But how was she supposed to make the decision? Maybe she didn’t have to. She could shove this problem atthem, and she knew exactly how to force their hands.
Her father had taught her to fight dirty, and she was about to get into the mud.
Mace held his breath.
He and Blade had both asked Scotty to make a lifelong commitment to them, just hours after telling her to make a decision that would change all their lives.
“I said I wasn’t going to choose.” Scotty finally stopped pacing. She squared off in front of them, crossed her arms in that stubborn way of hers, and said, “And I’m still not going to. You are.”
Mace and Blade looked at each other. What kind of crap was that?
“That’s…not going to happen,” Blade said.
“Agreed,” Mace chimed in. “Also, does this mean that you actuallydowant us?”
She huffed. “Of course, I want you. I’ve wanted you since before we made the stupid pact. But I can’t possibly make a choice. And here’s the thing.” She clasped her hands in front of her so fiercely that her knuckles turned white. “Apparently, I’m no longer immortal.”
“What?” Mace and Blade both blurted, but before they could ask anything else, she held up her hand, silencing them.
“It’s a long story, and I don’t feel like telling it right now. But what it comes down to is that, not only am I mortal, but I’m also actively dying. Harvester suggested bonding with a hellhound.”
It wasn’t often that Mace was speechless, but right now, he had no words. Thankfully, Blade was not stricken by the same affliction.
“If you bond with one of us, you’ll get our lifespan. And in five hundred years, when we die, you can still bond with a hellhound.”
The sadness in her eyes made Mace want to pull her close, and he suspected that Blade was having the same thoughts. “I told you, I can’t choose. So, either you guys choose, or I’ll pick a smelly hellhound.”
Fuck that. “What if there’s another way?
“I’m all ears,” she prompted.
Gods, he couldn’t believe he was going to say it. “I’ve heard there’s a way to let fate decide.”
Scotty and Blade frowned, but he figured it out a heartbeat later. “The bonding ritual.”
Mace nodded. “The three of us could engage in the bonding ritual. Fate would decide who to bond Scotty with.”
Scotty’s freckled face turned beet-red. “You mean…?” She swallowed, probably attempting to make her voice less squeaky. “You mean, all three of us at the same time? Like, simultaneously?”
“Yeah.” It would be the last time with Scotty for one of them, and the beginning of a lifetime with her for the other.
Blade’s gaze flipped between Mace and Scotty and then settled on the wooden deck. “I’m in.”
“So am I,” Mace said.
Scotty stood there, cheeks burning, both hope and fear glistening in her eyes. “Me, too.” Her voice was quiet, but steady. “When?”
Mace shrugged. “I’m free now.”
“Now?” Panic replaced the hope in her gaze. “I can’t. I need…I don’t know. I just need some time. A shower. I’m not sure—”
Blade, always the steady one, stepped into her, gripping her upper arm with one hand and tilting up her face with the other in a gesture so tender that Mace could almost feel the love and trust flowing between them. And the thing was, he wasn’t jealous. The exact opposite. This was the way it should be.
His grandfather, Azagoth, had once told him that all beings walked paths full of crossroads, shortcuts, and dead ends. He said the right way wasn’t always clear, but there would be signs to guide you if you just paid attention. Well, Mace was paying attention. Probably for the first time in his life.
“Do what you need to do,” Blade murmured to Scotty. “Then let the Fates decide. No matter what, we will both be here for you. Always.”
Very gently, he dipped his head and touched his lips to her cheek. Scotty reached for Mace, pulling him close, and because it seemed like the right move, he kissed her other cheek.
