He caught me looking and stood. “Gotta clean up. Be seeing you, pet.”
Part of me, okay, one specific part of me, pouted in disappointment when he didn’t kiss me before blinking away from my room. But Ishoved that thought down. I had more than enough problems right now without adding a crush on an incubus to the list.
My magic didn’t agree, however. The minute the incubus vanished, the tugging sensation in my chest pinched painfully. Like it did whenever I walked away from my bear. And also Alar-dick.
I just wish I knew what it all meant, and why the goddess had given me a bed-hogging kitsune who snored like a troll paralyzed by a sleep enchantment.
With a sigh, I settled back under the covers and pressed the glass screen on the phone. It lit up, showing me a picture of the incubus in a sultry pose, lying back against black silky pillows, shirtless, with a smile on his handsome face.
I almost dropped the phone in shock.What the…?Okay, so this was him pranking me. Once I figured out how, I would change the photo to something more respectable. Like a flower or something.
Ignoring my racing heart and clenched sexy bits, I peered at the screen. When I opened the contacts list, I saw two phone numbers. One for ‘care bear’ and the other for ‘sex god’. I didn’t need a crystal ball to know whothatwas.
Deciding the incubus had messed with me enough for one night, I hit ‘call’ on my bear’s number. He answered almost immediately, his gruff voice a delightful purr down the connection.
“Do you like the phone I got you?”
I struggled to make sense of what he was telling me. “Um, what?”
“The phone,” he replied patiently. “The incubus said he’d make sure you received it.” I hesitated, but the silence that followed lasted several long seconds until a low growl told me he’d figured out what I already had. “He better not have done anything while he was in your room!”
“No, he behaved himself,” I blurted before my bear lost his temper. “But he told me the phone was a gift from him.”
“That lying fuck.” I heard glass shattering in the background before he huffed in annoyance. “I should have known he’d take the credit.”
“It doesn’t matter. I’m just happy to have a phone.”
Maverick grumbled a bit more before sighing. “Now I can talk to you outside of gym class. Things will be easier once I can claim you as my mate…” His voice trailed off. “Until then, we need to be careful with things as they are currently.”
“As they are?” I repeated, not sure what he was getting at.
“There are a lot of powerful mages pushing for segregation of the species. These assholes think shifters are beneath them and look down on relationships between witches, mages, and shifters.”
“That’s ridiculous!” It was a horrifying idea. We were all magical beings. Yes, some of us had less power than others, but that didn’t make them inferior. Just different.
I thought back to Demelza’a hateful comments about the magicals that came from the islands and realized she was one of those who believed anyone other than a witch or mage was inferior.
“It is ridiculous, yes, but we live in a society that views power as the most important measure of a magical. Sadly, the extinction of the vampires created a power vacuum, which put the mages in control of the Supernatural Council. The shifter leader is trying to stop them from pushing through laws preventing cross-species mating, but it’s only a matter of time before such rules are enacted.”
We both fell silent as the ramifications of that sank in. If cross-species mating became illegal, I’d never be able to call Maverick my mate. I curled up with the phone pressed to my ear.
“That makes me sad,” I admitted eventually, not knowing what else to say. The thought of such a thing happening was too awful to contemplate.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you.”
My eyes drifted shut as I listened to him breathing in my ear, and I wished he was here with me, holding me close and making me feel safe.
“It’s okay.” A deep yawn escaped. Dawn was less than an hour away, but if I closed my eyes, I might catch a power nap before my alarm went off.
Maverick must have heard me yawning as my mind drifted. “Sweet dreams, little mate. I’ll see you in the gym later.”
His use of the word mate sent a little fizz of happiness through me. While I’d mostly deflected or changed the subject when he talked about me being his mate, I had to admit, I liked the idea of having someone, a family, of my own.
And besides, my bear was hot.Reallyhot. What witch wouldn’t want a bear all of her own?
Except… if the mages had their way, the only mates on the menu would be mages. But I shoved the negativity down.
“I hate gym class,” I muttered as Maverick ended our call. Some witches were fitness freaks. I was not one of them. However, as much as I hated gym class, I didn’t hate knowing I’d see my bear again soon.
