“Vadimas, thanks for coming over,” Idris said. He was sitting with the Prism Wizard, Duff, and Delaney in the Dark Indigo office. “I just wanted to apologize for not speaking with you first before Mac and I decided to schedule our mating ceremony. I’d like to focus on him a little bit and move back the date for finishing my research paper. Del, I’m sorry to you too. If you want to ascend first and not wait, I’ll totally understand.”
The Prism Wizard laid a hand on Idris’s arm. “You don’t owe me an apology. Thank you for inviting me…I’m looking forward to your mating ceremony. I’m so pleased you and Mac are together, and I’m sure it’s helpful for him to focus on something happy as he deals with his grief. I’m enjoying getting to know Mac better and from what I’ve seen, you two seem well-suited.”
“Thanks, Vadimas. I wanted to have our mating ceremony before his grandparents died, but Mac wouldn’t hear of it. He refused to get in the way of my title. I hate that he’s lost them, but I’m happy he wants to be with me.”
Delaney narrowed his eyes. “I hope you don’t think I’m mad. There’s no way I could be. You know I love Mac to death. He’s great and more importantly, he makes my best friend happy. I won’t ascend without you. We’ve both been together on this for five years. Nothing’s going to change that now.”
Idris blew out a relieved breath. “Thank you both. Really. You’re being great about this, and being High Arcanist is important to me, but I have to be honest. It’s not as important as Mac.”
“That’s as it should be, Idris,” Vadimas replied.
“I think the delay should only be a week or two. I’m still working hard on my paper and other stuff. I don’t want you to think I’m slacking off, but I’m taking time to hang out more with Mac too.”
“What if we pushed off the whole celebration for another two weeks after you ascend since the schedule has already changed?” Duff asked. “That way I’d already be eighteen. Because I have to tell you—I’ve been looking online for someplace cool to go but if you’re under eighteen, there aren’t many options and the ones we do have are lame.”
“I don’t care if we move it. We could skip it all together as far as I’m concerned. I scare the crap out of people. Going to a club has zero interest for me,” Delaney replied.
“Mac thinks it’d be a good idea for us to get out more,” Duff argued.
“I said I’d go and I will,” Delaney retorted.
“It’ll be okay, Del. We can dance and have a couple of drinks. We don’t have to do anything more than that,” Idris told him.
“So, we can move it?” Duff asked, his eyes full of hope.
“Fine,” Delaney responded.
“Delaney, I’ve always told you to embrace your darkness, and I meant it. I’d prefer if you didn’t hold back in life because not everyone is comfortable with who you are. Fate gave you power, and she decided it should be different,” Vadimas stated.
“I know, and I appreciate it. I’m just not interested in hanging out in a club.”
“Well, I’m excited enough for both of us,” Duff enthused. “The more I think about it, the more fun I think it’s going to be. We can dance and flirt. Be around people our age.”
Idris wondered if Duff was growing bored being isolated at D’Vaire. “You don’t have to wait for Del and me if you want to go out to a club.”
“Idris, didn’t you hear the part where it’s all the cool places won’t be open to me until I’m eighteen? Besides, you know Brogan won’t let me go anywhere by myself. That’s why Mac is here. To protect us,” Duff refuted.
Delaney folded his arms over his chest. “Pretty sure Brogan wanted more security, but Mac’s here for Idris.”
“Since you’ve got your plans all changed, let’s focus on your projects. I know we don’t have the full group here, but I wouldn’t mind a status report,” Vadimas interjected.
“Del, you can go ahead,” Idris said.
“Sure. Things are going good. I’m still perfecting my potion, but the side effects for the birth control potion were lowered with my latest formula. I was going to submit it as is because you said I could work on it after I finish High Arcanist, but now that I’ve got some more time, I’ll tinker with it,” Delaney explained. “As for the whole shifter resurrection business, it’s difficult. This is going to be something Chand can do, but very few other people are going to be able to accomplish it. A potion can only go so far in splitting magic—the concentration must come from the sorcerer, I’m afraid. I’ve gained a great deal of respect for Fate for managing to unite beast with man. It really is only a razor’s edge between success and failure.”
“It’s so awesome your project is about shifters. They’re the best,” Duff enthused.
“Your turn, Idris,” Vadimas said.
“My potion’s done. I’ve exhausted all options and to keep it affordable, I’m not going to be able to get it higher than five to seven percent. I’m glad I could get it above the initial one to five percent, but I can’t do any more. The only other option is to create an expensive version, which will get you up to ten or even twelve percent in certain cases,” Idris replied. He couldn’t go into specifics with Duff in the room, but he was going to do his best to update Vadimas. “My research is tricky. I can get it to work, but the probability is not where it should be to be successful. The problem I continue to run into is Chand’s demonic power literally eating Dra’Kaedan’s. Their magic is polar opposite. I need to fine-tune it, so it’s layered exactly right. The reality is when we do this, it’s going to take precision. A lot of it. My paper doesn’t have anything to do with results, so it’s just about done. Any other group of living sorcerers couldn’t begin to have the potency necessary to accomplish it.”
“It sounds like you’re both on the right track. I assume the practical magic side is ready?” Vadimas asked.
Both wizards nodded. “Dra’Kaedan and Dre’Kariston have been busting our asses making sure we have our accuracy and precision down to a science,” Delaney remarked. “Since Idris won’t ever ask and honestly, he’s got more important shit to worry about, did you hear again from the people claiming to be his parents?”
Vadimas turned his shrewd gaze to Idris. “Do you want me to answer our Del’s question?”
“I haven’t even thought about it but yeah, you can. Mac’s not here so at least he doesn’t have to worry about it.”
“They sent us their DNA to verify. Idris, they are indeed your biological parents. I was going to call you this week to tell you, but with Mac’s grandparents passing away, I didn’t feel it was appropriate or necessary.”
“So, now what?” Idris asked.
“Now it’s entirely up to you. They’d like to meet with you. I didn’t want to tell them about Mac’s recent losses, but I needed them to know you were unavailable for now. So, I simply told them you have a great deal of responsibility and are dealing with a family issue. I told them I’d get back to them when I could,” Vadimas revealed.
“Idris, you should take all the time you need to decide what you want to do. It’s taken them twenty-one years to track you down as far as we know. You pick the time and place if you want to deal with them. Otherwise tell them to fuck right off,” Delaney said.
“I’m not even going to think about it right now. I want to know what Mac thinks, and it’s not something I feel comfortable talking to him about while he’s so sad. It needs to be about him, and they’ve never been there for me.”
“I think you’re making a wise decision,” Vadimas told him. “They’re not going anywhere, and they’ll either understand and be patient or they’ll wash their hands of the situation. I wouldn’t allow it to bother you either way. You have your priorities straight.”
Idris was glad everyone around him understood that even though Thierry and Zahra Vioric gave him life, he didn’t owe them anything. He was still angry at them for leaving him with his grandfather, and he couldn’t understand why they’d suddenly decided to seek him out. He just did not see how any excuse would explain away their actions. “Thanks for supporting me, you guys.”
“I lost my parents. I’d give anything to have them back. I hope you’ll keep that in mind a little bit before you make your decision,” Duff offered.
“They loved you,” Delaney shot out.
“I’m sure Idris will take both sides of your arguments into consideration when he’s prepared to decide how to handle the situation. For now, his focus is on other things, so let’s not be led astray,” Vadimas stated.
“Sorry, Idris. I’m trying to be your best friend and support you and Mac. Yelling about your folks isn’t helping matters,” Delaney responded.
Idris squeezed his arm. “It’s okay. I know you’re mad because you love me and because your parents dumped you too.”
“People make mistakes,” Duff argued.
There was anger on his face, and Idris thought perhaps his grief over the loss of his parents was too raw a thing for him to see the situation clearly, but he wasn’t going to fight with him. He didn’t know what the right decision was, and it hardly mattered while Mac needed him. “Like Vadimas said, I’ll take everybody’s opinion into consideration, but now it’s about Mac.”
“I’m going to leave you guys to chat. I need to have a few words with Dra’Kaedan and head home,” Vadimas replied. He hugged Idris and Delaney, then strode out of the room.
“It must be nice to have a leader you can talk to all the time,” Duff commented.
“Vadimas is awesome,” Delaney confirmed while Idris nodded.
“I have to say even if I didn’t have him, we have Aleksander. I’ll always look up to him. He’s everything a dragon leader should be,” Idris added.
“Damn right. He’s the first reason D’Vaire is great,” Delaney remarked.
Idris found himself bobbing his head in agreement again. “First of many, many reasons.”
“Your mate’s one of them too. You and Mac went to bed early last night. Is he doing okay?” Delaney asked.
Duff bumped his shoulder against Idris’s. “From what I hear, nothing heals like sex.”
“Sex is incredible, and I don’t want to brag, but Mac’s amazing in bed,” Idris said with what he hoped was a proper amount of modesty. Talking about Mac and sex made him want to dance and sing, it was so good. “Mac wanted to show me all the pictures he brought back from his grandparents’ house.”
Delaney grinned. “That must’ve been so cool to get to see so much of Mac’s life with them.”
“It was great, but I think I irritated him when the pictures from the seventies came out. He wore the craziest bell-bottoms, and the collars on his shirts practically came to edges of his shoulders. It was hilarious.”
“I have to see those,” Delaney declared.
“I’ll make sure he shows you sometime.”
“But let’s get back to sex,” Duff said.
Delaney smirked. “You need to jerk off or get laid.”
“Is that an invitation?”
Idris’s eyes went wide in shock. Duff hadn’t flirted with Delaney before, and apparently the dark wizard was in the same state as Idris. Delaney gave Duff an incredulous look. “Uh…I don’t even know how to respond to that.”
“It’s called a joke. Del, you really do need to get more mature about sex and shit like that.”
“I’ve told you a million times, I’ll worry about sex when I meet my mate. Just like Idris.”
“Yeah, well…Idris is twenty-one. His mate is over two hundred. You didn’t see Mac waiting around. What if you aren’t as lucky as Idris?”
“I don’t know. I’m not making decisions with my dick.”
For Idris, it was like a tennis match. His gaze darted from one friend to the other. He wished Mac were here to give him some clue about whether he was supposed to stay out of it or jump in to try and mediate. Meanwhile, he was memorizing the whole thing to tell his mate later.
“I’m just saying. I’ve been thinking a lot since Idris met Mac. He’s even more smiley than normal. He doesn’t talk about it, but they sleep together, so you know they’re getting their groove on. Maybe I don’t want to wait.”
Delaney’s dark brows scrunched together in irritation. “I have no problem with that, Duff. You’re free to make your own decisions. Just don’t tell me what I should do.”
“I don’t think you’re a virgin,” Duff said.
Idris could’ve used a knife to cut the tension in the room.
“Excuse me?” Delaney responded. Idris wondered if Duff really knew what he was doing, taking on a dark wizard fully prepared to help lead their people. He might normally be easygoing and goofy, which made him an excellent friend, but Delaney wasn’t the type of person to back down from anyone. That was why he would do so well helping Vadimas. Idris was counting on him to always be at his side.
“Idris, you’re always honest.…Did you and Del have sex?”
“You know what? You can leave Idris alone. This is an asinine conversation, and it’s over. I’m not sure what your problem is, but you owe Idris an apology,” Delaney retorted.
“It’s okay, Del. I’m going to go find Mac,” Idris told his best friend of five years. He turned to Duff. “I’m going to assume you asked me that question as a joke, but even if I did have sex with Del, it wouldn’t be anyone’s business but ours.”
Idris didn’t wait for the Kellas cat shifter’s response. He was not angry at Duff, but he wasn’t going to sit around and discuss fantasy. Delaney was the first person to understand Idris fully, and the only other person who truly did was Mac. He’d thought he was close to Duff as well, but they’d only known each other a handful of months. Idris had learned the hard way to keep his private thoughts to himself. He wasn’t going to get riled by teasing or silly questions. Delaney was his brother in all but biology and while the wizard was very handsome, Idris wasn’t attracted to him. Shoving all the foolishness aside, Idris headed for the house to find the dragon he loved. Mac was the one man whose clothes he always wished he could tear off.