charm their victims etc. But magic is no longer magic when it is part of daily life so I tried to show that this 'dark magic' was just the opposite of the nature of the world. I hope this comes across okay and not like a wtf moment!