Page 43 of Becoming One

CHAPTER 15

The sun had just started to go down as Orion finished drying himself off. Nelson smiled as he stood at the bathroom door watching his mate. “You have no idea how sexy you truly are, do you?”

Orion felt his cock harden at his mate’s soft words and laughed. “You play a dangerous game, Starlight.”

Nelson sauntered to Orion, saying, “I do not play games or exaggerate. You are sexy, and I love you.”

Orion grabbed Nelson by the hand and pulled him close. Leaning down, Orion placed his lips on his mate’s plump, soft ones, then pulled back just enough to whisper, “I wish we could finish this now, Starlight, but Ezra and the others are waiting.”

“I’m going with you, you know?” Nelson said as he stepped away and walked out of the bathroom.

Orion followed, naked and hard. “No, you are not.”

“I have to go. How are you going to feed if I’m not there?” Nelson asked.

“I’ll feed as I used to… from a blood bag,” Orion answered.

Shaking his head, Nelson replied, “I’m going. I already spoke with Ezra. He’s assigned me to go over the paperwork.”

“Nelson, we have no idea what kind of situation we will be walking into at Heskel’s coven. I don’t want you there,” Orion stated firmly as he put his pants on.

Nelson walked to the bedroom door and pulled it open. “That’s too bad, because I’m going. I’ll meet you in Ezra’s office. Sabien’s friend is supposed to be there in five minutes.”

Orion shoved his feet into his boots, and grabbed a shirt, putting it on as he rushed after his mate. “Sometimes, you are too stubborn for your own good.”

“And sometimes you are too bullheaded. However, in this case you are outnumbered,” Nelson stated, taking the steps down as fast as he could.

“What the hell is that supposed to mean? It is you and me here. How am I outnumbered? I’m bigger you know? I could lock you in our room until the plane takes off.”

Nelson peeked back with a smile. “You might be bigger, but your Cuddle bunny is a hell of a lot stronger and he says we’re going too.”

Orion had learned a long time ago that when his mate made up his mind, that was it. There was no going back and changing his mind. He walked into Ezra’s office and stopped. A strange man sat in the chair next to Sabien. It wasn’t that he was taller than Orion expected or a little paunchier, it was the man’s unique hair style that gave him pause. He had short white hair with black triangles on the sides and Orion could smell the man’s fear from across the room.

“Is it just me or is that guy about to piss himself?” Nelson asked.

“I was wondering the same thing,” Orion muttered, making his way into Ezra’s office with Nelson.

Ezra smiled at them, as did Jewel. Ezra asked, “Are you ready for the big day?”

Orion looked at Ezra in confusion and then realized what he meant. “I forgot all about the Ranking Ceremony. Sorry.”

“Orion, Nelson, I would like you to meet Strife. He was just explaining how easy it was to hack into our coven files,” Ezra said in a calm tone that surprised Orion.

“Well that isn’t good, now is it?” Orion asked.

Shaking his head, Ezra replied, “No, it isn’t.”

“I didn’t read nothing in the files. All I did was find the entries to the Ceremony and add Sabe’s name. I swear,” Strife said anxiously.

“Strife, do you have any idea why someone would want your friend Radeem killed? I have been thinking about this man’s death and the way he was executed, and I can’t believe it was just to give Nicu a face. He was chosen for a reason,” Orion asked.

Shaking his head, Strife said, “Not one I can think of. Radeem was a baker for another coven. We met when his Scion came to our coven to meet with Heskel. Sabien and I introduced ourselves and we became fast friends. I still can’t believe he’s gone.”

“Actually, that’s not entirely true,” Sabien muttered.

Strife turned to Sabien in confusion. “What are you talking about? I didn’t lie.”

“Not knowingly you didn’t,” Sabien replied then turned to Ezra. “Radeem Napal was helping me get some information about my past. He called me the day he was murdered. Rad told me he had stumbled onto something and he was going to check it out.”