Page 29 of The Spellreader and the Phoenix

“Is that why you stayed a bird so long?” Max asked.

Rory shook his head. “No, I get nudges no matter what. Sometimes it’s easier to travel in animal form. But sometimes, I think I need a bit of recovery time in bird form. Like if everything’s a bit traumatic, then it gives me a bit of space to reset.” He pondered this. “I’m a bird when I want to be a bird, and then I’m human when I want to be human. They’re all me, but at different times, one might feel more right than the other. I really like talking to you.”

This surprised a small smile out of Max. “I like talking to you, too. Surprisingly.” His expression grew more serious. “But I’m not sure about this mate thing. I don’t really believe in any sort of predestination or divination.”

Rory nodded. “That’s fair.”

“Fated mates can’t exist without it,” Max argued.

Pondering this for a moment, Rory finally said, “I see what you mean. And obviously we’re coming at this from different directions, but I do accept that magic is, well, magical.”

“Of course magic is magical.” Max was frowning, like that had nothing to do with anything.

“Well,” Rory said slowly, “to me, that means that magic can sometimes know things that shifters and witches don’t. And I’m not saying that there’s some big master plan known by the universe or anything.” Rory wasn’t not saying that, though. “I think it’s kind of unknowable, to be honest. But I do believe that the Magic is part of that, part of that bigger unknown. And my experience is that sometimes, it nudges people towards one another. It doesn’t mean they automatically fall in love. It doesn’t mean they have to stay together. It doesn’t mean they don’t have to work at a relationship or that they won’t still find things that are annoying about one another.”

Max huffed a breath, smiling faintly.

Rory smiled back and continued. “But there’s a… strong possibility. It’s like the Magic is giving a helping hand, and it’s up to the two people to decide if they want to explore those possibilities. They might decide not to. They’re still making all the choices.”

Max looked a lot more relaxed now, and Rory was pretty sure he’d managed to address at least some of his concerns.

“I don’t think I’d make a particularly good mate for anyone,” Max said.

“Why not?” Rory asked.

Max grimaced. “Because I’m grumpy, I don’t like people, and I don’t understand why people want to get together anyway.”

“You don’t understand why people want to get together, or you don’t understand why they want to have sex?”

Looking uncomfortable, Max nevertheless admitted, “Well, a bit of both, to be honest, but also, the latter.”

“Sex is an integral part of a relationship for some people but not for everyone.”

Max looked at him skeptically, and his question was delivered flatly, “You don’t want to have sex?”

Rory shrugged. “I’ve been alive for a long time. I’ve had sex before. I’ve enjoyed it—because it was pleasant for me and my partner. If my partner doesn’t want to have sex, then I don’t want to have it, either. That would be the worst.”

Max still looked doubtful. “You’d just stop having sex?”

Rory nodded. “Yeah. I mean, I didn’t have sex for however long I was a bird, just as an example.”

This, thankfully, made Max laugh. “Oh, no little bird families out there?”

Rory shook his head, grinning. “Nope. None. And, no, before you ask, it’s not exactly the same in animal form as in human form. But I’m still me in all of them. I’m perfectly capable of controlling my urges in all my forms.”

“But wouldn’t you feel like something was… lacking?” Max wanted to know, expression guarded.

Chapter Seven

Max

Max had been entirely taken aback by the declaration that he and Rory were supposedly mates, and he had no idea what to make of Rory’s casual acceptance of all of it. He couldn’t believe that Rory would be satisfied with him; his sporadic forays into dating had taught him that much.

But Rory didn’t seem to think this was an impediment.

“I can’t imagine finding anything about you lacking,” Rory said, and he sounded so damn earnest. “I’ve been looking for my mate for a long time, and nothing I’ve seen of you has been unappealing so far. Sure, you’re a bit grumpy sometimes, but you were very kind to me when you thought I was just a bird.”

Max cleared his throat and looked away for a moment. His voice was a little rough when he said, “I thought you might be my familiar.”