Page 20 of Chosen Spirits (The Bartender Mage #4)

Making sure to lift with his legs, Rahul heaved first one cooler, then a second on up into the back of Tucker's truck. He pushed them to the side, using their weight to keep the collapsed canopy and chairs stable.

"Muscle bear in motion," Tucker said appreciatively, emerging from their home with a pair of duffels. He wore his now customary kilt and a short-sleeved shirt, his golden-brown hair glinting in the late morning sun as a light breeze ruffled it.

Rahul struck a pose, lifting his arm up and flexing, and Tucker came over to run his hands across his bicep. Making appreciative sounds, Tucker slid his hands across to his bare chest. Lifting his head up, he gave him a kiss.

Grabbing his boyfriend by the waist, Rahul leaned down, planting kisses more ardently. Reaching down, he put his hands beneath Tucker's kilt, stroking up his thighs.

"Hmm?" Grabbing hold of Tucker's ass and feeling around, he noticed a lack of underwear. "Puppy, I thought you said you planned on going for a run at some point. You're far too hung to do that without support."

Tucker pressed himself more fully against him, rumbling with humor. "I don't plan on running in human form. C'mon, one last trip."

They loaded up the two duffels, then went back inside, meeting Leif along the way as he carried out a pair of canvas bags filled with assorted alcohols—his cub was bringing his alchemist's kit along for emergencies, of course, but today he only planned on mixing cocktails for their flavor.

After grabbing the grilling utensils and charcoal, they joined Leif back outside and got into Tucker's truck, driving off for a day at the park.

The weather had finally begun to turn the week before, and today's temperature looked like it would reach the mid-fifties. A perfect day to enjoy with friends, Rahul had said, and he'd received a couple of RSVP's when he'd sent out the invites.

He, Leif, and Tucker began setting up their site for the afternoon, next to a single picnic table and a crusted-over grill.

He'd purposefully picked a more secluded park, and the nearest strangers that he could see were just blobs of color in the distance, even with his djinn-enhanced vision, which suited him just fine.

By the time the canopy and camping chairs had been set up, the grill scoured clean, and the cooler with its drinks made available, the rest of their friends began trickling in.

"Fang, glad you could make it." Rahul reached out to shake her hand. "And Alyssa! It's nice to see—oh, there she goes."

Fang lifted her shades up, and the two of them watched as her seven-foot-tall orc girlfriend kicked off her flats and charged barefoot across the grass to where Leif and Tucker were digging through a duffel filled with sporting equipment in the middle of the nearby field.

Her white sundress billowed as she grabbed Leif and spun him around by the arms, his surprised cry soon replaced by whoops of delight as he was lifted off of the ground.

Fang lowered her sunglasses back down, but not before he saw the merriment in her eyes. "Mmm. To be that carefree again. "

"What's stopping you?" he asked, crossing his arms. "If you have a secret wish to be swung around like a ragdoll, I think virtually everyone coming today except for Leif could oblige you."

Fang put her hands on her hips. "It wouldn't be proper."

"Uh-huh." Rahul reached into the cooler and grabbed a ginger beer, but pulled his hand back just before she took it from him. He grinned, then turned his head and hollered. "Alyssa!"

The orc paused, then flipped Leif back upright so she could set him on his feet before turning to look at him.

"Fang wants you to spin her around, too!"

Fang leaned towards him. "Really, Rahul? Really ."

He heard Alyssa yell back an affirmative before she charged back to their pavilion, Leif following. A few seconds later, a kilt was sent flying, and then a beagle joined in on the chase, barking madly.

" I'll get you back for this, Basu, " she whispered, just before Alyssa arrived with an ear-splitting grin, her tusks prominently displayed.

Instead of grabbing Fang by her arms, though, Alyssa gently picked her up, holding her bridal-style against her chest as she jogged back to the field. Leif and Tucker pivoted in place, racing back after her.

Rahul had just put Fang's drink back on ice when a furry shape sped past him, and lifting his head he saw a large beast headed towards his friends.

Immediately anxious, he had his inner flame called up and ready to summon a quick explosive burst to scare the animal off, before he recognized the shape and coloring of Jack Clairmont's wolf form.

He watched as the wolf shifter alternated between running beside Alyssa and chasing Tucker around the field, yipping with delight .

Dismissing his inner flame, he turned to wave a greeting to Jack's boyfriend, Dennis, who was still a distance away.

By the time the bar owner had picked his way across the field and settled himself into one of the canvas chairs, Rahul had set some charcoal and hickory wood chips alight on the grill.

Grabbing a water for himself and tossing a zero calorie soft drink to Dennis, he took a seat next to him.

"Sorry about Jack surprising you like that," Dennis said, wiping the condensation off of his drink with a twist and flick of his fingers, his rainbow nail polish flashing. "I saw your reaction."

"Nah, it's fine." Rahul reached out, and they tapped their drinks together. "I got a puppy of my own, I know exactly what it's like. They never really outgrow that stage, do they?"

"You tell me, hen. I think you've been with shifters longer than I have. Mm-hmm, four years now, if I remember right."

"There was a break in there—"

Dennis made a dismissive flurry of his fingers.

"Bzzz. Not important. You still loved each other while apart, right?

Yes, of course you two did. In the long run, such things amount to nothing, believe you me.

So while I've had Jack for a few months, and had a few shifter flings in my checkered past, I daresay you have the greater experience. "

Dennis made a long-suffering sigh. "But all signs point to them being just as rambunctious in their fifties as they are in their thirties. That, or you and I just so happened upon a pair of silly specimens."

"Could be that," Rahul agreed, watching as Jack laid himself behind an unsuspecting Leif's legs.

Tucker took a flying leap into Leif's open arms, his cub fell over with a surprised yelp, and then his tormented cries could be plainly heard as the two shifters began licking his face, their tails wagging nonstop.

Nearby, Alyssa looked to be doing a frolicing dance with leaps and twirls, Fang still held in her arms apart for the occasional toss into the air.

He looked over at the second, smaller cooler he'd brought, then made the effort to draw out the heat, keeping the popsicles at a freezing temperature.

Dennis took a short sip of his drink, then set it in his chair's cup holder. "How much longer is this whole magic bitch fiasco going to take?"

"Dennis…"

"I'm allowed to call her a bitch, she intruded in my bar, worked magic on one of my employees, and worst of all, left exact change without a tip!

Now talk, because Leif, bless his perfect little ass, puts on a brave face, but he's had more ups and downs lately than Snow White after she wedded her seven daddies.

And when it comes to my precious chick, any downs more than zero is unacceptable. "

Rahul considered evading the issue—talking shop during get-togethers was usually a no-go, as a rule—but Dennis made a warning sound, crossing his legs as he leaned in.

"I honestly don't know," Rahul said, and Dennis threw his hands up.

"But some of my investigating is almost coming to fruition.

I've found out that she'd moved to a lake city in Michigan when she left the Free Glades, and I'm waiting to hear back from a couple of contacts there.

If I don't get results, I'll take another flight over and spend a few more days investigating in person. But as far as Leif goes?"

Looking out, Rahul saw him talking with Alyssa and Fang, Tucker held in his arms while he scratched him behind his doggie ears.

"He's trying so hard to find out the solution to I'ari's request, but despite conducting about twenty experiments, he's no closer to figuring out how.

" Rahul finished the rest of his water.

"I had my own flame stolen by the soul mask for a short while, you know that?

I had a nightmare about it just last week.

In it, I'd never met Leif, so the loss was permanent.

Just an empty hole in my soul with nothing to fill it.

If Leif has been down at work, it's because he feels bad for whoever it is that he can't help. "

"He's got a big heart."

"He does."

"And a big dick."

Rahul laughed. "It's a good size, yes, but I think it's just because he's always hard, so it seems bigger in memory. And no offense, but I'm sure a pair of queens like us have had bigger. Case in point, our two shifters."

After spending a pleasant few minutes discussing the best way to handle obscenely endowed lovers—Dennis's largest had been a Clydesdale centaur, which had necessitated a tarp and bulk lube bought in gallon tubs—Rahul gave him a nod and then went to start grilling.

The smell of cooking meat summoned both canines, and he reassured them that it would be ready soon.

Despite the bribe of a slice of havarti cheese apiece, the two proceeded to playfully run around his legs and otherwise get in the way; less of a problem from the twenty-five pound beagle, more of an issue from the wolf that massed as much as Leif and came up to his belly.

Rahul set his spatula down and put his fists on his hips.

"Leif!" he called out. "Come get these two mutts out of here."