"People only say that when they know they've offended someone," Kat put in.
"I'm not offended," I said with a grin, taking Merrily's water bottle and replacing the cap when I noticed her hand shaking a little.
"I am. Terribly offended," Niall drawled, as he tugged Liv to his chest.
She gave him a sugary smile. "I'll kiss you better."
He snorted.
"I'm starving," Darius announced. "Midnight pancakes, anyone?"
Merrily's stomach growled as if on cue. "God, yes. We're always in for pancakes."
The others agreed, and we loaded back into Callum's car, driving to a twenty-four-hour diner nearby.
The place was pretty muchempty when we got there, but we all filed into one booth that barely fit us. Merrily was trapped between me and the wall, because of what her magic would do to anyone else in my seat.
"Alright," Liv declared. "Now that we've gotten our revenge, we need a way to find Dare's fated mate. Brainstorming time."
"If there was an easy way to find them, we would've used it long ago," Dare pointed out.
"We know more about fated mates than we used to, though." Liv grabbed a napkin. "Anyone have a pen?" She looked around the table.
No one had a pen.
A waiter came by to take our order, and he handed over an extra pen with a smile. Niall pulled Liv onto his lap, and she seemed unfazed by the possessiveness.
"Alright. What do we know? Go," she ordered.
"A fae’s soulmate will usually be obsessed with them," Kat offered. "They might not act on it, but the obsession is there. Right?" She looked at Niall and me.
We both nodded.
Liv scribbled it down. "That’s true for fae too, even though Mer proved we can ignore it."
Merrily’s face reddened, her fingertips pressing into the table just a little.
I took a page from Niall’s book and pulled her onto my lap. The tops of her thighs held us both in place pretty tightly, but our arms touched enough to keep her magic at bay.
"Don’t be embarrassed,"I said into her mind."I didn’t do anything about the obsession, and you thought the space was necessary until a few months ago. We’re together now. That’s what matters."
"Thanks."
I put my hands over hers, slipping my fingers between hers from above as her palms rested on the table.
"Our magic affects our mates differently," Callum said. "Though not necessarily the way we expect it to. We can’t reliably find them that way."
"Clearly," Niall drawled.
Liv rolled her eyes at him, but wrote it down on the napkin anyway.
"What does Mer’s magic feel like to you?" Kat asked me, her gaze curious.
"I don’t think she’s ever used it on me on purpose," I said.
"I haven’t," she agreed. "It hasn’t ever drained him, though. It leaks out a little all the time, so that’s definite."
"You don’t feel anything when she’s in your arms?" Callum asked.
