“Maybe you should throw a bucket of water on him…you know, like you were going to do to Brian,” suggested Fionn.
“No…no water,” Logan said. “Brian, maybe you should shake him.”
Reif’s dream morphed into reality as voices entered it. As it faded and consciousness returned, he realized there were a number of bodies crowded into his bedroom—including a representative of the gods.
“He’s awake!” Dakota exclaimed.
Flicking his eyes open, Reif searched for the source of the power, hoping the gods had forgiven his people. Finally locating the person he was seeking, Reif jumped up from the bed only to collapse on the floor as the cuff held him in place. Stunned, he pulled his arm, trying to free it but unable to escape. Turning his eyes to David,Reif spat, “I…no…we have no idea what we did to offend you. So please put us out of our misery by telling us how we can fix it, or else please, just let us die.”
At hearing his mate pleading to die, an intense pain filled Brian, causing him to fall to his knees as he clutched his chest. “Naaaw,” Brian cried, “take me instead.”
Moving swiftly to Brian’s side, Kieran laid his hands on the sea serpent, sucking out all the pain racking Brian’s body and flooding him with love. Then, as the last sliver of heartbreak was gone, he said, “Brian, your mate will not die but you need to help him escape whatever trouble he…and his people are in.”
Shifting his view, Reif gasped at the power radiating from Kieran, then bowing his head, said, “Forgive me, I didn’t realize the gods had sent two of their representatives to meet with me.”
Walking over to him, Kieran placed his hand on Reif’s shoulders, and said, “We have much to talk about, and if you promise not to disappear, my mate will remove the bindings.”
Raising his head slightly, Reif said, “You have my word. Never before have the gods deemed us worthy enough to speak to.”
Turning around to face the group, Kieran said, “If you would,macushla. Everyone, please wait in the living room…you too, Brian. We won’t be long.”
After the cuff was removed from his wrist, Reif rose and sat on the bed as he stared at Kieran, wondering what the gods would want in exchange for forgiveness.Dammit, Dad should be negotiating with the gods, not me.
Sitting in a chair Logan pulled over, Kieran said, “Reif, my name is Kieran. The gods did not send me…I’m here to save the life of your mate, Brian.”
“But…but youarewith the gods! I can feel their power in you,” replied Reif.
“Yes, their power is in me to help me complete my earthly mission but it has nothing to do with you and your people unless they are hurting gay shifters,” Kieran said.
“What? No! Why would we want to hurt anyone? I don’t understand,” replied Reif.
“The gods sent me because so many gay shifters were suffering from the hatred infecting the earth. I’m tasked with teaching shifters to love their fellow shifters regardless of who they are. Do you have gay men in Angelopoulos?” Kieran asked.
“Uhmm, I guess that’s probably true…”
“In what way?” asked Kieran.
“I mean, I understand other shifters are male and female, but we only have men. What the rest of the world views as abnormal, we view as perfectly normal so it’s safe to say we’re all gay. Is that a problem?”
“Nope, it makes my job easier,” Kieran said, grinning. Then, turning serious, he continued, “I’ve studied every known shifter, but none of them can do what you can do. What kind of shifter are you?”
Reif opened his mouth—then closed it, finding it hard to say the words that would expose his secret. All his life, it was the one constant he lived by and now, it seemed, he was about to reveal it. “They call me a sea dragon.”
Slapping his forehead, Kieran exclaimed, “Of course! That explains your ability to disappear without a trace.”
“You know about me?” asked Reif.
“Oh yes, my Shaman made me study all shifters even the ones like you who were thought to be extinct,” Kieran grinned. “Good thing too, since it now seems sea dragons are not extinct. And that also explains the male-only thing you have going on. That Hermes, he’s sneaky, isn’t he?”
“Oh, please don’t insult him like that,” protested Reif.
“No problemo! I bet he’s beaming right now because I paid him a compliment,” said Kieran.
“Really? We were taught he doesn’t have a sense of humor,” Reif said.
“That’s funny. Of course he has one, after all, he loves playing jokes on the other gods.”
“Well,” Reif said, “maybe that’s what he did to us.”
