Grand Redemption (D'Vaire Book 1)

by Kingley, Jessamyn

  “Ayden,” Blodwen warned in a menacing tone. It appeared Brogan might have an ally in Blodwen; Ayden’s pal did not seem to be against their relationship.

  “All right. Damn. I appreciate and accept your apology. I understand that you don’t know anything about witches or familiars. Aleksander was totally clueless when we first arrived here, and we didn’t even know shifters existed. I get it,” Ayden acknowledged, although Brogan was not completely convinced that Ayden was being sincere. His tone implied that Ayden was still pissed off. Brogan knew it was not only the sidekick comment that his mate had to be angry about, but he was not going to get into the whole Paul situation with an audience. It was time to turn on the charm and get that time alone that they so desperately needed.

  “I would really like to learn more about familiars. Witches too. Maybe you could teach me?” Brogan watched Ayden let out a big sigh.

  “I could answer whatever questions you have,” Ayden agreed quietly and Brogan gave himself a mental high five. Now he just had to come up with a way to pose his questions to Ayden without insulting him again.

  “If you don’t already have plans, maybe we could talk privately after dinner?” Brogan invited.

  “Sure. Okay,” Ayden grudgingly accepted his invitation and despite his mate’s reluctance, Brogan was well satisfied. He had finally regained his usual charm with people, and now he had the opportunity to learn more about Ayden and explain to him about Paul. Brogan just hoped that what Aleksander had told him was correct and that his mate really was just a normal guy who happened to be summoned by a witch. Otherwise, he didn’t know what the hell he was going to do. Being creeped out by the one person given to him by Fate was not what Brogan wanted, but he couldn’t seem to help it.

  Chapter 6

  For Ayden, dinner had moved at lightning speed. Perhaps it was because he had never wanted it to end. There was little chance that he was looking forward to his after-dinner chat with Brogan. But Blodwen was still seriously giving him the evil eye, and he did not want to disappoint his best friend by weaseling out of it.

  So here he was trailing behind his giant mate, heading for a private place for them to have their big scheduled talk. It seemed Brogan had chosen Aleksander’s office, and Ayden followed him into the room. Heading straight for the big black couch, Ayden plopped his ass down and waited for Brogan to pick out his own seat. He chose an armchair across from the couch and looked straight at Ayden. Deciding that since he had not called this meeting, Ayden was not going to be the one to begin talking first.

  “So, how old are you?” Brogan asked, and Ayden was glad that he realized that this was his discussion to lead.

  Ayden decided he might as well be friendly. Blodwen was likely to grill him in the morning, so he needed some details to placate her, “I don’t remember much before the time of the war, so I believe I was summoned shortly before then. You?”

  “I’m about a hundred years older than you. I sort of stopped counting the years. After a couple of centuries, the number no longer seems to matter.”

  “Yeah, but I plan to celebrate my birthday now because I love cake,” Ayden replied.

  “Good to know. Next time I put my foot in my mouth I will come bearing sweets,” Brogan offered with a smile.

  “I hate to admit that that strategy would probably work; I am a total pushover for cake.” They shared a laugh and Ayden admitted that he was feeling charmed by his dragon mate.

  “So everyone believed that your race was extinct. How did you and Latarian manage to escape death?” Ayden explained about Latarian’s grandfather sending them to their little cottage in the woods. It both surprised and pleased Ayden that Brogan seemed to be genuinely interested in his past. Maybe Brogan was not as bad of a person as he had originally thought.

  “I want to ask you about being a familiar, but I don’t want to piss you off by insulting you again.”

  “Just ask. I might have overreacted a bit earlier.” Ayden was pretty sure that he had not overreacted, considering his mate had referred to him as a factory reject to Aleksander the night before, but Brogan was being polite. It was only fair that Ayden do his best to put his brattiness aside and respond in kind. They did have to live in the same house, after all. Maybe they could manage to co-exist peacefully while Ayden figured out how to get himself out of this whole mate mess.

  “Did you have a childhood like a normal person?” Ayden certainly had not, but he still considered himself normal.

  “No. I was summoned as I am now. Fully grown.” And he was fully grown no matter what nonsense Latarian believed.

  “I guess Latarian is kind of like your mother then.”

  He sincerely doubted Latarian had the ability to be anyone’s mother. She was controlling and even abusive at times. “No, she is my witch and I am her familiar.”

  “Do familiars normally have mates of their own?”

  “Absolutely, they are always mated to other familiars.”

  Brogan’s face was full of surprise, “Always?”

  “Yes.”

  “But not in your case.”

  Ayden began to feel angry at this line of questioning. He well understood that Brogan most likely had expected his mate to be a dragon, but it was impossible to ignore that they were in fact mates. “No, there are no other familiars. Fate was left with little choice but to break the rules.” It would have been Ayden’s choice to be left with the ghost of his mate than to deal with his current situation.

  “Familiars have to stay close to their witches and mates have to stay close to their mates. How did a familiar handle having a witch and a mate?”

  “Familiars were mated to the familiar of their witch’s own mate. One big happy family.” Or in his case, a half dead family.

  “So then familiars didn’t have to worry too much about sensing their mates?” Ayden was not at all impressed with Brogan’s recent questions; he was through beating around the bush. “Brogan, I know you are my mate. I sensed you the minute you walked in the door. Contrary to what you must believe, familiars are not feeble-minded idiots led around by their witches.” Perhaps Fate should have mated Brogan to Latarian, they seemed to have similar ideas about how a familiar should act.

  “I know that. Aleksander told me you knew,” Brogan said quietly.

  Ayden felt like retorting something about Brogan only believing it because it came from Aleksander, but he was trying hard to act like a responsible adult. “So we both know we are mates. Got any ideas on what we are supposed to do about it?” He had no clue if this dragon had more than two working brain cells, but maybe they could come up with a plan together to get themselves out of this disaster.

  “Well, we need to get to know each other and then we will complete our mate bond.”

  Clearly, Ayden was on his own in the thinking department. “Why in the world would we do that?”

  “What do you mean why? That is what mates do. Fate put us together. Apparently you are the other half of my soul.”

  “You cannot really believe that.”

  “I’m getting there,” Brogan replied tersely. He was clearly annoyed, but Ayden could not care less.

  His supposed mate, who was not even aware that they were not true mates, could barely stomach the idea of being with him. Ayden’s tone was full of disbelief, “You’re getting there?”

  “I don’t mean that in a bad way. I am just trying to deal with you being a familiar.”

  “What is there for you to deal with? I am a familiar, so what?”

  “So it’s not a little damn weird that I have to share my mate with a witch?”

  This dragon was seriously pissing Ayden off. “Oh, but it’s not weird that I have to share my mate with some fucker named Paul? For your information, I am my own person. My mate would share me with no one. And if you were my true mate I would not have to explain any of this shit to you. I was meant to be with Eoghan’s familiar not some overgrown moron who cannot accept that I am not exactly like him.”

&n
bsp; “Ayden-”

  “No. I tried to be nice, but you are impossible!” Ayden yelled and stalked out of Aleksander’s office. He headed straight for his beloved room and slammed the door behind him. After locking it for good measure, Ayden threw himself down on his navy and white comforter and stewed. Brogan was an idiot, and he was not going to waste his time with this fake mate who seemed to grow almost sick at the very thought of him. He desperately needed to find a way out of this mating.

  Long ago resigned to his lonely fate, Ayden did not hate Brogan enough to expect him to endure the same. If they could somehow break the bond then perhaps Brogan would be granted a second chance. Maybe he would even find it in his boyfriend. Ayden could not really care less. He wanted to be relieved of the pull to be at Brogan’s side, and he was not going to acknowledge his disgustingly ridiculous attraction to the dragon. All he had to do was look at the jerk and his cock ached. Not only did he not appreciate the sex drive out of nowhere, but it made him feel as if he were betraying his true mate. He did not even like Brogan. There had to be a way out of this.

  Brogan could not believe that he had ever thought Ayden was timid or subservient. Forget wildcat, Ayden was a total hellcat. His temper appeared volcanic and lightning quick; he was obviously someone with strong emotions. Full of passion. Predictably Brogan’s thoughts immediately turned to how incredible he would be in bed. Of course at the rate they were going it would probably be years before he found out how sexy Ayden was between the sheets.

  Okay, so he probably should have explained the Paul thing right from the start. Brogan was very uncomfortable with the idea of his mate believing he was lusting after another, but he had honestly intended to set the record straight. The problem was he simply had no clue how to bring up the subject. Considering the tactful way he had asked about the familiar and mate thing, he was certainly doomed to screw up the boyfriend thing as well.

  Despite their talk, Brogan had not learned all that much about familiars. Using his own observational skills, he had noticed that Ayden did not seem to spend all that much time with his witch. Although the actual idea of a familiar still felt strange to Brogan, he was beginning to realize that Ayden seemed normal enough. It was impossible to deny that Brogan was still bothered by the fact that Ayden would never be solely his; he would always be forced to share him with Latarian. Latarian, who he had just met and barely knew. If she decided that she needed her familiar for one reason or another was he then expected just to hand him over and wait until she was ready to give him back?

  It seemed to Brogan that it would be a good idea to not only get to know Ayden better, but to take the time to befriend Latarian as well. Perhaps she would be less likely to snatch him away if she felt kind towards Brogan himself. The extra complications around his mating, Brogan could well do without. The one thing he was glad to know was that Ayden did feel the same mate pull that he did. Without it Ayden would probably avoid him for the rest of their lives. Brogan seemed to have an unerring talent for pissing off his mate and Ayden seemingly had a short fuse.

  Their piss poor communication aside, Brogan was beginning to like his little spitfire. Ayden was sexy as hell when he got mad, and Brogan realized that if he could get past his own issues with Ayden’s unique existence they could have one hell of a mate bond. The one nagging question left behind from their talk was who the hell was Eoghan and why did Ayden think he should be mated with this guy’s familiar?

  Since his arrival in Arizona Ayden had not spent much time in Latarian’s company. Although Aleksander did not allow her to treat him as she had when it had been just the two of them alone, she was still difficult to be around. Despite his reluctance to deal with her, Ayden felt it was time to inform her about Fate’s foolishness in pairing him with Brogan. It had been a couple of days since Brogan had come home, but Latarian was generally too self-absorbed to notice the maelstrom in Ayden’s world. While his best friend Blodwen wanted him to try to work things out, Ayden needed a backup plan, and Latarian had always been keen on learning what most considered darker spells.

  Breaking a mate bond would be right up her alley, if such a spell actually existed. This thought in mind Ayden headed for the living room. Latarian liked to pretend to read in there during the day, while watching the television out of the corner of her eye.

  “Latarian, can we talk?” Ayden asked as he sat down in Aleksander’s plush recliner.

  “What ails you?”

  It seemed Ayden had gotten lucky, and she was in a pleasant mood. This boded well, “Well, I have some news. You’ve met Brogan?”

  “Aleksander has made him known to me.”

  “Did you know that shifters and fallen knights do not die when their mates do? Although many shifters die of a broken heart soon after, but those that do manage to survive the loss are sometimes matched with a new mate. Fallen knights are also rematched,” Ayden explained to her as she watched him with an unreadable expression.

  “I was unaware. That is most unusual.”

  “Yeah, apparently being rematched can happen to magickind as well.”

  “This is nonsense you speak. Witches and their familiars expire with their mate.” Latarian gave her attention back to her book, she obviously considered the conversation over. If only it were that simple, Ayden mused.

  “Not if they were never able to complete the mate bond by exchanging blood.”

  “You believe it is possible for witches to find a second mate as these shifters do?” It was ironic that she was now an honorary dragon, but still spat the word shifter out as if she found it foul.

  “I do, because that is exactly what has happened. Brogan is my mate.” Ayden’s eyes grew wide as Latarian leaped to her feet, and her book hit the wooden floor with a thud.

  “Your mate is dead! You cannot mate with another! You must not betray the spirit of your mate! I will not allow it!” She all but screamed it in his face as she loomed over the arm of the recliner he sat in.

  Ayden was stunned by the vehemence of her tone; he had not expected her to become this upset over the news. “It was Fate that matched us; I did not wish to betray my true mate,” Ayden offered quietly.

  “You cannot mate with him, Ayden! It would be cruel and unfair to Eoghan’s familiar to force his spirit to watch you bond with another!” Latarian continued to shout, and Ayden was seriously regretting his decision to enlighten her about Brogan.

  “What is all the yelling about in here?” the question was voiced by Aleksander. He stood just inside the large room with Brogan at his side.

  “You! You have convinced MY familiar that he is your mate.” Latarian got right up in Brogan’s personal space as she made her accusation.

  “Ayden is my mate,” Brogan’s tone brooked no argument.

  She was not one to give up a cause, “He cannot be with you.”

  “Latarian, the council has made it punishable by death to come between mates,” Aleksander informed her in a low tone.

  “Ayden does not want this.”

  “Ayden and Brogan have not had the chance to get to know one another yet. They must be allowed time to do that. It is too soon for either of them to know if they are happy or not with the match.” Ayden felt his shoulders slump. Of course, Aleksander would be happy to see his best friend mated. Like Blodwen, Aleksander was not going to make it easy for Ayden to get out of this without trying. It seemed that he was currently stuck with Brogan and there seemed to be no way around spending time with the dragon.

  “My familiar is free to do as he wishes,” Latarian said tightly after several minutes of silence had descended over the room. She gave Ayden a look that clearly was meant to remind him that he already had a mate. Ayden could not agree more, but he was not going to let down Aleksander or Blodwen by denying Brogan now. He would do his best to get to know Brogan. Only he and Latarian would know that Brogan was not someone he ever wished to be tied to, he could not betray his true mate in that manner. It was unfortunate that Ayden had not been given the
opportunity to discover if Latarian could actually do something to end this farce. The obstacles between he and Brogan seemed insurmountable, it would not take long for the entire D’Vaire family to figure out that they were mismatched. When that finally happened Ayden could only hope that Latarian’s magic could free them.

  Chapter 7

  “Good morning Ayden,” Brogan said to his mate who appeared to be inhaling a giant stack of pancakes.

  “Morning,” Ayden replied in between massive bites.

  “Look, I want to apologize for once again offending you the other night. I really appreciated the opportunity to learn more about familiars.”

  “But you are still freaked out about it,” his mate stated, while giving him a gimlet-eyed stare.

  “Truthfully, yeah, but I am getting more comfortable with the idea.” It was the truth. Brogan did not like the idea of Ayden not being his alone, but the whole magic thing was not that difficult to wrap his brain around.

  “At least you are honest. I wish I could get freaked out about your whole turning into a fire-breathing dragon thing just to make us even. But I’ve seen Blodwen without her make-up, and that pretty much made me lose the ability to feel real fear.” Brogan watched as Blodwen, who had just entered the kitchen, smacked Ayden on the back of the head.

  “Please. I’ve seen you drunk. It doesn’t get scarier than that,” Blodwen retorted as she sat down next to Ayden to eat her breakfast.

  “Now this sounds like a story I definitely need to hear,” Brogan chuckled and thought to himself that maybe he needed to spend more time with Blodwen to get to know his mate’s secrets.

  “No, you really don’t,” Ayden responded with a glare for his friend.

  “Let’s just say that Ayden decided it was a perfect opportunity to let out his inner songbird.”

  “He sang?”

  “Oh yes, an entire concert full of songs. He has a pretty great voice.”

  “Blodwen,” Ayden said in warning.