Page 91 of Soar

With his prizes in hand, Gregori raced back to his bedroom, but he stopped on the threshold as Sam’s voice stretched through the room.

“It’s two in the fucking morning, Salem. What couldn’t wait until morning like a normal human being?Damn doctors don’t understand the importance of sleep.”

“I need your help. I want to bond with Gregori tonight. There’s a spell, right? You and Dimitri cast a spell. What is it?”

“What?” Sam squawked. “Bonding? Now?Like, right fucking now?”

“Yes. We don’t want to wait. We can do the big party later. I just want to make him mine right now.”

Oh god, this mage was just melting his heart into a useless pool of goo. How was he supposed to continue? All he wanted to do was gather Salem up in his arms and wrap his entire body around him. Even his dragon was purring and crowing. It wanted to fly to the highest peak of the compound and roar to the world that Salem wanted to claim him.

But it was two in the morning.

As happy as his clan would be for him, none of them wanted to be awakened at this early hour.

Gregori quietly closed the door behind him and crossed to the bedroom, where he found Salem pacing with a bedsheet wrapped around his body like a toga and his cell phone held out in front of him while Sam was on speaker.

Sam’s laughter started as low snickers and finally grew to loud maniacal cackles.

“What?” Salem demanded.

“Mom is going to be sooooooo pissed at you. This is the equivalent of running off to Vegas and getting married by an Elvis impersonator.”

“You’re exaggerating.”

“I’m not!You were always theI’m never gonna get hitchedchild. The disaster dater. She had hope for me, but you?Never.”

“Whatever. Mom and Dad will be here for the party. It’ll be fine.”

Sam snorted. “Yeah, you just keep telling yourself that. I’ll be the one watching the shitshow with a bucket of popcorn.”

“Sam!”

“Fine. Fine. I’m texting you the words for the bonding spell right now. I don’t understand why you didn’t just ask Gregori in the first place.”

“But it’s a spell. I thought only the mages would know it.”

Sam scoffed a second time. “Those dragons are born knowing the words. I’ll let him explain about the vow.”

Salem spun around, his mouth hanging open. He didn’t even react to the phone in his hand flashing as Sam ended the call. “You know the spell?”

Gregori closed the distance between them and pressed a little kiss to the tip of Salem’s nose. “Dragons are born knowing the words to the spell.”

Salem groaned and threw his hands in the air. Grabbing up the bedsheet so his makeshift toga was away from his feet, he climbed back into the bed and crawled to the center before flopping down.

“Good. You’ve got the champagne, the vow, and the spell. Let’s do this.”

Gregori placed the bottle and glasses on the nightstand and slid into the bed next to Salem, wrapping him up in his arms and legs. He didn’t want to ask, but his conscience wouldn’t allow him to remain silent. “You’re not worried about your mother?”

“Nah. She’ll be pissed for a little while, but in the end, she’ll just be ecstatic I’m mated to a dragon. Okay, so what is the vow and the spell? How do we do it? Is it okay if we do this without pants on?”

Salem bubbled over with enthusiasm, and it made Gregori just as excited.

“Yes, we can do this without pants.”

A response that got Gregori kicked out of the bed so he could shed the pants he’d pulled on just so he didn’t flash someone sneaking into the kitchen for a late-night snack. He jumped backinto bed, but this time he sat facing Salem and held both of his hands.

“The words to the vow aren’t set in stone. It’s a personal promise made between the two mates. You just say whatever is in your heart, but it tends to be a variation of this.”

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