“I’m sure I’ll be able to use it against the pestilents.”
“I don’t know how I feel about you joining the fight,” Lucien said quietly. “You’re so new.”
“It’s why we bonded, isn’t it? So I could help?”
“No, sweetheart, that’s not why we bonded.” Lucien touched his cheek. “We bonded because we love each other. We’re soul mates.”
“And soul mates help in this fight.”
Calder moved to Gio’s other side, lying on his own side to face them both. “He’s right. You are really new, and you don’t know how to work your powers yet.”
“I’ll practice.”
“Before tonight?” Calder asked.
“Sure. I’ll have all afternoon, won’t I?”
“But using your powers drains you.” Calder rested his palm on Gio’s collarbone.
Gio concentrated hard, imagining himself invisible and his body disappeared.
“Holy shit, that’s wild.” Calder ran his hand down his chest. “It’s wild to still feel you but not be able to see you.”
“Obviously I can control this, so you guys can’t leave me out of the fight tonight.”
They were both silent for a few moments; then Lucien sighed. “If you feel confident, then okay.” He touched Gio’s chest. “This is astonishing.”
Gio blinked himself visible again and he couldn’t help but laugh. “It’s so cool.” He made himself go invisible again.
“Come back. You’re too pretty to be invisible.” Calder grinned at him and reached up—probably to touch his hair but he poked him in the eye instead.
“Ow!” Gio returned and rubbed his eye.
“Sorry,” Calder said with a low chuckle. “You will have to suck my dick while invisible someday. That could be a fun kink.”
“I could do that now.”
“My recovery period isn’t that good,” Calder admitted with another low laugh. He snuggled in and laid his cheek on Gio’s chest. “Just hold me for now. We’ll have to go into the other room soon enough.”
Lucien put an arm around them both and kissed the side of Gio’s head.
Gio lay there, basking in the two men he was madly in love with, and couldn’t help but feel like the luckiest man on Earth.
Chapter Twenty-Five
There were a thousand reasons to hate this plan.
Unfortunately, Lucien couldn’t come up with a single viable alternative, so he kept his mouth shut and focused on what he needed to do to keep both of his mates safe along with the rest of the Circle.
Mates.
Shit, he actually had two soul mates. Part of him wanted to grin like an idiot and spout about how he was too much man for just one soul mate. But then it also meant that he needed to work extra hard to keep both of his men happy.
Okay, maybe he knew all of that was bullshit. He didn’t know how’d he’d gotten lucky enough to win the hearts of two amazing men, but he planned to always be worthy of that love. Calder and Gio meant the world to him. When he was near them, everything felt better, easier. It was as though he could breathe without the weight of so many worries on his shoulders. He didn’t always have to be so completely pulled together and have his defenses up against the world. His mates had his back.
Lucien watched as Baer slipped silently into the water over the side of the boat, instantly changing into a bottle-nose dolphin. He grabbed Gio’s wrist as his mate placed his foot on the side as well, preparing to leap into the water.
“Are you sure about this?” he demanded, his voice low and harsh to his own ears. “You can still change your mind. Stay here on the boat. Baer can get to this Weaver, and you—”
Gio lifted up on the tips of his toes and pressed his lips to Lucien’s, silencing his words. Closing his eyes, Lucien sank into the kiss, or at least tried to. Gio ended it far too quickly for his liking.
“I’m going,” Gio stated firmly. “I’ve got this. Everything will be fine. You do your job and keep the pestilents distracted.”
“Be careful,” Lucien admonished one last time.
Gio grinned at him and leaned over to kiss Calder to Lucien’s right.
A second later, Gio was slipping into the chilly bay water. Many of them had opted for wet suits to protect them against the cold. Even after getting out of the water, they were going to be running around the island wet for a time. No reason for any of them to suffer from hypothermia while trying to kill pestilents.
The black water swallowed Gio up for a moment, and then he was surfacing, holding on to Baer’s dorsal fin as the dolphin sped them silently toward one side of the island. When they made it to land, Gio would become invisible while Baer would shift into a bird to get closer to the house. From there, they would work as a team to get inside and locate the Weaver.
But first, they would need a distraction to draw as many of the pestilents outside as they could.