“Belong?” Sylvie roared, pushing to her feet. “Jack, stop it.”
Thor looked between us, the shivers becoming uncontrollable now, his lips turning sapphire. “I—I didn’t know.”
“Jack,” Sylvie shouted again, her hand slipping over my bicep this time.
The reaction was immediate. My blood usually ran cold. Ibreathedthe cold as I always had. The moment Sylvie touched me, though, a swirling warmth pooled in my stomach and chest—a comforting heat that didn’t make me sweat or feel like my insides were melting. Itthawedme. Sylvie’s lips parted, her wings fluttering faster now, and she stared at the spot where our skin made contact. When she pulled away, still gazing at her hand, the chill washed over me again, and I doused my power, letting it seep through the cracks of the building and out the door.
“Sylvie,” I whispered, a snowball-sized knot forming in my throat, making it hard to speak. “We need to talk.”
A tortured wrinkle formed in Sylvie’s forehead, and she shook her head. “Talk? After that caveman display I just witnessed?”
Thor let out a relieved breath, his grip loosening on the table. He had the good sense to keep his mouth shut.
“You don’t understand. That’s preciselywhyI need to talk to you.”
I was seconds away from losing her; I could hear it in her tone and see it in the steely glare she gave me. I’d been searching for so, so long, and I couldn’t afford the luxury of my ego.
“Please,” I croaked, an unintended plea dancing in my gaze.
Sylvie searched my face, surveying my posture before sighing. “We can talk in the bakery.”
The uncomfortable feeling of the heat I’d associated with the bakery now had me kneading my arm with my thumb. “Anywhere but the bakery.”
“What’s wrong with the bakery?” Sylvie arched a brow and frowned as if insulted by my request.
This was not how I envisioned this unavoidable conversation going.
“The heat. I—” Rubbing the back of my neck from the vulnerable itch clawing at my throat, I locked my eyes with hers. “—I can’tstandit.”
Sylvie gave a weak grin, a pitying expression that struck an ache in my skull. “The ovens aren’t on, Jack.”
“What in Styx happened in here?” Dagnar asked, entering his café where snow still littered the floorboards and the fire no longer warmed the space.
Ashamed, another first for me in eons, I tightened my jaw and used my magic to summon the snow, absorbing it into my skin. “Apologies. I have no way of relighting the fire, but?—”
“It’s fine. Nothing a torch can’t handle. I wouldn’t live in Arcane Cove if I never expected weird and supernatural things to occur.” Dagnar chuckled and moved past us as if nothing had happened.
This place was so strange. I couldn’t wrap my head around it, let alone its inhabitants.
“Come on, Jack,” Sylvie beckoned, standing at the open door. She glanced at Thor with a sympathetic smile; and that same rage sent a blinding blizzard through my veins.
Growling, I stormed for the door before impulses overtook all sensibility, and I followed Sylvie to the bakery.
No sooner had we entered than she pulled down the blinds and whirled on her heels to face me with sternly crossed arms.“What the hell was that, Jack? I’m allowed to have coffee with someone, especially when you and I are nothing to each other. We’re not even friends.”
Grimacing at her words, I propped myself on the counter for purchase. “That’s where you’re wrong, faerie.”
“Oh? Do enlighten me, Mr. Frost.”
I drummed my fingers before casting my gaze on her. “We’remates.”
Sylvie’s eyes blinked, her wings fanning in and out. “Mates? That’s not possible.” She pressed a hand to her forehead and rubbed the tip of one ear.
I couldn’t have been sure what her reaction would be, but relaying my exact words from the first day we met threw me off guard. “I thought that at first, too, but why doyouthink that?”
“They told me I could never be someone’s mate,” Sylvie whispered, her eyes glazing over.
The hurt in her voice had my gut churning, and a sudden compulsion to pulverize whoever put that asinine thought in her head overwhelmed me. “Who told you that?”
