Page 39 of Wanderer

Riley:

Pax, where are you? I’ve found my fated mate!

Sending a text wasn’t necessarily the best way to discuss everything with my brother, so I kept it brief, just giving the most important details. I sent the message, then waited for Paxton to either call or text me back. Hell, a decent length email would be good.

We went so long without checking in with each other. There’d been a time, just after we parted ways, that it was a couple of months before we spoke again. Things had been so tense between us, our relationship so fraught, that I’d thought our sibling bond was irreparable. Then, one day, Paxton had called about something random. I still can’t remember the conversation. It was as if our last fight hadn’t happened.

As I waited for my brother’s response, my thoughts kept going back to how crushed Gareth had looked when I’d asked for some space, then his brave counteroffer. The idea of dating without expectations intrigued me, honestly. My mate had inner fire and wouldn’t let me walk all over him.

He was right to make the offer. If given the chance, I would have hidden away from him and this whole situation. It was funny that he knew me so well after only a couple of days together.

So what if Gareth couldn’t undo the curse on me? He was my mate; he was worth more than his magic to me. We hadn’t spent nearly enough time together, but my inner animal, that mysterious amorphous creature, trusted him. Legend had it that when a metamorph bonded with their fated mate, the creature took its true form for the first time. I wondered what mine would look like.

The phone rang, and I stared at it for a minute, long enough that the call went to voicemail before ringing again. I answered before it happened again. “Riley? Seriously? Your mate? Tell me everything! Are you okay?”

I launched into my story. Paxton had known that I was sick of living like a nomad. Hell, he was too. His curse got to him a lot, making it easier to be on the road all the time instead of settling somewhere just to be ignored. I didn’t know which of us had the worst curse.

Despite the delayed effects on me, we’d had a lot of good times over the years. We’d spent many hours commiserating over the pitfalls of our travels, so he knew about my search for this haven and all the months I’d passed nearby trying to find a way in. I’d been trying to time it just right too, so that I’d have a full month. There was nothing like accidentally staying somewhere and making it a temporary home for less than a week. I’d gotten it down to a fine art.

All throughout my explanation Paxton added comments like, “Fucking dragons!” and “A goddess?” then “Seriously? You shifted and ran?”

“Not one of my finer moments, but I panicked! You know some of the shit that Boyce did. He did some of it to you.”

“That’s fair. Sorry. I’m not judging. I’m not even sure how I’d react if I was put in front of another warlock and knew they were my fated mate. Honestly? I’d probably wolf out and hide in the woods for days.”

We both laughed. It lightened the mood. “Pax? I want you to come here. He might not be able to break the curse on me, but he should be able to do it for you.”

“I—” There was a long pause. I thought that maybe the call had dropped out. Signal wasn’t the best here in town. The Wi-Fi had to be magically boosted to be a somewhat decent speed. “Do you trust him? Is he…? Are you sure he won’t turn on me to get to you?”

My heart landed somewhere in my stomach. Then I thought about the week I’d been left alone, Gareth keeping his promise to Hestia to stay away from me unless I approached him. He confessed to helping Oscar with the spell and “chancing” upon me in the grocery store, letting me decide whether I would talk to him or not. There was also the parade and every kind word he had said to everyone. What people had told me about him. I thought of Tatsuya, of how suspicious he had been of me. No, Gareth was genuine.

“I promise that’s the last thing he would do. He wants us to be free.”

“Do you think the wards will let me in?” It shocked me that he was actually considering coming to Greyhaven. I’d been prepared to have to persuade him a bit more. Maybe I’d sold it with my stories of the place.

“As long as you don’t want to harm anyone inside, then you should be fine. I wonder if you’ll get the dragon welcome wagon, or if Fen is finished with his hours?”

“Hours?”

Laughing, I launched into the story I’d heard about Fen and how he’d gotten his flying ban. Pax didn’t find it nearly as funny. “What if he’d been hurt?”

“Oh, yeah, shit. Never thought of that. Fuck, that makes me feel like a shit friend.”

Pax immediately disagreed. “Nah, you’ve got a lot going on there and a time limit.”

“No, I just realized I’ve not spoken to the dragon in a few days. Maybe I should try to find him. Catch him up on stuff. He was pretty decent to me after I shifted and ran.” I’d seen Fen from a distance at the parade, but he’d been busy with his duties. I’d seen his surprise when he’d caught me standing next to Gareth, though. Yeah, I really owed him a beer, or five.

“Yeah, you should. Especially if you want to make Greyhaven your home after the curse is broken. It’s important to have friends outside your relationship, right?”

“Totally right. When do you think you can get here?” I asked my brother.

“Well, I’m near Florida and you’re in Montana, so it’ll take me a while to drive there.” Paxton wouldn’t give up his van to fly. There was nowhere he could stash it. “I’ve got a job here…” I let him think it through. “Probably not for another week or so.”

“The next full moon is just after Christmas so…” I trailed off. I was grateful that he was coming at all.

“Yeah, I know. I’ll be there before then. The solstice even.”

“Can’t wait.”