“Teal and black get out of our way! Team Rafe is gonna win,” the opposing cheerers yelled, executing a few jumps that weren’t anywhere close to being in sync. Aleksander supposed that was forgivable, considering the impromptu afternoon activities. Dra’Kaedan had provided magical outfits for all six people who were hollering over each other; and Team Rafe, which included Kitchi, Evergreen, and Victor, had insisted on skirts even shorter than the ladies.
“I’m getting a headache,” Drystan complained while his other half ran from second to third base. Madeline rolled the ball to Chieftain-mate Aristos Valzadari-Centaurus, and the shifter kicked it with enough force that it barreled out to center field, where it was scooped up by Noirin. She threw it to Venerable Knight Arvandus Ruarc-Daray, who caught it seconds before Aris got to first base.
“Out!” Lich Reaper Grymington Daray yelled. “That’s three, switch sides.”
“There goes Chand out in left field as usual,” Baxter hollered as the Arch Lich jogged to his assigned spot in the outfield.
“No taunting from the crowd, or I put you in an impenetrable black bubble,” Chander retorted after he was in position.
Grymington blew his skull whistle, and Dra’Kaedan bounced the ball toward Pyxlevir, who was adorable in his sneakers paired with his traditional elven wear. The elf kicked it and raced to first base with a grin on his face. Tiri was up next and, unfortunately for him, his efforts resulted in a perfect catch from Scheredin, giving them their first out. It was the last inning, and Rafe’s team was up by two runs, but teenage sprite Caelmyron was up next. Thus far he’d accounted for two points, and his turn resulted in Pyxlevir making it to third.
Arvandus earned the second out when Chieftess-mate Klodjana Tisidal-D’Vaire threw the ball to Conley, who tagged him, keeping the Venerable Knight from reaching the base. Praxis managed a single, sending Pyxlevir home, which tightened the score considerably. In response, the cheerleaders on both sides yelled louder, and their cheers weren’t improving.
“I’m going to need more beer,” Alaric complained.
Noirin’s stance was all business as she readied to kick and when she did, it flew up and landed smack between Rafe’s outstretched arms.
“Out! Team Rafe wins,” Grymington yelled. “Great job everybody!”
There was a celebration in the middle of the “field” but instead of it being the nine people who’d won, it included both teams. Clearly the game had been a success, and Aleksander was happy everyone was enjoying themselves.
“Can we keep our outfits on?” Evergreen asked, preening in his tiny black and blue skirt.
“Sure,” Dra’Kaedan responded once he left the mass of players high-fiving each other.
Mortis loped to the deck and leaned heavily against Aleksander’s chair. “Have fun?” he asked the wolf, rubbing his head.
The almost dragon he loved headed toward him with a grin. “Hey,” Rafe said, stealing Aleksander’s beer and drinking heavily from it.
“Next time, we need to get you a water boy or girl. Nice job by the way,” Aleksander told his mate, pulling him onto his lap. Rafe stiffened, and Aleksander draped an arm across his thighs. “You okay?”
“We’ve never sat like this before,” Rafe whispered, relaxing against him.
“If it bothers you, I can scoot and you can sit next to me.”
“I kinda like it.” Rafe kissed his earlobe. “Nobody’s going to think it’s weird?”
“Nope.”
“You should’ve played with us, it was fun.”
“I will when you play again, but I liked watching you guys too.”
Evergreen joined them while Aleksander was nuzzling Rafe’s neck as his mate finished off his drink. The friendly hybrid offered them both fresh bottles of opened beers. “You guys look so good together. Congratulations again.” Evergreen carefully arranged his skirt from the arm of the chair, where Chander was sprawled over Alaric. “Everyone kept telling me that you weren’t gay, Aleksander, but my radar was pinging wildly.”
“Mine didn’t,” Chander interjected.
Evergreen pursed his lips at the Arch Lich. “Please, what would you know about men? You had your face shoved in a book and not only missed out sleeping with the incredibly gorgeous Killian the Dwyer but nearly lost your mate forever. You, girl, are no expert on the subject.”
“Let’s be honest, did anyone besides Evergreen suspect it?” Chander called out and much to Aleksander’s chagrin, every person outside—which was essentially all the people in the world he cared about—turned to stare at him. This was exactly why he wound up blushing every time Evergreen was around; the man unintentionally made a spectacle of him. But Aleksander wasn’t going to allow himself to feel discomfited. Rafe was on his lap, and life really didn’t get better than when he was near. It didn’t hurt that he still had his head nestled in the crook of Aleksander’s neck and had one strong hand wrapped around his forearm where it rested on Rafe’s legs. Everywhere they touched was a source of joy.
“Does strong wondering if he was somehow gay count?” Renny asked.
“Brogan should’ve guessed,” Dre’Kariston told his twin’s mate. “You were his best friend and the person closest to him for the longest.”
“I’m not a damn mind reader,” Brogan snapped with a glare for Aleksander.
“Stop giving him that look; he can keep any secret he wants.”
On or around the deck area, arguing ensued about what mysteries might be lurking in Aleksander’s past and everyone else’s, but he didn’t participate in the conversation. Kissing Rafe’s head, Aleksander mourned the fact that he was going to have to move soon so they could attend a Sorcery D’Vaire meeting, when Pyxlevir came over.
“I can’t wait to have another stuffed dragon to keep Alek company,” Pyxlevir said. The kid had a collection of pals he took with him nearly everywhere he went, including one in Aleksander’s scales. “Once you get your dragonskin, I’m going to name him after you. I decided he’s going to be Raf.”
“If I manage to get my beast back, I’ll make sure you get first dibs on my shedded skin, okay?” Rafe replied.
Pyxlevir grinned. “Thanks, Rafe.”
Aleksander’s other half got up to give the small elf a hug and Aleksander stood, as did the other members of their group that met every Saturday, and headed for the building where their boardroom and library was housed. Rafe fell into step behind him, and they went inside and up the three flights of stairs. Once in the large space, it didn’t take much time for people to get seated, and the High Kings were no exception.
Pulling his chair a little closer to the table and Rafe, Aleksander started the meeting. “This is our first sit-down since you guys healed Rafe, so I wanted to start this afternoon by thanking you. He and I have this second chance because of your hard work.”
“Could I just say something?” Rafe asked.
“Mr. President, you and Aleksander are in charge,” Renny reminded him gently. “You can talk whenever you want.”
“Okay, well, I just wanted to add to what Sander said. I don’t think it was any secret that I didn’t want anything to do with healing. It wasn’t that I thought you guys weren’t incredible, I was really fucked up, and I didn’t think I’d be able to handle magic to fix any damn thing. I was convinced that I would have to wait to be rebirthed by Fate for my chance to be with Sander. Thanks to you guys, neither one of us has to wait. I’ll be indebted to you for eternity. I get to be with Sander because of your hard work so, yeah, there’s no way I can adequately show my gratitude.”
“Honey, Fate gave you Aleksander along with the power in this room. You owe us nothing,” Saura told him. “We were so happy that we could help you. Personally, I was honored that you trusted us enough to take you into an operating room and try. And while I have the opportunity, I have to say, you two look damn good together.”
“My only complaint is that I have a house full of sentinels bitching because they believed at some point they were going
to get a wolf,” Alaric drawled. “There were fights over who would get to be with Mortis most.”
“And before anyone asks, I’m not filling the whole condo with animals despite the number of times it’s been suggested. Grymmie has a dog. There’s a pet in the house they can love on whenever the mood hits; they don’t need everything they see,” Chander griped. “For Fate’s sake, for grown men they act like children whining about things they can’t have.”
“I’d offer to give them Mortis, but I’m mean, and I plan on keeping him with me,” Rafe responded.
“If I hadn’t tied him to your soul, those idiots would probably try to coerce him away from you since their honor prevents them from outright stealing,” Chander complained. “But let’s not worry about spoiled sentinels. We’ve got you healed, which is a great relief. Let’s discuss our next projects.”
“Rafe, what do you consider the more important of the two?” Aleksander asked.
“I don’t even know what the two are.”
“Our current goals include doing what we can to assist you in reuniting with your dragon and to come up with either a treatment or cure for magic intolerance.”
Rafe’s cheeks went bright red. “Um…I’m working with Jeremiah. He calls me every day and while I don’t feel my dragon yet, I’m doing the relaxation stuff. So maybe we just focus on the intolerance? I mean, that could help other people too, right?”
“Absolutely, I already market things through my brother’s company, and Sorcery D’Vaire should have the chance to do the same,” Grigori said. His older sibling ran a conglomerate called Umpyr that handled various aspects of business, including the manufacturing of the solutions Grigori created in his lab.
“All right, any clue how to get started?” Aleksander asked.
“Well, let’s start with Rafe’s intolerance. We now have samples of his blood and have been using the simulators to definitively test how he reacts to different magic,” Vadimas commented. “He’s most sensitive to druidic magic for reasons not yet understood. Necromantic spells have little impact on his system, which may be because his soul is tied to Mortis. When it comes to warlock and wizard, the reaction is somewhere in between druidic and necromantic, depending on who is casting. The dark sorcerers had more success than their light or even neutral counterparts. And as we already know, his reaction was smaller to darkfallen, and I can safely tell you that without Saura and T’Eirick, we might not have figured out a winning strategy to cure him in a timely enough manner to save him.”
“We also did tests with the Cwylld stones versus if we’d allowed him to recuperate without them, and it would’ve taken him ten times as long to lose the swelling if Cadlyr hadn’t so kindly allowed us to use them,” Severin added.
“Over the past two centuries, since shifters joined the Council, people have speculated that we’re actually magickind. That the very act of going from man to beast is proof of sorcery, whether it be at a cellular or soul level. If that’s true, is there a long-term impact of stunting any chance Rafe has of regaining his beast by repeatedly exposing him to the Cwylld stones?” Mac asked.
“Damn, we should’ve taken a sample of Aleksander’s blood before and after he was exposed to the stones,” Delaney groused.
“There’s no reason we can’t shave off some dust and put it right in a sample of his blood now. We can keep it in a copper box and feed the data into the simulator. That way we can prove or disprove the theory that magic is involved or if shifters are correct in referring to it as a simple gift from Fate,” Vadimas stated. “I’m sure you won’t mind, Aleksander? We can do the same with a sample from every shifter in the family.”
“Especially Aris and the other centaurs,” Mac responded. “Unlike dragons, they’re immortal. I’d think they would have a greater potential for being magical in any respect.”
“Good point,” Idris told his mate.
“Give me some dust. I want to experiment with some stuff,” Killian requested.
“I’d like some too,” Grigori said. “I think I’m going to start by coming up with a synthetic version. There aren’t that many to go around, and we may need a larger source.”
“If you think that’s possible, perhaps we start there instead of grinding up all of Cadlyr’s legacy,” Chander remarked.
“Meanwhile, the rest of us need to brainstorm what other avenues exist beyond the Cwylld stones or ideas of how we can greater utilize the synthetic version. If we want to mass-produce this, we’re definitely going to need that,” Dra’Kaedan supplied.
“Is this a potion, spell, plant or what that we’re going to use?” Dravyn asked.
“Good question, I guess we’ll find out,” T’Eirick responded.
Chapter 54
Rafe finished a short jog with Mortis and dropped onto one of the chaises on the deck. Chugging water, he couldn’t believe how much his lungs burned. There wasn’t even enough ground covered to get me sweating, he thought with chagrin. Missing a dragon and having spent more than a year without much exercise beyond his physical therapy, he was woefully out of shape. It was going to take time to build muscle or have any stamina. Grinning around the mouth of the bottle, Rafe mused that at least it didn’t hurt his endurance at night with Aleksander. Neither one of them liked a quick romp, and they often spent hours either making out or exploring Aleksander’s favorite pastime of running his hands over every inch of Rafe.
“Rafe smile.”
“Yep, I was just thinking about Sander.”
Mortis bumped his muzzle against Rafe’s hands to get him to pet him, which he did automatically. “Happy with Aleksander?”
“Hell, yeah. You know, this weekend was fun with everyone around, wasn’t it?”
“Cat with bow tie scary.”
“How in the world can you be afraid of Severin’s familiar? He’s not only nice, Emrys has a bow tie. Come on, isn’t that the coolest thing?”
“No.”
“Think of him like the little dragons. You like those guys. I saw you giving Myrddin a ride like a pony.”
“Dragons nice.”
“So is Emrys.”
“No. People nice that visit.”
“Yeah, they were certainly loving on you. I had a great time. It’s incredible to be around so many happy couples too. Made me think about Sander. We’re mated but he never got to have a ceremony. And to be honest, I want to wear his ring.”
“Where mate at?”
Rafe’s brow wrinkled. “Sander’s inside. You ready to go see him?”
“Not understand.”
“Do you not understand, or are you talking about me? Because to be honest buddy, I have no clue what’s happening right now.”
“Where Mortis mate?”
Blinking rapidly, Rafe sat there feeling stupid. Not once had he thought about a mate for Mortis, and it made him feel small that he wouldn’t want to do everything to make his wolf happy. “Wow. I don’t know. Let’s go inside and find Sander. We’ll talk to him and see if he has any ideas,” Rafe replied, standing and walking to open the door. Thankfully, Noirin and Kendrick were hard at work making dinner, so his brother had no opportunity to give him snotty looks.
“Hey, babe,” Aleksander said the moment he spotted Rafe in the doorway. When Aleksander got to his feet, Rafe went over to kiss him hello. “How was your jog?”
“Short. I need to get in shape.”
“I like your shape.”
“He needs to gain more weight,” Worth interjected.
“I’m trying,” Rafe argued and wondered if there was any D’Vaire besides Aleksander he’d pleased in any way.
“Mortis mate.”
“I know, buddy, I’m getting to it,” Rafe responded while Aleksander greeted Mortis with head scratches.
“Getting to what?” Brogan asked.
“Well, Mortis and I were talking, and he was wondering about his mate. I assume because he’s resurrected and therefore magickind he has one? But, I mean, where does a wolf find his other
half?”
“He’s undead. Would he be mated to a living wolf?” Worth asked.
“Chander’s living, and his mate is undead,” Rafe pointed out. “I don’t know how this shit works.”
“Let’s call Chand,” Aleksander suggested. “He’s the leader of the necromancers and the one who brought Mortis back to life.…Perhaps he can offer some insight into the best way to find his mate.”
“Yeah, okay.”
They soon found out that they’d contacted Chander just as he was about to leave for the day, so he and Alaric were happy to teleport there to discuss anything they wanted. It was only a few minutes later that the pair walked into Aleksander’s office. They’d changed into casual wear and greeted everyone with hugs including Mortis.
“So, what’s up?” Chander asked as he was pulled onto Alaric’s thighs.
Aleksander returned to his desk chair, so Rafe plopped down on the floor, which prompted Mortis to get as much of himself on his lap as possible. “Seriously?” Rafe asked the unrepentant wolf. “You’re supposed to be this fearless creature from the wild, but mostly you’re a big baby.”
“Pet.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Rafe replied, doing as he was told. “So, we brought you guys here because Mortis is curious about his mate. We’re assuming he has one.”
“He’s magickind so yes, he has a mate. Mortis is the only resurrected wolf and is tied to your soul. While I used the spirit of the wolf you met wherever the fuck you were, there are some anomalies we should go over,” Chander replied.
“Anomalies like what?” Aleksander asked.
“Well, obviously the hospital staff in Kentucky were frightened of him. Your doctor there insisted he remain tranquilized. One of them mentioned the oddness of a wild wolf being found with you,” Alaric responded.
“He was, though. A big black wolf came out of nowhere, and I swear to you I know I was in shit shape, but it was like he was leading me toward the road.”
“Black is a color mutation. Although his fur is a different color, the original living animal you encountered had to be a gray wolf with a melanistic mutation given his size. The problem is, that the last time any wolf was found in the wild in Kentucky was in the 1800s. You’d have to travel up to the western great lake states to find the closest population of gray wolves,” Chander explained. “Right off the bat, where the hell did Mortis come from in the first place?”
Heart of the High King (D'Vaire, Book 19) Page 39