Page 21 of Distinctly Daray
Next to Phillip, Victor choked on his drink and coughed loudly. Unsure how to aid him, Phillip glanced at Keegan. In his brown gaze, Phillip found his own concern reflected at him.
“Are you okay?” Keegan asked softly.
“Yes, sorry,” Victor managed as his eyes watered. The tension in his frame was miraculously gone, and Phillip was glad that he appeared to be okay. “Here I was worried that everyone wasn’t happy for us, and now they’re trying to move Phillip and Keegan in immediately.”
“Why would you think we weren’t happy?” Baxter demanded.
Victor’s head snapped up. “Whoops, didn’t mean to say that out loud.”
“Too bad we heard you,” Benton countered.
“Of course we are happy for you,” Ducarius stated. “We have long asked Fate to bring you a mate. And she rightly paired you with a sentinel. Thankfully, Phillip is a shifter too, so he can care for both you and Keegan should you encounter danger.”
“Here we go,” Chander muttered.
“Fallen knights can take care of themselves,” Samson argued.
Inside Phillip, his dragon roared. Unlike the usual aimless grumbling and the threat to shift that pushed Phillip to beg for stasis, the beast was relatively calm. However, there was something in Phillip that told him the dragon was far surer of his ability to care for Victor than Keegan. Was that because Keegan had a beast past the veil? It was an issue they would still have to address with the Arch Lich despite Phillip’s fear of insulting the powerful imp-necromancer.
“Do we have champagne in the house?” Brynnius asked. “We need to celebrate Fate bringing Victor his mates. I can help getting the guest rooms ready if Phillip and Keegan are moving in today.”
“Relax everyone,” Victor said. “No one is moving in tonight. Keegan is in training. It’s important for him to stay at the Ascension Center until he’s completed his tests.”
“Why?” Skeleton Lord Eduard Daray asked. “Sam lived here while he went through his training at the Ascension Center. It did not affect his studies, otherwise he would not be a Venerable Knight now.”
“That was different,” Victor explained. “Sam was living here before he started training. The last thing Keegan needs to worry about is changing his space. We can get to know one another after he is done each day.”
“Every day Keegan comes to visit me in my room,” Phillip stated quietly. “It would be an honor if you were willing to join us so we can get to know each other.”
“Yeah, we’d love that,” Keegan added quickly, flashing the smile that never failed to get Phillip’s dick to twitch with interest.
“I’d love that too,” Victor said, his mouth curving. To Phillip’s delight, his desire grew at the expression. His mates were giving him the same intense reaction. That soothed him. The last thing he wanted was to find himself more attracted to one or the other. Having more erections would be annoying, but perhaps now that his dragon was calmer, and he’d remained awake for nearly the entire day, he could be alone to deal with his desire.
“I’ll talk to Dra’Kaedan,” Chander insisted. “We’ll figure out the easiest way to teleport you over. Alaric and I can go with you since we’re there to help Phillip anyway. Speaking of which, how’s your dragon doing, Phillip?”
“He is the most relaxed I have felt him thus far,” Phillip answered. “I believe he is happy to finally find himself with both of his mates.”
“Perhaps he has found it difficult to rest or set aside his concern because he was aware that he had two mates waiting for him,” Alaric suggested.
Chander’s brow furrowed. “That would suggest that the part of the spell designed to clear the memory of a shifter’s beast failed.”
Although Phillip had intended to initiate a conversation about that very thing with Chander, he and Keegan had wanted to do it with the Arch Lich alone. Thankfully, Alaric had brought it up, so Phillip didn’t need to be concerned that anyone was insulted. Phillip’s beast grumbled, and a surge of intense emotion rippled through him. It was a mixture of anxiety and fear.
The beast was happy to be near Victor and Keegan, but Phillip worried that the minute either man left his presence, his struggles would return immediately.
“You’re an incredible sorcerer, but is that a possibility?” Alaric asked.
“Of course it is,” Chander replied immediately. “This is uncharted territory. We worked with our best assumption that changing the words would clear the memory of a shifter’s beast, but the reality is there are limits to magic. Perhaps Fate doesn’t allow us to alter a beast in that way.”
“Is it possible that Phillip’s dragon is reacting to a lack of beast within Keegan?” Samson asked. “Obviously, that’s not an issue with Victor since he has his kitty, but Keegan isn’t a shifter.”
“What kind of cat are you?” Phillip asked. He’d sensed from the minute he met Victor that he was a cat, but there were far too many breeds for even his delicate senses to be able to accurately pinpoint it.
“I’m a Russian Blue,” Victor stated proudly.
“Phillip and I will have to learn everything we can about Russian Blues then,” Keegan replied.
“They are very pretty cats,” Brynnius offered. “There are pictures in the living room; we will show you at least one before you leave.”
