I pulled back to stare at him, no fucking clue how to respond. “In what way?” I finally managed, my imagination running wild with what he could possibly mean.
Axel grinned. “Don’t get too excited. I said that mainly to snap you out of whatever it was that put that tortured look on your face.”
“Oh.” I felt oddly disappointed at that, and Axel laughed again.
“I wasn’t lying though. It is different.”
I narrowed my eyes, instinctively pulling him close and turning us as someone I didn’t much like the look of stepped up behind him.
Axel snorted. “I can look after myself, you know. You don’t need to protect me.”
“Oh, I know you can.” Axel might be a slighter built than me, but I had no doubt he was a match for anyone in here. “Humour me, though.” As my friend and someone I trusted, I couldn’t help but feel protective towards him. Even when he meddled in things that didn’t concern him.
The irony was, with the state of my magic, he’d probably end up protecting me if it ever came down to it. Not something I wanted to dwell on.
“Tell me more about this sex thing. How is it different with a fae?” I frowned down at him. “We’ve had sex, and while it was fantastic, it didn’t seem all that different.” Sex with Axel was probably the best I’d ever had if I was honest, but I wasn’t about to tell him that. He’d never let me hear the end of it.
He smiled that filthy smile that had men and women dropping at his feet. “You say the sweetest things.”
I laughed and pinched his side. “Tell me.” Although I really didn’t need any more reasons to find Dathal appealing.
“Maybe I should leave that to Dathal. He could show you.” He let that sink in, and I rolled my eyes.
“I think Dathal’s made it quite clear that he’s not interested in me anymore.”
Axel glanced over my shoulder, then quickly back at me. “What makes you say that?”
“Well, he’s not here, is he?” I shrugged, trying not to let it get to me. It was probably for the best.
“Do you want him to be?” Axel pinned me with his gaze, all signs of teasing absent.
“I—” My knee-jerk reaction was a definiteno. But Axel wasn’t asking to be nosy or to offer me any advice. His grip on me tightened because he was asking me to be honest both as my friend and Dathal’s family.
My answermattered, and I blew out a breath, closing my eyes for a moment as I dug deep for an answer. I didn’t have to look too far. Fae magic or not, I had no idea, but Dathal had bewitched me from the moment I’d laid eyes on him. An itch under my skin that I couldn’t scratch. Only one thing would ease it and he was somewhere in this club doing goddess knew what.
I grumbled, the sound louder than I’d anticipated, and Axel smirked. “Now you sound like Rys where Gabriel’s concerned.”
I huffed out a laugh. “Hardly.”
He narrowed his eyes. “Are you telling me you’re not wondering where Dathal is right now? That the thought of him wrapped around someone else doesn’t set your blood on fire and make you want to tear this club apart looking for him?”
“Fuck’s sake, Axel.” I went to pull away, but he held me fast, unsurprisingly strong.
“Well?”
I huffed again, wondering where the fuck he was going with all of this. Admitting I wanted Dathal was one thing. Telling me that I was no better than Rys with all his possessive alpha bollocks felt a step too far. I’d always prided myself on having more restraint than to be ruled by my instincts like shifters, but when it came down to it, I was obviously no better. Worse, in fact, because I couldn’t blame it on a base instinct I had no control over.
“Fine,” I muttered, meeting his gaze again. “I’m as bad as Rys, and the thought of Dathal with any other fucker in my club is just about killing me.”
Axel laughed.
Bastard.
And I didn’t like the sudden gleam in his eyes.
“Do you trust me, Nick?”
Unsolicited advice aside, Axel was one of the few people I did trust. “Yes, but—”
