The Defiant Claim (The Claim: Book 2) LGBT

Chapter 21 - Mik (Part 2)

"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."