Page 19 of Chosen Spirits (The Bartender Mage #4)

"Prophecies are a big deal," he said, tossing his head. "Whatever idea we come up with, it should have Leif's input."

"Winters?"

"I'll second that, but point out that it doesn't have to actually involve Leif's magic. It could be as simple as him coming up with an idea that only he could imagine."

Tucker thought through the situation, but shook his head, passing it to Rahul.

"I'll listen to the recording again," he said. "Get I'ari's exact wording she used, which might give us an idea of where to start first. It might be worthwhile to request access to the mask, too."

Wu made a noncommittal sound. "I'll take the mask idea under advisement. It's currently in the hands of the mythic council, which will take some effort to pry out of."

Rahul prodded at the dismantled cage. "So what do we do with the birdie, here?"

"I guess we take it home with us, maybe?" Leif suggested, causing Rahul to shrug and the directors to murmur begrudging assent. "That way I can immediately start—"

"You will do no such thing," Julia interjected calmly.

She crossed her arms, tapping a finger against her arm as she looked at the rest of them, her expression amicable but smelling like steel.

"Leif Becken, I know I taught you better than this.

You will take a far more cautious attitude about the situation, and shame on the rest of you for even thinking to allow it.

Obviously, the decanter will remain here at the station, locked away in the armory.

Any suggested experiments by Mr. Becken will first be written up in full and sent to either myself or Lilithian for approval.

After it has been approved, then he may request access to the decanter, performing only those studies or experiments, and only while with a spotter from a shortlist that I will write up next week. I hope this is clear to everyone here?"

A red-faced Leif squeaked a reply, then lowered his head. On the one hand, Tucker wanted to leap to his aid, but on the other, everything Julia said made sense, and the less risk to Leif, the better.

"Now hang on," Deimos was saying. "Leif has been a wonderful asset to this department since we found him! I think we should trust his efforts."

Julia shifted her gaze to the recently appointed director, and from the way he sat back in his chair and quieted, Tucker figured she'd given him a look as hard as the way she smelled. "With all due respect, Director Deimos… how many operatives did it take to subdue the Gassau Beast? "

"Pardon?"

"Monday's late-night incident. How many people did it take?"

Deimos worked his lower jaw. "Including consults… five from Minnesota, five from Wisconsin, plus some support from the city's first responders."

"Ten operatives," Julia said, nodding. "And it took them over an hour.

Lady I'ari subdued those same twin spirits by herself , and the newspaper clipping implied it took mere minutes.

I doubt that her skills have gone that rusty since then.

I love this place, sir. I wouldn't like to see what happens to it if an overeager young mage angers the sorceress by accidentally merging the bottled soul shard with, to give an example, our copier machine. "

Tucker snorted, and he heard a few other chuckles.

Julia walked around him to Leif, laying a hand on his shoulder.

"Leif, I agree with you, I do. I know you just want to hurry up and help reunite the spirit to its owner.

You've never met them, you don't know their name, you don't even know if they're a good or bad person.

But you care anyways, and everyone deserves to be their true self.

However, magical experimentation isn't a sprint—"

"It's a marathon?" he said, finishing the adage.

Julia shook her head. "No. It's planning a wedding with two hundred guests, and involves meticulous forethought and a lot of hope that things don't explode because you seated the wrong two people at the same table, or forgot someone's allergies."

Julia began closing the cage back up around the swan.

"I'm going to secure this temptation away in the armory and build some lasting wards around it.

Leif, I'll see you on Monday afternoon so we can discuss experimental procedures.

And boys? I'm trusting you two to keep him distracted all weekend.

Don't let him workshop this for more than an hour or two. "

"Roger that, ma'am!" Rahul said, turning to leer at their cub until he was squirming in his seat. "I'm sure that between the two of us, we can work something out."

◆◆◆

Later that night, after hashing out some tentative plans with the directors, Tucker sat with Rahul on their bed, waiting for Leif to finish drying off after his shower.

"Penny for your thoughts, pup?"

Tucker made a noise, laying his head back on Rahul's belly and enjoying the feel of the warm hand that stroked his chest.

"What can you even buy with a penny, nowadays?" He felt Rahul chuckle, then added somberly, "I don't know how I feel about us meeting Leif just because someone else had a vision."

"Ah.That's a tough one, isn't it?"

"Hi!" Leif said as he emerged from the master bathroom. He was running his fingers through his pink hair, getting it smoothed out so he wouldn't get a bad case of bedhead when he woke up. "What are you two talking about?"

"Just thinking about how life might have gone if there hadn't been a mask running loose."

"Oh." Leif paused at the side of the bed, shifting his feet. Tucker frowned, smelling… indecision? Insecurity? "Would you two have rather had the mask thing not happen? It was a super tough case for you both, maybe things would have been better off."

Tucker sat up off of Rahul, looking their cub over. He growled playfully. "Roo bear? Grab him. He's being sad. "

"Hup! "

Rahul bounded his way off the side, but as large as the bed was, it gave Leif enough time to back up to the center of the room, eyes wide.

"What?"

"Sorry, cub, you herd da' boss," Rahul said, affecting a henchman accent as he cracked his knuckles. "It ain't nothin' personal, like."

A thoroughly confused Leif spun around to run away, evading Rahul by dipping out into the hallway and rushing towards his own room, his bewildered laughter ringing off the walls.

Unfortunately for him, he didn't notice Tucker in his beagle form dart past his legs. Just as Leif reached the threshold of his office, Tucker shifted into his weredog form. He wrapped his large arms around Leif, cushioning his run-in with the furry wall that made up his chest.

Rahul closed the master bedroom door, then pulled out the motion-activated night light they'd put in so that Leif wouldn't have to stumble around when he got home late after work.

With the area now pitch black—for Leif, not for his djinn and shifter boyfriends—Rahul started advancing towards the pair.

Tucker slid his hands down Leif's arms, then turned him around so that he was facing Rahul, who was letting some of his fire leak out of his eyes. With a growl, he closed his hands around Leif's wrists and lifted his arms up in the air to the point that Leif was nearly on his tiptoes.

"Um…?"

Rahul snapped his fingers, making a short flare. "What're we gonna do with him, boss?"

Tucker snarled, a long, low rumble that he noticed gave Leif goosebumps.

" Punishment, " he said.

Rahul doused his flames.

"Wait…"

With Leif's breathing picking up rapidly, Tucker watched as Rahul reached out slowly, building up the tension. He glanced at Tucker, held his hands steady while he waited for his nod, then struck.

Leif howled and gibbered inarticulately as Rahul proceeded to tickle him, unable to escape while Tucker held him firm.

When he realized his pleas were going unanswered, Leif started trying to get clever.

At one point, when Rahul bent over to tickle the back of Leif's knees, their cub managed to leap up and wrap his thighs around Rahul's neck.

The angle was a little off, though, and before their pint-sized wrestler could secure the headlock, Rahul reached back, getting his feet.

Leif jerked, Rahul freed himself, and then his torment began anew.

Leif's final escape attempt had him doing a pull-up and trying to climb backwards over Tucker, but all he ended up doing was put his ass in snout distance.

Tucker shrugged, licked his boyfriend's butt, and then had to hurry to catch Leif after he flailed around.

Afterwards, while Leif regained his breath and the two of them promised an end to the torture, he carried him back to their bed.

Back in his human form, Tucker snuggled Leif close, soon joined by Rahul on the other side.

Eventually, Leif spoke one word plaintively. " Whyyy ?"

Tucker kissed the back of Leif's head, smelling his amused frustration. "It looked like you were about to suggest the idea that Rahul and I might have been better off without meeting you. "

He heard Leif groan, then a second time after he buried his face in a pillow so he could groan louder. With a third and final groan, he reached an arm overhead to pull Tucker's face into his neck.

Tucker sniffed.Oh.

Oops.

"That wasn't it, was it, darlin'. You smelled a bit timid and shaky for a moment, so I kind of assumed…"

"Tucker, love of mine? I was only asking about how you two felt about the mask because you both got hurt by it. In this hypothetical world, we'd still have met."

"Oh."

"I'll think of a way for you to apologize later," Leif said with finality.

"Oh?" Tucker growled, shifting his hips up.

"Nope, no way am I letting you dick your way out of this one, mister."

Tucker whined, then chuckled before kissing Leif on the cheek. "So you're not bothered about how we met?"

"Yeah, cub. If the sorceress hadn't been following divinations that told her to give away the soul mask, we wouldn't have met the way we did and started dating."

Tucker smelled a quick flare of stubbornness.

"Ooh, I have so many words to say about that, doncha know!

Listen, if I'd served one less drink at the bar that night, I would have left too soon to make the rescue attempt, and we'd never have met, at least not outside of the bar.

If I'd called in sick that night, we'd never have met.

If Rahul hadn't been listening on the police scanner the very minute that he did.

If neither of you had ever moved to Minneapolis.

" Leif propped himself up on his elbow.

"Every encounter between people is caused by millions of chance things happening in everyone's lives.

For me, the only important thing is that the three of us are together at this moment, choosing to be together, and I intend to make the most of it. "

It was quiet for a moment, and despite the lights being off, it was significant that none of the three of them were trying to get under the covers.

Tucker's sharp ears heard Leif lick his lips, and a moment later he felt a hand brush against his hip.

Encouraged, he shifted on the bed, making sure Leif felt the semi that was pressed up against his butt.

"Damn it! Maybe you are going to dick your way out of the consequences."

"Hooray!

"Minion bear, can you make some lights, pretty please? I think there's a bit of time together right here that could be made the most of."

Another hour later, and far too late for any of them to be awake after the week they'd had, they finally laid down and worked on slumber.

As Tucker felt sleep draw over him, listening to the murmurs of Rahul and Leif telling each other goodnight, he figured that Leif had a point, and it was an entirely fine thing to simply appreciate what they had, without worrying about pointless what ifs.