“Oh, fuck right off, I’m yours. I didn’t flirt with the man who I have on good authority doesn’t swing our way, even if I could have a physical relationship with him. Which I can’t.”
“Crying shame, right?”
“Gay men everywhere should sob into their pillows—the man is drop-dead gorgeous.”
“Good thing we’re already dead,” Drystan remarked.
“I’ve got beer,” Aleksander called out as they got closer.
“Are you bragging or offering?” Conley asked.
“Offering, I promise,” Aleksander said.
They made it to the deck and he handed each of them a cold bottle.
“Your house is almost as amazing as the people who live in it,” Conley offered to Aleksander.
“Thank you, I hope you’re enjoying your time with us.”
“I am,” Conley said. “I’m glad Drystan wanted to have our mating ceremony here.”
“We’re all very excited about it,” Aleksander replied.
“Everyone except maybe my son,” Drystan retorted.
“Your son doesn’t want us to have our mating ceremony here?” Conley asked. His amber eyes were full of concern as he sat down on the side of one of the lounge chairs. Drystan took a seat next to him.
“He’s not opposed to the location. His concern is we’re moving too fast. I explained to him we’re both fine with the pace of our relationship. I think he will come around; he just needs some time to get used to the idea of someone else being as important to me as he is.”
“We could delay the date if you think it would help,” Conley offered. “I don’t want to put a strain on your relationship with Trystan.”
“You aren’t, and we don’t need to postpone. I think it was a shock too for him to find out I was gay.”
“It was a surprise to all of us,” Aleksander remarked. “But not an unpleasant one.”
“We were talking about what a shame it is you aren’t gay,” Conley said to Aleksander.
For a fraction of a second Aleksander’s eyes flicked to the wooden deck at their feet before he smiled. “I guess Fate would get the last laugh if my mate showed up one day and it was a he instead of a she.”
“You expect your mate to come knocking at the door like Brogan’s did?”
“Sure, it only took Dra’Kaedan six or so centuries to show up,” Aleksander replied. “I’m sure the next time around it will be mine standing there.”
“You know, if you ever left this place you might not have to wait another six centuries for the lucky lady to arrive,” Drystan suggested.
Aleksander took a swig of his beer. “I like it here.”
“The D’Vaire name is getting popular,” Drystan commented. “You’ve got the most powerful sorcerers on the planet, the rarest elves, the only mated pair of sentinels, a couple of wizards poised to make history, and a couple of Council leaders who travel here as often as they get the chance.”
“None of us are trying to win a popularity contest.”
“If you were, you’d know better than to let Dra’Kaedan speak to anyone,” Drystan said.
“It has to be common knowledge by now that if you feed the man, he’s as docile as a lamb,” Aleksander remarked.
Drystan laughed. “Only when the fork is actually in his mouth.”
“You do have a point there,” Aleksander replied.
“Chrys would love it if you were willing to get more involved with the other dragons, you know that,” Drystan stated.
“I’m as interested in politics as I am in being popular.”
“Would you consider doing some sort of calendar at the very least?” Conley asked. “It could be really tastefully done. Clothing optional, of course.”
“What did I tell you about flirting with the dragon?” Drystan asked as Aleksander laughed.
“You’re being so strict today. No stealing dragons. No flirting with dragons.”
“Another one who wants to steal Delaney’s Greggory, huh?” Aleksander asked.
“He’s so damn cute, I can’t stand it. I want him.”
“I’ll buy you a stuffed one,” Drystan said.
“Not the same, but I guess I can deal.”
“Trystan mentioned you all spoke about the rumors surrounding a possible connection between the two of you and the former dragon emperors,” Aleksander commented.
“We’ve spoken at length about it,” Drystan said.
“We’ve decided even if we were, which we aren’t, it doesn’t matter. We have no memory of it, so what good does it do to get tested and either prove or disprove the rumors?” Conley remarked.
“I can see your point,” Aleksander replied. “There are few still living today who ever spoke with them.”
“The only people that have ever come forward are the Beradraconises and of course, the servant who said Chand stole the bodies. Chrys was told by servants about the love the two had and he has protected their legacy. The former Imperial Duke slaughtered all those that talked except for Emperor Drystan’s parents. It’s a horrible story,” Drystan remarked.
“It was the single greatest tragedy of dragonkind,” Aleksander responded. “Perhaps that’s why so many wish they were able to return to life. They were young when they died and should have had thousands of years ahead of them to love and prosper.”
“How young were they?” Conley asked.
“I don’t know the exact age of either of them,” Aleksander revealed. “I’m not sure anyone living besides the Beradraconises would know. One thing about them is they have also protected the private lives of their son and his mate. They’ve never discussed any specifics about them. We know they ruled for fifty years as emperors. Before that they were kings. No one even knows how long they were together. It was definitely not an age of information and Imperial Duke Bernal wanted them erased.”
“What a fuckhead,” Conley said.
“As a general question,” Aleksander began. “If you could know anything about your former lives, would you want to know? I’ve asked Gavrael and Gedeon about it; neither one of them had any real interest in their lives before they were resurrected, so I was curious if you felt the same.”
Conley shrugged. “I suppose on some level it would be interesting.”
“I guess it would depend,” Drystan said. “We were all warriors or champions in our previous lives in some way or another who had their destiny cut short. So, we take that to mean we were murdered or met with a tragedy which shortened our natural lifespan.”
“You don’t want to remember your death?” Conley asked.
“I don’t know. What if I was a great warrior but a complete asshole who got struck by lightning?”
Aleksander laughed. “Who says you aren’t a complete asshole now?”
“Says the man who keeps flirting with my mate.”
“I can’t seem to help myself,” Aleksander said.
“Right.”
“I’m out of beer,” Aleksander commented.
“We need to leave soon anyway,” Drystan replied.
“Quick question before we head in and start saying our good-byes,” Conley began. “What the hell is going on with these targets out here?” All around the backyard were giant bulls-eyes singed black in varying spots.
“Our wizards have been practicing magical accuracy for their tests, so Dra’Kaedan put them up,” Aleksander said.
“Okay, I can understand that, but why the hell is Brogan on all of them?” Conley asked.
“Easy one,” Aleksander retorted. “Dra’Kaedan is insane.”
Chapter 39
Drystan took a seat next to the man Fate had been kind enough to match him with. He couldn’t help but lean over and kiss his welcoming mouth. When he pulled away and looked across the table, both Vann and Roman were grinning at them.
“Shut up,” Drystan demanded.
“It’s your own fault,” Roman insisted.
“Yeah, the two of you are just so damn adorable,” Vann sa
id.
“I can see why you hate them,” Conley remarked.
“You idiots want to give us a status report?” Drystan asked.
“The good news is, we have a new coffeemaker,” Roman stated.
Conley chuckled. “I thought we were going to have mutiny when Kyle broke the old one.”
“It was a close one; I nearly tranqued five people,” Vann said.
“I think from now on, perhaps Kyle shouldn’t be the one making the coffee,” Drystan suggested.
“I put a sticky on it that says, ‘Fuck off, Kyle.’ He put one on my desk that says, ‘Vann smells like cheese.’ I had no idea where to go from there.”
“Shit, he sucks at insults,” Drystan remarked.
“Yeah, but we love him anyway,” Conley said.
“What else you got?”
“We got a call this morning from a human police chief,” Roman revealed.
“Another complaint about jurisdiction because I have to tell you, I don’t think you should be wasting your time with those calls. Kyle can handle telling them to fuck off,” Drystan said.
“No, he wanted to talk about a potential conference with fallen knights and human police,” Roman replied.
“Why exactly do they think we would be interested in that?” Drystan asked.
“This guy had done some research. He knew about our annual conference and suggested we allow them to attend.”
“Humans at our conference? I don’t think many fallen knights would sign up for that,” Conley said. “In the few weeks I’ve been Reverent Knight, all I have heard is complaints about how the humans go out of their way to get into pissing contests with our guys and gals on the streets.”
“I explained to him morale toward humans is not high,” Roman told them. “His response was with all of us gathering together, we could make inroads into changing that.”
“Considering we aren’t allowed in any human businesses, I suppose they are perfectly all right with joining us at our normal Council hotel?” Drystan asked.
“You think they are just angling for a free conference?” Vann asked.
“The thought did occur to me.”
“I’m not saying that’s not what they want,” Roman said. “But for me the bigger issue was we conduct business a lot differently than they do. What could they learn by attending our workshops or classes? And do we really want them to learn our procedures anyway?”
“Did you explain to him a lot of our workshops and classes fill up before even all the fallen knights get registered? A great deal of what we do is very popular and you know the evening events aren’t exactly business oriented,” Drystan replied.
“I didn’t get into our entertainment at night and that some of it can get racy. I’m not going to apologize for the fact that we bust our asses all year and we deserve a week to enjoy ourselves,” Roman responded. “I did explain that our conference is more about comradery than anything else.”
“What was your impression of the guy?” Conley asked.
“He wasn’t pushy but he was persistent,” Roman said. “I told him I had to speak with our Reverents. He got a little put out then and asked why he hadn’t been transferred to them directly. That pissed me off; I’m no underling. I told him the Reverents within the Council is comparable to a combination of their Secretary of Defense and Attorney General. You don’t just call either one of them up with your ideas.”
“Do you think it’s worth setting up a meeting with this guy?” Conley asked.
Roman shrugged. “I don’t think it could hurt. I want to know they have money to spend on this and that they understand we aren’t going to cater our behavior to their less enlightened way of thinking. We have gay and lesbian fallen knights who are going to have their mates with them at the conference. One insult thrown at any of my people and I’m going to drop somebody.”
“Fine. We’ll call them next week after Conley and I have our matebond ceremony and arrange a meeting.”
“Just couldn’t help but bring up your mating ceremony again, could you?” Vann asked.
“Nope,” Drystan said. The meeting broke up and Conley went off to track down a Juris Knight who saddled him with what he considered insufficient justification for a ten-year prison sentence so Drystan headed to their office and took a seat behind his desk.
In a few days, he and Conley were finally going to have the ceremony he’d been all too happy to bring up in their status meeting. When they had made the decision to wait four weeks, it hadn’t seemed like it was that much time, but it was proving to be an eternity. Drystan couldn’t begin to put into words how much he enjoyed his time with Conley. His mate was sassy, courageous, sexy, and downright crazy sometimes. He adored him. Drystan knew he was in love with him, but he had yet to tell him. Figuring it had to be special, he was waiting until after their mating ceremony. Maybe if their first time in bed together was less than stellar, he could make up for it with tender words. Then they could try again and begin perfecting their bedroom skills. One thing was certain, he was damn tired of going home alone and only getting a few minutes each evening to kiss Conley outside of his apartment. He didn’t want to have only days with him, he wanted to share all his life and all of himself. The next two days could not go by fast enough.
* * *
Conley tangled a hand into Drystan’s short hair as his mate sucked on the tender spot below one ear. His head thunked back against the door behind him as shivers raced over his body. As usual, Drystan’s assault on him each night was causing his eyes to cross and his blood to heat. Drystan’s mouth left a hot trail across his jaw before he bit down on Conley’s bottom lip. He wasn’t content with anything that tame, so he grazed his tongue over Drystan’s and the kiss became an inferno. His dick was so hard it was throbbing painfully against the zipper of his jeans. Conley wiggled against Drystan to get some needed friction as he moaned. That had the unintended effect of Drystan pulling away from him.
“We need to stop,” Drystan panted out as he took a step back.
Conley puffed out a breath while his body cried out for him to climb Drystan like a tree and rut against him until he blew his load. “Right,” he finally said as he closed his eyes. Seeing the desire in Drystan’s blue eyes was a bit too much for him to handle now.
“Hey.”
Conley reluctantly lifted his lashes. “Yeah?”
“We head to D’Vaire tomorrow for our mating ceremony on Saturday.”
“I know that,” Conley said. “But it’s not really making me feel any better right now.”
“This is the last night we’re going to spend making out in front of this damn door.”
“I’m sure the neighbors will be pleased to know that.”
“You have all your stuff packed, right?”
“Of course,” Conley replied. “We’ll schlep it all over to your place tomorrow before we head out. I’m not spending any more time here than I have to.”
“Our place. As of this weekend, it’s our place.”
“All I care about is our bed.”
“You have a one-track mind.”
“I hope you don’t think getting laid is going to change that,” Conley said.
“It damn well better not change.”
“You need to go before I slam you to the ground, cuff you, and drag you in here. And when I have you at my mercy, I will literally jump on your dick and stay there until we need to leave for D’Vaire.”
Drystan pushed his hand down over his crotch. “Shit, Conley, you aren’t helping.”
“Go,” Conley insisted. Drystan didn’t look especially pleased about it, but he shimmered away and Conley knew he had teleported straight to his bedroom to jerk off. He thought about doing the same thing but decided he’d rather have a beer first. Using his card, he unlocked the door and let himself in. In the weeks since he’d arrived here, nothing had changed. It was the same impersonal space and he wouldn’t miss it when he moved into Drystan’s large condo upstairs. Unlike the boring
crap he was staring at, Drystan had decorated in the colors of fallen knights and all the furniture looked comfortable and inviting.
He’d never had the chance to try any of it out. Drystan had allowed him to check the place out but had given him exactly five minutes and forced him to do it solo. Conley thought it was funny he didn’t even trust them to be alone together long enough to conduct a proper house tour. Considering the ravenous way they attacked each other each night, Drystan was probably right to keep his distance.
Reaching into the bare fridge which had only two beers inside, he grabbed one and after twisting off the cap knocked back half of it in one gulp. It did little to tame his overheated blood. If he had to wait more than two days to get Drystan naked, he was positive he would lose his mind.
Not that the only thing he was interested in was sex. Nothing could be further than the truth; Conley wanted to share his life with Drystan. They were already great friends and he knew with time, they would only get closer. It was something he was looking forward to and he sensed the other fallen knight was too.
Fate had been kind to pair the two of them together. He couldn’t think of a way in which they were incompatible. No one was perfect, and he didn’t see eye to eye with Drystan on every single subject nor did he think he would want to, given the choice. Conley looked forward to a spirited debate, and Drystan was fair in respect to whatever topic they had yet encountered. It made it easy to disagree without hurting anyone’s feelings.
That was important since Conley had a wealth of emotion when it came to Drystan. The fact was, Conley was in love with the fallen knight he was going to share his life with. Thus far, they’d sidestepped any conversation that dealt with their fondness for each other. It was okay with Conley; you only got a single chance to tell the person you loved them the first time and he wanted it to be special.
Over the last week or so when it had become glaringly obvious he found Drystan irresistible, Conley had thought about how he would tell him. So far, he wasn’t set on a time or place. He doubted he would be able to make it through the entire weekend ahead without blurting it out which meant he needed a plan. Up to now, all he had come up with was to either announce it during the ceremony itself or wait until they were in bed together.
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