Boaz responded immediately, holding onto him as the kiss deepened. It was intense, filled with everything they hadn’t said to each other.
Alexander pulled back after a moment, breathing hard.
“We shouldn’t be doing this. We should be trying to find a way to stop this,” Boaz said.
“That’s what we’re doing. But that doesn’t mean we can’t take a moment. I need you. Didn’t you miss me?”
Alexander pulled him in again, trying to kiss him. Boaz pressed a hand against his chest and pushed him back, stepping away from the door.
“Stop. Be serious for a second. Not everything is about sex or your need for a distraction. This is serious,” Boaz said.
“A distraction? Is that what you think you are to me?”
“Am I not?” Boaz asked. “Who thinks about fooling around when every supernatural being out there might want them dead? You ran away from your mother because you couldn’t deal with what needed to happen. And you’re doing it again. You’re distracting yourself.”
“Fuck you, Boaz,” Alexander said, reaching for the doorknob.
“Come on, Alexander. I didn’t mean it like that,” Boaz said.
“I don’t care what you meant,” Alexander replied, walking out of the room.
He shut the door behind him, his chest tightening painfully.
The door opened again behind him, but he quickened his pace and went down the stairs into the living room. Manlius was speaking quietly with several beings who had already arrived. Alexander recognized Fae, witches, and shapeshifters among them.
They all turned as he entered. The atmosphere in the room shifted immediately.
Manlius cleared his throat. “Your Majesty, let me introduce you,” he said quickly, trying to ease the tension.
Alexander nodded and stepped toward the gathered group. There was wariness in their eyes, but also something else, something like hope.
They all wanted their loved ones back.
More and more beings arrived, and Alexander was introduced to each group in turn. Blade stayed close by his side, as if sensing he needed the support.
“I think we should begin,” Manlius whispered to him a while later.
“Yeah,” Alexander said.
He turned, and his eyes collided with Boaz’s.
The werewolf stood in a corner of the packed room with his own people. Alexander hadn’t seen him since he left him upstairs. He forced himself to look away before following Manlius to the center of the room.
“Everyone… everyone, can I have your attention, please,” Manlius said.
“Are we really going into war?” someone in the crowd asked, a sad note in their voice. Alexander looked up and saw it was Bayley, the leader of a pride of shapeshifters as Manlius had introduced him. “We barely survived the last one.”
“You said you saw some of the people trapped in the underworld and that they’re still alive. Did you see anyone from the Fae folk?” Killan, the Fae king, asked.
“Or the witches,” Melanie, the high priestess, added.
“My brother is stuck there too. Did you see him?” Frieda, a banshee, asked.
They began speaking at once, voices rising and overlapping as everyone tried to have their question heard.
Alexander looked around the room at the desperate faces. This was what he had feared. Everyone had lost someone in the war, and they would give anything to get them back.
“Hold on a second, one at a time please,” Manlius said. “Order, order please.”