Randomly

Chapter 26

Steve was very busy over the next few weeks.

First of all, he created a new identity for himself: Steve Wildson, 34 years old, born on October 24th in Canberra, Australia, a polyglot and a medium and high mountain guide. He had to battle with the magical and Muggle administrations to get his identity papers in order, and had to provide proof that his real identity represented a danger to himself and to Charlie.

He also set about learning Romanian and Russian, while spending hours exploring the region's hiking trails to prepare itineraries he could offer his future clients.

He bought a car, which Charlie bewitched so that it could pass through the muggle-repellent spells that protected their village, and the wizard got him an emergency portoloin, activated with a password, so that he could get home in an emergency.

Steve destroyed their cell phones and got new, secure ones, the numbers of which he gave only to Danny and his sister, making it clear to the latter that she had to register it with another name and to not give it to anyone.

As soon as his level of Romanian allowed him to, he passed the accreditation he needed to be a mountain guide in the Muggle world and began creating itineraries lasting from half a day to three days for both the Magical and Muggle reserves.

At the same time, he set up two companies, one for each world, to which he gave the same name and visual identity. He then had to make himself known to the organizations managing the reserves and reach agreements with them on the activities he could carry out on the sites and the security measures he had to be aware of.

He then went on to produce flyers for the witch section, which he dropped off at the reserve reception desk. He worked with Geraldine's husband Alan, a Muggle-born wizard. He was the one who had allowed the use of cell phones on the reserve. To help Steve, he found a solution to enable him to use a computer and connect to the Internet. Thanks to him, the Hawaiian was able to set up a website to sell his Muggle itineraries. He also made flyers and left them at the tourist office in the nearest Muggle town.

Steve had become very close to Geraldine and Alan, but also to Jackub and Emmy and Donovan, since his arrival. Jackub was one of the two medicomages working with the dragon caretakers and the one who had saved Charlie from his gunshot wounds. He was Ukrainian, very tall, slim, dark-haired, with ever-laughing brown eyes. Emmy, his wife, was English, a petite, shapely redhead who ran the village café where Steve liked to go to work rather than stay home alone. The couple were as charming as they were contrasting, and always ready to help. Donovan was Charlie's best friend, also a dragon caretaker, he was Russian and a mountain of blond muscle with gray eyes. He had a dark sense of humor and an unbeatable alcohol intake. A bachelor, he came in for a drink after work almost every other night.

Despite the lovely people he'd grown close to, he missed his loved ones and Steve would call Danny or his sister at least once a month. This was how he learned that Wo Fat had been in a plane crash and that the team had been able to apprehend him. The news that the man was in a maximum-security prison was a great relief to Steve. He had been worried, however, when Danny had told him that his mother had left Hawaii, only to have no sign of her afterwards.

Charlie made enquiries with the authorities, but it was mainly Alan who helped the couple find a solution so that they could accommodate Steve's family, but also Danny. The government had a little-known program that allowed certain Muggles to know the secrets of wizards, provided that an approved person placed a secrecy spell on them.

It was thanks to this program that Danny came to see them at the reserve six months after Steve's departure. To say the blond was surprised to discover Charlie's secret and the existence of magic was an understatement, but his facial expression was nothing compared to the one he made when he saw a dragon for the first time. The inspector had spent a week at the reserve, he and Steve had gone on a two-day trek during which the two friends had reunited, but they had also spent time at Steve and Charlie's just chatting over a beer. The ex-military man had been a little down after his friend's departure, but his lover and their friends had cheered him up.

A few months later, it was Mary who created the surprise by arriving with a baby in her arms. The spell wasn't placed on Joan, the baby, who wasn't old enough to talk, but the officer said it would have to be done when she did.

The day Mary arrived, Steve and Charlie took her first to the reserve to show her the dragons. The young woman was so excited at the idea that Charlie took her daughter from her arms so she could enjoy the visit.

"Have you been holding out on us, Charlie?" sneered Donovan as they reached the reception area.

¨Not mine, she's my sister-in-law's daughter." replied the Englishman, pointing to her with his head.

The Russian turned his gaze to Steve and Mary, who were observing the information panel at the door.

"Oh Steve, I didn't know you were an uncle!¨

¨Neither did I," he replied, shaking his hand. ¨Meet the happy mom, my sister Mary.¨

¨Mademoiselle," greeted the huge dragon caretaker, kissing her hand. ¨Donovan at your service."

Charlie gave Steve an amused look, except that Steve didn't find it amusing at all. His eyes turned almost black as Donovan offered Mary his arm to guide her into the reserve.

"Donovan, aren't you supposed to stay at the front desk?¨

¨Steve," Charlie murmured disapprovingly.

¨I won't have him messing around with my sister," whispered the American in return.

¨I know him well, he won't. Do', I'll take over while you show her around?"

The Russian and Mary agreed immediately, while Steve was more than a little tense. He watched them go, angry at Charlie who was playing with Joan behind the reception desk.

"Relax, nothing's going to happen to her," declared the wizard after a few minutes' silence.

¨How can you be so sure? Donovan's nice, but he's been with at least twenty different girls since I've lived here."

Charlie metamorphosed a stool into a baby carriage, set Joan down on it and went to take the American's hand in his, forcing him to turn toward him.

"Donovan has never forced himself on anyone, and every girl he's ever had anything with knew it would only be for the night and agreed. And it's not impossible that he wants to build something with Mary and that it works out between them.¨

¨And if it does, what happens the day he meets his soul mate?¨

¨Oh! Oh! Oh! I think there's something you're missing, very few wizards meet their soulmate and they're very happy in a relationship and then you don't know the person is your soulmate until you've kissed them. So if he's in a relationship with Mary, I don't see why he'd kiss anyone else.¨

¨Because you assume he's serious when he's in a relationship.¨

¨Look, when he first came here, he was in a relationship, with a Russian woman who'd stayed in Russia. For six years, he remained faithful to her, not a single ambiguous behavior, until he learned that she'd been cheating on him since he left. He returned to Russia, broke up with her, and it was after he got back that he started having fun."

Steve grunted in response, he still didn't like it, even though he heard his lover's arguments, he was worried about his sister.

"It can happen to very good people to have more frivolous periods, Steve."

The latter saw red at this point, he was very jealous and couldn't bear to hear about his man's past, at the beginning of their relationship the dragon caretakers had told him about Charlie's frivolous period and it was something that had worked on him for a while. That it was her man bringing it up now hurt.

"You know something about it!" he raged, withdrawing his hand from the spotted one.

¨Steve!"

The reserve door opened and the Hawaiian walked over to his niece.

"You've got work to do." he replied, before taking the baby in his arms and leading her into the reserve's break room.