Page 50 of Soar

“Not today.” Salem said this firmly because hell no. “Right now, her whole body is dealing with the trauma it was just dealt and a surgery is absolutely not wise. I know her appendix isn’t in great shape. I know it needs to come out soon. This is going to be something of a balancing act. I want to give her at least two days before we try the surgery again. I’ll keep her on antibiotics to make sure that appendix doesn’t burst on us until we can get to it. She needs the antibiotics anyway to make the surgery more viable. I also want her admitted the night before because—no offense—I just can’t take the risk again.”

“Completely understandable.” Father was still looking hopping mad, his accent growing thicker with his anger. “I do not want to take risk again. You keep her here.”

“We will. Please, whatever instructions you receive, follow to the letter.”

“We will,” Mom promised fiercely. “And my mother isn’t going to see her for a long time.”

Good. Maybe Clarissa would actually make it to adulthood safely. Salem was one hundred percent a believer in the philosophy that stupidity was the number one cause of death worldwide.

“We’ll get you back soon once she’s in a room,” he promised again. “Sit tight.”

“Thank you.”

With a final nod, he turned and walked to his office. He had a little downtime now that his surgery was cut short, and he needed at least ten minutes to decompress before he went and checked on Clarissa. He was still shaking.

He got to his office, sat down, and put his head in his hands, just breathing. Just pulling in air through his nose, releasing it through his mouth, and trying to get over the scare.

Kid was fine. Clarissa may have taken five years off his life, but the kid would be fine. Salem repeated those words about five times before he started to believe them.

Still, this whole situation grated. Anyone who worked with people would say how stupid the general public was. Things like this happened. It wasn’t the first time, wouldn’t be the last. God, what a depressing thought, that he’d have to deal with a situation like this again. Hopefully without losing a patient.

Sitting back in his chair, his eyes caught the calendar hanging on the wall. A joke from Alexis, the art featured dragons in full flight—a beautiful picture. Seeing it made him wonder what the past had been like. Before modern medicine came on the scene, when the mages had all sorts of spells and potions to do the same jobs. Would he have been able to heal an appendix without needing to take it out? Would surgery look entirely different if he just knew the right spells and potions?

But of course, it had all been lost in the Dragon Wars. All of the medical knowledge, all of those spells were lost, rendering the magic known today impotent in comparison.

Gregori insisted he was a mage, a mate. But how could he possibly believe that when he couldn’t even save one kid with his magic?

“Universe, if you’re trying to pull a joke on me, it’s not fucking funny.”

Sighing, he got up and headed for the door, pulling on his doctor’s coat as he went. He needed to check on Clarissa. If she was fine, maybe he’d head home early. Right now, he wasn’t in the right headspace to help anyone.

Gregori lay flat on his back, eyes hooded as he watched Salem ride him. It felt exquisite, the push and pull as Salem rocked back and forth, his dick sliding in and out of slick heat. He kept his hands on Salem’s thighs, loving the contact, sometimes reaching up to tweak a nipple just to hear Salem groan.

The pace was easy, not frantic for once, because right now the sex was less about getting off and more about comfort. For once, they were on the same page, but Gregori wished they weren’t, as it meant they’d both had a really shitty day.

Look at Salem, those slitted eyes, his mouth open in a pant. His legs trembled under Gregori’s hands from the exertion, but Salem didn’t speed up. Didn’t ask to change positions. Just kept riding Gregori with that perfectly slow pace.

With every fiber of his being, Gregori wished he could slow down his own climax. Extend this somehow. It wasn’t to be, sadly, his groin already tight and hot with the impending feeling. He could only take Salem with him right now.

Gregori shifted his hand over to Salem’s lovely dick and started stroking in time with his thrusts. Salem made that groan again, the sound like music to his ears, speaking purely of pleasure.

With a half shout, Salem came hard, the cum hot over Gregori’s hand. He felt Salem’s channel squeeze around him and it sent him over the edge. His hips slammed up as he spilled himself deep inside his mate, the climax more of relief than passion, but welcome nonetheless.

Gregori’s lungs worked, drawing in breath, though it had a catch in it. Damn soot still caused him problems. He ignored it, basking in the afterglow settling in. Salem collapsed over his chest, completely boneless. Hell, half of Gregori’s now softened dick was still in him. He was so warm, so cuddly, the thought of moving sounded sacrilegious. Gregori’s dragon let out a rumbling purr, a sound of perfect contentment. Their mate had come to them for sex and comfort, and right now, it made his dragon quite happy.

Gregori, though, wanted to know why. This was very unlike Salem. Should he ask? Or let it be and just indulge in the moment?

With a sigh, Salem pulled off and flopped onto his side. Then he waved a hand, speaking a spell. “Sui gev adi.”

The warm tingle of magic flowed over Gregori and he went from sticky to clean in a second flat. Uh. Since when did Salem know this spell? Gregori hadn’t seen this magic in a very, very long time.

“You learned the cleaning spell?”

“Sam taught it to me.” Salem lifted a single shoulder in a shrug, not proud of this, merely stating a fact. “Amaru apparently taught it to him.”

Trust Amaru to know this and have no qualms teaching it.

“Of course, my magic is only good for things like this,” Salem tacked on, tone bitter.

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