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“Anytime. I had to reassure my grumpy Gunter more than once. I know how you guys roll.” Nikki leaned back, looking Luka in the eyes. “So, what are you going to try first?”
“All of them,” Luka said firmly.
Nikki’s face lit up in a grin. “Well, that should be interesting. Need a shopping buddy?”
Luka almost said no, but with the way Nikki had rattled things off, it seemed like a bad idea. Nikki clearly had experience with these things. “I mean, if you want to go with me, I certainly won’t turn you down. But weren’t you in the middle of something?”
“Please take them,” Sora requested dryly. “Before Nikki gets bored enough to try blasting the machines down there apart.”
Oh. Was that what they’d been discussing before Luka joined? “That, um, sounds like it would come with a body count.”
Nikki sniffed, offended. “You all say the same things. I’d take precautions. It’s not like I’d blow people sky high. Much.”
Yeah, better to give Nikki a diversion. “Well, can you help me out first? Amaru’s got a plan. If his doesn’t work, yours can be plan B.”
Sora muttered something like “More like plan Z.”
If Nikki heard, the mage gave no sign. “Sure! I love shopping. Let’s go. Oh, maybe we should pick up some clothes for Amaru while we’re out? I noticed he keeps wearing your clothes.”
“That’s a great idea. We keep getting interrupted every time we try. Although he’s insisting on wearing my stuff, for some reason.”
“Dragon scent. Heady stuff.” Nikki patted Luka’s chest like this was common sense, but cute that Luka didn’t seem to get it. “But he definitely needs his own stuff, too. All right, Sora, I’m off. Don’t lose my plans, no matter how tempted you are.”
“Uh-huh.” Sora pointedly responded in a tone that did not agree.
Before Nikki could argue the point, Luka got a firm arm around their shoulders and headed out of the tent. “So, do you know any of the stores in the nearby town?”
Distracted, Nikki refocused on him. “Uh, no. Do you know where to go?”
“No idea. I think we’d better google some things while I drive us into town.”
“I can drive us.”
Luka didn’t even entertain that thought for a second. “I heard about what happened to your car, Nikki. Just because we’re an ocean apart from each other, doesn’t mean I’m out of the loophole on gossip. You got rear-ended and your front bumper taken out on the same day.”
“Okay, look. That was not my fault. I was parked the second time.”
“And the first?”
“Why you gotta be mean like this? I’m helping you, aren’t I?”
They cheerfully teased back and forth all the way into town. Luka just hoped what he bought with Nikki’s help would actually work.
Otherwise, potions it was.
Well, that meeting had taken way more time than he’d expected.
Like hours.
But it was good in a way. It proved that Irany was taking this damn seriously and trying to make up for the mistakes and oversights he’d made with his first design. His poor clan mate had spent nearly every minute working on the problem while Amaru had been away hunting ingredients. By the dark circles under his eyes and his rather haggard appearance, it didn’t look like he’d rested at all.
Was Amaru’s hard heart softening toward Irany? Maybe a little. A smidge. A crumb. Possibly.
It definitely didn’t hurt that Irany had walked Amaru through every inch of his plans and ideas, and then waited for Amaru’s approval. He’d accepted suggestions—unlike five hundred years ago when he wouldn’t listen to a single word Amaru had to say.
After that, there were more talks with Evora and the other mages on the special handling required for the malignant ingredients. They were also excited to see some of the other ingredients he’d picked up during his travels. The normally reserved and chilly Evora was even effusive in her excitement for some items she stated they were completely out of.
The plan was to wake up his clan tomorrow. Amaru was ninety percent sure he had everything needed, give or take a detail. Frankly, he couldn’t wait, even if he did not entirely know what to do with everyone once they were awake. Either way, it needed to happen, which meant they had to just figure things out as they went.
He needed to get to the Valerii Clan’s home and check out their storehouse. It was clear they had many things he’d never used or collected before, but he wanted to see what they were missing. Was this a new way he could be helping his future family?
Yes, the Valerii were going to be his clan one day. No doubt in his mind. Luka and Vasily were his dragons. Wherever they went, that was where he was going to be. Plus, everyone knew when a mage found his dragon mate, the mage was folded into the dragon’s clan. Not that he was going to walk away from helping his Sousa Clan, but his home was going to be with his dragons.
