“Because I won’t hunt your cousin for sport?” I asked, feeding him another chip before he had a chance to answer. “Look, I get it. Crilus and I are magically bound. It’s true, but that was an agreement we made lifetimes ago. If he wants out of it, who am I to hold him to it?”
The words tasted sour on my tongue. So I fed Mori another chip. Taking care of him kept my hands busy and prevented my feet from carrying me outside. Every last primal cell inside me wanted me to crash out the front door and carry Crilus off into the woods until he understood just how ‘mine’ he was. I might’ve even followed through had he not ran as soon as I revealed myself to him.
“This sucks!” Mori grunted.
“It does. I never said it didn’t.”
“OH! My old bears --- just go jump him already!” Mori grumbled. “You are so annoying!”
“Sit up,” I said and stole his washcloth.
Mori blinked up at the bright lights and growled at me. I wasn’t having it. He wasn’t going to roll around the sofa all night half out of his mind. When he didn’t sit up, I lifted him from the sofa and he tried to lean his head up to bite my cheek. His magically altered state made him easy to dodge as I carried him to the kitchen and sat him down at the kitchen table. He rested his head against it and told me again to go jump my mate.
“Those sorts of sex games are only fun when the other person wants to be caught,” I grumbled right back at him as I fried him a burger.
“Are you trying to play sex games with my cousin?” Crilus’s voice reached me from the kitchen doorway.
“I’m not going to dignify such a jab,” I said, moving the burger around the pan as if it needed my full attention.
Crilus’s scent wafted through the kitchen, making it almost impossible to smell the blood sizzling out of the ground beef. His heartbeat reverberated across the kitchen, and I squeezed the spatula to keep from rounding on him.
“OH MY GOD!” Mori said.
He had zero control over his volume as most drunk people do.
“WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS TO ME?” Mori asked.
“What’s he doing to you, Mori?” Crilus asked.
His footsteps fell over the kitchen, and I turned down the heat before I charred Mori’s poor burger.
“He won’t jump you and you ran away! It hurts my feelings because Dern won’t tell me who my mate is and---”
“And what?” Crilus asked.
“I don’t know. I guess I’m hungry.”
“Do you want me to make you some tea?” Preston asked, walking into the kitchen with a bag of snacks tucked under his arm.
“NO!” Mori growled! “NO MORE TEA!”
“What did Dern do to you?” Crilus asked.
“He made me drink tea and—” Mori said but his words wouldn’t come out.
“Stop asking him questions,” I said, plating his burger and avoiding looking directly at my mate. “Whoever he saw bound his tongue on one topic or another. It’s clear that he’s frustrated and a bit slap-happy from the magic. He can keep trying but he’s not going to be able to spit it out.”
“Does that mean I don’t get to talk to you?” Crilus asked and I nearly dropped the plate with the burger on it.
I had to get my shit together. It would be unprofessional to let the others see how much I needed Crilus alone. How was I going to protect them if my mind kept circling back to him – his ears, his long, beautiful legs, the curve of his shoulders, his hair, the way he looked completely over the bullshit and ---
“OH MY GOD! TALK TO HIM, PIERCE! TALK TO HIM!” Mori shouted, I flinched away from him as I sat his burger on the table.
“Preston, do you think you can manage him for just a few minutes?” I asked.
“I’ve managed him for decades. I had to manage him in the womb before they cut us out!” Preston laughed. “Go on. Go get laid or whatever it is you’re gonna do.”
I froze, waiting for Crilus to run but he only shoved his hands into the pockets of his shorts. The small movement showed more of his thighs and my fangs threatened to elongate. I had to keep it together. My parents didn’t raise a vampire who foamed at the mouth and chased after omegas like they were blood smoothies. My teachers at the academy didn’t train a warrior who lost his composure over a slip of thigh.
