The Defiant Claim - The Claim: Book 2 [LGBTQ+]

“Come on in. Mik, is it?” the male asked as he stepped around the desk. He smiled warmly and reached out to shake Mik’s hand.

“Yeah,” Mik muttered, shaking his hand and shoving it back in his pocket.

“I’m Oshki. What can I do for ya?”

Mik shrugged. “I want it off. All off. Hair and beard.”

Oshki whistled. “Like, completely shaven off? Bald?”

Mik rubbed the back of his neck. “Not bald just… really short.”

“Like a crew cut? You want short or medium top? Tapering? Sideburns?”

Heaving a sigh, Mik admitted, “I don’t know. I haven’t had a haircut since I was a pup. I just… I want my hair short like my… my mate’s. He’s…” he hesitated, cringing as he gaged Oshki’s reaction, “He’s in a coma right now and… they shaved his head… I just… I don’t want him to feel…”

“Aw, that’s really sweet. I hear ya loud and clear. How long do ya want it?”

“Uh…” Mik lifted his hand and held his thumb and forefinger a little apart.

“So, about a quarter of an inch. No problem. Same size all around?”

“Ye-Yeah. Same as his.”

“Alright. Have a seat.” Oshki motioned to the chair on Mik’s right. After sitting down, a cape was wrapped around his neck and draped over his shoulders. Oshki turned him to face the mirror on the wall as he pumped the chair up higher. “And you want your beard shaved off too, right? Completely or did you want to leave a little?”

“Completely.”

“Wow. You’re going to look totally different when we’re done.”

Mik nodded. A clean slate. A new start. The way things should have been in the beginning… he hoped.

‘You can’t be serious,’ his father hissed in his left ear.

Clenching his jaw, Mik narrowed his eyes at his reflection in the mirror. Watch me.

After brushing out Mik’s hair, Oshki separated it into smaller parts with hair-ties close to the scalp. “Ready for the first cut?” Oshki asked.

“Yes.”

“Are you nervous?”

“No.”

“It’s okay if you are,” Oshki said as his scissors began to cut through the first tiny ponytail. “To many of us, hair is a statement of who you are.”

Cutting through the last bit of the first ponytail, Oshki twisted it around his fingers and tied a knot in the middle of it before holding it out to Mik. “Here. Give this to Sam when he wakes up.”

Confusion tugged on Mik’s brow as he looked at the lock of hair in Oshki’s hand. “You know about Sam?”

“Of course. I’m just down the hallway from the infirmary. I’ve seen him in passing. Nice male. I think it’s great he’s becoming a nurse. I was really sad when I heard what happened. I don’t know all the details—none of my business—but I’m glad he’s recovering.”

Mik reached out from under the cape and took the lock of hair. “Yeah, me too.” Slipping his hand back under the cape and onto his lap, he twisted the lock, wondering if Sam might find some value in it.

“Besides,” Oshki added as he turned back to Mik’s hair and began to cut the next strand, “it’s nice to meet another pair of same-sex mates. I’m rooting for you two.”

“What?” Mik pulled away and turned in his seat to gape at him.

“What?” Oshki repeated with less intonation. “You didn’t think you two were the only ones, did you?” He smirked. “Nah, there’s a pair of same-sex females up at the northern border too, but that’s it for our pack. We’re a rare breed. Now turn around and sit still.”

Grumbling under his breath, Mik turned around and glared at the male working behind him in the mirror. He didn’t utter another word as he mulled over this revelation while Oshki cut his hair. When every last strand was gone, he set the scissors down and plugged in a hand-held device that hummed when he turned it on.

“Surprised?” Oshki asked when he met Mik’s eyes in the mirror.

“You could say that.”

Oshki tilted Mik’s head down and pressed the humming device to his nape. “Hold still. You ticklish?”

“No.”

“Good. This might feel weird. Don’t make any sudden moves, or else I might nick ya.”

“I’ve experienced worse.”

“I bet you have, judging from all the scars I see on the back of your neck.”

“I deserved them.”

Silence fell as Oshki moved the buzzing device over the lower back of his skull. When he tilted Mik’s head back up, he watched the male work in the mirror as hair fell and evened out on his scalp. He still struggled to wrap his head around the fact that Oshki had a male mate as well and seemed fine about it. He seemed normal. Not a warrior-type of male, but not everyone could be. Mik understood that different kinds of wolves were needed for the making of a strong and healthy pack. Oshki was no exception.

“How does it feel to have a male mate?” Mik asked.

Oshki was focused on his work and didn’t even lift his head. “Is that what has you silent now?”

Mik tried to shrug it off. “I’m curious. I didn’t think it was this common.”

“I wouldn’t call it common, just a blessing the Goddess saw fit.”

“I didn’t ask for it.”

“Who does?” Oshki met his gaze in the mirror, prompting Mik to look away. “I wouldn’t trade my mate for anyone else in the world, even if he is male.”

“Did it come as a surprise?”

“Not for me. I think I already suspected it, but it was a shock for my mate. He fully anticipated his mate to be female and wasn’t happy when he found me.”

Like me. “So, what happened? If you don’t mind me asking.”

Oshki smirked. “Sound familiar to you?”

Mik grunted, twisting the lock of hair between his fingers on his lap and avoided looking in the mirror.

Oshki tilted his head back down and changed the blade on the end of the hand-held device before pressing it to his nape. “He gave me a chance. We fought a lot in the beginning—some mates are like that, whether they’re the same sex or not. Everyone has expectations and when their mates don’t meet those expectations, there’s friction.”

He angled Mik’s head to the right. “My mate struggled to communicate with me. Lucky for him, I’m patient and worked hard to help him flesh out his feelings. It’s all about communication. Every relationship needs good communication skills in order to grow and flourish. The matebond can’t do all the work, it’s just a little push and shove in the right direction.”

Shifting Mik’s head to the left, he said, “Let me guess… Your reaction was like my mate’s and Sam was more open and accepting to have a same-sex mate like me?”

“You’re correct in your assumptions.”

Oshki smirked. “I thought so. Doesn’t surprise me. Did you have a rough childhood too?”

Mik’s breath caught in his throat, his heart skipping a beat.

“Another point for me,” Oshki announced and chuckled lightly as he tilted Mik’s head back up.

He turned the trimmer off and set it down on the table in front of the mirror. He picked up a fluffy-looking brush and brushed it across Mik’s shoulders and neck. “Look, if you want some advice—and it seems you guys are already in a pickle with Sam in a coma as it is—you need to communicate better. You need to put equal effort into the relationship and not let it be one-sided.” He turned to meet Mik’s eyes in the mirror. “You get what I’m saying?”

Shame pressed down on Mik’s shoulders and chest. “Yeah.”

What he really wanted to ask were questions around mating and sex—but no way would he ask someone he just met questions like that, even if he was the only one Mik could ask such questions as another same-sex mate. He still didn’t want to think about Sam in that way and he didn’t know if he’d ever want to.

‘It’s unnatural,’ his father whispered in his ear again.

“So what do you think?” Oshki asked gesturing to Mik’s hair. “Is this what you wanted? I can go shorter if you want.”

He reached up and felt the bristles of his hair against his fingertips. Short and soft. He looked almost bald with the lightness of his color compared to Sam’s black hair. “It’s fine.”

Oshki snorted. “Typical male. Alright then,” he picked up a pair of scissors. “Let’s get to work on that beard.”

Mik wasn’t able to watch him shave his beard off as his head was tilted up toward the ceiling. But when his eyes were level with his reflection’s again, he didn’t recognize himself. He wondered if Sam would when he woke up.

Would Sam like these changes? Would he see how Mik was trying to start over and ease whatever shock Sam might have when he first glimpsed himself in the mirror with his shaved head?

Would Sam give him a chance even though he didn’t deserve it?