Page 46 of Arthur

Dante shrugged. “I’ve not been with them long. I’ve only just been cleared myself shortly before this assignment to go out solo. I knew Augustus from before, and although he vouched for me, it was understandable that the council wanted to ensure I would be loyal to them.”

“Well, I wish to tell you that I appreciate the fact that you are here to help watch over my coven.” I glanced at the reports again. “Unless the council is requiring you to do the reports, I don’t think it’s necessary for you to spend time writing them out every day.”

“Eh, I send them to Atticus to not only let him know what’s going on and that I’m doing something but also to annoy him a bit.”

I felt a smile form but quickly covered it by clearing my throat and reaching for the reports. “Well, if you wish to continue to annoy Atticus by doing the reports, I certainly am not going to stop you. I don’t require them from you though. Isimply wish for you to enjoy your time here and feel welcome. If there is something that I or my One need to see to, please don’t feel as if you can’t talk to us.”

“I will. So far, there’s been nothing though. I have enjoyed shifting and running the parameter of your estate, but there really isn’t a whole lot going on here.”

I snorted. “No, but that’s how I like things. The more mundane things are, the better, in my opinion. I like a peaceful life for my coven and its members. We try very hard to stay under the radar of the local people. For the most part, we’ve succeeded. Every so often, we will get a nosy one out here, but that’s about the extent of it.”

Damien nodded slowly. “And this is still a school, yes?”

“It is. Which isn’t exactly completely untrue. We do school others. They just happen to be warlocks who are working on mastering their powers. There are enough children here that if they should ever force the issue, which hasn’t been a problem, we do have the children that can easily make a good show of things.” Not that I would ever allow for things to get that far. We did occasionally have someone that was lost ring at the front gates, but after they were given directions and sent on their way, we never had any issue from them again. Not that them ringing the front gate was an issue. Sometimes an inconvenience, but those happened in life.

“Do they ever press the fact that this is a private boarding school?”

I shook my head. “No. It is a great cover for the coven. We visit the town just enough to let the locals know we’re here and we aren’t creeps. But we also keep to ourselves enough that they’ve also seemed to realize that we either don’t wish to be bothered or we’re incredibly busy and private. Either way, it’s worked out for some time now.”

“Sounds like it.” Dante sat there for a moment and simply stared at me, waiting.

“I truly have nothing else to discuss with you,” I told him. “I simply wanted to let you know that the reports weren’t necessary for me. If you have to provide the council with them, have at it. I don’t require any such thing from anyone in my coven. If you work a full day, you do. If you only manage a part day, that’s fine as well. My only requirement is that the coven is safe and the members are happy and healthy. Beyond that, we can address issues as they arise.”

Dante nodded. “Then I should go?” he asked as he pointed to the door.

“If you have nothing to mention to me, then yes. Otherwise, feel free to speak freely.”

“No, nothing else. It’s been quiet here. The new members seem to have adjusted well to being here. They do tend to stick to themselves around the coven, but I’m sure your security has already mentioned that to you.”

“He has, yes. Please enjoy the rest of your day. I’m going to get caught up on things I missed while gone and then try to do the same.”

Dante stood. “Thank you, Master Arthur. I’ll do that if at all possible. Although, downtime isn’t something most hellhounds really know how to do. I’ll give it a try though.” Dante left the room, leaving me to sort through the multiple notes that Balthazar and Costas had left for me in my absence. There wasn’t too much of anything, so I simply picked up the stack of reports, added the pages of notes from the others, and then dropped them all in my bottom desk drawer. I’d sort them out later. For now, they were out of sight and no longer cluttering my desk.

I meant it when I told Dante that I enjoyed having a somewhat boring coven. Things ran smoothly, and when it was all said and done, my members were happy and felt like this wasa family they could stick with for a long time. I knew I couldn’t take full responsibility, but I hadn’t lost any members when I took over for Father. That told me I was doing something right, which was all I could ever hope for.

“Patrick?”I asked, reaching out through our bond. I wondered where he could be. With the coven basically running itself and not really needing me to do a bunch of things, I figured I should go spend some more time with my One. Especially now that he no longer urgently needed me for other things. I grinned. Not that I was complaining, because I never would.

Chapter 18

Patrick

It was nice to be back, but the unexpected fertile period threw everything off. We were gone longer than intended, and not everything that was planned was accomplished. Not that either of us was really complaining—we weren’t. But we were gone a bit longer than either of us intended, and now we would have to try and catch up.

“Patrick?”

I grinned. I couldn’t help it. Even after all of this time, I still smiled every time Arthur reached out to me. Even if it was just to tell me he loved me, my heart still beat a little faster for those few moments.

“I’m in our quarters still,”I told him. I’d managed to get Edric off to school, but I was honestly still recovering a bit, it seemed. I felt tired, and that wasn’t unusual for me after a fertile period.

“Patrick?”

My smile grew. “In our room,” I called out. I was trying to get myself together, but after I’d taken Edric down to the classroom, I’d come back to our quarters and all but collapsed on our bed. Moments after letting Arthur know where I was, he entered ourroom. The smile that had been on his face when he walked through the door quickly vanished.

“What’s wrong? Are you feeling poorly?”

I shook my head. “Not overly. I’m tired, but it normally takes me a few days to recover from a fertile cycle. We had to return home, so I didn’t really get a chance to recover.” I could tell Arthur was suddenly conflicted. I reached out for him, and when he took my hand, I was grateful. “I’m fine. Truly. I simply need a couple more days of resting, and then all will be as if it was before we went to Montana.”

“I wish you would have reached out through our bond this morning. I would have come to help you in any way I could.” Arthur sat beside me on the bed. “At the minimum, I would have taken Edric to school.”

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