Chapter Two

Lev

I paced the front lawn of Moonscale Manor. The Moonscale Dragons had rebuilt London from the ground up and it looked better than ever. I'd come for a meeting of the minds with Medwin, the first-mate of the Moonscale Dragons, but there was nothing the dragon shifter could tell me that I hadn't already told Othoni myself. So, my jaguar and I paced and paced and then talked to Othoni for a bit and then we left Moonscale Manor without going to the meeting. I'd have to make it up to Medwin later, but I was in the mood to sharpen my claws and didn't want to risk sharpening them on all the new furniture he and his mate had filled up the renewed Moonscale Manor with.

"Lev?" my mate poked back into my thoughts.

"Yes, mate?"

"Just making sure you were still there," he yawned.

"In this way I haven't left. I've never been far."

He didn't say anything else until it was nearly dinner time. I was back at the flat with takeout. Takeout was something we definitely didn't have back at the pard. It was convenient, but I missed the tastes of home. Back with the pard, meals were always at the very least a family event. Here I ate alone. Sometimes watching videos on my phone but mostly in silence.

"Lev?" Othoni poked me again.

"Yes, mate?" I answered quickly not wanting to break the progress we'd made so far.

"I don't know what to do."

"About what?" I asked, not wanting to assume that he was talking about our problem again. He was still running a pard after all.

"About everything."

"The tradition was made into a rule by someone like you before it became a tradition," I pointed out.

"I know."

"The guy who made it probably didn't think it would be followed forever without question."

"But it works."

"It worked," I shrugged. "He made the rule to protect the pard during an utterly different time. I think he and the ones who came before you would want you to make rules that work for this time."

"I don't think it's that simple, Alpha," he sighed and I imagined him flopping onto the sofa and rubbing his eyes with the heels of his hands as he always did when he was frustrated.

"Why not?" I asked.

"The rules make the pard feel safe."

"And lonely," I tacked onto the end of his answer.

"Lonely, but alive."

"According to some recent mental health studies, loneliness is dangerous too. Makes all sorts of physical health problems more likely to occur," I said over our mating link.

"Murder kills quicker, Lev," he said, and I almost fell silent over our link again.

Almost, but my jaguar hissed and Othoni hissed back. Our arguments were usually civil. We hadn't argued much before Sergei stole the potion and met his true-mate, but even during those long days arguing it never turned into a cat fight.

"Who would our son's mate murder?" I snapped over our mating link.

The hissing jaguars freed my tongue and my frustration tumbled over our sacred link.

"Not him! The ones who would follow him!"

"I'll kick their fucking ass!" I hissed at him.

"Stop that! Stop hissing at me!"

"Or what? Whatcha gonna do about it? Come out of your hidey hole and kick my ass?" I snapped.

"At least I don't sound like a cave-jaguar! Like someone whose about to drag his mate off by the scruff of his neck and ---"

The image hit both of us at the same time. My mouth on his neck, my tongue lapping away the sweat the humid air refused to evaporate. The phantom of his scent wrapped around me, and my dick hardened. It'd been a long time. I hadn't lied when I told Othoni there hadn't been anyone else. Some vows are too sacred even for me to break. Some loves run too deep to ignore for a few minutes of forgetting the ache.

"I don't have to leave to come make you wish you'd stayed home," Othoni said over our mating link, the daggers out of his words now. "I can come to you, but I won't. You won't see reason, Lev. You never see reason."

"I question everything. Sergei gets that from me. It's my fault. Blame me."

"I do!" Othoni snapped. "I blame you for leaving me!"

"You banished our son!" I hissed back. "Maybe you're right! Maybe there is no fixing this because you're the only one who can fix it and you're all butthurt that he'd dare take a potion and find his mate! You have the solution to all the pard's problems brewing in your little fucking cauldron, but you're being fucking selfish, Othoni. Fucking selfish!"

"Don't you call me fucking selfish, Lev! Don't you fucking do it!"

"Quit wagging your finger at me! I'm not even there!" I snapped.

"I'm not fucking selfish!" He hissed. "I've given up everything – almost everything for this pard! Every leader before me has too! The only thing we get are our true-mates and keeping the pard safe! And you – you left me!"

"Mate," I sighed, "I'm done arguing. I'm done upsetting you, because we're not getting anywhere. Maybe the silence was the improvement over everything else."

"What do you want me to do?" he asked, sounding like he choked on tears even over our link.

"You've said it before I can't tell you how to run the pard."

"Lev."

"You're the only one who can fix this, mate."

"What if they don't want me to fix it?" he asked.

"I bet they do. I bet they'd love to know they could have their true-mates too."

"Dad? Papa?" Azien cut in over the family link. "Usually, I'd leave you two to fight it out, but you're coming in loud and clear over the family link. Sergei and I can take it, but I don't think Nova should hear the F bomb so much or --- well, you know. He shouldn't hear why he's not wanted here. Seems sorta like an asshole thing to say where he can hear it."

I felt Othoni's blood run cold.

"Sorry, Azien. We didn't mean to get so heated."

Azien didn't answer.

"Will you come home and talk to me in person, Lev?" Othoni whispered over our mating link. "You seem to have some grand idea of how easy this would all be to fix. So, come tell me. I never said you couldn't help me run things. You always did. I'm sorry I didn't hear you out about Sergei. I am, but you have to remember, I'm the one person never allowed to leave. That will be Azien when I'm gone and the thought of something happening before he finds his true-mate broke me. It just broke me. This job isn't one you can do with a broken heart."

"I'll be there soon."