Page 27 of A Drink of Destiny
Alvis
Pierce’s Family Estate
I wound my sheet into a toga-adjacent garment before opening the door for Mori. Dark bags hung under his eyes, and he wobbled on his feet. Yep. He’d visited his dead wolf recently.
“Thank the old bears you haven’t left yet!” Mori sighed, relief dancing through his exhausted eyes.
For half a second, I was tempted to bring him inside and try to put him to sleep. Sure, he didn’t like me rubbing all over his aura, but the wolf needed some fang-damned sleep. Except he wasn’t a baby and he’d pushed away my help once already. I didn’t want Raiel to come downstairs and try to eat him again.
“Come on in,” I waved to him. “Sit down anywhere. Raiel’s upstairs, giving us some space. I have a few guesses on what you might want to talk about, but I’ll give you a chance to spit it out first.” I led him to the sofa by the arm, after shutting and locking the door behind us. Mentoring aside, I wanted to get back upstairs to my mate as badly as Raiel wanted me up there with him.
“I need you to make me—No, sorry,” he said and rubbed his temples.
“Have you eaten recently?”
“I was going to have dinner with Preston but Dern….” He shrugged, his words trailing off.
“Are you up to walking to the kitchen?” I asked, but Raiel was coming down the steps, taking them two at a time.
I almost asked if something was wrong, but I didn’t need to now that our mating link was open. He was headed into the kitchen to get Mori something to eat. He wasn’t Mori’s biggestfan but he also couldn’t let a guest sit around hungry. It was against everything lion prides stood for. A few moments later, he came back into the living room water bottles tucked under one arm and a plate in either hand. Mori muttered a thanks and dug in as if he hadn’t eaten in days.
Raiel kissed me on the cheek and headed back upstairs.
“Thank you for putting pants on,”I said over our link as he disappeared.
He didn’t answer but the food was answer enough for me. Raiel was attentive to me and there for his family when they needed him. Being kind didn’t always mean being social or nice.
I ate a little more of my noodles but stayed silent while Mori ate. I was about to offer him seconds, but Raiel reemerged from the kitchen with another plate and a bloodshake for me. I’d forgotten about the second set of steps that led down straight into the kitchen.
“Thanks,” Mori said.
Raiel nodded at him and narrowed his eyes on me.
“You need to drink that before you take on his stress. Our cub doesn’t need his stress or anyone else’s either,,”he said.
“Cave lion.”
“Yep, and this is our cave.”
“Oh, stop trying to act all tough. I’ll come upstairs and yank on your tail later,”I teased him over our mating link as he disappeared again.
“He doesn’t have to keep going out on my account,” Mori said.
“Eh, he’s moody. Broody may be a better term. He’s convinced that I’m pregnant already.”
Mori sat his second empty plate down on the coffee table and glanced at my stomach. He tilted his head to the side and his eyes grew big.
“You are. Your aura is really pregnant,” he said. “I think that’s the best way to say it. Like… just looking at you screams pregnant right now.”
“Well, then. You might’ve saved me a trip to the drugstore,” I chuckled.
“Oh, I brought something for you,” he said, digging into his pocket and pulling out a little rectangular box.
A pixelated baby pregnancy test.
“Thank you,” I said and tucked it into the fold of my makeshift toga. “Are you ready to talk now?” I asked, gently.
“I need something that allows me to feel a summons but doesn’t yoink me out of my body,” Mori explained and then told me about his most recent conversation with his dead wolf mentor. “I know Dern sounds like an asshole but..”
