Ever Cynical

Chapter 58- Meet Jothan, Fae Prince

Anais POV

My mind was reeling. It was hard to believe it was right around two weeks since I'd come to Celtic Moon. More mates? s**t, just two was a lot. I love them dearly and I'm not opposed to more, it's just... so much right now. I guess it's a sign of my mental fortitude that I haven't had some sort of mental break yet. More accurately, it's probably my wonderful mates and godparents, not to mention Kier's team, holding me together. In a way it was good, because I was going to need help managing all these little ones.

I just didn't want anyone to feel left out because my attention was being pulled in a million different directions with all of these developments.

I shot off emails to Lord Grey, Queen Lamorna, King Vidar, King Tianlong, King Jacob, and Queen Riyoko, along with all of our allied wolf packs. Although Tengjing was thinking it was unlikely from some of those packs, it was better to be thorough. My poor babies though, if there were more than maybe one other mate. My head feels crowded with three, I can't imagine with five or more internal voices and personalities. Tengjing was still reeling from the fact that the Demon King and Basilisk King were here, and my godparents.

"Wait just a minute. They're mated?!" He exclaimed, one hand drifting to his chest in shock, putting the pieces together. All I could do was laugh. Kier and Erik'd hands tightened on me. I was seriously in for it later.

"Indeed they are, though it's not something they really like to advertise." I said with amusement.

"But they are both so, you know..." He trailed off.

"Masculine? Amorous?" I supplied as we finally succeeded in making the old dragon blush. He nodded sheepishly. "Apparently they don't get betrayal pains and keep their mindlink permanently open, so they know everything."

"Oh wow, that's fascinating." He appeared to be deep in thought. "But what about heirs?" This man was not kidding about being a scholar. He could not keep his inquisitive nature under wraps.

"Um, I can answer this one." Piped up Kieran. "Ekezeic can switch genders, if they want an heir. It's something unique to basilisks. Apparently they have relations in both forms." He said, his cheeks turning a bright pink. Erik eyed him, as if knowing that on some level, Keir was intrigued by his in-laws' relationship. And his curiosity led to bedroom hijinks, especially with his not-so-well-hidden rut. Not that we were complaining, obviously. We loved everything he did, but it was a bit unsettling to think that Mirgadok and Ekezeic might have... inspired those experiments. I also felt like there was a story there, somewhere.

"Oh wow, that's... just wow. Well! I'll add it to my secret historical archives but my goodness." As he sat back down, his mind a mirror of my own surprise and shock, even if for different reasons, my emails began to get replies. Vidar had nobody like that, nor did Tianlong. So no dragon, at least. I guess I'm the dragon. Ha! Jake said only Erik had been behaving off, no shocker there either. Riyoko said she'd not received any reports of such an issue, but if anything came up when she arrived home she would let us know. Riyoko was already sending Rintaro with an envoy, and Jake had said he was sending Erik's unit simply because it would make him feel better.

This meant we had dragons, kitsune, and bears at a minimum coming to join the pack and offer protective support. We were going to need accommodations. The pack had some triplex townhomes Kier had built recently, in groups of three units. Each unit had a garage and three bedrooms, with a craftsman style exterior. They looked perfect on the heavily wooded grounds. Each triplex had its own driveway, and in total he'd built fifteen of them, enough for forty-five families. Or units, I suppose. He'd moved away from the individual alpine style they had started the pack with, but avoided apartment buildings.

He was also building a hospital, as the clinic had recently reported that their facilities simply were not enough for the number of pack members. There was a gas station with a convenience store being added, and a small shopping district that was supposed to hold a grocery store, perhaps a hair salon, clothing store, coffee shop, electronics store, and sportsman's shop. With the lake in the center and literally hundreds of acres to explore, these should at least get us started, along with the co-op daycare that I'd insisted upon.

Celtic Moon was no longer hiding.

Lugh, I linked our Gamma.

Yes Luna, he replied.

Can you please bring Mirgadok and Ekezeic to my office? I need to ask them something.

Sure Luna. There's a lot of stress coming from you... Am I allowed to stay? It's got me a little anxious for you and the pups.

Of course Lugh, you are most welcome. I have no secrets from our team.

Alright, we will be there soon, Luna.

Everyone took a contemplative moment to drink some tea and have a biscuit, when there was a knock at the door, followed by my godparents and Lugh entering. Tengjing quickly stood and bowed to the two kings. It was clear they were all acquainted, though my godparents seemed less surprised to see my uncle than he was to see them. They must have scented him out. Ekezeic turned to me.

"What is it, mein sonne?" He asked. Straight to the point, of course.

"My uncle here." I gestured to Tengjing and both godparents looked to me in surprise. Guess the third mate's identity was not so well known to them, even if they did know of his existence. "Has indicated that I may have additional mates out there, that we need to bring here. Erik said upon my arrival here, he'd suddenly gotten restless to find his mate. Have either of you gotten a report about such a thing?" I asked, looking between Ekezeic and Mirgadok.

"One moment daughter, we can certainly check." Mirgadok soothed. It was clear they were linking someone.

Ekezeic shook his head no. "Same, no reports of such an issue."

Okay, so that leaves possibly Fae and Vampire, one for Lugh, and one additional mate. Otherwise, we are completed. I had a feeling though, that Fae was extremely likely. Instinct, I guess. My email had outlined that due to recent non-Immortal mate pairings, we invited them to send anyone that seemed urgent for a mate to visit. I didn't indicate we were looking for our own potential mates. Two more replies popped in, and I took a deep breath. I opened Lord Grey's first, and he said his niece, Tabitha Stirling, had recently been quite restless about going to her mate, and he would send her along with a security detail of four warriors that could remain, if we liked. For some reason, I felt this girl was for Lugh. I felt a connection on reading her name, but it was not well, mate-y.

I opened the final reply and my heart raced as I read the name the Fae Queen listed. Her youngest son, Jothan Farrier, had been quite anxious about a mate. She said it was odd because he'd never been interested in either romance or mates previously. She'd sort of rambled a bit, but also planned to send him with an envoy of six warriors we could allow to join our pack. Reading his name sent a zing of awareness through me. Kier and Erik's heads both snapped up, sensing my attention. Kier walked to read over my shoulder like Erik was, and they both purred. My godparents' and uncle's brows all jumped to their hairline.

"We've got one more mate. He's on his way from the Fae kingdom." I grinned. "Hopefully, he's as easy to convince as these two that the risk is worth being mated to us, hmm?" Despite my fake attempt at levity, both my mates felt my nerves and their hands landed on my shoulders.

"I'm certain he will love us, mo shíorghrá ." Kieran said, and Erik nodded. I sighed. I was still struggling with the sudden support I was getting. I just felt so nervous.

So many things could go wrong!

Jothan POV

When my mother approached me about going to visit the Immortals, I felt instantly that I needed to go. Unlike shifters, I had no spirit residing in my head, of course, but my soul vibrated, telling me this was what I had been waiting for, for the last two weeks. My elemental, an ancient earth spirit I was eternally bonded to, agreed. My mother fussed of course, as most mothers do over their youngest, but I was never one to fall into the trap of being spoiled. I had always pushed myself to excel in nature magic, the better to be of some use to my elder brothers and my kingdom.

Perhaps some part of me had known I needed to be strong for life outside of the Fae kingdom, because I could sense it, this change brought with it conflict.

"Mother, please. If my mate is there, I will tell you." I huffed, annoyed as she literally flitted about, her wings out indicating her highly emotional state. We didn't usually let them out unless we were going somewhere, unless we were very, very upset.

"If he or she is ranked you will have to stay there, though. I will miss my darling baby. My Sugar Bean." She cooed, patting my cheeks. "Their Gamma is as yet unmated, but their Alpha has two mates, so who knows what could happen!" She exclaimed. "I'm happy for Kieran of course, I will just miss you so much, you know, Jothan? Are you going to be fine mated to another man? It's quite p[ossible." She said teary-eyed. Hmm, hearing about the Gamma didn't give me the same vibration as her statement about the Alpha and his multiple mates. Intriguing.

"A mate is a mate, isn't it? Gender isn't really that big of a deal. Mother, they are allies. Stop behaving as if you'll never see me again. I'll be late for my flight out of London." I declared, exasperated.

"You are literally taking everything with you. Don't think I didn't notice! You already know your mate is there, don't you, my darling?" She went from shouting to a whisper. I nodded, feeling emotional. I was leaving what I'd known. I'd never gone exploring or anything. I'd been too focused on my magic. She kissed my cheek, then patted it. "Alright, Jothan, be a good mate, okay?"

"Yes Mother. Goodbye." I said as I kissed her cheek.

"Goodbye, dear boy." She called as I boarded the cab. "Don't forget to meet up with Tabitha." Tabitha was our ally's niece, and apparently going to the same place. Since we were both flying from London, our leaders were sending us together.

Fourteen hours later, thankful for nonstop flights to SeaTac, we were disembarking and getting into a rented sedan. It was a little odd with the steering wheel backwards, but I adjusted quickly. Tabitha slept for most of the three-hour drive. It was around nine AM when we arrived at the pack gates. The guards sniffed curiously, but seemed fairly relaxed once we gave our names.

I took a deep breath and couldn't deny I felt at home, already.