(Verando's POV)

"That was good of Nicolas to cover for you." Stefan pours some warm tea into a mug, handing it to Tonic. "I certainly have enjoyed having you here in the evenings."

"I've enjoyed being here. It's been very eye-opening. Different." Tonic accepts the mug, takes a long swallow, and settles back onto the couch. It's night again; being with Stefan meant adjusting to a more nocturnal lifestyle if he wanted to keep up his nightly escapades. Stefan had been a welcome break from the pack mentality, and it was nice to escape to a more civilized lifestyle, if only for a moment.

"Eye-opening?" Stefan drifts over to rest on the couch, relaxing his head in Tonic's lap. The warmth of the lycan male transferred into his undead body, almost warming him to near-human-like temperatures.

 Tonic slowly runs his hand through Stefan's hair; the long locks trace over his lap and threaten to spill like an inky waterfall over the edge. The Strigoi hums in appreciation, shutting his eyes if only for a moment. "You don't treat me like an omega; you don't act like I have no worth. It's a reminder of what things could be and that this is what we are working towards. I was so young when we were enslaved, I hardly remember what it was like."

"Happy to be of service, sweetness." The strigoi's voice is low and gentle as he curls against the Lycan's warmth. "We're going to fix this. We're going to make sure all of you go free."

Tonic offers a tender smile, bending to kiss the chilled forehead. "So does that mean you're going to join the war? Join me on the front lines? And here I thought you were so painfully indifferent." 

The question brings a laugh from the Strigoi, but he softens and kisses Tonic's palm.

"Honey, I have no fear of you ever being on the front lines. But, it means that I'm going hide you out here until these ruffians can stop waving their dicks around long enough to realize there's plenty of room for us to all survive together." Stefan sat up with an amused expression, leaning to take claim of the younger man's lips. "It means that I have a small invested interest in the outcome of this war. Beyond... Nicolas."

This takes Tonic by surprise, and he briefly considers it, gently sipping the drink in an excuse to avoid the coaxing caress of the strigoi. In quick, short glances, the lycan clears his throat with a nervous laugh; every attempt to form a response brings a giggle from Stefan. With gentle admiration, the Strigoi floats to press his lips to the younger man's. 

"Nicolas is right. You are too good- for any of us. So fragile..." 

Tonic carefully places his mug on the end table, returning the kiss with a sigh of appreciation for the chilled, smooth skin. Exploring his mouth with his tongue, Tonic breaks the kiss to breathe as Stefan captures the corner of his mouth.

"Fragile? Because I'm not starved for bloodshed? I'd say it makes me sane." Tonic mumurs to the pale male, trying to distract him from the thought that he possessed some purity that needed saving. "You've already robbed me of my virtue, so if you feel the need to steal me from my pack, too, who am I to argue with my captor?" 

Tangling his fingers in the gray locks, the title of captor brings Stefan to a pause. "Captor? So the only reason you'd stay here is against your will? I'd hope it'd be because you enjoyed my company." 

Much as Tonic enjoyed the attention, a distant rustle outside caught his ear, pulling him from the sensational strigoi. Tonic pauses, straightening, only for his eyes to roll back into his head as Stefan pulls his hair firmly. 

"Wait.. wait.. Do you hear something?" Tonic exhales, chuckling at the cold tongue dragging over his skin. 

Stefan moves to kiss his neck, running his fangs lightly over his skin. The salty taste of an athletic, young lycan sends a shiver down his spine, and the symphony of a warm, wet heart pulsing just under the skin drives him mad. It nearly makes his mouth water as he presses an icy kiss to the flickering skin.

 "Only this delicious heartbeat, baby. Not getting cold feet, are you? You did promise yourself to me..." Stefan breathes.

With a flush of color on his cheeks, Tonic shakes his head, blocking Stefan's invasion of his neck as he kisses him. "No, no. I ... truly.. think I heard something." He bites his lower lip, arguing with his judgment. The temptation of the experienced man is enough to pull him from any distraction, be it real or false.

"It's probably Pavel. He's a crafty little thing; I don't think he quite likes to share me with you." Stefan traces his tongue over the tanned skin with a groan. "You are a naughty, naughty man. How dare you smell so divine? I want to devour you."

"You're driving me mad, " the gray-haired lycan moans, gasping as the cold, iridescent hand gropes him through his pants. 

"Yet you keep talking..." Stefan challenges with a low exhale. Ending on a chaste kiss of gratitude, the strigoi bares his fangs. "I never thought a lycan could taste so good." Sinking his teeth into the youth's neck, Tonic's breath pulls sharply through his teeth while Stefan straddles his waist. Finding one of his nipples, Tonic squirms beneath him; he shudders as Stefan retracts his fangs.

"You're so sensitive... Like you were made just for me. I could get used to this." Stefan's voice is silky, his eyes brighten, and his skin looks almost alive. "Here, taste." He grins wickedly as he kisses the younger man with his bloodied lips. 

Tonic returns the kiss hungrily, clinging to the more experienced male. "When you get tired of me-" He pants against Stefan's mouth, deepening the kiss as his arms wrap around the pale neck.

"Shut up," Stefan growls back. 

Both men startle at the sudden, strong rap on the door, echoing through the halls, forcing the ever-polite host to straighten. "I wonder if it's Nicolas. I told you you should have returned this morning; that brute is probably looking for you." 

Rolling his eyes at the scolding, attempting to steady his breathing, Tonic wipes at his mouth with the back of his hand, pressing his palm to the bite on his neck to steady the bleeding. His heart pounds wildly in his chest as he leans back into the overly plush couch cushions, unable to think clearly with such a host so ready for the taking.

As Alpha's form appears in the doorway, it's all the Omega can do not to shrink back in the slow horror of realizing he'd been caught. 

Oh no. 

 Devising his speech, hoping that some convincing words will somehow spare him, Tonic comes to grips with his fate, but the expression on Alpha's face stops him dead in his tracks.

 The warlord looked different, distraught. 

Jumping up from the couch to stand at attention, Tonic made strained eye contact with his chilled lover. 

"Speak of the devil, and he shall appear," Stefan mumbled, displeased with the interruption but concerned for the ordinarily stoic male.

Forgetting the wound on his neck, Tonic approaches Alpha quickly. "Alpha? I promise I can explain-" 

Not one to forget, Stefan still hadn't quite forgiven the lycan for his rude behavior the day before. "Don't forget my warning to you, lycan. Did you hurt him?" 

The silence was overwhelming, sending a chill down his spine, and his leader's expression remained vacant. 

"Alpha?" Tonic prompts. 

After a long moment, his light eyes lifted, and he finally spoke. "Nicolas has changed sides. He played us from the beginning, and I let him..." His voice was hardly more than a rough mutter. 

Exchanging glances, Stefan switches to a slightly more serious posture. "What do you mean by 'changed sides'?"  

"It's exactly as it sounds; how could I be clearer? He's with Haryek; the elf was going to shoot me in the bloody heart!" His voice is hollow, empty. "He told me that there would be no alliance; I've wasted so much time-"

Scoffing, Stefan flips his hair in what could be considered an offense. "Stop right there. Don't say another word unless you want to start speaking with some sense!"His duty to his friend was to pursue every avenue; he knew me well enough to know that I was pretty smitten with the odd male. 

"You were right as rain last time you were here; it's been only a few days. Who fucks up this bad in a few days?"

In silence, the two regard each other. A clock ticks quietly in the background. Stefan raises an eyebrow in defiance, gesturing to the floor as if it were a stage. It was a call to action, demanding the male make his case for such an accusation. 

"I think Nicolas wants more, and there is nothing more I can give him." Alpha finally concludes with a grimace, "Or perhaps it has all been a ruse; I knew he was clever, but to play me so thoroughly, I truly thought he had come to our side of things." He says through gritted teeth, clutching his chest as if he'd thought about ripping out his own heart. 

It was beyond anything he'd felt; the wolf clawed for the surface, barking behind its cage in the back of his mind so loudly it threatened to drown out all else. 

Tonic raises a hand to calm the calculating Strigoi, silently pleading for empathy for the man who'd helped raise him. 

"Now that, I can believe. But for Nicolas to entertain a shift, one that threatens his home, I do not believe it." Steffan leans back on one of the counters, licking the pad of his thumb in remorse for the meal he'd lost out on. "Haryek allowed lycans to storm this land; Nicolas is not a stranger to that fact."

How could he expect them to believe him when he could hardly believe what had occurred? The wolf clouded his every thought; everything pulled him back in my direction, wanting him to go back and claim what rightfully belonged to him, and yet, I'd spoken so clearly about my wishes. 

If I had been charmed, how could I have had such conviction?

"Nicolas said that I could never accept what he is, that I hate magic users, and that he wants someone who will stay." Alpha slowly pieces together the conclusion of those few short moments. The reality of the angst and resentment was that I had believed him and finally acted on those promises. 

He had told me he would leave, and I believed him. 

"Don't you?" Stefan scoffs with a heavy strug. "All of that is true, Alpha."

Flinching, Alpha's full lips parted to reject such a claim, and yet there was no lie beyond the one he was telling himself. 

"Why are you here, Alpha? What would you like me to do because the look on your face says you want me to help get Nicolas... back?" Stefan insists, his voice curious, his head cocked to the side as he pours himself a glass of wine. "My side is his side; the motivation I have to help you would be that you think Nicolas is in trouble, but what you're telling me tracks to the fact that he has done what he's always had to do. He's had to think about everyone but himself and go to bed with that rapist Elf because he thinks it will help his people."

Alpha glowers at him; the wolf lunges within, making him grip his side at the ache of his body threatening to shred from the inside out. "How am I supposed to know if he's in trouble? I'm telling you because you are his friend, if you think he's in jeopardy-"

"Wait, you said Haryek tried to shoot you? Tried as in missed?" Tonic pipes in.
 
"Nicolas... stopped him." Alpha frowns, pulling his flask out of his vest pocket and taking a swallow. 

"Then how can you leave him there?" Stefan shouts back, "You're a damned warlord! You've been enslaved; how can you possibly think that he didn't need rescuing?!"

 Alpha sets his jaw and closes his eyes, disturbed at his weakness when it comes to me. He had believed me so quickly, but to hear now that it could have been a cry for help? "He told me to go, so I went!" The man belts back, his voice hard and cutting, causing Tonic to nearly drop to his knees in respect for the man before him.

 Stefan quickly crosses the space, standing between the two with an unreadable expression. 

"Why is it so hard to believe that I might not be convinced he would ever want me? Why is it a crime to think that this man.. this Prince.. would turn to a familiar against the hardest path?" Speaking through his teeth, the gray-haired man shakes his head in disgust at his own behavior. "It made too much sense to think that it was false." 

Glancing at Tonic, Stefan gestures to the warlord, and Tonic quickly shakes his head, raising his hands in defeat, for he had little faith in his ability to soothe the man. With a heavy eye roll, Stefan reluctantly takes it upon himself to delegate where emotionally unstable men fell short. 

"Is it hard to believe he is thinking the same thing?" The strigoi insists, "If you say he wants more, you already know the answer."

It was when no one had ever chosen him outside of greed. Status, forbidden fruits, and breeding aside, few people had ever wanted him. Lover of many and loved by none, he was no stranger to the harsh edges of his personality. "He was a different person, Stefan. To say the things he said, I have to hope that wasn't Nic because I don't think I could ever forgive him for it."

Stefan holds up his hand. "A different person." He breathes. "Surely it wasn't a shapeshifter; you probably would have picked up on the spell?"

"I'm positive it was him; he was still heavy with my scent." Alpha appears to regret admitting that, glancing away with a slow exhale to calm his pounding pulse and simmer the wolf back into observation. "When we were last here, your creature... Pavel.. suggested to me some potions. I assume it saw Nicolas and I arguing, one of which was a potion for infatuation. The whole thing seemed absolutely absurd-" 

Stefan appears in front of Alpha very suddenly, catching him off guard. "Infatuation? A potion? Pavel offered you a potion?!" He demands, frantic. 

"Spells for obsession and whatnot, I didn't pay it much attention. The damned thing doesn't have a body; how valid could its suggestions truly be?"  As the seconds tick by, the realization of what had occurred slowly expands across the room, Alpha picks up a lamp and throws it, enraged.

"He wouldn't dare!" The lycan snarls. "How? How did he get his hands on something like that?"

Stefan swallows the heavy lump in his throat. "Alpha- If this is the truth... Nicolas is in grave danger."

"Reverse it!" Alpha commands, the thunderous roar of his voice causing Tonic to kneel in a silent plea to spare his life while the Strigoi holds up his hands in defense against the enraged man.

"I would love to, but there is no reversing a love potion. They are temporary; they wear off in five days."

"We don't have 5 days." Alpha snaps. "Haryek wants me made an example of, damn my life, but once I'm gone, there will be nobody to manage the pack. It will be complete anarchy; they will storm the castle, and it will be a massacre. If he's hiding behind Nicolas, I don't think I can-" His voice trails off, gritting his teeth; he hurriedly unbuttons his shirt to get some air on his burning skin.

 He can't hurt me.

"I wasn't joking when I told him he needed to use less of his magic; we just brought him back from the dead not days ago! He is drained dry. A normal human would fall into a comatose state if the potion were too strong or if they tried to fight it. But if Nicolas tries to fight it in his weakened state, it stands a chance of draining his magic entirely, and that's it. 

He will go into an unconscious state, but he won't wake up. His magic is the only thing keeping him alive until he recovers. Nicolas will die, and I won't be able to bring him back. But... if we can hold him off one more day... we might be able to arrange for a recharge?"

Tapping his chin lightly, Stefan quickly moves to a small desk beside the fireplace, fumbling through his papers for a blanket sheet and quill pen. "I have a friend who is also a Solomanari. If we can get him here, he can summon a dragon, and we can siphon the magic off it and put it into Nicolas. That would give him enough magic to break the potion's hold."

 "Siphon the magic off a dragon? I assume they don't particularly like it when you do that?" Alpha wrinkles his nose in disgust.

Scrawling quick words onto the paper, he glances up at the warlord with his concerned, blood-red eyes and forces the smallest smile.  "No, they don't. A dragon's magic is very precious, but Lord Darius coveted the art of dragon siphoning. How do you think he became so powerful? Within the castle, there is a table.  Once the dragon is on the table, we can complete the spell to finish the transfer. Nicolas just has to be near it."

Tonic shudders at the thought, and Alpha resists the urge to mirror his discomfort. "And if your friend won't come?" The omega sounds reluctant to ask.

Stefan grimaces, "We can't think about that right now; Nicolas will not survive under the influence of a potion in his current state. We must act quickly if we want to see this happen." He turns his attention to Alpha. "I can only work at night, so my ability to help is limited. I need you to get every person in your pack searching for this table. I can probably get my friend here by tomorrow night, and we can fill him in on what needs to happen. We should be able to enact the spell by the third day at the very latest."

"Tonic, I need you to go be with him. He trusts you." Turning his attention to his look-alike, Tonic reluctantly nods before becoming more solidified in his choice. 
  
"I can do this." Tonic assures him. "For Nic, I will do this. "

"I'm going to get started looking for this table. I'll try to make myself scarce and communicate with you through Swift, Fleet, and Delta." He turns to leave, wanting to be far away from the idea of harvesting off of a dragon, yet knowing the work has only just begun. 

"He's going to be okay," Stefan calls to him. 

The warlord doesn't hesitate; he shifts the moment he's out the door, racing back towards the castle.

Tonic feels a strangled sob bubbling to the surface, wrapping his arms around himself. "Stefan, what if we can't do this?" His voice is hardly above a whisper.

"We have to, Tonic." He sounds so sure as he whistles, causing the spirit to appear. "Pavel, I've heard you've been mischievous." Suddenly, he pulls a silk handkerchief out of his pocket and snakes it over the spirit, who hisses and rolls, trying to escape. "Listen here, you slimy husk! Did you give the elf a potion?"

"Yessssss!" Pavel hisses. "Lycans bad! Lycan dirrrtttyy." Its raspy voice makes Tonic's skin crawl.
  
"That is very bad of you, Pavel! Now listen. You must go and gather up Loan. He looks very similar to Nicolas. Do you understand?" Shaking the bag maliciously, the creature chatters and hisses.

"Yeesssss masterrr." 

Stefan throws the cloth, allowing the spirit to spring free, and it's gone in an instant. He turns to Tonic and frowns, taking the younger man's face in his hands as he kisses him firmly.

"To be continued, my sweet... we both have a lot of work to do. I need you to take good care of Nicolas. Don't let him use his magic; keep him fed, make him rest. Everything is going to be okay."

"Thank you, Stefan." Tonic wraps his arms around his cool waist, leaning his cheek into one of the chilled hands. 

"Don't thank me yet." Stefan manages through a shudder of anxiety. "We still have two more days to make it through. "