Chapter 10
Chapter Ten
B ain
Alaric was an elf and highly sensitive when it came to other’s emotions. He picked up on Bain’s worry right away and tried to question him, but Bain was too upset to give him any answers. All he did was fill him in on Clive’s schedule.
He swung by his apartment, but just spent an hour pacing because he kept seeing the expression on Clive’s face when he’d seen Bain’s eyes. The instant fear had ripped through Bain like glass shards, and now he couldn’t shake his alarm.
So instead of taking the day off to catch up on things he needed to do at home as he’d planned, he drove in to Protective Solutions. It was time to get some answers.
He stormed into Xavier’s office to find the man at his desk over an open book, as usual. Xavier had pulled his hair back for a change, leaving his dark, almost harsh features clear. He looked up at Bain, lifting his eyebrows.
“You need to tell me exactly why you insisted on the tinted glasses around Clive, and you need to tell me now.” Bain didn’t bother to sit, just stood towering over the desk and glaring at his friend.
“I take it you took them off?”
Bain shook his head. “Clive did. He saw right through the glamour, Xavier. I used contacts as an excuse, but he didn’t believe me. And I’ve seen him looking at other preternaturals when we’ve been out. Why can he see them? Why can he see me ?”
Xavier didn’t answer right away. He closed the book on his desk and folded his hands on top of it as he studied Bain. His office held the metallic scent of magic today, the wards protecting the building leaving a quiet hum in Bain’s ears. Normally, he’d ask what spells Xavier had been doing, but all he could think about was Clive’s fear. Fear of him. That expression was still stabbing into him.
“Xavier?”
“You should sit down.”
“I’m too hyped up to sit and honestly, too worried. There’s something about that human that—” he broke off and swiped his hand over his face.
“That what? What about the human?”
Bain threw up his hands. “He’s crawled under my skin somehow. I can’t explain it. He makes me think of things I never thought I could have.” Bain let out a heavy sigh and forced himself to sit. “Why can he see through the glamour?”
Xavier stood, walked around his desk and leaned back against it. It took him so long to answer Bain considered strangling his friend.
“There are humans in this world who have a preternatural somewhere in their ancestry. These humans don’t have powers of their own, but they can see past—or rather, through magic. Clive is one of them. I suspect that’s why he stays in his house so much. He probably sees things he can’t explain, things that scare him to death.”
“Yeah, I saw his reaction to a demon when we were out. It was obvious he saw what he was. Why didn’t you tell me about this before? This is something I should have known.”
When Xavier was silent again, Bain gritted his teeth so hard it sent pain shooting into his jaw.
“There’s something else that’s special about them,” Xavier said at last. “Years ago, I saw a vision that foretold the future.” He paused. “A vision about you.”
“Me?” Stunned, he could only glare at his friend. “And you didn’t share? I thought we were better friends than this.”
“I couldn’t tell you because it wasn’t time for you to know. And you’re not the only one I’ve had visions about.”
That should have surprised him, but it didn’t. “Any of the others who work with us?”
“All of them.”
Bain’s mouth dropped open, wrenched by annoyed bewilderment. “Are you telling me that you hired us because of these visions?”
“Yes. But you can’t tell them because each one has a particular destiny, and they can’t know about it ahead of time.”
“Can’t know about what? This cryptic shit is really pissing me off.”
“Bain.” Xavier’s tone was sharp. “Listen to me. I’m only telling you about this because your time has come.”
“My time for what? And what does this have to do with Clive?”
Xavier studied him silently for so long Bain really did want to punch him. So much his hands curled into fists.
“They can be mates to our kind. Soulmates.”
This news slammed into Bain’s brain with the force of a two by four, making him surge to his feet. “How could I not know about this? In all my years, I’ve never heard of the possibility of soulmates for us. True soulmates?”
“True. Deep.” Xavier paused. “And eternal.”
“Xavier,” Bain said, voice dropping. “Was Clive in this vision you had about me?”
“Yes.”
That quiet answer froze the breath in his lungs. “I don’t understand why you never told me about this. Any of this.”
“Because I couldn’t.”
“Why?”
“You couldn’t know about Clive ahead of time because it could have twisted your destiny and stopped what’s about to happen.” Xavier paused. “I love you, Bain. And I want to see you reach the heights you deserve.”
Bain closed his eyes, working to bring his lungs under control. When he could finally speak, he whispered, “Are you saying that Clive is my soulmate?”
“Tell me something. What do you feel around him?”
Bain looked at his hands. “So much. It’s actually been hard to keep my hands off him, and I’ve never had trouble with clients before. But it’s more than that. I want to take care of him. In all ways.”
“And that feeling is powerful?”
“Like nothing I’ve felt before.”
“Then you have your answer, Bain,” Xavier said softly. “You are a lucky man. Keep your human safe.”
A painful thought hit Bain mid-center, one that had always stayed in the back of his thoughts through his long life. “But I’ll outlive him, Xavier. I’ll have to watch him grow old and die. I don’t think I could take that.”
“That’s the thing. As your true soulmate, he won’t grow old. He could still die, of course, as we all can. But it won’t be from old age.”
“How?”
“I can bind your souls, but they are already joining, and that connection will only grow stronger the more you’re together.” Xavier was quiet a few moments as Bain worked to take this all in. “You’re lucky that Clive doesn’t have any family that cares enough to notice him not growing old. It’s all going to work out, just as I saw in my vision.”
Bain couldn’t believe this. His heart raced with the kind of elation he’d never let himself feel, but that long-held fear still held him in its claws. He stared hard at his friend as something occurred to him. “Xavier, have you ever had a vision about yourself?”
“No, it doesn’t work that way. But I already know I don’t have a mate in my future.”
“How can you know that?”
This time, Xavier’s pause felt like an eternity, but Bain didn’t have the urge to strangle him because he knew he wasn’t going to like what he was about to hear.
“Because I already had one. And they died.”
Bain froze for a moment before he walked to his friend and stood close. “Xavier? You had a mate who died? Why didn’t you ever tell me? I’m the closest friend you’ve got!”
“Because I’ve never been able to talk about it.” Xavier met his gaze. “If I could have, it would have been you. You’re correct. There’s nobody I’m closer to than you. Your friendship has been my balm for many years and will continue to be so.”
“Who was she? Or he?”
A small smile pulled up one corner of Xavier’s lips. “He was a soldier. During a time and place where being with a man put us in more danger than the war we were a part of.”
“And which war would that be?” He had to ask even though he probably wouldn’t get an answer.
But Xavier surprised him.
“It was more of a series of blood feuds between families that eventually pulled in towns. It’s now referred to as the War of the Bands. I was living in western Basque Country, where I was born, and was pulled into the conflict because of my family’s standing in one of those towns. I had just met Aizo, and we fought together in countryside battles for years until he was killed. We had seven years together.”
“My knowledge of history is pretty good but I don’t recognize this at all. What year did he die?”
“1431.”
“Fuck, Xavier.” Stunned, he stumbled back until his legs hit the couch and he sank down. “You lost your mate nearly six hundred years ago? You’re over six hundred years old? How much over?”
But Xavier just smiled. “Much.”
He wasn’t going to tell him, and the reason why still escaped Bain. He had realized Xavier was from Basque Country, and he’d already looked it up to find out that it was one of Europe’s oldest cultures. That Caesar had made references to their customs back in Roman times. There was no way Xavier could be that old. How had he not tried to end his life before now? Especially after losing an actual soulmate? “When we met, I must have seemed like a baby to you,” he murmured.
“Most of our kind, preternaturals, live hard lives. Mature early. So no, not a baby. Just young. And at that particular time, you seemed lonely and ready to give up. I’ve been there myself many a time and had a way to bring some life back into your world. But you also did the same for me. I was and have always been happy to know you, Bain.”
Bain studied his friend for several moments before leaning forward to rest his elbows on his knees. “What was Aizo like?”
Xavier closed his eyes briefly and when they opened, pain showed in their dark depths. To have carried that kind of heartbreak for so long had to be devastating. Bain rubbed his hand over his own chest as if he could soothe his heart into not aching for his friend.
“Aizo was a warrior. Strong, capable. But he could also be reckless and believed himself invincible.”
“Human?”
“Yes. I didn’t know of the spell that could bind our souls then. But even if I had, he was burned in a fire. He raced into a burning fortress to try and rescue the people trapped inside.” Xavier took a deep breath and slowly let it out. “I hadn’t known he’d gone back inside at the time or I would have gone after him. I was battling on the other side of that lord’s lands. We usually didn’t separate in those country feuds, fought together side by side. But the one time we did, I lost him.”
“I’m so sorry, Xavier. So damn sorry. Those words just aren’t enough. I can’t even imagine what that had to have been like. Are you sure there isn’t another mate out there for you?”
“I want no other mate. I will never…risk that again. Something deep inside me broke with his death, and I cannot let myself feel that way about anyone or anything again. The only love I know now is for my friends, and it wasn’t until I stumbled upon a sad, drunk basilisk that I gave myself permission to feel anything again.”
“To be alone that long—” Bain swallowed a heavy lump in his throat. “I wouldn’t have made it. You’re a strong man, Xavier. I’ve always known that, but I had no idea of the depth of that strength.”
“Oh, you would. You don’t know your own strength.” Xavier walked to the couch and sat next to Bain, twisting to face him. “I know you like sleeping with lots of humans and preternaturals alike—know a little too much about that.” A rare grin twisted his mouth along with an even rarer wink. “But the love you feel for a soulmate makes the passion more than you can possibly imagine. It transcends the flesh. I’ve always wanted this for you, and for many years, I’ve known you will find it. I saw Clive for you more than forty-five years ago. I can’t actually remember the exact date, but my visions had just at that time grown more consistent.”
“He hadn’t even been born yet.” Clive was only thirty-one.
“I know. But I knew he would come to exist and that he was a part of your destiny.”
“Did you know he’d be here? In Seattle?”
“I did.”
Something unbelievable occurred to Bain then. “Is that why you started the company here?”
“It is.”
He’d known Xavier cared for him but to know just how much touched him deeply. “I don’t know what to say. This is all so overwhelming. Not only do I now know you’re older than I ever thought, but you foresaw my own future while we were traveling together. Your cryptic bullshit has always driven me nuts, and now this?”
“You weren’t ready to know,” Xavier repeated. “Trust me on this.”
“You’re always telling me to trust you,” Bain groused.
Xavier arched one black eyebrow. “And have I ever been wrong?”
“Arrogant shit. No, you haven’t.” Bain leaned back, exhausted from all these revelations. He nestled his head on the back of the couch, though there was little softness to be found there. “You need a better fucking couch in here.”
“I like its clean lines. Plus, a softer sitting area would encourage clients to stay too long.”
Bain snorted. “Wouldn’t want that,” he muttered. He closed his eyes and an image of Clive puttering around in his PJs filled his head, followed by that sleepy, tender smile Clive had given him when peeking over the side of his bed.
That adorable, sexy as hell, little accountant was his soulmate. One who was now afraid of him.
“This is a blessing, Bain,” Xavier said softly. “Cherish him. Revel in the time you’ll have together and make every moment count. As I said, your bond will grow stronger the more you’re together, but I will also perform the spell to tie your souls. He won’t grow old.”
“But he could still die.”
“That is knowledge every living creature lives with. All love is a risk. But Bain?”
“Yes?”
“It’s worth it.”