"I know this wasn't what you expected," I said. "And, to be honest, the guy's a douche."
At least that made Quinn smile.
"But maybe we can try a different angle," I suggested. "If straight up begging doesn't work, there's always other options. Shit, maybe he needs a couple of moving guys to get him new furniture instead of the crap he has, I don't know."
Quinn laughed weakly. "Yeah. Thanks, Farley."
Tears still glistened in the corner of his eyes so I wiped them away. Fuck, I couldn't believe I was so tender over a damned alpha. What was happening to me?
Quinn's tiny smile brightened my mood. If he was willing to try, then so was I.
"Come on," I said, taking his hand. It was warm and softer than my own. I'd always thought of alphas as rough and callous, but Quinn was the opposite in every way.
We returned to Mistral, who was openly yawning. He clearly had no issue being rude to our faces. How he managed to act like more of a dick than a guy who was literally amalicious spiritwas beyond me.
"Okay," I said. "What do you want?"
Mistral frowned. "Excuse me?"
"Money? Labor? Want us to dance around like monkeys?"
Narrowing his eyes suspiciously, Mistral glanced between me and Quinn. He went silent for a moment as he mulled it over.
"You two," he finally said. "Are you just friends or what?"
Heat rose in my cheeks. I wanted to snap that it was none of his fucking business but I was trying to make a deal here and needed to behave. "We're—"
"We're fated mates," Quinn said.
The warmth in my face turned into an inferno. I coughed and wiped my face, trying to hide my blush.
"Fated?" Mistral parroted, his eyes going wide. Something about the phrase activated him. He bounced on his bird-like feet and mumbled incoherently to himself.
Ignoring him, I turned to Quinn. He shot me a sheepish grin and whispered, "Sorry. Thought it would help."
I didn't mind. Not at all. My surprise came from hearing it spoken out loud so genuinely.
And the fact that I liked it.
Fated mates, huh?
Maybe it wasn't such a load of bullshit after all. Being around Quinn made me feel warm and good, as stupidly gushy as that sounded. I'd smiled more in the past couple days than for the last two years combined. Quinn was slowly melting the ice around my heart.
Suddenly Mistral grabbed both of our hands. "Fated. You said you're fated, right? I should've known by the gag-worthy way you look at each other."
Both of us raised an eyebrow but we didn't interrupt.
"Fine," Mistral said. "If the debacle with Nautilus taught me anything, it's that you lovey-dovey mortalsareactually good for something."
I wondered if Mistral was actually going somewhere with this or if he was just talking out his ass. I wanted to pluck his feathers if he didn't get to the point about helping Quinn soon.
"You two," Mistral said. "If you get Animus off my back for good, then I'll do it. Give the fox wings or whatever."
Quinn perked up. "Wait, seriously?"
I was glad to hear it, obviously, but I couldn't share Quinn's unbridled enthusiasm because I knew there was a catch. Unlike him, I'd met Animus. He was dangerous.
"And how do you suppose we do that?" I asked gruffly.
