Whoever it was, it wasn't his mate.

The diamond turned to coal when it hit the steel in Phenїx's truth test. But it sounded as though it was someone he wanted – had needed – badly. She could tell just by the way he'd spoken of her.

Wóden help me, I need my power again, soon.

Just then, the thought occurred like a lightning bolt, Be his friend, he loses his aura, I get my powers back, I portal bolt and come back with his mate's location after I get the next few pieces in place. Easy peasy, lemon-Nїxie!

Distant thunder sounded. That was all the confirmation she needed for her plan. She dusted off her hands and fingers, leaving the doodled runes, bunny and bird where they were.

She stretched enough to get the kinks out of her limbs. Then walked over with her hands planted on her waist, "When was this?"

"When was what?"

"When did you miss?"

"Miss what?"

She stared hard at him, "Hello, Lore to reaper, what we were talking about, where's your head at?"

He seemed to jerk. "Oh, right. Sorry, we're on a friggin' hell-plane which I'm trying to get off of. You're talking about what I mentioned?" he glanced at her. "Missing your mate? In mortal terms, if you don't take the initiative or you don't step up, you're screwed, and not in the good way."

Phenїx froze. Her first instinct was to start an argument, but then she remembered she was talking to a transitioning mortal from the Gaia realm. This wasn't a two-thousand-year-old, or hells, even a hundred-year-old Lorean immortal. And what he described did happen a lot in the mortal realm.

She tried a quiet tone. "So... Do you need help?"

Byron stared over at her a second, his lips quirking in a way that made her temper flare. It was the kind of look she saw on males who were indulging a female, not listening to them.

"Right, three millennia of combat experience and matchmaking, now what, you're gonna be a therapist?"

Oh I'm going to...

Nїx flexed a leg out. "Do you need another adjustment of your balls, boy?"

That brown-haired head swiveled around fast enough to startle her. He caught her gaze with a lip snarl, and she felt herself snap back a little.

Shit! Hot male!

Byron's fist flexed. "Call me boy again and I'll leave you here without your powers, for good."

Dammit! Frustrating male! He's strong enough to do it. And he's too hot when he looks that pissed. Rrrr...

She clomped her foot wistfully, "Come on, numbnuts! Just tell me when this miss was, reaper."

He gazed at her a long moment, then heaved another heavy sigh. That told her a lot in a short moment. This was going to be a hard one. Then he answered, "Five years ago."

Nїx mulled that over for a few, looking at it from the perspective of a temporal mortal. A fragile mortal. Her head whipped up. "That's, like, fifty years in immortal terms."

He cleared his throat, looking away. Nїx noticed he did that to hide his face. "Meh. Maybe."

Something about the way he said it softened her. "Byron?"

Nїx reached up and pulled his face around to look at her. For once, the reaper didn't resist. When they made eye contact, she saw pain glittering there in his face.

The urge to do violence turned her claws sharp all on their own. Byron's eyes shut down and changed to worry.

"Heyyyy. I don't like that look."

Her mind almost snapped when she realized what else she saw there. Desire? Heavy, suppressed desire.

"You haven't...?"

His face went confused again. "Haven't what?"

"You haven't even had sex in all that time???"

The reaper flinched. Nїx's jaw dropped open. Her breath went in so sharply she almost shrieked again. She checked herself, her voice faltering.

"Byron that's not-!"

"Don't you even say it," he cut her off sharply. His lips thinned, "I've got my reasons."

More blasphemy!!!

"Wait..." She closed her eyes a moment. Without the paths, she had to do the mental reasoning the old-fashioned way.

"You said you started transitioning roughly two years ago."

"What about it?"

"You've been dealing with overstimulation for two years and nothing?!"

He shook his head forcefully. "No, Phenїx."

Phenїx blinked, processing what she was hearing. The male sounded like Bowen MacRieve! And he wasn't even fifty yet!

She pressed, "Byron, immortals have to blow off steam. How else are we going to pass all that time?"

"Yeah, well, you've got plenty of time to do it."

Her tone turned vehement, "So why didn't you? You were human, you could've died, easily! Why not love the one you're with?!"

Byron's gaze ripped around to her, and that jaw muscle pulsed. "Because there wasn't any!"

That baritone voice shattered like a tree branch cracking under too much pressure. The intense pain she registered there was enough to bring her up short. Nїx's heart thudded. Byron broke contact from her hand, then walked away. The distance made something in her heart shift.

What happened to this male?

"I tried the whole 'game' thing a long time ago," he growled angrily. "Granted, that's only a decade and a half to you, which is a blink of an eye."

That made her wince. If only he knew...

"But for me, it was half of my Goddamned lifetime."

That made her stutter. Mortal. Transitioning. It would be different. Her ears flicked and she refocused back on him.

"Didn't work out well, if you asked me," he gritted. "Fact is, I don't think it's a game. But I tried anyway. And like anything, you win some, you lose some. I lost a lot." He snorted cynically, "Actually, almost every time."

"It isn't a game, but Byron, come on," she walked over to him. Her heart recoiled harder when he walked further away. "Reaper. What happened?"

He snapped his neck to one side. When the reaper turned to her this time, his gaze flowed over her, not so much to drink her up, but gauge her. Then he asked, "Short story?"

Nїx nodded.

He paced while he spoke, "I deployed into war zones at a young age, while everyone else back home got their party on. Can't date someone very well when you're on patrol, rolling missions.

"Got out, got into menial jobs. I had one long distance relationship for a couple years I wasn't ready for. My miss. After that," he rolled his neck, "I dropped the fuck off."

Phenїx stared at him. Damn. But really, that didn't mean it was over for him. "Well, why not ask around? It's not like it's the end of the world if they say 'no'."

"No every time means no, demigoddess. I don't play with it."

"That's not what I'm saying!"

He tilted his head, "You're saying keep trying."

She nodded. "Yes!"

"Valkyrie, after hearing it enough times – say, oh," he shrugged, "Thousand or so? – That's about enough of a clue, even to an idiot like me."

She argued, "You were a soldier! That doesn't happen!"

The next laugh out of his throat twisted with enough cynicism to fill an Abyssian ocean.

"Oh, you Loreans have no idea. It happens a lot, Phenїx."

That brought her up short. What?

"So," he smiled. "I learned to be a complete gentleman. And be smart. Save my heart the trouble."

She stuttered on that. Gods above...

Byron made his voice firm, "Now, that's enough."

Her voice lilted softly, "Reaper?"

He yelled over his shoulder, "I said 'enough'. Please!" Then he went quiet. "I don't wanna talk anymore about that subject, Phenїx."

That loneliness and searching gaze took on a whole new dimension now. She saw a male apart. Pining away, zoned out, ready to embrace combat, ready to die, but left wanting for connection.

He really was like Bowen. But Bowen had believed his mate was already dead. Byron hadn't even met his yet or passed a hundred years.

And clearly, he needed some sort of outlet. He was new, overstimulated. She lit on an idea. "You could have visited the nymphs."

He whipped round to her, incredulity painted on his face. "The nymphs?!"

Nїx nodded emphatically, "Yes! They're sweet, sexy, loving..."

It wasn't a shame to find a partner, right? Yet even as the thought crossed her mind, she felt something curl up inside her. She recognized it for a twist of jealousy. Nїx tried placing why... sure, she and the nymphs weren't the best of pals today, but...

Byron reiterated her first three points with his fingers up, "Sweet, sexy, loving," he curled his fist and thrust up his thumb, "- and they talk. A lot. What one covey knows, they all know. You wanna know what's going on with who?"

He tapped an ear. "Listen to a nymph. Wyrms covered the old stuff, I needed current intel. Nymphs're gossip and intel central."

The fact her diamond told her he was telling the truth... the fact this youthful male had met some of the most ancient creatures in all the realms? He was learning from them. Nїx was certain this had to be some sort of cosmic joke.

Then she considered what Byron had said. Nymphs could be rather open about their sexual liaisons. They were the ones who helped keep the Lore connected to one another. Sharing random bits of information for a price.

And yes, they were nymphomaniacs, which meant they shared between each other all they knew about their partners, and...

Her eyebrows went up her forehead, the thought tickling her imagination. Hm. That had to have been enlightening.

"I'll bet you got eyefuls," Nїx smiled. "And perhaps earfuls?"

He shuddered. Was he big on audio stimulation? It made her pause and consider herself. No wonder he wouldn't like it when she screeched. He probably really liked hearing his name used by a woman.

She made her tone soft. "You had to have been needing and lusting a lot during all that time, Byron."

Another small twitch of his head and neck confirmed her hypothesis. Check that block. Most definitely, reaper's an audio fan.

"I was already lusting when I found y'all," he answered. "I learned to tune it out and keep it there. Go home and take care of myself if needs be."

Nїx glowered. He sounded like a man already accepting his doom, fighting his own natural lusts. "Reaper, why would you do that?"

He straightened his spine. New tension building up inside. Then he let it out with another deadened sigh.

"Nїx, if I outed myself, I'd be the newest target on the block. I had zero cred, no back-up." Byron finally looked back to her.

"Top it all off? I was trailing you," he pointed at her. "The homerun-slammer of the entire Lore this side, or Hell, any side, of the realms."

She felt herself getting a jolt of good feelings again. It was nice being complimented without having done anything for the male.

"I figured it best to keep my cravings to myself," Byron finished firmly.

The fact he had a very sound line of reasoning reinforcing his choice to go without love, or even sex, made her ache more. This youthful reaper didn't see life as merely life, he saw it as a campaign, a mission to complete.

He had direction already, but it was taking him off into the wilderness alone.

It's the wrong direction. I don't even need my sight to see that.

And with a body like his? Sure, he may not be the tallest guy, but he wasn't ugly or unattractive either. No, be honest, Nїxie. In fact, he was really, really damned cute. Lean, wiry, but handsome.

With what she saw and felt, he couldn't possibly turn himself into a monk, not with all that sensuality brimming under his skin.

It reminded Nїx too much of herself. But even she'd found a few here and there to enjoy release with. And back when she went through her transition?

I never could've made it without a little help.

Her mother always said she was a stubborn one, so she turned the conversation back to the nymphs, "Byron, you can tell the nymphs not to talk about you. They do have confidence codes, or they'll vow not to speak of your time with them."

Another pang passed through her, and she frowned. Why did the thought of him enjoying himself make her claws go sharp with irritation? Sure, some of the nymphs were a bit dull, but many were intelligent, witty, and fun to be around.

If anything, she enjoyed tweakingthem purely for the kick of it.

So why did the thought of Byron being with them make her feel like punching in their stomachs?

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