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Two Tickets To Paradise

Renard

It has been many years since I’ve been off campus, much less a train in my ex-homeland.

I wish this was under different circumstances—I would like to have enjoyed a vacation with my new family simply so we could be together and experience new things.

But alas, until we can get the Council and the Fae and all the other despicable people out of our lives, that is not the case.

The excitement I feel about journeying together, however, has brought an important realization about how we were living prior to our mate’s arrival.

We were wasting our long lives drowning in guilt, sorrow, drink, sex… whatever we could because our blood kin rejected us, but that was a mistake.

“What’s making you frown so hard, Rennie?”

Ma petite’s voice brings me out of my thoughts immediately and I tilt my head, smiling at her fondly.

“As you gave your approval before we left, I’m going to be honest. I was thinking about this trip and that it had been a very long time since I left Apex before you came.

That goes for all of us, and it occurs to me that we were sort of marking time in our extended life times then.

But once you crashed into us, we started truly living again.

Thus, the travel and my opinion that we should vacation often after the baddies are dealt with. ”

She smiles back, her eyes bright. “I would love that! I want to see all the places with you guys. Maybe even sometimes with our friends, too. I’ve traveled more since I got to Apex than I have in my whole life, but it will never be enough.

Lucille and Bruno made me miss so much growing up just to be spiteful; my life with my mates will be the complete opposite. ”

“Hell, yeah, Baby Girl,” Fitz says as he leans back from the passenger seat. “I’m totally on board with touring the globe in between mad freaky bunny sex and whatever else we decide to do.”

I arch a brow at the tiger, curious about his wording. My first mate grunts, addressing it before I can ask. “What do you mean ‘whatever we decide to do’, Fitzgerald?”

Dolly leans forward, putting her face in her hands as she listens. “I agree with Aubrey. I want to know what you meant, too.”

Fitz rolls his eyes, sighing like we’re all trying his patience because we aren’t following his twisted thought line.

“Look… they’ll finish rebuilding Apex, eventually.

Depending on how this damn war thing shakes it out, we could be on the run forever or even branded traitors.

If it turns out in our favor, that means a huge reset of our government and maybe the world, yeah?

So do we go back to teaching the rich brats?

Do we sit on a Council? Does everyone have to deal with their own lands? Who knows, right?”

Everything in the huge SUV seems to freeze in place.

Felix continues driving, obviously, but it’s like he’s holding his breath, too.

I don’t think any of us had considered what the hell was going to happen after we finally get our enemies to fuck off.

It’s shocking that the one person who has is Fitz, but then, he’s become so much more focused the last few years.

Dolly’s methods have honed his sharp instincts—most of the time—and he’s finally growing into the second-in-command I believe he was for his brother before the exile.

“You know… I never actually considered it, Fitzy.” Dolly looks sheepish for a moment, but when she realizes the rest of us are just as clueless, her shoulders slump. “We’ve been so busy trying to stay ahead of the bullshit that the future has become sort of… nebulous.”

Chess leans over the back of our seats from his spot in the next row.

“I enjoy teaching, but moving around so much means I’m not utilized properly because the other universities have to make room for me.

I wouldn’t mind being a visiting one or a permanent one…

but I don’t want to get stuck doing the stuff I have been doing at Cappie or here. ”

“I don’t blame you, baby,” Fitz says. “You’re being wasted and so am I. We’re fine with it so we can be with you , Baby Girl, but it’s not something we should put up with forever. Our talents are wasted by people who don’t appreciate us.”

Felix clears his throat, then says quietly, “ If we’re victorious, and the world doesn’t fall into chaos and they get Apex ready, I think we could make a good home there if we’re allowed to revamp everything.

Removing the bullshit the Council forced in and making it a proper place to learn would be a satisfying challenge, I think. ”

Actually, the Raj may be right about that.

“That could be quite enjoyable, oui .” I look at my mates, waiting for them to weigh in. “What do you think, mes amours ?”

Aubrey cracks his neck, turning it back and forth as he mulls.

“I could be enticed to assist with the rebuilding and upgrading of the Apex Library. It is my family’s namesake, after all.

But I would also be happy moving to another city and taking a head archivist or librarian position if it suited the lunchable’s job—whatever that may be. ”

We all nod, agreeing with him as Dolly fumbles a bit.

Our girl licks her lips, looking up at us nervously.

“I don’t know what I’m going to do yet. Music and dancing are very important to me, but until this stuff is over, I don’t know what that will look like.

What if there are no theaters or concerts?

What if we’re on the run? What if I get hurt and can’t do it professionally afterward? ”

The chill that comes over the car is immediate, and I wrap my arm around her, kissing the top of her pastel head.

“ Ma cherie , no matter what happens, we will all be together. Felix’s idea is satisfactory if you are injured, but also if you are not.

Aubrey’s thoughts are good either way as well.

The world is our oyster because you, ma petite , have five incredibly wealthy, devoted mates who don’t actually have to work.

We can do whatever we want that works for your needs and find something that we enjoy once we’re there. ”

Dolly flushes with pleasure, swatting my knee lightly. “You and this poetic nice shit today. I’m going to turn into a bunny tomato, Renard Laveaux.”

“You gave him permission, snack size. I know better,” Flames says with a smug grin.

“If you tell him he can spout Byron-esque platitudes all the time, you’ll spend eternity listening to verse and florid prose as he strokes your ego until it is too raw to even enjoy it. It’s in his nature, I believe.”

Fitz narrows his eyes at the dragon. “Exactly how did you learn that, mmm, Salty Salamander? Do tell.”

“Long before you and your feline cadre arrived, I fear. Once he finally wooed me—which took centuries—I felt cared for in a way I had not since my clash sent me away. I believe he felt able to give love to someone for the first time in a similarly extended time frame. Thus, we were intensely over-affectionate and co-dependent for a couple of decades. Then it chafed, and we had to adjust so we didn’t kill one another.

This is how relationships often go—ebbs and flows where you learn one another so thoroughly that you can warn others when they are about to hit a ‘bad idea’ button. ”

“Holy shit, Aubrey,” Chess says with a surprised expression. “You realize that’s more than you ever tell us, right?”

“Not me,” our mate sing-songs, and I chuckle.

“Okay, fine, he loves your warm soft pussy, so he tells you secrets, Baby Girl. That’s all of us. But Chessie’s right about the Lusty Lizard holding back from the rest of us. Hell, broody boy over there did, too, until we all got knocked on our ass at that match.”

Our bunny pats my knee, then pats Flames with her other hand.

“It’s okay, guys. I don’t think any of you were good at sharing before.

I mean, Felix can’t judge; he was on the sauce while he banged people he didn’t care about.

Fitzy was drugged up and banging everything that moved.

And you, Chessie, were hiding in your studio and with Fitzy when we came home.

It’s not like you were talking about the things that happened on Bloodstone—or even have yet. ”

Daaaaaamn. That was brutally accurate while not being shitty; our girl is learning.

“Hey!” Fitz says, as he scrambles over the center console and kneels in front of her. “I’ll tell you anything you want to know, and then some. You’re the other half to my mate sandwich, Baby Girl, and I’m an open book.”

Chess puts his chin on her shoulder, his lips brushing her cheek lightly as he murmurs, “Me, too, Angel. I’m not afraid to share painful things with you.”

“I think we’ve been holding back because there’s so much already, Princess.

” Felix’s low timbre rumbles back to us despite the moving SUV.

“How much you-or any of us—can handle day-to-day changes often because the world is imploding. It doesn’t help to pile on shit that can’t be changed or fixed.

Plus, I think we’ll have plenty of time for that when no one is trying to kill us. ”

“If that ever happens,” she grumbles, and I laugh softly.

Her pout is adorable, and she only gets to make it for a split second before the four of us surrounding her are kissing it away.

She giggles for a second, then shoos us gently before she adds, “Okay, okay. I won’t say gloom and doom stuff. You win.”

My lips curve up as I tuck a hair behind her ear.

“I think the overwhelming consensus is that we do not want to hear you knock yourself or our future. You don’t have to be an optimist, ma petite , but life is too hard to be a pessimist. Some hopefulness and faith that we will prevail helps us keep going, oui ? ”

“Exactly,” Fitz says from the floor. “That’s why I’ve been making all these diagrams about what we can do when this shit is over.

I have a whole ‘Crazy Rich Shifters’ notebook full of ideas and charts I’ve made for our possible futures.

I coded this program to run all the probabilities that we’d be happy with and I like to muddle over it sometimes. ”

Again, you could knock me over with a damn hippogriff feather.

“I’m impressed,” Flames says as he looks down at the tiger. “Fitzgerald, you are improving in leaps and bounds with your work with bite size. It’s quite shocking, I admit, but I will be the first to say I’m proud of you.”

Dolly puts her hands on his cheeks, smiling adoringly at her first mate. “I am, too. We didn’t know all the things you were working on—not even Chessie and me. Why have you been hiding it?”

The younger tiger twin shrugs. “Because I’m just experimenting with it for now. It’s not really done, not yet. The algorithm code, I mean. It’s still occasionally spitting out stupid shit and that will only make you laugh at it. But I will definitely show you when it’s less unpredictable.”

I frown at his choice of words. Somehow, I doubt his periodic failures are because of his ability to code correctly.

Even when Fitz was high and fucking around, he could do computer stuff that outpaced everyone we knew.

There are possibilities he doesn’t want us to consider; that’s why he’s skirting the truth about why he didn’t mention this side project.

“Well, once you do, I want to see everything,” Dolly says as she rubs her nose on his.

I exchange subtle looks with Aubrey and Chess as they simper at one another.

That’s a sentiment that the three of us share—but we don’t want to wait until he’s ready.