“You mean, like this,” Lex cooed, sliding his hand up, curling his fingers around my neck as his nose ran along my jaw, his hot breath fanned my skin, making me shiver. “This was just playful banter between mates. Who are you to interfere?”
Oh, shit.My heart stopped as Cosmo’s eyes widened to ridiculous proportions, and his whole body froze in shock, and he wasn’t the only one. Avery’s mouth opened and closed, his face a perfect balance of confusion and hesitation. Like he didn’t know how to act or be in that moment. Ax’s brows were furrowed as he looked at the floor like he didn’t know if he should be angry or not. As always, Falcon surprised me by not looking fazed at all with his hand on his chin like he was in deep thought.
Like the calm before the storm, no one moved, no one made a sound. The tension in the room ratcheted up, about to blow, but I didn’t know what to say.
The last thing I expected was the calm curiosity from Falcon asking, “What makes you think you’re her mate?”
Lex slowly let me go, turned to the rest of the guys, and eyed them up and down like they were not any threat to him. “I would be lying if I didn’t say that I’ve had an inkling since I met her, but I knew for sure when we spent the night together, and my horns grew for her.”
I didn’t know if it was the words he said or the way he said it, but Cosmo’s expression dropped and turned into stone as he looked at me. “What does he mean by ‘spent the night together,’ Rayla?”
I knew Cosmo so well that I knew when he was trying to not show he was disappointed in me. That he thought I was making bad decisions, and a small piece of me agreed with him. What gave me the right to want all of these men? How was it okay for me to be with all of them but for them to only be with me? Should I just let this go now? Should this end before it gets worse for all of us? There was no way I could pick one of them and it worked out for us all in the end. The only options for a decent outcome would be to be with them all, equally, or have none of them and keep my distance, keep it professional.
Then why did my heart hurt when I even thought of letting them go? Why was my body shaking and stomach clenching at even the thought of not being with them? Why should I give any of them up as long as they were here of their own free will?
It wasn’t like I was chaining them to me. I didn’t cast a spell on them to want to fuck me or hang out. I had been trying to be up front and honest about this whole thing, giving them the opportunity to back out if they wanted. I had nothing to feel bad about.
I was Rayla fucking Desmond, and if I didn’t demand the moon just because I was that awesome, well, then, I was not acting like myself. And how dare I not be myself in front of these men.
I clenched my teeth and held my head high as I responded, “Chips on the table, it’s what he said. We spent the night together.”
“I prefer we say we made passionate, exquisite, devoted love,” Lex cooed in my ear, but I was not in the mood and held up my finger to his lips to shush him while not taking my eyes off Cosmo.
Cosmo flinched and stepped back as I took two steps forward. I was not done yet. “I told you that you didn’t have dibs, claim, or whatever it is in your head that makes you seem to think that I am only with you since we had one time together.” That sounded harsh, and I sighed, suddenly really tired. “What we did, it meant something to me. It was much more than a fuck, but so were the times that I had with the men in this room.”
I exhaled, preparing myself to do something I had never done for another man before. Confess my feelings. “Out of all the men I have been with, I can say with complete certainty that the times I have had with you five meant more to me than just the act, than just a physical release. I don’t really know what that all means, but I feel... something for all of you. Something I can’t quite put my finger on, so I don’t plan on stopping until I figure it out.”
I crossed my arms and relaxed my face so I seemed like I was okay with what I was about to say. “And if that’s not okay with any of you, that’s fine. No harm, no foul. You can bow out and nothing will change between us when it comes to business. I, in fact, would stop all of this if it affected business because this involves all of us. The Syndicate comes first.” I turned to Lex, letting him know truly how I felt about his offer to run away. Letting him know that will never be an option for me.
I didn’t know what I expected but it wasn’t having him smiling at me brightly, saying, “Oh, I know. And I don’t care about the others because I know you’re my mate, and you’ll feel it sometime soon because I have proof.” His eyes sparkled as he was practically bouncing on his toes as his hand went to his shirt’s neckline and he yanked it down. “It showed up the morning you left, but I have your vampire mate mark!”
This time, I was in complete shock for a full second before I shoved him against the window, the glass rattling with my force. “The fuck?! Let me see that?” I yanked his shirt down farther, zeroing in on a red mark over his heart in the shape of a blood drop.
Almost like he was there the whole time, Falcon was right next to me, observing the same mark with scrutinizing eyes. I backed away. How the fuck did I know if that was my mate mark? I mean, it was a red birthmark-looking symbol, something very traditional for a mate mark, something that would not be natural to have, but wouldn’t I have felt it? Wouldn’t I have known if it was my mark?
The creak of someone sitting on my bed caught my attention as I hoped for any excuse not to focus on what was happening right in front of me. Cosmo was slumped against my bed with his head in his hands, and he gripped his head so hard I thought he would dent his scalp. He was mumbling, “How could this be happening? This... this isn’t possible.”
I’d never seen him like this before, and it scared me. I took a step toward him, prepared to console him when Falcon’s voice broke. “Well, then, I guess that clears up what this mark is.” I stopped in my tracks and turned on my heel slowly, and Falcon removed the gloves from his hands and showed me the exact same mark on the bottom of his thumb.
Lex and I rushed over, grabbing his hand to make sure it was the same. Red, in the shape of a blood drop, and most definitely not marker. Like he was whispering just for me, Falcon continued. “I thought this might be a possibility the first night we met, and my fire magic did not harm you.” When I looked up at him in confusion, he smiled. “When I lifted the gun, my fire surrounded it, and you grabbed it, held onto it for about six seconds... you didn’t feel a thing, did you?” I shook my head, still not able to open my mouth to say something.
“When the fuck did you get that?” Avery screeched, his face red, and his chest expanding in a huff. My head ping-ponged between whoever was talking since I was the master of denial.
“After she bit me and drew blood in the alleyway behind the warehouse.” He said it like it was the easiest thing in the world to believe. What? Did that mean he had known about this since then? He was just now bringing it up?
My mind kept reeling, not knowing what I should do other than just stand here. Ax sat down in the desk chair next to Falcon, mimicking Cosmo by putting his elbows on his thighs and head in his hands. He was gripping his hair so hard it might fall out. “I thought... I thought...”
Falcon flicked his eyes at Ax but then did a double take before pushing his head down, shoving the hair on his neck out of the way. He called out in a matter-of-fact voice, “You have a mark, too.”
Ax immediately jumped up, fists in the air as he yelled out, “Yes! My wolf wasn’t wrong!” His face turned to me, his normal, cocky self coming out hard as he said, “I knew that bite you gave me was worth it.” Then winked at me like it was all intentional.What the fuck was happening? My heart was pounding, and I was sweating in some unsavory places.
Lex huffed out, pouting like a child as he crossed his arms while leaning up against the window as he mimicked in a hushed voice, “I have a mark, too. Oh, I have a mark too. It’s not some fucking fad, you jackoffs.”
I did not have time to deal withthat,so I turned away from him, facing Ax as I remembered back to the moment he was talking about. “B-b-but I didn’t even take blood from you?” I was so confused, my brain was taking in so much information I wasn’t able to compute it right, just telling myself it wasn’t possible.
Avery stomped over to Cosmo, glaring at his hunched form like he knew something and needed to have it confirmed. “If you say you have her mate mark, too, I think I’m going to be pissed.”
Cosmo’s head snapped up, and his angry eyes drilled into Avery’s like he just set down a challenge he couldn’t help but answer. “Well, then, I guess you’re going to have to whine about it like a little bitch.” He stood up and tugged on his ear as she showed Avery something.
