Chapter 4

V ampyr Lord Nikolai Volkov smiled at the gray-eyed man at his side. Moving close enough to see the tiny flecks of brown in his gaze, Nikolai brushed their lips together.

"Are you kissing me because I agreed to skip the roller coaster?" Lord James Volkov asked, taking Nikolai's hand with a grin.

"Jamie, you were welcome to ride it with my mother and your sister."

James shook his head. "No, thanks."

"I thought it looked scary," said Charles Tigglesworth, one of the humans bonded to Nikolai's vampire blood centuries before. Charlie was their chauffeur but more importantly an integral part of their family, along with his mate, Keyton, who preferred to be addressed by his last name.

"Which is why we decided not to ride it, Pet," Tigglesworth told Charlie. Like Nikolai and James, the pair were holding hands and dressed casually in shorts and T-shirts. Their attire allowed Charlie to show off the magical tattoos wrapped around his ankles and wrists.

"But we're definitely headed to the water park, right?" Sir Sebastian Morozov asked. The well-respected guard was never far from James's side, and Nikolai owed the vampire a debt of gratitude for ensuring his greatest treasure remained safe.

"Yeah, we should probably wait for everyone else to finish their coaster ride," James said. "Mila was excited about the water rides too."

Mila was the mate of James's lone sibling, Vivian, and they lived in the same condo building as the rest of the Volkovs. Although James had once kept everyone at an arm's distance, Vivian and Mila had grown into his closest friends. The death of Jamison Winnister—the father of Vivian and James—had eradicated any remaining distance between brother and sister.

Dedicated to his children in the last years of his life, Jamison had willed his massive assets to his Vivian and James despite being a human. Although James and Vivian were dedicated to educating humans about vampires and the Council, they had made little progress in convincing their former race that they had nothing to fear.

Many employees had quit, and contracts had been lost after Jamison's death, but his companies had survived. Since James was busy aiding Nikolai running their own large conglomerate, Umpyr, it was Vivian and Mila who'd taken over the duties of the Winnister holdings. The pair sought aid whenever they needed it from Nikolai and James but had risen to the challenge of being business owners.

Both James and Nikolai were proud of the pair and had believed in them from the start.

"There's the Vampyress," Charles said.

Nikolai turned and saw a woman with wisps of her raven hair flowing in the wind as she and the men with her raced toward them. Like Nikolai, the ruler of the Vampyr Clutch had pale blue eyes, and hers were filled with excitement.

"You should have ridden the coaster with us," Vampyress Irina Volkov called out. "It was incredible."

"I almost threw up," Nikolai's brother, Vampyr Lord Grigori Volkov-D'Vaire, muttered as they embraced once the small group was within arm's reach.

"Greggory is pouting because they wouldn't let him ride it," High Arcanist Delaney Volkov-D'Vaire commented. Greggory, the powerful dark wizard's familiar, was lying in Delaney's embrace with limp wings and his eyes closed as if death had already taken him. The adorable little dragon easily personified drama whenever it suited him, and Nikolai smiled at Greggory's antics.

"He could've been hurt," remarked Nikolai's father and the consort of the vampire ruler, Alexei. He took Greggory from Delaney so the dark wizard could dole out hugs.

"We really did have fun," Vivian added. Her gray gaze, which was so reminiscent of her brother's, danced with excitement as she sidled closer to her mate. "Well, except for poor Greggory."

"Do you think they'll let Greggory get on the water rides with us?" Charlie asked.

"I don't see any reason he can't sit on someone's lap for some of the less dangerous ones," Nikolai's mother responded. "Someone will have to hold him for the log rides, though."

"Yeah, I'm not missing that," Delaney said.

Grigori's smile faltered. "Yay."

With a chuckle, Delaney kissed Grigori's cheek. "You don't have to ride with me if you don't want to."

"This is your first amusement park, I want to experience stuff with you," Grigori argued, but his voice lacked excitement. "Maybe I'll like it."

"You knew from your first horror movie that it wasn't your thing," Delaney told his other half as he wrapped an arm around him. "It's okay to admit you hate the scary rides."

"We're here together though, I don't want to abandon you."

"You'd never abandon me," Delaney replied with a smile for a still rather green-looking Grigori. "Think about this. Greggory will handle his disappointment much better if he can stay on your shoulder while we're on the rides. You're his favorite person."

The familiar in question suddenly found the will to live again and flew up to his normal perch on Grigori's shoulder. It was rare to find Grigori without the familiar Delaney had summoned from his magic as a youngster.

"I can ride with Del so he's not by himself," stated Dmitri Orlov, the vampire in charge of guarding Nikolai's parents.

"See, Dmitri can hop in with me, and you can take care of our little Greggory," Delaney commented.

Grigori heaved a sigh of relief and tugged Delaney close. "Thanks, I hate roller coasters."

"And you can tease Brogan later about how you survived without losing your breakfast in the closest trash can," Delaney snickered.

"Be nice," Grigori chided. "It was a close call for me. Poor Brogan. I don't blame him a bit. All that speed and those hills. Everything was happening so fast. My body could barely keep up. I was nauseous from the first time we rocketed toward the ground."

"My favorite was probably the twists where we went upside down," Dmitri added, his blue gaze amused.

"I squeezed my eyes shut and pretended it wasn't happening," Grigori confided.

Delaney kissed Grigori and squeezed him tight. "I wish you hadn't gotten on the coaster with me. The last thing I want is for you to hate today."

"I'm excited about the water park," Grigori assured his other half.

"Me too," Nikolai said, lacing his fingers with James's. From the moment they'd met at a staid party at Vivian's house, Nikolai had been enamored of the brown-haired man Fate had picked to be his for eternity. It had taken a little longer than Nikolai would have liked to convince James that they were perfect for each other, but those dark days no longer mattered.

In the ensuing years, their love had blossomed and grown far beyond Nikolai's wildest imagination. James was his soul, and he worshipped everything about him. There was no question Nikolai's love was enthusiastically returned. The man who held Nikolai's heart never shied away from professing his feelings or delaying a touch or a kiss. They were best friends and shared nearly every hour of their day together.

Some may have grown weary of spending so much time in someone's company, but Nikolai craved being with James. He figured their bond suited a vampire whose mate provided the blood that kept Nikolai alive. Gratefulness for Fate and the beautiful man at his side flowed happily through Nikolai, as it so often did.

As if James was reading the heartfelt emotions swarming Nikolai, he glanced at him, and his lips curved. James pressed his mouth softly to Nikolai's.

"Love you," James murmured against his lips.

"I love you, darling," Nikolai said.

"Do you guys need to go find a private room, or are we finally heading to the water park?" Vivian teased.

"Hmm, give me twenty minutes with Nik, and I'll see you at the water park later," James replied.

Nikolai laughed. "Let's go find a water ride. I'll need far longer than twenty minutes, so privacy will have to wait."

Dmitri and Sebastian perused the park map and charted their course to the water park. With James at his side, Nikolai followed their guards and begged Fate to get moving so everyone in his extended family could spend their lives knowing the blissfulness of a soul perfectly matched.

∞∞∞

Conley patiently waited as everyone in his small group climbed down into the large round raft that promised to wind them through a scenic but bumpy and wet ride. When the man he'd loved since he was nineteen bent, Conley had no choice but to gently pat Drystan's perfect ass. It was lovely to set aside the heavy demands of their job and enjoy a day at an amusement park.

That didn't mean Conley didn't have his phone on or would ignore any emergency that required his attention, but there were thousands of fallen knights capable of protecting the Council for twelve hours without the intervention of their leaders. Of course, the three Venerable Knights who ranked just below Conley and Drystan were also at the park. And so was the bane of every machine at the Order of the Fallen Knights.

"Do you think I should stick my phone in my underwear so it doesn't get wet?" asked Kyle Meadowscroft, the fallen knight resurrected to serve as Conley and Drystan's office manager. Although Kyle was fantastic at his job, for some reason, he had a knack for fighting with technology and usually broke whatever machine he touched within a few days. Conley hoped his phone would make it through the day.

"I'm gonna stick mine in my pocket," Trystan D'Vaire replied. While Trystan was biologically Drystan's child, Conley considered the talented author his own too, and some part of him would always be sad that he'd missed Trystan's birth and the first couple decades of his life.

It was rare for Conley to reflect upon the centuries stolen from him by a wizard who'd refused to return his body to Chander, but there were moments when the heartbreak snuck in. Knowing it was important to keep in mind that Conley would never leave Drystan or anyone else in their family made it easy for him to brush off those thoughts. They had an eternity together. That was all that mattered.

With a shake of his head, Conley smiled and took Drystan's hand as he settled against the plastic chair.

"I am not sticking anything in my underwear that does not belong there," Gavrael stated emphatically.

At his side, his other half, Gedeon, chuckled. "Good plan, Gav."

"I can stick it in my purse if you don't have a pocket, Kyle," offered Blodwen, Trystan's necromancer mate.

" Ow ," Venerable Knight Roman Calixtus exclaimed. Kyle had hit him with a sharp elbow as he wiggled to stick his phone in the pocket of his shorts.

"Whoops, sorry, Roman," Kyle grunted. "I have it, Blodwen, thanks."

The wide conveyor belt where their raft was resting lurched into motion, and Conley rested his free hand on the round bar in the middle of the raft.

"Are you ready to get drenched?" Drystan asked, humor dancing in his black scaly eyes.

"Yeah, but I'm not walking around with wet undies," Conley mused. "If my butt gets wet, someone with magic better dry it."

Blodwen laughed. "I've got you, Dad-mate."

"But we agree that if Dad is soaked, he has to dry naturally, right?" Trystan teased.

"Agreed," Roman and Kyle answered together.

"None of you are funny," Drystan remarked as their raft easily slid off the conveyor into the waterway that made up the ride. They cruised at a slow speed as they hit the first minor bump of water, and not a drop of it landed on anyone.

"At this pace, no one is getting wet," Roman grumbled.

"Look up ahead," Gedeon advised, his mint green eyes dancing with excitement. "We're going to pass through some little waterfalls. Plenty of opportunities for us to get doused."

They rocked over a sharper but still tame drop-off that had a few beads of liquid hitting the group. Conley chuckled as his companions whooped with excitement. It was a fun leisurely ride, and Conley enjoyed the sun warming his face as his thigh pressed close to Drystan's.

Any time spent with his other half was meaningful. Mostly they were wrapped up in cases that displayed the worst of people, but having an incredible extended family helped keep both Reverent Knights from despairing that evil presided everywhere.

The golden dragon that shared Conley's soul roared with happiness as they slowly swept around the bumpy river the orcas had created. It wasn't only the presence of their mate; relaxation and joy thanks to their fun day pleased both man and beast.

"Uh oh, brace yourselves," Conley warned merrily as they ventured into a tunnel. Everything went dark, and Conley nearly screamed as a skeleton popped up out of nowhere. They bounced off the concrete wall, and Conley wished dragons had the ability to partially shift so he could use his dragon's eyesight to see a damn thing.

At his side, Drystan let out a shocked exhale and a string of curses. It wasn't until the water cascaded across Conley's thigh that he realized their boat had finally found a waterfall. They turned a corner, and Conley blinked as he adjusted to the sudden influx of light. They'd left the tunnel behind them, and laughter filled the boat.

Trystan put a hand over his mouth as Conley took in the disheveled state of his other half. Drystan had taken the full force of the waterfall, and his black hair was plastered to his forehead. It was lovely the way his T-shirt caressed his broad shoulders and pectorals, but the frown on his face was daunting. Undeterred, Conley chuckled as he brushed the dripping strands off Drystan's face.

"Fucking figures," Drystan muttered.

"I mean, I'd use a spell, but there's still a bit of the ride left," Blodwen managed through her giggles.

"Sure, because you can't use the spell more than once," Drystan deadpanned.

"It's a waste of magic," Conley insisted. "You look good wet, Drys."

"Better check your phone," Kyle advised. "You're really soaked."

"Thanks, Kyle, I noticed," Drystan said. "Keep laughing, Con, and you're getting a hug the second I stand up."

Conley cupped Drystan's chin and kissed him gently. "Small price to pay to get a little affection from my mate."

"Are you insinuating that I have somehow neglected you?" Drystan asked, one dark brow lifted.

Leaning close to Drystan despite the water soaking through his T-shirt, Conley nibbled Drystan's earlobe as they finally coasted toward the end of the ride. "If I was touching you from now until the world's end, it would still not be enough. I love you."

"I love you too, but you're getting a hug before I dry off. You deserve it. You laughed."

Those words only increased Conley's desire to chuckle. "As I said, it's a price I'm willing to pay. What do you think? Should we ride this again?"

"Let's see what else the park has to offer first," Drystan insisted.

"Yeah, there's another ride close by that I think is supposed to be even wetter than this one," Trystan said.

"Kid, that's impossible. I don't get this drenched in the shower," Drystan retorted.

The second the boat stopped, Conley—knowing time was of the essence—deftly leapt out and stuck out his tongue at Drystan. His mate narrowed his eyes, but he couldn't hide his smile. The chase was on. Both Conley and his dragon loved to be pursued by their other half. Drystan's sneakers hit the concrete, and Conley took off running. Drystan's laughter reached his ears, and Conley slowed so he was sure to be caught.

A brawny arm slipped around his waist, and Conley didn't fight as Drystan snuggled close. Conley didn't care about the moisture seeping into his clothes. Drystan's mouth found his neck, and Conley sighed with happiness. The amusement park was an outstanding adventure Conley hoped to visit again someday.