Page 12 of Soar

Rodrigo gave him the patented look all parents wore when their child had just done something stupid. “Gregori. If he’s your mate, thensay something.”

“I’m sorry.”

Dimitri held up two fingers a couple of centimeters apart. “We were this close to putting together a search party, I hope you realize.”

“I was kinda on a plane for a long time. But I promise to not be radio silent from now on.”

“Appreciated.” Ha Na sighed, a hand over her heart. “We were very worried. Now, Sam said you’re in Boston?”

“And in Salem’s apartment, from the looks of it,” Sam muttered, staring hard over Gregori’s shoulder. “So you must have donesomethingright to get in there.”

Gregori propped the phone up on the windowsill so he could free his hands. He liked to talk with his hands, and having one unavailable cramped his style.

“To be blunt about it, he likes having sex with me. Although he won’t verbally admit it. I managed to weasel my way in to stay the night, but he’s also determined I need to go back home today. I…don’t know what to do.”

Vasily and Luka shared a glance that spoke volumes before Vasily spoke.

“How much have you communicated with him?”

Considering their own fiasco with Amaru, he could see why Vasily asked. “Everything. I’m not trying to keep secrets or only say what I think he wants to hear. I told him he’s my mate on our first night together. We argued and talked about it most of the flight up here. He knows I believe it to be true, at least. He’s not arguing that point so much as he just doesn’t want to uproot his life here. He doesn’t want a mate and he doesn’t want to move to Brazil. Those are his sticking points.”

All eyes turned to Sam, the resident expert on Salem, who blew out a stressed breath and shrugged.

“Yeah, sounds like my twin. He can be incredibly stubborn when he sets his mind to something. He’s also not at all a romantic at heart. The idea of having one soul mate out there is pretty much anathema to him. He’s completely sacrificed even the idea of having a relationship in favor of having a career and didn’t blink an eye at this decision.” Sam wiped a hand over his face before stating bluntly, “You, my friend, don’t have an uphill battle on your hands. You’re fighting up a mountainside.”

Gregori winced. He’d had a feeling this was the case but hearing it said out loud was disheartening.

Ha Na fretted upon hearing this. “But he has to convince him somehow.”

“I’m not saying otherwise,” Sam assured her gently. “But pushing my brother to do something is the surest way to fail. Stubborn was invented to describe him. So here’s my suggestion, Gregori. Win him over.”

“I’m all ears for suggestions.”

“Don’t try to drag him into your world. Try to join his.” Sam paused for a second, visibly weighing his words. “For instance, you could volunteer at the hospital where he works.”

Luka tilted back in his chair to give Sam a questioning look. “As what?A candy striper?”

“Those no longer exist, way to show your age, but they do take volunteers to help with the kids. To read stories, play games, that kind of thing. I think if Gregori shows up at the hospital and sayshi, I’m an ice dragon, I’d love to volunteer for the children’s department, they’ll snatch him up before he can complete the sentence.”

Now there was a stunningly good idea. Trust Sam to think of it. Not to sound egotistical, but Gregori was absolutely sure he was right, too. The whole world was still enamored with dragons, so Gregori volunteering at the hospital would be a shoo-in procedure.

Besides, he liked kids. No hardship on his part.

Sam was not done. “The thing Salem hates more than anything is people whose entire lives revolve around their partner. So showing him you have your own things going on will go really, really far.”

“I could hook up with the local police or fire departments too,” Gregori mused. “Fire department especially. They’d love me.”

“There you go,” Sam encouraged. “Do that. Oh, actually, my colleague is at Harvard and would love to have an in-depth conversation with you about languages. Remember how I said no one alive aside from the dragons speaks Old East Slavic anymore?She’s been begging me for more recordings. A quick talk, maybe some special lectures, would benefit the scholastic world, if nothing else. And I think coming back to find you were gone for the day doing something academic would also strongly appeal to Salem. He likes the brainy types.”

Gregori felt like he should be taking notes. “You think all of this is going to help? More than me trying to woo him?”

“I guarantee it. Be thoughtfully unromantic, if that makes sense. Salem’s eating habits are trash because he doesn’t have the time or energy. Cook for him, help him keep the apartment clean, just be supportive without making a big deal of it. You’ll get him addicted to having you there before he even knows what’s happening.”

NowthatGregori could definitely do. Hell, refraining from taking care of Salem and spoiling him would be harder. He was relieved to have this instruction. “Already done.”

Rodrigo shifted uneasily, leaning around Dimitri to speak to Sam. “How long do you think it’ll take to convince Salem and bring him down here?”

“It doesn’t matter if I need to stay up here for years,” Gregori insisted firmly. “I’m not leaving without my mate. And I’m not forcing him to do something he doesn’t wish for.”

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