“I care about you. Very, very much. I’m not sure what the future holds, but right now, I hope you’re in it with me.”
He let out a slow breath. “Me too, Evie. Me too.”
Chapter
Seven
ROWAN
Iwas good for nothing in the back-to-back online meetings I had. Visions of Evie sliding down my body and putting her mouth on me haunted my thoughts so much that Soren snapped at me.
“Rowan! Godsdamn man. Are you alright?”
Ethan smirked at me through the computer screen, though he stayed silent. Caelan’s black look almost made me laugh.
Thorvin kept his face blank, but even stoic Ben seemed annoyed.
“I’m fine,” I snapped, annoyed that I had to leave Evie to deal with political bullshit. Again. “Momentarily distracted, that’s all. What were you saying?”
Soren’s lips twitched. “We need to hold another in-person meeting, this time away from Caelan’s territory. Ben’s territory is available.”
We met in the same place ninety percent of the time. Soren was making an unusual request. “Why not Caelan’s?”
Ethan’s amused expression faded. “There are concerns of dark magic workings swirling around his territory. Caelan will not attend this one.” His lips twisted. “An anonymous source sent a message to my assistant.”
Caelan’s teeth pulled away from his lips in a snarl. “I’m sitting right here, you assholes.”
Ethan’s fingers tapped on his desk. “Then perhaps you should heed our concerns and allow the Floromancer to help you.”
Caelan’s furious gaze. “Just like Evie helped Rowan this morning?” His mocking tone made the other Lords tense. We were behind computer screens, none of us in the same room, but I still wanted to rip his throat out just the same. Bears and wolves didn’t get along in the wild for one main reason. We were both predators. At best, we coexisted.
Caelan and I had once been good friends. I mourned for that part of our shared past, even knowing we’d never get those days back. He treated someone I loved horribly, forcing me to stand back and watch. While I never directly intervened, I tried to steer him on the right path with her, even knowing she and I might have something if allowed to explore things.
After this morning, it was all but a certainty we were meant for each other. With the revelation of the fae bond…I found myself, for lack of a better word, gobsmacked, I’d been so fucking blessed.
I refused to let him get under my skin. Instead, I allowed a slow, satisfied smile to curve my lips up.
Soren choked on a laugh. “Gods, man. Are you itching for a fight?”
I ignored him and focused on Caelan. “She did help me. Repeatedly.” The sounds of her ragged breath and low moans, and the way her back arched when she took her pleasure…gods. I wanted to stalk outside, throw her over my shoulder, and do it again and again and again, until she was sated and weak.
Ethan closed his eyes. Ben scrubbed a hand over his face and sighed.
“You should see my land, Caelan.” I closed my eyes and inhaled. “It’s stunning. When she’s happy, everything around her blossoms. My shifters, my personal lands, my entire territory.” I opened my eyes and let a little gold flow in. “Me.”
Claws slipped from Caelan’s fingers. He moved them off the desk into his lap, but he couldn’t hide the gold rising in his eyes. Satisfaction and loathing warred within me. Caelan would come for me one day.
I would be ready.
Ethan cleared his throat, a warning look in his eyes. “We’ll meet four days from now. Evie is due on Thorvin’s land soon. Once the results of that experiment are apparent, we’ll discuss what comes next. Caelan, you are always welcome to attend our meetings, provided you are free of anyextrainfluence.”
Caelan turned his attention to Ethan. “You might be taken in by the Floromancer’s supposedly gentle nature, but she is the fae queen. Her people have been trying to exert their influence on our lands for years now, and even if she’s not complicit, they are using her to steal our territory right out from under our noses. Mark my words. She will be our downfall.” His golden gaze met mine. “You are the most vulnerable. Allowing her to claim a large part of your territory leaves you vulnerable. She can rip it right out from under you and what would you do?”
I studied him, noting the slump in his posture and the exhaustion etching lines around his eyes. Even through a screen, I could see Caelan was having a difficult time. “She could do that to any of us at any time, or have you forgotten Donovan and the subsequent lesson she taught Dario when he tried to usurp her rightfully claimed territory? If you think that way, then none of us is safe.”
“Then you welcome our floral overlords?” Ethan asked dryly.
Soren barked a laugh.
