Page 28 of No Potions Needed

“That is more than enough to share with these children,” I spat out the words, ignoring the heat that rose to my face. “Besides, that was a long time ago. I don’t remember much of the execution or what followed.”

Ormund leaned close and sniffed my neck seeking out the lie. We could talk about it later if he wanted to but I had no intention of going into details on how I disemboweled and dismembered Elke. Sure, Teddy had probably heard worse but I was sure the omegas hadn’t. Well, maybe they had. Still, I didn’t want the story getting around. At least not while I was alive. They wouldn’t understand the brutality that took over me when I was face to face with the man who killed my family and disfigured me.

All of the whippersnappers stared at me. Were they thinking about the execution or were they too busy imagining what Ormund and I got up to during my first heat? Neither was the answer I hoped for, but I was too old to hold my breath on that one.

“Shall we skip to---” Mori started but Teddy yawned.

It was the fakest yawn I’d ever seen. I would’ve called him out on it except he kept making eyes at Othoni and even my calloused heart couldn’t hold his desire to escape somewhere alone with his mate against him. You only met them once a lifetime. You were only young and in love once. Wasn’t that the whole point of everything to bring them together?

“Teddy, stop being rude,” Mori scolded him.

“I’m not. I’m tired. Besides, I don’t think he knows anything about my carrier that I didn’t already know, or he’d have spat it out by now,” Teddy shrugged, wrapping an arm around Othoni.

“I know plenty but just for that attitude, I’m done talking,” I said, leaning back against the stack of pillows.

“Dern, I’m afraid we’re running out of time,” Mori sighed.

He wasn’t wrong but he wasn’t exactly right either. If my door showed up before I was ready, I’d drag it around like hundreds of other stubborn shifters before me.

“We’re right on schedule. Everything will work out. Besides, there’s something that needs to be done that you all haven’t done yet,” I shrugged and sipped the lemonade Rian had brought in while we told our story.

“What’s that?” Mori asked.

“You can’t do it,” I shrugged. “Eventually everyone will figure it out. So, thank you for stopping by. I’ll see you soon. Have a good night! You guys are the best! Well, the closest I’m getting to the best while I’m stuck here.”

The three of them blinked at each other and Mori packed up all his stuff back into his messenger bag while he shot daggers at Teddy with his eyes. Sometimes chaos served a purpose. This time it would. Before I went and left I had to ensure those two kids were on the right path.

Ormund waited until the kids had left before he shut the door and locked his eyes to mine.

“Do you really not remember that night?” Ormund asked, crawling back into bed with me.

“I remember every blow I gave that fucker, Ori,” I laughed. “And every stroke I gave you later on too.”

“Oh, really?” he smirked and I reached out for him. He was warm despite not having a body. He was everything I remembered him being while he was alive except visible to everyone else. He kissed me and I almost felt as young as I had been in the memories we just shared. Almost. Age still nagged at my joints but everyone told me exercise would help.

“I remember it all,” I teased him.

“Then why don’t you tell me?” he teased right back and nibbled my earlobe.

Chapter Twenty-One

Dern

Many years ago on Pharenos

When I came back in from killing my first person Ormund scrubbed me clean in his big clawfoot bathtub. Back then all the phoenixes were obsessed with that style of tub. I didn’t mind it because it meant the tub was big enough for both of us to fit inside of. He washed me in cold water so that the dried blood and gore came away easily from my flesh. The coolness of the liquid rubbing circles over my skin also soothed the fit building inside me.

“I meant to say something before you seduced me with those soft, kissable lips, mate,” Ormund said, washing my back. “I was not offended that you wanted to take care of business before we exchanged our claiming vows, but it bothers me that you call heat a fit. It makes it sound like a medical condition that needs treatment when it’s one of the most natural things that can occur. I hate that they made you feel so much shame around something as natural as that. Do you know if not for you having your first heat, I would not have smelled you to know that you are mine?”

I didn’t say anything for a long time. It was my parents – my now dead parents – that first called them fits. It didn’t feel right to hold it against them now that they decayed in the ground a few miles from where we sat naked in bloody water.

“I’m not sure shame is the word for what I felt,” I said eventually. “It wasn’t convenient. Sometimes it was hard to find lovers. If I had my druthers, I’d have more warning that they’re about to happen and maybe some way to put them off until… I don’t know. Until I’m in the mood for them. Then--- Oh! Crap!”

“What, mate?” he asked, looking over my shoulder and down my naked body for injuries once again.

“I’m not hurt. I… Um…” I sighed. “You know about the slick stuff, right?”

“I know what slick is, yes,” Ormund said slowly as if it were a trick question.

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