In a way that would make sense. The way my mother lived her life wasn’t exactly conducive to producing plenty of pups. I was herlittle accident, one that she was more than happy to shove out of the nest as early as she could. For all she knows, I wound up as soup in a sorcerer’s ritual years ago.
It’s not how I’d want to bring up any pups of my own, although I’ve never been in a position to think much about it.
It’s still not something that’s on my horizon, despite suddenly having two males magically bonded to me.
One’s a total stranger I have a million questions for, who also looks like he might pass out at any moment. And the other is Kit, my friend and sometimes colleague. I’ve known him for a couple of years, and while I found him attractive, I never let myself think of us as anything more than friends.
Now things have turned on their head, it’s going to take me a minute to adjust.
I reach out to tug the book in Kit’s hands closer so I can glean something... anything, really, about mate bonds. Kit keeps his hand on it, smirking at me when it goes nowhere.
“To answer your question—” He glances up at Frannie for just a moment before returning his focus to me. “I can feel Reva’s heart banging away inside my chest, so I’m pretty sure you’re stuck with me, sweetheart.”
Chapter 5
Kit
Ican’t say I expected my day to start with a visit from my favourite little smuggler. But I also can’t complain. Life with Reva around is never boring.
“Does it say anything about how the bond forms?” Reva asks, pushing her mane of hair behind her shoulder and leaning closer.
I fight the urge to shift slightly and sniff her. I’m human... mostly, a cursed human, but human all the same. And while I might not have an animal inside me, unlike my brother and his crew, as soon as I touched her skin, something started pulsing inside me. It’s pushing some strange and unfamiliar urges to the surface.
“You’re taking this very well,” Reva says.
“I am, aren’t I?” I reply blithely.
If you’d asked me yesterday how I’d feel about having a sudden mate bond thrust upon me, I’d have laughed incredulously and asked what you’d been smoking.
But right now, I feel strangely giddy at the concept. Perhaps that’s my body reacting to the appearance of a second heartbeat, and all the wild sensations shooting through me. Mostly though, I think my current giddiness is thanks to the person at the other end of this bond, tethering us together.
Reva.
She’s been a rainbow that appeared in my life a couple of years ago and pops up at irregular points, brightening up my day every time.
I have something of an obsession with getting to know people, and Reva has been a tough nut to crack. She’s someone with walls that are almost impossibly high to scale, but somehow over the years I climbed inch by inch. Every little piece of information I’ve gleaned about her has felt like a little gift, and when I discovered she’s got a very sweet centre behind those walls, it felt like a victory.
For years now, she’s been coming to me with goods that she’s not certain of, either because they might need my cursebreaking skills or because she hasn’t got the right buyer lined up. Whatever reason she uses to come by, I always manage to persuade her to stay longer than she expects. More often than not, she agrees to stay in the back room of my shop so I can spend all my time between customers chatting her up.
I’ve been soft on her for a while now.
I briefly wonder how Finch is going to react to my new status. I suppose we’re not technically mated just yet. At least, not according to the book Reva’s still trying to pry from my grasp.
Reva puts a little more of her strength into taking the book from me, and it slips from my grasp instantly. She gives me a dirty smirk that has me regretting not putting more clothes on when they first arrived. If she gives me that look again, we’ll be in serious danger of my cock popping out to say hello.
“I think that might have to wait,” Frannie says, and my heart stops at the horrible thought I might have just spoken my thoughts aloud. “The research, I mean,” she clarifies. “Your man here looks like he’s not been fed in a while and he looks fit to keel over.”
Frannie’s clearly an observant one, although I’ve only met her a couple of times when I’ve popped over to return the visit to their cottage.
In unison, Reva and I both turn to look at the silent stranger. Aster, also known as my new brother... or possibly my fellow mate. His skin is bone white, and when he lifts his hand, I can see he’s shaking like a leaf.
Reva rubs at her chest, murmuring something to him in Valmorian. Another thing I’ll need to start reading up on if I’m going to be a good mate-by-proxy.
“His heart is pounding,” Reva says softly. “Do you have anything to eat?”
We both leap into action at the same time, almost smacking our heads together with our eagerness. I snort and grab her shoulders, steering her toward the pantry while I head for the bread bin. Frannie watches with an amused expression before jumping into the fray. My kitchen isn’t exactly large and between the three of us, we quickly become a mess of movement and limbs.
“We need to get him some clothes too,” Reva mutters as she piles enough food to feed an army onto the wooden counter. “He’s soaked through. Must be freezing.”
