“His emotions?” Dahlia echoes, her eyes darting to Xaze and then back to me. “That’s not part of it. You should feel a little tug if he gets too far away from you, but other than that, it shouldn’t be something you notice.”
Xaze shakes his head. “No, Tino is right, I can feel his too. You must have done it wrong.” He flips his hair while Dahlia just shakes her head.
“I didn’t do it wrong.”
My dragon stirs, and the weight of everyone’s attention on the whole exchange starts to make my skin itch with annoyance. “Fine, whatever. I think you should remove it anyway. Ifsomething happens and Xaze needs to make a quick escape, I want him to be able to do it.”
“Xaze?” I hear Arson whisper to Dray.
I ignore my obnoxious brother, gritting my teeth and plowing on rather than acknowledging the implied barb. “He’s not going to sell us out to Maggard or anyone else.”
Xaze makes a surprised noise and hooks his pinky finger around mine. The move is barely noticeable to anyone else in the room, with our hands resting on the cushion between us, nearly out of sight, but the small amount of contact spikes my body temperature and calms something deep inside me.
“How can you be so sure? Maybe he’ll hand us over to save his own skin,” Nico suggests, and a loud growl tears from my throat, startling the human mates but leaving the others unfazed.
“He won’t.” I pull my dragon back before he can get the best of me like the last time. Taking a deep breath, I glance over at my demon, feeling a purr of contentment as soon as my eyes land on him. “I trust him.”
Xaze’s eyes go wide and he gasps audibly, his finger twitching against mine and his heartbeat skyrocketing.
“You do?” he whispers.
I swallow hard. I hadn’t meant to say it out loud, especially not in a room surrounded by my family. Maybe I’m being a complete fucking idiot. After all, it was little more than twenty-four hours ago that I would have been in complete agreement with Nico, but now…
“I do,” I answer.
Dempsey squeals again. “Can’t we tell them?” he attempts to whisper to Hem, but he barely manages to keep himself quiet enough to hide his words from another human, let alone a room full of dragons.
“Tell us what?” Xaze and I ask at the same time, both of us looking over at Dempsey.
He goes into full deer-in-the-headlights mode, blushing and stuttering.
“Well… I… I mean,we… The thing is…”
“For the love of Taylor Swift,” Lake sighs, rolling his eyes. “You two are fated mates.”
I try to scoff, but the sound gets caught in my throat, lost on a loud, vibrating purr from my dragon that starts low in my chest and works its way up until it’s a full body hum.
“That’s…” Xaze shakes his head, opening and closing his mouth without managing to come up with any solid words of protest.
“Did you feel an inexplicable draw to each other the minute you met?” Draydon asks, a knowing smirk twisting on his lips.
“Obviously,” I mutter. “He’s an incubus, that’s part of his wholething.” I wave at Xaze with my free hand, my other one now solidly linked with his, our fingers intertwined even though I can’t quite remember doing it.
“My pheromones did kind of go into overdrive though,” he says quietly.
My fingers spasm around his. “You think they’re right?” I rasp. My chest feels like it’s on the verge of opening up into a giant cavern. Half of me wants him to deny all of this, and the other half is desperate for him to tell me that they’re right, that we are meant for each other.
He shakes his head subtly and licks his lips. “I don’t know.”
MONTROSE
Valentino’s eyesflicker into their dragon shape for a split second, and his nostrils flare. Was that the wrong answer? Didhe want me to agree with them? I’m not sure I believed demons evenhavefated mates until now. A hot, desperate feeling swells inside of me, urging me to get closer to Valentino, but I ignore it and turn my attention back to everyone else.
“I think Valentino and I should be the ones to go with Mac to Switzerland. I know better how Maggard works, and if Dahlia lifts the bond, I’ll be able to pop us all to safety if anything happens,” I say.
There’s a beat of silence before a murmur of agreement ripples through the group.
“Can you just pop me to my hoard then?” Mac asks.
