“The guardians have very powerful magic,” Puteri said gently. “I will leave you now.”
The small brownie popped back out of existence, leaving Draco to stare at his mates. “Does it help him? Us all being together?”
“I think maybe some. And I’ll take something over nothing at this point,” Henry said. “It’s not the answer. At least not with two guardians still not here.”
“I need to go talk to Yellow Eyes, then,” Draco said. “If him being here helps Sawyer get through this, then he needs to pull his head out of his ass and get in here and help.”
“Sawyer doesn’t want that, though. But maybe… maybe we just all go sit in the woods. Sounds dumb but… if we can at least convince him to get close enough, maybe it’ll help a little more. We have got to find the eighth guardian, though. We have to. It’s our number one priority.”
“How?” Saeward asked.
“I don’t know. He’s also a water element. I’d hoped there would be some way you could…”
Saeward shrugged. “For Sawyer, I would—” he paused, taking a deep gulp “— I would reach out to my former clan and ask if there are any others with the mark.”
Henry pushed his tablet into Andvari’s hands and scooted down the bed. “Only as a last resort. Besides, I don’t think it’ll be another hippocamp do you? I mean, the rest of us are all different things, right?”
Saeward nodded.
Draco bit back a growl. If he had the ability to survive in the depths of the sea, he would hunt down Saeward’s clan and…
“What about the lake in my home realm?” Loch asked. “If water is what he needs, perhaps we return to her and ask for her guidance. Prince Kavalan could surely convince his mother to allow us passage, under the circumstances. She would want something in return, however.”
“And that’s the problem, isn’t it? What would she want? Making bargains with the fae is dangerous business, as you well know,” Eduard said.
“We’ll keep it as a possibility, though,” Henry said softly. “Anything we have to do, we do. Our job is to keep him safe.”
“Agreed.” Draco’s voice joined the voices of the others.
Sawyer stirred, rolling over and opening his eyes. He sought Draco’s gaze and smiled. “A power nap was exactly what I needed.”
“Feeling better?”
“Yeah,” Sawyer said.
Draco glanced at Henry, seeing his younger mate’s mind spinning. Draco left him to his thoughts, instead scooting down and wrapping his arms around Sawyer. “You just wanted me to carry you inside.”
“How’d you guess?”
Draco leaned in and kissed him. “You made progress today.”
“I did, right? I mean, you were sleeping but we practically had a conversation. Well, I talked. But he at least made noises and I knew he was listening. And he actually took the food, you know? So I was right. It needed to be from me.”
“You were right.”
Sawyer beamed up at him, then tucked his face into Draco’s neck. He began to trace teasing kisses along Draco’s jawline, then down his neck. He nibbled on Draco’s clavicle before raising his head and meeting Draco’s gaze once more.
He didn’t need words to express what he wanted. Draco was well aware. Their mates moved around them, Eduard slipping into position behind Sawyer and wrapping him in his arms.
“Morning, my love.”
“Morning, Eduard.”
“I don’t know if you’re aware, but you have all of your mates with you at the moment.”
Sawyer lifted his head and looked around the bed. His wide smile at realizing they were actually all there was worth it. Draco shared another significant look with one of his mates, this time with Andvari. They were going to make some changes, immediately. Andvari nodded, understanding his unspoken demand. Sawyer needed his warriors by his side, and that meant Andvari and Loch couldn’t spend the majority of their time worried about security. The biggest threat to Sawyer was them not being around him enough.
Sawyer rolled over and turned his attentions on Eduard. Not that Draco minded. He loved watching his mates together. He ran his hands over Sawyer’s body, skimming his shirt up and baring the skin of his stomach. Sawyer pushed his hips back, already demanding more. So greedy. Not that Draco minded.
