Enchanter

Chapter Twenty

Aaric blinked his eyes open, groaning softly under his breath. Though his body was tense from falling asleep on the floor in the arms of his mate, he didn't mind since the comfort of his mate erased the recognition of pain. He was always the one to do the holding; he was never the one to be held. The pleasure of being in his mate's arms was an experience he never wanted to end.

Aaric was afraid to move, as even the tiniest of movements could prompt Anton to wake up and let him go. It took a moment to register the soft caress of fingers traveling through his hair. Gazing up at his mate, Aaric blushed when he noticed Anton's soft eyes stare at him with such gentleness and care.

"You're cute when you blush."

"Yeah?" Aaric gushed.

Leaning in close to his ear, Anton whispered, "Yeah," before kissing his cheek. "Good morning."

"Morning. How was your-"

"You can skip the formalities with me," Anton calmly assured. "You and I both know it wasn't paradise on the floor, but it was worth it to sleep in your arms."

"But I want to know the formalities if it's my mate. I want to make sure you are well rested and taken care of."

"You are the one to always do the taking care of. Allow me to be the one to take care of you," Anton stated. He stood up, pulling his mate up with him, and exited the side room.

"But do you ever allow someone to take care of you?"

"I cannot deal with that at the moment while I am in the midst of protecting, not only myself, but Raven and Azalea," he explained. "Until the day I am unlatched, I cannot lower my defense to anyone at any time."

"How is being taken care of lowering your defense?" Aaric chuckled.

"I don't know. Describe last night to me, why don't you," Anton quipped.

He rolled his eyes. "Okay, I get it. But I'm your mate. I can help protect you. There's nothing wrong with that."

"I'm not saying there is anything wrong with it," Anton assured as he cupped both of Aaric's cheeks. "What I am saying is that I don't want to lower my defense while I still know there are people after the two of us for our powers. You may trust your pack, but I am not at your level of security regarding them yet. I do not intend to place my life in their hands, because that could result in them all dying." He leaned in and pecked Aaric's lips before exiting the closet and entering the bedroom.

"But that doesn't-"

"It's about time, dumbass," Azalea snapped. "Where have you been all night?"

"The closet," Raven teased.

"Let me be, woman," Anton snickered before facing his reflection. "Did you find anything?"

"I believe we could seclude a rose in a preservation spell and send it over via water," she explained. "Plus, I also need to cut my own hand with the dagger so the blood pours out from my enchanted hand as well."

"Makes sense."

"Wait, why water?" Aaric questioned.

"Whenever I am drowning in water, I wind up summoning her through the little droplets that fall from the shower head," he explained.

"But the shower only unlocks a little bit of what we can possibly gain. We need a bigger water source," Azalea added.

Walking back into the side room, Anton quickly scanned through the book for a preservation spell. When he found one, he quickly memorized it and left the room. "Five minutes," he commanded to her. She nodded, and Anton quickly left the room and exited the pack house with Raven and Aaric trailing behind.

"Good morning, Alphas," Alpha Clive greeted. He sat at the kitchen table with two of Aaric's assistants, Troy and Rue, who also greeted them as well.

"Oh, Anton, I don't believe you've met-"

"Pleasure to meet you, but I only have a limited amount of time right now. I'm terribly sorry," Anton apologized before running out of the back door.

"Anton!" Aaric called out. "What's going on?"

When Anton arrived in the garden, he searched for one of the roses as red as blood. Dropping to his knees, he began to dig up one of the flowers at its roots, careful not to kill the plant. He quickly casted his preservation spell and held it close to his chest.

"Anton," Aaric repeated firmly as he approached him. Alpha Clive, Troy, Rue, and Raven were all close behind. "What is going on?"

"I need to drown myself."

"What?" Aaric exclaimed.

"It's only for, like, five minutes. It's not that big of a deal," Anton scoffed.

"Your mate is crazy," Troy whispered in worriment.

"No, he knows what he's doing," Raven nonchalantly replied. "He just needs to drown himself." Lolling her head to face Anton, she snickered. "You do realize how insane you sound, right?"

"Hush, you," Anton pouted. "Just go bring me the dagger, please."

As Raven hurried back to the pack house, Anton made his way to the lake. Aaric followed behind, scolding him the whole way. "You are clinically insane if you think I will allow my mate to drown himself."

"Look, drowning wasn't the right word to use, alright? But I am basically just going underwater for a while to communicate with Azalea. I've done it before, and I can hold my breath for a long time, something you will happen to favor later on," he smirked and winked.

Though Aaric grew flustered at the innuendo, he still continued to put his foot down. "No. You can't do it."

"Sorry, dad," he scoffed, "but I have to. If I'm going to unlatch for Azalea, I need to meet with her face to face."

Raven flew overhead, dropping the dagger into his hand. Anton stepped up to the lake where the pack had placed a small wood deck to walk across.

In the water's reflection, he could spot Azalea doing the same thing as she exited her cabin corridors. Outside her small prison cell was a door that led out to a small deck surrounded by still water. It was clear to see where the water ended beside the barricade's walls.

As the two approached the end of the deck, they each continued to walk, stepping forward into the water and smack into one another's reflections. There, they entered the thin line between each of their own dimensions. It was dark, nearly impossible to see, but they knew the other was there. He handed the rose over to his counterpart with the dagger, to which she quickly cut along her matching scar.

When she handed the dagger back to him, Anton quickly swam up to shore. He lifted his head out of the water, coughing violently as he climbed up the deck. It was dark outside, the sun rising in the east. He shook his head, shaking the water off him as he looked up, discovering a fight between the three packs and the rogues.