“Come on,” Sawyer said. “How can it be? My best friend is a dragon. You’re a mage. I’m having regular sex with four men, none of whom are totally human. I’m supposed to be the mystical savior of the wizarding world, but I have zero magical ability. On the one hand, people are trying to kill me. On the other, one of my boyfriends is so rich he makes billionaires look like paupers. I’ve spoken to a goddess, an actual goddess. And have I mentioned I have no idea what I’m doing? Because that’s a big part of this. I’m pretty sure I’m crazy.”
Henry pulled Sawyer into a hug and held him tight. “You aren’t crazy. The situation is, though.”
“Yeah.”
Henry pressed their cheeks together for a moment, scenting Sawyer the way his brothers and dads scented him when he was upset. “Want me to tell you how I found out about my magic? I’ve never really told anyone.”
Sawyer squeezed him tighter and nodded.
It wasn’t something Henry liked talking about. He’d tried his best to forget the days before his dads rescued him. He tried to pretend that the person who’d taken him wasn’t still out there somewhere, that even with his hellhound uncle scouring the earth for the person responsible, they’d come up with nothing. He’d lived with that fear his entire life.
“I don’t really remember much from when I was little. It’s all kind of a blur. The first thing I really remember is being scared and my big brother, Ben, telling me it was going to be okay. I want you to meet Ben soon. He’s… well, he’s the most amazing guy I’ve ever met. He’s going to be a doctor like our dad. He’s in school now. Anyway, I knew I was different from Ben pretty quickly. There were other kids there, too, older than me and Ben, but I don’t remember much about them. Uncle Meshaq says that whoever had us had been messing around with our magic for a long time.”
“So Ben has magic too?” Sawyer asked.
“Yes and no. He’s actually a bear shifter. He turns into the most beautiful black bear you’ve ever seen. And goddess help you if you have any type of fruit on your person while he’s shifted.” Henry laughed, remembering the times when Ben ambled up and stole fruit right out of someone’s hand. That hadn’t happened until they were with their pack, when they’d had enough food, and Ben hadn’t had to worry about being responsible for all of them. “But we all have magic, in a way. It takes magic to shift, for Draco and Eduard to pull their beasts, for Andvari to use blood to heal. I don’t know how to explain it well, honestly. It kind of just is. But I can manipulate magic, air especially as you know. They can’t do that, even though they all have an element that they’re attached to.”
“I read about that,” Sawyer said. “Is there a reason why certain elements are attached to certain creatures? I mean, at first I thought it was attached to the goddesses. The sisters, I mean. But there’s only three of them and four elements, so that didn’t make sense.”
“I honestly don’t know. I’ve never thought to ask. Maybe that’s something we can research.”
Sawyer nodded his approval so Henry continued his story. “I was probably four or five the first time the trees spoke to me. Well, I thought it was the trees anyway. I know now that it was the wind whispering through the leaves, that my element was guiding me before I even knew what that meant. The people who had us, they were really interested in me. Like I said, it’s all a blur, but Ben remembers that they took me a lot, and when I came back, I would sleep for a long time. I just remember being scared a lot.”
“I hate that. I can’t stand knowing you were scared.” Sawyer held him tighter, and they sat for a second before Henry sucked in a breath and continued.
“Well, I had my brothers and sisters with me so I think, somehow, it was where I needed to be. That it was the path I was supposed to be on. I don’t know, maybe I’m the crazy one, but I think it put me on the path to find you. If I’d never been in that awful place, I wouldn’t have Ben and the others. I wouldn’t have Dad and Papa, or Nana and my grandparents, or my pack or any of it. And honestly, deep down inside where I’ve never really acknowledged it, I think that whatever happened to me when I was a kid made my magic stronger.”
He’d never actually said it out loud before, that niggling fear that his magic had been altered when he was young. He knew that after he recovered from the times when he’d been taken away from his siblings, with a few days rest and the others hovering around him and keeping him safe, he always felt stronger than before. He never said a word, though. Not until now.
“If you think that, then I believe you,” Sawyer said. “I know you’re so strong now. Andvari told us the other day how much more control you were getting. It’s amazing to watch you in action.”
Henry smiled and breathed in. He wished he could pick up the subtleties of Sawyer’s scent like his family could, but he had to rely on good old fashioned human instincts alone. Although he did have one trick up his sleeve. He called the wind and rustled the air softly around them, a gentle cool breeze that was nothing more than a ceiling fan on a hot summer day. It brushed their cheeks, moved their hair, and cooled the bits of skin it touched.
Sawyer leaned his head back with a grin. “Goddess, you’re amazing.”
“I didn’t understand at the beginning, Sawyer. I didn’t know why the trees talked to me when my siblings couldn’t hear them. I didn’t know how I knew things, like how to find my Dad when I needed him. I just knew. And I trusted in that gut feeling, because back then, I didn’t have anything else. Because I trusted, I listened when the trees whispered the name of the alpha to me. I knew when we needed to get help from him. So, yeah, I know it all sounds crazy and hard to believe. But is it any crazier than an eleven year old who talks to the wind and gets rescued by an alpha werewolf and a human school teacher who was so fierce he kept us safe even against forces he didn’t understand?”
Sawyer wiped a tear out of his eye and raised his head again. “No, it’s not crazier than that.”
“See? You’re going to be okay, and we’re going to figure this out. And since we’re being honest, if the trees had told me I’d end up with multiple lovers who absolutely adored me and made me feel more alive than I’ve ever been, I’d have asked my Dad to make sure no one had used any weird chemicals or fertilizer or whatever on them. ‘Cause I’d have thought the trees were crazy, you know? If they’d said, hey, you’re going to go on this great adventure and save the world while you’re at it, I wouldn’t have believed. But meeting you, meeting the others changed that. Question a lot of things, Sawyer. Question it all if you have to in order to figure out why you were chosen. But don’t question how much we love you. I know it happened fast and without us even thinking about it really, but don’t you think some things are meant to be?”
Sawyer cupped the back of Henry’s head and pulled him into a sweet kiss. “Thank you,” he whispered after they parted. “I love you.”
“I love you, too.Nowcan we have the research montage? You got me all excited, and then made me be all sappy and sweet. You owe me.”
Sawyer laughed and picked up his book again. “Sounds fair.”
Draco
Draco hadn’t realized how tired he was until he had a moment to relax. As weird as it was, that little niggle of fear that had been present from the moment Sawyer stepped into this world eased a bit once they reached the griffin’s compound. He didn’t take too much time to analyze it, but he did take advantage of the opportunity for a long nap in a sunny spot. He stretched and wandered into the kitchen where Viv was busy baking up another one of her amazing desserts. He inhaled the sweet scent and smacked his lips.
“What’s that?”
“Strawberry tarts,” she answered. “Want one?”
He nodded then accepted the still warm treat. He popped it into his mouth and groaned. Viv snickered before turning back to her work.
“What’s the plan for dinner?” Draco asked.
