Page 24 of Becoming D'Vaire
“Speaking of different, let’s talk about your hair. Grigori saw you with your crown on, he doesn’t know you just let it hang over your forehead like that,” Duff remarked.
“It’s straight and doesn’t behave itself, this is the best I can do.”
“Not true, remember when you got your photo taken with Idris so Vadimas could publicize your rise to High Arcanists? Your hair looked awesome. You could do it like that for Grigori.”
“It’s going to take me like thirty minutes and a gallon of product to even resemble what the stylist did to it,” Delaney complained.
“He’s your mate. He deserves the best. So stop bitching and go work on looking hot for your man. You’ve got to get your hair to look at least half as good as your ass,” Duff instructed. “Make sure he sees that ass too. It’s literally the best part of you and he’ll stop wondering why Fate hates him.”
“That thoughtnevercrossed his mind. Any man would be happy to have Del,” Idris snapped.
“Don’t waste your breath arguing with him. He’s just pissed because Del wouldn’t sleep with him. He’ll have to get the fuck right over it now that Del’s met Grigori. Our dark wizard’s incapable of responding to anyone but his Vampyr Lord,” Carter drawled out. He might be only nineteen, but the drakeling was mature and didn’t take shit from anyone. Delaney admired that about him. It was a trait he had spent his life working on, and most of the time it didn’t fail him.
“Hey, I’ll admit I wouldn’t kick Del out of my bed, but he’s not perfect or anything. Hey Del, you did say you’d go clubbing and stuff after you were getting laid by your mate. I guess you’ve run out of excuses now to go out with me and my friends,” Duff commented.
“Right now his focus needs to be on Grigori and building a relationship with him,” Idris retorted. “That means he has to go and get ready for his date. Are Mac and I going with you?”
“No, I thought about having Mac guard me tonight, but I decided to ask Gavrael if he and Gedeon would come instead. Something about Gavrael keeps me calm, and I have a feeling I’m going to seriously need that tonight.”
Idris appeared relieved, and Delaney was glad he hadn’t hurt his feelings. “Okay, good. I’d be nervous for you and then—”
“We’d all be sweating bullets,” Delaney finished for his best friend.
Duff hopped to his feet. “Okay, so that’s settled. Let’s go get Del showered and changed for his date.”
“Thanks for the offer, but I’ve got this,” Delaney replied as he stood.
“Good luck, it’s going to be awesome,” Carter called out as Delaney strode out of the office.
“He’s going to love everything about you. We all do,” Idris added. Delaney let their encouraging words flow around him. He decided to throw caution to the wind and wish for the best.The date’ll be awesome, and I’ll have a ton in common with Grigori because that’s why Fate put us together, he thought with a rare burst of optimism which was only a little forced. Steadfastly, he ignored the lingering voices in his head that spelled out nothing but doom and gloom. His other half was ready to share their lives together, and Delaney would do it with his heart wide open.
Chapter 9
Grigori was in such a good mood, he wished he could sing. He would do it at the top of his lungs and choose the happiest songs he could think of. For the last week, he’d been on a cloud—when he wasn’t jerking off at the thought of Delaney—and he couldn’t wait to go out on their first date. Determined not to be late, he set not one but three alarms on his phone in plenty of time to grab a shower and put on a suit. On the night they met, he’d blurted out the name of an upscale restaurant. It’d be nice to stare into Delaney’s dark eyes over candlelight, but the ambiance would also make him nervous as hell.
It would’ve been easier if they started out much simpler, maybe with an activity so he could focus on that instead of his unruly body and emotions, but his mate deserved the best. They hadn’t spoken since their meeting. Grigori tried more than once to remedy the situation, but his brain was locked on stupid, and he didn’t want to send nonsensical texts or blabber through a call. As for Delaney’s silence, Grigori kind of hoped the wizard was in a similar predicament, so they’d have that in common. Grigori figured if Fate picked out your perfect complement, then they needed to have comparable fears.
Every morning since meeting Delaney he’d spent a few minutes each day sitting quietly and practicing taking deep calming breaths. He wanted to have that to rely upon when they were face-to-face, and his anxieties overtook him. The last thing Grigori wanted to do was spend his time with Delaney fighting himself instead of focusing on his other half.
To keep his mind from whirling in circles now that the big evening was finally only hours away, Grigori was distracting himself in his lab. He’d buried himself in a new flavor combination inspired by Delaney. Why not drink blood that tasted like a cup of deep, dark-roasted coffee?
He was nowhere close to perfecting it when a knock sounded. Instead of his normal reaction of annoyance, Grigori welcomed the intruder. It was after lunch, and it was probably nearing time for him to stop soon anyway. He pulled the door open and met the eyes of his brother’s butler who served the entire family when Nikolai was in residence.
“Hey, Tigglesworth. What’s up?”
“I believe I must have put the wrong date on the family schedule and wished to confirm the correct one with you, my lord.”
Grigori smiled. “You don’t make mistakes, Tigglesworth, but I’m happy to help if I can.”
“My lord, I wrote down on the security calendar that your engagement with the High Arcanist was this evening, but clearly I was mistaken.”
“No, that’s right. I’m going out with my mate tonight. Is Sebastian going to be the one going with me? He’ll love the restaurant. It’s one of his favorites.”
Tigglesworth’s brow creased, and his expression grew concerned. “I apologize, my lord. I didn’t realize you were planning on such a late evening out. I already sent all the security guards home. Your parents and brother had retired for the evening, so I assumed I could lock up for the night.”
Grigori’s heart pounded erratically. “What do you mean everyone’s asleep already?”
“My lord, you can surely see that it’s late. It’s after eleven. Normally Charles and I would be in bed ourselves, but I had your engagement on the calendar. I didn’t want to neglect my duties.”
