He grinned and shook his head. “Amazing.”
“I made a deal, and I intend to keep it, so we’d better eat before night falls.”
His head bobbed. “Yeah, yes.”
We started walking down the stairs again, but he stopped suddenly and slid a glance at me. Already, I could see heat crawling up his neck. “Did you… did you call me a good boy?”
A laugh popped out of me, and I slapped my hand over my mouth to cover it. It was completely naturalto do so with his wolf, but now that it was a gorgeous man asking me that, I couldn’t help but feel a little ridiculous about it. “I wasn’t sure if you heard that, but yeah… sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry.” Rudy covered his face with his hands. He took a breath and peeked out between his fingers. “I think, actually… I like it. It’s nice to hear.”
With a smile on my face, I grabbed his hands away from his face and spoke into his mind. “Don’t worry, it’ll be our little secret.”
Rudy gave me a sheepish smile, but I could feel the burst of joy inside him. Fuck, I loved this man. I pushed up on my toes and gave a quick kiss, not willing to deter our date any longer.
When we made it to the dining hall at last, the families and individuals that were already seated all seemed to stop and stare when we entered hand-in-hand. Sure, our size difference was probably a sight to see, but I didn’t expect this kind of reaction. Rudy’s hand tightened around mine, and he squared his shoulders. It was then I noticed it wasn’t reallyusthey were looking at, but me. More specifically, my neck.
It took everything in me not to cover the marks on my neck. Why should I? I wasn’t ashamed of them. The opposite. They made me damn proud. I squeezed Rudy’s hand in return. The host greeted us, their eyes dancing between us, and showed us to a table. The rest of the dining hall tried to return to their ownconversations and meals, though I could feel eyes watching me. Maybe things weren’t so different here from the real world.
“Ignore them. It’s just us.” I pushed the thought into Rudy’s mind and gave him a smile as he sat across from me.
“Okay.”
Footsteps sounded from behind me, and I heard a familiar voice. “Hey, Wolfie.”
I tried not to roll my eyes. Okay, it was just usandZephyr, apparently. When he came to the side of our table, he met me with a smile, but his eyes rounded, and his smile fell when he saw the four bruises on my neck.
“Oh, shit! Wolfie, what did you do?” Zephyr asked in a hushed tone.
After realizing the moon paper must have been intentional, I was already feeling defensive. Even more so now. I wasn’t going to let anyone, not even Rudy’s friend, make him regret what happened between us.
Lifting my chin, I narrowed my eyes at his best friend. “Nothing I didn’t ask him to do.”
Zephyr grabbed a chair from an empty table and pulled it to ours. Sitting down, he leaned in close. “I’m not sure you understand what this means to him.”
A surge of protectiveness rushed through me, and I couldn’t figure out if it was from Rudy or me, but the mix of dread I felt was definitely his, and I wouldn’t have it. I held my hand across the table,and Rudy hesitated before taking it. I kept my gaze locked on his and spoke carefully.
“It means I’m his mate.”
Rudy’s eyes blew wide at the same time the warmth of his pride filled my entire being. “How… how did you know?”
Rubbing my thumb over the back of his hand, I said, “Your wolf told me.”
A hint of pink colored the edges of his eyes, letting me see them both, feeling both of them. Feeling the love and admiration that grew in my chest. “Our mate.” I heard their voices blended together in my mind, and I grinned widely.
A loud clap broke our attention, and Zephyr let out a laugh. “Well, I guess that’s settled. Congrats to you both. Dinner and dessert are on me.”
I shook my head and chuckled. “That’s so generous of you, considering food is covered by the inn, but thanks.”
Zephyr stood and gave a slight bow. “I live to serve.”
He started to walk away when I remembered the crumpled paper in my bag. “Wait!”
The griffin turned back around and arched a brow with a smirk on his face. “Yes? Out of lube already?”
Rudy let out a growl and muttered, “Dick.”
With a roll of my eyes, I tossed the crumpled paper at him. “You wouldn’t know anything about that, would you?”
