Witches, Wolves, & Warlords (Shifters of Bastion Keep #1)

Chapter Twenty

"Ready to head down?" his teddy bear asked him, nestled up against his back.

Russell grunted an affirmative. Slowly, he swung one leg out of his bed, and then the other. Bruin hurried around to the other side and made as if to help him stand, but he waved him off. Bruin looked about as tired as he felt, with a drawn face and disheveled hair.

Breathing carefully, he stood up on his feet. There was an expected wave of dizziness from spending almost three full days in bed, minus one shower and several trips to the bathroom, but it passed quickly.

"How're you feeling?"

"Tired. Sore, but no pain. Because of you." Russell looked back at his bed with its rumpled sheets and spots of dried blood dotting it.

"Really, no pain?"

Russell shook his head. "Not in body."

Bruin sighed, and Russell could smell the ache pouring off of his boyfriend. "Yeah. It sucks. Alright, let me get our shampoo and stuff."

Russell tested his fatigue, shifting back and forth on his feet while Bruin retrieved a few supplies from his bathroom, including a razor and shaving cream.

He was weak, but steady enough, he eventually decided.

Bruin added both of their toiletries to a small basket, plus some witch supplies. He then stood nearby, staring at the scabbed over lacerations on Russell's torso, and began to smell tense again.

"Too much thinking," Russell said, leaning down and trying to smother that tenseness by pushing his boyfriend's face into the middle of his pecs.

"Russ, come on, now," he mumbled.

It worked a little bit, just a touch of amusement beneath the fatigue and the hurt, but a little bit wasn't good enough.

Putting a hand on the back of Bruin's head, he pretended like he was going to run his hand through his hair, but instead slowly forced Bruin's face closer to his armpit.

"What? Wait, hold up," he said, voice muffled as he raised his hands up to push him away, but not pushing too hard, probably thinking he'd hurt him.

"I'm breaking your line of thought," Russell said, proud of the idea he'd thought up as he jammed his face into his sweaty side. "Bruin, I'm hurt, but I'm healing. It's okay ."

Russell finally released him, and Bruin stumbled back, red in the face. His boyfriend put his hands on his hips, rolling his eyes at him.

Hmm?

Russell looked down at where Bruin's boxers had gained a prominent tent, and then back to his face. Oh. Maybe the witch's half-hearted resistance hadn't been because of worry for him.

His grin broadened, and he pressed a finger against Bruin's chest.

Bruin grabbed his hand and lifted it to plant a kiss on that finger, then picked up the basket he'd set down when he was hugged. He marched towards the door where a pair of his shorts lay in a heap.

"I'm as surprised as you are," he said, putting them on. Their baggy nature might visibly disguise his boner, but his aroused smell would alert every shifter he crossed paths with. "But hey, new kink, I guess."

Russell wrapped a kilt around his waist, then followed him into the hall and proceeded downstairs. "Scent-based?"

"Maybe, but I think it was more you taking charge, and just the fact that you smell like you."

Reminded, Russell reached out to take Bruin's hand in his, which he knew pleased the little witch and earned him a head briefly resting against his shoulder.

"Mm. We'll explore it."

"The way you say that, I'm guessing that it means I can expect you to randomly force my face into different parts of your body, right?"

Russell nodded at the straightforward experiment. "Yes."

"Fine.Holding off a verdict on the armpits, I do actually like the way you smell, it reminds me of the woods.Please wait until you're feeling a bit better, though."

"You won't hurt me if you instinctively resist."

"I'm not talking about resisting," Bruin said, squeezing his hand.

"Hmm?"

"I'm saying, wait until you're feeling better enough that I can ride your dick. Otherwise you're just being a tease."

They stopped in the center lobby of the castle that connected the different wings, and Russell leaned down again, running a hand down Bruin's back as he lowered his mouth to the orc's broad, pointed ear.

"You like the teasing," he breathed, gripping the front of his boyfriend's shaft and giving him a squeeze through his shorts.

"Yeah, I do," he grunted. "Fine. But if you keep this up now , big guy, we'll never reach the baths."

Pleased with himself and the effect he had on his boyfriend, he allowed Bruin to lead the way to the wide doors that would take them to the basement baths.

Originally crafted as a sprawling dungeon, a previous Lady of the castle had gone to great lengths to convert most of it into a luxurious hub of water and comfort, especially taking into account how few individuals resided at Bastion. The reigning Lady had befriended a tribe of nymphs, it was told, and between battling incursions and hosting orgies, had somehow convinced them to help the underground bath flourish. Even more than a century later, the water enchantments they'd installed kept the water pure.

Modeled as a blend between Turkish and Roman baths, it had marble walls and pillars, but with colorful mosaic tiles along the floors. There was also a helpful sign with the bath rules, including one in bold— Furred bathers MUST skim any shed fur afterwards.

He and Bruin first stepped into a side room to strip and deposit their belongings, and then went to shower. Instead of using one of the many open showerheads, Bruin guided him towards one of the ones with accommodating stools, then had him take a seat.

In a silence that felt as gentle as the water from the showerhead, Russell watched his boyfriend attend to him. He started with a lengthy rinse to wipe away the last day of sweat from being in bed, then grabbed a soft shower sponge and began wiping him down.

Bruin moved at an unhurried rate. He'd run the water across him, then scrub the area. Nothing forceful. It felt nice.

Russell sat up straight when it came time for Bruin to attend to his chest. His boyfriend throttled the water back as he aimed it at the injuries, which after three days of shifter and witch healing now only amounted to a puckered spot on his chest and back where he'd been pierced clean through a lung, a dozen pink, tender lines from lesser lacerations on his left side and shoulder, and two large cuts beneath his left ribs where he's been flayed open. Some of the scab tissue washed away as Bruin worked.

As Bruin finished cleaning his last wound, Russell saw him heave a sigh. Reaching up, he touched his chin, guiding him in for a quick kiss, and Bruin smiled half-heartedly.

The rest of the washing became more playful as Bruin started on his lower half. Russell stood up to let him wash his backside, growling encouragingly at him as he gave his ass more than the necessary attention. He was already at half-mast by the time Bruin worked his way around to his crotch, kneeling in front of him.

His boyfriend had barely begun with the sponge when Russell pulled back, and Bruin looked up at him.

"No sponge," he said. Bruin looked puzzled for a moment, then comprehension dawned, and he set it down beside him. He was about to reach a hand out to grab his shaft when Russell added, "No hands."

"What? Then how on earth do you expect—"

The abrupt smell of arousal and the quickly stiffening cock between Bruin's legs let him know precisely when he figured out what he was asking. Bruin looked past him at the currently empty room—though there were at least three others in the baths proper that Russell could hear—then licked his lips before putting his head forward.

He growled as Bruin swallowed him, his tusks tickling his inner thighs as Bruin ground his head into his crotch, taking his cock to the root. As Russell hardened, though, his boyfriend had to pull back, no longer able to take all of him at once.

Or so he'd thought. Bruin repositioned his angle of approach, and his orcish jaw was broad enough to swallow his girth. After a wonderful few seconds, Bruin pulled back, then began alternating between licking his shaft and planting kisses on it with his full lips, doing his offered cleaning.

Bruin petted him a few times on the head when he started tonguing his balls.

"Mm," he said at last, and Bruin pulled back, grinning up at him with a hand between his legs, stroking himself. Russell gestured for him to move, and he sank back down on his stool. "Tired, sorry."

Bruin stood up, then leaned down to kiss him softly on the cheek, his rod poking him in the arm.

"Are you sure you should be up and about?"

"Yes. I am done hibernating."

"Alright, but all the same, let's finish up so you can relax in the bath."

Bruin moved more swiftly, washing down his legs and then his feet. Once that was done, Bruin sat down in Russell's lap to give him a proper shave, and Russell held their two cocks together in his hand, giving them the occasional squeeze.

Once Russel was fully clean and the stubble rinsed off, Russell took over holding the shower head while Bruin gave himself a hurried scrub.

After tidying up their area, they grabbed a pair of towels off of a pile before entering the baths proper. They'd both softened somewhat, but as they passed by several guardians and staff soaking in the heated central bath, they'd received teasing barks. Bruin waved back grandly, then gripped Russell's wrist as he led him to one of the semi-private alcoves that surrounded the room.

There was an in-ground bath here, large and constantly filtered. As Bruin set their belongings on a nearby bench, Russell sank down into it first, delightfully warm and relaxing. Bruin soon joined him, laying back carefully against his chest. Russell kept one arm outside of the bath, but used the other one to wrap around his boyfriend, keeping him close.

"This is good?"

"Yes.Thank you."

Ten minutes passed, easy. Maybe more. All Russell knew was that the soreness of being in bed for three days was fading, and even the tender aches from his wounds were lessening.

Bruin turned over, and they adjusted position, with him resting up against his less injured right side. Russell gave his teddy bear a one-armed squeeze.

Bruin trailed a hand through his chest hair. "It would have been nice to have Ser here."

Russell leaned back, closing his eyes. "It would."

"But he's not here, is he."

"No."

Bruin fell silent, and Russell shifted uneasily in the bath, smelling his companion's muted anger.

"Bruin?" he eventually asked.

He heard him grunt. "I thought we were really doing well the last few weeks, you know? Yeah, there was the whole promised mate thing, and your history with him, but that's just normal stuff to work work through. But one bad night and now he doesn't want us around? He's an asshole."

"He does want us."

"If he does, he's got a fine way of showing it." Bruin sat up in the bath, pulling away from him. Despite the increasing fury, Bruin was still careful to avoid putting his weight on any of his injuries. "Russ, he didn't visit you once while you've been healing."

Russell reached a hand out, cupping the side of his witch's face, and he saw it twist up, like it couldn't decide if it was going to scream, laugh, or cry.

"Ser is feeling ashamed."

"What for?"

"For us getting hurt."

"What could he possibly have done better? That's stupid."

"He's stupid, sometimes. Sometimes he needs someone to tell him what to do, my ma says."

"So you're saying that we need to go to him . Why? Why should we go after him? And then what, beg him to take us back? Russell, I'm sorry. I went through that once before, begging at the feet of someone who didn't want me, and I'm not about to do that again."

Bruin wasn't looking at him, and his anger was being replaced by misery. In response, Russell opened his arms again. Eventually, Bruin laid himself down carefully against him, wrapping his arms around his barrel of a chest as best as the bath allowed.

"It's stupid," Bruin mumbled into his chest.

"Yes."

"He's stupid."

"Yes."

Bruin snorted at the easy agreement, falling silent again.

Russell let the quiet stretch, thinking to himself.What should he do?What would Ma say to do?

"I want to find Ser after this," he said.

Bruin made a displeased grunt.

"You should come with me."

Bruin grunted again, then buried his face fully into his chest. "I don't want to."

"I know."

"But I should."

"Yes."

"And you already know I'm going to, right?"

Russell reached out with a hand to carefully pat him on the head. "After another minute of complaining, yes."

"I helped fight off an incursion, I'm allowed a minute of bitchiness."

Bruin didn't extend it any further, though, and after another minute of quiet petting, he pulled back, looking Russell in the face.

"So what are we going to do when we find him?"

Russell cocked his head. Was it not obvious?

"We're going to tell him why he's stupid."

◆◆◆

They dried off at the baths, dumping the towels into a public hamper. Bruin insisted on carrying both the basket of toiletries and their clothes upstairs. His scent was all kinds of embarrassed as he led the way back to their room, but his little witch seemed willing to give nudity a try. It worked, up until they passed Rosemary in the hall, at which point his boyfriend dove behind his bulk.

Russell laughed hard enough he hurt his side, waving weakly to Rosemary as she passed them, smelling amused.

Russell had to pause to take a breather on his bed, and Bruin used the opportunity to reapply some kind of witchy healing ointment. It would minimize potential scars to almost nothing, he said. Russell didn't care himself, but it would make Ma and Da happier, so he sat there with his hands in his lap, watching the intent look on Bruin's face as he first dabbed on the cream, then spoke an incantation.

At last, they donned kilt and shorts and went to find Ser.

A melancholy Markos eating lunch in the Great Hall told them where they could find him, but he first had them wait while he got Leona to make another plate, of food.She came out herself to give it to Russell, telling him that she expected him to make Ser give her back her missing dinnerware.

He was in the war room, unsurprisingly.

"Is he…" Bruin began, then fell silent.

Lord Sergiy was asleep, his head resting on the war table with a pointer having fallen from his outstretched hand. Beside him were books, crumpled papers, and a pen, and stacked against the back wall were plates and glasses from what looked like a half-dozen meals.

Russell and Bruin approached him, their bare feet moving silently across the stone floor. Looking down, Russell could see the change in Bruin's outlook, and his smell as it became more calm, like a grassy field after a storm had passed.

"He's been up here the whole time?" Bruin whispered.

Russell leaned in, taking in the full scent of their lord. Unwashed, but mixed among his familiar dragon scent was the smell of dirt and plants.

"No. He's been to and from the mountainside. Probably many times."

Russell stared down at his stubborn mate. He wanted to hold him and squeeze him and let him know it was all okay, but he knew he needed to wait, first. Patience. So instead, Russell unbelted his kilt, then wrapped it around Ser's shoulders like a blanket.

Ser lifted his head at the contact. He didn't seem to recognize them at first, a sure sign of his tiredness, but when he did he pushed back from the table, getting to his feet.

"Russ!"

"Hello."

"What he said," Bruin added, crossing his arms.

"You're both still here?"

"Where else would we be? Town?"

Sergiy didn't seem to have a ready response to that. Russell looked down at Bruin, but while he did smell irritated, a scowl on his face, he seemed to be willing to hold his tongue.

"Ser," Russell said. "Talk."

"I'm sorry for making my demand the way I did," he said, staring at the table. "I told mom what I'd planned, that I wanted you gone. She gave me a long talking-to about it."

"And you didn't think you should run it by us, your mates? Maybe at any point in the last few days, perhaps?"

"I'm sorry."

Bruin uncrossed his arms and lifted a hip up so he could sit at the edge of the table, forcing eye contact.

"I'm an Earth witch," he said. "I like things to be simple. And I think Russell likes it simple, too, so I'll be blunt. Sergiy, is this an attempt to break up with us?"

Ser jerked his head up, and his hands gripped the air.

"No! But the incursion made it very clear that this place is dangerous. If you two were to live in Town, then at least most of the time, you wouldn't be here."

"Hear that, Russell? Sergiy doesn't want to break up with us, he just wants to send us away so we never get to see him."

"That's not—"

Russell poked Ser on the nose, and he desisted. "Ser is a warlord, Bruin. His job is to keep everyone safe. He just wants to keep us safe."

"And how are we supposed to do our jobs, then? I'd be kind of a shitty witch, abandoning my coven, and a really shitty orc, abandoning my community."

That seemed to get to Ser, but his scent was still stubborn. Russell slowly raised a hand out to set it on his shoulder, to help him stay in place.

"Something changed," Russell said softly. "Us hurt?"

He indicated his own injuries. Ser looked at his chest, swallowed, then shook his head.

"Seeing you laid up in bed like that was one of the worst things I could imagine, except that it was real. A nightmare come to life. But no."

Looking pained, Ser looked up at his face, and then at Bruin. He seemed to take a breath, steeling himself.

"That night, outside of the infirmary. You two were holding the line, fighting off shadowlings."

"Everyone else was hurt," Bruin said, approaching so that he was at Russell's side. Carefully, Russell lifted his injured arm and set it around his shoulder, and his little witch wrapped an arm around his waist. "The guardians with us needed just a minute of backup while they cleared the back door."

"I know. I saw. And I'm so proud, and so sad at the same time. And I was on my way to help you, when I heard a scream. Bridget was engaging the spirit king, and I could feel that she needed my help. I left you two, and I went to her."

Bruin smelled confused, and he looked up at Russell. "And? I'm no tactician, but that makes sense."

"Don't you get it?" Sergiy said pleadingly. "I left you!You two are my mates, but I put someone else over you.As warlord, I couldn't not go help. And it will always be that way.Russ, Bruin, I'm sorry.I will never be able to place you two first.That's why you have to leave."

Going by his scent and expression, and the finality with which he spoke, Russell guessed that Ser thought he'd given an ironclad answer. He certainly didn't seem to be expecting Bruin to start laughing.

"What? That's why? Oh my gods and spirits, Ser . "

Russell squeezed Bruin's shoulder. "See? Stupid."

"Yeah."

Ser stood up straighter, growling. Good. Anger was closer to being in a mood to listen.

"Sergiy," Bruin said, struggling to regain a calm tone. "Let me tell you something.One of my dads, my o'ba, he's a community leader. Whenever he's not working a job, he's out trying to help someone as a general handyman. Sometimes he goes to people's homes and repairs broken objects, or fixes broken stairs that would cause someone to get hurt, or fills in potholes around the area that the city's too lazy to fix."

"He sounds like a nice guy.What does this have to do with—"

Bruin held up a finger and jutted his jaw out, then waited for Sergiy to stop talking, scowling instead.

"Growing up, money was pretty tight," Bruin continued. " Really tight. It's why I had to take the government sponsored approach to magic. I got room, board, and a monthly stipend while I practiced witchcraft. I was born with a spark of the gift, but if I'd tried learning magic on my own, it probably would have taken at least a decade of trying to squeeze time in between working a full time job.Owing three years of paid public service is a small price to pay for that. But growing up… tight money, right?"

Bruin shrugged. "Sometimes meals had to be skipped, there just wasn't enough to go around. And when I was twelve, I found out that sometimes it was because my parents had given the money away to other residents. My younger siblings still got something, if at all possible.

"Do you think it didn't hurt my dad, to basically take food out of my mouth to give it to someone else? But he felt responsible for them, for everyone who lived in our apartment, and if me missing one meal meant that Old Lady Beatrice got to eat something that day… it was a choice that caused my dad hurt, but when he explained it to me when I became old enough, he said that he'd trusted I would forgive him, but he was willing to accept the consequences if not."

Bruin took in a deep breath. "Ser, you're like my dad."

Russell lifted a hand to pat the castle's lord on the head. "Daddy Ser."

"Ha! Cute thought, but no. Sergiy, you're responsible for others, and we accept that. I'm not a fighter, or a guardian, but I am a witch, and Russell had my back. That person who screamed, they would have been in serious trouble if you hadn't rescued them, right? You made a tactical decision, and that's okay."

Russell nodded. "It's okay. You did okay."

Bruin squeezed his side. "Yeah. If we're going to grow to love you, we have to also love the part of you that's a lord, right?"

"Already love," Russell said, poking his lord again.

Ser was starting to smell overwhelmed. "You two…"

"But!" Bruin held a finger up again. "That means you have to trust us right back, Lord Sergiy Usenko. Neither of us are going anywhere. So stop trying to send us off, okay? I mean, yes, it was terrifying. I don't want to experience an incursion first-hand again. But I'm kind of stuck here for the next three years, and I'm also your mate, which makes me double-stuck. And I'm dating Russell, which I guess makes me triple-stuck, and three is a magic number that's impossible for a witch to break.Anyways, you'll just have to learn to deal with the emotional burden, like my o'ba did. So there."

Ser didn't seem to know what to do or say next, so Russell made the choice for him, wrapping his lord up in a hug. It hurt his chest a little with how tightly he squeezed, but Ser seemed to need it.

"Mates stick together," Russell said.

Bruin came up on Ser's other side, joining in the hug. It was finally starting to seem like their Ser was starting to believe it.

After a moment, Bruin pulled back, wrinkling his nose. "You stink."

"Sorry. I don't think I've showered since that night, and I've been doing a lot of running back and forth."

Russell chuckled lowly.

"Russ, don't you say it."

"Bruin has an armpit kink!" Russell said exuberantly.

"I do not! Probably."

Sergiy just shook his head, still pressed up against Russell. "I'm sure you two will explain this to me soon. But for now, I'll go shower, and then I'll meet up with you two—"

"Nope!" Bruin interrupted. "Oh, nonono. You think we're letting you out of our sight again? What's actually going to happen is this. First, you're going to cram some food into your belly, then we're going to take all these dirty dishes back to Leona before she kicks your ass. After that, you and me and Russell are going down to your room, where we will watch you shower, nothing sexy but don't quote me on that, and then we'll join you in taking a nap with you in the middle so you can't sneak away. Then we'll wake up for dinner, talk for a couple of hours while we tell you more about how stupid you are, you'll apologize and ask to be forgiven, we'll forgive you this time, saying it's just this once."

Russell nodded, putting a hand on Ser's chest above his heart. "But actually always."

"Right. Then we'll talk some more, and reassure each other, and say whatever we all need to say. I might get kind of bitchy, I warn you, but I'll try to keep it to a minimum."

"No bitchiness," Russell said, wagging a finger at him. "You used up your minute already."

"I… fine! No bitchiness. I'll downgrade to sarcasm. Now give us both another big hug. Doable?"

"I think I can manage all that," he said, leaning back in to hug Russell, and then Bruin, whose hands clutched at Ser's shirt, trembling ever so slightly. "But I still have to oversee the patrols."

"No," Bruin said huskily.

"No," Russell agreed. "Delegate."

"Do I not get a say?"

"Nope. You should have been at the meeting."

Ser choked on a laugh. "What meeting?"

"The one the two of us held in the baths. It was very illuminating. Now help us with the dishes. You can manage your dinner, Leona just made it."

As Russell and Bruin went to the wall, stacking up plates and cups to bring down, and Sergiy moved in a half-daze to a plate of stroganoff, Russell leaned down to give Bruin a quick kiss on the cheek.

They had their Ser back, and all it took was a straightforward conversation.