Page 12 of Fated Midlife Christmas
“I know you’re on vacation,” Lilith said slowly, “but do you think you could check?”
“Of course.” Lars immediately got to his feet. “I should go outside, where it’s a little quieter and I can concentrate.”
“I’ll come with you,” Beck volunteered. “I feel like crap, but I’m a dad. I’m used to feeling like trash and still having to get things done.”
Instead of going out the front door, where holiday shoppers were out in droves, they went down the long hallway at the back of the pub, past the bathrooms and the door to the kitchen, and into the alley.
It was still somewhat noisy there, but everything was louder compared to Longyearbyen. After checking that they were alone, Lars closed his eyes. His mind dove down beneath the street and into the earth, seeking the magnetic pull of that natural power.
There. He found it, visualizing it as a thick blue line. “Hm.”
“What is it?” Beck asked.
“It doesn’t feel right.” Lars experimentally tapped into the line to see how much power he could get from it, essentially tugging on it as though it were a rope to see if it had any give. “It’s not as strong as it should be.”
“What would cause that? Could it really be changing on us this quickly?”
The concern in Beck’s voice made Lars open his eyes, mostly because he felt that same worry. “Some migration is natural, and we’ve seen the energy ebb and flow with seasons, like the tide. I’ve studied all the maps, though. Salem should be very strong.”
Beck nodded. “That’s why we’re here.”
“Precisely.” Lars chewed his lip as he checked again. The clan had come to the Olsens for help when they’d found themselves low on ley line power, something that directly gave them thestrength and vitality they needed to live as long as they did. They were the perfect people to advise them, and it was Lars and his family who had directed the Alexander clan to Salem in the first place.
They couldn’t have been wrong.
“I don’t know the energy here like I do at home,” he admitted. “Perhaps we just need to get you and your family back to the clanhouse.”
“It’s a start. I’m sorry we can’t get out and show you some of the town tonight. This doesn’t make us very good hosts.” Beck blinked slowly and wobbled a little.
“I’m much more concerned that you’re healthy,” Lars replied. “Let’s go get the others.”
As he headed for the pub door, Beck caught his arm. “Hang on a second.”
“What is it?” Lars studied him with concern.
“I know everyone has their opinion on you and Amanda,” he began, inhaling deeply and straightening himself up a little. “Everyone is rather interested in it, and I know it makes it that much harder when you’ve got everyone looking over your shoulder.”
“Yes, but they’d be doing the same if she and I had happened to meet back home. I know it’s only because you all care so much.” That was something Lars had noted right away with the people there, both the dragons and the witches. They teased and poked fun at each other, but it was all purely out of love.
Beck smiled. “We do. We care a lot about Amanda and about you, and I also don’t want to see you throw away an opportunity. I’ve told you a bit about what happened to me when I was put under that spell. I could’ve lost my whole family, including Chelsea and Corbin, and it makes them all the more precious to me.”
“What you have is special.” Lars had watched the three of them together, not just at dinner, but in their day-to-day lives at the house. He’d seen the love in their eyes when they looked at each other. “I’m not a dragon. I won’t live for hundreds of years, and at my age, I was starting to think I was out of time. I’d like what you have, though.”
“Then you should go for it, man,” Beck told him, curling his fist and pounding it lightly into Lars’s chest. “I don’t know exactly what the answers are, and I know it’s going to be hard. There’s going to be some sacrifice, and I can’t guarantee you’ll both be happy about it. But being with your mate and building a life with them is something unlike anything else I’ve ever experienced. It’s what we’re all striving for, even when we think we have other goals in mind. At the end of the day, we want to come home and be loved.”
“That’s beautiful,” Lars told him, moved by how much Beck felt for his mate.
“Just don’t tell Griffin and Ewan about it,” Beck replied with a smile. “They like to give me a hard time when I get mushy.”
“They’re probably jealous,” Lars said. “I know I am.”
“They are, too, even if they’d never admit it. Now, let’s get everyone home.”
They stepped back into the pub and reached their table just as the server returned. Her eyes lit up when she saw Lars. “I’ve got it! I’ve got it! The Netherlands!”
“No, I’m afraid not. And since we’re leaving, I’ll have to just tell you,” Lars said politely.
“No! Wait! Uh, Luxembourg?” she asked desperately.
