Page 19 of Distinctly Daray
Blinking heavily and nearly smiling at the way his cat purred and pranced through his mind, Victor managed a shake of his head.
“What is going on?” Alaric asked.
The sentinel with the messy dark hair briefly flicked his gaze from Victor to Alaric. “I believe Keegan and I have found a missing piece of ourselves.”
Keegan’s mouth snapped shut, and he glanced at Phillip. “You’re right. This must be at least one of the reasons we’re so weird around each other. We needed a cat shifter.”
Neither Victor nor his Russian Blue liked hearing about any struggle his mates were enduring, and he was sadly reminded that the only reason he was meeting Phillip and Keegan was because the Darays wanted to ease the troubles Phillip had faced since his resurrection.
“Cat shifter?” Baxter asked. “What does that mean?”
Victor raised his hand slightly. “Me. I’m the cat shifter they’re talking about.”
“What do you guys want with Victor?” Baxter demanded.
Knowing that the overprotective men in his family would soon swarm the newcomers with questioning and accusatory stares, Victor pulled himself together and approached the pair he hoped would be part of his future. His concern first went to Phillip.
Victor ignored everyone but his mates.
“Hi, I’m Victor,” he told Phillip and Keegan with a small smile. At five-foot-five, Victor had to glance up. Keegan was probably a handful of inches taller than Victor, and Phillip hada few inches on the fallen knight. “How’s your dragon doing, Phillip?”
“My dragon is handling everything well thus far. I believe he is like me and relieved to know Keegan and I have found you. At my resurrection, the first smell I registered was of coffee. It soothed me. That is what you smell like to me.”
“Same,” Keegan said, a grin lighting up his big brown eyes. “It’s a comforting scent to me too, and I basically can’t live without at least a few cups of it a day. What do we smell like, Victor? Wait, did I say how wonderful it is to meet you?”
“Neither of us did, I am afraid,” Phillip lamented. “This is such a momentous day; words are failing me.”
“That’s okay, my mind is reeling too,” Victor assured them both. With closer proximity and his senses returning somewhat to normal, Victor was finally able to differentiate between the scents of the two men. Phillip smelled like cinnamon, while the floral scent of sunflowers clung to Keegan, which he explained.
“He is a floral scent to me too, but I could not place the flower,” Phillip remarked.
“Will someone please explain to me what is going on right now?” Baxter exclaimed.
“Dude, seriously,” Dra’Kaedan drawled. “They’re mates. How did you not figure that out?”
“I’m sorry, I don’t randomly have conversations about scents,” Baxter retorted. “It didn’t click in mind…wait! Mates. A triple matebond? Another sentinel with two mates? This is incredible.”
Brogan chuckled. “I guess Alaric is adding another fallen knight to the condo, whether he likes it or not.”
“At least Fate listened and gave Victor a sentinel mate,” Baxter said.
“And a fallen knight,” Samson commented with a frown for the Daemon Lord. “I doubt either Phillip or Victor appreciate you pretending like Keegan isn’t standing right there.”
“This is, of course, wonderful news,” Alaric stated.
Wondering at the flatness of Alaric’s voice, Victor glanced at him, but his face was an expressionless mask. At his side, Chander’s pewter gaze was filled with wonder. Even the tiny goblins Chander had summoned for Alaric—Rogue and Pizza—were oddly solemn.
Victor bowed his head briefly as he immediately understood the lack of joy. Not only was Phillip currently locked in a struggle with an unruly dragon, but statistically triple matebonds had a less than fifty percent chance of succeeding. That should have frightened Victor or given him pause, but confidence radiated through him. His cat believed in their success.
Victor’s beast was drawn toward Keegan and Phillip equally. It was up to Victor to do his part to honor the bonds Fate had granted him. He wasn’t sure why, but Victor refused to accept a smidgen of doubt. They would succeed. He was sure of it.
Shifting his attention back to the two gorgeous men towering above him, Victor grinned at the pair. Keegan immediately flashed him a smile that was like sunshine breaking through the clouds on a rainy day. Next to him, Phillip’s mouth lifted in a much more measured curl of lips, but it was no less enchanting.
Victor clapped his hands together. “Okay, everyone, grab a seat at the table and let’s get dinner going. Phillip’s time is limited, and we don’t want to upset his dragon.”
“Dra’Kaedan and Brogan need to go home first because it would be rude to eat in front of them,” Albrecht insisted.
The Grand Warlock rushed over and hugged Victor tight.
