Chapter 16

T he cold wind rushed along his scales, lifting him high above the clouds. The moonlight glided along his long white body as he flew kilometers in a matter of seconds. He rushed away from the hospital, needing to put some distance between himself and the source of his pain.

Naturally, he headed east, buzzing past the bright lights and skyscrapers of Boston and then into the bay. His dragon felt a little better now that he was flying. But only a smidgeon. Which didn't bode well for the near future.

Flying cleared his head and the bitter cold wind cooled his temper. His rage and frustration with Salem calmed, but it was only replaced with anger with himself.

Why couldn't he have kept his head? A few witty, cutting remarks could have diffused the situation and easily reminded Salem which of them was the better choice.

But was he the better choice?

Maybe the doctor with the million-dollar smile was the better choice for him. They were both doctors, which meant they had plenty in common. He was handsome and amused Salem with his somewhat witty remarks.

Meanwhile, all Gregori had managed to do since he'd left Brazil was annoy the fuck out of Salem. They had made progress, or at least he thought they had with the agreement Salem had hammered out with him, but for all Gregori saw progress, it felt like he was fighting his way uphill. He slid back far more than he gained ground. He'd tried so hard, but today he'd hurt Salem. After promising he wouldn't, no less.

He felt like either crying or raging. Even he wasn't sure which.

Lifting his head, Gregori stared straight ahead at the distant horizon. He was already pointed south. In a matter of hours, he could be basking in the warmth of his clan. No longer alone in a place where he wasn't welcome or wanted.

As tempting as it was to simply fly straight home to the Valerii, what would be the point? His every thought would be about Salem. He wouldn't be able to close his eyes for a second without worrying about what Salem was wearing or eating or if he was getting enough sleep.

Tomorrow, he had surgery on a case that had been bothering him for days. After they'd had sex last night, Salem had lain in his arms talking about the little boy who had next to no hope of getting better.

Who was going to hold Salem if the surgery didn't go as well as he hoped?

Who was going to help him laugh at the end of the long, bad days?

Who was going to celebrate with him on the good days?

He couldn't leave. Even if Salem didn't want him to stay.

Gregori didn't know how long he flew. His mind was a twisted mess, and he needed to talk to someone to get his head screwed on straight before he attempted to see Salem again. Maybe Sam would be able to help him salvage this disaster he'd created by losing his temper.

He landed in the middle of a park lit by a handful of bright streetlamps and shifted into his human form. A sort of low-grade exhaustion pulled at his muscles, and he felt weirdly cool. Perhaps because he'd worked up a sweat. With a mental shrug, he set the feelings aside. He pulled his phone from his pocket and initiated a video call with Sam, while silently praying he wasn't catching the archaeologist at a bad time—something prone to happen more times than not when dealing with newly mated mages and dragons.

" Gregori !" Sam's excited voice filled the empty park. " I was just thinking of texting you. How are things going ?"

Gregori tried to force a smile, but he knew he fell short. "Not great."

Sam squeezed his eyes shut and swore loudly. " My brother can be such a fucking stubborn ass ." When he opened his eyes again, Sam wore his determined, don't-screw-with-me face. It was an expression he'd had frequently when they'd been trekking through the forest for the Sousa ruins. " Let me call you back ."

Before Gregori could reply, the mage ended the call, and Gregori felt the first hints of a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. Really, how could he lose this fight when he had someone as determined as Sam in his corner? Having Salem's identical twin working on his side had to count for something.

Barely a minute passed before a video call rang on his phone. When he answered, he was greeted by Sam, Dimitri, and Luka in the tracker team's meeting room. Sam had put him up on the main display again so the team could brainstorm his little problem.

" Okay, so what did my asshole of a brother do this time ?" Sam demanded without preamble.

Gregori sighed. "As much as I would like to blame this on him, this was really my fault. I lost my temper." He then launched into a painful retelling of the flirty doctor, Salem's refusal to brush the man off, and Gregori sticking his nose in where it didn't belong while making a scene for all the other doctors, nurses, assistants, and patients to see.

"I think I've destroyed what little progress I've made with him," Gregori said, forcing the words past the tightness in his throat. "I can't even get him to admit we're dating. I do know about his exes, and what they did to him, so I was trying to be careful and not hit his buttons. But today, I feel like I acted poorly, like one of his exes had done. I'm not proving myself to be a better man."

" Gregori, I don't think it's that bad ," Dimitri said.

" Dimitri is right ." Sam leaned forward, both of his forearms resting on the table in front of him. " Salem can be a complete asshole, but he can be reasoned with. He's running scared and trying to keep you at arm's length, but he's not succeeding, right ?"

"I haven't made any progress in getting him to admit we're mates. He loses his shit every time I even mention Brazil." He almost said how much he loved Salem, how much it hurt to be rejected time and again, but he bit it back. That was a separate problem right now.

" But you're still there. You're living in his place. That's big ." Sam pushed up in his seat, leaning toward the camera. " Salem sucks at relationships. He needs space. Lots of space. He's never lived with anyone. Hell, I'm not sure he's ever let a guy sleep over at his place ."

" I know things look bleak now, but you've got to remember how the courtship period didn't go well for any of us ," Dimitri chimed in. " Sammy and I were fighting almost the entire way up the mountain and through the forest. He wouldn't even share a tent with me until he woke up in the middle of the night with a stomper on his chest ."

The mage in question slowly turned his head toward Dimitri, eyes narrowed. " Sammy ? I can't imagine why I wanted to strangle you during most of that trip ."

Dimitri grinned at him. " Yeah, it totally boggles the mind ."

Luke barked out a laugh and then choked it back when Sam turned his threatening glare on him. " Vasily and I weren't any better when it came to Amaru. It's even worse because Vasily and I were together for years before we found Amaru. You would have thought Vas and I had our shit together ."

" You had mate brain ," Dimitri said with a little groan. " It's a real fucking thing ." He turned his gaze toward the screen and pointed. " And now you've got it. Finding your mate lowers your IQ by dozens of points. Things you never would have done or thought before are now common. It's not just about being possessive and overprotective. You're going to be constantly plagued with doubts and insecurities in regard to your own worthiness ."

Okay, so Gregori had to admit he was likely dealing with a little mate brain. He definitely didn't feel as sharp as he usually did, and he was constantly haunted by little self-doubts dancing through his mind.

" And after you are finally bonded with your mate, you're going to be constantly forgetful, absentminded, consumed with thoughts of your mate, and horny ," Luka added.

Dimitri snorted. " What do you mean after? All that kicked in before Sam and I were bonded ."

Gregori rolled his eyes and grinned, some of the fear and pain easing from the center of his chest. Calling home had been one of his smarter ideas.

"Speaking of mates, where are yours, Luka? Already need a break from them?" Gregori teased.

Luka lounged in the leather office chair and flipped Gregori off as he returned the smile. " Not at all. Vasily and I are currently taking shifts watching over Amaru. Someone …introduced him to nanotechnology ," he said with a little bit of a growl. Gregori couldn't imagine who was insane enough to introduce Amaru to something so advanced and potentially dangerous. At a guess, it was probably Sora. Or possibly Ravi.

Yeah, it was most likely a Ravi thing. The wind dragon had likely been talking and not thinking about the ramifications of what he was saying. Particularly when it came to someone as dangerously brilliant as Amaru.

" Amaru has just gotten some working, but only at a very basic level in tandem with some exploratory spells. Right now, Rodrigo has put the kibosh on doing any kind of surgery with them, but I'm sure it's only a matter of time before Amaru wears him down. Besides, we've still got lots of Jaeggi hanging around, needing their cores fixed, and they're all offering to be guinea pigs for Amaru. It's a scary combination, so we're taking turns keeping an eye on him as he works to make sure he doesn't take any unnecessary risks ."

"Damn the torpedoes and full steam ahead," Gregori muttered.

" Pretty much ," Luka agreed. " But on the plus side, if it works, there are a lot of people who can be helped by his discovery ."

" He's a magical Tony Stark, and we should all be afraid ," Sam murmured.

Gregori scrubbed a hand across the top of his head and sighed. "I wish you luck. Hopefully, I'll be able to bring Salem there one day so he can join Amaru in his chaos."

" Are you sure you don't want Dimitri and me to come north to help you ? I can try to talk some sense into Salem. At the very least, I can try to beat some sense into his thick skull ," Sam offered.

Gregori shook his head. "Would Salem have ever been able to talk you out of going to Brazil once you got it in your head it was your only course of action?"

Sam sighed heavily and his shoulders slumped. The twins' matching stubborn streaks were a mile wide. Dimitri reached over and wrapped an arm around his mate's shoulders, pulling him in close.

" Not a chance ," Sam murmured.

"Plus, I'm afraid if you're here arguing with him, it'll just put more pressure on him. I don't want to pressure him into agreeing to be my mate. I want him to make the choice on his own. And…he's just not there yet."

" Don't lose hope, Gregori ," Dimitri urged with a gentle smile. " You'll get there. We all believe in you and Salem ."

"Thanks. This has helped." He straightened and grinned, feeling a little better than he had. "I should get going now. It's late. Salem should be getting home from the hospital soon, and we need to talk."

" Good luck !"

" You've got this !"

" Tell my brother I'm going to kick his ass if he doesn't pull his head out of it soon !"

His friends' supportive cheers buoyed him until the phone went dark and he found himself once again sitting alone in the park, kilometers away from his family. God, he missed them all. Loneliness crashed over him, and he felt small under the weight of it.

Never in his life had he felt so lost.