Origin (Scales 'N' Spells Book 1)

by AJ Sherwood

  Baldewin completed the introduction with a wave of the hand. “Cameron, Gunter. He’s our researcher. He collaborates with the mages to help them study magical elements and trace mage bloodlines. He also spends far too much time in this room.”

  With a sniff and a pointed look, Gunter ignored him. “Welcome, Cameron. I’ve meant to go up and meet you, ask if I could take some blood samples.”

  Baldewin sighed. “Will you please act like a normal person for once?”

  Cameron was a little alarmed with a person demanding blood samples on first acquaintanceship, but he had to admit he was curious as to why. “For what?”

  “My purpose is two-fold.” Gunter came around his desk, revealing comfortable, worn-in jeans and a hoodie that had seen better days. An ink-splattered hoodie, no less. Had he strangled a pen to death? “One, if we have a blood sample on file for you, our mages can do spells targeted at you. Like seeking spells. Even if you’re taken, we can track you.”

  Considering what had almost happened, that seemed a very reasonable precaution. “Okay, so what’s the second reason?”

  “I’m still attempting to divine what it is about the mage bloodlines that is so predominantly female. Did anyone tell you that most mages are women? Yes? Oh good, that simplifies matters. We truly do not know why. It’s not a bad thing, we dragons don’t care as much about gender, but it’s a fascinating question, don’t you think? I really want to understand if there’s a genetic factor we’re possibly overlooking. The trouble is, I only know of two or three living male mages. I don’t have enough data to go off of.”

  Cameron felt himself warming a little to Gunter. He, too, liked a good intellectual puzzle to sink his teeth into. “I actually came down here to ask you about this very thing.”

  “Did you really?” Gunter perked up visibly, a hopeful smile tugging his mouth up.

  “I did, yeah. And I wanted to talk to you about the whole child-birth thing too. Since I’m a male mage, doesn’t that make it complicated for whatever dragon chooses me?”

  “Hmm, not in the way you mean it. It’s true we’re all a little baby crazy in a way, not having had children in ages. Dragons only go into heat once every hundred years or so.” Gunter made a face. “And our mages, they don’t always match up to that heat well, so getting pregnant is very hit and miss. We’ve had only a few children since the Dragon War ended for that reason. Is that your question?”

  “Partially. But how do same-sex couples have a child?”

  “We have the magical version of an incubator. It’s a rather complex spell, takes a dozen mages to keep it activated and sustained for the full nine months.” Gunter made a face. “Another reason why we couldn’t use it, as we currently only have six mages. We’ve attempted to modify the incubator, but it’s complex magic and not easily tampered with.”

  “I can imagine it would be, if you’re basically trying to grow a child.” It was all fascinating and Cameron definitely wanted to ask more questions about this. He had a feeling Gunter might know most of the answers, despite not being a mage himself. If they married technology with magic, would it be easier? More feasible?

  Gunter’s eyebrows rose hopefully. “Being that you’re one of the few male mages I’ve seen, do you mind if I take a blood sample?”

  “Not at all,” Cameron assured him. “But I want to ask you questions, too.”

  “Of course, of course, I’d be happy to discuss it. And I have many questions about the Noh Clan.” Gunter almost skipped to a drawer, pulling out needles and vials like a vampire looking forward to a feast. “Here, take a seat.”

  Following Cameron to the barstool, Baldewin warned Gunter in a firm tone, “Don’t take too much.”

  Gunter looked up from his prep work and frowned at Baldewin as if the man had suddenly spoken in a foreign language. “Too much?”

  Cameron found himself glad Baldewin was here.

  Alric could feel the smile forming on his lips as Cameron’s excited voice echoed down the hall. The young mage had been living in the castle for only a week and a half, but Alric swore it had been longer. Every time he saw Cameron around the castle, he was chatting with a different dragon or he was working with Lisette on his spells.

  Sadly, Alric had taken to spending more time in his office. It was easier than watching Cameron with other dragons, his heart painfully pounding at the thought of this dragon proving to be Cameron’s mate. His own dragon wanted to snatch Cameron up and tuck him away in Alric’s secret room with his hoard. There the mage would finally be safe away from this threat as well as other dragons.

  Not healthy thinking.

  Alric needed to do what was best for his people. He needed to think of Cameron’s needs first and not his own.

  But even with that in mind, he still found himself cherishing each of Cameron’s visits. Every day, Cameron sought him out. Sometimes it was only for a few minutes before Cameron had a lesson with Lisette, or Alric had a meeting, but other times they were able to steal hours. It didn’t matter the length of time. Alric only wanted to see Cameron’s smile, hear his laughter.

  He’d also found himself indulging in Cameron’s morning visits. The young mage insisted on being the one to put oil on Alric every morning. After that first surprising morning, Alric found he could handle himself a little better. Marginally. Alright, it was a lie, but he at least hadn’t lost all control in front of Cameron. And he should probably put a stop to it, but…he didn’t want to.

  A beautiful younger man wanted to touch Alric and tease, and dammit, Alric enjoyed the attention. Why not indulge? And really, it became clearer by the day that Cameron wanted Alric. It seemed, oddly, as if only Alric held his regards.

  Alric didn’t understand that, not really. His clan had many beautiful, amazing people in it. He’d been sure once Cameron had met them, his attention would shift from Alric and onto someone else. But it strangely hadn’t happened, and that fed Alric’s hope. Was it possible Cameron’s flirtations were sincere? That he really was that interested?

  Alric kicked back in his favorite chair with a sigh, letting his legs stretch out in front of him. For a moment, he let himself indulge in the idea of asking Cameron out on a date. A proper date, with all that entailed. It was all too blissful even in his head. Was it wise to do so? Alric feared not only rejection but in making things awkward. If their dating went poorly, then wouldn’t Cameron hesitate in staying here? In accepting a position in the clan?

  The concern was valid and yet…and yet.

  He sighed again, sinking a little further into the chair. It had been something of a long day, and these worries didn’t help any. Alric mentally set them aside and focused on simple pleasures instead. He was glad to finally sit and put his feet up. Of course, as soon as he settled, he started longing for a drink. Alric eyed the sidebar on the opposite side of the room, debating with himself. How badly did he want that drink? Was it worth the effort of moving?

  The door to the lounge opened, and Baldewin stepped through. He’d shed the official suit at some point and was back in his usual form-fitting shirt and jeans. He paused upon spying Alric, brows quirked behind his glasses. “What?”

  “You’re up.” Alric smiled mischievously. “Perfect. You can fetch me a drink.”

  “I’m up, saving you the trouble from getting up, so I can fetch you a drink? I see several flaws with that logic.”

  “You’re going to pour yourself a drink anyway,” Alric pointed out oh-so-reasonably.

  “I was actually going to mix myself a drink.” Baldewin eyed him back in challenge.

  Alric’s face immediately fell. “No, why? Why would you torment yourself that way? Wait for Ravi, he can mix you a drink.”

  Baldewin rolled his eyes expressively. “Alric, I can mix my own drinks—”

  “May I remind you of the time you tried to make a White Russian, only instead of coffee liqueur you put in brandy—”

  “—that was an honest mistake, I was distracted by the game going on—”


  “—and then when you realized it didn’t taste right, you put in wine to fix it?”

  “Again,” Baldewin said with a sigh, “distracted by the game.”

  “You mixed vodka, brandy, wine, and cream together. It was vile. And chunky. The worst thing you’ve ever handed me.” Alric had tasted it to help him figure out why it hadn’t come out right, sure, but still. “And the whole time, you were trying to blame Ravi for not telling you how to mix it right.”

  The other door into the lounge opened at that moment and Ravi popped in. “I heard my name. What did I do this time?”

  Alric tilted his head to see over the back of the chair. “I was reminding him of the White Russian disaster.”

  “Oh god, that was vile,” Ravi agreed promptly, expressive face screwing up as if just the memory made him gag. “Baldewin, no mixing drinks for you.”

  Baldewin sighed, defeated, and lifted both hands in surrender. “Fine. Then come mix me one. Alric, come get your own drink.”

  Alric groaned in protest and settled more firmly into his chair. That held no appeal whatsoever. It was actually game night, their weekly night for playing a campaign of Dungeons and Dragons, but he wasn’t sure if he had the mental energy to play.

  “Why are you standing over my shoulder?” Ravi prodded at Baldewin with an elbow to his ribs even as he reached for two glasses.

  “I want to see how you do it. You never give me good measurements to go by. I don’t know how much to put in.”

  “You put in stuff until your ancestors lean in to whisper against your ear, That’s enough.”

  “That’s not helpful.”

  “It is not my job to be helpful.” Ravi’s hands flew as he poured from different bottles, mixing drinks like he’d been a bartender in a previous incarnation. “Alric? What do you want?”

  “Brandy, straight.”

  “You are so boring. I bet your safeword is vanilla.”

  Alric snorted and refused to be baited. “I’ve had too many complications recently. I want something simple tonight.”

  Handing Baldewin his drink, Ravi shot him an intrigued look over his shoulder. “Ooh, are we talking about Cameron already? I thought I’d have to get you drunk first.”

  Alric suddenly felt the distinct lack of a drink in his hand. This impending conversation called strongly for the haze of alcohol. “How did we jump from complications to Cameron?”

  For some reason, both dragons gave him this doubtful look, then turned to each other.

  “I can’t figure out if he’s playing dense or if he actually thinks he’s fooling us,” Ravi noted to Baldewin before taking a sip from his own concoction.

  “He might think he’s fooling us. I’m not sure why; he’s never really had that good of a poker face.” Baldewin sipped at his own drink and sighed. “You really are good at mixing drinks.”

  “Of course I am. I get lots of practice in this group. Even Gunter treats mixing drinks like it’s a chemistry experiment.”

  “I heard that!” Gunter called from the hallway. He entered the room a second later, looking like he’d just left the scene of a murder. His greyish hoodie was spattered with vibrant red, especially around the sleeves.

  Alric looked him over in concern. “Do I need to go find the body?”

  Gunter blinked at him, expression perfectly blank. “What? No, of course I cleaned up after myself.”

  Being the patient one, Baldewin redirected him again. “What happened?”

  “Oh, I had a dye bag slip out of my hands. Hit the table and burst.”

  So not a dead body. Alric was relieved. You never quite knew with Gunter.

  Waving this off as unimportant, Gunter zeroed in for the bar. “Why were you talking about me? And where’s my drink?”

  “We weren’t talking about you, we were talking about Alric’s crush on Cameron,” Ravi denied, turning back to the bar. “And what do you want?”

  Feeling like this conversation was spiraling in a direction Alric very much did not want it to go, he tried to nip it in the bud. “I don’t have a crush on Cameron. Why would you say that?”

  All three men looked at him with such open disbelief Alric squirmed under it all.

  In an overly patient manner, Baldewin turned to Gunter and inquired genially, “Did you observe that our king has a massive crush the size of Jupiter for our new mage?”

  Gunter responded in the same manner, like a lord replying at some grand function, “I did, good sir. I daresay you could see his crush from space.”

  Ravi jerked a thumb at Gunter. “Even Gunter noticed!”

  “Excuse me, I’m not that oblivious.” Gunter frowned at him, affronted.

  Ignoring him, Ravi brought Alric’s drink to him in his usual smooth, cat-like stride. “Alric, you are fooling precisely no one. Why are you even denying it? I mean, seriously, it’s not like this is forbidden. And Cameron is obviously interested.”

  Alric accepted the drink, but he couldn’t seem to meet his friends’ eyes. There was no fooling these three. Alric wasn’t even sure why he tried, except that he didn’t really want to discuss this. Not even with these men, who were as close to him as brothers. “After so many years of looking for a mage, with so many of us wishing for a mate, I can’t selfishly monopolize him.”

  “Oh, Alric,” Baldewin sighed, sounding pained. “Is that really it? That’s why you’re trying to put a lid on this?”

  He had nothing to say to that. Alric sipped at his drink and avoided looking up past the rim of his glass.

  Ravi blew out a noisy breath. “I want to hit him. Can I hit him?”

  “No, Ravi,” Baldewin said, although even he sounded tempted to do so himself.

  “But it would make me feel better,” Ravi grumbled. “Okay, let me spell this out for you, you stubborn dragon. Cameron isn’t interested in us.”

  Alric’s head snapped back up. He stared at Ravi carefully, studying every whit of his expression. “But I’ve heard him compliment several of you. You especially, Baldewin.”

  “I talked with Cameron about that. It turns out that your mage—”

  He gave Baldewin quite the glare for that description as Cameron was most decidedly not his.

  “—firmly believes people don’t compliment each other enough. He thinks it’s not healthy. He takes every opportunity to boost people’s self-esteem and compliment them when he can. And before you get it into your head that he compliments you for that reason—”

  Surely Alric wasn’t that predictable. Well, alright, maybe he was.

  “—he told me flat out he finds you incredibly attractive. Sex on legs, I think was his turn of phrase.”

  Those words were like quicksilver in his ears. Alric dearly loved hearing them. If it was anyone but Baldewin telling him this, he’d demand verification, or to know the other man wasn’t teasing. But Baldewin clearly wasn’t teasing. Oh god, he wasn’t teasing. Did Cameron really think of him that way? So, the massage oil treatments were sincere? It wasn’t Cameron teasing him?

  The click of a camera shutter sounded, and his head snapped around to see Ravi had his phone pointed at him.

  “Look at that face,” Ravi cackled. “You’re so obvious.”

  Alric’s eyes cut to him. “I sense a beheading in your near future.”

  “Meh, I’ll take my chances. Cameron complained to me that you keep giving him mixed signals—he’s not sure how to take your reactions.”

  Alric squirmed a little hearing that. He hadn’t meant to do that at all. It was his own instincts warring that made him react so.

  “But do you get what we’re trying to tell you? It’s all well and fine for you to try and shuffle off to the side, give us all a shot at courting Cameron, but it’s not going to work if Cameron isn’t interested. And he’s clearly not interested. I mean, don’t get me wrong, he’s super fun to hang out with. And he likes talking with all of us, and getting to know us—he’s really into that.”

  “It’s quite fun,” Gunter
agreed as he took the chair next to Alric’s, sipping at his drink. “He asks questions that force me to think outside of the box. I’ve rarely had the privilege of speaking to someone as intelligent as he is. And he is attractive—we all acknowledge that. But I, for one, am not interested in him.”

  Alric regarded him in frank confusion. How could anyone not be interested in Cameron? It boggled his mind. “Truly?”

  “I think most of the clan feels that way.” Baldewin dropped onto the three-seater couch nearby and stretched out comfortably with a sigh. “We all like him, we’re incredibly happy to have him with us, but we have no intention of dating him. Alric, be frank. At least with us. Do you want him?”

  It felt strange, admitting something out loud that Alric could barely admit to inside of his own head. “I do.”

  Ravi closed in on him, hugging him around his head and shoulders. “Look at you, being so cutely honest.”

  Alric pushed him off with a huff. “Will you stop?”

  Knuckling an imaginary tear from his eye, Ravi played to the crowd. “Isn’t he just the cutest like this?”

  “I’m not going to try and save you when he finally gets around to beheading you,” Gunter told him, unconcerned. “But Alric, I’m glad to hear you can admit to that. Maybe do more than just acknowledge it?”

  “In other words,” Ravi interpreted with a winsome smile, “make a damn move.”

  Alric would neither confirm nor deny he sometimes used his nose to keep track of Cameron. Just when he was nearby. For safety reasons. He knew Cameron was close before he heard his voice in the hallway outside of his study. His dragon indulged in the scent of him, like a storm on the verge of sweeping through, mixed in with the citrus of his shampoo and soaps.

  Really, Alric’s own reaction was a dead giveaway. Look at him now, how he’d paused in mid-motion to focus on Cameron. And the man wasn’t even in the room. Was it any wonder his friends had all prodded him and urged him to get his head out of his own ass?