Wishing on a Dream

by Michele Notaro

  Alaric shook out his arms and stretched his neck back and forth as he paced the meeting room, and I watched from where I leaned against the wall. Tiberius sat on Alaric’s shoulder, rubbing his cheek and hair, but Alaric paid him no mind. He was incredibly nervous and scared, I could feel it, but he was also sad. I had no clue how to help him with this. I didn’t have much experience with dealing with parents. Laz was my family, and his parents had helped me out in many ways since high school, but nothing we’d been through was anything like this at all.

  This warlock and witch prison was set up very differently than any human prison I’d ever seen. Alaric had a high clearance level because Raphie had acquired him one, and since I was Ric’s soul-pledged, his clearance covered me as well. Which was… perplexing. It was almost offensive, as if I wasn’t my own person with my own mind, but in this regard, it was helpful, so I held my tongue on my opinions of warlock laws.

  The guards seemed unconcerned with letting us walk around the prison ourselves. It was kind of strange, but I was glad for the private room and not needing to make small talk with guards.

  When Alaric walked past me for the thirtieth time, I grabbed his wrist to halt his movement and said, “No matter what happens, I’m here.”

  He closed his eyes and nodded. “I know.”

  I rubbed my thumb along his pulse point. “What can I do to help?”

  He swallowed, hard. “You’re already doing it.” He stepped close and rested his temple to mine—that warlock gesture I was beginning to recognize and love—and breathed me in for a moment as Tib rubbed his other cheek. Alaric whispered, “Just don’t leave me, please… even if he says—”

  “I’m not going to leave you,” I said fiercely. “No matter what that asshole says, I’m staying by your side, Ric. You and me, we’re a team.”

  He took a deep breath and smiled as he stood up straight, then nodded at me.

  The door to the private meeting room opened and a guard walked through followed by a man that looked a lot like his sons. Alaric took after his mother in stature, but it was clear that Raphie took after their father. Even with his weight loss and haggard look, it was easy to tell that Vakore Bloodgood was a huge guy that could likely kick anyone’s ass, even without the use of his magic. I was getting better at sensing magic, and I could pick up his but it was almost muted-feeling. One glance at the manacles on his wrists and I knew they were keeping his power contained.

  Alaric stiffened, his spine straight as he took in his father, the father that allowed his son to pay the price for his misdoings, the father that had lied to him about his brother’s death, the father that he hadn’t seen in two centuries.

  The two warlocks stared at each other after the guard left the room, locking the door behind him. They stared for so long, I wasn’t sure what to do, it was as if they were statues. Then suddenly, Alaric’s father fell to his knees, his head drooped down as he whispered, “Can you ever forgive me, son?”

  My eyes widened, and Alaric simply stared, unmoving. His emotions were so jumbled, I couldn’t get a good read on him.

  Lord Vakore Bevan Cross Bloodgood remained on his knees as he muttered to his son, “I’m so sorry. You have no idea how I wish I could go back and fix this, how I wish I could’ve taken your place. You have to believe me, Alaric. I never wanted this for you. Please, son, I’m so sorry.”

  Alaric’s stoic expression finally morphed into confusion as he stared down at his father. With a shake of his head, he turned to me and said, “Let’s go.”

  My eyes widened, but I nodded. I’d do whatever Alaric wanted and needed me to do, no matter what that was. Not that I was expecting him to want to leave his father kneeling on the ground, but whatever he needed.

  Vakore suddenly leaned up, still on his knees but facing Alaric as he pleaded, “Please, son, please don’t go.” Tears were streaming down his face, and I felt a pang of sympathy for the man for a moment before I remembered that he’d helped trap my soul-pledged inside a prison for two hundred years.

  Alaric gazed down upon him, and said, “I have nothing to say to you, Father. I know you were scared of what would happen to you, I know that’s why you traded me for your freedom… looks like that worked out well for you.”

  Vakore cried and grabbed Alaric’s hand, pressing his forehead to it. “I’m sorry, son, I’m so sorry. Please forgive me.”

  Alaric stared for a moment, then asked, “Will you give me the spell you used to trick the grimoire into believing Raphael was dead?”

  Vakore tensed for a moment. “Yes.”

  “Good.” Alaric pulled his hand out of his father’s grip and walked over to the table, tapping the piece of paper and pen sitting on it. “Write it down.”

  His father glanced at him, taking him in for a long moment before he slowly rose to his feet and sat in the chair near the paper. Alaric stood over his father with his arms crossed, watching as he wrote, and I stood back, leaning against the wall. I wanted to go to Alaric, but he was doing okay on his own, and he knew I was right here if that changed.

  It took a few minutes for Vakore to finish writing the spell, and once he finally did, he stared up at Alaric as he passed him the paper. “This is the spell and everything I know about it.”

  Alaric took the paper and folded it up, nodding.

  “You have to believe me that I never meant to hurt you, son.”

  Alaric’s eyebrows rose. “That’s the thing, Father, I know you did mean to hurt me, many times. Maybe you’re sorry, but being sorry now doesn’t make up for all the things you did. Regretting it doesn’t mean you get to take back your intentions and pretend they never existed.”

  Vakore’s eyes spilled over with tears. “I’m so sorry for everything my selfishness cost you.”

  Alaric watched his father for a long time, then he touched the top of his father’s head and said, “You’re forgiven, Father, but know that you will never see me again. If by some chance you outlive your sentence, do not come find me. I never want to see your face again.”

  His father cried harder and muttered unintelligibly, and Alaric pulled his hand away before knocking on the door so the guard would let us out. He grabbed ahold of my arm and hauled us both out of the room. As soon as we were in the hallway and the door was shut again, he fell back against the wall with his head hanging.

  Slowly, I stepped in front of him and pulled his head down to my shoulder as I held onto him. After a few seconds, a silent sob fell from his chest and he wrapped himself around me, tucking his face against my neck.

  The guard nodded at me, then walked away to give us some privacy.

  I held Alaric to me for several minutes before he took deep breaths to calm himself and he stood up, gave me a nod, grabbed my hand, and led Tib and me outside past the guards and gates. Once we were through the gates, I felt the heaviness of the prison’s wards roll off me making me feel like I could breathe again.

  Alaric got into our car, so taking my cue, I drove us away from the prison and toward Raphie and Izzy’s house. When I pulled onto their road, Alaric finally spoke for the first time. “Can you keep going?”

  “Uh… sure. Anywhere specific?”

  He shook his head and looked out the window. “No. I don’t want to talk to them about it, though.”

  “That’s fine, baby. We can drive as long as you like.”

  Without looking at me, he reached over and took one of my hands off the wheel and laced our fingers together. I held his hand tight for the next three hours as we drove aimlessly around before finally heading back to the others.

  Once we were inside, Raphie walked straight up to Alaric and pulled him into a hug, kissed his temple, then asked what we wanted to eat for dinner. Alaric passed Raphael the paper from their father, but both brothers acted like it didn’t happen.

  Not one word was spoken about Alaric’s father, and I had never appreciated our family more. They knew not to push; that Alaric would talk about it when he was ready.

  That
night when we fell into bed in one of the guest rooms, I curled up to Alaric and kissed his face and neck over and over again until he finally started to relax.

  “Thank you for going with me, dove,” he whispered.

  “Of course, baby. I’ll go anywhere with you, you know that.”

  He squeezed me tight and kissed the top of my head. “I do know… I love you, Grady.”

  I leaned up on my elbow to smile down at him. “I love you too, my sweet, sweet warlock.”

  He grinned at me, then pulled me down into the softest, enchanting kiss filled with so much passion I thought my heart might explode with it.

  Epilogue

  Alaric

  THE NEXT CHRISTMAS

  I woke up before Grady, and all I could do was smile into his hair. He was sleeping on my chest, tucked under my chin, just like he’d slept almost every night for the past year. I absolutely loved having him in my arms, even if his hair tended to tickle my nose.

  “Merry Christmas,” he muttered into my neck, making my smile grow.

  “Merry Christmas, dove,” I said back.

  He squeezed my waist and nuzzled into my neck. “Mm… I can smell that breakfast slop we threw into the crock pot last night. Smells good.”

  I buried my nose in his hair, inhaling his apple scent. “It does.”

  He chuckled, then leaned up to kiss my cheek and smile down at me. “Bathroom first, then let’s do presents.”

  I nodded, and he kissed my cheek again before hopping out of bed. I watched his pajama clad bottom walk over to give Tib a few scratches, then walk into the bathroom, and I chuckled. He’d insisted on getting us each a pair of Christmas pajamas, and his had a picture of Rudolph on the backside with the bright red nose in the middle like a bullseye.

  Grady laughed from the bathroom and called through the door, “I know you like my pants!”

  “I do! They’re better than mine,” I called back as I got out of bed and greeted my familiar.

  “No way. Yours has bells on the strings and say ‘Ho Ho Ho’ on the butt!”

  I laughed, and when he finished in the bathroom, I headed in to take care of business before we both brushed our teeth.

  Tib snuggled on Grady the whole way down the stairs until my soul-pledged opened the back door for him. After Tib took off, Grady and I walked into the living room hand in hand. Every time we walked in here, I was still amazed by the Christmas tree we’d decorated together in whites and blues with beautiful glass ornaments and crocheted snowflakes we’d found at Laz’s store. It was really gorgeous and reminded me of the weekend we’d spent decorating and baking and eating cookies until our bellies were upset. And now the tree had a bunch of presents beneath it.

  Grady said, “Let’s give Tib a minute before we call him back. I want him here when we open presents, if that’s okay.”

  “Of course.”

  Grady smiled and kissed my hair, then made us each a mug of coffee before I opened the door and called Tib back in. Once Tib was on the coffee table, Grady pulled me over to sit on the floor in front of the tree. He rifled through some of the gifts before finding the one he wanted and passing it over to me. I ran my fingers over the pretty paper, and Grady nudged my leg with his toe. “Open it, you goof.” Taking a breath, I carefully unfolded the corner of the paper, and Grady said, “Uh oh, you’re one of those.”

  “One of what?”

  “The crazies that open their gifts all super neat instead of just ripping it open.”

  I frowned. “I don’t want to mess it up.”

  “You know it’s going into the recycling, right?”

  My frown deepened. “What if I want to keep it?”

  “Then… I guess you can, but I refuse to have an entire closet full of used wrapping paper in the house, just so you know.”

  I grinned at that, then refocused on my gift, pulling the paper off of a blue box. As soon as I lifted the lid, I gasped.

  Grady rushed to say, “Raphie and Izzy helped me with it. I made one for you, one for me, and one for Tib.” He pointed to the different charms on the necklaces—one necklace was small enough for Tib to wear like a collar. “Each little charm represents one of us. An owl for Tib, obviously, a dove for me since that’s what you call me, and a heart for you.”

  I was choked up, but asked, “Why a heart for me?”

  “Because that’s what you are—my heart.”

  “Grades,” I breathed.

  He smiled hesitantly. “They’re spelled with a location spell that’s linked to only the three of us so no one else can use them. I know… I know we can sense each other through our link, but it’s going to take years, probably, for us to be able to search each other out simply from that, so I thought… I thought that maybe this would make all three of us feel a little safer. If you don’t like it, we don’t have to wear them, and of course, Tib doesn’t have to wear his if he doesn’t want to, but—”

  I cut him off with a hard kiss to his mouth. “I love it, dove. So much.” Tib chirped his agreement before hopping on top of Grady’s head and flapping his wings around.

  Grady laughed and pulled the owl onto his lap, hugging him tight as he asked, “Are you guys sure?”

  “Grady, this is a beautiful gift, and I would be honored to wear this necklace every day for the rest of our lives.”

  He stared at me for a few seconds before breaking into a grin. “I swear you’re the sweetest man I’ve ever met.” He pecked my lips, then leaned back to take Tib’s collar-necklace out and place it on him.

  I put mine on and smiled when I felt the hum of power inside the jewelry, then I placed Grady’s around his neck and said, “These are perfect, dove.”

  “I’m glad you like them.” He grabbed another present and placed it on my lap. “The rest of these aren’t that great, just so you know. Like just socks and stuff.”

  “Well, don’t tell me what you got me.”

  “I didn’t want you to think they’d all be like the necklaces.”

  “You didn’t have to get me anything.”

  “Are you kidding me? This is the first Christmas I’ve ever had where I got to wake up with my family and celebrate. I kinda went all out.”

  As I glanced around the living room, taking in the amount of presents I realized he really did.

  He made a little pile of presents and set Tiberius in front of them, saying, “These are for you, Tib. Merry Christmas, sweet baby.” He kissed his head and Tib nuzzled into his cheek before he started tearing the paper off the presents with a vengeance. “Now that is how you open Christmas presents!”

  I laughed, then passed Grady one from me.

  With a smile, he tore open the paper, and when he saw what was inside, his smile grew larger. “It’s a polka-dotted elephant.”

  “You might not remember, but the first time you took me to meet Laz’s family—”

  “Our code word,” he cut me off and smiled widely. “You remembered our code word.”

  “It was a kind offer that I appreciated a lot, and… I remember the smile you had on your face when you said ‘polka-dotted elephant,’ and I suppose it stuck with me.”

  “You remember my smile?”

  “Yes.”

  He shook his head. “Seriously, you are adorable.” Before I could respond, he grabbed the front of my shirt and yanked me until our mouths crashed together. I groaned against him and he muttered, “Thank you,” but I could only hum in response because he was owning my mouth.

  He pulled away and handed me another present that I very carefully opened, and when I glanced at Tib already playing with a new toy, I said, “I wonder if the animals at the shelter will like their presents.”

  Grady grinned at me. “I’m sure they will love every single thing you made for them.”

  I smiled, thinking about the sweet animals we saw as often as we could. Grady had set me up to volunteer at a local shelter, just like he’d promised, and he always came along with me. He and I had dropped off presents for the ani
mals yesterday morning.

  A while later, all of our presents for each other were opened and we had showered and changed into suitable holiday clothes. I’d spent the entire day stealing kisses anytime Grady walked past me, which he didn’t seem to mind at all. There was a knock on the door, so I went to open it while Grady pulled the trays out of the oven and I found our three closest friends on the front porch—our family; Raphael, Isiah, and Laz.

  “Merry Christmas,” I said to them.

  “Merry Christmas,” they all responded before walking into the door.

  My brother gave me a huge hug, followed by smaller ones from Isiah and Laz. While we hadn’t celebrated Christmas—or anything, really—growing up, Raphie had apparently been celebrating the holiday with Isiah for years so I was the only one that wasn’t used to it. Laz was going to stop by his parents’ house later tonight, but he was celebrating with us first, and then all of us, even Raphie and Izzy, would be going to Laz’s parents’ tomorrow. It was exciting to have so many people to celebrate with and to have it last over the course of a few days.

  They greeted Grady in the kitchen, and I couldn’t help but smile at the happiness on my soul-pledge’s face.

  As our family settled in the living room, Grady walked over and draped his arm around my shoulders and pulled me into his side, kissing my temple as he whispered, “I love our family.”

  “So do I.” I leaned into his touch.

  Laz laughed loudly at something Isiah said, then turned and his eyes widened as he pointed at us. “You’re under the mistletoe!”

  Grady and I both tilted our heads up to see the little fake mistletoe he’d hung last night, then my soul-pledged pulled me closer and planted a hard, deep, passionate kiss on my lips. I heard the laughter of the others, but all of my focus was on the beautiful man holding me in his arms.

  I couldn’t believe how lucky I was to have someone as amazingly wonderful as Grady Jonathon Shaw chose me to bind himself to. There was no one more perfect for me than Grady. There was no way I could ever repay everything he’d done for me, but I planned on spending the rest of our very long lives trying to.