Page 65 of Soar

“You two okay up here?” Joe inquired.

Since it was a balmy fifteen degrees, and no one sane would come up here to do anything romantic, he could see why Joe asked.

“Not really. Gregori’s in bad shape, he can’t shift to dragon form right now.”

“Oh shit,” Joe breathed. “Can I help?”

“Joe, right now, I don’t even know how to help.”

Joe didn’t seem to like that. He looked at Gregori for a long second before saying, “I’ll let everyone know.”

Who the hell was everyone? Salem had no chance to voice this question before Joe ducked back inside, letting the door slam shut behind him. Eh, didn’t matter, he’d surely figure it out shortly.

Salem turned his attention back to Gregori. He’d tried coaxing, bribes, everything he could think of to encourage Gregori to shift. Nothing had worked. What had he not tried?

His cell phone rang next to him. Oh, Sora?!

Shit, no, of course it wasn’t Sora. It was the hospital. Why were they calling him on his day off?

Of course, the answer was obvious. He swiped Accept and snarled, “What.”

The person on the other end of the line paused. “Uh, Doctor Hunter?Can you possibly come in?—”

“No.”

“It’s kinda a serious case?—”

“Listen to me carefully. Gregori is down right now. I’m going fucking nowhere.”

The tone changed and did a one eighty. “Gregori is?!Oh no!Okay, I’ll make sure you’re not on call, and keep us posted on how he’s doing.”

Was there anyone Gregori had not made friends with? Forget ice dragon, the man was a social butterfly.

“I will.” Salem hung up and set the phone back down at his side.

The second he refocused, he realized Gregori no longer stared blindly ahead and instead looked up at Salem. Oh? Relief leapt into his throat. This was the first time in almost four hours Gregori had looked at him properly.

“Gregori?”

“First time,” Gregori whispered, his throat sounding tight. “First time you’ve made me priority.”

“I told you, I’ve realized I’ve been an asshole. I’m not denying you or this relationship anymore. I’m so sorry. You can’t believe how sorry I am. I promise you, after this, I will never put my needs above yours.”

A sound escaped Gregori’s mouth, and it spoke of relief, quiet joy, and something like need. Salem felt like a jerk all over again.

“I love you,” Gregori whispered.

“I know. You literally drove yourself into the ground to be with me. How about you start loving me enough that you stand your ground when I start pushing too hard? Instead of being afraid of how I’ll react.”

“Ahhh.” Gregori sighed again, and this time he had a hint of a smile. “My mate is sassy. Well, today can’t be too bad if my mate is sassing me.”

“You are such a—ugh. Just shift already, you’re driving me crazy.”

“I have been trying, y’know.”

He’d definitely perked up to be able to do this back-and-forth with Salem. That was the good part. The bad was hearing he’d been trying and failing. “You’ve been trying how long?”

“Since I woke up this morning.”

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