Chapter 20

G regori lay flat on his back, eyes hooded as he watched Salem ride him. It felt exquisite, the push and pull as Salem rocked back and forth, his dick sliding in and out of slick heat. He kept his hands on Salem's thighs, loving the contact, sometimes reaching up to tweak a nipple just to hear Salem groan.

The pace was easy, not frantic for once, because right now the sex was less about getting off and more about comfort. For once, they were on the same page, but Gregori wished they weren't, as it meant they'd both had a really shitty day.

Look at Salem, those slitted eyes, his mouth open in a pant. His legs trembled under Gregori's hands from the exertion, but Salem didn't speed up. Didn't ask to change positions. Just kept riding Gregori with that perfectly slow pace.

With every fiber of his being, Gregori wished he could slow down his own climax. Extend this somehow. It wasn't to be, sadly, his groin already tight and hot with the impending feeling. He could only take Salem with him right now.

Gregori shifted his hand over to Salem's lovely dick and started stroking in time with his thrusts. Salem made that groan again, the sound like music to his ears, speaking purely of pleasure.

With a half shout, Salem came hard, the cum hot over Gregori's hand. He felt Salem's channel squeeze around him and it sent him over the edge. His hips slammed up as he spilled himself deep inside his mate, the climax more of relief than passion, but welcome nonetheless.

Gregori's lungs worked, drawing in breath, though it had a catch in it. Damn soot still caused him problems. He ignored it, basking in the afterglow settling in. Salem collapsed over his chest, completely boneless. Hell, half of Gregori's now softened dick was still in him. He was so warm, so cuddly, the thought of moving sounded sacrilegious. Gregori's dragon let out a rumbling purr, a sound of perfect contentment. Their mate had come to them for sex and comfort, and right now, it made his dragon quite happy.

Gregori, though, wanted to know why. This was very unlike Salem. Should he ask? Or let it be and just indulge in the moment?

With a sigh, Salem pulled off and flopped onto his side. Then he waved a hand, speaking a spell. " Sui gev adi ."

The warm tingle of magic flowed over Gregori and he went from sticky to clean in a second flat. Uh. Since when did Salem know this spell? Gregori hadn't seen this magic in a very, very long time.

"You learned the cleaning spell?"

"Sam taught it to me." Salem lifted a single shoulder in a shrug, not proud of this, merely stating a fact. "Amaru apparently taught it to him."

Trust Amaru to know this and have no qualms teaching it.

"Of course, my magic is only good for things like this," Salem tacked on, tone bitter.

He hadn't meant to poke a stick into the hornet's nest, but it was obvious he had. Welp. Guess they were talking about it.

Gregori put a hand to Salem's lower back and snugged him in closer. "Bad day?"

"Yeah. Shitty." Salem burrowed in a little, a long sigh slipping out of his throat. "What should have been a routine appendectomy damn near killed a twelve-year-old girl this afternoon."

Well shit. No wonder he was so upset. Not being able to help a child tore at Salem. He was a damn good pediatric surgeon for a reason.

"What happened?"

"Her grandmother fed her something before the surgery."

"Uh. I'm not an expert on surgeries, but isn't that a giant no-no?"

"It is. The body can't process food well while under anesthesia, so it tends to go into shock. You'd think, with as many medical TV shows out there, people would get it through their heads to not do this. But you'd be surprised how many times we've had to cancel a surgery, or had an emergency on our hands, because people don't follow instructions. In this case, the grandmother was the type to believe nothing could be wrong with her precious angel. She apparently tries to feed this poor girl gluten all the time even though she's a hardcore celiac."

"Ouch. That's just stupidity layered on stupidity."

"Tell me about it. Ugh, I hate people."

Gregori nodded in sympathy and support. "People suck."

"Anyway, this little girl crashed on the table. I had to do CPR to get her back and it was a close call. She's now under observation and we'll have to reschedule her surgery in the next day or two. Which shouldn't have happened. But the kicker was, the entire time I worked on her, I kept wondering why I was born a mage. My magic's fucking useless. It can't even save a little girl."

Oh. Ohhhhh. No wonder he was in this funk.

Well, Gregori could do something about it.

He leaned in, kissed Salem's forehead, then dropped the bombshell bluntly.

"Actually, the medical magic is still known to us."

Salem's head popped up so fast he damn near clipped the top of his head against Gregori's jaw. His deep blue eyes flared wide.

"WHAT?!"

Look at him, so surprised. His Pikachu face was so cute and made Gregori want to tease him. He shouldn't, though. Salem was part cat. He was sneaky in how he'd get his revenge.

"I don't know if you met him, but Ravi's mate, Sora?"

"Uhh…I don't know if I did meet him. If so, it was in passing."

Salem had been in Brazil for only the wedding, literally about four days in total, so it would make sense that he didn't meet everyone. All right, time to explain.

"You've heard of the Lost Clan?"

"Oh, yes."

"Okay, so obviously they weren't really lost. We just didn't know where they'd gone. Part of the Lost Clan was the Abe Clan. They were renowned healers even back in the day. Like seeing a specialist or a guru in today's times. There was very little they couldn't heal. When they left, they took all their knowledge and records with them. Their history and expertise is still intact. The whole family still practices medicine to this day."

Salem's expression was reminiscent of a child who had just been told Santa Claus was in fact real, rode unicorns instead of reindeer, and gave out kittens to good children. He was so excited and almost dubious at the same time, the two emotions duking it out over his face to the point of it being comical.

"And…what can they do?"

"Basically anything. Plus, Amaru's still got all of the knowledge in his head of what his clan could do, which is why he was able to heal Sam. Amaru and Sora's family have been putting their heads together for months now, comparing notes and information, and let me tell you, they've really gone leaps and bounds past what they were already able to do."

"Narrow this down for me." Salem went up on one elbow, studying Gregori with intensity. "What exactly can they do?"

"Now that is not a question I can easily answer. I can tell you what I've seen them do. They healed King Alric's shoulder to the point he can fly again, when before he couldn't even lift his arm in a full range of motion."

"But how long was he injured?"

"Well, it happened at the tail end of the Dragon War, so…"

Salem's eyes crossed. "Five-hundred-year-old injury?! And they cured him?"

"To the point he can fly again, at least. I'm told he's still not a hundred percent, but given how old the injury was, it's still something of a miracle."

"Not something of, it's an absolute miracle." Salem flopped back down, eyes still blown wide. "My god. I had no idea this information was kept alive after the war. I know Sam was able to do some serious magic after his core was fixed, but…"

"Pretty sure the Abe Clan has forgotten more about medicine than the collective world has ever known."

"Can they do surgeries without needing to actually cut someone open?" Salem pressed.

"Uhhh, you're asking questions I don't know the answers to." Gregori paused, thinking hard, then ventured tentatively, "I think so? At least on some things. Yeah, I'm not sure. I do know a lot of our ailments are getting fixed via either spells or potions. It's honestly been really nice. I feel like I've gone back to the old days."

"Fuuuuck," Salem whispered. He put a hand over his eyes, visibly agitated. "If I had known any of that, I might not have almost lost a patient today."

Gregori saw an in, and he wasn't above taking it. Anything to convince Salem to give magic a chance, a real chance. It might be the right lure to pull him out of this insane work schedule of his and into the clan. Gregori was not above twisting arms.

"I do know Amaru and Sora are taking on students."

Salem snapped upright, looking just as excited as he had been a second ago. "You're pulling my leg."

"Absolutely am not."

Gregori stroked his back, loving this excitement from Salem. It was such a rare thing to see. Most of the time, he was so jaded and beaten down with exhaustion, he barely smiled. It was part of the reason Gregori tried so hard to get him out of this place.

Feeling like he was winning a long-standing argument, he tacked on, "I've got both Amaru's and Sora's numbers. Want to call them? They'd love to talk medicine with you. Amaru especially doesn't know how to shut up if medicine is the topic."

"I…" Salem paused, brow furrowing. "Yeah. Yeah, I think I should. I don't even know what I don't know, if that makes sense."

"Sure. You know modern medicine, but magical medicine isn't something you grew up learning."

"No. No, it wasn't. It wasn't something the Hunters knew. Shit, I'm…I'm both vexed that this information has already been out here for hundreds of years without my knowing, and excited at the possibility I really could use magic to help my patients." Salem frowned before asking, "Wait, how does one have a medical license to practice if you're using magic?"

"Sora question." Gregori had no clue. "I heard he traveled the world as a nonprofit doctor before meeting Ravi. If anyone could answer the question, it'd be him."

It didn't take two seconds for Salem to make a decision. "I want to talk to them."

"Sure. I'll text them both, see who's got time to chat and when. Amaru's up to his neck in projects, so it might not be him. Honestly, Sora's not much better, as he's juggling projects, twins, and Ravi, but I have more faith in him finding an hour to talk to you than Amaru."

"Because he can stay on topic?"

Gregori snorted a laugh. "Pretty much. Amaru's excitement runs away with him."

"Got it. Well, regardless, I have a lot of questions. In fact, I might have triple the questions once I sit and think on this for a second."

"That's fine."

In a rare moment, Salem tilted his head back to look at him, gaze almost penetrating. "And what's wrong with you?"

Gregori's dragon sat up and did a little happy dance at this question. Such a lovely moment, having his mate focused and worried about him. He felt like throwing a party.

"Homesick," Gregori admitted. He didn't want to worry Salem or give him any grounds to argue with Gregori about returning to Brazil, but he did want to be honest with him. It was something of a fine balancing act. "I'm just really missing everyone. Plus, I've been feeling a little off."

Salem's face said I knew it , but he didn't look happy or vindicated with this answer. Quite the opposite, like it worried him more. "Are you coming down with something?"

"No, I don't think so. No sore throat or fever or anything. Just really tired and not feeling myself."

Salem lowered his hand to Gregori's forehead and the unhappiness increased. "You're running a low-grade temp."

"Oh. Makes sense, I had some minor smoke inhalation today. I bet that's why."

"Hmm. It could be part of it." Salem didn't look sold, though. "All right, the second you start having any symptoms, tell me."

He really was worried. It touched Gregori deeply, but he also couldn't help but tease Salem to ease his worries.

"Does that mean we can play doctor?"

"Do not make me tranq your ass."

"I'll take that as a no."

" When you are well"—Salem gave him the stink eye, but there was a twitch to his lips like he was laughing on the inside—"we will come back to the topic of playing doctor."

He didn't. Oh my god, he did. He was playing right along. Delighted, Gregori tried to snuggle in more, batting his eyelashes at Salem in a really ridiculous way.

"Can't we negotiate this?"

"No. We cannot." Salem rolled his eyes. "You're like that camel in the story. I give you an inch, you take a mile."

"Guilty."

And if Salem kept being sweet like this, Gregori would continue to take advantage. It was how he rolled.