Peace (20 page)

“Lam, my angel and the love of my life, will you marry me?” Day opened the box and a gold band gleamed in the sunlight.

What else could he say? They’d gone through so much for each other, risking everything to be together. He saw a slight hint of worry in Day’s dark eyes and Lam touched his cheek.

“You should never doubt what my answer will be, Day. I love you and would be honored to marry you.”

Lam barely registered the cheering as Day surged to his feet then kissed him. All that mattered was that they were in each other’s arms. The rest of the world faded away.

Epilogue

One year later

Lam tugged on his cuffs, swearing softly when one of his cufflinks popped off. “Darn it.” He knelt to look under the bed where he thought it had rolled.

“Lam, it’s time,” Pierre called as he strolled into the room. He paused when he spotted Lam on the floor. “What’s going on? What did you lose?”

“A cufflink,” Lam said, his voice muffled by the bed skirt.

“Oh, for Pete’s sake.” Pierre yanked on Lam’s jacket. “Get up here. You can use mine. I have an extra pair in my suitcase. We don’t have time for you to crawling all over the place looking for it, plus you’ll get wrinkled.”

Lam rolled his eyes. “Heaven forbid I get wrinkled.”

Pierre chuckled, but continued to remove his own diamond and onyx links. “You don’t want to disappoint your groom, do you? Day put a lot of effort into this wedding. He wants to show the whole world how much he loves you.”

“If he didn’t love me, then he would’ve flown me to Vegas and married me in some little drive-thru chapel,” Lam groused. “I hate all this fancy crap and black tie affair. Why did he have to invite all those people? I don’t know any of them.”

“You’ll get to know them,” Bart informed him as he, Ekundayo and Russ joined them.

All of the former Horsemen and their husbands had received personal invitations to the wedding, hand-delivered by Lucifer Daystar himself. Lam should’ve known they wouldn’t pass up the chance to watch him and Day get married.

He smiled at the four mortals who had quickly become his best friends—aside from Day and the former Horsemen. “I’m thrilled you all could make it.”

“We wouldn’t miss it for the world.” Russ clasped his upper arm in a firm grip. “I didn’t see you, but I’m pretty sure you were at my wedding. And these other guys’ as well.”

“Of course I was. I had a hand in introducing all of you. Your marriages were the payoff for me bending the rules a little bit.” Lam let Pierre fasten the cufflinks.

Ekundayo pinned his boutonnière to the lapel of his tuxedo jacket. “We all had our own troubles to endure before we found the loves of our lives. You and Day are no different. Your courtship just lasted longer than ours did. So don’t complain too much when your soon-to-be husband wishes to celebrate your love and future together.”

Lam shook his head. “It’s not that I don’t want to do this. I’m thrilled we’re getting this chance to be together without any interference. I just don’t like being center stage and having everyone watching me. It’s a little scary and a lot intimidating.”

Pierre nodded. “I get it, but you’re going to have to get used to being the center of attention, Lam. Day is one of the most powerful businessmen in the world. He has functions and parties to go to where he’ll be doing business. Yes, a lot of it can be done from the comfort of his home, but some of it can’t. Not even with Day’s other powers. You’ll have to be on his arm as his husband and his partner. Gatian and I had to work that out in our lives.”

A knock on the door had all of them turning to see Aldo peeking in. Lam waved to him.

“Come in.”

“I’m here to get you.” Aldo walked over to Bart and kissed his cheek. “Day is worried you’ve come to your senses and have run off.”

Lam took a deep breath. “That’ll never happen. I lost my senses the first day I saw him and I’m not interested in getting them back. All right, gentlemen. There’s a gorgeous man waiting for me downstairs. I think we should join him.”

Aldo and the rest led the way to the backyard where the wedding ceremony was going to take place. Lam straightened his shoulders and lifted his chin. He could deal with all the hoopla and three ring circus atmosphere surrounding his wedding. None of it mattered as long as by the end of it, he had a ring on his finger and Day’s last name.

He snorted softly.
Like I need either of those things to be married to Day. They’re just symbols and legalities. Day and I have been married in our hearts since the moment he first spoke to me. This is just icing on the cake and if he wants that, I’ll give it to him.

The music started and Lam stepped out onto the white runner leading up to the rose-draped arbor. He saw Day standing next to the officiator. A bright smile lit up Day’s face when he met Lam’s gaze. Lam didn’t look anywhere else as he strolled down the aisle to get to Day.

While the officiator spoke, Lam held Day’s hands in his and simply stared at the man he loved. He didn’t need to hear the words of the ceremony. They were just that… Words. They could never describe the emotions binding him and Day together. They couldn’t help show just how deep their love went.

Day had returned to the heavenly realm to rescue Lam, knowing it would mean almost certain destruction for him. Yet he’d risked everything because he couldn’t be without Lam.

Lam had lost everything that had meant the world to him at one time. His wings and his angelic power. He’d been banished from his home because he dared to love Lucifer Daystar. There wasn’t a moment of regret for that decision. Lam knew he’d choose to do it again if he had to.

Staring into the face of the man he loved, Lam finally knew true peace for the first time in his life. He’d always been searching for something, and all along it had been waiting for him in the arms of a fallen angel.

Also available from Pride Publishing:

The Unicorn Said Yes

T.A. Chase

Excerpt

Chapter One

Passing under the neon sign that read ‘Unconventional’, Ivan sighed as he stepped into the bar. As much as he loved his herd, he enjoyed the nights he could go out and not worry about them. His brothers were keeping an eye on the ladies and their children so Ivan could go have a drink or two.

“Hey there, Ivan. Good to see you,” Wilma, the owner of Unconventional, called out from where she stood behind the wooden bar. “You want the usual?”

“Yes please, Wilma.” He got there just as a shot glass of vodka slid down the smooth surface to him. It was followed closely by a bottle of Corona. Ivan snatched both before they could fall off the edge. He saluted her with the vodka then drank it.

He enjoyed the slight burn as it went down and hit his stomach. After taking a sip of his beer, he glanced around to see who else had decided to come for a drink. Ivan saw Angelo and started to walk over to say hi when the most intriguing scent hit him.

Being a unicorn shifter, Ivan would be the first to admit he wasn’t extra sensitive to smells. He was much more a ‘line of sight’ kind of creature, but there was something about this scent that made him hard and took his attention from everything else around him.

Inhaling again, he followed the fragrance through the crowd to one of the corner booths. Ivan spotted the young man sitting there, elbows braced on the table while he stared down at his drink. There was sadness in the tilt of his head and pain in the lift of his shoulders.

“What did that drink do to make you look like that?” he asked as he stopped next to the booth.

The man jerked, almost knocking his drink over. Ivan caught it before it fell off. He set it back in front of the guy.

“I’m Ivan Brusilov. May I sit?” He motioned to the spot next to the enthralling human.

“Umm…sure. I guess.”

He could tell, even through the scent that drew him to the man, that he was human, which was strange to see at a paranormal bar. After dropping down onto the leather bench, he fought the urge to bury his face in the crook of the man’s neck.
Fuck!
He’d never wanted to do that before.

“Your name is?”

“Oh sorry. I’m Carney Ferguson.” Carney held out his hand for Ivan to shake. “You’re Russian.”

“My family came from Russia,” he admitted. Just because Carney was at Unconventional didn’t mean he knew about paranormals, so Ivan wasn’t about to say he’d brought his herd over after the Bolsheviks had taken over the country. No need for him to know how old Ivan really was. “You sound like your family is Irish.”

Carney smiled slightly. “My father’s side is. My mom’s French.”

Ivan grinned back. “An interesting blending of cultures. I’m all Russian. My parents met back in the old country. Are you here to drown your sorrows—whatever those may be?”

“No. Well, yes. I was going to, but I’ve never drunk before, and after taking a sip of this whiskey, I’ve figured out I don’t like it.” Carney frowned. “I’m not a very good Irishman if I don’t like liquor.”

“I don’t know. I would think you’d hate to be a stereotype,” Ivan teased.

Laughing, Carney nodded. “You’re right. I should probably head home then. My family will wonder where I’ve been.”

Allowing his instinct to override his usual reticent tendencies, he reached out to rest his hand on Carney’s arm. “Please stay. I’ll get you a soda or water. I’d like to hear what kind of sorrows a good-looking man like you would have to drown.”

The blush staining Carney’s cheeks fascinated Ivan. Everything about the man spoke of innocence. Yet Ivan didn’t know how any person—human or paranormal—could still be pure in this modern age.

Touching Carney’s warm skin sent a shot of electricity through him to Ivan’s cock.

Could it be? Is Carney truly a virgin in every sense of the word?

“I’m sure you have other things to do. Probably came looking to hook up with someone. Isn’t that what people do at bars?” Carney’s voice held a question and a hint of shyness as well.

“Some people do, and I’ll admit I have as well from time to time, but it wasn’t what I wanted when I came tonight. I just needed to get away from my family for a while.” Ivan shook his head as he thought about the noise of the herd when they got together.

Frowning, Carney sounded disappointed when he said, “Oh you’re married.”

“No.” The lead stallion of a unicorn herd rarely settled down with one mare. It was his duty to continue the bloodline by sleeping with as many of the mares as wanted him. Those who wanted could leave and go to other herds. He had five kids—three sons and two daughters.

“You’re not?” Carney narrowed his eyes at Ivan. “Yet you don’t strike me as a man who still lives with his parents.”

Ivan laughed aloud. “No, I don’t. I’ve been the head of my family for years now, but unfortunately, there are a lot of us, and they drop in at all hours of the day and night. Thank God, I work from home.”

Carney wrinkled his nose. “That doesn’t sound very fun. I bet you get tired of that.”

“It can get annoying once in a while,” Ivan confessed. “I wouldn’t have it any other way though. They’re my kin, and I have to protect them.”

He motioned for Samantha, the bobcat shifter who worked as a waitress for Wilma. When she got there, he ordered a soda for Carney and another beer for himself. She winked at him before whirling around to go to the bar.

“I like it here,” Carney informed him. “I don’t feel like such an outsider.”

After finishing his first beer and setting the bottle aside, he studied the human. “Why would you feel like an outsider?”

“Because I was homeschooled all my life. My parents and relatives have a strict set of rules my siblings and I must follow. I’ve never been allowed to date or even just hang out with friends. Heck, I don’t have any friends to speak of.” Carney traced a circle on the surface of the table. “It’s hard not to feel awkward when you don’t know anything about the world around you.”

Ivan scooted closer, pressing his leg and arm against Carney’s, and the human shivered. He had the crazy need to kiss Carney, to learn his taste and see what kind of sounds he made while in the throes of pleasure…

Shaking his head, he tried to clear it. He wasn’t here to get laid. It was just a night out for a drink or two and some conversation. “Is it a religious thing?” he asked, knowing there was some religions that chose to keep their children separate from the world.

Carney lifted one shoulder. “It’s more of a family tradition, I guess. My parents were brought up that way.”

Samantha brought their drinks to them, and Ivan paid her before turning back to Carney.

“You’ve really never gone on a date before? How old are you?” Ivan held up his hand before Carney could answer him. “Don’t answer that. It’s none of my business. Your age or whether you’ve dated.”

“I’m twenty-five and I’m still a virgin.” Carney blushed again, ducking his head.

“Oh my,” Ivan whispered, knowing exactly why he wanted Carney so badly. A virgin to a unicorn was like offering catnip to a feline shifter. Something was hardwired inside him to be entranced by all that innocence.

It was how they used to hunt his kind in the old days. They’d almost been hunted to extinction because of their greed, but a few herds had survived in the Black Forest of Germany and out on the Steppes of Russia. Unicorns had hidden their true selves away for centuries until the truth about them had faded into legends and myths. Some of his kind didn’t believe the virgin thing was real, but Ivan accepted that every shifter species had a weakness and his were virgins.

“Stupid, huh? I should’ve had sex already, but my parents kept us on a tight leash.” Carney turned the bottle around in his hands as he spoke.

“How did you get out of the house tonight? I would think that a bar isn’t a place they would want you.” Ivan leaned back in the booth, keeping just the tips of his fingers on Carney’s thigh.