Chapter 36

"D o you have everything packed?" Roman asked as he sailed into the bedroom with his toothbrush in a handy travel case.

Grant stood over the bed humming as he placed a stack of clothing into his suitcase and whipped it shut. "Huh?"

"What was that?" Roman asked, tossing the toothbrush case in the general direction of his duffel.

"Hmm? What was what?"

"You just put some stuff in your suitcase, what was it?"

His mate's mouth curved into a knowing smile. "Those, my sexy mate, are a pair of dragonskin pants. I thought I'd wear them one night."

Roman charged to Grant and slipped his hands around his waist. "Or you could wear them every night."

"I don't want to offend anyone's fashion sensibilities by showing up in the same pants every night."

"Tell me why I should give a fuck about anyone's opinion," Roman said, tugging Grant closer as his mind conjured glorious images of Grant's perfect physique in the black dragonskin pants. "All I care about is how gorgeous you're going to look."

"You've never seen me in them. They're new. So, how do you know I'll look gorgeous in them?"

"For starters, you look gorgeous in everything or nothing at all, but also…the dragonskin is going to mold to your every muscle. We may have to miss the evening festivities whatever night you decide to slip those on."

Grant shook his head. "Nope. This is my first retreat. I want to soak up every second of being with our fellow fallen knights, sentinels, and reapers. This gives me an incredible opportunity to meet so many of the women and men who work for us. Plus, I want to pay attention to stuff so I can help with planning for next year. I know you guys kept me out of it this year since I had the parade to focus on, but this is for our people, and I want to give them my best effort."

"Don't worry, you'll absolutely be involved in every future retreat. And you'll love it. It's one of the best weeks of the year."

"What compares to it for you?"

"Training at the Ascension Center," Roman replied, kissing the corner of Grant's mouth. "I love welcoming new recruits and aiding them on their journey to becoming wonderful fallen knights."

Grant grimaced. "Sorry you missed the last round of fresh recruits."

"Seriously? I'm not." Roman pulled Grant against him fully and closed his eyes to breathe in his mate's wonderful lime scent. "Fate and Chand brought me you, baby. I would've sacrificed a great deal more than giving up my opportunity to work with our newest FKs to be with you."

"Oh, I got the better side of this bargain. Within moments of being resurrected, my soul recognized you. Eight weeks later, we met, and I started falling in love instantly. You understand me. You're my best friend. A fucking incredible lover. And I'm thankful for you."

"I love you too."

"Now, we need to get to the hotel before I either start crying little happy tears or I push you to the bed and have my wicked way with you."

Roman smirked. "I'm cool with both the crying and being pounced on."

With a roll of his green eyes, Grant pressed his mouth tenderly to Roman's in a whisper-soft kiss that filled Roman with gratitude and unparalleled joy. Grant was a gift, and Roman would cherish him for eternity. Grant pulled out of their embrace, hauled his suitcase off the bed, and slapped Roman's ass when he turned to pluck his duffel off the comforter.

"Let's get going, Calixtus."

Grant beat him to their shared garment bag full of the formal uniforms they'd need for the week, and they teleported to the Dérive station next to the hotel that the retreat fully occupied. They stepped inside, and Roman sped up. Despite the increased walking speed, Roman barely arrived at the check-in desk before Grant. Roman grunted as Grant barreled into him.

"Cheater," Grant grumbled.

They greeted the concierge, and Roman handed over his identification card so they could check in.

"What did I cheat at?" Roman asked Grant.

"I could've checked us in."

"Too bad, I got to the desk first."

"You literally ran," Grant accused, his gaze narrowed.

Delighted with him, Roman brushed their lips together. Ignoring Grant's complaint, Roman took his identification card back from the concierge.

"Give the nice man your card so you can get in our room and the meeting rooms," Roman told Grant.

Adoring the way Grant glared, Roman grinned winningly at him. Once their check-in was completed, Roman bypassed going upstairs to drop their stuff off. Instead, he headed directly to the large meeting space the leaders of the fallen knights, sentinels, and reapers were using as their command center for the week.

They weren't the first to arrive. In fact, the room was buzzing with activity. Roman set his luggage down and gave an internal sigh of happiness as Grant slipped his hand into his. They walked to the middle table where the Reverent Knights were conversing with the Lich Sentinel.

To Roman's surprise, the Arch Lich was at his mate's side. Given Chander's hectic schedule as a well-respected and in-demand Council leader, Roman usually didn't see him until the retreat began in the morning.

"Fancy meeting you here," Roman said to Chander.

Chander tucked his hands into his jeans, and his mouth thinned. "Yeah. Did you know that at my birth, I was chosen as the first Fate-born leader of the necromancers?"

"Uh, yeah. Doesn't everyone know that?"

"Probably. At least those that are into history. You know who doesn't care that I'm the Arch Lich?"

Alaric glanced at his mate, and though he was an expert at hiding his emotions, Roman saw exasperation and even some guilt in his glowing gaze. "This is necessary."

"Hey!" Evergreen screeched.

Everyone at the table turned to watch a harassed-looking Evergreen chase a chortling goblin. Behind the druid-necromancer hybrid was a second goblin in a T-shirt with a slice of pizza on it.

"Fuck," Chander said, charging after Evergreen.

"Maybe you should've picked a different babysitter," Conley observed as Chander hauled Pizza into his arms. The goblin flailed in his embrace and let out a string of angry chirps as Chander focused his attention on Pizza's mate, who was still evading Evergreen.

"My options are limited," Alaric confided. "For reasons I cannot understand, few will take on the task of minding them, and I have a full list of things to complete today so the sentinels are ready for check-in tomorrow."

"Get back here!" Chander roared as Rogue teleported across the room several times to successfully evade Evergreen.

Evergreen stopped, bent at the waist, and panted heavily.

"Why does anyone want to purposely sweat? I feel gross," he huffed out.

Although Roman would never admit it aloud, the spectacle the goblins were providing was hysterical. Unlike Evergreen, Chander refused to keep chasing the little miscreants. The Arch Lich got a firmer hold on the goblin stoically trying to get out of his arms and used magic to enclose Rogue in a nearly transparent black box.

With Rogue still, Roman could finally see the rolled-up papers in the goblin's tiny hand.

"Slide the fucking papers through the box if you want out," Chander demanded. "Or I'm shoving nothing but fruit and vegetables in it. I'm sure Victor has piles of that shit waiting in the fridge at home. You won't get a fucking cookie or anything else you like until you give Evergreen his stuff back. And if you take anything else, you're spending the entire week in a box just like this one."

With his velvety head bowed and a pout on his face, Rogue pushed the papers through the box. Chander took them and handed them to a grateful Evergreen. The box disappeared, and Chander set Pizza on the ground. Pizza hauled Rogue into his arms. Both goblins glared at Chander.

The Arch Lich stalked over to the table and fixed an intimidating stare on his mate. "I hate babysitting."

"Still, you probably got them to behave," Conley said quietly.

"Of course, they may murder you in your sleep," Drystan added.

"I sleep with a sentinel. Hopefully, he loves me more than them. I may survive the night," Chander drawled.

" Hopefully I love you more?" Alaric asked.

"You did ask me to babysit your goblins."

"Because who else would I trust with the goblins you summoned for me than the man I love and a sorcerer well-equipped to handle them?" Alaric replied.

"Wow, I was taught sentinels couldn't lie," Grant said. "You told us your options were limited and that's how Chander got the job."

Alaric pivoted on one booted heel and headed for Evergreen and Dudley's temporary desk. "Fallen knights will forever be the bane of my existence."

"We will discuss this later, Lich Sentinel," Chander called out. To Roman's amusement, every sentinel in the room wore matching expressions of concern. If the Arch Lich was annoyed, the sentinels were unable to ignore it. Roman wasn't sure if that was part of their resurrection spell or the incredible presence of Chander himself.

Alaric gave a nod but offered no comment. Roman thought it rather convenient that he suddenly had so much to do that he couldn't converse any longer with Chander. But like Alaric, Roman didn't like confrontation with his other half or to have any problems between them. As a man in love, he understood that sometimes the better part of valor was escape and staying as silent as possible.

"Chander, I have a quick question," Grant said.

Chander fixed his pewter gaze on Grant and frowned. "No, I'm still not summoning you any goblins."

"While I hope someday you'll change your mind, that wasn't my question. It was just an idle thought, but here goes," Grant replied. "I know why you named me Grant. Roman recognized me, and it would've probably have been odd as fuck for him to call me anything else, considering we'd already met. But how'd you pick Roman's name?"

"Okay, wasn't expecting that question," Chander remarked, his mouth quirking into a smile. "I guess I should start by saying I wasn't a great teenager. It's fair to say I was an asshole. Anyway, I decided on a list of names that I considered warrior names. The first one was supposed to be Titus. Instead, this first damn fallen knight that wasn't a dragon Emperor is telling me—cocky-ass Arch Lich—that his name is Vann. Honestly, I was annoyed. Again, not a good person. Roman is next. He's hot as fuck. Looks like a fucking marble statue. In my head, I'm like he looks like a perfect specimen right out of history. So, I wadded up my list and named him Roman."

"Stop telling everyone you were a terrible person," Conley argued. "You had a shit upbringing, and there were far too many expectations on your shoulders for a teenage kid. But seriously, you're not wrong. Roman looks like if he stood still long enough, he could pass for a super lifelike statue of a roman soldier."

Grant sized Roman up, and they were both grinning when their eyes met.

"Damn right he does," Grant said.

"So, basically I'm so good-looking you were overwhelmed and thought none of your names fit me," Roman drawled.

"If that helps you sleep at night, go with that," Chander retorted.

Grant tugged Roman into his embrace. "I help him sleep at night."

"I'm sure you do," Chander said. "And I need to go fix things with my mate so we both sleep well tonight."

"Go take your shit upstairs, then we'll get to work so we're ready for the retreat in the morning," Drystan ordered.

"Give me one moment to appreciate this gorgeous male specimen," Grant teased as he sealed his mouth to Roman's. Not one to ignore such a lovely invitation from the man he loved, Roman slipped his tongue between Grant's soft lips and tasted him fully.

Fate had kept him waiting for centuries, but Roman no longer counted the cost. In his arms was the man who completed his soul. They were best friends and understood each other fully, and Roman adored him with every inch of his heart.

So, he thanked Fate, Chander, and every other cosmic force in the world that had helped bring Grant into his life the second time. Their first meeting and those tense few weeks before his death were no longer a concern. To Roman, what mattered was what they had now, and he'd readily spend eternity cherishing Grant and the incredible relationship they'd built.