Luc’s gaze rose, finding Dante’s arms crossed over his bare chest and his eyes blazing with black fire.
“Why did you try to kill Ollie and Harper?”
Luc shook his head. “Dex is right. There is no excuse.”
A growl ripped from Dante’s throat, and Ash and Onyx closed in around him, Nico at Onyx’s elbow. It seemed Harper had left with Dex and Ollie.
“So it was mindless violence?” Dante snarled.
Luc’s fire sparked. “Why are you so desperate for me to justify myself? You think I have a reason that will satisfy you? No answer is acceptable, and I won’t pretend otherwise.”
“Stop twisting your words so that we can’t argue with you.” Ash’s eyes flamed orange. “What about our truce? We agreed to move forward if you stayed away. You expect us to believe you didn’t know Dex was connected to Ollie? Please. The two of them are like family.”
Dante rumbled in agreement. “The truce is off.”
“I swear I didn’t know.” Luc rose to his feet, wings twitching in growing agitation. “This wasn’t a move against you or Ollie. I was leaving town, but I couldn’t seem to get this coffee shop out of my head. I saw Dex there, and I knew.”
Onyx stepped closer. “Knew what?”
“Dex is my mate.”
Stunned silence fell over the group. No one seemed to move a muscle.
Saying it out loud seemed to solidify it. A pain far greater than when he’d realized he would have to let Dex go lancedthrough Luc. He’d still let his mate go, but he hadn’t wanted it to be like this. He wanted the chance to love Dex, and he’d never get it.
“Bullshit.” Dante’s voice shattered the calm.
Luc’s internal fire raged, hollowing him out as pain consumed him. “It’s not bullshit. Dex is my fated mate. I felt it before I even saw him. I was drawn to the ceramic mugs he makes and sells at Seaside Coffee, as if the art holds a piece of his essence. I was mooning over a handcrafted cup the day I saw Dex for the first time.”
“So you say.” Dante sounded impossibly more enraged. Fuck, this was a lost cause.
Why would they believe Luc when he had initially doubted their claims of finding their mates? Violently so.
Ash grabbed Dante’s arm. “Wait. It makes sense.”
“Excuse me?” Onyx gasped as Dante shouted, “What the fuck?”
Ash didn’t back down. “I wondered if Dex was another mate, remember?”
Onyx snorted. “Yeah, mine, and you were totally wrong.”
“Clearly.” Ash’s glaze flicked to Nico, his flames snuffing out. “But I was right about the mates being connected. Harper brought Nico into the group, same as he brought Ollie. There had to be magic helping him find good people when he was in need. There must be a fated connection between us all.”
“But Luc isn’t one of us.” Dante’s words cut Luc’s heart open, even though he was already painfully aware they were no longer family.
Ash’s gaze sharpened in Luc’s direction. “He was our brother for a long time. Longer than he’s been our enemy.”
“So?” Dante sneered.
“So, there’s a connection among us, and the connectionbetween Harper, Ollie, Nico, and Dex feels as meant to be as each of us mating them.”
Luc’s heart skipped. Ash believed him?
Nico shook his head. “Itfeelsmeant to be, but that doesn’t mean it is. Concocting an explanation isn’t proof. Dante is right. Luc isn’t part of your group anymore. And you’ve been wrong about Dex before. Don’t be so quick to believe because it sounds good. Lucifer has been hunting you all summer and broke the truce he supposedly wanted so fast that it seems to have been a ploy all along.”
“It wasn’t a ploy.” Luc tamped his anger down. He couldn’t let rage rule him. It was part of what got him into this mess. He took a breath. “I was never hunting anyone down.”
“Bullshit.” Dante threw up his hands. “Everything you say is crap. Do you think we’re stupid?”
