Elora snorted.“Never once.”
Cassie wiped her eyes with the back of her hand.Damn pregnancy emotions, she mentally huffed as she looked at her friend feeling a tad guilty that she hadn’t told her yet.Pushing that worry aside for the moment she took a deep breath and said, “We can do this.We’ve faced some pretty crappy situations since meeting our Chosen.”
“We have.And you’re my ride or die,” Elora said, bumping her shoulder lightly against Cassie’s.“Preferably ride.”
Cassie took a shaky breath.“I need something to do.A way to help.If I stay here and feel him hurting and keep doing nothing, I’ll lose my mind.”
Elora nodded.“Then we go.We find Oakley, Syndra, and Tamsin.We find this Chamber, and we figure out what the hell is happening before the men in our lives implode, or find us and forget they’d rather make love than war.”
Cassie’s pulse steadied for the first time all day.Purpose slid into the hollowness like sunlight cracking through storm clouds.
“Let’s pack,” she said.
Elora’s answering grin was sharp.“I’ll meet you at the edge of the gardens in ten.”
As Elora sprinted off toward her rooms, Cassie placed a trembling hand over her heart.
The bond pulsed again—pained, longing, furious.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered to the mate who wasn’t listening.“But I can’t stay and break with you.”
She turned toward the forest.
“And I won’t let this realm break, either.”
CHAPTER6
“If it gets your attention,” he said, “I’ll flirt with anything.”~ Rezer
The bell over the shop door jingled as the last customer slipped out, leaving the scent of old paper and candle smoke behind.Lisa flipped the sign to Closed, rubbing the back of her neck.The day had been long—too many tourists, too many questions she didn’t want to answer, and not enough coffee.
She was halfway through sweeping when she felt him before she saw him.
A prickle at the base of her spine.A shift in the air.The faintest trace of dark-elf magic—spice, smoke, and secrets.Lisa knew that kind of magic well.And the reminder of it caused her heart to squeeze just a tad, though not nearly as badly as it had once upon a time.
“Tell me you didn’t break in,” she said without turning.She knew he hadn’t because she realized she’d not flipped the lock on the door when she’d changed the sign.Smart Lisa,she mentally scolded.
Rezer’s voice slid across the room, lazy and amused.“Please.If I broke in, you wouldn’t have heard me.”
She rolled her eyes and turned to face him.He lounged just inside the door like he owned the place, coat open, hands in his pockets, looking entirely too pleased with himself.His dark hair fell around his face in that artful, arrogant way only elves pulled off without trying.Rezer was either using glamour to look human, or he kept his hair much shorter than most elves.Either way, he looked ridiculously tempting.
“You know,” she said, “most stalkers try to be discreet."
He lifted a brow.“I’m not most anything.I assure you, I’m quite unique as a stalker or otherwise.”
She snorted.“Humble, too.”
His head tilted slightly, his eyes narrowing.“Humble is overrated”
She snorted.“Well, apparently so is sanity because I keep letting you stay, which suggests questionable judgment.”
He smiled, slow and wicked.“Or excellent taste.”
Heat crept up her neck.Traitorous skin.
“You’re insufferable,” she muttered.
“And yet,” he said, glancing pointedly at the broom in her hand, “you’re still talking to me.That’s practically affection.”
