"I was fine. I’m always fine."
"Her feet are bleeding," Larson called from the hot tub. "She said they do that now."
I reallywasgoing to kill him.
He would deserve it.
Niall set me on the ledge of the pool and hauled himself out. His light gray t-shirt clung to him like a second skin thanks to the water, and I tried not to stare at his muscles.
Mostly failed.
"Why isn’t yourmatehere to make sure you don’t accidentally drown?" Niall asked, already walking toward the towels that had been hanging on that hook for at least two years, next to my bikini.
I hadn’t gone swimming since we broke up. We’d done it together a lot, and the memories were… well, I couldn’t handle them.
"They haven’t made a bargain," Larson said.
Dead. He was fucking dead.
"I noticed."
My face flushed.
Niall had basically just admitted to checking me out in the few minutes he’d been in the room. Looking for a mark was the only way to know if someone had made a bargain.
He tugged his soaked shirt over his head and tossed it on a hook to dry.
His pants went with it.
I hoped he’d ditch the boxer-briefs too, but alas, I couldn’t bethatlucky.
He glanced over at me while he dried off. "Where is he?"
I realized he was talking to me, and blinked.
My mate.
He was asking about my mate.
Jonah.
Just like that, my mood went dark. "It’s complicated."
"Everything is, with fae."
He wasn’t wrong.
"How do you know he’s your mate without a bargain?" Niall asked. "You told me that's the only way to know. I asked. Repeatedly."
I ignored him.
Larson didn’t. "She says her magic affects him differently than it affects everyone else."
"How does it affect him?"
"She didn’t clarify."
I eased my feet out of the water, fighting to keep my expression even as I took in the gnarly soles.
