Page 18 of Drakken Star
“Anything new?” Moondrake asked.
“Get your butt in here, brother!” Bjorn yelled from inside the room. “No sense repeating the information twice.”
Moondrake smiled, leaning his weight against Kayluth’s chest. “It seems we have a summons from King Bjorn. What should we do?” The glee in his expression belied the simpering, fearful tone of his voice.
Always willing to play along, Kayluth widened his eyes. “Run. We should run away.” He hugged Moondrake, lifting his mate clear off his feet and turning to flee.
“Ha ha,” Bjorn said with zero inflection, poking his head out. He glared at the two of them. “Stop fooling around and get in here. We need to deal with this. No way am I losing my crown to Tore.” He tapped his imaginary headwear as he pressed his lips into a thin line.
Chastised, Kayluth carefully placed Moondrake down. Moondrake caressed his cheek. “All in good fun, my love. A bit of levity before we become entrenched in what I’m sure is going to be another nightmare.”
Kayluth closed his eyes, breathing deep to keep himself steady after that sucker punch of a comment. How could Moondrake make light of the worst moon-cycles of his life. To have finally met his sobroke, to find himself with child, and then have Moondrake ripped from his side. He glanced at Sundrake, finding his sobroke quite pale, all color washed from his face.
Moondrake grabbed a handful of Kayluth’s braids and tugged him down until their foreheads met while simultaneously pulling Sundrake into their private huddle. “I’m sorry. That was uncalled for. I’m… substituting humor to avoid my true feelings.”
“Manning…” Sundrake whimpered, latching on to both their arms.
“I’m fucking scared, alright? My gods-damn brother is back.”
Kayluth hauled his sobroke into a tight embrace. “We will get through thiss. You can lean on uss whenever you need to.”
“I might get heavy.”
“I don’t care,” Sundrake said vehemently, teeth gritted and jaw clamped. “We’ll hold you up.”
Moondrake sagged. “Okay. Tak-kou.” He kissed Sundrake then Kayluth. “I love you both so much.”
Kayluth hugged Moondrake again, pecking his brow. “As we love you.”
Manning
“Are you done yet?” Bjorn pestered them anew.
Manning rolled his eyes, took his mates’ hands, and led them into the conference room. They sat in a row. Bjorn at the head. Manning to the king’s right, then Kay, then Brandt.
I’m such an ass. It’s a good thing they’re stuck with me.He pressed his lips together to keep from grinning. Manning leaned forward to look at Kay and Brandt.I don’t know how I got so lucky, but dear Odin, tak-kou.
Brandt reached for Manning, and he grabbed his husband’s hand. Brandt’s warm smile and steady grip eased the turmoil of his soul. Kayluth was right. They’d get through this together. They’d deal with the Fenrir and Tore, then they could get back to living and loving.
“Seraphina, Orm,” Bjorn said, gesturing to them to come forward. Manning settled back in his chair to hear what his friends had learned.
Orm, in his standard green tunic, and his sobroke, Seraphina, a catlike creature of elegant beauty and deadly precision, joined Bjorn at the front of the room. Seraphina tapped on the console attached to the vid on the wall and a picture of Tore appeared. A rapid sequence of images ensued, showing Tore deep in discussion. Money changed hands. A map lay spread across a table; Tore pointed at the castle.
“This is Hazer. A Fenrir. Askipan, a shape-shifter who can take the form of a huge wolf, the mortal enemy of the Drakken,” Seraphina explained.
Beside him, Kayluth had gone very still. Manning shifted to stare at his sobroke. Kayluth’s tight-fisted hands rested on his lap, and Manning covered one with a light grip. He urged Kay to release and threaded their fingers together. Brandt did the same on the other side.
“He arrived two days after Vidarina Svandis, but as he arrived in human form, no one questioned his appearance. His ship is small with only about fifteen crew.” The image on the screen changed to a ship of basic size with no outward ornamentation or markings. Several more images showed the coming and goings of the crew. Manning noted there was nothing remarkable about them. “They remained docked for a fortnight. Their manifests indicate they’re merchants, buying and selling goods, and restocking their ship.”
“They departed and returned sseveral timess ssince, and no one ssusspected them of any wrongdoing,” Orm growled. “However, we matched up one of the crewmen with Tore. The Fenrir hass been identified as the sship’ss captain, goess by the name Hazer. Thesse picturess of Tore and Hazer were taken two turnss ago in a rundown hotel on the outsskirtss of the ssity. I had Ssekvyn take a few men with him early thiss morning, but neither Tore nor Hazer were there. Both had checked out lasst evening.”
“As if they knew we’d be distracted with my birthday celebration,” Manning grumbled.
“A possibility,” Bjorn agreed. “So what now, Orm?”
“I will defer to Ivar az he knowss your ssity and ssecurity better than I.” Orm graciously bowed in Ivar’s direction.
Ivar rose with a smirk. “Doubtful after the way you and Seraphina have applied yourselves to learning our systems, training, and geography, but tak-kou. I’ve already had patrols doubled and instructed for Hazer and Tore’s pictures to be shown to all the men and Drakken within our walls, as well as the security forces in the city. Sekvyn and Nik have been tasked with tracing their whereabouts, but until we have more information, we must take all precautions for safety. Tore knows this castle well, including its secrets.”
