Only Thorvin winced.
Soren grinned. “I’m having far too much fun to settle down. Nor do I need to.”
I watched this conversation like a ping pong match. But I was the ball.
Ben finally spoke up. “Perhaps Evie is not with the right Lord.”
You could have heard a pin drop. I leaned over and hissed in his ear. “What are you doing?”
“Oh?” Ethan said. “I believe she dislikes everyone but Rowan. Do you perhaps think it’s him Evie should be with?”
Rowan wiggled his eyebrows at me.
I sighed. “Please stop.”
But as most men did when they had a point to make, they spoke right over me.
“Moving Evie to Rowan’s territory would solve a few problems,” Ethan mused.
Caelan bristled with fury. I put my hand on his knee. “Don’t listen to them,” I said quietly. “Rowan and I are friends.”
“Ben is not talking about Rowan,” Caelan snarled, his eyes ringed with molten gold.
“Or she could stay here with me,” Ben said. “The Joy Springs area has at least two Floromancers who can maintain the land.”
Righteous anger filled my veins. “Excuse me?”
Ben turned those beautiful eyes to me. “I screwed up. I know it. I want to make amends for it.”
“So you strongarm me and try to force me into a new territory without asking me? I have a shop in Joy Springs. Friends. A life.”
“You can make that here with me.”
My fists clenched. “I love Caelan.”
“You aren’t mated to him. A true mating is indescribable. It’s…glorious. A true melding of hearts and souls.”
“Humans don’t mate. Their love is no less than a shifter’s or of someone like me.”
“The lady said no,” Caelan said. He leaned over. “I’m trying very hard to respect your autonomy, but as soon as you say the word, I will rip his head off.”
His words made me smile. “No violence on my behalf, please. I thought I handled this nonsense the last time, but apparently, I’m just a wee lassie who needs to be shuffled off to the biggest, strongest man there is.”
“No one is trying to cage you, Evie,” Ben said.
“If I hit you, I’m not going to stop,” I said with a growl in my voice.
“Ben’s territory is ideal,” Ethan said. “But so is Rowan’s. Since she and Rowan have a friendly relationship, he makes the most sense.”
“She and Rowan are friends. A mating bond won’t form.”
Rowan smirked, the picture of ease. “My parents weren’t a love match initially. They have a true mating now.”
“You are not helping,” I hissed.
Rowan winked at me. “Would you rather it be me or Ben?”
A helpless laugh escaped me. “I’d rather it be no one if it isn’t Caelan.”
