Page 202 of Heart of the High King
Chapter 75
Aleksander winked at Rafe when his mate curled up next to him on the sofa. In Rafe’s hands was his tablet, because the High King simply could not imagine going to one of their weekly meetings without an agenda. The last hour he’d spent refining the things he wished to discuss while Aleksander had brushed the two wolves. There was plenty of muttering from Rafe, and Aleksander had simply watched him with a smile on his face.
They’d nearly missed dinner again, but it wasn’t because they were rolling around on the sheets. Both men had been soaring above the land of D’Vaire with their wings spread and the wind whipping their scales. Rafe was determined to keep a strong connection with his dragon and had shifted nearly every day in the past two weeks since he’d miraculously regained his beast. No one could answer the question of how it’d happened, least of all Rafe, but no one was complaining.
Although there was healing yet to do as Rafe continued to work through everything that had befallen him, he wore an unmistakable and hard-fought aura of confidence, proving that Aleksander had chosen his hero well. The truth was, he loved Rafe with a strength he couldn’t have guessed before they met. With such joy overflowing his heart, he kissed his temple.
Aleksander grinned at the D’Vaires. “We’d like to thank you guys for coming to our meeting tonight. Dra’Kaedan, what’s up with the sanctuary?”
“Nothing new this week.”
“Okay, hopefully we’ll get some great applications soon. Rafe, what’s on your agenda?”
“This week our guidebook team—”
“It’s Team Rafe,” Renny interrupted, pointing to his shirt with those very words printed on it in navy.
“Give in gracefully,” Dra’Kaedan advised. “Accept that you’re mated to Lankenstein and that any project you tackle will be hereby known as Team Rafe.”
“Is there a Team Aleksander, then?” Rafe demanded.
“I’m thinking Bigfoot Bunch…or Lankenstein Crew. Maybe Tallosaur Troop,” Dra’Kaedan’s voice trailed off as he continued muttering different ideas.
“I suppose it could be worse, Squirt. You could’ve gone with Aleksander’s Asshats.”
“You’re so perfect, Bigfoot,” Dra’Kaedan crowed.
“Anyway, Rafe. You were saying?” Renny prompted.
“There’s a box in our office with sample copies of the guidebook for here and Elven D’Vaire. Jeremiah has spearheaded artwork for the welcome packets, which we’re going to put on T-shirts and stuff. You can select your favorites. Go through everything carefully, and give me your corrections so we can refine, add, or remove based on what makes the most sense. Don’t take forever, though—we want to get the final products ready to go whenever we add a new person to either sanctuary,” Rafe instructed.
“Is ten days enough?” Aleksander asked.
“Yeah, I think so. If you can’t do it all or whatever in that timeframe, that’s okay. There are enough of us that I think we’ll still get plenty of feedback. In the future, we can continue to edit this thing to keep it accurate and to improve its functionality. Any questions?”
“Okay, my turn,” Aleksander said when no one had anything to add. “And I’m going to beg forgiveness for this one because it occurred to me as he was preparing his agenda and we didn’t get to discuss it. But I think it’s time to redesign our office.”
“You do?” Rafe asked.
“Yep. It’s not just the two of us in there, and Worth’s goes unused a lot. Kitchi, you go between there and sharing Ashby’s space in his outdoor office. I’d like to suggest that we combine the spaces into a large one. We can have desks for the four of us perhaps on the perimeter of the room, then put a round table in the center so if Mac, Brogan, or whoever else is around wants a space to work, they’ve got one.”
Rafe nodded. “I like it. What if we did outdoor access? That way we can take the wolves out and make it easier to go between our space and the office building behind the house.”
“We could put in a pretty gravel path and landscaping, so it looks like it was always intended to be that way,” Dravyn suggested.
“Jeremiah, would you be willing to do a giant mural in there for us?” Aleksander asked.
“Are you kidding? I’m honored.”
“Put some big fancy script above the double doors for the High Kings,” Brogan suggested.
“Definitely,” Worth added. “This is perfect. I hate the quiet.”
Aleksander’s middle brother had spent a century in near solitude, and if he could be around another person, Worth would do it in a heartbeat. Even when alone, Worth would not sit in silence and kept the television or music playing.
“Awesome, I’ll call Harley in the morning.”
“If we’re changing the house, how about adding a mailroom? Kendrick and I have to hunt for everyone each time it’s delivered,” Noirin suggested.
