Page 143 of Heart of the High King
Chapter 54
Rafe finished a short jog with Mortis and dropped onto one of the chaises on the deck. Chugging water, he couldn’t believe how much his lungs burned. There wasn’t even enough ground covered to get me sweating, he thought with chagrin. Missing a dragon and having spent more than a year without much exercise beyond his physical therapy, he was woefully out of shape. It was going to take time to build muscle or have any stamina. Grinning around the mouth of the bottle, Rafe mused that at least it didn’t hurt his endurance at night with Aleksander. Neither one of them liked a quick romp, and they often spent hours either making out or exploring Aleksander’s favorite pastime of running his hands over every inch of Rafe.
“Rafe smile.”
“Yep, I was just thinking about Sander.”
Mortis bumped his muzzle against Rafe’s hands to get him to pet him, which he did automatically. “Happy with Aleksander?”
“Hell, yeah. You know, this weekend was fun with everyone around, wasn’t it?”
“Cat with bow tie scary.”
“How in the world can you be afraid of Severin’s familiar? He’s not only nice, Emrys has a bow tie. Come on, isn’t that the coolest thing?”
“No.”
“Think of him like the little dragons. You like those guys. I saw you giving Myrddin a ride like a pony.”
“Dragons nice.”
“So is Emrys.”
“No. People nice that visit.”
“Yeah, they were certainly loving on you. I had a great time. It’s incredible to be around so many happy couples too. Made me think about Sander. We’re mated but he never got to have a ceremony. And to be honest, I want to wear his ring.”
“Where mate at?”
Rafe’s brow wrinkled. “Sander’s inside. You ready to go see him?”
“Not understand.”
“Do you not understand, or are you talking about me? Because to be honest buddy, I have no clue what’s happening right now.”
“Where Mortis mate?”
Blinking rapidly, Rafe sat there feeling stupid. Not once had he thought about a mate for Mortis, and it made him feel small that he wouldn’t want to do everything to make his wolf happy. “Wow. I don’t know. Let’s go inside and find Sander. We’ll talk to him and see if he has any ideas,” Rafe replied, standing and walking to open the door. Thankfully, Noirin and Kendrick were hard at work making dinner, so his brother had no opportunity to give him snotty looks.
“Hey, babe,” Aleksander said the moment he spotted Rafe in the doorway. When Aleksander got to his feet, Rafe went over to kiss him hello. “How was your jog?”
“Short. I need to get in shape.”
“I like your shape.”
“He needs to gain more weight,” Worth interjected.
“I’m trying,” Rafe argued and wondered if there was any D’Vaire besides Aleksander he’d pleased in any way.
“Mortis mate.”
“I know, buddy, I’m getting to it,” Rafe responded while Aleksander greeted Mortis with head scratches.
“Getting to what?” Brogan asked.
“Well, Mortis and I were talking, and he was wondering about his mate. I assume because he’s resurrected and therefore magickind he has one? But, I mean, where does a wolf find his other half?”
“He’s undead. Would he be mated to a living wolf?” Worth asked.
