Chapter 44 Dorian
I stared at the man sitting across from me as we bounced along the waves. His long greyish-blond hair blew around his face, but he didn’t lift a finger to push it out of his eyes. Instead, he stared right back at me as though knowing he could kill me with just a snap of his fingers.
A druid. Roman’s fucking plan was to bring a druid into our house.
I’d been raised to be leery of the extreme earth magic users.
My grandfather had kept one on his payroll and the man had always made my hackles stand on end.
Sometimes it was because of the way he’d make the trees morph to his will as they sprouted from the ground.
Sometimes it was because he could stop a wolf mid-shift with a flick of his wrist. And I’d never forget that one time the druid disagreed with my grandfather and made him submit to his will with just a single look.
No one ever challenged my grandfather and survived.
No one except that disturbing druid.
The old man on the opposite side of the boat smiled at me with thin lips and a slight glare as though reading my memories. I immediately tore my eyes from him before he could put me under his spell.
Near the rear, Roman and Aiden were each on their phones speaking to their lawyers.
Roman’s subdued demeanor meant he was doing everything in his power to stay calm.
After seven decades together, I had a real good understanding of his tells.
He’d loosened the top few buttons of his dress shirt and had kicked his shoes off several minutes ago.
And when Roman tapped each one of his fingertips over and over with his thumb, I knew his blood-thirsty monster was boiling inside.
Aiden, on the other hand, used grand gestures and movements to indicate that he was equally frustrated with the person on the other end of the line.
The damage the Crescent Coven had done by getting the human legal system involved wouldn’t be fixed overnight.
At least in my case, the lawyers Roman had recommended to me already all but promised that the charges would be dismissed.
Apparently, they had hard evidence that the cop who claimed he had a victim ready to testify against me and my behavior had been bribed to lie.
And he was dumb enough to immediately purchase a fancy sports car with that bribe money.
There had been no underage girl, and now the cop’s behavior was a bigger story than the original accusation.
It still made me feel like shit, though. I never wanted Katarina or the others to even consider that I would do something so awful. And while it seemed as if they never doubted my innocence, I wouldn’t forget how it felt to be accused.
And speaking of my woman, Katarina sat on the fluffy benches near Blaise on the bow with her chin resting on her crossed arms as she looked out over the horizon.
Her red, curly hair matched the sky, where the sun began its descent to our right.
Her body looked relaxed as she gazed across the vast ocean in front of us and the sporadic barrier islands to the west. And if I were being honest, I loved coming out here too.
It had been a while since we’d last visited, and I’d almost forgotten how beautiful and peaceful this area was in comparison to the chaos of an old, crowded city.
Roman had chartered this boat to take us to his island in Terrebonne Parish.
One side of the property was mostly protected for nesting birds.
But somehow, Roman had managed to purchase the only house still standing on the eastern end of the barrier island and turned it into our own little sanctuary.
Roman always did that…made dens for us. Aiden and I once believed it was because he’d chosen to move non-vampires into his circle and needed to show the Ancients that he was still a powerful leader by building an empire.
But Blaise had a different theory. One that painted Roman as a lonely vampire who preferred the company of other supernaturals to his own and found pleasure in providing a safe space for us to live and thrive.
Sure, that meant we worked for him and enforced the “law” as requested.
But considering we’d all either been kicked out of our families for committing an unforgivable crime, had never even known our families, or had been used as a bargaining chip like a piece of trash, Roman’s dens had always felt like home more than anywhere else.
The druid continued to stare at me. He only adjusted his gaze when Aiden walked up the center of the boat and sat down beside me, phone still clenched in his hands.
“Those fucking witches,” he growled. Tucking his hair under his ball cap again, he leaned back against the puffy seat and let out a sigh.
“Any progress?” I asked.
He kept his eyes closed but shook his head. “Not much today, but I think it will clear itself up. Just going to be a bit of a shit show mending all those relationships I’ve built. Not to mention getting my accounts unfrozen and changing the access back.”
“Sorry, man,” I said, truly meaning it. “This whole thing…”
“Yeah,” Aiden agreed. “We really need to end this shit once and for all.”
“With the coven?”
“With everyone.” He leaned forward and rubbed the heels of his hands against his eyes for several seconds.
In his dark jeans and surf shop tee shirt, he looked like a tourist. But his mood was anything but jovial.
“When is it going to stop? I mean, I like to fight for Roman and our territory, but it’s getting a little old.
Wouldn’t it be nice to just, I don’t know, relax for a few decades?
” His eyes drifted toward the front of the boat and settled on Katarina.
I smiled, knowing exactly where his thoughts had flowed. “Yeah,” I agreed. “It would be nice.”
Aiden huffed a laugh and then turned his attention back to the druid still sitting across from us and watching our entire conversation. “So, how have you been, old man?” Aiden asked.
Cormac chuckled. “I have been well, áedán bohn Cúirt Foraoise.”
Aiden bristled beside me, hating it when anyone referred to his family name, indicative of his stature in the fae realm. “You know not to call me that here,” he grumbled, and the druid smiled.
“As you wish, Aiden.”
I looked back toward Katarina as she pointed at something in the water that Blaise immediately leaned over the side to look at. Shaking my head, I asked, “Are we making a mistake here? Counting on magic to strengthen us enough to push back the coven and their allies?”
“It’s worked before, “Aiden said softly.
“Yeah, but before, we didn’t have so much to lose.”
“We also didn’t have so much to fight for,” Roman countered, stepping closer to join us and watching Katarina and Blaise laugh as the waves bounced off the side of the boat. “He’s different.” Bobbing his chin toward Blaise, Roman smiled. “It’s good to see him finally happy.”
“Happy is a very strange word to associate with Blaise,” Aiden teased.
I tried to roll the tension out of my neck. “Whatever he is, it’s keeping his broodiness in check.” And I meant it. Blaise was better—more in control, more sociable, and definitely more carefree in allowing us to see the way he felt about Katarina. I think we all had changed in that way.
Roman’s phone buzzed in his hand, and he immediately turned back into the savvy businessman he’d become several centuries ago. His black dress pants clicked in the wind, yet his bare feet made no sound at all while he paced the deck on the back of the boat.
“Why did you leave your pack?” Cormac asked, forcing both Aiden and me to refocus our attention on the old druid.
He was wearing a pair of worn-out sandals, khaki pants that looked like they were made from a burlap sack, and one of those thin fishing shirts with the sleeves cut off at his elbows.
Pieces of dark blue ink from his tattoos danced across his arms. He looked like an old beach bum, and it made me wonder where he’d been before Roman had summoned him here.
“You know why he left his pack, Cormac,” Aiden groaned.
“True,” the druid conceded. “Maybe I should phrase my question in a different way. Why have you not joined a pack again?”
“I have a pack now.”
“Do you?” he continued to push.
“I’m going to go hang out with my lady,” Aiden said as he jumped to his feet. Adjusting his ball cap again, he looked down at me and raised his brows. “You good?”
“Yeah,” I grumbled.
The moment Aiden walked past the boat captain’s elevated seat and pushed his way between Katarina and Blaise, the druid sat down next to me. “This is all very interesting,” he mused.
“What do you mean?”
“The girl,” he said, ignoring my question. “She is part witch and part demon?”
“Apparently.”
“An incubus father, correct?”
“So they say.”
The druid chuckled. “You know, lone wolf, I am here to help you. To help all of you. You do not need to be afraid of me.”
I slowly turned my head to the right to glare at him. “I am not afraid of you.”
“Maybe not me,” he agreed. “But you have met my kind before, and they scared you.”
Crossing my arms and blowing out a puff of air, I did my best to feign ignorance. “Whatever, old man.”
He laughed again and the sound reminded me of wind whispering through the trees. “I believe you,” he finally said after a few moments of silence.
“Excuse me?”
His eyes traveled from Roman to the three laughing on the bow and back to me. “This is your pack.”
“It’s my pack. Roman’s nest. Aiden’s clan. And Blaise’s…well whatever dragons have.”
“They don’t have anyone,” Cormac said quickly. “They live very solitary lives. Hence my fascination with the dynamics of this little… family.”
“It just works for us,” I offered.
“Yes, I see that. But how has it changed since her?” He pointed at Katarina, who giggled as Aiden tickled her and Blaise pretended to defend her honor.
“It’s better,” I finally said. “We’re all better.”
“And you’re all fornicating?”
I almost choked on my response. “I don’t see how that’s any of your—”
“An incubus feeds on the energy released during sexual encounters,” he interrupted. “It is important for me to know if she’s feeding off of you like a demon.”
Letting out a sigh, I wondered how I was the one stuck conversing with this old druid.
Conveniently, Roman was still shouting into his phone, and the three up front continued to play whatever little game they were doing.
Meanwhile, I was stuck with the oldest person on this boat asking questions about our sex lives.
“Yes,” I finally grumbled. “We have sex with her.”
“All of you together?”
“Do you really need to know this or are you just being a nosy pervert?” He glared at me, and my blood ran cold. “Yes, together,” I admitted. “And it’s amazing.”
Cormac laughed at that. “I bet it is. Sex with a succubus is supposed to be life-changing.” He wiggled his brows, and I felt sick to my stomach.
“She makes us feel better.” And when the gross old druid gave me a creepy look, I clarified. “The beasts inside. She can tame them. Blaise and Roman say that’s a result of her witch magic.”
“From her mother, yes?”
I nodded and glanced toward Katarina, wanting so badly to hold her in my arms right now and leave this conversation.
“She was a Void?”
I nodded again.
“Fascinating.” Cormac didn’t say anything else.
Instead, he pushed to his feet and walked toward the front of the boat.
But he stopped beside the captain’s chair and started another conversation instead of joining Katarina, Aiden, and Blaise.
I watched as the two men spoke with animation about who knows what and found myself equally fascinated with the druid.
As I observed the man, Katarina pushed her way past him and smiled at me as she approached. I couldn’t hold back my joy as I opened my arms and welcomed her onto my lap.
She kissed me on the lips, quick but hard. “I missed you,” she cooed.
Squeezing her hips and pulling her tighter against my middle, I nestled my mouth along her neck and sucked in her scent. “You smell so good,” I growled.
She giggled and whispered into my ear. “You too, wolf boy.”
As I laughed, a shadow darkened the air above us and I let out a moan. “What Roman?” I said without removing my face from Katarina’s body.
“We’re almost here. I’m going to need your help with the ropes.”
“Nope,” I said, kissing Katarina again and tugging her even closer. “I don’t want to move.”
But before Roman could argue, Katarina wiggled her way off my legs and stood. She grabbed Roman’s hand, tugged him down toward her, and kissed him long and deep. I didn’t miss the way Cormac was now watching every action with a keen eye.
“I can help,” Katarina said once she pulled herself away. “I’ve always wanted to work on a boat.”
Roman laughed and wrapped his arm across her shoulder. “All right, then. Let’s give you your first lesson.”
He guided her away from me toward the back of the boat, and I sunk in my seat in defeat.
The wolf and I would share what belonged to all of us, strange considering how possessive wolves usually were.
But that didn’t mean I hadn’t preferred to be attached to Katarina’s side every moment of every day.
I loved her with all my heart and soul.
She was my mate.
My most favorite person in the world.
And as I smiled at those thoughts, the druid winked at me before returning his attention to the captain. I closed my eyes and tried to rid my memories of the old man and that smirk, and instead focused on the way my Kitty Cat felt in my lap.
We would get to claim her again, and for everyone’s sake, I hoped that happened soon.