“Okay, you have a point. He needs to be focused more than any other fallen knight; he is going to help you rule. He’s got to know his shit to do that,” Roman replied.
“He also needs to know he’s earned his stripes on his own. Otherwise, he and the rest of the fallen knights may feel he is getting preferential treatment. You need to kick his ass just like you would any other recruit,” Drystan said.
“Fuck, you’re right. But this is going to be hard, to do the whole training without you,” Vann remarked.
“I know, your workload just got a hell of a lot harder. I’ll pick up the slack in the office though, so you won’t have a pile of shit to come back to,” Drystan announced.
“You felt the matebond. He must have too. What do we do if he asks about it?” Roman asked.
“I’m not sure. All his senses are still muted, they will be for the next day or so before they sharpen. My guess is he felt something, but it was likely not strong enough to help him connect the dots. I mean, he’s down there eating, not finding a phone and demanding answers,” Drystan pointed out.
“Okay, you get the fuck out of here. We’ll handle any questions best we can,” Roman insisted.
“When will you meet him?” Vann asked.
“Graduation day. I want daily progress reports.”
“You got it,” Roman said. “We’ll have to explain your absence to these guys. We’ve already told them they’d meet you today.”
“Tell them an emergency called me away and then—I don’t know—tell them a sensitive case came up or something. I’ll have to meet them all when it’s over,” Drystan responded. “I hate this. I don’t want them thinking they have an aloof leader who can’t make time for them.”
“You just found your other half. That’s a good thing. It’s complicated, but it’ll work out,” Vann replied.
“Why the fuck did Chand have to name him Conley?” Drystan asked.
“I don’t know but damn, the press is going to eat that shit up,” Roman remarked.
“Wait until those dragons in Australia hear about it,” Drystan groused.
“Good luck,” Vann called out and Drystan flipped him the bird.
“All right, I guess my ass is going to the Council session, and then I’ll be in the office.” Grabbing his bag, Drystan said his good-byes and then hurried out to his truck. He was in a complete state of disbelief over the morning’s events, but he wasn’t going to allow it to overwhelm him. All he had to do was focus on one thing at a time and right now, he needed to get home to change uniforms. But one thing was on his to-do list, and that was to choke Chander for naming his fucking mate Conley.
Chapter 28
Conley paced around his dorm room. He was trying to burn off some excess energy so he could sleep. The last three days had been incredibly boring. After picking up his books and uniforms, he’d split his time evenly between reading, working out in the gym, and surfing the web. He’d committed the training manual to memory as well as half of the required textbooks. He sincerely hoped the next eight weeks were as difficult as the Venerable Knights touted, or he might start climbing the walls.
He’d expected to meet the Reverent Knight, but he’d been called away to attend to some duty and he was not projected to join them anytime soon. It was strange; Conley was disappointed over a man he didn’t know not showing up but then again, he was their leader so perhaps not. After all, it was never too early to start making a good impression on your highest superior.
Besides the monotony of his days and the regret over missing the illusive Reverent Knight, Conley was happy to be alive. Unlike the other new recruits, he’d experienced no illness or disorientation. The only weird thing he could point to was his first day when he entered the cafeteria to eat his breakfast. It was like his body lit up from the inside out and an elation had flooded his veins. His dick had tried to rise to attention, and then all the sensations had stopped and left him feeling slightly bereft.
He’d been told he would be out of touch with his full senses and that they kicked in for everyone at a different time. Melinda, one of the other new recruits, claimed hers had worked almost from the start. In fact, her sex drive was already renowned in their small group. She flirted with everyone, including Conley, but he’d been unmoved by her. Two of the others had been less reluctant to express reciprocal feelings, and he had no idea nor did he want to know how far they’d taken things.
For Conley, his sex drive had smacked into him on the second day. Since then, his hand had gotten quite the workout. As far as exploring an enjoyable time with a partner, Conley decided he only had eight weeks to absorb all he needed to know to be successful at his duties. He wouldn’t waste a minute of it chasing after temporary satisfaction. Conley was aware he could scratch that itch when he was assigned to his new location.
Conley stopped walking in circles and pulled out his schedule for the next day. He had committed it to memory as well as the building layout so he wouldn’t get lost, but one more look couldn’t hurt.
A knock rattled his door. “Hey, Conley, you up?”
Pulling the door open, Conley saw Torston standing there. “What’s up?”
“None of us can sleep, wanna hang in our room?”
“Sure,” Conley responded and followed Torston to the room he shared with Ainsworth.
“Yay, Conley joined us,” Ramona said. She was sitting on one of the bunks and appeared to be trying to slide away from an amorous Melinda.
“How bad do you think tomorrow will be?” Ainsworth asked as Conley dropped onto the desk chair.
“Dude, how bad can it be? We’re already dead,” Melinda replied and Ramona took the opportunity to switch to the other bed.
“I’m looking forward to it,” Conley insisted.
“That doesn’t surprise me; have you memorized every book yet?” Torston asked as he took a seat next to Ramona.
“Only about halfway through all of them.”
“No one has ever qualified as Venerable,” Ainsworth said. “I bet Conley does.”
“Nah, he’ll get Juris. No one gets Venerable,” Melinda argued.
“Don’t hate on our Conley; he will be the first,” Torston retorted.
Conley didn’t know what to do with the support, but he was happy to have it all the same. “Thanks, man.”
“You’re gonna do it, and then we’ll all be rock stars because we’re your friends,” Ramona declared.
Torston bumped knuckles with her. “Absolutely.”
“Don’t forget us little people,” Ainsworth pleaded.
“You do realize we haven’t started training yet? No one knows what is going to happen. Maybe he will peak too soon,” Melinda said.
“Don’t mind her, she’s just pissed because no one will sleep with her,” Ramona countered.
Conley decided he wasn’t going to touch her comment with a ten-foot pole.
“Fucking tease,” Melinda replied and gave Ramona a sulky look.
“Anyway, tomorrow will be awesome. We’ll get our asses kicked, and Conley won’t even break a sweat,” Torston said.
“Why are you guys kissing his ass?” Melinda asked.
“Have you been paying attention? He’s fast as fuck in the gym, and he memorizes damn near everything,” Ainsworth stated.
“Whatever, it’s been three fucking days,” Melinda retorted.
“Melinda’s right, we haven’t started yet. We’ll see how it all shakes out once things get tough,” Conley replied.
“See?” Melinda said. “Conley agrees with me.”
“Now you want to be his friend?” Ramona asked.
“I never said I didn’t. Honestly, I just don’t think it’s fair you guys are putting so much pressure on him to do something like qualify as Venerable. It’s insane—no one’s good enough to do that shit. Have you seen the scores you need? Fuck,” Melinda responded.
“I just thought you were being a bitch,” Torston announced as she gave him the finger.
&nb
sp; “No, I like him. And he’s super-hot.”
“He does have some cool-ass eyes,” Ainsworth remarked and everyone turned to stare at Conley and his odd yellow-orange irises.
Conley laughed. “Stop staring at me, you freaks.”
“What the fuck are we going to do now?” Ramona asked.
“Let’s hit the gym. We’ll either wear ourselves out so we can sleep or we’ll kill each other,” Conley suggested.
“I swear for someone so smart, I can’t figure out why you keep forgetting you can’t kill something that’s already dead,” Torston said as they all stood and filed out of the room. Conley just rolled his eyes and declined to comment.
* * *
It was over a week later before Drystan finally got a chance to talk to Chander. They were close friends and that was probably the longest they’d ever gone without speaking. The necromancer had been avoiding him, but Drystan had cornered him in his office.
“Chand, where the hell have you been for the last nine days?”
“Busy, as usual. I thought you’d be at the training center,” Chander replied without making eye contact.
Drystan sat down in one of the worn seats in Chander’s messy office. “I can’t interact with the new recruits.”
“Oh? Why not?”
“This doesn’t leave this office, all right? I haven’t even told Trystan about this yet.”
“Fair enough,” Chander replied.
“One of the new recruits is my mate.”
“And you want him to get to learn without the weight of his new title?”
“Seems the fairest approach,” Drystan said. “Would you care to guess which of the newbies it is?”
“I’m going to guess from the tone of your voice you aren’t thrilled about meeting your mate.”
“I didn’t say that. I would just enjoy the discovery more if you hadn’t named him Conley,” Drystan griped and was growing annoyed as Chander continued to stare at the surface of his desk. The Arch Lich was no coward, so he had no clue what was going on.
“I had the name picked out before I arrived,” Chander began. “I had no way of knowing he was your other half. I’m sorry.”
“It is going to cause both of us no end of grief.”
“Perhaps a small price to pay for being mated?” Chander asked.
Drystan huffed out a breath. “Yeah, I suppose so. Still, I would have preferred he had a different name.”
“I can well imagine,” Chander muttered.
“How’s training going?”
“Vann and Roman are meeting me shortly to give me a daily progress report.”
“Good. So, they know he’s your mate?”
“I had no choice but to tell them. I can’t just disappear without telling anyone where I’ve gone.”
Chander’s head snapped up. “One time in over six and a half centuries I go off for a single day, and I’m still getting shit about it.”
“You were in Europe, and you know how much the Consilium Veneficus hates you,” Drystan said.
“Yes, I do, but I made it home in one piece,” Chander replied. “Does your mate know about you at all?”
“No, I figured out our connection on the first morning, so I doubt he even got the full I-just-met-my-mate feeling. He hasn’t mentioned it to anyone, so I have to assume he had a couple of strange moments and then life went on.”
“What’s the plan for introducing yourself?”
“Graduation day. I gotta break it to my kid.”
“He’ll be happy for you.”
“Yeah, but it will be a shock too, I’m sure.”
“He’s had you to himself all his life,” Chander remarked.
“Right,” Drystan replied. “All right, I’m off to meet with my Venerables. Stay in touch, it’s weird not talking to you. What was up with that anyway?”
“Like I said, I figured you were neck-high in training.”
“I always have time for you, Chand. You gave me life and have been a wonderful friend all these years.”
“I don’t know if I would use the word wonderful, but I have enjoyed our friendship,” Chander said. “It means a great deal to me. I would hate to lose it.”
Drystan gave him a smile as he headed for the door. “Never happen. See you later.”
Chander waved him off and Drystan headed back to his own office. He was glad to see Vann and Roman waiting for him when he arrived.
“Hey guys, what’s up?” Drystan asked as he dropped into his chair.
“We’ve got a good group,” Roman responded.
“We always do; there’s no such thing as a bad fallen knight,” Drystan said.
“Teamwork is high,” Vann stated and Drystan nodded. It was something they encouraged. “No one is falling behind on anything yet, and we are monitoring them close to step in and give extra help to anyone who needs it.”
“Great, do you have today’s test results?” Drystan asked.
“Not just today’s but the overall averages so far,” Roman said as he slid a page in Drystan’s direction. “I made a graph for each trainee so you can see how their performance is working over time up to this point.”
“Is this correct?” Drystan asked as soon as he gave it a good look.
“Yeah, Conley is blowing everyone out of the water,” Roman affirmed.
“Not just that, he’s annihilating the Venerable standards,” Vann announced with a grin. “And each day he gets stronger physically and tests higher academically.”
Roman frowned. “It pisses me off.”
Turning toward Roman, Drystan asked, “Why in the world is it pissing you off?”
“How the fuck long have we waited for a new Venerable? Now we get one that’s a match,” he said waving a finger between himself and Vann. “And do we get to keep him? Noooo, because he’s Reverent material instead.”
Vann laughed. “Would you prefer him to be the bottom of the class? Shit, we’re going to put all his fucking scores everywhere. No one is going to be able to say he’s not fit for his duties or hasn’t earned it.”
“Of course not, I just want another Venerable.”
“I’m sorry Conley is too good for you, Roman,” Drystan replied with a smirk.
“Look at his smug-ass face. We are busting ass to push him harder and harder each day and you get to keep him,” Roman complained.
Drystan chuckled. “Damn right I do. You guys are doing a fantastic job; you know I appreciate it. Maybe we’ll get another Venerable next year.”
“Yeah right, then he’ll turn out to be your mate too and we’ll be fucked once again,” Roman commented.
“Bite your tongue. I haven’t even figured out how to make it work with one; I don’t need another thrown in the mix.”
“Lucky for you, that has only ever happened for shifters,” Roman said.
“Wasn’t there a vampire who had two mates?” Vann asked.
“Two humans, right?” Drystan asked.
“You two really need to get caught up on gossip; that was a total fabrication,” Roman told them. “Shit, can you imagine? One human who doesn’t trust our entire society would be more than enough for anyone to have to put up with, let alone two of them.”
“Hey, vamps like having human mates,” Vann insisted. “That way they can feed off them.”
“More power to them,” Roman said. “I’m glad fallen knights can’t be mated to humans.”
“Never say never,” Drystan replied. “But if we’re done catching up on current events, I’d like my office back.”
“He brags about his mate and then kicks us out because he’s not up to speed on vampire rumors,” Roman remarked as he stood and followed Vann out the door.
“Take care of Conley,” Drystan called out after them. He was thrilled Conley was doing so well, but it did stand to reason Fate would imbue the next Reverent Knight with all the skills he needed. Drystan was thankful; the last thing he wanted to do was emasculate him and give him the title Reverent Knight-mat
e and have him not thought of as Drystan’s equal.
It was becoming a bit easier to handle the idea of having a mate, but Drystan knew that was because he was little more than a concept at this point. In several more weeks, they’d meet and then they’d have to see how to make this work. One thing was for certain, Drystan would use the same devotion he gave to his job and the Council to see their matebond work. He’d been alone for too long to accept anything less than love with the right man.
Chapter 29
When Trystan saw the name on his phone, he did not hesitate to answer. “Hey, Dad, what’s up?” His dad was still calling him with his usual regularity but there was something going on. First, he inexplicably pulled out of training the new recruits and then he kept making excuses for why he couldn’t visit Court D’Vaire, where Trystan lived with his mate.
“Not much, you?” his dad replied.
“Pretty much the same around here,” Trystan said as he got a kiss blown to him from Blodwen when she walked into the room he used as an office.
“How’s Blodwen?”
“Gorgeous and happy, I think,” Trystan replied before leaning over to give his lady a kiss.
“Everyone else at D’Vaire good? Your sentinels?”
“Dad, if you’re so concerned with everyone’s happiness, why haven’t you visited in weeks?”
“Trystan, you know this time of year is very busy with the new recruits.”
“I also know you aren’t even going to the training center.”
“No, I’m not, which means I have to cover for Roman and Vann since they aren’t able to split their time between both places.”
“Can’t you just tell me what’s going on? Why can’t you go to the training center in the first place?”
“That’s actually why I’m calling. I’m going to tell you everything but first, I want your promise you’ll still meet me for dinner tomorrow night after the graduation ceremony.”
“Of course Blodwen and I are going to show up. Why wouldn’t we?” Trystan asked. “It’s not like you killed anybody. You’re the good guy. Besides it probably would’ve been Vann and it would be all over the news.”
Resurrection Of The Fallen Page 19