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When their daughter is born, Garrett cries until he has no more tears to spill while Mickey holds him and tells him to just let it all out.
After living alone for so long, lost in a world he didn’t feel like he fit into, Garrett almost couldn’t believe that this, a family, was his.
His mother died giving birth to him, his father never cared enough to stay, and Garrett learned to accept that at a young age. When he got control over his shifting, he left the orphanage and never looked back. It wasn’t a bad place per se, but it was uncomfortable, so distant from the things he ached for that he decided to leave in search of… something.
The first few years by himself were hard. He knew it would be, but reality hit him with such cold and pain he sometimes wished he had stayed in the orphanage. In the end he always made it out just fine, if sore and bruised, and with time it got easier. It wasn’t good, not by a long shot, but he got stability, a job, a little place he could claim as his. He was a teenager with no parents, no other family that he was aware of, and he was doing well.
Years from then (so many, he had lost count, maybe even lost himself a few times), he met other wolves in a southern town. He had been looking for a better place to rent after getting a promotion. It was a coincidence, really, that the other wolves were passing by the town and that he managed to catch the alpha’s attention. Garrett never saw himself as being part of a pack. He had gotten used to playing human and thought he could live his whole life masquerading as one.
But the alpha’s offer of getting to know them to “see where it could go” got the best of Garrett’s curiosity and he said yes. He couldn’t have known it would be a mistake. He didn’t fit in not because he felt disconnected from his wolf, as the alpha (he refuses to give her a name, to remember her more than she deserves) so often tried to convince him.
No, that wasn’t it. He just fucking hated the manipulation and abuse the wolves were subjected to by the alpha. From the lowest beta in the hierarchy (and wasn’t that pure bullshit?) to the mate by her side, he treated them as little more that tools. Means to an end. She wanted power. She wanted to be an Alpha among alphas. So, she got other wolves to follow her, to be hers, and do as she said. She bit them into a pack, bonded them so they couldn’t leave. The moment Garret realized what he got into he knew it would be hell to get out even without having her bite marking him as hers.
It took him months to get away. First, to run away; and then, to stay hidden. He wasn’t the only wolf that ever tried to leave. The alpha had a team of wolves that went after deserters. They almost managed to catch him in more than one occasion.
Garrett met Mickey one of those times.
It happened, again, by chance. Garrett had had the idea of hiding his scent from the wolves in a club. The scents there were too many to make out, dizzying at best, a headache-inducing nightmare at worst. Garrett went into the club expecting to be bothered by the scent himself and left with no other than Mickey hanging from his arm. Garrett isn’t even trying to be funny; Mickey literally did that trying to test his strength, playful and giddy after getting a taste of Garrett’s energy.
He also met Ian Gallagher that night, but Mickey told him to “get him away from him” and Garrett did just that. He took him and whisked him away to a place he had deemed safe a few days ago. The wolves hadn’t made it close to this part of the city once in their search for Garrett. They would be safe.
“Who’s following you?”, Mickey asked, his hands on Garrett’s shoulder, looking up at him because he was shorter. Way shorter. It was endearing, in a way, but Garrett couldn’t help but think that it also could be a disadvantage.
“Wolves.”
“Your own kind? That’s fucked up.” Mickey furrowed his brows. His eyes were shining with mirth and lust and a bunch of other things that had Garrett breathing heavy.
Mickey was tempting, to put it mildly, just as his kind were known for. But Garrett wasn’t new to this… allure of his. He had come across incubi and succubae before. Yes, Mickey was particularly attracting. Yes, he smelled better than anyone Garret had met. Yes, he wanted nothing more than bite into his neck and put a claim on him. Yes, to all that. But Garrett was more than his impulses and Mickey deserved better than a wolf with no restrain.
“What do they want with you?”
“They wanna drag me back to the pack so the alfa can bind me to it.”
“Oh,” Mickey said. “That’s worse than I thought.” He looked Garret in the eye. His allure gave way to concern and machination.
Garrett had a moment of true, unadulterated fear being this close to him. Incubus weren’t harmless at all. People tended to underestimate how much they could do because there was a great misunderstanding pertaining to how they fed. Most thought it was ‘only sex’, and yes, it could be only that, but… Well, Garrett didn’t want to go into gory details right now. Not with Mickey still clinging to him and smiling so sweetly there had to be something bad in his head.
“Do you like them?”, he wondered. “Those wolves?”
Did he? No. but he also didn’t want them… Well. Eaten.
“Don’t eat them.”
Mickey laughed and looped his arms around Garrett’s neck, holding him closer. Garrett
“I don’t want them.” He said with a shrug. “I want you. And they do too, but not for something fun, so we should… get rid of them, don’t you think? There’s hungry incubi and succubae everywhere. And wolves are so good. So strong. I could tell them where to find them and they wouldn’t bother us anymore.”
Garrett had to count to ten and remind himself why that would be wrong on so many levels that it was concerning he even considered it. For a second, but he did. Mickey was convincing. And so pretty. So, so goddamned pretty. Garrett felt on the nearer to brink of dying every passing second.
He knew Mickey was feeding off him. Off his attraction and attention. Garrett didn’t mind at all; and wasn’t that concerning? He had met Mickey less than an hour ago. Maybe forty minutes ago. Yet, here he was, taking him somewhere he thought safe, letting him feed off him, and doing a mental list of the pros and cons of saying yes to his offer of ‘getting rid of’ the wolves after him.
“So? Can I tell them?” God, he made it sound so innocent, so casual. As if he weren’t an incubus thinking of sending incubi and succubae to feed off wolves. Maybe not only feed from them as they would with a human. No. Eat them, for real, no joke whatsoever. And… it would be such a relief. Garrett was getting tired of hiding and running and not being able to sleep peacefully. It had been years. And the alpha was still adamant on getting back to her.
It would be good to not have to worry so much.
But the team of wolves had no choice. They were bitten by the alpha. She was the problem, not them, and Garrett didn’t want anything happening to them.
“No,” he said, firm. “Don’t go after them. They would kill them and… And no. No, okay?”
Mickey was impassive. Inexpressive. Garrett feared again. Then, though, he nodded and relaxed, a small smile on his pretty (why, how was he so pretty?) lips.
“Okay,” he agreed. “If that’s what you want then okay. But”, and he didn’t look so happy suddenly, “we aren’t as bad as you seem to think we are. Believe it or not, a lot of us are monogamous!”
Garrett believed him, but…
“Wolves are amazing mates for us. And vampires, but that’s tricky. But wolves…”
“You got a thing for us?”
That wasn’t unusual. A tad… insulting. But not unusual.
Mickey arched a brow.
“Oh, you don’t like that idea,” he stated. It wasn’t a question. He was so sure. Garrett didn’t lie, not even to save his dignity. He did not like that idea at all. “Great! Because I don’t. I told I want you.”
“Because I’m a wolf?”
Mickey let out a long-suffering sigh.
“Because you feel like no one I’ve ever met before. Didn’t you fee it? In the club?”
Garrett felt something. He attributed it to the incubus’ allure. But he couldn’t deny there was more to it. Something that was purely Mickey.
“I did,” he accepted, because why would he lie? He had no real reason to. Besides, Mickey had offered him help. Misguided, but help, nonetheless. That was more than Garrett had dared to expect.
“That’s good. I was worried it had only been me. But you felt it, too.”
And now that Mickey had pointed it out, Garrett couldn’t ignore the tug in the back of his mind, the ache on his fangs, the goosebumps on his skin. Mickey was beautiful. He was intriguing, no matter how hard Garrett tried to not pay attention. He smelled like ambrosia, sticking to the roof of his mouth, slowly filling his veins. He wanted him. So much. He had from the get-go. Apparently, he was wanted back.
“Do you know what that means for me?” Mickey ran his fingers through the hair on Garrett’s nape. Soft, careful, tender. Garrett knees went weak. Mickey was small next to him, but the power he held knew no bounds. “Do you understand what you are to me? Am I something to you?”
It had been less than an hour. Maybe fifty minutes. And Garrett had already felt the impulse of claiming him as his mate. Biting him. That didn’t happen with just anyone. Garrett was no beast. He was a person, if not a human, and as such, he could tell mere attraction from this that he was feeling for Mickey. Of course, there was a certain… urgency to his desires, being a wolf, but he wasn’t a beast. He wasn’t a monster. He wasn’t, and yet, he was trembling at Mickey’s word. What the implied.
“You are… Garrett, have you ever let your wolf take over? Entirely?”
A few times, with the pack he was running from, under the alpha’s cold eyes watching his every move. And he hated it. Loathed himself after. He had been terrified of it ever since.
“I don’t like it”, he confessed.
“That’s fine. You don’t have to. But can you try to feel them better? Listen to them? I don’t know how that is, for wolves, but for me, I know you are my mate. Knew when I saw you. Then you were close enough for me to taste your energy. You are my mate. Do you feel it?”
Needy. Desperate. Lightly squirming against Garret’s front. Mickey’s eyes were half-lidded, glossed over with desire. Longing. Garret wanted to spread him open. Eat him up. See him deliciously broken. Satisfied.
“You are my mate,” Mickey repeated. “Will you make me yours?”
Garrett did. Thoroughly. He feasted on Mickey until he was bursting with it. Mickey clawed at his back, said his name over and over, begged to be fucked. To be taken. Claimed. To be Garrett’s. Garrett ended up biting his own arm when the impulse got to overwhelming. Mickey sobbed, asked why, licked Garrett’s blood, and offered his neck.
“Please,” his voice was small, breathy. Garrett grunted, closed his eyes, shook his head. No. Mickey was inconsolable, tears running down his flushed cheeks. So pretty. “I want it. I want you. Please. Garrett. Please.”
Garret pressed his forehead against the bed, next to Mickey’s pale shoulder, a growl trapped on his throat. Shook his head. He didn’t have it in him to talk, to open his mouth, let his fangs exposed. He would bite Mickey if he didn’t let them retract first. And that wasn’t good. Wasn’t what Mickey deserved. That didn’t stop Mickey from begging, crying, trying to get his mouth where he wanted it. Garrett didn’t bulge. After a few minutes, his fangs drew back, and Garrett could look at Mickey again.
Not seeing his fangs out made Mickey whine, his hands going to Garrett’s cheeks, finger pressing against his upper lip. He wanted them out. Garrett, though, had gotten it under control. They would not make another appearance tonight.
“Breathe,” he said to Mickey, taking his hands off his face and pressing them on his chest, trying to get Mickey to focus on his heartbeat. “Calm down, please. Breathe with me.”
It took longer than calming himself, but Mickey came down from his high.
“I would be embarrassed if you didn’t want it as much as me,” he said then letting his hands roam down Garrett’s stomach. Garrett was still between his legs, naked. “You’re… You resisted that so well. I’m sorry. It got… to much. I didn’t… know it’d be like that. Sorry.”
“I’m sorry, too. I shouldn’t… I was wrong letting myself go this far. We should’ve talked first, Mickey.”
“Yeah. We should’ve. But… it’s not... You regret it? I don’t. I wanted you. Even with… that happening, I don’t regret it.”
Garrett thought it over.
“Me neither.”
And so, they talked. Extensively. Garrett’s got familiar with the light ache of Mickey constantly feeding off him, and Mickey dialed his consumption down. He had been eager, starved, so euphoric because he had found Garrett that he had just kept going.
They didn’t immediately get each other, but it was wonderful to discover together. Months passed, and Garrett made peace with his wolf. He let him take over under Mickey’s caring eyes in a full moon. Then, weeks later, he told Mickey he would claim one day. Mickey had claimed Garrett already, tied his energy to him. But Garrett’s way of claiming was different. More physical, it needed preparation and care and so much control.
“One day,” Mickey smiled. “I’d like to go to Ukraine for it.”
Garrett hadn’t thought of where, but it felt fitting. He wanted Mickey comfortable. He didn’t have a forest he thought as his, so, maybe, Nataliya’s hometown could be it. His as much as Mickey’s.
After the initial compulsion to mate, Mickey didn’t ask to be bitten.
Until their union ceremony, that is.
And that day, Garrett bi him many times, all over his body. Everywhere Mickey wanted him to.
“Fucking finally,” he said when he woke up and the pain of the bites was the first thing he felt. “I gotta admit I’m shocked I didn’t beg.”
“You didn’t have to. It was the whole purpose of the ceremony,” Garrett curled his body around Mickey, the newly-established bond urging him to be as close as he could get without being inside his mate. “You gave me permission to chase you, bite you. The moment I got you didn’t need any more reassurance that I would claim you.”
“Um, yeah. I felt… right. It never crossed my mind you wouldn’t get me.”
“Of course not. You wanted to be caught. And I was the only one that could do it. That you wanted to do it.”
Ian hadn’t tried to chase Mickey. He didn’t have the stamina to catch him nor the strength to win over Garrett. Finally, Garrett felt himself settle, secure in his bond with Mickey, satisfied the challenger had conceded.
Many years (decades) later, the chase happens again. This time, their daughter is held hostage, Mickey is weaker than ever, and Garrett is injured. Injured and alone because Ian found a way to break bonds.
Garrett’s energy no longer reached Mickey. Mickey’s essence was lost to Garrett. They had been separated.
Ian had done it.
Somehow, he had managed to do this atrocity, and his blood-red eyes had been burnt in Garrett’s memory.
Ian Gallagher, once a human trying right his wrongs.
Ian Gallagher, now a resentment-driven vampire.
Ian Gallagher, the man Garrett and Mickey underestimated.
Ian Gallagher, chasing Mickey, holding their daughter hostage.
Garrett was bleeding, but he ran.
He had to save them.