“I left her satisfied. Does that piss you off, bear?”
Fur rippled down his arms and his eyes glowed, a sign his inner bear wanted to burst free and tear me to pieces.
The dumbass bear could try, but he’d fail miserably. I wasn’t afraid of him. And besides, the bear knew as well as I did hurting me would hurt our mate.
“Yes!”
I sympathized. Yeah, honestly, I did. If the bear outed himself as her mate before they’d sealed the bond, the school would toss him off campus. The way things were going, inter-species mate bonds would soon be banned.
The problem with enforcing a ban was that separating a bonded pair could kill them in the early stages, so the council had to be careful. But until the bear claimed her, they were both at risk.
I, on the other hand, was not at risk. The council could say and do what they liked; it wouldn’t keep me away from the witch if I chose to be with her.
And for now, I did choose her.
The huge shifter stepped back. I watched as he scrubbed his jaw, amused at his inner struggle to keep the bear contained.
“Aren’t you curious about why the little witch has more than one soul-bonded mate from different species?” I asked him once he’d calmed down.
“Shifters often have harems,” he replied with a dismissive shrug before listening to make sure there were no other students lurking around. “Come on, we can’t talk here.” He strode off toward the forest, and since I was interested in his take on the situation, I followed.
We reached the trees before I voiced my thoughts again. “Shifters have harems, yes, but witches don’t.”
“Two mates is not a harem,” he scoffed.
“She has more than two soul-bonds.”
The bear stopped dead. “What?”
His reaction surprised me. I assumed he’d figured it out, but clearly not. Typical shifter. Not all that bright.
“There’s at least one more. Possibly two, making four in total.” The fourth was merely a gut feeling. I’d have to watch him a while longer to be certain.
“Who else?” The edge in the bear’s voice made me smirk. Ah, shifter jealousy: the gift that kept on giving.
“Alaric Vane.”
“Tiberius’ son?”
I nodded. “Don’t you think it’s strange that a witch of unknown origin would be soul-bonded to three of the most powerful magicals in existence right now?” He frowned as my words sank in. “I am theonly incubus left. Vane is an extremely powerful storm mage, more powerful than his father, although Tiberius doesn’t want anyone to know that. And you, care bear, are one of the strongest shifters, I’d wager.”
The bear folded his arms and stared at me in surprise, not disagreeing with my assessment of his strength.
“How do you know about Vane?”
I winked but remained silent. He might be the witch’s soul-bonded mate too, but I didn’t trust him yet.
“I have my ways. So are you the strongest shifter?”
He shrugged. “Possibly. Who knows? I’m stronger than my father, for sure. The largest bear of my generation aside from my cousin, but he’s missing. There could still be dragon shifters out there, though. Nobody knows.”
“Doubtful.” I contemplated telling him about the fourth mate. Was it worth provoking another jealous hissy fit? Why yes, it was.
“She might also have a bond with the merman.”
The bear’s jaw dropped in surprise. “What the fuck?”
“Yeah. I’m not certain of that, but he’s definitely drawn to her, and vice versa.”
