For the Sake of Peace

Part Four: One Very Pissed-off Husband and Another Threatening Encounter

He wakes up the next night curled up around Raze and that does nothing for his mood. Untangling himself from the dark-skinned man, he heads to the bathroom not really caring if he wakes Raze up. “Are you going to freak out EVERYTIME you wake up against me?” Raze asks.

“Yes,” Soren retorts.

“Then at least make an effort not to curl into me!”

That stops Soren. “I’ve been curling into you?” he asks.

“Yes, EVERY NIGHT! I stay on the other side of the bed and somehow you end up curled into my side,” Raze responds.

Soren sighs. “Then I’m sorry…I’ll do better.”

“I never said I minded. YOU are the one who seems to have a problem with it and I just wanted to tell you why it kept happening.”

“Why thank you…I just needed to know that I enjoy cuddling into you!”

“Do you have to be so snappish all the time? The last time I checked, I was the Lycan here.”

“Yes…you are…now leave me alone.”

“Would you try to talk to me? We’ve been married two days and you are already being difficult.”

“I don’t have to answer to you!” Soren snarls, “and in any event, you should just go and get Lucian to find another way to ease the hatred from this feud because I’ve had enough!”

“Unfortunately, we don’t have a choice in this matter,” Raze tells him still completely calm and collected. For some reason this only fuels Soren’s rage further.

“Oh so you’re just going to take this lying down? I guess you really are used to be treated like a slave…like you don’t matter!”

His words finally get a reaction from Raze. “EXCUSE me? Where do you get off saying that? Just because I can accept this more easily than you doesn’t mean I have a servant complex; it means that I put others before myself! I am not selfish by nature, Soren, I never have been! Don’t you DARE insinuate things about me before you know the truth!”

“Oh yes, so self-sacrificing! Do us all a favor and quite with the martyr drivel; it’s annoying! Face it; you don’t know any other way than to submitting to whatever Lucian says!”

He’s not prepared to be slammed against the wall by Raze. Stunned, he stares at the infuriated Lycan before him and starts to fear for his life. “Don’t. You. Ever. Take. That. Tone. With. Me.” He snarls his eyes an iridescent blue showing his closeness to transforming. Soren is completely silent so great is his surprise and fear. Raze releases him and he slumps down onto the floor in time to see the dark-skinned male storm from the room. Trembling, Soren struggles to stand up but gives up after a few failed attempts. He hadn’t meant to anger Raze that deeply…his emotions had been completely out of control though that was no excuse to enrage his husband.

An hour passes before he can get onto his feet and he slowly makes his way down towards the first floor. Maybe he could find Raze and apologize for his unnecessary behavior. He only wonders if he’d spend the rest of his marriage apologizing to the larger male.

However, as he reaches the landing, he finds he has more to worry about than Raze. Kraven looks at him. “What the HELL did you say that had Raze storming out of here looking like he was going to kill something?” the blue-eyed vampire demands.

“We had a fight,” Soren answers, “It really isn’t any of your business.”

“You’d best get your act together, Soren. I won’t be so forgiving with your next transgression…and may I add that if you push him far enough, he has the right to use sex to keep you in line.”

Soren stares at him uncomprehendingly. “What are you talking about?”

“You’re Raze’s submissive lover, Soren, that gives him the right to utilize sex as a punishment…don’t make him hurt you.”

For a moment, Soren is stunned…then he’s horrified…then angry. His eyes narrow in rage. “If he dares try that I will kill him,” he snarls.

“It’s his right, Soren. Just don’t make it come down to that,” Kraven tells him.

Fuming, Soren storms across the foyer and out the door. He would find that arrogant son of a bitch and punch him…hard even though he knows that he really has no reason to do so to him. His emotions have been riled up since this whole thing started and he is not about to deal with it anymore. He manages to find Raze a few miles away. “You have SOME nerve!” he snaps.

“I have some nerve? YOU’RE the one who can’t be civil for two minutes!” Raze responds.

“Oh yes and that is a definite reason to slam someone against a wall! Why don’t you take anger management classes you bastard!”

“You’re lucky I only slammed you into that wall! There are so many other things I could have done!”

“Oh yes, because you’d love to cross the line and rape me wouldn’t you!”

Raze’s eyes narrow. “I suggest you watch your tone, Soren.”

“You know what, I DON’T answer to you!” he fires back, “In fact, you are so low down the totem pole, you’re probably sitting on your ass on the ground!”

Raze moves closer to him and for once, Soren is taken aback by the sheer size of his husband. When angry, Raze was a definite force to be reckoned with. However, Soren is too angry to see the danger in his continued defiance. “You are invading my personal space,” he comments irritably.

“Oh, I am going to be doing more than just invading your personal space, Soren,” Raze tells him before shoving him backwards. Soren loses his footing and ends up flat on his back. He goes to get up but is stopped by Raze. “Uh uh, you are going NO WHERE until I say you can.”

“Let me up this INSTANT!” Soren snarls.

“No,” Raze tells him.

“Lycan if you do not let me up this instant I will…” He never gets to finish his statement as Raze’s lips press against his in a bruising kiss. Soren is startled into silence and when Raze pulls back, he doesn’t dare move.

“Well, I see you learn quickly enough,” Raze murmurs before slowly standing up, “Try to remember this, would you? I’d hate to have to do this again…”

Soren doesn’t answer nor does he get up until Raze leaves. “Bastard,” he mutters, “Utter bastard…I can’t believe I’m married to him!” He stands up and brushes himself off still angry about the whole situation. Kraven and Lucian were going to hear about this…that was for sure.

He wanders farther down trying to calm down. The more sensible part of him knows that he’d be better off if he tried to get along with his husband, they both were in the same boat after all, but his pride is too wounded and he doesn’t like feeling trapped, he never had. He wasn’t going to be Raze’s bitch that was for sure. He’d hurt the man if he thought he was going to submit.

His feet take him across town and he wanders down the streets. It was aggravating that they expected them to be a happy couple. ‘Some honeymoon, I can’t wait to get back to the mansion…things will get positively ugly,’ he thinks kicking an old soda can. He isn’t paying attention until it hits something that sounds suspiciously like a shoe. He looks up and sees a male watching him. “Let me guess, you’re a Lycan,” he comments.

“How’d ya guess?” the male asks.

“Hmm…you have straggly hair and no fashion sense…it wasn’t too difficult,” Soren comments looking him up and down derisively, “Have you ever heard of a bath?”

“Don’t patronize me, blood,” the Lycan warns in a soft-threatening tone, “You don’t have much of a reputation with us…We ain’t happy that Raze is married to the likes of you.”

Soren knows the risks in pushing his luck but he can’t help it. “Oh, so you’re jealous are you? Well, I would hope his tastes would include someone who couldn’t be mistaken for a dumpster by the smell!”

The man’s eyes narrow and he stalks towards him. Soren squares his shoulders. “You know what, vampire, at least I can accept what he is!”

“Well, if you’re into sex with a wolf, good for you!”

“You are an IDIOT, vampire!”

“No, I’m just not into beastiality!”

The Lycan moves and once again, Soren finds himself slammed into a wall. However, this time, he feels a bit more scared of. “You are the biggest bastard I have ever met, Blood. You’d better listen and listen good because I am NOT going to repeat myself. I don’t want you anywhere near Raze, but unfortunately, you have to be so you’d best do your damnedest to make him happy or I will hunt you down and make your life miserable!”

Soren’s expression becomes bitter. “Make MY life miserable? I don’t think that’s possible. Release me now, cur, or I’ll make a fur rug out of you!”

The Lycan laughs. “I’d like to see you try…you’re the one pinned to a wall!”

Soren’s eyes narrow and he brings his knee up hitting the one place he knows will make the Lycan release him. It works and the Lycan sinks down with a pained groan. “Don’t ever threaten me, wolf, I don’t take well to it,” he spits before he turns and starts back the way he came. Unfortunately, he doesn’t expect the Lycan to have friends…a mistake that he regrets as he gets punched hard in the face sending him to the ground with a bloody lip. He struggles onto his knees and looks up, his eyes dilated and fangs bared.

“Aww…did that hurt?” the male sneers mere seconds before his foot connects with the same area Soren had kneed the other Lycan. He curls over in agony. The idiot was wearing steel-toed boots! Laughing, the Lycan walks over to help his friend up. As he walks back passed him, he says, “You’d best take his threat seriously, blood. We WILL make your life miserable if you don’t make Raze happy.”

Soren waits until he knows they are gone before struggling up onto his feet. He winces and wonders if he’d have a bruise by morning from the force of the idiot’s kick mixed with the fact that it was a steel-toed boot. He limps back to the hotel not looking forward to explaining this injury.

He walks into the foyer of the hotel and heads directly for the room without pausing to see if anyone was actually there. He opens the door and stumbles into the room before slowly making his way to the bed. He kicks off his shoes before slipping out of his leather pants, hissing as he pushes it down his hips. He slips off his shirt before sliding under the blankets and trying to ignore the throbbing pain. A few minutes later, Raze exits the bathroom…which surprisingly has a door again. Soren, not wanting to deal with his husband, rolls onto his side and bites back the cry of pain. Raze takes the hint and doesn’t say a word to him and merely lies down before falling asleep shortly after. Sleep is long in coming for Soren.