Chapter 4

S alem went off to work at a crazy early hour and Gregori watched him go with a worried knot forming in the base of his stomach. This really wasn't going well. He'd seen the struggle with Dimitri and Sam, he'd heard stories of other people needing to court their mage mates for things to click properly, but…this felt different. This strong opposition to even considering them being mates felt like a repeated slap in the face.

And Gregori had no idea how to get past it.

He'd hoped the sex last night would soften Salem a little, but it didn't seem to have worked. Salem was used to having quick flings, apparently, as he was fine with unattached sex. Which was an entirely different problem—one Gregori had no solution for.

He hesitated for a strong moment, but he really needed a game plan, so it was time to face the music.

Gregori settled at the (very tiny) dining room table, stretching his legs out and crossing them at the ankles, then video called Sam. If there was anyone who could help him right now, it was Sam. It should be fine, as he and Dimitri weren't leaving for their honeymoon until next week, so Dimitri wouldn't kill him for interrupting anything.

Fortunately, the time difference was only an hour, and Sam was an early riser, so it went through on the second ring.

Sam was impeccably dressed, hair still damp from a shower, and with a glare hot enough to melt ice caps.

" You ," he greeted with a snarl. " Where the hell are you ?!"

Gregori somewhat regretted not telling anyone he was getting on a plane. Only somewhat because it was harder for them to force anything when he was literally on a different continent.

"Um. Boston."

Anyone who knew Sam knew he was brilliant—absolutely brilliant—and the man proved his super brain once again.

" Oh my god ," he breathed, jaw dropping. " Salem ? REALLY ?!"

A little sheepish, Gregori rubbed the back of his neck. He wasn't sure why he was feeling shy but…he was. Go figure. "Yeah."

" You're absolutely sure ? What am I saying, of course you're sure. But neither of you said anything about this before he left yesterday !"

"Yeah, about that, he's…" Gregori winced again. "Um. Adamantly refusing."

All delight was wiped off Sam's face, replaced by an understanding grimace. " Now that sounds like my brother. You're calling for help, aren't you ?"

"Please?"

" Hang on—no, wait. Give me five minutes, I'll call you back ."

"Sure."

Gregori couldn't sit still, his nerves wouldn't let him, so he got up and paced around the apartment. Which didn't take long. Seriously, this place was such a shoebox. He understood why Salem couldn't afford better, between massive student loans and incredibly high housing prices, but…he really, truly wanted to offer Salem a better place to live. He also knew even breathing a suggestion of this would hurt Salem's pride and definitely get him tossed out on his ear.

His phone rang with a video call and he gratefully accepted it. Only to blink, head jerking back in surprise. Sam had spent the five minutes rounding up several people and then projecting the call onto their war room screen so everyone could see and speak to each other.

Well, this way he could get it over with all at once? Without having to repeat himself. Gregori chose to look at the silver lining.

"Hi," he greeted with a sheepish smile.

Rodrigo gave him the patented look all parents wore when their child had just done something stupid. " Gregori. If he's your mate, then say something."

"I'm sorry."

Dimitri held up two fingers a couple of centimeters apart. " We were this close to putting together a search party, I hope you realiz e."

"I was kinda on a plane for a long time. But I promise to not be radio silent from now on."

" Appreciated ." Ha Na sighed, a hand over her heart. " We were very worried. Now, Sam said you're in Boston ?"

" And in Salem's apartment, from the looks of it ," Sam muttered, staring hard over Gregori's shoulder. " So you must have done something right to get in there ."

Gregori propped the phone up on the windowsill so he could free his hands. He liked to talk with his hands, and having one unavailable cramped his style.

"To be blunt about it, he likes having sex with me. Although he won't verbally admit it. I managed to weasel my way in to stay the night, but he's also determined I need to go back home today. I…don't know what to do."

Vasily and Luka shared a glance that spoke volumes before Vasily spoke.

" How much have you communicated with him ?"

Considering their own fiasco with Amaru, he could see why Vasily asked. "Everything. I'm not trying to keep secrets or only say what I think he wants to hear. I told him he's my mate on our first night together. We argued and talked about it most of the flight up here. He knows I believe it to be true, at least. He's not arguing that point so much as he just doesn't want to uproot his life here. He doesn't want a mate and he doesn't want to move to Brazil. Those are his sticking points."

All eyes turned to Sam, the resident expert on Salem, who blew out a stressed breath and shrugged.

" Yeah, sounds like my twin. He can be incredibly stubborn when he sets his mind to something. He's also not at all a romantic at heart. The idea of having one soul mate out there is pretty much anathema to him. He's completely sacrificed even the idea of having a relationship in favor of having a career and didn't blink an eye at this decision ." Sam wiped a hand over his face before stating bluntly, " You, my friend, don't have an uphill battle on your hands. You're fighting up a mountainside ."

Gregori winced. He'd had a feeling this was the case but hearing it said out loud was disheartening.

Ha Na fretted upon hearing this. " But he has to convince him somehow ."

" I'm not saying otherwise ," Sam assured her gently. " But pushing my brother to do something is the surest way to fail. Stubborn was invented to describe him. So here's my suggestion, Gregori. Win him over ."

"I'm all ears for suggestions."

" Don't try to drag him into your world. Try to join his ." Sam paused for a second, visibly weighing his words. " For instance, you could volunteer at the hospital where he works ."

Luka tilted back in his chair to give Sam a questioning look. " As what ? A candy striper ?"

" Those no longer exist, way to show your age, but they do take volunteers to help with the kids. To read stories, play games, that kind of thing. I think if Gregori shows up at the hospital and says hi, I'm an ice dragon, I'd love to volunteer for the children's department , they'll snatch him up before he can complete the sentence ."

Now there was a stunningly good idea. Trust Sam to think of it. Not to sound egotistical, but Gregori was absolutely sure he was right, too. The whole world was still enamored with dragons, so Gregori volunteering at the hospital would be a shoo-in procedure.

Besides, he liked kids. No hardship on his part.

Sam was not done. " The thing Salem hates more than anything is people whose entire lives revolve around their partner. So showing him you have your own things going on will go really, really far ."

"I could hook up with the local police or fire departments too," Gregori mused. "Fire department especially. They'd love me."

" There you go ," Sam encouraged. " Do that. Oh, actually, my colleague is at Harvard and would love to have an in-depth conversation with you about languages. Remember how I said no one alive aside from the dragons speaks Old East Slavic anymore ? She's been begging me for more recordings. A quick talk, maybe some special lectures, would benefit the scholastic world, if nothing else. And I think coming back to find you were gone for the day doing something academic would also strongly appeal to Salem. He likes the brainy types ."

Gregori felt like he should be taking notes. "You think all of this is going to help? More than me trying to woo him?"

" I guarantee it. Be thoughtfully unromantic, if that makes sense. Salem's eating habits are trash because he doesn't have the time or energy. Cook for him, help him keep the apartment clean, just be supportive without making a big deal of it. You'll get him addicted to having you there before he even knows what's happening ."

Now that Gregori could definitely do. Hell, refraining from taking care of Salem and spoiling him would be harder. He was relieved to have this instruction. "Already done."

Rodrigo shifted uneasily, leaning around Dimitri to speak to Sam. " How long do you think it'll take to convince Salem and bring him down here ?"

"It doesn't matter if I need to stay up here for years," Gregori insisted firmly. "I'm not leaving without my mate. And I'm not forcing him to do something he doesn't wish for."

" I understand ," Rodrigo assured him, mouth pulled down into a tight frown. " I wouldn't leave without my Ha Na either. But, Gregori, no dragon has lived outside of his clan for a long stretch of time ."

He did understand. Gregori wasn't blind to the possible obstacle. But what was he supposed to do?

Ha Na shared her mate's frown. " How long ?"

" Historically, I don't know if any dragon has spent more than two weeks away from the clan. I literally don't know what will happen to Gregori. It could be fine. It could also throw his entire physiology out of rhythm. This is entirely unprecedented ." Rodrigo ran a hand through his hair, looking more and more perturbed. " In days of old, it was unheard of for a mage to argue about going with their dragon. I think sometimes the dragon would join their clan, but there were always many other dragons around them ."

" Could take quite the toll on his mental health, too ." Dimitri joined the Frown Brigade. " Sam, how much does Salem use his magic ?"

" Doesn't ," Sam responded without a second of hesitation. " I think he uses the simple cleanup spells, does a few major workings a year with the rest of the family, but that's about it. I would say, day to day ? He doesn't use his magic at all. Why ? You think it plays into this ?"

" A mage not in tune with his own magic can't even fully accept himself, much less his dragon ," Rodrigo said. " I don't like this situation one bit ."

"I realize this is unprecedented, and will likely be stressful at first, but I'm not leaving without Salem." Gregori couldn't even imagine trying. Even short flights to other cities for day trips would strain his control.

" Forcing Salem back won't work either ," Sam maintained. He looked around the group and grimaced. " Look, none of this is ideal, I get why everyone's worried. But some things take time. This is one of those situations, and rushing or pushing really isn't going to help anything ."

Rodrigo blew out a long, stressed breath. " I do not like this ."

Gregori didn't either, but what could he do? His hands were rather tied.

Ha Na put a hand on her mate's shoulder in support, but her eyes were on Gregori. " For now, let's give this time. I think Sam made some very good suggestions. Gregori, are you going to take them ?"

"All of them," he asserted strongly.

" Then do them. We will all help you as much as we can from here. If you feel lonely and disconnected, you are to say something. One of us will come up and visit you ."

That did make him feel better. "I promise I will."

" Good. For now, let's do a once-a-week check-in with you. Just to see how you're faring and to monitor you. I know how you men are, you're terrible at admitting when you actually need help ."

Gregori was all set to protest this, but in light of recent events…eh, she had him there. He sheepishly shrugged instead.

" Uh-huh ." Ha Na rolled her eyes. " It's a good thing you're all loveable. I will call you every Sunday, all right ? Tell me honestly how you're doing ."

"I will."

" Good. I think we should end the call here. You have a lot to do today ."

"I do. Love you all, bye!"

He ended the call, staring at the screen for a long moment. All Gregori could do was his best. He would follow the advice he'd been given and give both himself and Salem time.

It would all work out in the end. It always did. He just had to be patient.