Chapter 2
TWO
CALDER
The last thing Calder had expected was to catch sight of his mate in the botanical gardens soon after a new year dawned.
The years had blurred together and almost ceased to have meaning to him; it had been centuries since he’d felt truly optimistic about the arbitrary change from one year to the next that so many people seemed to view as a time for new beginnings.
It was the reason many of his kind slept for decades or centuries, taking a break from the sameness.
On the other hand, there had never been so much technology on the planet, and that was a change that was wreaking havoc with the World Spell.
There’d never been so much plastic or so much pollution, either, although, thankfully, people were beginning to make firm strides in finding more sustainable options.
There was a tiny part of Calder that missed the days when a giant kraken could simply capsize a few ships and convince people that they’d better mend the error of their ways.
People these days were so out of tune with nature and the underlying magic of the world that they missed all sorts of warning signs—and most of them had no idea that there was a mate out there for them, nor would they realize it if that mate showed up right in front of them.
But Calder was old, and he’d been in harmony with the world around him for a long time.
And the moment he’d spotted the man, he’d just known.
It was an immense relief. He’d wondered over the many years if maybe he wasn’t looking carefully enough.
It was one of the reasons he and the other mythical shifters tended to move around over the centuries, just in case their mate was somewhere they were not.
With enough time, it was possible to visit basically everywhere—only you never knew if you were visiting the right place at the right time.
Calder had long ago committed to leaving himself open to the influence of the Magic and chance—and it seemed like today that stance had paid off.
Only then his mate had fallen into a cake and chaos had ensued.
Calder hadn’t actually meant to summon the rain.
He’d gaped like an idiot at first, as he’d never actually seen someone fall into a cake in real life, and then the yelling had started—and then Calder had seen the blood on his mate’s face, and he was ashamed to admit that he’d lost control of himself a little.
His only thought had been to make the screaming pink harridan stop screaming at his mate.
On land, rain was his best weapon. Only in the chaos, his mate had slipped away.
The woman was still yelling that her party had been ruined and she was going to ruin the bakery—so Calder had made sure the rain slanted extra sideways and got everyone wet.
It wasn’t just petty revenge. If the party was rained out and everyone focused on the water, there’d be less concern about Calder’s mate and the cake.
But where had his mate gone?
Calder couldn’t go after his mate until the next day.
It was too chaotic in the immediate aftermath, and none of the staff Calder had spoken to had wanted to talk about the disastrous event.
Calder had finally found a person who was willing to be wordy in exchange for some cash.
Calder didn’t altogether approve, but the priority here was finding his mate.
So now Calder was letting himself into the small upscale bakery called Divine Confections.
It smelled like sugar, butter, and happiness, though that latter may have been due to who Calder knew was in the building.
But no, not only that. The people scattered at the round tables sipping warm drinks and eating the various confections seemed actually happy.
The glass display cases were filled with a variety of beautiful-looking treats, and the blue-haired witch behind the counter seemed genuinely pleased with life despite the line in front of him, chatting with the customer in front of him even as he rang up their order.
Calder was in no hurry, so he looked around himself as he joined the back of the queue.
They’d played with the idea of angelic: the walls were a warm pale yellow, and the art was in ornate golden frames and featured birds, wings, feathers, or the sky.
There were fluffy white clouds painted on the ceiling, the light fixtures on the wall were golden wings, and it looked like all the dishes were blue, white, or gold.
There were even cloth napkins and a bin to drop them off in so that they could be washed and reused, and everyone was drinking out of china or reusable mugs.
More than half of the people present were either witches or shifters, a concentration much higher than the average population.
(Calder was old enough and magical enough to feel the type of magic rather than simply the general awareness that most magical folks had, so he knew which were witches and which were shifters.) This was clearly known to be a magic-friendly establishment.
“Hello, can I help you?”
Calder had reached the front of the line.
The blue-haired witch was smiling brightly at him, white teeth gleaming in his pale face.
He had multiple piercings, and while Calder had never seen the appeal himself, he liked this human’s confidence and brightness.
His nametag said he was Simon and his pronouns were he/him.
“I certainly hope so,” Calder said, offering a smile of his own. “I’m hoping to speak to the young man who works here who was at the botanical gardens yesterday.”
The witch’s eyes narrowed. “If you have any complaints to make—”
“Oh, no,” Calder assured him immediately. “Not at all. I’d just like to meet him.”
It was only belatedly occurring to him that having a reason to be here would have been smart. It wasn’t like he could just announce he was here to claim his mate.
“Look,” Simon said, his customer service smile still firmly in place, but it had gone a little fake. “I appreciate that you like the look of Joseph, but this is actually a business, and we do request that our employees’ privacy be respected. We’re all just doing our jobs.”
“Yes, of course,” Calder said automatically.
Joseph. For some reason, it didn’t seem to fit, whispering against Calder’s skin all wrong, like fresh water instead of salt. But he understood what Simon was saying. He didn’t want his mate to be bothered, but he had to figure out how to meet him. He had to—
“I need to apologize,” he blurted out.
A dark eyebrow rose sharply, and Simon repeated flatly, “You need to apologize.”
“Yes,” Calder said, nodding, as though that would prove his point. “I’m afraid I might have been a bit of a distraction, you see, and—”
Simon’s eyes went wide before narrowing sharply again. He eyed Calder up and down. Thoroughly. Then he leaned in and lowered his voice a little. “Are you saying you were there when”—he waved his hands around—“splat?”
Calder grimaced. “I’m afraid so.”
Straightening abruptly, Simon grinned a bit manically at him. “Stay right there. Just one sec. Don’t move.”
Puzzled by this sudden change, Calder nevertheless did as instructed, watching as Simon darted into the back of the shop despite the queue that was forming behind Calder.
And then, because he was an old and powerful shifter, he eavesdropped on the whispered conversation in the kitchen behind the closed door.
“Adam, Adam, Adam!” Simon gasped out. “You will never believe who showed up in the bakery just now!”
An exasperated voice said, “You know I don’t care about stuff like that.”
Adam. Calder smiled to himself. Yes, that was it.
“You’re not listening!” Simon exclaimed. “It’s the hottest man who ever hotted!”
There was a clatter as something crashed to the floor with a wet sound. Batter in a bowl, maybe?
“What? He’s here?” Adam hissed.
“Yes!” Simon exclaimed. “He wants to see you.”
“No,” Adam started to protest.
“Yes,” Simon said again, still with that boundless enthusiasm.
Whatever rules the witch had been touting about correct employee/customer behavior didn’t seem to apply right now, and Calder couldn’t have been happier.
“But I’ve got icing on me. Again.”
“Adam.” Simon sounded exasperated but fond.
“The man saw you dive face-first into a cake, and he came to find you. He doesn’t care about a little bit of icing.
Or a lot of icing, apparently.” There was a beat of silence.
“Actually, now that I think about it, if your face was covered in white icing—”
Adam squawked. “Stop talking!” But Calder could hear the smile in his voice. “That cake was violently pink, and you know it was. There was absolutely nothing appealing about me being covered in it.”
“But you were clearly appealing anyway because he’s here!” Simon said, undeterred. “And I got a magical ping off him, so you don’t have to worry about hiding who you are. This could be your chance!”
“Simon.” For the first time, Adam sounded really annoyed. “I don’t want a bond, you know that.”
He sounded alarmingly definitive, and Calder practically felt his arms and tentacles wilt.
Magic brought fated mates together, and there was usually a strong connection immediately, but they still needed to put in the effort to make a relationship work.
This didn’t sound like a very auspicious beginning, and Calder wasn’t certain what the Magic could possibly have intended.
But he’d spent his long life accepting its guidance, and he would do so now.
Besides, as impatient as he wanted to be, he knew better than to mention bonding the first time they spoke to one another.
Didn’t he?
Simon huffed a breath. “Who said anything about bonding? Besides, the strength of that magical buzz suggests he’s a witch. If you play your cards right, you could have a date.”