Page 64 of Soar

“Got it.” Salem had no idea how he’d heft Gregori’s ass up to the roof, but he was damned if he wasn’t going to manage it somehow. “Do you have any idea why he’s like this?”

“Only a guess. We worried, honestly, about him being up there with you. He’s so very far removed from his clan, and adragon has never done what he’s done. His dragon could very well be in withdrawal right now.”

So this was Salem’s fault. For being stubborn, for refusing to leave, knowing Gregori would never separate from him. For a full second, he hated himself.

“Text me his condition on the hour. It’ll be impossible to call while we’re in flight, but I want updates. We’ll leave as soon as I can throw a saddle on somebody. I’ll bring Dimitri and Sam up with me.”

“Please and thank you.”

He hung up, then looked helplessly at Gregori. As fast as they would fly up here, it was still a good eight hour wait. Maybe ten. He wasn’t sure how fast a dragon could fly. It had taken him fifteen hours to get back, but that had involved a layover, so Salem wasn’t sure how to calculate it.

Gregori made a defeated sound. “Sorry.”

“Don’t you dare apologize to me for this,” Salem choked out. Everything in him burned with regret, with shame, because Gregori had pushed himself this hard so he could stay with Salem. It should never have come down to this. “I’ll be very mad at you later for not answering me honestly and telling me something was wrong, but right now, we’re getting you on the roof. Uh. Can you stand?”

Gregori gave a slow shake of the head. “Hurts.”

“Everything hurts, huh. All right, what’s your password for your phone?”

“Same as…same as day we met.”

This fucking romantic. What the hell was he supposed to do with him?

Salem snatched up Gregori’s phone from the bedside table, only to find a picture of himself as the background on the home screen. Seriously, this romantic. Shaking it off, he pulled up thecontacts and typed infire. Sure enough, the number for the firefighters Gregori volunteered with was right in the contacts.

Gregori’s eyes slipped back out of focus. Even answering those brief questions had completely wiped him out. It honestly terrified Salem to see how weak he was, but Gregori wasn’t going to get better if Salem sat there and panicked.

He dialed the number, keeping one hand on Gregori all the time, hoping his dragon self would feel better with him right on hand.

The firemen were about to get shanghaied into helping him get a dragon on a roof.

Salem sat on the roof with Gregori, unsure whether to be worried or pissed. Currently worry won out because Gregori looked like shit. He lay on the roof with only a blanket under him, head pillowed in Salem’s lap, eyes not focusing. Salem wasn’t even sure Gregori was lucid enough to realize he’d been hauled up here.

And there wasn’t a damn thing Salem could do to help him.

Right now, he couldn’t help but kick himself over and over. He’d known Gregori wouldn’t leave him, but dammit, Salem was toxic as hell for banking on that and never even questioning what it would do to Gregori in return. This man had basically broken himself to stay with Salem. If there had ever been any doubt about Gregori leaving, it was long gone now. Salem kicked himself again. He’d driven Gregori to this. And to think he’d told Alexis only yesterday that he needed more time.

Moretime. Like this much time away from his clan hadn’t done enough damage to Gregori.

Fuck, he hated himself.

Anger flared again, hot and heavy.Damnhis magic, and himself, for being so useless. What was even the point of being a mage when something like this happened and Salem could only pray for someone else to arrive to help?

He hadn’t been kidding with Sora about asking for an apprenticeship, but this situation right here, it made him all the more determined. No one else was going down on his watch and leaving Salem uselessly sitting by and wringing his hands.

The firefighters had been called out to a fire, so they hadn’t been able to stay, though they’d promised to swing by later and check in. It left Salem up here alone, with Sora texting him, promising they’d be there in a few hours.

Sora’s sole instruction to him was to somehow coax Gregori into shifting if at all possible.

Easily said. How to manage it, that was the question. This situation was unheard of. There was no guide on how to overcome it.

There would be after this, though. Salem would make damn sure of it.

“Don’t do this,” Salem muttered, stroking Gregori’s hair in a rhythmic way. “I just owned the fact I was being an asshole. I can’t make it up to you if you’re like this.”

Was it his imagination or did Gregori try to nuzzle in closer?

The roof door creaked open and a head popped around it. Building security guard, looked like, a retired vet who worked here part time by the name of Joe.

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