Twenty‑Three
Gareth
When we finally got there, we saw that the diner was packed with people. Friends, old and new, lined the booths, all desperate for a glimpse of Riley’s brother. The gossip mill must have been working overtime in the couple of hours since he’d landed in town.
They’d had time to prepare, after all. We had taken him to his cabin and helped him get settled.
Not something we could do in a few minutes.
There’d been plenty of time for the gossips to congregate at the diner.
Riley had taken me to the grocery store with him while Pax unpacked, picking up some signal that his brother was probably overwhelmed and needed a couple of minutes’ peace.
“He’s putting on a brave face. Just come with me and let him process. ”
Inside the store, Riley was stopped a lot.
People asked questions, having seen two dragons flying to the outskirts of town.
Some had even seen the fight between them and wanted to ask what Fen had done for Tatsuya to react like that.
Riley’s hackles rose at their accusations.
Even I got annoyed on his behalf. Tatsuya had been a dick for some unknown reason.
Sure, he could be gruff with people, but that had been almost cruel.
It had shown me a side of my best friend that I hadn’t cared to see. He’d have to answer for his behavior.
Honestly, I was angry at my friend for ruining such a sweet moment between fated mates.
The expression on Fen’s face would live with me for a long time.
Like Riley, I should have spoken up for Fen or said something to Tatsuya.
It cast a shadow over Riley and his brother being reunited.
I just hoped that Fen and Paxton could move past Tatsuya’s comment to be happy together.
Paxton had clearly been happy with the fates’ choice of a mate for him.
When we got back to the cabin, it was obvious Paxton had made an effort to look like this was a long-term arrangement.
There were little trinkets from his travels dotted around the place.
He had laundry in the washing machine and his own comforter on the bed.
In less than an hour, he had transformed the space into his home.
Something passed between the brothers. Both of them looked a little teary-eyed before Paxton let out a grumble about being hungry. Riley then shuffled us out the door and down the street for food.
It was walking distance to the diner, which was great since the snow wanted to keep falling, leaving a thick blanket on the pavement.
If we had to, Riley and I could get home on foot.
It wasn’t all that far. I’d hiked it before.
Riley could shift and I could use some magic to keep myself warm.
I didn’t like to do it often since it was taxing on my energy, using all that power for sustained lengths.
I also had to factor in that it would likely delay me from undoing the curse on Paxton.
If it was our only way of getting home safely, though, then that was what we would have to do.
I led Riley to a reserved booth, Oscar and Keeley already sitting there waiting for us. Riley led the introductions, with Paxton slowly slipping on a mask and becoming standoffish. It was clear that all the people were making him uncomfortable. Even Riley looked twitchy.
Making an executive decision for the group, I went to the counter and asked if we could make our order to go. Though they kept up with the small talk, the relief when the server dropped off our packaged food was palpable.
Paxton extended an invitation to Oscar and Keeley to join us, and they did, making the short journey arm in arm.
“Why are all the cute ones so very gay?” I heard Keeley asking, prompting both Riley and Oscar to laugh.
Even Paxton cracked a smile, his icy exterior cracking now we were out of the busy diner.
“I’m bi,” I said, at the same time Paxton said, “I’m pan.” We shared an amused look. Maybe bonding with Paxton wouldn’t be too difficult. I wondered how much Riley had shared with him about me and Greyhaven.
“Yeah, same,” Riley added, grinning at me and his brother.
“First, cousin, so ew, and second, you met your fated first. Same with you, Riley. The fates really fucked me over there. You’re both gorgeous!
” Keeley shook her head. I caught both Oscar and Riley almost bent double laughing.
The Christmas lights shone brightly, and the snow had slowed, making it a picturesque night to be spending with the guy I was falling in love with and our friends and family.
We almost got snowed in. As it was, Keeley ended up crashing with Oscar in his apartment rather than trying to walk home.
She was younger than me and still lived with her parents.
My aunt and uncle were good people, we just weren’t very close.
My uncle had struggled a lot with being lower in power than my mom, and the whole thing had soured their relationship.
It didn’t help that I was even more powerful than my mom, thanks to Dad’s genetics.
Keeley had been something of an anomaly, being much stronger than both her parents.
Her relationship with her father was strained because of it.
Once, I caught him while drunk, complaining that she’d stolen his and his wife’s magic when she was born.
No wonder Keeley spent most of her time going between havens all over the country and abroad.
Riley had shifted into a polar bear to walk home. He’d even offered to carry me, but I hadn’t wanted to be a burden. By the time I’d fallen three times, he’d shifted back just to demand I climb up so we could finally get home in one piece.
Exhausted, we just lay under the covers, wrapped up in each other. As much as I loved sex with Riley, there was such beauty and genuine intimacy in moments like this. “Do you think Fen’s alright?” Riley asked sleepily, snaking his arm over me.
“I dunno. Maybe we should give him some space, or send Pax after him if we don’t see him for a few days. I’m so pissed at Tatsuya!” My anger sparked along my veins, breaking me from my drowsiness. I nuzzled his hair.
Riley yawned and snuggled closer. “Me too. But I’m also not surprised. I always got the feeling that he and Ryuu looked down on Fen somehow.”
I wanted to be angry on my friend’s behalf. Tatsuya had always been a great friend to me. Yet I could see what Riley was saying if I looked at some situations in the past objectively. “I don’t get what their deal is. It has to be weird dragon politics or something.”
“Pax doesn’t believe Tatsuya. I could tell. He knows Fen’s a good person. He’ll convince him somehow.”
With those last words, Riley fell asleep. I wasn’t so lucky. For a couple of hours, despite how weary I was, I couldn’t sleep. I ended up messaging Tatsuya, demanding that he apologize to both Fen and Paxton. He left the message on read, which only made me more annoyed and less able to sleep.
Eventually, sleep got me, and I slipped into a strange dreamscape, with dreams of dragons swarming the skies. I only woke once to Riley having a brief nightmare. The longer we lived together, the less they occurred.
Paxton wasn’t ready to let me remove the spell the next day, saying that it was Yule and we needed to celebrate that rather than use a lot of magic and leave me too tired to do anything else.
I wanted to argue that he was overestimating the power needed, but Riley tugged on my arm and urged me to let it go.
“He needs a little more time,” he whispered into my ear. Paxton’s shifter senses must have caught it, because he scowled at his brother. Riley made an innocent expression, and nothing else was said.
The day after Yule, Paxton still wasn’t ready. I didn’t want to push the issue, but selfishly, I wanted to test breaking the curse so when I met up with Riley after the full moon, I could direct whichever warlock we found to help us. I didn’t want to leave it to chance.
Paxton’s curse differed from Riley’s oddly.
It was receptive to magic. We’d placed a temporary barrier between him and it.
A nothing sort of charm that bought him a couple of days until he was ready to face this.
He could wear the charm for up to a week before it would need recharging.
I cautioned him not to take it off because it would rebound if his curse wasn’t broken and immediately render him an outcast.
By Christmas Eve, with only days to go, I was determined to get this curse off my future brother?in?law so we could have a peaceful Christmas with at least one brother uncursed. Since I couldn’t help Riley directly, freeing his brother would have to do.
I knocked on the door of the cabin early in the morning of Christmas Eve with an apprehensive Riley by my side. “Gareth…”
“No, Ry, it needs to be done. One of you deserves Christmas free. He’s earned this happiness. I can’t give him his mate—”
“Poor Fen.”
No one had seen the dragon since his fight with Tatsuya.
At his apartment, a bag of his stuff was missing.
He had fled Greyhaven without a word to anyone.
I could only guess what was going on in his head.
Paxton had spoken about following his mate, trying to pick up his trail, even using some magic to find him, but if he left Greyhaven now without the curse being broken, he’d possibly end up being an outcast with his mate.
None of us was sure if Fen would be immune to Pax’s curse.
There was also the worry that none of us had voiced.
We all wondered if the curse would prevent us from causing any harm to Boyce.
Having Paxton free would give us an extra weapon other than my magic.
It was lunacy to go up against an unknown warlock without backup.
And the town needed the magic users here, especially in deep winter.
Keeley had offered to come, but I asked her to take over my classes when they started back up and help at the greenhouses.
Riley had asked her to power the wards for me. Something she hadn’t known I was doing.
“Just how bad is it?” she had asked me.
“Bad enough I was worried I wouldn’t be able to leave. With you and Eason still here, I can. He’s promised to help out long enough for us to end Boyce.” I shared a significant look with her. “He said not a day longer.”
“Will she not ask him to stay?”
“She said she can’t.”
Paxton opened the door and frowned, drawing me out of my thoughts. “Before you make an excuse, it’s happening now. I’m getting this curse off you so we can plan how to get it off Riley. Think of your brother. He needs to see that it can be done.”
His frown deepened, his mouth turning down. “Now that’s just emotional blackmail there. I can respect it, though. I like you being ruthless for him. He deserves it.” He flashed a quick smile, there and gone again, before moving out of the way so we could enter the cabin.
Riley blushed. “I’m going to make us all a big breakfast while Gareth does his magic.” He rushed off to the kitchen. I got it, magic still made him uneasy. He wouldn’t want to watch me break the curse down.
I took a seat on the sofa and patted the cushion next to me. “We’re just going to give it a shot and see if we need anything else.”
“Right. What do I need to do?”
“Hold my hand and don’t fight the magic when it comes at you. It shouldn’t hurt. I can’t promise it won’t, though. You might feel warmer or colder. It all depends on what he put on it to protect it.”
His hand was clammy in mine. I squeezed it in sympathy and stared into his dark brown eyes. In some lights, you could see a ring of amber in their depths. Such unusual eyes. “Okay,” I said quietly. “I’m going to start.”
Paxton flinched as I sent the first trickle of magic into him.
I tightened my grip on his hand and sped up the search for the core of the curse.
With a laugh, I touched it. I wasn’t sure if Riley’s had been constructed better—I’d have to talk to Keeley about it—but Paxton’s was so poorly made, it was laughable.
While it took a lot of power, leaving me drained, it was ridiculously easy to smash the curse to pieces and extract it from Paxton.
It was a matter of minutes before I could look him in the eyes and say, “Congratulations, Paxton. You are now curse free. You can take off that charm now.”
He slumped against the sofa cushions, letting go of my hand to scrub a hand over his face and hide his eyes from me. “Thank fuck for that. No, seriously.” He turned red-rimmed eyes toward me, his eyelashes wet. “Thank you, Gareth. I don’t even have the words.”
Riley must have heard something because he entered the living room. “Is everything okay?”
“I’m free, Riley.” Paxton rose and embraced his brother. He turned away from Riley. “I need you guys to bond because Ry, if you don’t—” He gave me a faux-lascivious look.
“Hey!” Riley said, elbowing his brother in the ribs. “That’s my warlock! You’ve got a fucking dragon as a mate.”
“I do.” Paxton sobered. “Once we get this mess with Boyce done and Mom freed, I’m going after him. No matter where he is, I’m going to find him and bring him home. Then I’m going to beat that fucker Tatsuya into the ground.”
“I’ll help.” Riley gave me an apologetic look. “Sorry, I know he’s your friend.”
“No, I’ll help. In fact, I’ll do worse. I’ll tell his sister. She’ll help you.”
I yawned, my jaw cracking with how wide it was. Despite how easy it had been to break the curse, it had still used a fair amount of power. A nap and some food would be enough to replenish me, though.
Paxton rose. “I’ll finish making breakfast. Pancakes?” We both nodded as Riley sat close to me. “Ry, let your man have a nap. Then we need to talk about what happens next.”