After a pause, Nick sighed. “Butwe’renot.”
“Exactly,”Cirosaid.
“Right you are, lad,” Kaleadded.
Well, if he had to be a creeper, at least he wasn’t alone. He had two other creepers staring longingly at the same door. If Peri was there, she’d have zapped their furryasses.
* * *
Ciro’s wolfwas pacing inside of him. Their mate was mere feet away, and yet she might as well have been back in the pixie realm. She was striking in her beauty. Her skin was a beautiful brown color that reminded him of the finest Italian chocolate. Her eyes were so light brown that they were almost golden. Her hair was long and straight, and he wanted to slip his fingers through it. She was simply breathtaking. When he’d declared her his mate, he’d seen the shock in her eyes and also the fear. She put up a good front, and she was no doubt strong and brave, but something had made her fear men. Of that, he had no doubt. One day, he would find those men and he would rip their throats out, after he cut their hands off. And here he was supposed to be the patient, calm one. He chuckled tohimself.
Truth be told, he would be patient forher. She wasn’t going to invite him into her personal space any time soon, but that was okay. He would woo her and show her that she could trust him. He would prove to her that he would never hurt her, not intentionally. Ciro would make it his sole mission in live to protect her, provide for her, love her, and adore her. But he couldn’t give her mere words. She needed a man of action. Through their bond, he could feel her skepticism, but he could and wouldchangethat.
Ciro leaned his head back against the wall and closed his eyes. He let out a long, slow breath as he let himself relax for the first time in weeks. It didn’t last long as an ear-shattering stream of curses came from behind thecloseddoor.
Ciro, Kale, and Nick were at the door faster than any human eye would have been able to trace. Ciro knew Nick wasn’t thinking when he nearly ripped the door off its hinges. He, like Ciro, was only thinking of getting to his mate. He didn’t stop to consider that they might not be dressed, which, theyweren’t.
Another round of screams ensued as towels were wrapped around naked flesh, and objects began flying at them. Ciro was hit in the chest with a hair brush, but he didn’t even notice the sting. His eyes were too busy taking in the skin of his mate. Running down the front of her thigh, over her knee to her shin, were markings that would fit his own like a puzzle piece. And there it was on display. Foreveryone.
All of the males seemed to realize this at the same time as they lunged forward toward the females, but just as they were within touching reach they were thrown backward. Ciro hit the wall with a thud and he glanced at the other two males, who were still looking at the girls, at his mate. His wolf lost it. He flew at Kale, hitting his jaw with force that would have killed a human male. Nick was next. He reached the Beta and slammed him into the wall. But the other wolf had been ready. Nick slammed his head forward, headbutting Ciro and loosening his hold. A foot to the back of his knee caused Ciro’s leg to crash down beneath him. Nick lost interest in Ciro when Kale punched him in the stomach, and Nick reciprocated by crashing an elbow intoKale’sface.
Ciro knew it was their wolves’ fierce possessiveness fueling their rage. This, combined with the inability to communicate with or touch their mates, made for a volatile situation. He knew that they needed to get their asses downstairs, but he couldn’t stop thinking about Kale and Nick seeing Stella’s markings. It was the equivalent of seeing her naked. And that thought only made him angrier. He jumped up to rejoin the brawl but was frozen in place as magic slammedintohim.
“STOP!” Elle, the female fae and mate to Sorin, roared. Lucian was standing beside her. Her eyes widened when she saw the bathroom door open and the three girls standing there in towels. She threw out her other hand and pulled it back toward her, and the bathroom door slammed shut. As soon as it was closed, she released her magic, and the three of them collapsed against thewalls.
“The three of you need to go phase and run,” Lucian said. It wasn’t a suggestion. “Don’t come back until you’ve got yourselves pulled together.” He turned without another word and walked back down thestairs.
Elle stepped aside and motioned with her hand for them to follow him. Ciro glanced back at the closed bathroom door and swore in his native tongue. If she hadn’t been afraid of him before, she most likely was now after seeing him respond in such aviolentway.
“For the record,” Kale spoke up, “I only had eyes forHeather.”
“And I for Kara,” Nickadded.
Ciro rubbed his palm across his face as he headed toward the stairs. “I only saw my mate,” he told them. “But she bore my markings, and they were on display. My wolf couldn’tstandit.”
Elle shook her head at them. “You three will be lucky if you survive the next twoweeks.”
Ciro couldn’t agree withhermore.
* * *
Kara was still staringat the door that had been closed for several minutes. Heather and Stella hadn’t moved either. It was like they were all inshock.
“What in the freaking world just happened?” Heather breathed out. “First, I’ve got you two screaming like bloody idiots, and then I hear males pounding the crap out of each other and then a door slamming. Seriously, ladies, help a blindchickout.”
Kara turned, finally able to move and looked at Heather. “We screamed because we weren’t expecting to watch black tattoos magically begin to crawl acrossourskin.”
“Wait. What?” she said, her eyesgrowingwide.
“And it happened toyou,too.”
“Again,what?”
“The markings they told us about that match our mate’s,” Kara reminded her. “Well, they’ve made their appearance. Stella’s is on her thigh. Yours is straight across the tops of your shoulders and running behind your neck. And mine starts on the front portion of my bicep, here”—Kara pressed her finger against Heather’s arm—“then runs across the top of my cleavage to the other bicep.” Her towel had been just low enough for the top of the markings to be seen along with their location onherarms.
“What exactly set the guys off?” Stellaasked.
“I think the screaming is what caused them to smash the door in, and Sally mentioned something about the markings being very private,” Kara said. “That they would get quite angry if another male saw them. Well, we were standing on display in our towels. I’m thinking that might have been thestraw.”
