“That makes sense,” Gem says, pushing off the frame and entering my room. I become very aware of him in my space. He smells like a campfire, all smoke and ash and whiskey, just like his creature, and my cock throbs against my uniform pants, but I resist the urge to adjust it.
He approaches me from behind and peers over my shoulder, his body hot against my back. His phoenix radiates heat, even in his human form. “What are you packing for? Don’t you have awhole heap of things at the palace, or have your parents cleaned out our rooms already? I guess they probably have and moved them over to the new estate.”
The five of us lived at the palace with my parents when we first formed our bond many years ago. We had our own suite, but we moved into the apartment here at the night watch headquarters once we graduated from college and decided we wanted to do this with our lives. I’m sure my parents are packing up our suite to make way for the new royal, but I know they have a suite for us in their new residence too, so it will probably all just go there.
I sigh and don’t answer him, and I feel him stiffen behind me. “No! Don’t tell me you’re heading out on another wild goose chase again!” he growls, and I hear the anger in his tone.
I turn around to face him, and his eyes flame with anger. They always have a flame in them, but when his emotions are extreme, it’s like the flames take over his eyes. His hair floats with his magic as well. Fuck, he is one of the most stunning creatures I’ve ever seen, and it’s taking all my willpower not to pounce on him.
“I won’t lie to you, Gem,” I say quietly, and he shakes his head and throws up his hands as he paces back and forth across my room.
“Fuck, Gryff. You have to let this go. Can’t you see what this is doing to us? Are you so selfish and single-minded in your pursuit of some charlatan’s prediction that you can’t see what it’s doing to us?” he rants. “You are so blind, you can’t see that Liam is turning into a man whore of epic proportions and attracting the wrong kind of female. He’ll mate one by accident, and we’ll be stuck with her. Hunter and Brodie are so focused on work as a distraction that they take every one of the feral calls and put themselves at risk. You don’t see any of it! You don’t see that this is destroying our bond!” He stops in front of me and grabs mytop. “And me, fucking see me,” he declares before slamming his mouth to mine.
I freeze in place as he swipes his tongue across my lips, asking for entrance, and when I open my mouth to say something, he slips his tongue inside, and I am lost to the taste of him. I groan as he plunders my mouth. He tastes like fire and whiskey and sin. My hands drift around him, and I haul his body against mine. He’s almost as tall as I am, but his body is not as bulky as mine. He rolls his hips, grinding his hard cock against my own rapidly hardening length. My heart beats like it wants to pound out of my chest. I’ve dreamed of this for years, but I have resisted out of respect for our future mate. Instead, I’ve tried to fight and hide my attraction. I could see he felt the same way, but as long as I held him at arm’s length, I didn’t know what I was missing out on. Now I’m afraid I’m going to crave him like a drug.
He pulls away, leaving me breathless and dizzy. “See me,” he begs, and I shake my head, clearing the lust from my mind and catching my breath.
“The problem is that I do see you, and if I let myself, I’ll lose myself in you. Is that fair for our mate when she comes along? As much as I want this, I also want our future mate’s approval before we go any further, because if I let myself have you, I’ll become addicted, and if she doesn’t want that and I have to let you go, then I don’t know if I will recover,” I tell him, my words spewing out of me in a rush of emotions. I lean my forehead against his, looking into his eyes so he can see the truth in mine.
The fire in his eyes dies, and I see the moment he understands, because he sighs heavily, presses another gentle kiss to my lips, and walks away.
I don’t watch him go, because I might cave and chase after him, but I do think about what he said. I make a silent promiseto him that if I don’t find anything at this next village, I will give up my search for good.
Chapter
Sixteen
Gem
I’m so fucking angry and sad as I walk away from Gryffin, fire keeps erupting all over my skin as my phoenix tries to soothe me. I’m so pissed at Gryffin and his obsession with this fictional sixth member, I’m tempted to find the witch who suggested it to him and kill her, but I’m also so fucking sad that he doesn’t want to give the two of us a chance. I’ve wanted him for as long as I’ve known him.
Unlike Brodie, Liam, and Gryff, Hunter and I have only had our animals since we were seventeen. Mythicals don’t shift until their seventeenth birthday. I always knew I would be a phoenix. My father is one as well, but my mother is a wolf, so when I didn’t shift as a baby, they knew what I was. Dragons like Hunter are born from eggs, and both of his parent are dragons, so they knew what he would be too. I grew up in a large mythical village in the central shifter zone. Hunter is from the same village, but because his father is a general in the army, he grew up in the palace. I knew of him but had never met him until his parents brought him to our village so he could have his first shift. Thereare a lot of dragons in our village, and all of the buildings are fireproof. Both of us had our first shifts within weeks of each other and practiced control of our fire together.
It took a couple of months, but we both gained excellent control of our fire, so my father was working on my other magical gifts when Hunter and I both received bond marks. We were thrilled to discover our marks matched. Together, we made our way to the city to register our marks, only to discover that both his childhood friends, Brodie and Gryffin, were a bond match as well as another, Liam.
I just about swallowed my tongue when he introduced me to his best friend, Prince Gryffin. He was gorgeous, but also nice, nothing like I imagined a royal to be. We all moved into a suite in the palace to develop our bond relationship, and I quickly fell in love with the prince. I would see him watching me out of the corner of my eye, and I knew my attraction wasn’t one-sided, but he never made a move, and our bond group was pursued by female shifters hoping to be our mate. I watched as he had flings with both males and females alike, nothing more than a one-night stand. In fact, we were all rather promiscuous for a while before Gryffin’s moms sat us down and lectured us about how our mate would feel to be with a bunch of playboys when she was finally marked. We straightened up after that, but I always hoped something more would happen between us. Hell, we were already bonded, so neither of us was going anywhere.
Somewhere deep down, I knew his mothers’ talk had struck a nerve with him, and I was going to be sidelined forever, wanting what I couldn’t have, and he just confirmed it in a heartbreaking way. I don’t think the goddess would gift us a mate who wouldn’t accept us in a relationship, but I do also understand on some level—the reasonable, clear-headed Gem level, not the horny, pining for Gryff Gem level. No, that Gem wants to burn the world.
Instead of doing considerable damage to our home, I head downstairs to the night watch headquarters and decide to take my frustration out in our training room. Maybe there will be someone there I can spar with.
The hallways are clear as I make my way to the elevator, smashing the button to call it to our floor. When it opens, a rush of scents, both familiar and stomach turning, whooshes out, and a growl rumbles from my chest, sounding more like Hunter’s dragon than my phoenix. My bond mate, Liam, is in there, but he has company. Gianna is wrapped around him like a sloth, her legs gripping his waist while her arms circle his neck as she grinds on him, their mouths kissing with desperate need. I want to burn all the hair off this bitch’s head. She knows exactly which buttons to push when it comes to Liam. I’ve been watching his bear become more and more unruly as it pines for a mate, which means Liam is susceptible to the pretty words of a conniving manipulative fox.
Neither of them notice me, and I clear my throat as I step into the elevator. Liam looks up as he pulls his mouth away from the dark-haired cunt. His eyes are glazed, and her lipstick is spread across his mouth.
She smirks at me as she drops to her feet, smoothing her skirt down and straightening her top. “Hi, Gem,” she flutters her eyelashes at me and steps closer to run a finger down my chest in what I think is meant to be a flirty gesture, but it just seems contrived. That, combined with her scent which smells like wet newspaper to me, makes me step back, and I almost miss her eyes flash with frustration.
“Liam, what are you doing?” I ask him, ignoring the fox and narrowing my eyes on my bond mate. His eyes clear as he takes in my pissed off scent, and he adjusts the front of his pants as I huff in annoyance. Before he can answer, I turn my attention back to the wily female.
“You’ve been banned from the building and the neutral zone. If you are caught in here, Liam will be in trouble,” I warn both of them, and she shrugs, not giving one fucking damn.
“Nobody will know if you don’t say anything. We’re going straight to your apartment,” she snarls, and I chuckle darkly.
“I’m pretty sure Prince Gryffin will have something to say. His dad was the one who fired you and had you blacklisted after all.” She pales slightly, but my words finally get Liam’s attention.
“Gryff’s in there?” he asks, looking down the hallway in the direction of our apartment.
“For now,” I mutter, and he tugs Gianna back into the elevator. The doors close, and it starts to move downward. She screeches and crosses her arms, glaring at him.
