Chapter Text
Jack sipped at the beer he was nursing at the edge of his sister’s and brother-and-law’s pool in Bel Air, California. Since the sun had dipped below the Santa Monica Mountains to the west, the late summer weather was near perfect.
He heard the ice cubes in Lissa’s tumbler clink and scrape as she idly swirled her drink. She and Adam sat to Jack’s left and Elsa to his right, all with their feet in the water. Just behind him was Night, sprawled on her side asleep.
With quiet disbelief Lissa said, “Seriously?”
Elsa, who’d declared herself officially drunk a half hour earlier, giggled with her nearly empty snifter in hand. The sound warmed his heart, and Snow’s apparently. He felt the wolf’s contentment. “Yup,” she replied, popping the p.
Jack nodded with her. He enjoyed the beer’s buzz while keeping a close eye on his mate. Being drunk near a pool was dangerous, and he and Snow had failed her too many times already. Elsa had repeatedly assured them that none of the horrors of the past few weeks was their fault. Logically Jack knew she was right, but emotion and instinct weren’t logical.
“Seriously,” Jack affirmed aloud.
Blond, freckled Adam sipped at the brandy in his snifter. “So your father is in your brother, and they’re… somewhere?”
“Yeah, and fuck if I know.” Elsa’s tone was lighthearted, and Jack was glad. “He probably set up camp in an energy vortex somewhere.”
Lissa sat up straight and frowned at Elsa and Jack. “Didn’t you say that vortices were all over the Sedona area?”
“Sure did.” After downing the last of her brandy, Elsa flopped on to her back and tugged at Jack’s T-shirt. “Kiss me.”
After grinning at his inebriated mate, Jack glanced at his sister and brother-in-law. Both were amused. Lissa facetiously rolled her eyes as well. “Duty calls.” He leaned down and gave Elsa a long kiss that promised more later. She hummed approval as he sat up and took her hand.
Thoughts of the being who was effectively his brother- and father-in-law sobered Jack quickly. “We’ve decided to not worry about where Ulysses might be. From the way he left, we figure he could turn up anywhere.” He released Elsa’s hand and stroked her hair as he gazed at her fondly. “We don’t want to live like that. But we’ve taken reasonable precautions.”
Adam’s eyebrows rose. “Like what?”
“Sorcerer stuff,” Elsa replied.
Earlier she and Jack had explained how James and other sorcerers from the New York sanctum had helped clean up the figurative and literal Sanguine Order mess. The Sorcerer Supreme had given James free rein in investigating the elemental magic the Order had studied for centuries. The young sorcerer had dozens of artifacts bearing one or more of the four elements at his disposal except for the dozen Air and Water ones Jack and Elsa had given to the dryad.
The tree spirit had been more than appeased. With a thin smile, she’d ordered Jack and Elsa out of her tree. The tunnel that had been carved through the giant redwood closed just behind them. Amazed, Jack and Elsa had laid their hands on the newly restored redwood, then headed south on the 101 on their badly scratched motorcycle. Elsa had been angry at the state the bike was in for thirty seconds, then forgave Jack and Snow with a kiss.
By the time they’d turned on the TV in their motel room in Eureka, California, the now-whole Klamath Tour Thru Tree had made headlines. It was more of a tourist attraction than ever to the delight of the property owners. Biologists and botanists were abuzz over the sudden growth of parts of the redwood forest that had been in decline. Elsa’s nearly disastrous birthday present had turned into a boon.
After taking a few days to rest and recover, they’d seen a lot of James and traveled through several portals. At Bloodstone Manor they’d given Mr. Swan the broad strokes of what had become of his late employer should he turn up. The old man had been understandably shocked, but handled the news well. Jack looked forward to hearing more of the butler’s experiences over the years, as well as meeting his husband Antonio.
Swan and James, despite seeming polar opposites, were becoming fast friends. That was fortunate with James and his partner Ash moving into the manor and Elsa putting Swan in charge of transitioning the place into a new sorcery sanctum. The manor, its library, the training labyrinth, and its assorted relics still belonged to Elsa and would be put to good use after so many years of bad. There was one caveat: any of the mounted monster heads the sorcerers didn’t want for study were to be burned. She wanted all of them gone by the end of the month.
By the end of the week they were gone, and some sort of magical alarm system that would be triggered by Ulysses’s arrival had been installed. Elsa’s and Jack’s cozy new home was also protected.
A week later Jack and Elsa had arrived at Lissa’s and Adam’s place via their freshly painted and reupholstered motorcycle. Snow was subdued thanks to the new moon, and Night a quiet companion as always. James had mused about finding a way to make her corporeal, which got the wolf wagging her tail and dancing in place. For now she seemed content to stay with her pack, and Elsa glad she could see and hear the black wolf again. They’d recovered her leather bracelet with its enchanted pebble and her phone before leaving the bloodbath under Crater Lake.
The ice in Lissa’s empty tumbler clinked as she set it down. “Who’s up for dessert?”
“Depends what it is,” Elsa slurred.
Jack and the rest of their family chuckled. “It’s what Adam and I were working on earlier.”
Elsa giggled. “That’s why Lissa and I were banished from the kitchen?”
“Yes,” Lissa laughed. “Although Adam always does that when he’s baking.”
“It smelled delicious,” Elsa said as she sat up with a little assistance from Jack. “Coconut something.”
“Vanilla cake with coconut frosting,” Adam grinned. “A belated birthday cake.”
Elsa’s eyes went wide, then she frowned at Jack. “I told you that my birthday is cancelled now. It’s too dangerous.”
Jack gave her his most disarming smile. “Nonsense. That’s superstitious, and I want to celebrate your birthday properly.”
“I have a right to be superstitious. A tree almost ate us!”
“She has a point,” Lissa said in Spanish.
“Cállate,” Jack retorted with a grin. His mate’s scowl indicated that she’d dug her heels in. This called for extreme measures: puppy dog eyes. “Mi vida, I decorated the cake for you.”
A tipsy smile threatened Elsa’s displeased countenance. “Don’t you dare use those eyes on me!”
“Too late,” Adam chuckled.
Lissa drawled, “You’re better off not seeing the cake that Jack spent an hour decorating. Trying to decorate, really. Most of the petals look like flat, squiggly worms.”
Elsa was grinning now. “Petals?”
“For daisies,” Jack grinned back, then mock scowled at his sister. “They got better toward the end, you have to admit.”
“They did.”
Elsa leaned into Jack, who put an arm around her shoulders. “The cake won’t eat us, will it?”
He kissed the side of her head. “You’ve had too much to drink, mi amor. We’re supposed to eat it.”
She giggled again, then turned her face up for a kiss. Jack obliged.
“All right,” Elsa said, pulling her feet from the water. “Let’s celebrate my birthday again.”
Jack helped her up, then looked at Lissa, Adam, and Night in turn. He and Snow felt safe, relaxed, and grateful. Hugging their mate close, he said, “The first of many.”