“Not his mate? Can you clarify—”
“That’s all.”
I turned around, ignoring the next round of sputtered, desperate questions as I headed back towards the house, where my mate was waiting for me.
51
The Spare
Sage
The door clicked softly behind Ronan, but didn’t lock, and I immediately seized on the moment to snoop.
Ronan had stalked me when I had been his bounty, and I really wanted to see the look on his face when I threw out some random fact about his life he’d never told me before.
Time to see how he liked it.
I smiled to myself. He’d probably love it.
The room was a reflection of a much younger Ronan, before he’d had the chance to really find himself.
Shelves held neat little ornaments, a sword that danced the delicate line between deadly and ornamental, while posters and trophies lined the walls, shouting “look at me” from a younger version of him I didn’t think had ever existed.
It wasn’t fancy, exactly—just… him. A mix of careful control and scattered chaos, of glimpses of softness peeking through heavy expectations.
I walked around and grinned, thinking of all the ways to tease him, when a sweet, floral perfume hit my nose. I whipped my head around, finding someone who could only be Ronan’s sister leaning against the doorway, arms crossed and grinning broadly. She wore a leather jacket over a silk slip dress, motorcycle boots clunky on her feet.
“Welcome to the family, sis,” she said.
An omega, but her aura reminded more of a carnivorous flower than the lilies she smelled like. Pretty enough to draw you in, deadly enough to take you out.
“You must be Maia. It’s so nice to finally meet you.” I extended my hand, but she stomped towards me, pulling me into a tight hug.
“We’re not a hugging family,” she said, “But you know how omegas are. It’ll be nice to have an outlet for all the physical affection I’ve been bottling up over the years.”
I laughed, hugging her back. “Yeah, the alpha pheromones in this house are something else. It’s even worse than my business classes were.”
She pulled back. “That’s right, Ronan told me you went to business school. And you createdKaldrin! Awesome app, by the way. I ordered the most amazing under-eye cream from a local witch on there the other day, and it totally erased the puffy bags I’ve been sporting.”
Taking my hand, she led me to the bed so we could sit. “I don’t think Ronan ever brought a girlfriend home before, so you’ll have to excuse me if I’m not any good at this. Would you rather hear embarrassing stories of his childhood, get the lowdown on the family as a whole, or talk about what comes next?”
I pulled my legs up, angling my body so I could face her. “Oh, embarrassing stories, for sure.”
Her eyes lit up and she grinned again. “You are too fucking cute. Okay, wanna hear about the time he accidentally set the teahouse outside on fire?”
Without waiting for a response, she launched into a very detailed, hilarious account of Ronan’s misadventures in learning how to control his fire magic when he appeared at the door, a low, half-hearted growl coming from his chest.
“I should have known I’d find you in here. What lies have you been telling her?”
“Lies?” she asked, her tone mocking. “Me? Why, I’ve never told a single lie in my pure, innocent life!”
“Out,” he said, pointing towards the door.
Maia gave me another hug. “We’ll talk more later,” she whispered loudly enough for Ronan to hear.
Then she got up and stopped by him on her way out, whispering something else in his ear, only this was supposed to be a secret. I watched as his eyes widened for a fraction of a second before narrowing, and he nodded wordlessly, closing the door behind her.
“Everything okay?”
