Thalos
They’d been at the house for over a week now, and Thalos needed to get back to the villa to do some work. He had internet access on his phone, but he couldn’t get into his files. Needed his laptop for that.
Part of him didn’t want to leave, but the thought of staying much longer scared him. They’d gotten into a comfortable routine out here. Too comfortable.
They woke. Made love. Ate breakfast. Chilled out, maybe reading or soaking up some sun. Then they’d change form and go for a run. He grew to love being in his horse form once more. The first couple of days they took it slow because of Ariadne’s leg, but now they were back to running at full speed.
In the afternoons, they’d read some more or watch old movies on the TV. Then they ate together and spent the evening making love.
Ariadne shocked him with her sensual appetites, but more than that, he shocked himself. Because he didn’t fuck. Not with her. He made love. And it scared him to death.
He didn’t know where they went from here. While he had enjoyed his time with her immensely, he didn’t think he could live like this forever. He’d go stir-crazy. Yes, weeks or even months up here would be good, but then he knew he’d yearn once more for the towns and cities of the human world. He’d spent too long passing for human to turn his back on their world completely now.
His phone beeped, and he glanced at it, blinking in shock as he saw the picture of Spirakis, one of the other remaining Centaurs, pop up by the text.
Hey, shithead.
He rolled his eyes. Spirakis had spent ten years living in London and spoke like a true Brit these days.
Back on Corfu for a break. Fancy some drinks and some sex. Had a foursome with some fucking beauties from Limelight last night. I’ve got some coke for tonight, some Jack, and a bevy of beauties lined up. Meet me at Limelight at nine.
Thalos rubbed between his eyes. Shit. He didn’t party as hard as Spirakis anyway. Didn’t do drugs—or orgies. And the last thing he needed was for Ariadne to see how Spirakis lived and think he did the same. Yes, he drank too much sometimes. And yes, he had casual sex, but he hadn’t for a long time. Still, he didn’t want her seeing his past in up close, Technicolor detail.
He sent a brief reply.
Sorry, pal. No can do. Not this time. Give me a call the next time you’re in town.
He called Marina and let her know they’d be heading back to the villa that evening. Part of him didn’t want to go, but he felt that if he stayed much longer, he’d get in so deep with Ariadne he’d never be able to walk away. And he should if he cared about her at all, because he was all kinds of wrong for her.
The trouble of it was, he’d gone and fallen in love with her. He hadn’t told her because he didn’t know how to say it. The words got stuck every time he tried to level with her. And she hadn’t said she felt the same, so maybe his love would be unwelcome.
She wanted him physically. They fucked all the time. And she talked with him, kissed him, snuggled into him when he held her at night. But he sensed her holding back, and he didn’t know why.
Basically, he supposed that, deep down, she might not want to be with one of his kind. She wouldn’t be the first shifter to reject him for being a Centaur. Though she clearly liked him a lot, he didn’t know if she saw any sort of future for them. And unlike his usual confident self, he didn’t dare ask in case he got an answer he didn’t want to hear.
He knew if she left, it would kill a part of his heart. If she said she didn’t want him because of what he was, it would turn his very soul dark. So, he didn’t make any grand declarations, and he didn’t ask her what she felt either.
That evening, as he pulled up outside the villa, his heart lifted at the thought of the view, his pool, and being back by the sea.
“You’re glad to be home.” Ariadne said it as a statement, not a question.
He nodded. “Yup. I’ve missed the sea. And the luxury.” He laughed. “How about you?”
She did the little wrinkled brow thing he’d grown to love so much. “I prefer it up in the mountains. But it is lovely here. Don’t get me wrong. It’s just…up there I feel free.”
He did too, in one sense. But he couldn’t deny it felt good to come home. He sighed and climbed out of the car. Could they make a life together? He could happily spend weeks in the mountains, so long as he knew they’d head back to the coast or the city every so often for breaks. But would Ariadne grow more wild the longer she stayed away from human civilization?
He’d noticed over the last couple of days that she’d changed into her horse form more often and for longer. As much as he liked running free as his horse, no way did he want to revert to living like that. Maybe over time, she would end up going back to the ways of her people. He imagined them stuck together on some mountain for eternity, her spending hours every day running as her horse, him bored and pissed off. Stuck in a small house, wanting to get away from it all.
Why did things have to be so damned complicated? He loved her, but did he love her enough to accept her if she wanted very different things from him?
He opened his door and frowned as a wall of noise hit him. Pumping bass music filled the hallway, and he wondered if Marina had thrown a party. She didn’t generally do such things though, and surely, she’d have let him know. She knew he’d planned to head back tonight.
Marina came out of the dining room and stopped dead when she saw him and Ariadne.
“Didn’t you get my text?” she asked.
He frowned and shook his head.
“I told you to wait until tomorrow. A friend of yours showed up—with some friends of his.” Her words were loaded with meaning, and he knew she meant Spirakis. “I told him to go, but he pushed past me and made himself at home.”
“Motherfucker.” He spat out the curse word and saw Ariadne’s eyes widen. Shit. She was shocked at his mouth. If Spirakis was partying like usual, those beautiful eyes of hers were about to fall out of her head.
Still, what his friend did had no bearing on him. He’d tell Spirakis to fuck off, and he and Ariadne could go back to normal. Whatever the hell that was with the two of them.
He sighed and shook his head at Marina, who looked about to cry. “Don’t be upset. It’s not your fault he’s a dick who has no boundaries.”
He turned to Ariadne. “Why don’t you go on up to bed, honey, and I’ll be up shortly.”
But she’d already walked past him, heading toward the noise. A female squealed, and laughter rang out.
Crap. He followed on her heels, and the sight in front of him when he reached the room by the pool stopped his breath.
Spirakis was snorting coke off a naked female. And female was the correct term because she wasn’t human, but fae.
Another two fae females were kissing and caressing one another on one of the sofas.
He looked at Ariadne to see her eyes widen as she took it all in. Her mouth went into a tight line, and her relaxed posture stiffened.
Then, as if the gods were purposely getting their revenge, two fae ran into the room from the pool, squealing in delight as they barreled into him.
“Thalos!” The blond one sucked on his neck as he pushed her away from him, but the redhead was already running her hands all over him.
The blonde pouted. “Well, that’s not the welcome I expected. Last time we partied, you fucked me up the ass and licked Larissa here until she screamed the walls down.”
A tiny gasp to his right had his head whipping around to see Ariadne staring at him as if he were the devil himself.
Fuck his life. This all happened like twenty or thirty years ago, but the fae never forgot, and to them, it probably seemed like last week.
“Who is this gorgeous thing?” Larissa, the redhead, purred as she sashayed over to Ariadne.
“Listen, you’ve all got to go,” he said. But it seemed Spirakis couldn’t hear him over the thumping bass.
Thalos stalked to the other side of the room and turned off the music. As the pounding ceased, he heard Larissa saying.
“So how many times has he fucked you, sweet thing? We don’t mind, we can all share. Centaurs aren’t exactly the faithful types anyway. Do you know, this one here once fucked a whole female battalion in some ancient city.” She pointed right at him, and Thalos saw, fucking saw, the light in Ariadne’s eyes die.
He hadn’t even done the deed for which he was most famous. He’d screwed two of the women, not the whole battalion, but at the time, he’d liked the notoriety.
Now, he wanted to throttle the stupid fae and their shit-stirring. But first, he’d choke Spirakis’s life from him with his bare hands if they didn’t leave this second. Spirakis might have once been a good friend, and truth be told, if Ariadne hadn’t come into Thalos’s life, he’d have probably welcomed this visit. But now, Thalos wanted Spirakis gone.
“Get the fuck out of my house, now.” He shouted it so loud the windows rattled.
Spirakis stopped sucking the tits of the female under him and stood, surprise etched on his coarse features. He hadn’t turned out half as handsome as Thalos when he’d been given the ability to change his form.
“Keep your fucking glossy, golden hair on, mate.” Spirakis snapped, and his London accent got on Thalos’s very last nerve.
“Get out of my house right the fuck now. And don’t ever come back.”
“Whoa, what’s your problem, brother mine? You don’t want to party? Since when don’t you want to party?”
“Friend, you haven’t seen me for nearly thirty years. You wouldn’t know what I like to do now.”
Spirakis looked from him to Ariadne and back again, and understanding dawned in his dark gaze. He went over to her, and Thalos braced himself to attack his so-called friend if he so much as laid a finger on Ariadne. But all Spirakis did was lean in and inhale.
“A shifter, eh?” He laughed, and it held a nasty edge. “Well, I must say this is a turn up for the books since they rejected us completely and left us alone to forge our path in the world. Why the fuck would you fall in love with one of them? They’re so fucking dull. You could at least have gone for a dragon female or something cool. But a filly? Boring. As. Fuck.”
Ariadne stood frozen to the spot. Thalos couldn’t tell if she’d even noticed what Spirakis said about him being in love. But then, just in case she’d missed it, Larissa decided to rub it in.
“Aw, our sexy little Thalos is in love.” She glanced at Ariadne. “Isn’t she rather…plain, Thalos?”
“I swear, if you don’t all leave now, I’ll start breaking bones.”
The doorbell rang out, and he narrowed his eyes at Spirakis. “Whoever the fuck it is, they’re leaving right now with you.”
Spirakis held his hands up. “I didn’t invite anyone else here, pal. So you can stop with the hysterics and the threats.”
Spirakis pulled the naked female into his side and licked a long stripe up her neck. A horrified gasp rang out in the room, and they all turned to see a sturdy female, flanked by four males, staring in horror at them.
Marina came rushing into the room after them. “I’m sorry, Thalos, they pushed their way past me. It seems to be a bit of a theme this evening.”
She narrowed her eyes at Spirakis, who stared back, but he actually flushed when Marina didn’t back down. The male looked away first, and Thalos filed the information away for a later date when he could examine what the strange little moment might mean.
“Oh my gods, Ariadne.” The stout female threw herself at Ariadne and wrapped her arms around her.
Ariadne didn’t respond. She didn’t hug the female back, and he wanted to know what the fuck was going on.
The female pulled back and gave a cry of dismay. “Oh, my child. They’ve sullied you.” She rooted around in the bag she carried and pulled out a white handkerchief. She licked it and began to wipe roughly at Ariadne’s face. “Such a sin.” Then she looked at Spirakis and the naked fae and began to mutter long and lengthy prayers to the goddess of forgiveness.
“Aunt, please, you’re hurting me.” Ariadne snapped out of her stupor and began to struggle.
Her aunt stepped back and narrowed her eyes. “Go and pack your things. You’re leaving right now. You are not spending another moment in this debauchery, and when I get ahold of the Seer, I will give her a piece of my mind for ever bringing you here in the first place.”
Ariadne began to move toward the stairs, and her aunt turned to her. “And wash your face.”
Thalos jerked forward, pushing the woman out of the way and grabbing Ariadne. “Honey, you don’t have to do what she says.” He turned to her aunt. “You can’t tell her what to do. She isn’t part of your herd.”
“Oh, but she will be. Her parents always wanted her to come live with us in the Lysee once she became of age. This is her intended mate. As chosen by her own father, may the gods protect his soul.”
She pushed forward a muscular young man. A handsome bastard, truth be told, and Thalos growled under his breath.
“Listen, you all need to leave. You lot, just fuck off.” He motioned for Spirakis and the females to leave, and they did. Realizing perhaps how much they’d dropped him in the shit, or maybe not wanting to have their night ruined by a pious group of horse shifters, they grabbed their clothes and filed out of the room. Spirakis shot Marina a look as he left, but she turned her face away.
Thalos focused on the latest unwanted visitors.
“You too,” he said to Ariadne’s aunt.
She sneered at him. “She isn’t staying with you, Centaur. You’re a loathsome creature. And Spirakis, he is one of the worst.” She turned to Ariadne. “That male who just left, the friend of this male here—” She actually had the nerve to poke him in the chest. “He is an abomination. He raped two of our young females centuries ago during one of the regular rampages these vile creatures would go on. They are uncouth and ungodly.”
“Rape.” Ariadne’s mouth fell open, and tears filled her eyes.
“He didn’t do it.” Thalos knew the words were useless.
Her aunt laughed at him. “I walk in here to see him surrounded by naked fae, drinking, taking drugs, preparing to fornicate, and you try to defend him. You, who are no better. You’re all the same. Disgusting, vile males who would lie with a dog if it would have you.”
Ariadne began to pull away, and he gripped her arm tighter.
“Let me go.” She said the words so quietly but with such fierce determination that he did as she asked.
Heart hammering, he whirled on her aunt as Ariadne fled up the stairs. Marina followed her, and he only hoped she could speak some sense into his female.
“You have no right to come into my home, throwing around your lies and your filth. None of what you say is true.”
“Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t. But we all know you are hardly a decent male, Thalos. You fornicate, drink, revel in your beauty, your wealth. These things are all sins. Terrible sins. Only the gods should be as beautiful as you. Only the gods should live in splendor like this. You can’t have her. You’re not one of us, and she could never be whole with you.”
“She could.” He spat the words out with force, but the cursed female simply laughed.
“All Ariadne has ever wanted is young. And she can’t have them with you. You, Centaur, cannot procreate with a shifter. And the reason you cannot is because you’re a crime against nature. The Seer made sure to stop your rancid genes from ever being passed down among our pure lines. So, you see, you keep Ariadne here, and eventually, she’ll grow to hate you. She won’t ever be the mother she’s always longed to be, and you will end up being hated by her.”
He swallowed hard. The female’s words fucking flayed him alive. They were true. He couldn’t procreate with a shifter. The Centaurs were all male, or they were these days, at least. If there were females, he hadn’t heard of one in centuries.
When he’d been turned into whatever the fuck he was now, the Seer had told him he would have immortal life, immense strength and speed, and the appearance and abilities of a horse shifter. But she’d warned him he wasn’t a horse shifter, and he couldn’t have young with the shifters. He hadn’t cared one bit, but now he wanted to sink to his knees and scream to the heavens. He didn’t do that, though. Instead, he stared at the female in front of him and resisted the urge to slap her across her bitter face.
Footsteps on the stairs had him looking up. Ariadne appeared with her bags, Marina trailing her.
Ariadne got to the bottom of the stairs, and he went to her. “You don’t have to go. Please…stay. Stay, and we can talk about this.”
She wouldn’t even meet his gaze. “I need to leave. My mother and father had a plan for me. I must honor it. Thank you for having me these past weeks.” Then she did look up, and tears were welling in her eyes. “I’ll never forget my time here.”
She walked away from him to her aunt and the males with her. They turned and headed out of the room to the front door. He followed them, racking his brain for something he could say, but coming up blank.
The door opened, and Ariadne turned to look at him one last time. Her eyes were so full of hurt, and he hated himself so much in that moment. Then she was gone, the door closing behind her.
His heart broke. It fucking broke right there in his fancy villa, with his expensive car parked outside and his wardrobe of clothes worth thousands of dollars upstairs. And none of it meant a thing because the only person to bring light, real light, into his world had just walked out of the door.
He sank to his knees, and for the first time in centuries, Thalos began to cry.