Chapter Seven
Bruin lifted his head as Rosemary entered the communal room of the Sage's Quarter.
"Good morning, brothers."
"Good morning, sister!"
"Rosemary," Lux said, setting his pen down. "You're looking well."
His friend was dressed in a wispy outfit, dark veil included, but didn't have her normal shiny jewelry or implements on her person. Nothing reflective.
"Getting into the right mind set?" Bruin asked.
"I have a few rituals I want to do for tonight's new moon, yes," she said, coming to stand next to the two of them where Lux was helping Bruin plan his own Shadow's Welcome , adding to the sun, earth, and water rituals he'd already cast on his room. "And speaking of rituals… here, Lux Manus. A gift from me to you, heartfelt and with no expectation of anything return."
Lux took a dark vial from her, then secured it in a pouch. "Thank you so very much, Rosemary. I have my own moon blood, of course, but that which is freely given from a friend is thrice blessed."
She shrugged, taking a seat. "I'll be glad if it gets used. I admit, when I first learned the craft, I used to think I'd be using my own period blood a lot more."
"So dark, so edgy," Bruin teased, and she shoved Lux in order to shove him.
"But since I don't do attraction potions, and I'm not interested in fertility charms, it often went to waste until I learned to dry it and turn it into a powder. Speaking of fertile, though… Bruin. Has your Big Bad Wolf spread his seed within your field yet?"
"I wish," he muttered. "But no. He's been making himself distant the last few days, and I don't know why. It seemed at first like he was opening up, right?"
"You two did seem very friendly with each other during the anchor hike," Lux said.
"I know! And I was going to cut his hair, but now he just says things like, 'Now is not a good time.' Or just shakes his head, since he's not always one with words. Maybe I came on too strong, too fast?"
"No, I think shifters are generally upfront, at least the ones here at the keep." Lux said. "I've had sex with two, myself."
Bruin had the briefest flare of hurt, but he took a breath, then exhaled the negativity.
"Any tips?"
"Well, keeping in mind that this is purely anecdotal from only two encounters," Lux said, looking at him to make sure he was keeping up. Bruin nodded. "Drink a lot of water beforehand, because they don't get as tired. They're also stronger. And in your case, Bruin, you might want to practice a size compatibility charm, if you're planning on taking any of the men while in their werebeast form. Some of them have knots, too, which I hear are no joke"
"They are big, aren't they," Rosemary said.
The image of Yacob came to mind, and based upon the size of his dangling balls and sheath…
"They are. That's good advice, Lux, thank you."
After Lux made sure that Bruin would be able to perform the Shadow's Welcome ritual properly, he excused himself to make his own day-long preparations. With it being the first new moon at a new home, there was a lot he said he needed to do.
Bruin returned to his room, sat down on his rug, and leaned his back up against the wall.
What to do?
It was their seventh day at Bastion Keep, a Wednesday. Their next anchor hike wasn't for another two days, pushed back owing to the fact that Rosemary and Lux were going to be doing rituals throughout the night, and Roland agreed that they shouldn't do a trek while sleepless. He himself was just going to do the one ritual, probably at midnight with the help of an alarm clock, but then he'd be supporting the others as part of the coven. In theory, that meant that he had the entire day free. He had games on his laptop, and a nap either in bed or out in the sun would always be welcome.
But no. Roland's rebuke from when he mentioned this being a cushy gig sat fresh in his mind. There was still a lot that he could do to prepare for the next incursion, and while a day off here and there would be fine, he needed to make sure that he could pull his own weight, first.
'Save your fun for when the job is done,' his dads would say, quickly followed by a laughing, 'But don't stress none!'
Hopping to his feet, the sight of his shelves of crystals reminded him that he needed more stones. An internet search had told him that there was a combination smoke shop and occult retailer that might have what he needed in Town, so it was worth checking out. Now he just needed a ride! Roland had mentioned that shuttles went back and forth, but he didn't know where or when.
Easy enough to ask someone. Shoving a charm pouch with a handful of crystals into his pocket, their muffled clacking a comfort, he left his room and headed to the west wing.
The inner courtyard between the guardians' living quarters was packed this morning. There were about fifteen guardians doing several different training exercises, and in a mix of forms.
Days back, Auguste had been happy to explain that shifters actually only had three forms, animal, person, and werebeast, but that with practice they could blend the three 'elements' to take different forms, from animalistic humans, to war-sized dire forms, like Russell's large wolf. Apparently, the guardians would do drills in different forms, allowing them to better adapt to whatever circumstance the battlefield needed.
Bruin circled around the courtyard looking for someone that didn't appear too busy, and noticed Lord Sergiy.
The lord of the keep was leading a class, sparring with Marka and discussing what sounded like vulnerable points. As soon as the lord noticed him, however, his guard slipped, and he nearly received a wallop from Marka's bokken. That, of course, caused the eight other guardians around him to spin around.
Well, so much for asking someone unobtrusively. Feeling a little bit awkward, he approached.
"Oh look, it's Bruin," Marka said, wiping some sweat off of her face. "That explains our lord's distraction."
A large golden werewolf moved to stand beside her, and Bruin remembered that this was Markos' werebeast form. He didn't know all the guardians, yet, but the five pack leaders had all been pointed out to him.
"Aye," Markos said, pretending to put an elbow on his twin sister's head, leaning on her. "But it looks like I'll have to give up hope that the witch will join us on a hunt.Poor Ser would be too distracted to lead properly, and he'd get eaten by the first fist-sized shadowling!"
There were a number of barks and laughs from the others. While Bruin tried to make sense of it, he saw Sergiy set his bokken down, straighten his kilt, then walk up to him. The lord of the castle, his scarred skin beaded with sweat and flush from exertion, stopped just several inches away. Bruin watched him open and close his mouth several times, as if working out what he wanted to say. Sergiy at last lifted his chin.
"What is it you want, witch?" he snapped.
Bruin saw the twins groan, and he felt his face burn.
"I'm sorry, Lord," he said. "I didn't mean to interrupt anything."
Sergiy stared at him, then turned around. "See that it doesn't happen again."
Bruin watched the cranky warlord march back to his dropped sword, only to be stopped by his two siblings, both now in their golden werewolf forms. They each grabbed him beneath one armpit and lifted him up off the ground.
"What are you doing?" he asked, sounding scandalized as his feet kicked at the air.
His siblings carried Sergiy over and set him down in front of Bruin.
"Let's try that again, Ser," Markos said.
"With just a smidgen more tact," Marka added.
The man crossed his arms, and Bruin was surprised to see that he appeared embarrassed.
"I suppose. Well. Green witch. Bruin. Welcome to our inner training grounds. What brings you here?"
" Good job!" Markos stage whispered as the other guardians formed a ring around them.
"I need some more crystals for my healing charms, and I think there's a local shop that sells them," he said slowly. "I came to ask someone how the shuttle to Town worked?"
"Sergiy!" Marka said, amid delighted barking. "Offer to take him yourself. It'll be romantic!"
The lord appeared indecisive, and as he hesitated, the other half-dozen guardians in the field stopped their training to watch.
Bruin swallowed, backing up a couple of steps and nearly stepping on someone's foot, and that person muttered an apology before leaping back.
"Okay, clearly something is going on here that I'm missing," he said. "What am I not getting? Is this a hazing ritual? A dare? Did I commit a faux paus of some kind? Did I accidentally perform an aphrodisiac charm?"
"There are such things?" Sergiy asked, sounding surprised.
"Yes. Not spontaneous love potions, those are just unethical mind control. But there are charms to make you smell like whatever your suitor would most enjoy, for example, and other things like that. So…"
Sergiy crossed his arms, looked around at the various faces and snouts, then set his hands back at his waist, affecting nonchalance.
"Bruin. There is something important that I must tell you, and as much as I would have preferred doing it privately—"
"Which would have taken you until next year, at the rate you were going," Markos interrupted.
"Yes, well. Bruin… you are my mate."
Dead silence from the amassed crowd, but they seemed eager to hear Bruin's reply. As the silence stretched, ears swiveled and murmurs began.
"Um, okay? I mean, you've been kind of a major cranky-pants, but we can be best mates, sure. Hang out in the evenings and stuff?"
Sergiy's golden eyes seemed to glitter, staring at him incredulously. "Not mate as in friend . Mate as in lover. Partner. The kind of mate where you bond together for life."
"What? But we just met!"
"I am well aware," he said, looking Bruin up and down and seeming a bit… displeased? "And it is not my choice, but there's, it's…"
Sergiy seemed to be floundering as badly as Bruin was, as he tried to understand. Markos stepped forward, slapped his brother on the back, then shifted into his human form. Marka, meanwhile, started shooing away the guardians that were crowding too close, though none ventured far.
"Bruin, I'll explain," Markos said patiently. "There's a certain thing that happens to some shifters. We call it fehrthas leofes . You'd probably call it a soulmate, or a promised mate. Someone, when we see them, instinct tells us that we belong together."
"I thought that was all just tv drama, and old legends," he said distractedly.
"There's billions of people in the world, and shifters aren't overtly persecuted as much as we used to be. Maybe promised mates just aren't needed so much. But some lineages, like my own family, still have carry the trait pretty strongly. My grandma met her mate that way, and it seems that now my brother has met you. You're his, which he knew the second he saw you."
Bruin frowned, looking down at the lord who now probably had a good excuse for being grumpy this last week. Bruin tried seeing him in a new light. What would it be like to meet someone for the first time and suddenly the universe tells you that you and the other dude are definitely going to bone?
"So what does that mean?"
Sergiy shrugged. "Well, obviously you'll move into my room, I suppose. And maybe then—"
"Whoa, hold up. I mean, yeah, you're pretty hot, but you're moving a bit fast. What about dating?"
"Why?"
Bruin held his ground stubbornly, and the lord seemed confused that he, what, hadn't immediately and enthusiastically agreed? Prostrated himself before him? Maybe someone with a fire nature would, but Bruin needed more time.
"Well fuck, I don't know, maybe because I don't know anything about you? Like, what's your favorite movie? Or favorite food? Wait, that one I do know, it's pudding." Marka laughed the loudest out of their spectators, and he saw the lord growl. "I don't even know what your wolf form looks like."
"Wolf?" Sergiy turned back to him, and his cross expression was slowly replaced by a toothy smile. "Bruin, I am not a wolf."
Bruin frowned, looking from him to his siblings. "But… Markos and Marka are?"
Sergiy nodded, then kicked off his sandals, followed by his kilt. Bruin's gaze immediately went down. He quickly decided that the lord had nothing to be ashamed of, and then allowed himself enough time for a second, third, and fourth opinion.
"Most shifters take up after their parents, it is true," Sergiy said, "and I am no exception. My siblings take up after their father, Gregory, who is a wolf. My own father is a wolf as well, but I take up after my mother."
Flexing his back, Sergiy turned his head, and his smile lengthened, and widened, and then there were teeth , and…
In seconds, there was a horse-sized dragon standing in front of him, marching back and forth to give Bruin the chance to see all sides. Four legs, and a lizard-like tail, and though there weren't physical wings, there were a pair of glowing tattoos covering up scars where he might imagine them to be.
"You're a dragon? "
"I am a drake shifter ," the golden-scaled beast corrected him. "And this is my drake form.But close enough."
Sergiy circled him, then began brushing up against him with his side. He sounded and acted more confident. Bruin reached out, touching the hide, golden like his siblings. It was more like a crocodile's, hardened on the back, but as Sergiy sat on his haunches in front of him reminiscent of a dog, he reached out to rub against his chest. It was smooth but firm, like velvet-covered stone, and he felt Sergiy rumble as he growled.
"Impressive, yes?"
Bruin reached up, scratching at the sides of Sergiy's cheeks. The drake hissed in surprise, but then started swatting the ground with his tail.
"I have to admit, you really are. You are so big and handsome like this!" More tail swats, and as Bruin continued to pamper the dog-like drake, he saw that Sergiy had more similarities to a horse than overall shape as something pink showing itself from between his legs. He really didn't think accommodation charms would manage something that size, at least not without a coven backing them. "But I dunno, you don't have much fur, which makes you less cuddly."
"I am not cuddly?" he said mournfully.
Bruin grinned up at him teasingly. "Just maybe not compared to some of the others here. There, there, I'm sure your human form will prove adequate."
Bruin stepped back, then watched as Sergiy knelt down, crossing his forepaws over each other.
"So, I can't say that I know anything about this whole promised mate thing," he said slowly. Probably something he could look up. "But I'm willing to give the idea a shot. And see if you're anything other than a scowling grumble-puss. Maybe we could start with a dinner date or something."
Sergiy tilted his head. "A date? Why? You are my mate."
Bruin frowned. "Yeah, but what does that mean? I mean, sure, maybe we're compatible, but you make it sound like nothing else matters. Or other people. What if I wanted to see someone else, too? Like Yacob! Hey, Yacob, are you free for a date this weekend?"
The big wolf and Bruin shared a laugh, but Sergiy shot to his feet, growling, and Bruin choked on his air.
"There will be no dating of others," he said. "You are mine. "
Bruin held his tongue, then looked around, seeing if he could piece something together from the others' reactions. They seemed unconcerned and even a little amused at their lord's antics.
A thought clicked. "Lord Sergiy. Does Russell know that I'm your mate?"
The drake nodded. "He's the first one I told, outside of my family. And he, like them, encouraged me to tell you. It shames me to say it still took me a few days."
"Did you tell him to avoid me?"
"What? No, of course not! Why would I oppose a friendship?"
"Friends… but nothing more, apparently."
Sergiy's mouth fell open, but then he shut it with a snap, and his head bobbed back and forth. "I did not know that you two were interested in each other. But correct, my mate is no one else's but mine."
Bruin took a deep breath. Right. There it was. Bruin didn't mind being monogamous with someone—he'd been that way with Lux—but this level of possessiveness before they'd even agreed to date each other? Maybe later he could disabuse Sergiy of that notion, but right now, it was all a bit too much for an earth-minded witch to process.
"Well!" he said with as much artificial brightness as he could muster, but a fat load of good it would do around shifters and their empathetic sense of smell. "I thank you for your interest in me, Lord Sergiy, but it seems that I have a lot to think about before I can give you an answer."
Turning, Bruin marched his way past some grinning werebeasts, holding his head high and refusing to look back.
"What is there to think about? Fehrthas is all that must be."
"Goodbye, Sergiy, enjoy your morning training! I'll see you at lunch or dinner. Maybe ."
As Bruin strode back into the castle proper, he heard amused laughter from the guardians, and a final plaintive parting cry from Sergiy.
"But you're my mate !"