Page 31 of Druid Dreams

The rooms up there weren’t meant to have the same party atmosphere as the main space. They were homely and warm. Not temperature wise, but that feeling of warmth you would get when you walked into a well-used room that showed the owner’s pride in their area. I walked into the office and stretched out in the chair behind the sleek, modern desk. There was a folder full of paychecks that needed to be signed and an inventory checklist to be looked at and initialled so we could send off for our weekly orders. I got all of that done and out of the way before writing a few other notes out. I waved my hand above each of them with the intention of sending them to the rooms my mates would be staying in. When I knew they had all reached their destinations I relaxed once more in my chair and picked up my phone to text Jack.

A phone chimed from my purse, reminding me that I had new phones for Jack and Grim in there, and no way to get in touch with them until they showed up. Other than reaching out mentally. I didn’t want him to freak out over the turmoil rolling around in my mind, so I decided to wait out my boredom. I exited out of the one-sided conversation with Jack and saw that Franklin had texted me. All preparations had been made for our trip in the morning, and that filled me with nervous, jittery energy.

I will rescue York, but I will not be ready to talk about how his disappearance made me feel. I know he’ll want to talk sooner than I will. He was always like that. Often I needed time to put my feelings into words. Other times, I just needed that distance to keep from getting angry. He understood, but he’d still push me. Together we were like a brushfire waiting to happen, dry grass and one misplaced burning match. He kept me grounded and I kept him wild. The adventures and excitement I experienced with him felt endless, until they abruptly ended.

In hindsight, I should’ve known something was wrong. I did look for him, and I hired people to find him, but there was nothing. His cell phone was wiped clean by the factory reset, then cleared of fingerprints and left to be found on a bus station bench. I didn’t know what happened to his car or the stuff he had at his house. Now that I’m really thinking about it… I remembered I still have a few boxes of his things in the attic. Franklin packed his stuff up and moved it all out of my room after a couple months of not hearing from him. I didn’t know what to do with it, so it had been sitting there the whole time he’d been gone. I guess, if anything, he’ll have clothes when we return.

Out of the mega load of crazy shit that had been dumped on my plate recently, I think finding out that he was meant to be my mate has me the most tied up. All that time together, and I never thought to ask about what I was feeling. Had we already sealed our mate bond and I just didn’t know what to look for? I don’t really know anything about it, and I'm not sure where to start looking. Although, I suppose I did have five other mates I could direct those questions to. Almost twelve hours ago I opened my home up to them, and now I felt like I’d be living in a hotel full of sexy males with a variety pack of personalities and powers.

Taking on mates wasn’t the scary part though. Taking on the responsibilities that came with said mates was the kicker. If I sealed the bond with Palmer first, then I’d have to step in and take over as High Priestess of the Guilds. I’m not ready to give up my freedom, or my jobs, to take on being queen bitch to a bunch of uppity supes, but I guess that’s happening whether I’m ready or not.

I mean, it wasn’t like I could put them in a particular order and expect it to go the way I planned. I wouldn’t know who to choose first either. I’d rather that happen organically, but if what Father said was true then I may not have as much time as I’d like. I could always get to know them later, but that sounded mortifying. What if I mate with one of them and then I find out I don’t like him as a person, or that he doesn’t like who I am?

Looks were one thing, but actually knowing someone? That was totally different. We weren’t talking about getting married on a whim and being able to get divorced. No. The bond lasted until death, and for us that was a lot longer than your average lifespan.

My thoughts were starting to twist into each other again, and I felt like I was on the verge of a panic attack. I closed my eyes and I fought to slow my breathing, focusing on happy thoughts when I picked up Jack's mental trail. Thank the Devil. I need him right now. I needed him to calm me down, and then I needed to consider a vacation. Or maybe not. I didn’t need to be by myself. That would’ve given me too much time to think about all th-

A knock at the office door jerked me out of my head, and I smiled thankfully as the door opened. Jack strolled in followed by Grim and Novak. The latter was looking at the derobed Grim Reaper like he’d never seen a male before. I wondered what was going on in his head, but just like with the Fae, I heard nothing. When he looked at me his gawking eyes said “I thought this guy was a skeleton,” and I struggled with the urge to laugh. I’ve met many reapers, but Grim has always been my favorite. That wasn’t his real name, but it was what everyone called him because, well, he was pretty fucking grim. He was the complete opposite of his bubbly demon boyfriend, and yet somehow they fit together better than Jack and Coke.

Novak shut the door behind him and sat in one of the chairs on the other side of my desk while Jack and Grim remained standing. They all looked annoyed which had me sitting up straighter in my chair. What did they find? Grim snapped his fingers and a smoky grey bubble appeared around us. Oh, great. Just what I need.

“We found a mini camera and a few bugs downstairs but nothing up here. Grim took them to Franklin to see if he could trace them, but we won’t know for a few days.” Jack cut straight to the bullshit.

“Okay. I can send the security footage off and see if we can spot any suspicious activity, but I don’t think that’s going to get us anywhere.”

“Sloane,” Grim addressed me formally, and I didn’t like his unusual tone. “The camera was facing your booth.”

“I figured that was the case. Nathaniel told me I was being followed, so it doesn’t surprise me that this would be a step they’d take. Whoever they are.” It aggravated me to no end to know that I was being followed, but not closely enough to be able to determine who it was exactly.

“How are you so calm about this?” Novak inquired with some anger lacing his voice.

“It’s not the first time,” Jack counterd.

“Not even the second. Though, this time it does feel more serious.” I answered Novak, bouncing off of what Jack said. “Oh, before I forget, I need to give you guys your new phones. Franklin set them up.” I passed the phones to Jack and he handed one to Grim, who gave zero fucks about technology. We could’ve given him an old flip phone and he would’ve held the same level of excitement. He nodded his head in thanks and he let the smokey dome drop.

“I’m going to get changed for tonight and Grims leaving. He has some reaping business to handle,” Jack chuckled at Grim. We know what he does, but we don’t fully know what he does when he leaves, you know? They exited the office together and I heard Grim telling Jack, “I’ll see you when you get home in the morning.” They moved into an apartment together a couple months ago, leaving me in that big house all by myself. It’s fucking adorable and annoying. I had heard all about how Grim didn’t get all his beard trimmings out of the bathroom sink, and how Jack left his dirty clothes in a trail through the house. But they were happy and that was what mattered to me.

“So, what was going on in that pretty mind of yours when we walked in? You looked a little panicked, Trouble.” I decided Novak was too attentive after that question, but I was also weirdly comfortable with that too. I found that I wanted to answer him, and I briefly wondered if he was compelling me, but wrote it off as soon as it crossed my mind. No vampire has ever been able to compel me.

“I don’t want to talk to York tomorrow. I mean, I want to save him, yes, but I’m not happy with the idea of addressing feelings I buried years ago. He’s going to want to sleep, eat, and talk. Probably not in that order. I want to avoid it until I can have a calm, rational conversation. I feel petty for wanting to avoid talking to him and irrationally protective at the same time. I don’t like it.” Uhg, I didn’t like it even more when I said it out loud. I folded my shoulders in a little and let my head fall to my desk.

“Are you nervous about the rescue mission?”

“Absolutely not, but I also don’t want you guys to freak out if I walk in and kill everyone. It’s not really the kind of impression I want to set with the males who are supposed to be my mates.” I shrugged my shoulders in deference, but it felt weird with my forehead flat on my desktop.

“I think it’ll be hot, Trouble. Stone told me about you guys taking out the rogues and I’m pretty fucking excited to watch you work,” he admitted.

“Why do you call me that?”

“What? Trouble?”

“Yes, that,” I pulled my head up and rolled my eyes at him. What else would I be referring to?

“Because you are trouble. The fantastic and terrifying kind. The kind that makes mere men want to move mountains with their bare hands. The kind that makes males like us want to kill anyone who gets too close to you. The kind that comes into your life and makes the axis of your world tilt, changing all your notions and beliefs in a single glance.” The smile on his face is sweet, but the heat in his eyes is something completely different.

“And right now, am I the good kind of trouble?”

“There’s no need for good trouble with me, Sloane. I’m not like the other guys. I thrive off mischief and chaos. I love walking the line between good and bad, but I always lean a little. I lack in some of the moral standards departments.” He shrugged noncommittally. “I don’t want you to be the good kind, I want you to be the addictive kind. The trouble that has me itching for my next fix. The kind that does really bad things with me, but also forces me to be a better version of myself at the same time.”